Day 41: Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cinco de Mayo. Ah, what a glorious day! As an American, it's only natural that I would want to celebrate the Mexican Holiday that commemorates the Mexican Army's unlikely victory of the French way back in 1862. Certainly, nothing would delight me more than to drink some Mexican beer. Oh what joy, and given that Tuesday has been a traditional, of sorts, well, "holiday" for me while going through my workouts, it would make for a natural celebration day for me, right? Not so fast.

I actually skipped Cinco de Mayo. Which was the first time in a very long time, and I did one better than that, I actually hit the gym!

I didn't, however do any cardio. I spent about 30 minutes in the gym total, focusing on weight training - since I have been feeling as if some of my weight loss has been due to loss of muscle (I do not have any concrete evidence on this, it was just how I was feeling before hitting the gym).

When I hit the gym, no one was present, which was good since I don't enjoy hitting the weights with too many people, seemingly, standing around watching. I don't like the feeling of prying eyes, as if everyone is scrutinizing just how much you can lift. Anyway, it was empty, so my spirits were instantly lifted.

I did my rounds on a few different machines and free weights, so instead of long boring details about how I felt on each machine - by the way, I felt great the entire time, and I even feel my initial thought of "having lost muscle weight" was inaccurate, as I was able to lift longer, not necessarily more (I didn't try) than I had lifted in a long, long time. With that said, I will just list the exercises, machines (if any), weight used, and reps.

Bicep curls - free weight - 20 lbs. each arm - 55 reps
Tricep curls - machine - 20 lb. total - 30 reps
Push ups - floor - no weight - 30 reps
Lat pulldown - machine - 70 lbs. total - 30 reps
Deltoid Laterals - machine - 50 lbs. total - 30 reps
Butterflies - machine - 50 lbs. total - 30 reps

It wasn't a whole lot. I probably could have gone longer, but I didn't. The main focus was to attempt to get a more broad spectrum of weights and types of workouts in, and I feel as if I accomplished that. For a traditional day off, it felt good, and it also felt good knowing I haven't lost any muscle mass in my weight loss - but they needed to be nurtured again, to remind me that they are there. I will - hopefully - going forward, add 3 days of a similar routine to my workout schedule. For a traditional day off, at least by my standards, I'll take the added activity. My arms and muscles, also appreciate the love! Cinco de Mayo be damned!