Routine Recovery

 
Today, for the first time since March, I did my Monday morning work out. I had suspended my weight training routine back in March due to a lingering wrist injury, and because I was wanting to focus on finishing GoSH1. Then there was late pregnancy stuff going on. Then a new baby going on.
 
Alan Ryker's recent post about his lifting milestone inspired me to get off my butt and get the work out happening again.
 
Life has pretty much returned to normal. Or as normal as an 8-week-old will allow. So I'm looking to get back into my normal daily routines. Like weight training. And writing. And working on The Journal.
 
I haven't changed my weight training routine. I'll still be working out 4 days a week, with each day focusing on a different (ish) set of muscles. In a nutshell:

Day 1 – Chest & Triceps (bench press, incline bench press, French curls)
Day 2 – Biceps & Legs (ezbar curls, incline dumbbell curls, squats, lying leg curls)
Day 3 – Shoulders & Abs (bench shoulder press, upright barbell rows, incline situps, incline twist setups)
Day 4 – Back (bent over barbell rows, pull ups, deadlifts)

 
I have a power rack and bench, an Olympic barbell (7′, 45lbs), an Olympic bar (5′, 30 lbs), an Olympic ezcurl bar (20 lbs), and two Olympic dumbbells (13 lbs each). I have more 2-inch free weights than I really need (go go garage sale shopping), plus a set of cast iron dumbbells from 2 lbs to 20 lbs. And I have a slant board for situps of various types. I started accumulating all this just after my 39th birthday, and now it takes up a good chunk of the upstairs game room.
 
For every exercise I do a warmup set of 8 reps, usually at 1/3-1/2 target weight. Then I do two sets of 6-8 reps at the target weight.
 
This week, since I'm getting back into it, I will be "moving the bars around". I won't be adding any weight at all. Just performing the sets with empty bars. I'm still doing the warmup set, though, so this week I'll be doing 3 sets of 8 reps each at minimum weight. Next week I'll start adding weights again, slowly. 5 lbs/week for some exercises, 10 lbs/week for others. Being 42, and working out essentially alone (though the family is usually in the house somewhere), I prefer to take things slow and easy.
 
My logs show my peak lifts at:

Bench Press – 145 lbs
EZ Bar Curls – 100 lbs
Barbell Squats – 225 lbs
Deadlifts – 245 lbs

 
At 6′ 2″ tall, 195 lbs, I won't be using those numbers to join the USA Olympic lifting team, but I'm pleased with the progress I've managed over the past few years.
 
I expect to get the other parts of my routine in place over the next couple weeks. Until then, I'll continue touching on the writing and publishing in a piecemeal fashion. I'm hoping by the end of September to be clicking along on all to-do-lists again.
 
-David
 
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