Variety is the Spice of Life

Yesterday, my partner in crime and I met up with our trainer for another fun-filled workout.  The past few weeks of working out have been some of my best.  I have been looking forward to Thursday more and more.

I’ve been thinking about what makes the workouts so great.  I love doing the group training.  It’s so much more motivational and social.  Jen is such a great trainer and has been doing a great job of pushing both of us even though we are on different levels physically.  Mostly, I think it’s about variety.  Every workout is different.  Each workout comes with exercises that are familiar, new and a combination.  It’s been wonderful!  Yesterday was no exception.

I took a walk early in the morning while Stephen was still at home.  I was tired of taking a walk at 10PM to get my step requirement so I wanted to front load my steps for the day.  When I arrived at the J, it was pretty early.  I wanted to read a book, so I did a leisurely pace on a recumbent bike while I read.  I ended up biking for about 20 minutes.

For the training session, we completed the following:

2 sets:

• KB Swing w/ Lateral Walk 15lbx 20ft. x 4 – We’ve done plenty of kettle bell swings before (150 just last week), but we never paired it with a lateral walk.  It was a great exercise even if I had to pause every now and then to figure out what to do next.  I’d get in a rhythm of steps and swings and then I would get off a beat and have to regroup.

• Slashers 10lbx 1 min x 2 – This was a brand new exercise.  We basically held the kettle bell upside down and did a halo around our head paired with an alternating squat to one side and then the other.  It’s a good exercise for core strength and shoulders.

• Single Arm TricepPull 20lbx 20ea

• Squat/Curl/Press 8lbx 20

• T-Plank 30secea

• Single Arm Cable Chest Press 30lbx 20ea

1 set:

• Band Figure-8 Walk – moderate strength x 15ft.x2 – This one was a new exercise for me.  We put a resistance strap around our ankles and did a figure 8 dance in them.  It’s the type of exercise that you feel while you are doing it.

• Bodybar Overhead Walking Lunge 6lbx 60ft(down and back)

• Dumbbell I/Y/T/A Raises 5lbx 10ea – This was also a new exercise.  It involved laying on my front on an incline bench, holding dumbbells and then doing 4 different sets of shoulder exercises.  Of all of the exercises yesterday, I think I feel this one the most.

• Cable Sidebends40lbx 20ea

Later in the day, I played around in the pool with Sally.  I think the water was a big help is loosening me up from all of the workout exercises.

I can’t wait to see what Jen has in store for us next week!