"SEC-S25W3:Building Strength (Increased Intensity)"

Greetings everyone and welcome to my blog. Exercise we all know is a very important part of our living and today I am glad to partake of this weeks exercise challenge again on building strength. You never know how much strength you have built over time until you see yourself engage in these exercises over and over again.

I had a very funny experience this week regarding this exercise challenge. I wasn’t able to engage in last weeks challenge but I told myself that no matter how busy I am this week, that I must try and go for this week. So when I finally created out time to do the challenge, I went to my blog to get the challenge details. I started doing the challenges and when I was done, I was tired but only to find out that I had done the challenge for last week. I could not believe my eyes cos I was already tired but I told myself that it is a part of exercise and it’s good for me. So I had to look for the right challenge for this week and started afresh again. Hahaha. I was glad that I was able to do the two challenges but I only documented for this week. I thought I was going to feel serious body pains but no. My body was already getting used to being exercised and that was great.

For this week, the table below is the table of the exercises I did and their number of repetitions.

Week 3 Focus	Programs	Duration/Reps
Building Strength (Increased Intensity)	warm-up (brisk walking)	5minutes
~	Dumbbell deadlifts	3 sets of 10reps
~	inclined push-ups	3 sets of 8 reps (beginners)
~	Dumbbell shoulder flys	3 sets of 10reps
~	side plank	2 sets of 20 seconds for each side
~	cool down	5 minutes Full body stretch

Explain your experiences in detail which you had while carrying out these programs including the body parts where you feel the most impact of each of the programs, if the programs were difficult for you or not, how you got your dumbbells and so on. Just be detailed.

Warm up, brisk walking

So I started the exercise by doing the warm up exercises first and I chose brisk walking for the warm up. I did brisk walking for five minutes. This involves walking fast as opposed to the normal walk but we walk while standing at a spot but faster. Then I alternated it with walking from one aside of my feet to the other side and also throwing out my legs in front and back.

Someone would have felt that this would just be as simple as ABC but it wasn’t like that. Infact, at the third minute, I already started feeling the impact on my laps as I kept walking and lifting the legs in those brisk moments of activities. I kept pushing on and indeed it helped to strengthen the leg muscles and build stability in the muscle groups.

Dumbell shoulder flys:

Well, this is not for the weak. I didn’t have a dumbell and I had to improvise like the teacher said by using two bottle waters that were filled with water for both hands. I bent over face down and then with the two dumbells on the both hand each. I lifted my hands upwards and over the shoulder level as if I want to fly just as the name implies. I thought that this was going to be a walk away but I was joking. My the time I got to the end of the second fly and headed for the third, my arms and shoulder muscles were all strained and already needing help. I felt the pain but I was determined to keep pushing until I finished the flys. I did three sets of ten repetitions.

Dumbbell deadlifts

When saw the original video from the teacher I knew it would be somehow engaging and painful to do this exercise maybe because she was carrying the heavy dumbells and I thought that using the improvised water bottle wouldn’t be that difficult but my thoughts lied. Well, the dumbells in themselves weren’t that heavy ofcourse but the course of having to bend down and arch the waist and pulling the hands and body to a straight position and then going back down was were the effort was. I wasn’t easy believe me. I felt the pains on my back and on my hands and waist as I went up and down. I did three sets of 10 repetitions.

inclined push-ups

Hmmm speak of the task master. I don’t like push ups because they take their toll on me and it’s difficult to lift the body on repetitions. Then I saw inclined and I was like how. I didn’t have anything to use to incline myself so I had to improvise with the couch set in our common room. It’s already leaning against the chair and should carry me. So I inclined my self and tucked my toes to the ground for balance and pushed towards the chair and back and forth. It wasn’t easy oo. At the second lapse my hands and waist and chest region was already crying for rescue but what can a woman do except to push and finish. So I had to finish the 3 set of eight repetitions.

side plank

Another tester of our endurance. I love planks and they help to build endurance. Putting my legs together one side and finding balance with the arms on the floor, I pushed up my body up and sustained it for about twenty seconds for each side. Hmmm, the balance of the left hands seemed easier and the body was lifted but the right side was a struggle as my right hand felt wobbly and tired but a sister gat to do what she gat to do. I also sustained on both sides for twenty seconds twice. It was fun and interesting but painful. The pains disppeared after the exercises though.

Cool down

I was glad that I was able to push through all these excercises. Then I had to do the full body stretch cool down for my muscles to relax. I did general body stretching for five minutes I stretched my neck, arms, shoulders and Legs and also my waist. At the end of the day, I was sweating and I also showed my sweaty face. I love the exercise this week and the conditioning and strengthening it gave to my body.

Attached below of the video for the exercises carried out.