Greco PT Certification – Day Four

A quieter day with only two clients, repeats from earlier in the week.  Different routines and levels of work, so that was what I concentrated on.  One of the best things about this week is the variety of stuff that I’ve been learning.  It’s giving me so many more ideas for my own workouts.

I stayed for the Strength class last night and I killed my arms a bit, and worked out the lower body too.  I will be doing chinups again on Monday and wanted to get in some extra work since I had taken the week off.  I did manage to sneak in two Lean &  Fit classes.  I’m going to start concentrating on lower body work too and balance that out with the upper body work I’ve been pushing.  Also working on better technique and core strength which, I must say, is making things alot easier.

I was supposed to shadow again today for an hour, but the client canceled, so I will catch up with that client again next Saturday.

All in all a great week!

Greco PT Certification – Day Three

I got to see Brad with the same client today, and doing a different routine.  Interesting to see the level of intensity shift from one day to the next.

After lunch I got to see him train an athlete.  So far, most of the people he has are general population.  Seeing him with an athlete, how he changed his approach, and what he kept the same was interesting to observe.  From the outset, you could tell the difference that was already there in the mindset of the young athlete.  It was more focused.  Not alot of talking about things that didn’t relate to his goals, and a more regimented way of approaching the exercises.

I took the day off today as Brad only had one mid-day client that I saw him with on Tuesday.  I will go back tomorrow for the morning.

On another note, the hockey game last night was awesome….all the way around.  On to ROUND 3 for Montreal.  They might be able to do this – get Stanley back to Canada….it will remain to be seen.

On yet another note, my cousin Sherri will be joining me tonight at Greco for Lean & Fit.  Her and her husband are thinking of joining.

May 1st

The month of April flew by….holy moly.  Friday (last) night, I worked on a mix of upper and lower, trying to get stuff in.  Did some dumbbell bench presses, and hit an all time high of 4 sets of 10 with the 30lbs weights.  AWESOME.  Did some bicep curls with 20lbs so I could get the right movement without my elbows flaring.  Managed some more split squats, although for some reason, my feet are a bit shaky these days.

I went to Lean & Fit this morning.  Anick from work is now going on a regular basis again.  Barb was there.  Sharon was there.  I feel like I have my own little tribe of women that go there now….all kinds of fun!

On a book note, I read The Power of Kindness and it is just such a great little book.  Now on board is the book Good to Great.  Awesome so far.  Both come highly recommended.

Some new goals….

So, I’ve decided that for May and June my new goal is to focus on doing more for me again and less about what’s going on out there….there are some interesting things happening, for sure, out there….more about that later, but I want to be able to do a full chinup by my 3 year Greco mark.  I know I can do it, I’ve reached other goals with focus, so now comes the challenge.  Back to the meal plan, back to Lean & Fit.  8 weeks.  I’m going to push myself from good to great!

97lbs. deadlifts and a little vanity….

I’m like a broken record, but I managed 97lbs deadlifts on Wednesday night.  Closing in on 100lbs is my first goal, then 135lbs.  Micro-loading is the best.  What a rush!!!

We are off for a week due to the Greco holiday schedule.  Sucks.  I did a L&F class last night.  Brutal.  I pushed myself to get all the extra work done too, which I did.

I’m not usually a vain/label person, but I did go buy a pair of jeans yesterday at the GAP (with a Giftcard I had from a long time ago).  First time ever in my wee life.  I thought I might be a 14 or something.  Nope.  A 10.  They look hot too!

Life is fun, isn’t it?

Regroup

So, in order to move forward with the weights, I am regrouping.  I am going to slow down and not try to move forward so quickly.  I will work at my own pace to achieve better results.  Even on Friday it was better just moving forward by 5lbs on the squats, rather than try to move ahead by 10 or 15.  I took a look at the trend over some of the exercises since Christmas and I’ve noticed that I’ve moved forward to only have to move back again.  Not the direction I want to be going.  I think moving forward at a slower pace will be good for me.

I made it to a L&F class yesterday too.  It was good.  I’m glad I incorporated those back in.

On the eating front, well….the past few days have been brutally off track, but not the end of the world.  I know that I can snap it in when required and cut back down to good carbs (sans bread and sugar) and lean protein.  I stopped the detox last weekend too after my stomach bout, but I may just finish those herbals pills off and that will push me for another few days of eating better.  My skin, my mood and more overall health levels are always so much better when I put good things into me.

275 Kettlebell swings…and some Personal Records

We tested my pulldowns last night.  We are going to keep adding weight to the top (next week 95lbs!) and take 60lbs off the bottom.  Moving up slowly.  I think at last count, I did 89 pulldowns, 83 pushups.  I think that’s right.  Brad keeps track of everything for me.  Good thing.  Otherwise, I would be so lost.  It’s all I can do to concentrate on the exercises at hand…

As for the Kettlebell, the rest of the Strength class did upper body, and my upper had just got a workout, so I was challenged to do as many swings as I could in 30 minutes.  Target: 500.  Yeah, I was nearly totally exhausted and kept up a good pace for the first 100, at 20 per set, but then the fatigue started to settle in….and I made it to 275.  Not bad.  That will improve.

L&F tonight was good, still tough.  Glad to be back into it.  Definitely worth it.

One day off….One day on

So, I had a strange food episode yesterday….home at 3:30pm.  I rested and wanted to see if I could go to Strength class at 6:00pm.  Woke up about 10 minutes to 6pm, so I called and said I wouldn’t be in.  I thought it was courteous.  Better to not be there at all than to show up really late, I thought.  We are such a small class that you know when someone is missing, and I respect other people and their time.

L&F this am was a little easier than Tuesday, but it’s still tough.  I never really wrapped my head around the endurance required for that class.  Since I am continuing with 5 days a week, the extra work in L&F will be a direct complement to what I am doing in Strength class, PT and with my eating.  Only good things can come.

3 nights in a row….might kill me…..slowly

Oh my lord….what have I done?  Can I seriously keep this up for 6 months?  Tonight nearly killed me after last night’s L&F class.  We did a whole pile of pushups last night – like 8 sets of 8 or something…I lost count.  Anyway, tonight I did 25 more.  5 or so 1″ plates off the floor.  A little more every week, but damn….

On a happy note, I bench pressed 90lbs tonight – 2 reps, but hey – that’s the heaviest yet.  I did 3 sets of 5 at 85lbs, a set of 4 and a set of 3.  That’s a whopping grand total of 22 at 85lbs!!!  On December 23rd, I was only working with 70-75 lbs.  That’s a great improvement for me!

On the PT front, Josh, the owner of Greco, has started looking over my PT Take home exam.  We will see what he has to say when he’s finished.  Hopefully I did ok…..

K, I’m super tired tonight…..I must be to be writing in Internet speak….

Friday it is then!  Legs!

Killer!

Somehow, I forgot how “hard” Lean & Fit is…..it’s a tough routine and aerobically taxing too.  No wonder I lost 60 lbs!  Back at it tomorrow with Strength.