Strength Training and Deadlift

I wasn't planning on a strength workout today but after reading this on Ross Enamait's blog with my morning cuppa I decided I really wanted to do one! It's a great story about a 70 year old grandmother who can bench press 188 pounds/85.2 kg and deadlift 288 pounds/130.6kg. I decided to try the deadlift for the first time, I went on the side of caution and lifted light 'cause it's easy to injure yourself deadlifting and I have a tempo run planned for tomorrow which I don't want to be too sore for.

I left out the weighted lungess but did the rest of my strength workout as usual, I've been seeing good results doing this strength routine once a week, proof that you don't have to do masses of sets or lift really frequently to see improvements. I'm going to post the weights I used the first time I did this workout and the weights I used now to show the comparison. It would not be ideal if I were just training for strength but I have to fit it in around boxing and running and make all the types of training I want to do work together, I wouldn't have the time to strength train three times a week and I'm guessing I'm not the only one out there who cannot strength train that frequently so I just want to show people that it's possible to see improvements without huge amounts of time dedicated to strength work.

My first deadlift.

Todays workout 30/03/10
Barbell Deadlift 30kg 2 x 6
Dumbell Clean and Press 10kg 1 x 5, 1 x 4 (last time I could only do 1 x 2 and 1 x 1 with 10kg yay!)

Dumbell Bent Over Row 15kg 2 x 8
Dumbell Bench Press 10kg 2 x 5
Dumbell Curl 7.5kg 1 x 2 then 7kg 2 x 6 (amazing what difference .5kg can make!)
Barbell Wrist Curls 22kg 40 reps (I wondered why I couldn't get to 50 then I realised I'd misread my own handwriting and add 2kg by mistake...didn't feel so bad when I realised that)
Barbell Reverse Wrist Curls 11kg 40 reps
Neck Curls 10kg 40 reps

03/01/10
DB clean and press (2x8) 7.5kg +2.5kg
DB bent over row (1x8, 1x6) 12.5kg +2.5kg
DB bench press (1x6, 1x8) 6kg +4 kg
DB lunges (2x12) 22kg +3kg
DB curls (1x6) 6kg, (1x8) 5kg +2-2.5kg
BB wrist curls (1x10) 20kg, (1x40) 17.5kg +4.5kg
BB reverse wrist curls (1x50) 10kg +1kg

So I've made improvements in every area doing it at best once a week sometimes I don't do a strength workout, I usually don't do one in backoff weeks, for example.

I can't wait to go running tomorrow, even though the weather forecast is awful, spring seems to have disappeared again, come back spring! I really wanted to go running today but I thought it was probably best to give my legs a day off since I'm supposed to be doing the runs on alternate days. Tomorrow I have a tempo run planned, 1 mile easy, 2 miles short tempo and 1 mile easy. Hope I don't regret trying the deadlift out!