Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Buttercup goes to the gym


I haven't said much about the gym lately but rest assured, I am still getting in there. Strength training is a year-round commitment for me, as are swim/bike/run.

It's not always easy to get in there, but I do it. Life has been full-tilt for me for the last week or so. With two trips, several new projects, and the kids home for the summer, the days are really jam-packed.

Yesterday started with an early-morning recovery ride and swim (coinciding with Spencer's swim team practice), then I sat down in front of the computer at 10:00 and hardly got up again until 7 pm. I was overwhelmed by a to-do list that was only growing longer and at 7 pm I still had not hit the gym!

Skipping was not an option but motivation was in short supply. So I put on my new "Suck it up Buttercup" shirt, "sucked it up", and hit the road. (Buttercup is my alter-ego...dating back to my first fibula fracture. I'm not sure how it started exactly, but I identify with her!)


I added some "redneck" to my Buttercup "mojo" for good measure and drove the truck to the gym! This baby used to be mine, back in the horse trailer pulling days. It's got 270,000+ miles on it, but I still love driving it! The hubs got a new-used car last week and had the truck cleaned up so now I get to drive it again.


Oh, back to the gym stuff.

I sucked it up and cranked out a nice back, rear delt, and bicep workout. Right now I'm in the gym twice a week, one of those is with Kurt. I'm focusing primarily on upper body work but there are some compound movements incorporated like squat presses. The second day is chest, shoulders, and triceps. Since my "hip-fail" in February I have not added a leg day back in, or, as I confessed to Kurt, abs either! With the involvement of the hip flexor, and things being so tenuous for so long, I just was not willing to chance it. And frankly, now that I am racing so well, I am hesitant to fix what aint broke in terms of gym routine. I am going to start adding some ab work back in this week but will probably leave legs out of it until the off-season. That's hard for me to do -- it makes me think of the guys you see in the gym who have these massive upper bodies and chicken legs because they neglect their legs! But I know, my legs get quite a bit of work on the bike and run so I am not too worried about it.

So there you have it, my current motivation method (haha) and strength training plan!

Time to wrap this up and go run, swim, and hit the computer again!!