Fifteen is the magic number!

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Malin

Now a days when I am on a tight schedule I really have to manage my time more efficiently so with no time to spare I shot straight over to the gym as soon as I dropped the kids at the bus so I could get my workout in before Laura and Lynne came in for their 10 a clock workout. And what a leg session I managed to get in, I was completely drenched by the end of it and as I have been walking up and down the stairs in the house this evening I slowly start feeling it’s paying off 😉

I started out with some “heavyish” weights to get my legs working, the plan is to shape them or tone them if you will. I was working with a heavier load aiming for 15 reps with not a lot of rest between the exercises, I’m hoping my legs will look good for our next vacation (you can’t start 2 weeks prior to the trip, right!)

I mixed both stable and more of an unstable environment to execute the exercises so hopefully this will pay off in the end. I finished off with high intensity for the last 5-10 minutes. I did squat jumps, sumo squat jump, jumping lunges and speed skaters

I will admit I do feel a little stupid timing the intervals as I am jumping away all alone! It sort of feels better doing it with other people but I guess I just have to get over it as my “people” came in when my hour was over and cranked out one h**l of a workout of their own and I had the pleasure of hanging with them every single minute….nicely done girls!

Lunch with the girlfriends…naaaw!!!

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Malin

So today I had the pleasure to hang with my girlfriend (as I do) over at the gym where we cranked out a workout from insanity but before we got into the nitty gritty parts we did a nice warmup with a nice chat.

The workout was pretty straight forward, it was built up into three circuits which was perfect because Laura had already been at the gym for half an hour when me and Tania rocked up and she had some business to attend to.

First out was 15 wood chops. Now, the thing is over at Lifetime Fitness they don’t always have a lot of medicine balls around so we ended up using kettle bells that had “sand” in them. This made the workout a little bit more interesting because the five first exercises we used the kettle bell and the sand kept on moving around and shifted the weight.

(pics taken in between the circuits I used 20 lbs blue kettle bell)

The movement number two was sumo squat jumps into and overhead press and although it was hot today the air conditioning was on but I was sweating like a p…lady that works hard 😉

So it was almost a relief when we got down on the mats to complete 15 jack knifes and 50 russian twist but this was nothing compare when we finally could let the “ball” go and give the shoulders some when we finished our 20 superman extension.

After completed the three sets we took a little longer break to recover our muscles before got back at it again. This time we switched the kettle bell out to a dumbbell just because I could not find the weight I wanted. I did end up with 20 lbs at the end when I realized 15 lbs was to light. Anyhow, second circuit started with 10 reverse lunge with a twist coming into a high knee with a twist. And I think it was Tania who mentioned that this movement was so hard and it is so true. But I guess the thing is, it is always the things you find hard that is your weak link and you have to get better at!

(used the ball for the pics)

Back down on the mats we finished out 20 spiderman climbers, 50 bicycle crunches and 15 push ups before we finished out 1 minute on the bike with high resistance going as fast as we could.

They only have two bikes over at the “floor” at lifetime so we moved over closer to them so we could occupy them during the last and final set. With 10 single arm rows with pulling int the knee in between each rep we jumped back on the bike and cranked out 2 minutes medium resistant as fast as we could followed by 1 minute fast run/sprint.

I guess you get a lot more said during a lunch with your girlfriend compare to what you get during a workout with them because when Tania asked me a question I couldn’t answer as I had a enough of just trying to breath…lol

Light weight and high reps

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Malin

Although I had the time for my appointment for my workout on the phone I still manage to mistake the time so my warmup lasted for 25 minutes before the rest of the crew showed up. I do think that was a good thing as I was/am very sore from Wednesdays workout and this gave me an opportunity to loosen up my body.

As soon as every one was warmed up we brought out 5 pound dumbbells and a medicine ball and started with 25 shoulder raise and 25 shoulder press. With the very light weight I say the fist 15 reps are very easy it is the last 10 you really starting to get a burn. The circuit was long so after working with the dumbbell we picked up the medicine ball doing 20 wood shops, 50 russian twists and 50 bicycle crunches before started to skip ropes for 2 minutes. I really try to get the intensity going and giving it my all so the last 15 second I try to double skip.

The second circuit we kept on focusing on upper body starting on the mat in a push up position doing plank to push up, slow climbers and push ups all in 30 seconds intervals followed by 15 leg raises.

2013-07-11 10.18.05

To finish off the arms we picked up the light dumbbells and cranked out 25 kick backs and 25 biceps curls.

After a quick clean up we headed over to the TRX and the big ropes and let me tell you I was reminded why I don’t really take time off because this was just brutal but what can you do then to put your head down and work through the pain 🙂

We started at the TRX doing 10 high rows, 10 low rows, 15 trice extension and 15 pikes. Keep in mind that the at this point my arms had seen the best of me but we walked over to the ropes and started 3 sets of intervals of 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off before when went back to the TRX. This was a very intense workout and I know today is going to be as hard!

A decent hill!

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Malin

I am not used to these bright nights as I had a terrible time trying to sleep last night and when I woke up I after h few hours sleep I think every single muscle was aching in my body. I was not looking forward to my morning run but I took the bull by horns and I hit the 2k’s just to get down the lake I’ve run around so many times before.

There is a stunning track around the lake.

Every step was a pain and my legs where heavy like rocks. It was not a fast run and I had to walk the last kilometer coming back to my moms apartment as the hills can be a nightmare. I had not much left in the legs but I decided to do sprint intervals up the hill and although this was not a great performance I did complete almost 8.5 k with two very tired legs and that is ok 😉

The towns own San Francisco hills

You think you’ll die but somehow you always survive!

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Malin

Today we decided that my sister Helena would come with me for my workout and I know when I write this that I won’t offend her when I say she is slightly out of shape but she would like to come back to the routine of working out again. I didn’t want to do a long run as I already completed 16k in two days but I knew I needed to focus on the legs so I thought we would start with a quick warmup around the block. It was Helena who was showing the way as well as the space. She took us through fields and forests and in the middle of the thickest woods Helena started to slow down as she was getting a side stitch but at that point I told her to keep on running as we were being completely eaten by every mosquito there was! She did great and we finished the warmup run of just under 2k although she thought she was about to die but amazingly she didn’t…lol.

When we got back we pulled out the old lashing straps and started doing 15 single legs squats each leg, 15 hip abductions and 30 bicycle pull in.

In between every finished rep we did 6 sprint intervals and Helena did really well and kept up and finishing off what we started.

After my 18th sprint my legs started to feel a little wobbly and I decided to finish the day with some core exercises.

pike

This workout took us 1.45 minutes to complete and even though it was not that many circuits I have a feeling I’ll feel it tomorrow 🙂

My final workout!!!

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Malin

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 😉

2013-06-17 00.29.11

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 🙂

Always trust your gut feeling!

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Malin

When I started lifting weights with Jonathan back at Lifetime I used a heart monitor and every time my heart rate use to increase with about 20 beats before I was even through the front doors of the gym just because I was nervous of how hard it was going to be. Since then I have lost my monitor and I am not nervous anymore going to workout. But yesterday when I was driving towards Lifestyle Fitness the nervous feeling was creeping up on me. I could feel my heart rate increase for every mile I was getting closer and i guess my gut feeling was right because it was no joke today!

This particular morning the weather was still alright so we started warming up (2nd warmup) with skipping rope for 2 minutes twice through before we really dug into the hard work. We did 2 different variation of agility ladder drills and using hurdles, mixed up with interval sprinting and wall sits. This is a great way to build up speed, power, coordination and this combined with the interval sprinting you also improving your cardio.

After this intense “warmup” was completed it was time to bring it back inside where our first circuit was a combination of working the upper back, lats and the hamstring. I started out on the TRX completing 15 high rows, 15 hamstrings curls from a Pilates ball and 15 romanian deadlifts, twice through. This was the first variation of two as the second consisted of 15 low rows, 15 single leg hip raises from the Pilates ball (they are killers for the hamstrings) and 10 single leg romanian dead lifts.

We pretty much kept on working the same muscle groups for the next circuit but it was only 12 weighted squats and 12 pull downs. I guess I should not say only because the legs was already exhausted and the weight was heavy.

The last and final weight circuit we also put some focus on the core and the arms. From the TRX we did 15 hip abduction with a push up (when opened the legs do the push up then closed). After that we did 20 step up with high knee and a bicep curls and to complete this circuit we did 15 leg raises with the Pilates ball.

This was when the hour was officially over, but our hour does not finish until Jonathan says so. So to in order to complete this workout we picked up the ropes and did a few intense intervals before we called it a day!

The best of both worlds!

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Malin

Even if it did not go so well today I did have a great workout with John yesterday as he had prepared a total body workout with both weights and interval training.

Our first circuit consisted of 15 wood chops, 25 “squat to jump jack”, 15 weighed jack-knife, 50 russian twists, 20 superman extensions.

It was a long circuit and Jonathan was not giving us a lot of rest and the only chance we had to bring our heart rate down was during the mat exercises.

The following set of exercises we picked up the cardio just a bit. The idea was the same minimal rest in between the sets and first out was 20 reverse lunge with twist to a high knee and twist, 20 spiderman climbers, 50 bicycle crunches, 15 pushups. We finished this circuit with skipping rope for 1 minute and to make it more challenging I asked Jonathan call out every 10 seconds and I did 5 double jump.

Our last and final circuit we once again picked up the cardio a notch but before we did anything to our heart rate we did 10 single arm row from a push up position with the knee pulled in underneath the chest to contact the abs after every row. As soon that was complete we did 2 minutes standing on the bike, not giving it all but enough so I had a real hard time talking then we finished off sprinting down the cup-de sac.

The workout was far from easy as it was very intense and I love it that when you think you are done Jonathan decides that we can squeeze that little bit extra out of our bodies and somehow we always can! So we finished the day with squat jumps and jumping lunges and although I don’t have any muscle aches today I was completely exhausted at the end of it!

Today was a good day!

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Malin

I don’t know what happened to the spring but the last two days has just been awfully cold so today I thought I would go to Lifetime Fitness for a nice cardio session without freezing my ass off.

I always have a plan in mind on what I am going to do when I going to workout (except when I am going to the warehouse, then I have Jonathan who is doing all the planning 🙂 ) it helps me to be more efficient and I tend to stick to my goal. Today was no difference and it’s been a while since I did any interval training and reading other peoples blogs I’ve seen a lot of them doing HIIT training so I thought I give it a go. I googled HIIT and it seems like there is a lot of different versions but I decided to do 60 seconds on, 60 seconds off for about 10-20 minutes. The thing is with HIIT it supposedly should help lower your total body fat as well as it should improve your athletic performance (Wikipedia).

So I walked over to the gym and got started on the treadmill, I initially thought I would do a warmup run for 15 minutes before I was going to start my HIIT. The thing was it felt so go so I ended up going faster and faster and I all of a sudden I thought; “What the heck, lets see how fast I can get three miles” and I actually ended up doing a personal best 22.57.

HIIT

When I was done I walked it out for about 5 minutes and the I got back on in again for another 15 minutes, sprinting at 10.2 for a minute and resting the next. The last two sprints I was really fighting for it and I honestly thought I would puked during the final 30 seconds and that would have been a fine sight, right!

I knew I was going to work hard today but not that hard! But hey, I’m not complaining…I feel so good!

Our aspirations are our possibilities.

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Malin

At 4 am this morning a little Mira snuck in between my sheets hot as an oven so when the bus arrived it was only Knut who left for school. So with Mira home there was no gym time for me today at least I thought but then I got thinking.

When we moved to the US all our belongings was shipped from Sweden including all our electronics not thinking that North America has a different voltage that pretty much left us with a lot of appliances that are now useless including our elliptical. This elliptical of ours has been stored in the garage for the last 4 years but we do have a transformer so we can make it work. It was now time to dust it off and I was going through boxes trying to find the electrical cord. When I did I managed to move it from the garage to the house with my well earned new muscles ;).

The elliptical is not fancy in any shape or form but it has a few programs and I had forgotten how efficient it was. I did an hour interval training in front of the TV and I was soaking wet by the time I was done and Mira was fast asleep in the sofa.