Day 4 Saddle Blazer Half Marathon Training

Well, here I am again.  I went to the gym just as planned and did day A of Bret Contreras' Strong Curves program.  I cannot say if this is a good program or not, because I have never given it enough effort to know for sure.  So, I will keep you informed of my progress as I work through it.  I can say, that my butt (well glutes rather)...hurt.  I know that being sore is not the best measure of success, but at least I know I am activating them. 

Is my utilization of this program part of some vain plan to "get dat booty" ?  Yes and no.  Since I have lost 65lbs, my ass and boobs have deflated like the world's saddest basketballs.  It would be nice to be "curvy" again. Since I can't really build boobs with weightlifting, I'll settle for a nicer butt. 

However, aesthetics are not my chief pursuit, because they can't be.  I will explain in another post exactly why exercise for appearance and body shape is too dangerous a path for me.  For now, I will suffice to say that long term goal #1 is to finish the 2020 Arkansas Traveller 100 mile race.  I figure that a program centered around building the lower body can't hurt my running.  The higher rep ranges might be good for muscular endurance which I anticipate being key for me. 

The fact is that I don't have enough experience to say for sure if this program is the right one.  I will give this my all consistently and report back here on this blog.  The lifting itself went well.  I failed my last couple reps of the dumbbell bench (40lbs), but that's fine, failing means that I pushed.  I had the gym mostly to myself.  Apparently 8pm on a Saturday night isn't the most popular time to workout.  I found myself struggling with my grip a little on the Romanian dumbbell deadlift (50lbs).  That's something to take note of. 

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