TODAY'S TRAINING:
Swimming -- 60 laps
Functional training -- full body workout
SWIMMING WORKOUT
3x20. End to end laps in the pool
I love swimming for cardio because it's such a sneaky workout that really doesn't hit you as having trained hard until you go to pull yourself out of the water. Your arms suddenly feel weak and, as you walk to your poolside chair, your legs suddenly feel so swollen, and you get a bit light headed. It's also super friendly on your joints, makes you focus on your breathing, and is such a full body exercise. I had to laugh at myself today while doing my laps because at one point I stopped swimming mid pool and realized that I could simply stand up. The entire pool was just under 5 feet in depth and there I was swimming as if my life depended on it.
FUNCTIONAL FULL BODY WORKOUT
Time: roughly 40mins
Equipment: 1 set of battle ropes, TRX bands, 1 kettle bell (for torso twists) and 2 Dumbbells (for lateral raises).
3x20. Two arm rope tosses
3x20. One arm rope tosses
I love working the battle ropes. It's such a great full body exercise that really enables you to hit your whole body and get your heart pumping or focus more specifically on say your arms if you want. When I do the two arm tosses, I stand in a wide sumo squat pose with my arms out straight, holding the ropes. I then sit down in a 90 degree squat and then stand up, whipping the rope down with my arms still straight out.
3x20. TRX knee tucks with push-ups
Here at the gym I'm training at, Fitness First, they have TRX bands and a large metal frame that they've made available for members to use the bands on. The bands really aren't anything so complex or special. They have adjustments on it that allow you to make them longer or shorter and then they have handles on the one end. For this particular, I made the bands longer so that when I got into push-up position they were at about my waist height. I then put my ankles into the handles, extended my legs and lifted my body. For knee tucks, they're pretty self explanatory, I then tucked my legs into my core and extended them back out. I then added a push-up with every knee tuck I did. This exercise is great for the core because you have to use your core to stabilize you while you're doing both the knee tucks and push-ups. It's one of those exercises that is harder than it sounds.
3x12. Walking lunges with torso twists
3x12. Lateral rows
I grabbed a 12kg kettle bell to use for both these exercises but would have grabbed a heavier one for the lateral rows. The gym was super busy and not only were available weights limited because of it but it also meant risking losing my extra weights if I put it down temporarily. So the one kettle bell had to be sufficient enough. I used tempo training for the lateral rows, as a means of upping the intensity of the exercise without upping the actual weight used. As for the walking lunges, I grabbed the kettle bell by the handle, both hands on it, then stepped into a lunge. When I was in the lunge position, I then turned my torso to the side. If my left leg was forward, I turned to the left, and if my right leg was forward, I turned to the right. When I stepped up, I didn't put my feet together but instead went right into the next lunge, thus adding more intensity to the exercise because of having to balance myself while doing the motion of stepping up and forward.
3x10. TRX pull-ups
Using the same TRX bands and metal frame as before, I then raised the bands to about my standing waist height. I then laid down on the ground, right underneath the TRX bands hanging. I made my body stiff straight, grabbed the handles of the bands and then lifted myself up so that only my ankles touched the floor. For the first five reps I grabbed the handles so that my palms were facing each other but then I turned my wrists so that they were facing my feet and did the next 5. The second 5 were harder than the first 5 because they focused more so on my back as oppose to my biceps like the first five.
3x10. Burpees with shoulder presses
This wasn't actually meant to be the last exercise in my workout tonight, I had two others mapped out for after this but these Burpees killed me. I have a love hate relationship with Burpees because they're so good but so bad. They really get your heart rate pumping and it's a wicked full body exercise that you can easily adapt to make easier or harder but it's all that motion -- the up and down -- that makes me nauseous. For tonight's Burpees, I held a dumbbell in each hand, dropped down to do a Burpees and then when I went to get up I jumped into a sumo squat pose, stood up and raised the Dumbbells above my head for a shoulder press. By the third set of these I called an end to my workout because I was on the verge of honestly puking. Puking in my mouth on a Thursday night?! It's happened before, maybe not particularly on a Thursday night but another night of the week, and I wasn't about to let it happen tonight.
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