Spring Forward to Action: Week 4, Day 1

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

30 Apr 2007 09:56 AM

It's the last official week of April, a technical distinction since May 1st begins tomorrow, but as this is our last week as part of the Spring Forward to Action challenge, let's talk about our workout goals for this week along with our workout style. We're going to alternate cardiovascular training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with strength and flexibility training on Tuesday and Thursday. I'll leave the weekend up to you.

Cardio Training

For cardio this week, I'll be walking on Monday, riding my bike on Wednesday and roller-skating on Friday. Instead of performing these for a designated amount of time, I'm going to push my limits to test my endurance.

For example, this morning I got on the treadmill and warmed up at a 2.7 pace before gradually working my way up to 3.0 and I remained walking at that pace until I felt a relatively decent amount of fatigue. I maintained the 3.0 brisk pace for a little over an hour, covering about 3.5 miles total in the workout. I felt pretty good about that.

Wednesday, I will ride my bike in similar fashion until I am feeling that general level of fatigue in my muscles and again on Friday with my roller skates. In an ideal world, I'll manage an hour on both, but there is a difference in performance between walking, riding a bike and rolling around on roller skates. I'll let you know how that goes.

Strength Training

Strength training this week will involve some basic crunches, walking lunges and focusing more particularly on my upper body. For example, 2 sets of 12 reps of 15 pound hand weights for bicep curls, triceps presses, shoulder presses and more. I'll aim for the heavier weights in order to stress the muscles more efficiently.

My daily yoga will take care of the flexibility requirements. Part of the reason I am increasing the intensity of my workout is that my goal next month is to focus on strength rather than just on endurance. My endurance is bouncing back from my recovery period and I think I'm ready for this.

How about you?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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