Sledgehammers

Yes you read it right. Sledgehammers.


Monday after we finished our hamstring training Roy wanted to do more. Time was up but that was OK with him, he knew I missed the boxing and the ropes last week so he suggested this to make up for it.


He looked at me and asked if I ever swung a sledgehammer.


"Yes, I did! I used to swing a sledgehammer, against a big tire, in the sand pit, in the hot sun, with the football team when I trained with SC."


I saw a look of disappointment come over his face, and I instantly knew I shouldn't have said it with quite so much excitement. I think he wanted to have me do something new, but it wasn't new to me, although I hadn't done it in about 2 years. 


He quickly recovered and started to roll the huge truck tire out into the parking lot. It was about 6:45 p.m. and it was warm out, I took off my shirt, I needed to be in shorts and a bra top for this. 

He said to go for 15 to 20 swings on each side. It sounded like a lot and I said so, he was starting to train another woman so he walked away and left me to my tire and hammer.


After the first couple swings I got it all back. I remember back when I did this with SC, some of the guys on the football team would be there with me, coaching me along. SC would just stand in the shade shouting out orders once in a while. I would be in the hot sun, sweat dripping in my eyes, wondering what the hell I was doing here as I would sometimes miss and sand would go flying up into my face.


The guys were great-- they were all young, anywhere between 18 and 22 and quite strapping young athletes I may add. They looked only better as their backs became wet with sweat along side me. 


They taught me how to start with my hands wide, one at the top of the shaft, one at the bottom, then let the top slide down to meet the bottom as I swung to hit the tire.  I started to develop a rhythm, I liked it. I liked it a lot.


I like things like this, it makes me feel alive. The sheer effort, the sweat, the feeling of the muscles in my entire body working and rippling.


Roy would come check on me every so often, and gave me encouragement, I would just keep swinging my sledge. 


Roy showed me how to hit the tire with the side if the sledge, to reduce the bounce back, it was effective. If you don't hit it with a good solid strike, the reverberation running up the shaft can start to wear on your arms.


20 on each side, four sets. All I needed was some loud music and a couple guys along side!


It's a great workout, it hits your entire body. I can feel it everywhere the next day, and its one of those great things that hits the abs, the obliques, the back, legs, glutes, arms and traps. 


Although my other gym doesn't have a tire and sledgehammers, Roy's does, and I am there three times a week! Now I can add this to the ropes, sled and boxing, all much better than any cardio machine man ever made!

Quads

Quads....we did that on Wednesday and my hamstrings and glutes were still sore from Monday.


I walked over to the squat rack, the chains are there waiting for me. I kept bugging Roy to get them and now I get to use them all the time! I love the sound of the chains clanking against themselves, and the sound of the metal links slowing piling up on the floor.


I may be getting these weights wrong, some days my training is such a blur, I get home and eat and then just go to bed.


We started with front squats this time, I warmed up with 100 pounds, then Roy increased it to 115 pounds.

20 reps. 

If you do front squats you KNOW that's quite  a bit, and it's heavy too. I weigh 131 pounds currently, so its close to my body weight and don't forget these are front squats, not back squats!


After the second set I think I kind of stumbled out to find something to sit on, it wouldn't be much rest, I recall that Roy announced time when I was still breathing hard, but what can you do? 

Back in the rack.


4 sets

I see Roy stacking up the wood panels like he does for split squats. Surely we aren't doing those nasty things again? I looked at Roy with disbelief "I thought we were done with those?!" "Really?" he said "No, we are still doing them but less reps! um...and heavier weights." Then he goes over and picks up the 25 pound dumbbells, "oh that's not so bad I thought to myself" then the next set was 35 and the next 40. Then he slapped the little micro weight magnets on to bring it up to 42.5 pounds each.

4 sets 

Time for the sled. Roy said it will be a little different than the last few weeks, the weight is reduced, there is only 90 pounds on the sled. But instead of pushing it up and back I need to push it up and back two times before I rest.

4 sets

The last set he tells me to push hard, beat my last time of 57 seconds, run fast. Well, I can hardly run bent over pushing the damn thing and especially after all of this, I am wiped out. But I push as hard and fast as I can, breathing hard and collapse at the end. I think I did it in 47 seconds. Beat my best time!

Wednesday's Quads

Wednesday, and every once in a while, I would get a "twinge" in my stomach thinking about my training session that evening with Roy. Last week it was really difficult, but I was sick. I think I had a cold, but the funny thing is, everyone around me at the university seems to have some horrible illness that is keeping them out of work for days. Maybe I had that too and it really wasn't just a cold and I am not as much of a whiner as I made myself out to be!

I worked all day then arrived at BodyComp at 5:30 and changed, I would attack this beast and win!

My adductors were still tight, they had been sore over one whole week due to this workout so Roy had me stretch them well. As he set up the squat rack I told him I had been dreading this all day. He laughed and said "I was just thinking- I'm glad I'm not the one who has to do this workout!" 

great

"I was sick when I was here last week, this was really hard" I told him. "Yeah, I read your blog" he said.

Why didn't I tell him then? Why on earth would I? That would have meant he would lighten the load - or tell me to go home, neither of which I was prepared to do. So I didn't tell him until after when it was too late. ha ha

But today I was feeling GOOD and I was there and ready to go and really wanted to test this workout. Was it really that hard or was it the illness that made it seem hard last week?

After stretching Roy had me warm up with the "ladies" bar, just a few squats. I then moved to the regular Olympic bar, loaded with plates and chains. 

"Hey! This is the weight we ended with last week!" I exclaimed.

"Yes it is" Roy said. That was it.  I think with the chains it was 105? I have to ask. Down I went, all the way to the ground 20 reps.

rest

But not long, I hadn't quite caught my breath when he said "Go!"

20 more reps, rest. 20 more reps, rest. 20 more reps, rest. 20 more reps, rest.

100 squats, with chains, ass to ground and I was actually paying attention to tempo, so I was not sloppy.

Whew! But that was the easy part because the front foot elevated split squats were really the killers. 

 

Issac was there training a very cute little girl, maybe all of 10 years old, who comes in on Wednesday nights, he really is good with kids. He makes her feel special and smart. Just what all little girls need. Her dad leans against the wall watching and commenting occasionally. Even he can see this won't be fun.

20 pounds dumbbells in each hand, left foot out front on the boards, right leg behind and I am stretching out, my left knee out in front as far as possible, stretching the back right leg, the adductor is pulling. Look up, back straight, sink down as far as possible and then up, but not all the way up, only about half way so that the tension is ALWAYS there, no resting spots here.

20 reps on the left leg

20 second rest

20 reps on the right leg

rest

Repeat for a total of 80 reps on the left leg and 80 reps on the right. But it's really like 160 reps on each leg because each leg is working, although in a different way all the time. 

That is the killer. My legs were pumped from the squats but with these, not only are they pumped  they are swollen and burning. 

Rest

Now the sled. How much weight? I think it was 140 pounds because I remember seeing all the 45 pound plates and then this dinky little 5 pounder on top! ha ha 

push to the garage door, push back. Driving up with the knees, power in the glutes, pushing as hard and fast as I can.

again

again

again

By the time I get to the last set I am oh so slow, but I am still driving with the knees and I fall to my knees. I am done.

In case you need a little summary, here it is:

100 back squats (all the way down, PAST parallel)

80 front foot elevated split squats left

80 front foot elevated split squats right

8 runs with the sled, approximately 40 feet each run

This was all after getting up at 4:00 am and doing:

20 minutes on the stairmill

15 minutes abdominal exercises

15 minutes stretching

10 minutes boxing on the heavy bag

I pull on my sweats, mix up my protein/carb drink and down my BCAAs. Chat a bit and then hop in the car, the very cool night air feels good with the top down. Home for a big dinner, time to fuel the body.

Wednesdays Quads

I was off work, it was the day prior to Thanksgiving and I was meeting Roy earlier than usual, 4:30 pm. It felt odd, like the day went by very, very slowly. Roy changes our training every few weeks, and today would be something new. It was very difficult and I am not sure if it was me that day, or it really was hard, but it was only the second time I can recall that I actually felt like quitting in the middle, it was that hard.

But I was sick, I had a cold and it was the first one I had had in a year I think. I was pissed off because I rarely get sick and here I was with a rotten cold that hit me Saturday and on Wednesday I was still feeling the effects of it. I hate taking medication but the evening before I had to, David and Cooper were mad as I had been coughing all night and I couldn't breathe. I succumbed to sudafed and I know it is why I had such a hard time training.

We started out with squats with chains. I love squats. These were fairly light, I think when you add the chains to the weight it was maybe 95 pounds. I might be off, it could have been slightly more. I really wasn't thinking clearly. But Roy said he would tell me when to stop, and he didn't say stop until 20 reps. That was intentional too. We would do set after set after set of 20 reps, all the way down to the ground and a very short rest period in between. I was breathing hard. We did 4  sets, which is 80 squats. And halfway through he doubled up the chains, which means the weight increased by 20 pounds.

Then we went into the killer- front foot elevated split squats. But by now you know Roy and it wasn't just any split squat. I had to make sure that the front knee extended way out front to his hand, but he kept pulling his hand farther and farther away. The back leg had to have a strong stretch, and I had to feel this all in my front quad while holding 20 pound dumbbells. My right adductor was tight, it pulled.

20 reps on the left leg and 20 on the right. I actually dropped the weights after the first 20 and begged for a break. I am not a whiner, these made me whine, I was angry at myself.

I had to find a place my head could be so I could get through this, I did, but it's not a place I want to visit again. 

4 sets on each leg, that's another 80 reps per leg. My legs were shaking, my quads were pumped and hard. Roy said he could see them swell from across the room, and I am sure he could, I could feel the blood gorging in my legs.

Roy said he wanted to see me collapse on the ground, I told him I would not. I refuse to lose the battle, I did all the reps as required. 

I joked about my upcoming night out- I had clothes set out to go straight out to dinner - I would need to get pants with bigger legs tonight, surely my regular jeans would not fit.

Rest...and I thought that I won't be looking forward to Wednesdays for the next three weeks. It only means heavier weights or more reps, either one would surely kill me.

Time for the sled, it would be 135 pounds added and I was to push it across the room and back, driving the knees up, powering as fast as possible. How many sets? Take a guess..4

The next day was Thanksgiving, my legs were tight and squatting down hurt, so each time I basted the turkey I hauled it out of the oven and onto the cooktop, it was easier. The following day both adductors were tight and sore and now for some reason bending over caused my hamstrings to talk back, everything was a bit sore.

At least when I woke up on Friday, my cold seemed to be almost gone, it lasted a week, and if all goes according to history, it should be another year or even longer before I get another. I started thinking about Saturday, it's leg day. I wonder if I can make myself do those split squats?

Next Wednesday is actually looking a little more interesting to me now!

Doing What I Love

Yes I think I do love weight training. I don't have any sort of love for cardio, I see it as a means of breaking down the body and expending energy, so, although it is necessary, I certainly do not enjoy cardio much and I don't think most people are doing the right "type" of cardio. I have written about the "cardio queens" before, the ones who always look the same year after year after year.


I am making the point because a lot of people think I just do "fit" things, and I run, skip, jump, weight train, cycle, I surely must do all of it and love every minute of it.


But I don't, not really.


I do what I love to do, and that is weight train (I will often say weight lifting and I try to catch myself as I am not a weight lifter, although I have toyed with the idea. A weight lifter is one who lifts weights competitively, whereas a weight trainer does it for the conditioning aspect).


I am a competitive poser, not a weight lifter! 


But the competitions are only a piece of it, a little slice of fun and hard work to reassure myself that everything is paying off, I am on track and doing it right.


I do incorporate some cardio, but I primarily train with weights, I think that is the most effective way to get the body I want, lean, but muscular, strong and tight.


What I love to do more than anything is the difficult, strenuous, heavy lifting or sessions with so much volume, I sweat and breathe hard without ever moving my feet at times.


It makes me feel accomplished, alive and invincible. 


The Glute Ham raise if one of my favorites. Below is a video of me using it similar to a back extension, there are different variations that can be done. This may look easy, well it is anything but easy. Especially after doing 30 or more minutes of hamstring or quad work. (As a reminder, email subscribers will need to navigate directly to my blog to view these and all videos).

And another favorite, the Sled Dawg. Now this looks fairly easy and not very interesting nor particularly difficult, but consider a couple things: 1) The sheer weight of this. I imagine the sled itself weighs at minimum 45 pounds. So add the three 45 pound plates and the one 35 pound plate and you have 215 pounds! I weigh 125 here.


2) I have just spent 45 minutes training legs, this is the culmination of my workout and I will do this (down and back) three times probably. I suspect this was my last set too since I usually start out a lot faster. I am tired right now, let me tell you. Yes, I am moving slowly, I am breathing hard too, try it!





These are exercises sure to whip any body into shape.

WOW

If you are familiar with Crossfit you have heard of WOD or Workout of the Day, well I have Workout of the Week or WOW.

It would be nice to do this everyday, but I can't so I need to be happy with one day a week. I can then duplicate it as much of it as possible on my own later in the week.

What did I do this Friday with Roy? 

Warm ups, he said my hips and legs were tight as I tried to move.

I did snatch grip deadlifts on a platform, I had never done that before, basically the grip was very, very wide, my arms, especially my forearms really felt it. All the way down, ass to ground again....well actually since I was standing on something it didn't quite hit the ground, but give it time, soon it will be so big, it will hit when I am only half way down.

We did several and then he said "OK, that's a good warm up" ha! I was breathing hard already!

I did back extensions with a weighted E-Z curl bar. All the way down, tempo of 4 then up. I started with 12, then rested but it wasn't long enough. Then another set, and another. The last, I could barely do 8 of them, with each set the last few reps were hard, really, really hard.

Some single leg quad work, half squats, up on my toe, stretching the calf, then partially down, back up then flat foot. 

Pushed the sled, driving the knees up and going for speed, that really hits my quads. Several sets.

I was fairly fatigued at that point and we started talking about "it". The big tire truck in the corner.

"Have you ever done squats with a tire?" he asked....no, can't say that I have and I couldn't picture how you would anyway!

Roy put on gloves, the thing is dirty. Then showed me how to squat down, and power up, flipping it over. I donned the gloves, and started flipping, right out the garage door into the hot sun. I would squat down, put both hands under and explode up (or try to, my legs were shot by then).

He said this would be something to do at the start normally, but since I wanted to see it, he let me try. As I was out in the middle of the drive, I realized I would have to flip it back all the way, so I stopped going in that direction and started back toward the gym.

I slipped on my clothes, mixed up my carb-protein drink and downed it with my supplements. Top down, warm air in my hair and off to the grocery store.

I love Fridays!

German Volume Training

What a back huh? I think it shall be a bit sore tomorrow too...Today was day two with Roy, my new trainer, owner of BodyComp Personal Training Gym

I had so much fun. I love weight training, I love new things, I love adventures.  I told Roy I wanted to gain mass, I want muscles. I know a lot of people look at me and think I already have them, but I want bigger, more defined muscles.  Not "bodybuilder" type, I don't care for that look, nor do I want to take the drugs that so many of them do.

I want to lift and lift heavy. I want to be better than ever, and to me, "better than ever" means strong, lean, ripped. 

I can do it and I WILL do it, there is no doubt in my mind.

I have Charles Poliquin's Book called German Body Comp Program and that's what it's all about. High volume, lots of Time Under Tension. Look at all my tabs on the side marking important spots!

I see so many people in the gym, mainly men who swing weights around, or their bodies, they really aren't doing much as far as altering the composition of their bodies.

You really need to ensure the muscle is under tension, that's why the eccentric is so important. The lowering part of the "lift". It takes effort to lift but more effort to lower that same weight (even your body weight) in a slow, controlled manner. I was taught this a long, long time ago.

Swinging is fine for sledgehammers, Indian Clubs and ......well, you know.

Fridays are even more spectacular because I get off work at 11:30 so I can get to Roy's by 12:00 and change.

Today he was still testing, getting to learn what I can and cannot do. I am not sure if he is impressed or not, but that's not the point as long as I am impressed with my own accomplishments.

We (and I use the term quite loosely) did dips and chin ups, super set them. That's almost all of it. Set after set after set. Then more, I lost count.

Followed by something he came up with and it is going to kill my quads I know, I can feel it already. These I would not have done on my own, at least not after the first set, that's how brutal they were (don't you love it!?)

Foam wedges under my feet to elevate the heels and I did half squats, lowered all the way down, very slowly, "ass to ground" would be the most polite way to say it, then up, but only half way, then back down. For a minute which doesn't seem like much, but just try it.

Oh and make sure you are clutching a 15 pound med ball to your chest and staying upright and do at least 4 sets, maybe 5.

Let me know how it all works out will you?

Just when I thought we were finished we decided we would pull the Sled Dawg Elite by the big 20 foot long, 3" diameter rope and then push the sled back. Just to start all over again.

I have no idea how much the thing weighs, but it had a 45 pound plate on it, I was pulling it towards me by the huge, white thick rope and once it got to me, I bent over like this guy and pushed it back, Roy said my rest was walking back to the end of the rope. After the first set I heard him sneak a plate on it and I called him on it. "It's only 5 pounds he said", and it made a big difference, he didn't even try to sneak on the next plate, he just plopped it on and smiled.

At one point he had a grin on his face and said "I need to get a video of you doing this on my website! Your arms have veins popped out all over them as you pull the rope!"

I am totally into it, film away I say! 

Did I tell you he has a huge truck tire in the corner too? Can't wait to do something with that!

We talked a bit about our plan for next week, deadlifts! I showed him my straps from IronMind, he liked them, everyone does.

I walked out to my car to load up on some simple carbs and a little protein; BCAA's, Vanadyl Sulfate, Kre-Alkalyn (my usual after training supplements).

I felt like I had ingested drugs (and I don't mean the supps I just took, I mean mind altering psychotics) I felt wonderful, alive, healthy, strong, accomplished.

And then went grocery shopping, what a woman!