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

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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!

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

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Lateral pull-downs - 2 x 10

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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.

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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

Personal training with Paul

I went to see Skyfall yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, and I made the huge mistake of eating popcorn. From the moment I left the movie theatre until about 10:30am this morning (Friday) I had a heartburn sensation, like a huge burp was fighting to escape! Not a good feeling, to say the least, and I had it throughout today's personal training session. If you heard thunder at about 10:00am today, that was me burping as I walked up Hincks Street after leaving the gym. Yeah, I know that's disgusting, but I feel a lot better!

5 rft:
5 Bulgarian split squats @ 115lb
10 dumbbell bench presses @ 45s
Time = 15:12

Well, that felt a damn sight harder than it should have. I don't do split squats often enough, and I think my time reflects that. My balance was all over the place, and I don't think my front foot position was consistent enough. This will need some work.

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Complex: 3 deadlifts + 3 power cleans (t&g)
95, 115, 125, 125, 130

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50 wide-grip pull-ups
Time = 8:59

Pulling

My pecs are hurting like hell this morning. It made the inverted rows bloody painful when the bar hit my upper chest.

Hang cleans
95 x 6
105 x 3
115 x 3
120 x 3
125 x 3
130 x 3

Even before I watched the video, I knew my form was starting to go during the 130lb set because the position of my feet was all over the place.

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Alternate sets, relative max reps
Inverted rows - 12, 10, 8, 8
Neutral alternating pull-ups (total) - 10, 6, 6, 7 (only managed the left side)

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Supersets, max reps
Underhand pull-downs - 8, 7, 7
Wide-grip pull-ups - 4, 3, 2

By the time I started the pull-ups my shoulders and biceps were toast. There was nothing left, which is why I only got two pull-ups in the third set.

I had planned on finishing with some barbell curls, but really - what was the point of even trying!

Full body: Heavy weight and conditioning

I decided to revisit a whole workout from about a year ago. This was originally done as a personal training session on November 26, 2011. Yeah, I know yesterday would have been more symmetrical, but I didn't think of doing this until this morning.

Clean and push press (t&g; 2 second lockout)
95 x 3
105 x 3 (only did 2 last time)
110 x 2
115 x 1
120 x 1 (but not a full 2 second lockout)

I only just checked out the video from last time and realized I did squat cleans back then. However, today I only did power cleans. A year ago I failed the press at 115lb several times, but I managed a single at both 115lb and 120lb today. The heavier lift stayed up for about a second before I had to drop the bar. Coincidentally and bizarrely, looking back on that video I noticed I wore exactly the same shorts and shirt today!

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Cindy on Steroids: Amrap 20
5 wide grip pull-ups
10 clapping push-ups
15 jump squats
Score = 10 + 1 pull-up

That's significantly better than last year, when my score was 9 rounds and 5 pull-ups. I can't remember if I used any type of strategy back then, but today I did a kind of "death by" technique. I would complete a round - which always took over a minute - then rest for the remainder of the two minutes. I would only get into position for the pull-ups when my watch approached the end of the second minute. This seemed to work quite well, hence the improvement. All of the pull-ups were unbroken, except for the 10th round, which was 3 and 2. The first round of all three moves was completed without any breaks.

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Each for time: 15 sit-ups (strict) and 30 bicycle crunches per side
59, 1:15

These were tougher crunches than a year ago, but I still beat both times, which were 1:05 and 1:25.

Overall, a decent workout today.

21-15-9

Lindsey Valenzuela

This morning I started with the aborted lunges and snatches from yesterday. 

21-15-9 rft
Traveling lunges @ 35s (per leg)
Dumbbell snatches @ 35s (per side)
Time = 14:51

Yesterday I attempted this with 25s, but I decided to go a bit heavier because I was starting my workout with the routine, which meant I was much fresher. I spent plenty of time stretching out my glutes and quads beforehand, which was especially important because (a) my legs were quite stiff from Wednesday's exercises and (b) I went for an early morning bike ride and really pushed myself for speed. It was so damn cold when I set off to McD's (-5!) so I needed to pedal hard just to get warmed up! 

Anyway, I'm glad I was able to actually complete this today. The lunges were tough, but not as bad as I expected. The snatches, on the other hand, left me gasping for breath.

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I did something that was pure weight, just to allow myself to feel fresh again before my final routine.

Barbell curls @ 60lb; relative max reps - 12, 8, 6, 6, 5

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21-15-9 rft
Wide grip strict pull-ups
Strict sit-ups
Time = 9:18

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I was going to do some box jumps, too, but I realised that I only had nine steps for one side, with 10 on the other. There was a yoga class in session, so I didn't want to disturb them. Of course, it only occurred to me later that I could have simply done a routine with a lower height for the jumps. D'oh!

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!

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

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

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And to finish...

50 sit-ups
Time = 2:26

Full body

I come from a culture that abhors firearms,
but fucking hell...

R-band bench press (blue)
75 x 8, 85 x 8, 95 x 8, 105 x 5

Romanian trap bar deadlift
150 x 8, 170 x 8, 190 x 8, 6

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Glute ham raise
10 (eventually!), 6, 6, 5

Wide pull ups
8, 9, 8, 7

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Amrap 12
Hang power clean and push press @ 75lb
Every time the bar is racked, do 10 burpees
Score = 42 clean and press

Whacked myself in the mouth during the push presses, and now my gums are bleeding. Stupid sports injury #168...

Full body

Personal training with Paul

Alternate sets

Back squats - 115 x 10, 125 x 10, 135 x 10, 145 x 10, 155x 7
Military press - 65 x 10, 10, 8, 7, 7

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Wide grip pull-ups - 10, 8, 7, 6
Incline dumbbell bench press - 10, 10, 10, 9

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3 rft:
10 knees to elbows
15 sit-ups
Time = 5:59

Pulling

Some trainers would be all over Christy Phillips' elbows. Tsk!

Complex: 3 power cleans + 3 hang cleans
85, 95, 105, 115, 125 (2 hang cleans)

As you can see in the video, I dropped the bar straight after I completed the second hang clean at 125lb. This wasn't because my grip failed; I simply knew I didn't have a third rep in me, so I thought "Sod it!" and let the bar go. Both wrists held out okay - my right is almost 100% better, but my left felt a bit sore during the heavier sets of the next exercise.

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Dumbbell rows 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 per arm
70s, 75s, 80s, 85s, 90s (4)

My grip gave out on me - with both hands - rather than failing because of my shoulders and arms.

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Wide grip pull-ups; max reps, strict
10, 7, 6, 5, 5