So here’s something sad.  A new client of mine’s husband works at the middle school across the street from my house.  Thats a huge coincidence because i work about 30 minutes away from home. Anyway, he is the orchestra teacher and complains because the students have to choose between PE , art, or music.  Since hes the orchestra teacher, his students obviously all chose music, and he is noticing most of them are overweight.  Early stages of planning here, but maybe I can implement some afterschool fitness program so they can get a little exercise.
 
That’s sad.  No child should have to choose between the arts and physical education.  I didn’t have a choice, you had to do all three.  They should have to fake “feminine problems” and twisted ankles to get out of running just like I did.
 
Tonight’s agenda is full of cleaning, visiting the ‘rents, and nutrition seminar preparation.  Thank goodness my last session for the day was at 9:00am. We had a meeting at 12, so that gave me some free time to fit a workout in at work. 
 
We have a machine called a functional trainer with arms that go anywhere from straight up, to straight down and swing all the way out and in. There are cables attached to the arms and then we have all kinds of handle attachments.  You can basically do anything and work any body part on it. 

 

My arms were killing me today from the gym last night so i kept it pretty mild.
 
I did:

• 2 sets of 10 resisted step ups.  I used a block and placed the FT handles thusly:

              I stacked the weight to 15 on each side, held the handles, stepped up on my right and lifted my left leg behind me to work the glutes. I did 10 on each leg. they weight just added about 30 lbs to my body weight for extra resistance.
 

• 2 sets of 10 standing rows; 20 pounds
• 2 sets of 10 tricep pulldowns; 15 pounds. I put one arm of the FT pointing toward the ceiling, put on a rope attachment so I could hold on with both hands, kept my elbows in at my sides and just pushed the rope down from my chest to my waist and back
• 2 sets of 10 bicep pull ups; 15 pounds. Same as the triceps but exactly opposite. FT arm is pointing towards ground, pull rope attachment from waist up to chest
• 2 sets of 10 upside down (black side) bosu squats.  Having the bosu upside down makes it super unstable so it works the core and lateral stability of the legs very well.
• 2 sets of 10 kettlebell swings. You stand feet shoulder width apart, holding the kettlebell in both hands between your legs. bend your legs, swing the kettlebell up above your head, and back down between your legs.  You have to try and slow it down and obsorb the momentun of it. Suprisingly, its more more of a leg workout than arms.

This little guy (compared to a 5lb dumbell) weights 18 pounds. Kettlebells are all about absorbing the kettlebells momentum with your body, so it involves a lot of swinging and then slowing down the kettlebell.  I highly recommend taking a kettlebell class. Hoo, boy, you get a GREAT workout and amazing muscle definition. 

• 2 sets of plate drags down the hall.  These are great for your core and shoulders.  Put two weight plates (or magazines or dinner plates, etc. The more they weight the more resistance) on the ground.  Place your toes in the center of the plates and get into push up position: core tight, hips down.  Use your arms to “walk” down the hallway, keeping everything tight and being careful not to let your legs swing from side to side, like a seal.  I always threaten to sit on clients if they dont keep their hips down, thats what makes this work.

And thats about it. Im going to try and go for a short run later tonight, but other than that, I am done workout wise. It feels good to get it out of the way. i wish i could work out in the mornings but then I would have to wake up around 2:15, which, um, no.
 
So I am going to be SWAMPED at work for the next while. In addition to the three part nutrition seminar, I am also going to be the “nutrition consultant” for my work. (What’s funny is I don’t know what to call my work, its not a gym, but its not a studio either. None of us can figure out what to call it) All of the other trainers are men, and arent very nutrition savvy. So it falls on me. We have an online program that no one does so in order to make the clients more accountable we are going to set up nutrition consultations probably every month to get them in and really looking at the decisions they make. We have over 50 clients. I know some of them will tell us to shove it because they just want to get their butts kicked during a workout and don’t care about food, but geeze. I love nutrition and I am excited about doing this, I think it will be really fun and beneficial for them, but it just means lots more work. Fun work, but more work nonetheless.

I tried to size down the pics to make them easier to load last night, but it didn’t quite work, it just made the pictures blurry. Ill keep trying though, I promise.