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I can be your fairy godmother!
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 😉
It will be what you want it to be!
This week has been a little slow and it seems like a lot of people is sick or feeling sluggish and I would guess it’s the weather change. This will only give excuse to the unwell but for the rust of us, we don’t have one!
As you probably have figures out by now I am training for 1/2 a marathon but this doesn’t mean I given up on weight lifting. I like to “feel” that I worked out the day before, yes I sort of thrive on being sore. The thing is, trying to get all the miles in we have planned for every week and being tight and sore is not necessarily a good combination. But to every problem there is a solution, right? And mine is called YOGA!
This hour gives me the opportunity to center myself, release all the tension in my muscles but also focus on the goals I have ahead of me. So yesterday when I was doing my first run of the week, 6 miles. 2 miles warm up then 20 sprints a 30 seconds then running normal pace and legging it the last 1/2 mile and it was tough. The wind was gusting in my face and my heart pounding at 185-190 beats/minute and I’m not lying, it felt like I was running in syrup. That is when I came back to that place I go to when I’m doing yoga. Again it doesn’t mean it stopped hurting but I knew that I could do it and so I did!
Practise what you preach
Today we had a guest appearance from the City. It was Laura’s friend and I’ve been told she is just like me “a gym junky” so the pressure was totally on. I knew the girls was going to be sore from the drop sets we did on Monday so arms was more or less off-limits. So coming in I had to try the workout to see if it was descent or not. As I did Frank, on of the trainers at Lifestyle Fitness decided to join in. It is so much more fun when you have a workout pal because if I every thought about giving up when working alone, having a partner it never even crosses my mind.
So there we were, Frank and I slightly rushed for time when we started to crank out the first set of wood chops, body weighted side bridge, burpee with push up and last but not least shoulder extensions from a medicine ball. Although this was a core circuit the shoulders had to stabilize a fair bit so coming into the last move me and my shoulders had a very private conversation 😉
As we are having a bit of a drop-set week this week what would be more appropriate than carry it over to the legs as well. So with a barbell squats, dropping the weight twice followed by 20 walking lunges with at least 20 lbs weight did the trick…
…but to every frontside there is also a backside. This time around we did the drop set last and started with 15 Barbell “good mornings” followed by Romanian deadlifts. I was coming into my third set and I was glad I was seeing the silver lining of the workout. We topped the day off combining the weight training into 6 minutes cardio blast. I could with an ease to my mind let the girls do the same because I knew I pushed myself and how could I ever give them a workout that would not be challenging enough?!!
Thanks for coming Michelle!
A new week with new possibilities
Finally I think spring is coming our way and what more do you need to get inspired to push that little bit extra and I know for sure that the ladies used it at their advantage.
It was meant to be a total body workout but sometimes it feels like we always working against the clock trying to squeeze in as much as possible in 60 minutes. So first out today was walking lunges with shoulder a press and tubing while “driving” with a medicine ball also working the shoulders. The girls really cracked me up because they were so unsynchronized that Anna was almost squashed between Elli and Lynne. This two moves are very good for the obvious reasons, working the legs (and shoulders) but the tubing is so good for toning the outer thigh.
These two moves was accompanied by single leg squats and bridge keeping the feet on the medicine ball for a more challenge and I will confess as soon as i went outside today I knew they had to run for the first time this year in the cul-de-sac!
As much as I wanted to stay outside we are not really there yet so we went back inside and worked the upper part of the body. We focused on biceps, triceps, lats and the pecs doing drop sets to build some muscles. Starting at the heaviest weight they did 10 reps, dropped the weight and did another 10 and then dropped the weight one last time and finished off another 10 reps.
I hear this all the time that “I don’t want to get bulky” but girls don’t have to worry about it because we don’t produce that much testosterone that is required to start looking like the incredible hulk. I believe that the stronger you are the better you will feel so start lifting and get strong girls!
What are you bringing to the beach this summer?
Sometimes I ask my clients if they have any request before the workout and lately I’ve been asked to focus on the core. I am a strong believer that you can never have to much of it and I always incorporate some into every workout. So as a good listener I did what I was told and started the day with some vicious work to the abs, focusing on the strength instead of endurance.
So the ladies started with 10×3 crunches (front and oblique both sides 10 each) followed by 15 back extensions with a 10 lb. weight. As most of us we all have our weakness and strengths so the weight added was ranging from 10-45 lb and with no rest we moved on to 15 cable crunches. Sometimes it can be tricky to engage the abs and you end up hinging from the hip instead of drawing the navel in. This was followed by the Romanian chair with 15 high knees with added weight to the wrists and by now I think most of them stated to have a nice burn going for them.
But we didn’t stop because we all have a decision to make on what kind of six-pack you’ll bringing to the beach this summer…
is it this…
…or this??
So we kept going doing situps with 15 Russian twists on an incline bench and just for fun we finished it off with 30 sliding mountain climbers.
I don’t think any of the ladies thought it was a breeze but weight training is not supposed to be comfortable because if it is, you should work harder! The girls kept on kicking ass and finished the day off with some heavy lifting to the legs.
A stormy Wednesday Night
I had no classes today so I decided to kill my arms and shoulders over at Lifetime Fitness this morning and it went really well 🙂 So this evening I decided to cozy up in the mid-September storm with Chicken Gratin with taste of India and a glass of red wine from the Rhone Valley…Thank you Elise 😉
La Ferme Julien, Traders Joe $5.99!!! Together with my favorite candle from Henri Bendel
Chicken Gratin
1 whole “Store grilled” Chicken
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Head Broccoli
1.2 cups/ 3 dl Cream
0.4/1 dl cup mango Chutney
1 tablespoon curry powder
splash of sambal oelek
Chop the chicken, vegetable
Chop the chicken, vegetables and put it in an oven proof dish. Mix the cream, Sambal Oelek, Mango Chutney, garlic, and Curry in a bowl. Pour it over the chicken and the vegetables and place it in the oven for 12-20 minutes. Meanwhile cook the quinoa according to the direction on the instructions. Serve the chicken with quinoa and a green salad.
I need some sanity in my life!!!
Ok, so we have finally had the schedules for the kids and in all honestly I think it is a full-time job just to keep up! So I am very glad that I am back with Rebecca for my Pilates sessions last Wednesday as I think this might bring some sanity to my life 😉
It has been a while since I did Pilates and I could really feel it too because it is so very different compared to what I am doing myself over at the gym. At the moment I am focusing building strength and endurance with a lot of stable strength exercises combined with movements in a more unstable environment. So it is very nice to mix it up with the weights and the spinning as well as I really need to work on my flexibility because I am tight like crazy…
A hot Monday Morning
After another fun weekend it feels like a need another one just to recover from the one that just ended. Unfortunately this is not the case because today it was just a regular Monday and I have a ton of things that needs to be done this week. I got into the gym unusually late and I really had to hurry because the ladies was coming in at 10 am ready to kick some ass 😉
After a quick warm up on the treadmill I started out with some core strength exercises. I thought I would this week with a mix between upper and lower body just to get it going on this very hot day.
When the core was over and done with we moved on to the upper body. I am trying to focus on strength and endurance so at the moment I am trying to put together exercise that will enhance the outcome. So with a superset that contained Dumbbell Bench Press and Cable Shoulder Press you start with the isolated movement first and then when hitting the cable you need recruit more muscles to perform the “same type of exercise”.
When this two movements was done we went straight into Shoulder Presses, Shoulder Raises and T- push ups. The girls did really well but I have some trouble in my upper back and after seeing the Chiropractor today he told me to stay off these exercises as I have a pinched nerve… 😦
After finishing the three sets we moved on to the legs and they could still feel the aftermath from Fridays workout when they did really heavy lifting/pushing but this was a bit different. With only two exercises on the TRX we combined this with a fast run around the cul-de-sac (approx. 2-3 min) in the scorching sunshine but it was a nice build up to what it yet to come later on this week because I will ensure that Wednesday will be much more intense…
Fifteen is the magic number!
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!
Just a journal 