Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wednesday Workout Update

Monday: It was just Jenny, Kathleen and me today - my favorite ladies to work out with! Linda had us pulling cards for individual workouts - I pulled a lot of upper body, including 75 push ups, 50 kettle bell swings, 50 butterfly (thunder thigh) sit ups, 100 ball slams (thank you Kathleen for spotting me 20 of them), 100 mountain climbers and 100 jump ropes - the good news is that I've finally gotten much better at jump rope, and can do 50 without tripping myself up. Of course, the bad news that comes along with that is no trip ups means no rest breaks! Oh well.

Brad had us rotating through stations in the gym - doing twelve of each exercise before moving on. It was hard but manageable, until I got to the station where we were supposed to do step ups on the 18" high box, holding a 25 lb. dumb bell in each hand. I froze. I always feel like my legs and knees are very weak, and the thought of putting my foot on that box and then lifting myself, one that one leg, to a standing position - well, it got me. I hate feeling like that, and of course tears came. It's so frustrating to come to a dead stop when I'm confronted by these boxes! And yet it happens more times than not.

Very slowly, with bad form and a lot of breaks, I got my twelve in...and then I had to switch legs. Ugh. Finally I was done, and we rotated through the stations again, only doing fourteen reps this time. The second go-round with the step ups was a little better, but still so freakin' hard. I did seven before I had to take a break. Of course, this wasn't counting the tries leading up to the first one...holding those weights makes me feel like I"m going to pitch forward and lose my balance, when really, they are there for stabilization (and to make it hard, lol).

Tuesday: I met Jenny, who had just finished an extra workout, for a run - I'm telling you, that woman is strong and tough! We ran 2.25 miles in extremely muggy conditions - these evening thunderstorms make for steamy mornings! Even the palms of my hands were sweating...yeah, it was pretty gross. But fun, as always! Later in the day, my hamstrings and to a lesser extent, my quads, started hurting a lot - let's just say that that sitting down and getting back up was painful. I don't think it was from the running; rather, a delayed reaction to the nasty step ups from Monday. Jenny and I consulted each other about the pain via text and plotted our revenge on those boxes (um...burning them and/or termites were mentioned)!

Wednesday: Still so sore from Monday's workout - Brad said it was DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) brought on by the single leg deadlifts we did on Monday, but I still think most of it is from the step ups. Tomato, tomahto. Anyway, Linda had us doing a Fight Gone Bad workout in the cardio room, then we went outside for some sprints, and back inside for another round of Fight Gone Bad. I wasn't at my best, that's for sure.

Then we went to the gym with Brad - I have decided that he really is trying to kill us this week. We did Tabata sets - but instead of being done after eight rounds, we were done when he and Linda decided we all, as a group, had put our ALL into it. Seriously, with the DOMS in my legs, I thought this was the end of me! I did jump squats, sit ups, calf raises on the leg press, dead lifts, burpees with 8 lb. weights (instead of doing the 18" box jump, no thank you), something with a kettlebell and squats - ouchies. I can already tell that this will be a day of Motrin and lots of water. But you know what? I made it through the week. And that's about all I can say - sometimes that's all I can do, just get through it.

And now here's a bonus for you! Last week while I had my camera with me, our group convinced Linda to show us the proper form and technique for doing a set of Tabata squats (20 seconds of squats as fast as you can followed by a ten second rest - holding the squat - and repeat for a total of eight times). The bonus for us was that we got to take a rest while watching our trainer work - shhh, don't tell her about our dastardly plan!
I would say that her form is very good!

20 comments:

  1. I wish I could put one of those bug-eyed smilies on this comment. Holy cow girl, you worked your legs off, literally!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. By the time you're done with all this training, Chuck Norris will be scared to mess with you. :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. My God! Were you able to walk after all this?
    What a workout!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Marine Corps called. You're scheduled to train the new recruits next week.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just imagine how much all this will continue to help with your running too...with all this exercise not only providing strength and stability, you are training your body to process excess lactic acid quickly. No cramping up for you on a long run!

    Awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Girl, I am not gonna tick you off - EVER :-)!!
    Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Holy cow, just reading your workouts is making me tired! Those damn boxes - I'd be the same exact way though!

    Damn - um pretty sure that is perfect form - she is bad ass - but then again, so are you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. WOW! Now I'm sore and sweaty just from reading your workout!
    I'm going to try the Tabata squats myself not...sound like the good kind of pain!

    ReplyDelete
  9. oops! NOW--I'm going to try them NOW! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. LOL @ Splurgie & POD!

    I guess I live under a rock because I have never heard of those squats. I won't be asking Grace about them either :-o

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's a lot of work. I hear you about the tears. I have that feeling now with some stuff I do with the weak leg. I really don't like the faltering of confidence because it breeds on itself.

    Step ups are hard. Those make me really out of breath! Good for the butt, though :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. What splurgie said above. Jeepers.

    The boxes scare the you know what out of me as well. The ones at my gym are more like square stools and the lowest one makes me question what little balance I have. The second highest is for tricep dips...a whole different kind of hate!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sounds like one kickass workout!! Way to go!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Shelley, I am really tired and sore after my measley little workout today. I just can't imagine doing what you are doing. And when I took my walk, I tried stepping onto an imaginary 18 inch box, and I know I physically could not do it. My knees do not bend like that . Much less holdiing on to 50 pounds extra. Yikes. Did you at least get some frozen yogurt???

    ReplyDelete
  15. Holy Hell.....I think he is trying to kill you!

    I love how you pushed thru the tears and did it anyway. Thanks for your example.

    verification word is bootio. I don't know why it made me smile. Made me think of you working your "bootio" off.

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Again a great workout week Shelley!
    Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  17. how did it git to be FRIDAY already?

    Again.

    So fast.


    heres to a great one for both of us.
    me? IM PRAYING I RUN.
    you?

    ReplyDelete

Comments are now moderated to prevent spammers from leaving, well, spam - but rest assured that as soon as I read a real comment, I will publish it. So please, comment away, even though the blog is officially closed. Thanks!