New Beginning!

Last night I decided to try a new lifting program. It is something that I've looked into before but never gave it a really good try. The lifting program was created by 2 men at Ironman Magazine and uses a POF style (Positions of Flexion - "the concept of working a muscle through its full range of motion"). You do exercises from a mid-range, contracted and stretched position. The 2 men that created the program developed a program that can be done at home with PowerBlocks so it fits my situation perfectly. I also decided, although I am waiting for a call back from Coach, that I would choose 1 body part per day - that way the workouts won't take as long and I can be ready for work on time and maybe get in some aerobics too. I want to gain some muscle but I also want to maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle.

Today's workout was biceps (no particular reason for starting with biceps - it was the first sheet on my pile): it uses standing curls for the mid-range movement, concentration curls for the contracted movement and incline curls for the stretch postition. The program calls for modified supersets where you combine your mid-range postition with your isolation or contracted position exercise. The program also uses drop sets to help increase time under tension to help recruite different fibers. All body parts use these basic techniques so the sessions are pretty much set up in the same fashion. Here is my bicep routine:

Modified Superset:

Standing dumbbell curls (3x8) @ 22.5#

Concentration curls (2x8) @ 12.5# & 15#

Drop Sets:

Incline Curls(2x8(6)) @ 17.5# & 15# (only got 4 reps on the second set)

Aftershock Superset (brachialis)

Incline hammer curls 1x8 @ 15#

Standing hammer curls 1x8 @ 15# (had to switch to individual arm curls in order to finish the prescribed number of reps).

The workout took about 30 minutes but is gave a great pump to my arms. I was also trying to really concentrate on (1)using a 2 second up and 2 second down count for all reps; & (2) really squeezing the muscle on each rep. These are 2 things that I generally slack off on during a workout. I'm very pleased with how the session went and am looking forward to progressing with my program. I'm also going to try and post on here daily about my workouts.