Thursday training, post legs week

Oh man, I am so looking forward to the weekend and getting a chance to relax.

this has been a busy week and yesterday was no exception. Work has een great, but ive had a few days go long (like yesterday) so I zoomed out of work as soon as I could, made my way uptown (of course the trains did one of those open close open close door things and I was going crazy!)  but I made it in record time and only lost about five minutes of my session, so it worked out to be a pretty normal day.

Wasting no time, Jason handed me the thick jumprope, and I was just happy I made it so didn't have time to stage a protest.  I jumped for however long it took Jason to go find the two 25lb bells, and he mercifully let me stop a minute early

Instead we got right into a double bell workout (using the aforementioned 25lb kettlebells) swings to start, and my hamstrings were NOT happy today. They were so sore all day, it felt like they shrunk two inches and were going to snap every time I straightened my legs

So after the first set of swings, J brought out his medieval torture foam roller device and I agonizingly rolled my hammies out, and kept going. It helped a little, but just a little

After warming up (still with two kettlebells) I did some sets of cleans, then presses, then push presses and finally jerks. At one point I was supposed to do 8 reps, but got distracted and just kept going to 10. So he made me do even more the next time. D'oh!

Then, STILL with two kettlebells, I did snatches. That's right, snatches with a bell in each hand. I looked at Jason like he was crazy. I mean he's always crazy but some moments particularly more so than others. And this was a moment.  So I tried to mentally map out how this was going to work, then he said 'it's just like snatch with the bulgarian bag.'  OHHHHH, yes! Yes I can do those. I can do this! And I did! And it was amazing

Then some quick abs with half getups, and v-ups finishing with a pathetic stretch where Jason spent most of the time poking my hamstrings while I whimpered.

Monday, training day

Today was a fun session. We did something old, something new, goofed around, worked hard, and of course I was laughing the whole time.

Even though my whole.body.hurts. After Saturday, I can FEEL my muscles. Standing still. So moving and lifting made me that much more aware of my poor sore body.  Of course Jason was in the same boat as me, so had no sympathy for my whimpers of protest.

The gym was insanely crowded when I got there, so the normal warmup of walking lunge/squat/inchworm had the added element of navigating the crowd. I just flailed my arms wildly and magically people got out of my way.

Then we continued warmup with one arm swings, then clean and press, but the kettlebell felt suspiciously light and easy, and it turns out i was using the wrong bell. So we fixed that and finished the set with the 25lbs like I was supposed to. And my legs were NOT happy about any of this. So I did some single-leg deadlifts but without lifting the weight, just stretching my legs a bit.  And then strapped on ankle bands to side-step back and forth (fortunately the room had cleared out by then) 

I did other things with the bell, like one arm rows, and a really weird new thing that I dubbed the "Jason Special". Okay, so you grab the bell by the horns, almost like you're going to do halos, but start with your arms down. Then you have to flip the bell so that the horns are horizontal (parallel to the ground, weird, I know, I couldn't stop laughing), and then from there curl and press the Kettlebell over your head. I have no idea who came up with this, but it feels as weird as it sounds, although like every new thing I try, I got the hang of it bythe last set and it didn't feel so weird anymore.

To finish out the session, I did a few sets of suitcase deadlifts with the 45lb blue bell. Because my legs haven't gotten enough work this week!

Jason took pity on me and mercifully didn't push so hard during stretchingtoday, and sent me home with strict instructions to take an Epsom salt bath. I like that kind of homework!

Saturday bonus training

Well, Jason had to work today and he was pretty bummed about it, and since I had missed a session the other week I volunteered to come in to train and cheer him up (three times in one week! It's a new record)

And even though it was Saturday, I still had a pretty good session. We started right off the bat at the squat rack.  And I hit my goal today!! 200 pounds! I did three whole reps. And it was amazeballs. Now I got to say I CAN squat 200lbs, instead of I could squat 200. New goal is to work up to 250. Yikes.

After gleefully finishing squats, it was time to tackle pullups, my ongoing nemesis. Pretty pathetic today, I think Jason did more of the work pushing me up than I did pulling myself. It's the hoisting up part that's the problem. Once I'm at the top I can hold myself up pretty well. Gotta work on that

After a few pathetic rounds of pullups, we moved up front for some Kettlebell workouts, with my buddy the 25lb bell. Clean & presses, box jumps, and maybe a few other things. Then a quick stretch and I was released to go look for food. Which, after a few hours of aimlessly wandering around manhattan being insanely indecisive, I eventually ended up just going home and eating what I was supposed to in the first place. So much for a cheat meal!

Thursday training

Phew, it's been a long week. Work is going well, but the training process is pretty slow, which makes for long days. Which makes for tired Mayu.

I was feeling pretty sluggish heading into to the gym, and from the looks of it the trainers weren't doing much better. Even Jason was beat down a bit, not that it stopped him from giving me a crazy workout:

For warmups, five minutes of jumprope. Ungh. Then we had the heavy bulgarian bag (about 10lbs heavier than the usual bag I use) for spins. And the 35lb Kettlebell for clean & jerks. And I actually did okay!  That set was followed by snatches with the 25lb bell. Easy peasy

Wow, I've already forgotten what came after that.  I know I did swings to squat with the 35lb bell, OH, and backward lunge twists holding the HEAVY bag on my forearms. And there were one arm rows with the 25lb bell, maybe something else too

Then just 12 vups between me and stretching. And it wasn't so painful today! (Still painful, just not so much)

As a special treat, I'll be training on Saturday. Maybe. If Jason can fit me in, he's so popular :)

President day training

At first I didn't know if I'd be around to train today, but then I got back to the city last night. So after multiple rounds of back-and-forth with Jason I nailed down a 5 o'clock slot to train earlier today (sidenote: it turns out i was the last client of the day, so aren't we all glad I didn't keep my usual 6:30 time? I'd be just starting my session now and instead I'm pushing my way home through the perpetual surplus of humans in rush hour (sidenote sidenote: today is a holiday! Why is there rush hour?!) )

Anyways, I'm glad I kept my session today. Yesterday I went clothes shopping and there is nothing like trying on pants in a poorly-lit 4x5 room to make you curse every single sugar packet you put in your coffee last week. I did manage to find some new clothes, but had to sacrifice some of my delusional perceptions of reality in the process. For some reason, every ounce of extra weight parks itself right around my tummy, which is 

On the upside, the cold harsh slap of reality has already started to change my bad habits. My grocery cart looked like a single-sized farmer's market today, and I plan on prepping my meals for the week now that my schedule has calmed down a bit.

Anyways, back to today's session. It was one of those days where it felt like I barely did anything and yet felt like I wanted to die by the end! After a quick walking warmup, J gathered his weapons, I mean, weights of choice: the  25lb bell, the 35lb bell and the bulgarian bag. (Oh! How could I forget, the rest of the warmup, I had to hold an empty (unweighted) barbell and bring it in front and behind me until my shoulders wanted to pop off, followed by halos with the 25lb bell)  So then all I had to do was one minute of clean & jerks, followed by one minute of snatches (alternating arms halfway through and after each set) and finishing the round with10 spins. And really that's about all we did today, I just kept doing that. Over and over. The first round (with the 25lb bell) I managed 10 clean & jerks per arm, and 18 snatches per arm. The next set I did the same # jerks, and 19 snatches per arm! Woo! But then Jason had to up the ante and made me switch to the 35lb bell, and that is a whole different animal. I managed the clean and jerks alright, I think I did 8. But then it was time to snatch that beast and my hands just would not cooperate. I didn't actually tear my hand, but it felt like it was going to at any second. Jason, being the Kettlebell master that he is, helped coach me through the last set (mercifully with no timer) and I was able to finish with 8 clean and press's and 10 snatches! Per arm! Hooray it's the end of the session it must be time for abs and/or stretching---why is Jason bringing the jumprope over?

10 double jumps before I could finish. And I had a breakthrough! I did 3 in a row today!! I got so excited that I had to stop high-fiving Jason in order to finish the rest of the jumps! But I did them! So now we're done right? sure, just after Jason has to show off his mad jumprope skills and makes me do half of whatever he can double jump in a row....30 in a row! So now I have to do 15 more double jumps!  Sneaky way to make me do cardio, sneaky way to make me jumprope for 15 minutes, hahaha

Eventually I made it through, and was rewarded with overtime stretching, one of the perks of being the last client of the day :)

Monday training

It's training day! It's Monday. Still getting adjusted to this new schedule, but fortunately I've been getting out of work early so that alleviates the stress of getting to the gym on time.

Jason was back from his competition out on San Fran and he did so well! Of course that meant Kettlebell workout for me today, and he had quite a doozy prepared. Started with the walking warmup, then went straight to the bells 

With two 25lb bells, I did a variety of lifts, starting with pone hand and then doing both at the same time. I think with one bell I did halos, cleans, press. And with both bells I did swings, cleans, press, and jerks.  A lot of jerks. Inevitably, I caught a case of the giggles midway through the jerks set, partly because we have entirely too much fun training, and also because Jason brought out the rolly stick to put my shoulder back in place, and then was using it like an instructor's cane, whacking my form until I did it right. And so I started laughing, while lifting 50 pounds over my head, you know, no biggie. :)

Then I did two sets of 20 snatches (per arm, still with the 25lb) and then with the 32lb bell (just one) I did jerks with a hold at the top.

Oh but we weren't done. Then I had to do fifty swings (each arm) with the 32lb bell. By the end I felt like my forearms were going to pop off and my legs couldn't walk straight.  And apparently this was some major feat based on Jason's proud papa look over how I did it without stopping '100 swings with only one switch and no stopping!? I'd like to see those guys do that' ugh! I love how he makes me do these crazy things by making them sound like it's no big deal and then freaks out when I can actually do them (I think box jumps was one of those things, oh and pistol squats, easy peasy, haha)

So crazy swings and we're done right! Nope! Still had to do hanging leg raises, where I inadvertently hobbled over because my legs just wouldn't function after crazy swings. But just a few quick sets of those and it was time to stretch. Painful, merciless stretching. 

Time to go home and sleep. And by sleep I mean watch the Olympics, then sleep. Yay!

Two-fer Training

This week is definitely not a regular week.  I started the week finishing my vacation, and had  to schedule two training sessions around my crazy life AND Jason's crazy life (I came back into town on Monday and he's leaving town on Friday!)

So we trained two days in a row! Crazy!

Tuesday was my last full day of freedom before starting my new job (woot!), so I strolled leisurely into the gym and got a pretty nice welcome back from everyone (aw, they missed me).

Tuesday's theme was 'damage control' from my long break. I tried to be good while I was traveling and had all intentions of exercising while I was on the road, but that never actually happened. But I also tried to watch my food intake and when we did this Month's measurements, I actually didn't do SO bad!

I believe I am starting this month at 132lbs and about 26-27% bodyfat, so definitely gained some fat (I didn't need the pinchy thing to see that), but not as much as I thought, which means I can get back on track a lot sooner, yay!

So we eased back into the usual workout starting with squats. I only went up to 155, but did a lot more reps than usual to even it out

Then up front I did some Kettlebell clean/press, with jumprope in between. Initially I was supposed to do the double jumps, where you whip the rope around twice before landing, but I CAN.NOT do those. At all. I think I still have whip marks from every single attempt.  So we switched the other set to just jumping for a minute.

We ended with abs, using the grandpa wheel of pain, first strapping it to my feet and pulling it in lying down (like a bridge, but a bridge where your hamstrings are on fire), and then awkwardly flipping over and tucking it in from a plank)

Then I was unstrapped and free! except i still had to hold on to the handles and roll it all the way out and pull it all the way back and I hate that one because it's hard to describe accurately and it hurts and I'm bad at it.

DAY TWO: Wednesday

Ahh today was a great day! I started a new job, I felt good, I looked good, and I got out early which gave me plenty of time to get to the gym

So we set up my schedule for February, and there are a lot of changes that I'll need to adjust to. Firstly, I'll be training twice a week, but on Monday/Thursday which means I have a weird 'rest' day on Wednesdays now. We'll see how that goes. Also I'll have to see how it's gonna work coming back uptown to the gym when I know there's another one right next to my new office. I'll see how it goes this week and feel it out, but I might have to switch cardio days downtown

Anyways, we still have a lot of work to do, my goal this month is to slim down my belly that is tying to sneak back on me. So J is on a mission to make me suffer, hahaha

I warmed up rowing 1000 meters, then alternated between jumprope 1 minute and a bulgarian bag series (10 each, spins, snatch and overhead back lunge) I did those four times. Did I mention that I was already exhausted from a long day? No mercy for the chubby and weary

We ended with an easy set of Kettlebell deadlifts (with the 70lb bell) and 15 snatches with my buddy the 25lb bell, with Jason coaching me through my tired pathetic form (and I actually got better by the end, go figure!)

And stretching. Evil evil stretching