To recap, I hadn’t run for 6 days and 48 hours have passed since my last anaerobic exercise. This morning, I started out with a 35 pound dumbbell. First I did 3 sets each of shoulder shrugs, then 3 sets of military presses, and then 3 sets of horizontal rows; I try to do the concentric (raising) movement fast and the eccentric (lowering) movement slow. Then I jogged for about 5 minutes before doing running sprints using the Tabata protocol (eight 20 seconds sprints separated by 10 seconds of rest). I finished by doing some plyometric skipping and jogging. I was done exercising in less than 20 minutes.
As soon as I got back to the house, I had 1.5 scoops of whey isolate. I felt good and was energetic today. My legs didn’t feel beat; in fact my legs had some spring in them when I went up stairs two steps at a time. Today, as is the case often, after I exercise, I noticed a nonchalant attitude and a confidence that I can easily handle the stresses of the day. I attribute these experiences to the release of growth hormone (GH).
Today I can still feel my chest muscles by my armpits from my “push ups with elevated feet” that I did 2 days ago. I would not call it delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) because it is not painful; I just notice a slight feeling of fullness and the area may still be slightly swollen .
I think it is funny that arm muscles swell up after anaerobic exercise making one look strong and fearsome, while at the same time it may actually be difficult to sign one’s name legibly or drink a glass of water without having the arm shake.
Tags: anaerobic, concentric, eccentric, exercise, plyometric, skipping, sprints
