Exercise: "Starting From Zero"

Starting around January 2009, I started doing Cathe workouts. I'd never heard of her before catching one of her workouts on FitTV, an exercise and healthy living channel. Over the course of the year I toned up a bit and found that I really liked her weightlifting workouts, though I never graduated to using barbells as she did in her videos and instead stuck to my free weights. Here in Philly, our cable provider doesn't provide FitTV in our cable channel line-up. However, it turns out that starting around the first of the year, the channel stopped running Cathe workouts anyway. So, I've been a little lost when it comes to exercise.

I do own a few of Cathe's DVDs (I love, love, love Butts & Guts), and luckily she's run a bunch of specials lately which have allowed me to purchase my favorite workouts that aired on FitTV, including Pyramid Lower and Upper Body, the Slow & Heavy Series, Kick, Punch, and Crunch, and Boot Camp. But . . . if I really think about it, without access to a barbell and associated weights at home, I don't think my workouts are quite as effective as they could be.

Around February D began a consistent weightlifting (and nutrition) routine that he gleaned from Bodybuilding.com. Now I've decided to jump on the bandwagon, too. (Though I still have yet to give up my carb addiction . . . baby steps!) Today was my first "real" weightlifting workout, and wow -- do I have a long way to go! As D rightly told me as he helped me with the equipment this morning, "You're starting from zero." Though I was ready to throw in the towel when I could barely lift up the bar when doing bench presses -- the first exercise in the circuit -- I sucked it up and realized that I've got to start somewhere. And if that somewhere means just lifting up the (apparently 45-lb bar), then so be it. I'm definitely intimidated by all the equipment, but with D helping to demystify how everything works, I think soon enough I'll gain the confidence to work out with the heavy-lifting jocks.

The program that I plan to follow runs for 12 weeks. Here's what this week's workouts look like:

Monday: Upper Body

Bench Press: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Bent Over Barbell Row: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Skull Crushers: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Barbell Curl: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Tuesday: Lower Body

Barbell Squat: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Stiff-Legged Deadlift: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Leg Extension: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Lying Leg Curls: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Standing Calf Raises: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Lying Leg Raises: 3 sets of 10-15 reps

Exercise Ball Crunches: 3 sets of 10-15 reps

Thursday: Upper Body

Dips: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Pullups: 3 sets of 8-12 reps [Doing just one would be fine by me!]

Lateral Raises: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Triceps Pushdowns: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Cable Curls: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Friday: Lower Body

Deadlift: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Leg Press: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Dumbbell Lunges: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Seated Calf Raises: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Dumbbell Shrugs: 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Decline Crunches: 3 sets of 10-15 reps

Hyperextensions: 3 sets of 10-15 reps

[SOURCE]

I'll repeat this routine (and hopefully increase weights along the way) for four weeks, and then move on to a new routine for weeks five through eight, and another for weeks nine through twelve. It should be an interesting ride. Hopefully I will be able to move tomorrow morning; particularly since I ran to and from the gym (two miles round-trip) and chased my weightlifting routine with 60 minutes on the elliptical.