The Alpha Male Challenge – Week 9
And th-th-th-thaaaat’s all, folks!
This week wasn’t too different from last week – except a little less grueling. There was only one “Punisher” set and 2 drop sets in the three workouts. This was fine with me, however… not sure I could have hacked anything more intense.
It was a good program, but I’m glad it’s over – the volume of the Level A workouts was pretty high, and I’m definitely ready for a rest.
There were pros and cons to this workout. Probably the biggest negative for me, personally, was having to do this with my husband. Now, I loooove John, and we actually work out well together, but having him as my workout partner meant I had to train in the evening… which is my LEAST favorite time to lift. Now that we’re done, I’m looking forward to returning to my midmorning workouts. I’ll still go to the gym w/John in the evenings, of course, but only to do light cardio and ab work.
I LIKE training alone, when the gym is nearly empty. So sue me. 😉
On the pro side, this workout put plyometrics back on the menu, and piqued my interest in alternate forms of cardio. While our outdoor activities will be curtailed for the winter, we’ll be mixing it up again in the spring. One bit of good news on that front: there’s a new Gold’s Gym going up only 6 blocks from our house… it will have a lap pool, basketball courts and racquetball – so we signed on the dotted line! Since we’re early birds, we were able to lock in a rate of $19/month for full use of the facility – once it’s finished (there’s a smaller unit already open, which we’re using for cardio, since it’s sooo close).
Yes, that’s two gym memberships – lol. But our other gym membership is cheap too – and since it’s 24 hours, it’s “open” on holidays. So – Gold’s notwithstanding, we’re planning on sticking around.
But I digress… the other “plus” is that this workout was a good kick in the rear w/respect to manipulating rest periods. I’d fallen out of the habit of timing my rests, and had pretty much forgotten what 60 second rest periods feel like. My stopwatch is going with me to the gym from now on. 🙂
All things considered, a good change up. I could see myself doing this again, albeit with a few (relatively minor) modifications.
November 23, 2009
Great work. You and John should be proud of you’re hard work. It’s also nice to know you can still learn some new “tricks”.
I agree with you on the workout timing. Mornings for me is the only time I can really feel motivated to workout. The evening ones would be difficult for me.
I have always tried to stay true to the rest periods in my workouts. Just a “habit” I’ve always had.
Great news on the Gold’s Gym so close. I have never worked out in a public gym, always been at home. Good points and bad points to that I guess.
Congrats again to you and John for you’re accomplishments. Now enjoy you’re week off and Thanksgiving Holiday.
December 28, 2009
Just was wondering if you and John had a chance to do any body comp measurements after you finished the challenge.
Just curious to see how much difference it made.
December 29, 2009
I know how it is on the measuring sometimes. Like you said a lot of work went into the program, you needed a break.
Great work on finishing for you and John. I’m glad you made improvement. Thanks for keeping us updated on your progress.
December 29, 2009
Alas, we dropped the ball on that. We did a beginning comp on John, but not an ending one (we were pretty burnt, and just kept procrastinating – no excuse). He weighed in at 204 lbs. at the end, though, which represented about a 5 pound loss… not as much as he would have liked, but not too shabby, either.