Shoulders

I start off the day the same as usual with 15 minutes of yoga before breakfast. I'm going to write a more detailed post at some point in the near future about the morning yoga I do, but for now, I'll just say that it's very instinctive and based on how I'm feeling on any particular day. Yoga is all about connecting mind and body and I don't think applying a rigid standard is respectful to the constant fluctuations of mind and body.

At the gym, I decided to do my cardio session on the Stair Master today. It's the kind that has moving stairs so that it's like climbing actual stairs (as opposed to pedals that you push). I did it for 35 minutes and climbed 206 flights of stairs. I did a few speed intervals, but not too extreme. And, yes, it did kick my butt!

We have a lunch appointment that's going to take most of the afternoon, so I'm saving my free-weight shoulder workout for tonight at home.

About 8:30 pm I did a free-weight shoulder workout that was composed of giant sets, each exercise done for 12 reps, the whole routine repeated 3 times.
It went like this:
Front raises with 10 lb. dumbbells
Lateral raises, 10 lbs.
Bent over lateral raises (for rear deltoids), 10 lbs.
Overhead shoulder presses with 15 lb. dumbbells
Upright rows, 15 lbs.

When I repeated the giant set for the second time, I replaced the 10 lb. dumbbells with 12.5 lbs. and the 15 lb. dumbbells were replaced with 17.5 lbs.
For the third giant set, I changed the 12.5 for a 15 lb. dumbbell and switched the 17.5 for a 25 lb dumbbell.

I then did 4 pilates type exercises for abs and core (more on that later), with about 25 reps each set.

That's it for today! That workout only took me about 20 minutes, so it is something that can easily be worked into the day.