My Tuesday DATE with the stair monster!

If you read yesterday's blog about my return to the treadmill, you'll remember everything went well, and I had no pain in my hip flexor, and ended up having an awesome workout followed by some much needed foam rolling. I burned 668 cals altogether. (Btw, using this heart rate monitor has become my new best friend in the gym. You can't check how many calories you burned until the end of your workout, so it makes you PUSH for rewarding results!) Anyway, last night, my hip flexor and entire lower body was sore, i figured from my tough leg workout. Well, when I woke up this morning, my hip was in SO much pain. I mean so much pain it bothered me to WALK. I hadn't planned to run today, just had a date planned on the stair master AKA stair MONSTER. I stretched out and warmed up when i got to the gym, and met my match. The great thing about the Stair Monster is that its LOW IMPACT--no pounding on the joints.  I spent 30 minutes on that bitch!! My playlist is the ONLY thing that made me stay on there...well, and the fact that I want to be RIPPED. I got goals to accomplish! I stayed mainly between levels 8-12, never slower. I did some 1 minute intervals with my arms over head....wow, way to get the heart rate up and sweat more. I really try to never hold onto the machine, because usually that defeats the purpose. After my monster cardio, I did an upper body BLAST:


Tuesday's tough stuff:


Circuit 1: 3 sets 12 reps, increase weight each set 
Seated low row
Seated cross-cable delt pull
One arm low row w/torso twist
Toe touches on bench w/10lb ball
Russian twists on bench w/10lb ball


Circuit 2: 2 sets 12 reps increasing weight, 3rd increase weight and drop-set until absolute fatigue
Tricep pull down with rope
High face pull on one leg with rope
stiff arm lat/tricep pull with rope


Circuit 3: 3 sets as many reps as possible, using heavy dumbbells, drop-sets
Bicep curl to overhead press (20s, 25s)
Chest press (20s, 25s, 30s)
Arms overhead L-crunch on bench (12 reps per set)


Circuit 4: 3 sets 10 reps
Reverse shrug using dip station
full twist w/oblique crunch


Circuit 5: 2 sets until fatigue
Lateral raises on one leg (8s, 10s)
Reverse flys bent over on one leg (10s)


Foam-rolled, stretched out my shoulders A LOT, and did more scorpions and hip flexor stretches. 90 minutes, 586 cals burned, 35% from FAT. It's crazy how hard the Stair monster is , yet doesn't burn as many calories as running.  For me, running is usually relatively painless. My body has become so well-conditioned for running, that I don't feel PAIN after running a 7:34 mile, just lots of sweat. 

I wish someone could get a photo of how SICK my back and shoulders look when I work out. Today, when I was working hard on the dip station, I saw striations in my shoulders! I was so shiny (aka sweaty) and ugh I just remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking DAMNNN my shoulders look hot! (If only my booty had the same prominence...) I took a photo before I worked out today because I liked the outfit I wore to the gym, but you can BARELY see the definition in my shoulder caps thanks to my crappy cell phone quality.
I cant help but smile when I look at this photo: that top is a size 2 from lululemon, and those pants are a size small, and I have to pull them up sometimes! You can't tell from the photo, but the back of my pants have grey detailing that matched my shirt perfectly. If you care...haha.
Anyway, I would love to hear from anyone who follows my blog!!! BOTHER ME!! You can also read my twitter at twitter.com/lizbrody or mention @lizbrody on twitter. I tweet about everything, but you know i can't help but tweet about food and exercise!! 
Much love.
Burn some calories tomorrow!! 
xoxoxo