NROL, Break in, workout 5A

Just finished up the final “A” workout in the Break in phase. This thing was tougher than I ever thought it would be.

Today I went up on squats, lunges and rows.

Aaron, at Fitness Chronicles, suggested that I try “girl” push ups since I’ve been having so much trouble with the real ones. I did just that. The goal was 30 reps but that was not happening. I went nose to the ground in as controlled a manner as I could. I managed to get 2 sets of 20. I literally could not do one more either time. Those things are tough!

Push ups and swiss ball crunches were obviously body weight exercises. Here’s the progress I made on the three other lifts. All were 2 sets for 15 reps. Rest was 60 seconds.

Squats – 115lbs to 150lbs

Lunges – 20lb dumbbells to 40lb dumbbells (one in each hand)

Two-point dumbell row with elbow out – 20lb dumbbells to 35lb dumbbells

Fitness magazines

I love fitness magazines.

I REALLY, REALLY LOVE them. Don’t know why. It almost feels like Christmas when a new one comes in the mail.

There’s never anything groundbreaking in any of them. They just allow me to think about fitness and weight loss for an hour or so. Every once in a while I’ll pick up a tip or two that I can incorporate into my life. Mostly though, they serve as a gentle reminder that I need to stay vigilant on my diet and workout routines.

Currently, I’m subscribed to Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness and Muscle and Fitness. I recently subscribed to Women’s Health for my wife. I read Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness cover to cover. They’re aimed more at my demographic. I flip through Muscle and Fitness casually since it’s mostly ads disguised as articles anyway. A fun thing I like to do is find a picture of some freakishly huge guy and show my wife. I’ll tell her that I want to look like that and she’ll get really mad at me. Pretty dumb, but still funny.

I went to the grocery store the other day and noticed about 10 other fitness mags on the shelf. To be honest, they look like the same crap I’ve been reading but I might still pick a few up anyway.

I’d be interested in hearing what fitness magazines you guys subscribe to.