Back and arms

Christy Phillips

I had my first session with a new trainer, Cosmo, today. About 15 minutes in I was calling for my mother. Most of the routines used fairly light weights, but high reps in each set.

Deadlifts 3 x 10 reps @ 220lb

======

Not sure what it is really called, but for the first move I placed the kettlebell in front of one foot, then reached across to grab it with the opposite hand. These movements weren't timed, but were all continuous, resting briefly when required.

Kettlebell circuit x 2 sets:
Lateral swing and raises x 15 reps per side
Skull crushers / leg and hip raises x 20
Swings x 30
Clean and press (switched to goblet squat for the second set)

Cosmo asked me to check my pulse between sets; it was 180. Bloody hell!

======

Wide grip pull-ups with legs raised in front - 2 x 10

======

Lateral pull-downs - 2 x 10

======

Cable rows for five minutes @ 20lb

Yeah, that's damn light, but these were strict form reps, for a burning five minutes. Cosmo said this is to "finish off the muscles". Well, it damn well worked.

======

Cool down and stretching

I'm hoping I die in my sleep, because I know my whole body is going to hurt like hell if I wake up tomorrow.

Full body

Lots of supersets today.

Front squats - 135 x 5, 145 x 5, 150 x 5, 5
Jump squats - 4 x 15

The first two sets of jump squats were unbroken, but my quads burned like feck!

======

Incline dumbbell bench press - 40s x 6, 45s x 6, 47s x 6, 50s x 5
Dips - 4 x 8

======

Pull-downs - 100 x 8, 8, 8, 8
Wide pull-ups - 4 x 5

======

And to finish...

50 sit-ups
Time = 2:26

Pulling

18 year old Zhang Wanqiong (-53kg, China) snatching 90kg at the 2012 Junior Worlds.

Because my wrist felt pretty good after yesterday's pushing routine, I decided to test it with some cleans, which I haven't done for several weeks. I spent some time ensuring my wrist and shoulders were warmed up and flexible before starting the routine. Also, I didn't go quite as heavy as usual, but did considerably better than I expected.

Hang cleans
95 x 6
105 x 5
115 x 5
120 x 4
125 x 3

On all the reps I caught the bar cleanly on my clavicle. I didn't use just two fingers to keep it in place, but I was able to hold it there with my whole grip and bend my wrist back without any discomfort. Consequently, my elbows were well up and my forearms were parallel to the ground. With the last two sets, I could feel my grip starting to strain a bit, but other than that I felt good. Again, not my heaviest cleans, but I'm very happy with the results given the context.

======

Rita Benavidez

Dumbbell snatches for time; 5 per arm, alternating
40lb = 25 seconds
45lb = 28
50lb = 30
55lb = 51
60lb = 2:03

The last time I did this I went too light, but this time it felt more of a challenge. The first time I took a break during a set was at 55lb, after the third rep for my right (second) arm. I really slowed down in the final set, failing with the third rep on my right side. After that, I took what I thought were short rests after each rep, but I was still surprised at the slow time for the 60lb set.

======

Underhand lateral pull-downs @ 100lb
12, 10, 9, 8

======

Horizontal leg raises (on the dip rack)
14, 13, 11