Pumping Iron

Back in August last year or was it September, Rec Buddy and I burnt approximately 1000 calories a day doing cardio. The routine consisted of a 30-minute run on the treadmill and a 60-minute session on elliptical trainer. I didn't know how we managed to overcome the boring repetions. All I can say is that spending 1.5 hours at the Rec almost every day--even on weekend, rain or shine, game day or not--sure took a lot of determination. We sometime had to park down near the Bush School and walked all the way in the cold with no jackets on. Nevertheless, those were good times.

Exercising on and off through the course of three months, each of us didn't lose that much weight. I lost about 12 lbs, he was much less. Mostly it was due to the fact that we didn't exercise too much control on our calories intake, i.e., we exercised more but we also ate more.

After settling down at his new place and his new job, Rec Buddy joined a gym that came with several free personal trainer sessions. The trainer came up with a different training routine which significantly decreases the cardio portion of our usual routine and instead balancing it with more strength and conditioning. When Rec Buddy suggested me to follow the general principle behind it, I was more than happy to comply.

Nowadays, I spend a total of one hour or less at the gym which breaks down to 30-minute elliptical and the rest are filled with weight lifting. What I need to find out is the routine that will work for me, if there is such thing as a working routine. What I am sticking to right for now is getting on the same seven machines subsequently each time. Those are:

Abdominal: 3 x 15 (56.25 lbs)
Rotating Torso: 4 x 15 (50 lbs)
Back Extension: 3 x 30 (100 lbs)
Quadriceps: 3 x 30 (130 lbs)
Lower leg: 3 x 30 (130 lbs)
Arm Extension: 3 x 10 (30 lbs)
Shoulder Press: 3 x 10 (30 lbs)

I try to go almost everyday and I keep my eating habit. We'll see what this brings.