The core is everything

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Malin

Being strong is one of the most wonderful feeling that I know and even if the journey can be painful there is few things that beats the feeling when you realize you can push your body to new limits. And as a house needs a strong foundation so does your body and therefore is he core one of the most important areas to strengthen (not only because you will look good in a bikini).

This is a few moves I did yesterday to strengthen my abs so I can do even more fun things at my yoga practice 😉

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I started out doing a slow pull in followed by as equal slow hip adductor and then finish off with a pushup. I did not have to do a crazy amount before I started feeling the nice familiar burn 😉

I kept on working my abs but did a different variation to get deeper into my shoulders and upper back. This was a pike from a shoulder stand…

From there I popped up to my hands and did another 10 pikes from the hands

To finish the series off I oblique crunches…from a push up position you swing your knees to the outside of your triceps alternating the sides.

I can be your fairy godmother!

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Malin

The person who knows your body the best will always be yourself and therefore I think it is important to communicate with my clients to meet their requests. So this sunny Wednesday morning with me as their fairy godmother their wish was about to come true…

…but not until I had tried the intensity of the workout myself 😉

The first circuit was just for warming up and making the heart pound a few extra beats before getting into the fun part. We did it twice through with 30 sec plank to push up and 30 sec plank followed by 10 push ups.

With that done we did a variation between a wood chop and russian twist apparently called “crazy Ivan”. Sitting down with the feet either on the floor or off the floor depending on the desired intensity lifting a medicine ball from one hip up through to the opposite side. This should be a challenging move and it may not be the core that gives in first as the shoulder has to do a fair bit of work as well.

To finish this series off we did another variation of burpees but instead of a push up we twisted both knee to the opposite elbow before we jumped back up into a squat jump. And I can promise after two sets the warm up was completed.

Giving the abs a small rest we got into the lats. I have a few goals of my own in mind this spring and being able to do pull ups is one of them. For some reason I am really weak or my body is to heavy for my arms, you choose which one you think it is…haha

So first out was cable pulldown, this is not a favorite move of mind but like I always say you will seldom like anything you’re not good at so you just hang in there and keep pushing.

Next up was TRX “lateral trunk twist”, this move will not only work the lats but also the shoulders and biceps. Hold on to one strap, reach for the floor behind you and pull yourself up and reach along the strap.

At this point I had a nice burn going and with one more exercise before the grand finale it had to be single arm rows.

And here they were, the pull ups! I am not ready to do it without assistance and the first couple of reps felt so easy but coming into the last few I had the shiver!

I did said I was the fairy godmother today and I didn’t want to disappoint nobody so we went back to the old TRX to hit the core. The first exercise was really two in one, almost like a bargain, right! Put the feet through the straps in a push up position, pull your knees in to your chest and out again. From there you will pike your hips up into the air as high as your can using your abs…that is one rep. Normally your abs should be burning by 10 but if not by all means keep on going to 15 or 20, it’s your choice and it’s your workout 😉

With the rectus abdominis out of the way next up was to hit the obliques. This move can be done from the floor as a regular “spiderman” or with one foot through the strap and the other one reaching for the shoulder and back into a plank position without the foot touching the floor. Again it is not only the core that is working, it is a lot of tension on the shoulders as well.

Someone recently told me the summer is around the corner although I have a hard time believing them but one thing I know is that few of us likes that “muffin top” sticking out. This is a great move to work on the love handles. Again, you can make it easier by keeping your feet on the floor but using the TRX, creating an unstable environment will make you recruit more muscles to stabilize the entire exercise. You can stay here or you can shoot the hip up in the air pretending you are rolling a ball underneath you to take it to the next level…

…and that is how you make dreams come true for some 😉

A week of pain finally came to it’s end…

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Malin

The first week of pain was completed on friday and the last thing we did was making the arms work (the only thing that is not sore) and Jonathan had put together another intense program. We started out with a quick warm up for the shoulders and arms with 20 scarecrows, 10 hands to push ups and 10 push ups.

Again this was still ok although at the third set I had a nice burning going for me in the shoulders. It was at the following circuit the real workout started and with no rest in between the exercises the burn that was tingling in my shoulders turned into a full on fire after 15 upright rows with the barbell, 15 shoulder raise…

and 15 Arnold press…as you might have realized I haven’t been to active for the last month lifting weight I wanted to be sensitive so my first set I picked up the 12 pound dumbbell to complete my 15 but I realized fast that it was a little light for me so the second and third set I changed it into 15 pounds instead…

and finally burn out on high rows on the TRX until exhaustion before we could take a quick breather before we got going again.

When we moved into a different muscle group (still working the arms) I was very glad because I don’t think my shoulders could have taken anymore at that point and the following circuit was a fun one. We started with 15 chest flies, now this was supposed to very heavy and at the end every rep we were coming into a nice stretch for the pecks…

…and when the 15 was completed without setting the dumbbell down we finished with 15 presses. Again taking the dumbbells down deep to get the most out of the exercise.

The next three exercises in this circuit was very straight forward…15 pulldown (heavy) 15 biceps curls and 15 triceps extension.

And what is a “armday” with out the big ropes so the last 10 minutes we completed the friday workout with intervals. I will admit that at this point I wasn’t going at my fastest pace and I thought my arms was going to fall off but never the less I finished every second of every interval.

It’s painfully truthful!

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Malin

Ok, now I am back in business for real! After we came back from Sweden Freddie and I hung out a few days in here in “Chicago” before we took our 10 years anniversary honeymoon to the British Virgin Island and what a week…heaven!

So yesterday was my second workout being back for real and being back in my normal routines but today I am suffering from lying in a sun chair reading “Gone with the wind” not doing to many other things except for throwing myself in the crystal clear ocean every other 30 minutes. It is also a great reminder of how painful it is to lay on coach for to long and as panful it is so it’s great to be back to my old routines and Jonathan had set up a great leg day Wednesday for us.

First out for the workout was 20 leg abductor from the TRX followed by 10 single leg squat touching our hands to the ground to be finished off with a step up with a high knee thrust. At the time being it didn’t felt so bad but this was just the beginning and I know one of the reasons why I can’t walk like a normal person today is because of the single leg squats for a starter 🙂

But there was no time to complain because as soon as the three sets was completed we moved into the seconds circuit that contained of 20 lateral lunges with a reach, 20 forward lunged with the medicine ball static overhead.

These two exercises alone gets your hart rate up to a decant level so when we finally made it back to our mats starting with 15 “peeing dogs” and leg extension from the knees squeezing the glut at every rep was some kind of relief!

The problem was that it didn’t last for long as we finished out this circuit with 15 weighted squats. The trick to it was to squat slowly pause at the bottom come right up but not all the way and go right back down again. It was at this point my legs started to feel a little wobbly…loll

So the workout was coming to an end but we were not quite there. It was a beautiful day and not to hot so we took it outside for some drills with the agility ladder working both cardio and speed as well our coordination. So with this my conclusion from my vacation is that is painfully truthful living like a slacker…haha

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!

Be careful for what you wish for…

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Malin

We finally arrived in my hometown Örnsköldsvik it’s a little of a tongue twister for a novice and although it is hard to pronounce it is a stunning small town on the east coast in the Baltic sea.

Last night at 10pm when I put Mira to bed she was crying that she didn’t want to go to sleep when it was morning…the picture is taken at 10.40 at night and the sun has just disappeared behind the mountain.

I did my best last week but even though you do your very best it is easy to keep on doing things you are used to so after my fist week in Sweden I was longing for some good old soreness. So I rang my sister-in-law to see if she could set me up with her TRX trainer and so she did. Both yesterday and today I was hanging in the cord off the ceiling in the Pilates Studio that was very peaceful and nice but yet energizing.

The class was very different from the training I normally do with Jonathan although most of the movements was the same as we do over at the warehouse. Here we worked different tempo and it was intense in a different way to what I am used to. Johanna was a great instructor as she was both very inspiring as well as professional and I am for ever grateful that she would fit me into her class in such short notice.

http://www.pilatesstudio.se

The rest of the afternoon we went to visit my aunt and in the car over there the tiredness and the pre-soreness pain was creeping up on me and I know that my run tomorrow will be a though one!

Knut by the sea

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 🙂

DIY with TRX

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Malin

We spent the day at the park today as Helena had a meeting she needed to attend to at work but as soon as we got back home I went for a run. I did the same track as I did yesterday and with all the hills it was crazy hard so the last kilometer I did 20 seconds intervals sprints all the way back to the house.

I had already asked Jan for a set of lashing straps before I left and he had them ready for me and I attached them to an old apple tree that Helena and Jan has in their garden and I was ready for a simple TRX workout.

First out I focused on the hips and core doing hip abduction with pulling in the legs.

When I had completed 15 reps I went straight into 50 bicycle crunches and a 30 sec plank and both my shoulders and abs was screaming at the end of it.

My second circuit I decided to focus on my arms and as I started doing my rows a horse was passing by…I’m pretty sure this can only happened on the countryside… lol

I finished my workout with biceps curls and triceps extensions and when I was done I was very tired…I think I still suffering a bit from the jet lag…

Why change a winning concept?!!

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Malin

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

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!