Thursday, February 25, 2010

My Gym and Lifting

I mentioned one of the things I like about running is setting my own goals and working toward the goals independent of anyone else. My success or failure is directly dependent on my desire to reach my goals.

I have a very similar approach to working out, lifting, or whatever you want to call it (all things not running). I like to set my goals and work toward my goals on my own. When I first started working out in middle school, I had a small weight set in my bedroom. I did all of my lifting there and I think that's where I first found the enjoyment of setting physical goals for myself and working toward those goals on my own. Throughout high school, I had one "lifting partner" that I would lift with about 6 months out of the year. He was really my only lifting partner I've enjoyed working out with. We had similar goals, and were not really focused on a building a certain physique, but more-so interested in reaching strength goals.

After a couple years into college, I purchased some quality gym equipment so I could continue working out at home. My garage is now my gym, and it is the perfect place to workout for me.




Currently, my goals for lifting are to maintain my strength. I think there are a lot of benefits to lifting including maintaining a healthy body and  I believe the strength training compliments ultra running.

My strength training changes about every 8-10 weeks. I find that 8-10 weeks of a particular strength training routine is about the maximum time my body can benefit from a particular routine before I need to switch things up. I alternate higher rep dumbbell and body weight exercises (push-ups/pull-ups) with traditional power-lifting (lower reps, heavier weights). Currently I am on week 7 of my higher rep routine and am thinking I will switch back to power-lifting within a week or two.

Enjoying "my gym"

2 comments:

  1. Wow! Looks like you've got the works! That's great that your goals are based upon strength and not looks.... the cool thing is you still get the benefit of both! :D

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  2. But can you park a car in there...

    ReplyDelete