As you may have noticed, Tuesday this week did not involve any personal training, this is because someone (not me for once) had an unexplained injury…
All was well by Thursday though so I had an awesome before work training session! Somehow, getting up early on a Thursday didn’t seem quite as bad as getting up early on a Tuesday 😀
I arrived at the gym, in reasonably good time (for once) raring to get started..well raring-ish…it was still early even though I was more awake than normal!
after the customary warm up and arm waving / mobility / warm up press ups and squats and suchlike we went straight into a kettlebell work out.
It is always good to do kettlebells first think n the morning, because there is nothing like the threat of dropping a kettlebell on your head to wake you up!
Ok…the possibility of dropping a kettlebell on your head is minimal, and I actually secretly love kettlebells (I may have mentioned it). We were working with double kettlebells for the first part of the work out where I had to do:
5 x swings with a jump forward
5 x snatches
5 x high pulls
5 x clean and press
5 x bottoms up cleans
I then switched to one kettle bell ( after nearly smacking myself in the knees with both of them when I tried to stop the swing) and did:
Some things where I step into a backwards lunge and at the same time swing the kettlebell up and sideways, catch it with my other hand and push it back into a swing…
and some things that involved, stepping, swinging the kettlebell into a clean position and jumping in some way… I have actually completely forgotten how all these elements fitted together…but they did!
We then invaded a mat and did something Mat referred to as MMA fitness…
it was interval training, and it was crazy
It was 15 seconds work 15 seconds rest for the following exercises:
Squat jumps
Sprint and Sprawl
Split Squats
1 armed planks
Burpees
Mountain climbers
That was the first cycle through, the second cycle through, Matt made it harder ans I did:
Squat jumps with plyo foot clap
Sprint and Sprawl
Jump Skaters
2 armed plank
Burpees
Mountain climber thingies where you jump 1 leg forward to near the outside of your hands then back…
That lot really did wake me up!!
I feel I might need to explain sprint and sprawls… you sprint on the spot, then when told to sprawl, get right down face down on the floor, then “spring” back up on to your feet and carry on sprinting!
Boxing today (and it was mostly boxing for reasons that will be come apparent) was slightly different.
The main different was that Matt had brought his own boxing gloves rather than focus pads or Thai pads 🙂
It was still generally pad work, but with a lot more counters and defence mice which were much more realistic! Defending against punches thrown with gloves is much more realistic (and fun) that defending against pads 🙂
It was very much fun, and generally faster than even the pad work we had been doing with the focus pads 🙂
At least it was when Matt stopped being worried about hitting me in the face!
I understand why he was worried, in reality you are not actually supposed to attempt to hit your PT clients 😀 but I pointed out that I wouldn’t actually shop him if he did and I would mostly be able to defend myself 😉
Apparently this is not something he would do with other PT clients 😀
All in all, it was pretty awesome 😀
And later, there were squats…
Day 15 of the squat challenge, and it hurt!
40 wide
40 standard
40 close
120 plié
Day 328 complete 😀
Project Warrior Goddess 
I have heard that kettlebells are great tools for working out, but I was not courageous enough to try them out yet. I am afraid that I will drop it on my head, or I will smash my knees with it like you almost did 🙂 Maybe my fears are baseless and I should just jump in and give it a go.
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Definitely give it a go! 🙂 I have used them for a while, I was just not paying attention on Thursday 🙂
Make sure you get someone to show you correct form and you’ll be fine!
They are really awesome!!
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Matt is awesome! Love how he keeps things interesting for you. Awesome work Sam! Sorry for the brief comment. Starting leg 3 of the 3,500 km road trip. Typing from Kansas City. Next stop Pueblo, Colorado.
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😀 Matt is awesome (but shhh don’t tell him!) hope your travelling is going ok! I have just had my circuit trainer training workshop…I am now qualified to teach circuit training 😀
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Yay Sam!!! Congrats!!!
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😀 😀
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Please make the same reference every “Thorsday” (good pop culture references all round actually!) Your PT sounds as crazy as mine, I think maybe it’s a requirement? Awesome workout all round, I’m aiming for your level of fitness!
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🙂 I think Thorsday is a good reference to make 🙂 There should also be a day for the other avengers too!
PTs are crazy 🙂 I think it is in the job description! I’ll have to see if it is in the training when I get that far 😀
😀 I don’t think anyone has ever aimed for my level of fitness before..I haven’t been fit enough before!! 😀
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Shall we just rename the days?!
Then, you should be very proud of yourself! I (and I’m sure a lot of others) read your blog thinking “Wow, how is she managing to do ALL THAT??” 🙂
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we should rename the days, apart from wednesday which is already technically Odin’s Day 🙂
I am proud…and surprised!! I keep remembering what I was like at the start 😀
I don’t know if it is dedication or stubbornness that lets me do things…or a general refusal to take the sensible option… It seems to work though 😀
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I think it’s really useful to look back at how you used to be – even at my comparatively unfit level, I’m definitely fitter than I was a few months ago!
I reckon it’s tenacity and a refusal to give up – excellent qualities in my opinion! 😀
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it is definitely good to look back, because even though it takes ages to get to ulitmate goals, you can see improvements in so many ways so quickly!!
I noticed this yesterday, I was on a core training training course and the things that were pegged as easy and for beginners / rehabilitation that I now think of as easy, at the beginning of this blog I could hardly do!
I had such tight hipflexors and out of condition bottom I couldn’t even lay on my front and lift one leg up behind me without my hips leaving the floor!
I like tenacity better than stubbornness 🙂 and I agree, excellent qualities 😀
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