What I expected to be a 30 minute workout turned out to be a 20 minute workout with a 20 minute cooldown. I tried to do the whole fartlek thing with a sprint, then running below pace, then running at pace, then back to sprinting. Turns out I can semi-sprint (feels like 80-85% of the work?) for 20 to 30 metres at a time (which is more than enough since a fencing piste is only 15 m XD). Even at what feels to me like a low speed (5-6 mph), my heart rate is still around 150 bpm - 120 would be a better...

Session

Chinups - attempted 3 x 3, turned out to be 4-3-2 XD [None of them were assisted, but probably only 4 of them were explosive. I also only have strength in my ROM from 0 to 135 degrees, I can't do the last quarter, so I tried some negatives and working out the part of the chinup spanning 135 - 170~ degrees when I got home on the jungle gym (They're really good for negatives).]

Lunges, back foot elevated what seems to be 1.5 foot - done all 3 x 15

...

Preface

So it's my first gym session, and I didn't have any real expectations (grounded in relevant experience). I did have a couple of targets for this trial session, and while I didn't meet all of them, I was pretty satisfied about how I did.

My main goal: to improve my fitness both generally and specifically in ways that benefit fencing. So I thought bodyweight/free weight compound exercises would be appropriate. But I added isolation exercises and bench presses...