Let the workouts begin!

Today was my first official workout with Chris, my new trainer. I told him that, based on my recent tumble and lower-body soreness, I wanted to focus on my upper body today. 

He recommended that I come in a few minutes early and do a quick five-minute warm-up on the elliptical to get the blood pumping. Next, he showed me some dynamic stretching exercises with a resistance band to warm up my muscles and improve my range of motion. 

We then worked on three core exercises. The first was shoulder arm raises, followed by flat bench dumbbell press, and finishing with a low seated row. The basic philosophy for all exercises is to find the weight I can comfortably sustain in perfect form for 1-2 reps before failure. He said there is no point in going all the way to failure because the minuscule gains are not worth the injury risk.

We then cooled down with light static stretching and breathing. I did a modified dead hang with my feet on a platform in a sitting position, which really opened up my upper back and shoulders.

All in all, the workout wasn't as bad as I had imagined. My next workout is Friday, when we will likely tackle lower body.