muscle fever.

i love DOMS. love, love, love. am i crazy? maybe.

for those of you who don’t know, DOMS stands for:

Delayed

Onset

Muscle

Soreness

here is wikipedia’s definition, because they have a better way with words than i do.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), also called muscle fever, is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed and/or strenuous exercise. Delayed onset muscle soreness begins 8-24 hours after exercise, peaks 24-72 hours after exercise and subsides over the next 5-7 days. It is a symptom of muscle damage caused by eccentric exercise. After such exercise, the muscle adapts rapidly to prevent muscle damage, and thereby DOMS, in repeated bouts.

^(source.)

ha! up until i read that wikipedia description i had never heard of it referred to as “muscle fever”! that’s great. and hilarious. i am using it.

so, i know that having DOMS is not an indication of how hard you worked out. in fact, it is perfectly fine to not ever have DOMS—that does not mean you didn’t get a good workout in. i guess it is all mental for me, though, because i love a good bout of muscle fever

anyway, i haven’t mentioned this to you guys, but it has been really hard for me to get DOMS in my triceps and biceps lately. the day after an upper body workout, the ONLY place i can feel it is in my chest. oh man.. that area where your chest and arm connects? it has been so, so sore. i have been able to get DOMS in my chest with minimal effort. i don’t think i have been lifting particularly heavier weights on my chest exercises. but i HAVE been trying to lift heavier weights with my biceps and triceps lately because i just haven’t felt that burn that i love so much. what gives?!

so.. i switched it up. i decided that my muscles were sick of my regular routine, they were getting way too used to it, so i changed my routine. not by a lot—i still followed the body for life style of upper body workout. i just switched out a couple of moves and changed the order and speed in which i did the moves. the result?

my triceps and biceps are aching today. hurts so good! i can’t even lift my fork without feeling the muscle fever in my biceps.

here are the details of yesterday’s upper body workout.. i superset the pyramid sets and then did the final exhaustion reps back to back. this will only make sense if you do body for life workouts.. so if that is all greek to you, just ignore.

shoulders/biceps superset

move	weight	reps	muscle worked
upright dumbbell row	15# total	12	shoulders
dumbbell curls	15# total	12	biceps
upright dumbbell row	20# total	10	shoulders
dumbbell curls	20# total	10	biceps
upright dumbbell row	25# total	8	shoulders
dumbbell curls	25# total	8	biceps
upright dumbbell row	30# total	6	shoulders
dumbbell curls	30# total	6	biceps
upright dumbbell row	20# total	12	shoulders
overhead dumbbell shoulder press	20# total	12	shoulders
dumbbell curls	20# total	12	biceps
hammer curls	20# total	12	biceps

triceps/chest superset

move	weight	reps	muscle worked
overhead cable triceps extension	35#	12	triceps
pushups	body weight	12	chest
overhead cable triceps extension	40#	10	triceps
pushups	body weight	10	chest
overhead cable triceps extension	45#	8	triceps
pushups	body weight	8	chest
overhead cable triceps extension	50#	6	triceps
pushups	body weight	6	chest
overhead cable triceps extension	40#	12	triceps
bench dips	body weight	12	triceps
pushups	body weight	24	chest

back/chest superset

move	weight	reps	muscle worked
single arm dumbbell row	12.5#	12 each arm	back
incline dumbbell chest press	25# total	12	chest
single arm dumbbell row	15#	10 each arm	back
incline dumbbell chest press	30# total	10	chest
single arm dumbbell row	20#	8 each arm	back
incline dumbbell chest press	40# total	8	chest
single arm dumbbell row	25#	6 each arm	back
incline dumbbell chest press	50# total	6	chest
single arm dumbbell row	15#	12 each arm	back
reverse flyes	20# total	12	back
incline dumbbell chest press	30# total	12	chest
pushups	body weight	12	chest

that’s IT. this workout only took me a little over 30 minutes and i feel like it is the best upper body workout i have completed in months.

i focused on doing the repetitions with perfect form and really put a lot of effort into each rep. quality over quantity here, folks. a good workout doesn’t have to take 2 hours! just do the moves correct and adequately and you will feel the burn the next day.

in other news, we had marshall’s step sister’s rehearsal dinner tonight! she is getting married on saturday and i couldn’t be happier for her & her mister-to-be. possibly the coolest part of their wedding is that it falls on 12-11-10! what luckies. or is it luckys? either way…

the rehearsal dinner was at marie callendar’s.

apparently i have lazy eye on ol’ righty. <—looks just like me!

coffee to drink~

marshall got the famous pot pie~

i went with lemon chicken, mashed potatoes & veggies~

apple pie for dessert~

it was a great time! we don’t see marshall’s side of the family enough so i really enjoy any and all time we get to spend with them. i am so excited for saturday.

after the dinner we paid a visit to emily & her husband—they just adopted a new dog and marshall & i just had to meet her.

huli!

sorry em, i stole your photo off FB because i didn’t have my camera with me. hope you don’t mind.

and now. the moment 237 of you have been waiting for. the winner of the third giveaway of christmas: a jar of vanilla bean paste! oh, and for the record, the majority of you said you would put it in your oats. truth be told, i have never put vanilla extract or vanilla bean in my oats! i am going to give it a whirl one of these days.

drumroll…

congrats, jess! please email me your address and i will get your vanilla bean paste shipped out to you sometime in the very near future.

thanks to everyone who entered. remember, there are 9 more giveaways to go before christmas arrives!

if you want to buy some vanilla bean paste for yourself, i found mine at ross.. but i also found a couple kinds on amazon.. click HERE for the brand i bought at ross or HERE for the brand that pioneer woman recommended awhile back.

be back tomorrow for flashback friday!

Qs~

1. do you enjoy “muscle fever” or do you loathe the DOMS?

2. today was national pastry day! what is your favorite pastry?

xo. janetha g.