Sunday, September 26, 2004

Concept 2 does it again

I hit the gym yesterday for my second weights session, this time targeting my biceps and legs. The two muscle groups that I hate training are the so-called vanity muscles- the chest and biceps. I was therefore not particularly surprised to find that my biceps are a little weaker than they were a year and a half ago when I last did weights regularly- though I was surprised that I had the strength in them that I do. It was only by a margin of around ten pounds less that I was lifting and part of the reason I didn’t do so well is that my triceps are still aching from my first workout. All in all, pretty good.

When I moved onto my legs however I was really shocked by how tough the leg extension exercise was. Wow, but my quads were burning when I was done. My main exercise is the leg press (because of my damaged back I can’t squat anymore) and I was pleased to find that I could press 120kg (plus whatever the footplate weighs- I think it’s another 20kg). I was tempted to go higher but I didn’t want to do too much first time out.

Rowing is obviously a fantastic exercise- in a matter of weeks doing it I’ve regained virtually all the strength I had before a long lay off due to my back injury; and I was unable to exercise for about a year. I’ve written before on how effective the Concept 2 rower is but it’s really gone up in my estimation after these gym sessions. This is one seriously good bit of kit.

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