Friday Satisfaction

Well hello there Friday afternoon, you are quite possibly one of my most favorite times of any week because you are chalked full of anticipation and certainly the largest stretch of freedom that comes during a week.  I love you Friday afternoon. Of course most weeks I do wish the last few hours of the day would go by just a little quicker instead of dragging out quite the way they do. Alas, it is still fine. I have made the executive decision that tonight I will be going to the gym again. This makes day 5 in a row. This is simply because I took off the entire last weekend while camping and most likely will take off tomorrow as Sunday morning I am running a half marathon. This means there is no harm in going tonight to ink out one more strength training session.

Last night I really killed it again on my own. There is a sense of empowerment that comes from kicking your own ass. This has been missing for me for a very long time. There is something quite satisfying about getting in a hard workout and knowing you are capable of pushing yourself. Of course like I said yesterday, I really do have to map it all out beforehand or else I wander around the gym like a lost puppy. Turns out this is probably a fairly common problem. I see lots of people at the gym with little pieces of paper following a plan so I think it’s all good. I mapped out a plan last night which was really my bare minimum and then once I got to the gym I started with that but it just wasn’t enough for me so I kept going and that is when I added a bunch of work.

My simply rule of thumb is to do any one exercise in at least sets of 3, but I try to do 4 sets of every exercise. I do at least 10-15 reps of the exercise depending on the exercise itself and the weight factor. I ususally try to alternate between two or three exercises that target the same muscle group. For instance I started last night with bicep curls with a 40 pound weight. I did 15 of them. Then I did 15 hammer curls with 15 pound weights. I alternated between these two exercises for 4 sets. Meaning I did 60 total of each of the exercises. My biceps could not handle more at that moment. Fried. Then I moved onto 3 different tricep exercises. Then I knew I wanted to do back, but I didn’t have much “planned” out, but boy I worked my back anyway.  The thing is, the back is my go to exercise area. I love back exercises for some reason. They are just my favorite. I easily did 6 different exercises targeting the back. I love a strong back, or rather maybe I have a strong back and therefore I love the exercises. Who knows? I really worked hard for an hour and 45 minutes and I felt great about things.

Tonight I am going to hit the gym for one last session just because. I think mom is going to come maybe and then I get to kick her ass a little too. Not much on my upper body is that sore so I can pretty much do anything. I do not want to do any legs as they are still a little tender and of course that pesky half marathon on Sunday so we do not want to tire them out.  Honestly I think I am going to end up doing a mesh of upper body again. It works for me.

I did really well with my food yesterday. I was perfectly on target and doing great and then at like 10:30, right before bed I got really hungry and ate peanuts. Now I will tell you I actually measured them out by the grams to get a serving, which is 160 calories and not that many shelled peanuts but whatever. In the grand scheme of things I do think eating real peanuts is healthier than eating crap food so it’s still a win for me. With those 160 extra calories I think that put me much closer to the 1500 calorie mark, but that’s all right. I probably honestly need 1500 calories with all the strength training I’ve been knocking out this week.

Right now I am sitting at about 600 calories for the day with an afternoon snack still planned that will add another 180 before hitting the gym, so 780 calories. This is about where I finish my work day at calorie wise. I head to the gym and when I come home I am ususally starving and immediately have to eat a snack to stabilize my body. Then I can think about dinner. I am pretty sure chicken and avocado are on the agenda for dinner tonight. It’s been a few days since I’ve had that and am craving it again. Avocado, much like the peanut is on that good for you even if it’s high in calories and fat category. I refuse to feel too much guilt over eating such items.

Overall I am feeling really good today. I guess that is the combination of the Friday thing and the eating healthy and feeling in control of my workouts and food choices once again. At least I am ending July way better than I started it. It’s even an afternoon and I am getting excited to go to the gym and get in a great workout. Usually at this point I am just tired and exhausted. Not today, today I feel excellent! I have a bit of a gym high and I like it.  I actually feel really laser sharp focused on my 10 in 10 goal. It is something that has been missing for a long time. Apparently I need a certain amount of goals or else I tend to get distracted too easily. Either way, I am pretty happy and I will take it.

Just a few short more hours here and then it’s off to the gym and then a whole weekend with my husband. Sometimes life is good.