Happiest of Sundays to everyone! Hope you’re having a lovely Labor Day Weekend! Sullie and I hopped in the car and headed down to Georgia to hang out with my grandmother for a few days.

Judging from this SnapChat I posted this morning (follow me @JenDeCurtins), I think it’s safe to say all parties are happy we’re here! 🙂

Okay, I’m looking forward to sharing this week’s workouts with you. I decided last week that I want to spend a few months really getting back to some serious strength work. While I love circuit/CrossFit type workouts (and will always include them in my overall mix), I really miss lifting (and the results that come with it!). So I’m going to do a little experiment and spend the next 2-3 months re-focusing on lifting 3-4 times per week. I’m still figuring out exactly what that’s going to look like so I’ll keep you posted as I put my plan together.

For this week, I did three days of total body with a different lower body focus every day. Day #1 was lunges, day #2 was squats and day #3 was deadlifts. I included chest, back, bis, tris, shoulders and abs into most days as well. Due to time restraints, it usually works better for me to do total body a few days a week versus specific body parts on different days but we’ll see how it all shakes out.

Here’s a look at my first week of “back to strength.” It’s supplemented with running and yoga (as always!).

Monday

4 mile run

Tuesday

Strength…I named this workout “You Push and You Pull” from this Purity Ring song. I designed the workout around pushing and pulling movements with cardio and lunges mixed in.

*Set of abs at the end of workout.

Wednesday

Strength + hot  yoga

3 rounds:

12 dumbbell chest flies (#20)
12 DB tricep kickbacks each arm (10#)
12 DB bicep curls (15#)
12 DB OH strict press (20#)
12 barbell back squats (115#)
12 pull ups

*Set of abs at the end.

Thursday

3 mile run + hot yoga

Friday

Strength…ladder workouts are one of my favorite ways to get through strength work. I like that you start heavy with higher reps and work down to lower reps. So as you get tired, the rep count is decreasing. The way these workouts go is 10 reps of everything then 9, 8, 7 working down to 1.

*Set of abs at end of workout.

Saturday

Hot yoga

Sunday

4 mile run

What’s your current workout focus? Do you enjoy strength training? Tell me how I can help you better understand and enjoy strength work.