Friday 6 January 2012

Pumping iron like Rocky Balboa

The 10km tempo run was not all that I did today.  After a rest and some food I headed down to Holmes Place in the centre of Zurich and did an hour and a bit of weight training.  I was obviously not as strong as I once used to be when I regularly went to the gym, but I was happy that I could do 3 sets of 20 squats with 50kg without any problem and could happily bench press 40kg many times in a row.

Apart from the squats I tried to focus on upper body exercises, as this is the part that running does not really work out.  I did a variety of exercises including curls and raises from behind my back to above my head with the triceps bar, bicep curls, back extensions on a slanted bench, shoulder press, lat bar, seated row, cable pulls, sit ups, bench press, stability work on the air cushion and last but not least skipping.

I assume that tomorrow there will be some soreness, but since it will be in upper body more than anything else, it should not limit my ability to go running if I chose to do so.  I need to remember to do plenty of stretching though, and so I think I will start going to yoga again very soon.  At Holmes Place they have yoga classes several times a day, so I should easily be able to find some that fit in with my schedule.

When I was getting changed after my workout, I decided to step on the scales, and it seems I am still losing weight at the moment.  I currently weigh in at 72.8kg and am eating plenty so nothing to be worried about on that front.  As long as I don't lose any strength then I am happy for the weight to drop off naturally.

On my way out of the gym I took an all in one power shake from the juice bar to give those tired muscles the protein they need.  In addition to proteins the shake also contained creatine which I am already familiar with, and which really helps in the gym.  The only reason I am not really taking it on a regular basis at the moment is because it is more helpful for anaerobic sport than aerobic sport.  But for work in the gym it is perfect and allows you to train harder and longer.  If you don't believe me try it for yourself.

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