Sunday, February 25, 2018

First Week of 2018 Strength Cycle #1

This week was straight forward. Monday and Wednesday was able to do HIIT on the bike with the resistance setting for the sprints set at "22" and the slower periods at "5". We missed Friday.

I lifted Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Here's what I lifted this week:

Tuesday
Deadlifts 215 for four sets of 5
Squats 175 for four sets of 5
Bench 165 for four sets of 5
Pull-Ups three sets of 4
Overhead Press 30lb Dumbbells for three sets of 5
Curls 20lb Dumbbells for three sets of 5

Thursday
Deadlifts 215 for three sets of 5 and one set of 6
Squats 175 for three sets of 5 and one set of 6
Bench 165 for three sets of 5 and one set of 6
Pull-Ups two sets of 4 and one set of 5
Overhead Press 30lb Dumbbells for three sets of 5 and one set of 6
Curls 20lb Dumbbells for three sets of 5 and one set of 6

Saturday
Deadlifts 215 for three sets of 5 and one set of 7
Squats 175 for three sets of 5 and one set of 7
Bench 150 for three sets of 5 and one set of 8
Bench 165 for two sets of 5 and one set of 7
Pull-Ups three sets of 5
Overhead Press 30lb Dumbbells for three sets of 5 and one set of 7
Curls 20lb Dumbbells for three sets of 5 and one set of 7

I messed up on the bench and had to do some extra. 

KEEP GRINDING!

ABOUT THE BLOG: This blog started years ago to talk about self-care and weightlifting. It stopped for a few years. It was been restarted when I was told that I was diabetic. I had an A1C of 9.3. A1C is an estimate of your blood sugar level over the last 3 months and 6.5 is pre-diabetic, and usually over 7 is considered diabetic. In March I was re-tested and my A1C was 5.0. That's below pre-diabetic (so, essentially non-diabetic). It was nice to have my doctor say, "you used to be diabetic." I'm still working on improving my insulin sensitivity and not thinking I'm out of the woods yet. My September retest came back with and A1C of 4.9. It is exciting to be working on this and I'm pleased people feel inspired by reading this blog. 

The results were from diet and exercise. Here is a quick summary of how I responded to being diagnosed as diabetic. I'm going to post this review every so often. Mostly when I post the blog to Twitter or Facebook.


My lifting approach was to gain muscle to help with insulin sensitivity so I focused on compound exercises mostly (deadlift, bench, squat, overhead press) with some other things to round out such as pull-ups and bicep curls. I'm currently still doing full body workouts. 

Between now and the end of April I will be focusing on strength. I will be lifting heavier with sets of 5 or less for the most part. I may go up to 4 "sprints" for cardio at some point. I'm hoping for an A1C between 4.8 and 5.0 on the next test.

I did 1 rep max testing with Lee from the Power Plant and here is what I pulled on 11/22/17
Squat 235
Bench 220
Deadlift 285



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