12/1: Lower Body Workout + Steady State Cardio

• Tweet

• Tweet

Happy first day of December! I like December…it means Christmas is right around the corner. I’m actually already almost done with my Christmas shopping and that’s a great feeling! I had a great workout today, felt like I was gonna die at one point. That means I’m pushing myself though I suppose. It was during my cardio session. Gosh I hate cardio. More on that later…

Lower Body Workout

Quads/Glutes/Hamstrings

• Squat: 55#, 3 sets x 8 reps

Quads

• Leg Extension: 45#, 3 sets x 10 reps (2 reps more than my previous lower body workout)

Hamstrings

• Leg Curls: 35#, 3 sets x 10 reps (2 reps more than my previous lower body workout)

Calves

• Standing Calf Raise (on a board): 4 sets x 15 reps

Abs

• Weighted Crunches: 8#, 4 sets x 25 reps
• Plank: 2 x 30 seconds

Cardio Workout

• 2 minute warm-up @ 4 mph
• 26 minute jog @ 5.5 mph
• 1 minute walk @ 4 mph
• 7 minute cool-d0wn @ 4 mph

At about the 24 minute mark, I was feeling pretty good and thought I might make it a full 30 minutes jogging. Wrong. Right before I hit 26 minutes I got a weird lump in my throat, my body got really, really cold and I felt really weak so I slowed down and walked for a minute. By the end of that minute I was feeling a lot better, though still weak and pumped out the last 4 minutes of my run.

In a way, I was disappointed that I didn’t make it the full 30 minutes, but it was still a great improvement over my last steady state cardio workout where I ended up walking 3 different times. I slowed the speed down just a notch from last week so I’m pretty sure that helped me remain steady without getting burnt out too quickly. Maybe I’ll be able to make it the full 30 for next time.

Total Distance: 3.416 miles

Total Time: 40 minutes

Total Calories Burned: 402 (higher than my last lower body workout/cardio workout!)

I think a New Years resolution of mine will be to continue to do steady state cardio workouts. I have such a hard time with it but I think I’d continue to see some great fat loss results if I kept it up in addition to strength training and HIIT. Those things are easy for me because I love to do them, steady state cardio…not my favorite! Definitely something I will continue to work on.