Week 6 was a light week for me in regards to number of workouts I was able to attend due to several conflicts especially the start of my son’s soccer season. But, with only 3 workouts in, I was still able to manage to feel like I was continuing to expand my comfort zone and increase gains in some areas.
This week had a LOT of rowing and I am really noticing my endurance picking up tremendously. I was always weak in this area so it feels good to be able to stay strong through a workout with a lot of endurance needed. One thing I have noticed is that being taller helps but also it is important to remember to keep my knees straighter slightly longer when retracting back towards the machine. Old habits of knee bend try to creep in from time to time!
My deadlift has improved tremendously (from like nothing) to being able to handle 135 lbs 14 times for 4 rounds during one of the workouts and that also included other movements like rowing and pushups. My movement is getting really precise since I have understood that I need to keep the bar very close to my body and almost touching at points when I get above my knees.
One big moment in understanding where I have improved was doing Hollow holds to V-ups at the end of the Thursday workout. In the past I’ve had trouble with these and have worked to just do Hollow holds so far. But, I did 5 rounds of 7 Hollow hold to V-ups per round really solid (besides a couple poor balanced ones). This has given me confidence that I have to continue to trust this new fitness process, stay focused on upping weight and testing it out, and not worry about how many workouts I do a week but realize I need to put all my effort in on each of them.
I know Week 7 will be a limited week as well with a trip at the end of the week scheduled so I’ll have to try and be consistent these first 4 days and grind through.
Will update next week!