**Please consult a physician/professional before starting a fitness routine. While this may work for me, it may not work for you.**

Did you know that you use your shoulder muscles to take off your shirt?

Also, you have muscles in your tush that are required to sit on the porcelain throne?

I’m sure I knew this, but it’s also possible that I’ve blocked out that first leg of my fitness journey when I started in 2016. Now I really know this.

This week marked my first full week back to the gym since my hiatus over the last 6 months.

I think it’s safe to say that I’m an all or nothing kind of a person. Which, usually means I go overboard with my workouts and expect immediate results. I don’t really recommend starting this way, but for me, if I start slow, I can’t gain enough momentum to keep me going. One thing I have changed this time around is that I’m only going to the gym 4 times a week. I have also exchanged my typical 2-hour session into a 1-hour one (sadly, this is probably because I don’t have my sisters to talk to).

Here are my basic starting stats:

Height: 5’7″
Weight: 130 lbs
Waist: 27″

My starting goals:

• Strengthen the muscles around my knee to help with pain from my knee issues
• Firm and shape my rump so it doesn’t look like a saggy bag of flour
• Drop a pant size so I can fit into my favourite Silver jeans again
• Washboard abs – ok, maybe this is pushing it, but we’ll see
• Form a solid cap on my shoulders
• Strengthen & define my triceps
• Learn/form better nutrition habits

Schedule I followed this week:

Monday – Chest & Triceps

• 4 x 10 Chest Press
• 4 x 10 Chest Fly (machine)
• 4 x 10 Rope Pushdowns (SS1)
• 4 x 10 Overhead extensions (SS1)
• 4 x 6 Skull Crushers
• 15 minutes Recumbent Bike (cardio)

Tuesday – Back & Biceps

• 4 x 10 Pulldowns
• 4 x 10 Mid Row
• 3 x 5 Chin-ups (assisted)
• 4 x 10 Cable Rows
• 4 x 10 Cable Rope Curls
• 4 x 10 Bicep Curl/Hammer Curl/Lateral Bicep Curl (Tri-set)
• 15 minutes Recumbent Bike (cardio)

Wednesday – Legs

• 4 x 10 Leg Press
• 4 x 10 Leg Curls
• 4 x 10 Leg Extensions
• 4 x 10 Romanian Deadlifts
• 4 x 10 Side Skaters (SS1)
• 4 x 10 Single Leg Deadlifts (SS1)
• 10 minutes Recumbent Bike (cardio)

Thursday – Rest (mostly because I work 12 hours)

Friday – Shoulders

• 4 x 10 Shoulder Press
• 4 x 10 Cheer Press
• 4 x 10 Cable Rows
• 4 x 10 Cable Pull Throughs (SS1)
• 4 x 10 Cable Upright Rows (SS1)
• 4 x 10 Front Raises (SS2)
• 4 x 10 Lateral Raises (SS2)
• 4 x 5 Around the World Raises
• 4 x 15 Steering Wheels
• 20 minutes Recumbent Bike (cardio)

Saturday – Rest

Sunday – Rest

My final thoughts this week? I’m trying to figure out what weights I should use. I didn’t want to overdo it by lifting the same weights I did 6 months ago, but I also didn’t want to shortchange my progress by lifting too light. With that being said, by the end of the week, I realized that I still had a lot of muscle memory and could lift close to the weight I left off at.

I also didn’t do any ab workouts this week because I was trying to get back into the swing of things first. Working my abs takes extreme concentration because I don’t have much feeling in that area and that makes controlling those muscles difficult for me.

The other thing that I stand by is that the right supplements can really make a difference. BCAAs will help with endurance and pain by breaking up the lactic acid that builds up in your muscles following a workout. When I drink water during a workout, it takes about 5x the water for me to be able to handle the same workout I can do with BCAAs (this is my favourite). The other sups I take are fish oil (I call them my happy pills because they help with my mood) and sublingual B12 pills (I have a B12 deficiency, so these help with energy).

All in all, it was a great week and it felt so amazing to get back into a workout routine. I’m always adding to my list of motivational phrases to keep me pumped, so if you have any that work for you, leave me a comment and let me know.