Fun of a different kind!

[Catrin]

Metabolic Rowing

10 sets of :30 max effort rowing with :30-:60 between sets. I managed to row 2,338 meters in that time period which DOES count the easy strokes between intervals.

I am starting to like the rowing machine quite a lot, once I figured out how to not fight myself on the rower.

[Crankin]

Evil one is obsessed with the sliders. I hadn't taken her class in about 3 weeks, and I truly thought I was going to die yesterday. I am so sore this morning, I bagged an easy early AM ride to stretch for 30 minutes.

[Catrin]

Went to my gym for a brief unscheduled workout mid-morning to celebrate/de-stress from an hard deadline at work and for the first time in a LONG time was able to not only do Kettlebell Thrusters at all - but even properly and with no pain! I've not been doing any pressing exercises for some time due to my recalcitrant shoulder but after only 2 ART treatments the response of my shoulder is amazing

The treatment seems brutal at the time - but the results are profound!

[Catrin]

"Hurricane Training" this morning. This is comprised of nine sprints that drop down in time after every set of 3 rounds - starting with 25 second sprints, then 20, then 15. Incline = 10, though he sets the speed differently for each one of us - I started with a speed of 5, my last round was 6.5 - the fastest I've ever been on a treadmill. In between each sprint there are two exercises, and a 2 minute rest after every set of 3 rounds.

[Catrin]

This morning we did a deceptively simple set of exercises for 15 minutes. We did not start nor end with these. Our coach had me doing something a little different from my team-mates since pressing is a problem for me right now because of my shoulder - so the following is what I did.

3 fast rounds of the following:

3 kettlebell cleans
3 kettlebell front squats
3 TRX high rows

:45 rest, then do another 3 rounds, rest, etc. for 15 minutes.

At first 45 seconds seemed a very long break, that changed quickly. We followed this with sled-push races

[Catrin]

I REALLY needed a good workout today, and our 15 minute "finisher" at the end of group training this morning certainly provided that. He called it a "modified Cougar"

15 KB swings
10 Goblet Squats
10 TRX Rows
10 Pushups

15 KB Swings
9 each of the 3 exercises
15 Swings
8 each...etc...down to 1 with 15 swings between each set.

I DID get them all in 15 minutes and even beat my team-mate. Done...and I was DONE by the end. Finishing first was a surprise to me, but he did have a heavier kettlebell to swing than I did. That does have an effect at some point - we did a LOT of swings!

[Catrin]

Sharing more wildness in the workout world, and this time with a picture of my group! Sunday is always conditioning day, and it turned out to be "Hurricane Training Day". Normally this is on the treadmill with short fast sprints at an incline of 10 and two weighted exercises between each sprint. Today it was something else: sleds.

SOUNDS easy, push a sled with a 45 lb weight as fast as you can for 15 meters, turn it around and come back. Do 2 kettlebell exercises while your partner repeats push. Do each three times, then another of 3 with a different set of kettlebell exercises. Third set had banded planks rather than KB exercises. Here is a picture of us getting ready to go!

This is a little blurry, I am the one at the far end waiting to go. I love planks (mainly because I can do them for long periods of time), but they really change when you have a resistance band around your body! We held the position until our partner returned with the sled for us to push - our coach does believe in using guilt as a motivator from time to time

Attachment 16651

[Crankin]

That sounds like torture.
I am ready to fall down dead tired. I went to boot camp 2 days in a row, as I am trying to get back on track after vacation, and now we have 3 days in CA for a wedding this weekend. My favorite instructor is now teaching on Monday and Tuesday. She did a really different workout on Monday and I felt great. Although today was different, there was some repetition of muscle groups, which was not good. Yesterday, I was peer pressured into using 2 risers on my step. She said it was just for resistance stuff, but we did do some cardio on the bench and I was fine, but it feels awkward. I have the cardio capacity, but I'm always afraid I am going to kill myself. I am particularly bad with the long resistance bands... sometimes I cannot figure what to do by watching, and I have to get personal "corrections." I hate this; I can do the exercises, but I can't figure out how to get into position to do them. Thankfully, she doesn't use the bands very often for upper body, sometimes for lower. It feels such a long way from when I was the one asking if I could touch someone to help them be in the correct position in my classes.

[Crankin]

DH started Boot Camp at the fitness center at work yesterday. He didn't think there would be so much running! It's all outside (yesterday was about 40 at 7 AM) and he feels pressured to "look good," because of his position in the company. His comment this morning was "at least I can walk," but he is going to have to modify some of the stuff, because after 3 days of riding in Vermont his knees aren't feeling too happy with running up and down the garage stairs 12 times.

[Catrin]

Your post made me smile Crankin! I can see how the combination of riding + Boot Camp when he isn't used to the latter can hit the knees - glad to hear that he is wise enough to not fear modifications. I've a bit of a problem with not wanting to do that but my coach no longer gives me the choice, he plans my modifications into his program

Yesterday I was the only one to show for the 8am group training and he knows me so he KNEW I needed an azz-kicking/stress busting workout. He was all ready for me. The last ~18 minutes of the workout looked like this:

Kettlebell ladder the 1st (this took me 9:38 to complete)
44 lb kettlebell goblet squats: 20 down to one by twos (so 20, 18, 16, etc)
TRX Rows: 1-10 by ones

Kettlebell Ladder the 2nd: (8:17 to complete)
62 pound kettlebell swings: 10 down to 1 by ones
TRX Chest Presses: 1-20 by twos

I seriously needed this workout - and it has entered my list of favorites!

[Irulan]

I would think the instructor would be supervising first timers.... "If you are new to this, you might do only XX stair repeats..."?

[Crankin]

He said several of the participants were sitting down on the ground. He has the cardio capacity and the legs to do the running. His body is just not used to it. The instructor didn't make anyone do stuff when they couldn't. I showed him how to modify the side slides/touch the ground.

[Catrin]

This is "Warrior Cardio" week for my group training, and while our coach's warmups are always intense, for the last week of the month they progress in intensity so we are ready for the main event. This morning part of our second warmup included mountain climbers on sliders. Sounds simple, but we had one foot in the air - the only foot on the ground is the one attempting to do the mountain climber. I did it - it was just a few inches for each one but I DID it The main event that we were warming up for was intense, but fun! I think that I am a sick woman....

[Catrin]

"Warrior Cardio" week has rolled around again - it is always the last week of the month. My butt was thoroughly kicked this morning! Our "finisher" was the following:

Prowler sled push for 200 meters
100 monster rope over-head slams
50 wall balls (in my case it was 42 wall balls and 25 goblet squats)
25 Head Cutters (burpees with a kettlebell)

All of this followed a 10 minute body weight pyramid and a 6 minute KB clean and mountain climber combination.

I was the second slowest, so far, in completing this work in 15:24. I am NOT ashamed of that time, it was a royal butt-kicking - which is a good thing for a holiday week! Back tomorrow morning for another one before heading out of town for the rest of the week. BTW, the fastest time so far was 8:45 THAT was awesome, and from a man in my age group.

[Irulan]

We did dumbbell 100's today. That is 100 of each exercise before you move on to the next one. 10% of body weight in each hand, for me that's a 12 on each hand. I had to downgrade when I got to the curls.
bench press
squats
rows
lunges
curls
catch and release
horizontal pull ups
side lunges.

.If you hit failure before 100 you have to (pick one) row 500m, jump-rope 100, jumping jacks 100, quadmill, run of set of soccer field lines, and then between each dumbbell set you had to do some core in this order, choose one, going down the list.
10 log rolls
20 pikes
30 alternate pikes
40 sky divers
50 hip dips
and I forget what was after that as I only made it to the horizontal pull ups.

"fun", right?