Happy Monday! As of this past weekend, I’ve officially submitted my revised thesis, which means I’m basically done with college at this point. Crazy, right!? Anyways, the fact that school is winding down for me means that Monday doesn’t hold quite as much stress as it usually does – hence my use of the word “happy.”
To start off your week on the right foot, I’m sharing a full week’s worth of workouts. I record all of my workouts using the Evernote app, which makes it really easy to track my progress and build new workouts based on ones I liked in the past.
My Workout Split
Generally, my workout split is legs (low rep and heavy), push (chest/shoulders/triceps), pull (back/biceps), legs (high rep and lighter), rest. However, I’ve also been throwing a few just-cardio sessions into the mix as well. I also typically try to do something ab-related on at least one of those days, and I typically do HIIT circuits on my upper body days as well.
Leg Day #1 (Sunday, April 8)
I’ve gotten into throwing a longer stairclimber session onto these days. Really fires your legs up, ya know? Speaking of firing your legs up, you’ll notice that I have an nice little “activation” section after my warm-up on leg days. Basically, these are bodyweight exercises designed to – you guessed it – activate your glut muscles. If you’re trying to grow your glutes (instead of just your legs), this is a game changer. Also, hip thrusts are on basically every leg workout I do, because while I kind of hate them, they are 100% what I attribute most of my #bootygains to.
Pull Day (Monday, April 9)
So one of my big fitness goals at the moment is to be able to do a pull-up. It seems like such a little thing, but I had basically zero upper body strength when I started lifting in November, so being able to lift my entire body using just my back and arm muscles is a big deal. Hence, the assisted pull-ups that are on nearly every pull day workout I do. Also, I’ve gotten weirdly into jumping rope as a warm up? It kinda makes me feel like I’m back in elementary school PE class though, lol.
Push Day (Tuesday, April 10)
These used to be my least favorite days, but I kind of love them now? My shoulders are probably where I’ve seen the most muscle growth since I started lifting (other than my legs), so I get a lot of joy out of seeing how much my shoulder strength has improved. Also, working chest seems a bit counterintuitive for women, because, you know, our chest muscles are a bit hidden, but I can’t emphasize enough how working chest can give you a nice little “lift” up there, which is a miracle worker if you’re a member of the #ittybittycommittee like me.
Cardio Day (Wednesday, April 11)
Little known fact: in freshman and sophomore years of college, I was a huge runner. That was my primary form of exercise until I discovered Pure Barre, and I literally ran half marathons for fun. My enthusiasm for cardio has waned a little bit, but I still think it’s a great way to get in a quick workout – I’m particularly fond of HIIT sprints, which get your heart rate up real high but also allow you to rest in between instead of powering through 30 minutes of steady-state running.
Leg Day #2 (Thursday, April 12)
I have a Hip Circle that is basically my best friend on leg days. I use it for activation, and an an added level of resistance on squats and hip thrusts. On these lighter leg days, I also occasionally use it as the only weight – it’s got a bit more tension than a traditional resistance band, so I promise, your side glutes (aka your gluteus medius) will be feeling it.
If you have any questions about any of these workouts (or what I mean by certain terminology… sometimes I make up my own words for things when I don’t know the technical name lol), be sure to let me know!
xo, Taylor
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