I went to the gym yesterday right after work. That’s part of my normal routine. What made yesterday unique was that it was the first day of Ramadan and I was fasting (I hadn’t had any food or drink for over 12 hours by the time I start working out).
It was a good workout. I lifted weights for 1 hour. I focused on chest, shoulders and triceps. I started out on the barbell bench press. I then moved to seated barbell behind the neck shoulder presses, dumbbell lateral raises, upright rows and finally tricep pushdowns.
The bad news is that I feel pain in parts of my body I never thought out would the last time I trained so consistently (that would be about 18 years ago). My right shoulder has sharp painful sensation in the rotator cuff. It will not go away but it doesn’t seem to impede my strength either. My right wrist also hurts. I can’t explain it.
The good news is that I am getting stronger. Back in February I struggled with 135 pounds on the bench press. Yesterday I cranked out 250 pounds for 5 reps (and I weigh 45 pounds less now!). Other milestones include the shoulder press where I’m using 135 pounds for reps (compared to 95 pounds I struggled with in February). In February I used two 25 pound plates on the hack squat and it felt heavy. Today I can put on four 45 pound plates for reps and feel great.
This is great. I felt awful going into the gym back in February. I felt very self-conscious about the weight I was training with. I feel much better today.
But I’m not even close to where I want to be in terms of my overall physical fitness. I’m still overweight - I need to drop another 25 pounds. I want to be able to run a half-marathon (13.1 miles) and presently the farthest I’ve run is 7 miles at one time. I don’t necessarily have set goals for my strength training but now I’m tempted to set some given that the numbers are more respectable now!
I’m heading to the gym after work today (on my way now as a matter of fact). Today will be strength training for my back, biceps and legs!
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