Personal training – the one with more running

Unlike boot camp where I ‘m always on time, I have a tendency to be a teensie bit late to my one-on-one sessions at 6am. When I arrive at the studio the other 0600 client is already there warming up.

Oh, what does the studio look like? It’s like a mini gym except you can’t join to work out there by yourself. There are benches and weights and cardio equipment like a normal gym but there’s less of everything. At most there are about four people exercising and three personal trainers so it’s a much smaller an more intimate space. My trainer also boxes so there are gloves and bags and other boxing equipment.

Warm-up

Nothing different or unusual. It’s fairly cold outside in the mornings so I did a ten minute warm-up on the treadmill. Small incline, at a moderately brisk pace. My trainer and I made small-talk about the latest episode of ‘So you think you can dance?’ We both agree that the right people got voted out last week.

Legs

Three sets of three exercises. No rest between exercises, there’s enough of a change in what I’m doing to offset any specific muscle fatigue.

Wall ball squats to start. Large Swiss Ball pressed against a wall and small of my back, back straight, feet apart and slightly forward, squat to a 90 degree (right) angle at the knee. I push up into a standing position using my quadriceps and glutes. Oh, and stomach tight, it’s easy to sag in the middle. 20 repetitions.

Travelling lunge. Right foot forward into a lunge position (straight ahead about as far out as your arm can reach). Lunge towards the floor (back straight, don’t lean forward) until there’s a 90 degree angle at both knees. I’m keen, so I touch the floor lightly with my back knee. As I move up to a standing position, I swing my back leg through into the front position. No stopping in the in the middle with my feet together, it’s a constant motion. About 20 repetitions or the length of the room and back.

Calf raise, single leg. Standing on the edge of a box or a step, lift one foot and rest the other so the heel is hanging off and you are balancing on the ball of one foot. I hang onto something so I don’t fall over. 20 repetitions on each side is one set.

Back

Three sets of two exercises. Heavier weight for the third set.

Lateral pulldown, wide grip. My shoulders aren’t that flash so I tend to favour a wide grip, just at the bend of the long bar. 20 repetitions.

Lateral pulldown, close grip. Hands should width apart with the knuckles facing away from me. I find this much harder to do at a heavier weight and the burn through my forearms is horrific.

Interval

Three sets of two exercises, no rest between sets.

Step ups on a large box, 20 (step up and down) on leading with my right foot and them my left for 40 repetitions in total.

Tricep dips off the box. 20 repetitions, feet as far forward as I can manage without compromising my straight back and a 90 degree angle at my elbow.

Shoulders & biceps

Three sets of two exercises. Short rest, 15 seconds between sets (no rest between exercises, straight from shoulders to biceps

Shoulder press with a 10 kg bar, 20 repetitions.

Bicep curls with the 10 kg bar, 20 repetitions.

Hamstrings & stomach & upper body

We obviously got through the workout quicker than expected so I got some general stuff to finish. The upper body workout was a bit random. Three sets of three exercises. Unlike the other exercises, rather than interleaving the exercise, I did three repetitions of each and them moved on to the next thing. So I finished the hamstring curls before I did the crunches.

Hamstring curls: Lying on the floor, smallish Swiss Ball, legs (calves) on the ball, knees at right angles, feet flexed. Brace and form a bridge position, the shape I’m going for here is a triangle. I use my feel to roll the ball towards me so it touches my glutes and then push it back out into the starting (triangle) position. I’m trying to do this properly so I hurts like hell and I can only manage about 10 repetitions.

Crunches. Three sets of 20 repetitions. Legs resting at right angle on the ball. Back on the floor (I am no longer a hamstring cramping triangle).

Pullover and chest press. Lying on my back and using a medicine ball with my arms fully extended, I touch the ball behind my head and then pull it over (pullover!) towards my stomach. This is one repeat so I do another 19. Chest press involves pushing the ball straight up, arms extended, from the middle of my chest. Three sets of 20 repetitions of each.

Cool down?

A 15 minute run. I think I’ve mentioned that I’m not a sterling runner. This was an annoying and unexpected low light of the workout. I wasn’t expecting to run so, no Ipod which was very vexing. A couple of minutes walking at then end and I’m only slightly over time for this workout.

Boot camp tomorrow morning and, lucky, more running for at least the first 15 minutes.