Crunch (exercise) | Just a journal

I have finally arrived at my sister’s house after a very long flight and train journey and I am jet leg as crazy. When I pulled out my workout clothes this afternoon I started feeling nauseous and my head was spinning so I decided against it as I probably would have crashed into a car or something. I do have feeling I will wake up around 2am wide awake and the sun will be shining so I might just do it then instead…lol. I am going to be away for 3 weeks with the kids to visit family and friends and I am dead nervous that I will eat like crap and don’t stay on schedule but I have promised myself that I am going to do my best to keep my routines.

Anyhow when I came in on Friday for my final workout with Jonathan my backside was still sore so I was glad that we focused on our upper body. Straight away we went outside where Jonathan had arrange a long nice circuit for us and first up was 15 “clean and jerk” I used a 45-pound barbell.

We did get in a little legs as well and I could really feel my gluts as soon as I picked up the 16kg kettlebell and started to swing it but so far so good but the intensity was picking up when we threw the medicine ball high up against the wall. I like working the medicine ball, it is almost like the ropes because it makes your shoulders and arms really tiring out and it really gets your heart rate going to.

To bring the pulse down we did biceps curls and shoulder raises to the front. When that was completed we took to the cul-de-sac and sprinted to the end of the street before we took it to the top again. I know I have mentioned this before but interval training is great both for weight loss as well as improving your VO2.

We stayed outside for the second circuit which was not so different but yet it was. We started out with 15 push ups but instead of swinging the kettlebell we did weighted squats instead.

Like I said the first and the second circuit was pretty similar so with the medicine ball we threw it hard straight into the wall and slammed it in the ground. It really works different muscles in the arms and shoulders. This was followed by kickbacks and shoulder raises to the sides. I did go up in weight but I think I should have challenged myself a bit more because I was not as sore as I wanted to be on Saturday but with this being said the workout was still hard, don’t get me wrong 😉

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Instead of sprinting we did 25 squat jumps and I don’t know no matter how many or few Jonathan tell us to do it is almost without a fail it is the last 5 that always kills you.

When we had completed the 3 round we went inside and finished the last 15 minutes completely focusing on the core and if you really emphasis on the contraction you will get a nice burn. First we did 15 leg raises, 20 double crunches, 50 bicycle crunches and 10 rotation with a dumbbell .

The last thing we did for the day was really working the oblique making our legs go side to side 20 times, 15 modified side plank and 20 spiderman climbers. And in all honesty I don’t think you can do many combinations for the core 🙂

I never blogged about my friday workout but it was an insane upper body history and coming in this morning we kept on pushing for a total body workout. We haven’t been using the barbell that often lately but today we started out with 15 curls straight into 15 shoulder pushes. We were really pushing the shoulders on friday so I was a little sore but I find it so effective using different equipment still targeting the same muscle group.

Today working the shoulders

Friday one of the exercises working the shoulder and pecks.

The circuit didn’t finish there so we moved on to the TRX and did 15 pull ups and although you mainly work the back, arms and the pecks you also should contract the gluts so the backside of the legs gets a nice burn 🙂

The next movement was a build up and started with 15 regular pushups, round #2 15 push ups from a bosu ball and for the final round I was supposed to do 15 pushups with the hands on the bosu ball and the feet through the loops of the TRX. I will admit that I only did 14 as my hands was slipping of the ball and I pretty much hit failure. We finished out the circuit with a 1 minute high resistant on the bike.

The next circuit was as long and intense as the first one. We started with 20 hammer curls followed by 10 shoulder raises to the side and 10 shoulder raises to the front. I don’t think I ever will like the shoulder raiser but I do believe you should practice a little extra on the thinks you don’t like because most likely you suck at them and that’s why you don’t like em 🙂

We moved over to the tire and did 30 weighted step up, dips and 10 barbell weighted lunges. Instead of kicking the cardio hard this time we gave out core some attention doing 30 seconds leg raises, 30 sec oblique crunches, 30 double crunches and a 30 sec extended plank, I love the extended plank because it is painful in a nice way 😉

The last 5-10 minutes we finished with intervals on the rope finishing off the shoulders and arm (and some legs). I think this is the first time I am actually sitting down and relaxing today and I can really feel how tired my upper back, neck and shoulders are. It will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow morning, I’m glad I’m not running with my arms… lol