Strength, Day 1

So I went to the gym today and did the first day of my new strength training workout! Here are the details (you can see this on my Fitocracy page too!)

• Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift:
  • 9 kg x 10 reps (+46 pts)
  • 9 kg x 10 reps (+46 pts)
  • 13 kg x 10 reps (+49 pts)
  • Weights originally in lbs - 20lb and 30lb respectively.
• Barbell Squat:
  • 9 kg x 10 reps (+46 pts)
  • 9 kg x 10 reps (+46 pts)
  • 13 kg x 10 reps (+49 pts)
  • Found that 30lb (13kg) was my limit for this and so will continue with that until I can do it easily.
• Weighted Crunch:
  • 5 kg x 10 reps (+9 pts)
  • 5 kg x 10 reps (+9 pts)
  • 6.8 kg x 10 reps (+10 pts)
  • Actually done with a cable, kneeling, bending forward each time. Someone in the gym showed me that, as my spine tends to push too much into the floor and hurts when I'm doing a typical floor crunch.
• Dumbbell Side Bend:
  • 6.8 kg x 20 reps (+37 pts)
  • 6.8 kg x 20 reps (+37 pts)
  • 6.8 kg x 20 reps (+37 pts)
  • Holding dumbbells in each hand, one to the left, one to the right, etc.
• Plank:
  • 28 sec (+12 pts)
  • 32 sec (+14 pts)
  • 43 sec (+19 pts)

I need to work on my form for the squats; my short achilles tendon means I need a plate under each heel so that I can actually bend my knees. I'm hoping that the more I do it, the more my tendon will stretch :)

I feel good and I'm looking forward to heading back on Thursday to go again! I'll be using 13kg from the start on the deadlifts and squats next time (this was the first time I'd done any lifting, so there was some experimentation on how heavy I could go!).