Or woman, as the case may be....

(a line from Super Troopers, which is a GREAT movie by the way)

I had the most AWESOME performance in the gym last night and I just wanted to crow about it. It's the one time in my life I would ever have volunteered for a blood test, because my testosterone must be through the ROOF right now! Between that and the epiphany I had about breathing (doing it the total opposite of what I thought made me INCREDIBLY better supported), I increased my weight on pretty much EVERY set, and I added additional exercises to the whole routine. YOW!

The guys in the freeweight section must have thought I was nuts, because I would come up smiling and laughing like a maniac from every set! WHEE!!!

If any other iron monkeys out there want to try out my secret of breathing, it made an incredible difference for me if I breathed IN during the exertion phase. For example, doing squats, I breathed out while slowly going down, then breathed in as I was coming back up. I found that not only did it make me able to handle more weight, it supported my lower back in the place that it tends to hurt if I take on too much.

There was an interesting article in Men's Health (I think) a year or two ago specifically about breathing and how doing it the right way acts as a natural weight belt and support system for your body. I certainly discovered that last night! I wish I knew exactly where the article was, because I'd love to read it again.

It took a little bit of figuring on some exercises which way to coordinate my breathing, but once I did... LOOK OUT! It also helped me to keep better time than I usually do, although I felt like I was doing the movements faster than normal. I generally try to do the slow, sustained movements to get the most out of my work.

Thanks for letting me share. I'm just all sorts of psyched! I also seemed to have just the right combination/amount of fuel yesterday, which really helped A LOT! If I felt like that every afternoon, I would have no problem going to the gym. I was really itching to get in there, especially since I wasn't able to go on Tuesday.

I'm so glad that my husband introduced me to freeweights and taught me a bit of what to do with them. I've always been more interested in the weights than in aerobics, but that's what gets pushed at women. I'm so happy to have an exercise routine that makes me feel happy and accomplished instead of in pain and wanting to kill someone (namely the chirpy instructor).

Anyone else have any great exercise experiences lately?

Alexis