Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day 76 (Legs/Back) Finally...feeling/seeing changes

Finished Legs/Back today.  I've had steady but slow improvement on this routine from day one.  Once my balance improved, I think things started to really kick into gear.  I think this is the result of extra strength being added from just being more successful at balancing.  Balance lunges, super skaters, toe iso rolls...all can now be done with no help from hanging on to a chair.  And I think the improvement builds more improvement...the more I can balance, the more small muscles get exercises, the better I can balance, etc.  It has just taken a very long time to start to arrive here.  The only real problem is the deadlift squat (squatting on one leg and coming back up).  I did MUCH better at that one today, but once I start to wobble and get out of rhythm, I can't seem to get it back.

When I talk about feeling changes, I'm talking about pull ups and all the calf exercises.  Regarding the pullups...for the past 11 weeks, I've simply struggled just to pull myself up.  To be honest, I've never really felt this as a back exercise...it has always seemed all arms.  Well today I started to feel something different.  I guess my arms are now strong enough that there isn't so much of a struggle getting halfway up.  But during the last part of the motion, I can now feel the focus in my back...I can really push that part of my body and slowly bring myself up.  I'm not sure if it makes sense the way I'm talking about it.  Let me try to make it more clear...first I'm pulling up with my arms and then I can now feel my back take over and bring me the rest of the way up.  It now feels like I am using all the muscles I am supposed to.  And I'm seeing results.  Although I can do at least 8 of about any type of pull up right off the bat, I could never before do that many after being in the middle of a workout.  I am now approaching that.  And I owe it all to the chair.  By maxing out with the chair and then continuing for a total of 12-15 reps with the chair, I've really allowed myself to build up strength.  Before when I wasn't using the chair and maxing out at 3-4 reps, I was going nowhere.

Regarding feeling it in the calf muscles...all the stuff geared toward the calf would really only make the arches of my feet sore.  I never felt anything in the calf.  Now that has started to change.  I'm not sure if I am doing anything different, but today I was really able to focus on how my calf felt during the exercises.

OK, I'm going to be honest here...when it comes to the muscle, I don't know what the plural of calf is...calfs or calves. 

OK, now onto seeing changes.  I haven't mentioned this before because I didn't want to feel like I was searching for results.  But I can now see definite improvement in my abs.  There is no doubt.  And it isn't from weight loss because I am at the same weight I was when I started.  There is definite definition.  Not sure if it will show up on camera or not, but I can clearly see it.

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