PRs

This week was an exciting one. Not only was I informed that we are at WEEK 9 of the first semester (shocker, eh?), but I was able to max out on many compounds lifts. Let me clarify what a compound lift entails.

In any set of exercises, I find that the best way to carry out a set is to have one main compound lift and various isolation movements that are either paired in a superset or not. The compound lift is the main character, the star of the show. It is one movement that combines more than one muscle group. For example, squats implement the four quadricep muscles in the leg, the glutes, abductors, adductors, and potentially lower back (lumbar) muscles. An overhead press (a movement simply pushing the barbell over your shoulders and head) relies on the shoulders, upper chest, and triceps. Bent over rows use muscles in the back, the latissimus dorsi, and biceps. Compounds exercises are best when they are done first in a set because they fire up so more muscles, making the sequential isolation exercises more efficient.

Isolation exercises are usually done on machines and are meant to reinforce the movement of a particular muscle. For example, I usually do leg extensions (quad focused) right after I do squats (compound). However, these are best discussed another time.

I’ll break down my compounds based on my workout split. Monday (push day) focused on chest and shoulders, Tuesday (pull day) focused on back and biceps, and Wednesday (leg day) focused on quads, glutes, and hamstrings. For easy reference, here is a list of all of the compound lifts associated with the targeted muscle groups for each day and my previous PR (personal record):

Push

• Bench Press (60lbs)
• Overhead Press (40lbs)
• Dips (10lbs)

Pull

• Upward Row (95lbs)
• Lateral Pulldown (70lbs)
• Pull Ups (3)

Legs

• Squats (95lbs)
• Romanian Deadlift (60lbs)
• Hip Thrust (80lbs)

I knew going into each day that I had to fuel properly. This meant a lot of food (especially carbs) and sleep. Getting more food was the easiest of this task. I mean, I have a whole paper bag full of rice cakes ranging from the unsalted to chocolate flavored ones. Also, I love fruit so it was bananas and honey crisp apples 24/7. Trying to settle for more than seven hours of sleep was a bit harder to attain. Since the start of high school, I have struggled with my sleep. I wake up hours before my alarm and cannot go back to bed. I am forced to wake up and get started with my day at 3AM rather than 6AM. On average, I get four hours of sleep and at this point, my body is somehow used to it. That aside, it was time to break some personal records. I progressed through my workouts normally. When I wanted to push the weight a little, I added a fifth set to my usual four. In the end, I ended up getting way more PRs than I expected (blue):

Push

• Bench Press (60lbs)
• Overhead Press (65lbs) 
• Dips (25lbs)

Pull

• Upward Row (115lbs)
• Lateral Pulldown (100lbs)
• Pull Ups (5)

Legs

• Squats (135lbs)
• Romanian Deadlift (60lbs)
• Hip Thrust (100lbs)

It was difficult to PR on RDLs for leg day because usually those days are hard and by the time I reached RDLs (near the end of my set), my legs were very tired and I couldn’t move more weight.

This whole process made me realize how much value can come out of simple activities that you do in your daily life. The only change I made to my lifting was adding an extra circle to a metal bar, producing unmatched satisfaction and pride in myself for the rest of the day. I think I finally understand what people mean when they say “celebrate the small, personal wins” and I think I finally did. Also, my calluses prove it! WARNING: SLIGHTLY GROSS IMAGE OF A PALM BELOW!!!