Strength Training II

Went back to Pure Austin today to learn some more about strength training with Ryon. Today was my third day on, so I'm done with workouts until Monday...good, my muscles need a break!

We used the same 16 - 8 - 4 - 2 -1 rep scheme for all the movements and started with the pullover machine. A really great machine for all the back muscles and also the core (Hello bikini season!).

I'm not really sure how the numbers convert to pounds, but Ryon seemed to think it was in 10s (so 9 = 90#). In either case, my numbers looked like this:

9 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 13

Then we moved onto the incline bench press. WOOF. Worst machine ever, will most likely not use again. It involved holding the handles with your arms at a 90' angle, then you had to push the weight slightly in front of you AND together. I felt it most in my biceps, don't know if that's right or not. I could barely do any weight on the machine either:

50# / 50# / 55# / 55# / -- (screw that last 1 rep max - machine was poopy!)

Next was the lateral front lat pulldown. This machine was great, even if I had trouble reaching the handles :)

50# / 90# / 90# / 110# / --

I skipped the last rep because 110# was plenty hard for me, and also I really wanted to get some assisted dips in before showering and going out to lunch with Sarah! The assisted dip/pull-up machine is by far my favorite machine in the gym. Here's how much weight was taken off my own body weight of ~120#:

70# / 58# / 40# / 22# / 16#

The last round, I actually did 10 reps instead of 1 rep because it was the lowest assistance the machine could give me, but it wasn't hard enough for me. Who woulda thunk it? I never really consider myself that great at dips, but it's definitely an area I want to improve on and my performance on the machine is encouraging.