DAY 15

I spent the end of last week traveling with family, so I did not have much time for working out or eating properly.  I did the best I could with getting enough calories and protein and I even did a full workout with dumbbells in a Marriott hotel gym in Victoria, Canada.  It's not too difficult to keep at it while you travel! You have 168 hours in your week. You can at least use 4 of those hours to get some exercise! 

DAY 15, 180 lbs

I'm excited to be starting a new 4-week strength training routine this week.  I'm very happy to have recruited a friend of mine to join me.  We'll be getting up at 4:30 every morning to get in the gym before work.  We'll be doing a lot of high weight with low repetitions (i.e. 4 sets of 4 reps).  The workout comes straight out of The New Rules of Lifting: Six Basic Moves for Maximum Muscle, so, unfortunately, I can't share it with you. However, I urge any weight lifters (from beginners to intermediate lifters) to purchase this book! It is an excellent resource for up-to-date lifting routines and techniques. It has given me a whole year of very effective weight lifting routines!  If you already have the book, I am using the Strength 2 routine for these next 4 weeks.

The only thing that the book lacks is proper instruction on working the core and the abdominal muscles.  I substitute crunches for planks for working my core. Crunches and sit-ups are highly ineffective.  I'll write a post on this soon!  For now, just start doing more planks.  If you can easily hold plank for a minute, try putting your feet on a bench or a swiss ball.  You can also try lifting one hand and the opposite foot for 10 to 15 second intervals.  There are tons of variations of the plank to help with core.

Let me know! How do you work your core?