Shut Up Left Arm You're Drunk!

Today both of my arms are hungover and it's no surprise since they were obviously drunk at training on Tuesday.  You know "drunk arms" where you attempt to lift something and your arms go every direction except where they are supposed to.  See the video for an example of my drunk arms.  My left arm being clearly drunker than my right.

Which made me wonder about one sided weakness and the best ways to work on evening out.  It turns out what Mike had us doing is exactly what you should do to even things out.  So here is some advice for my left arm:

• Left arm - no more relying on the sober right arm to carry to load while you drink away.
• Use dumbballs instead of barballs (yes balls not bells...we’ve had this conversation).  This allows each arm to work by itself to complete the movement and doesn’t allow the stronger arm to do more than the weaker

•  Left arm - no more waiting until the right arm is done and then pretending its overall tiredness and not your left arm drunken lazines.
•  Use your weaker arm first. 

•  Left arm - you get off easy on this one. 
• Work each arm equally.  Don’t do extra sets or more weight with the weaker arm.  Using the same weight an reps will even them out over time.  

• Left arm - you won’t get off so easy on this one.  You will be my official beer lifting... I mean protein shake lifting arm from now on.
• Outside of the gym… use the weaker arm more for everyday activities… I suppose this is more of a use both arms equally instead of settling into the habit of just using the stronger arm.  Apparently it can also help you become more comfortable using it in the gym which will allow for better mind muscle connection. 

Right arm - Keep up the Good work!

~ Biz

Gym Fears

This week Heather was home faking a cold and so I again had the opportunity to work with a new victim, I mean partner. I love partnering with Heather and look forward to next week when she will be back but it's kind of cool to have occasional opportunities to work with different people. I bet it's interesting for Mike to work with so many different people every week. Everyone has something new to offer.

Meet JIF (Tamara) who stepped in to be my partner this week. At the end of the session I asked her what her favorite part was and she said the Kettleball deadliest because she was afraid to do it (due to prior injury) and that it was cool to do it safely with Mike. It got me thinking about Gym Fears and how working with Mike mitigates them.

Three Gym Fears and how Mike can help you overcome them:

Fear that you will get hurt or aggravate an injury

• If you are honest and realistic in communicating with Mike about your abilities and injuries he can monitor them, weights, reps, etc.
• Mike knows a MILLION exercises so if something is bothering you all you have to do is speak up and he'll come up with something else awful, I mean amazing, for you to do.
• Mike will train you to do exercises the right way so that you don't get hurt. He is then there to watch you and make sure you don't slip into bad habits.

JIF getting ready to kettle ball dead lift

Fear of not being able to do the thing you are trying to do. AKA fear of failure.   

• Mike's job is to determine what is realistic for you so. If you are honest with him about how hard/easy each exercise then he will learn your abilities he shouldn't ask you to do things you can't.
• If you can't do it then you can blame it on him. 

Fear of not being able to do the thing you are trying to do. AKA fear of failure. 

• Mike's job is to determine what is realistic for you so. If you are honest with him about how hard/easy each exercise then he will learn your abilities he shouldn't ask you to do things you can't.
   
• If you can't do it then you can blame it on him.

Fear that you will look stupid

• Mike works out of a small training only gym so there are very few people to see you look stupid unless you write a blog about it and post videos.


• You will look stupid. Get over it. You'll look hot later.

Success!

One more pic for the cleavage

So if you struggle with Gym fears consider training (at least with Mike) because it can definitely help.

What other gym fears do you have??



~Biz

The Pros and Cons of Balls

Why is it that I always find myself talking about balls?  Maybe cause balls are great for training... so much innuendo.    Today I'll go through some pros and cons of the Sweaty Swiss Balls that I love and hate so much.

PRO: There is A LOT of comedy to be had when trying to balance, squeeze, roll, and fondle balls
CON:  MUCH of the comedy is simply trying to get into position to start the exercises...

PRO: They work a lot of different body parts.  In addition to core activation each exercise works other areas too like shoulders, glutes and hamstrings.
CON: This means that ALL of me is sore for 2 days not just part of me...

PRO: The exercises are easily adjustable for different skill levels so they work well for partner training because we can each work at our level
CON: Its easy for your partner to kick your ass..

PRO: The exercises are fairly simply to understand.
CON: Imitation is harder than understanding...

PRO: Mike always has something new to add into the mix
CON: Mike always has something new to add into the mix...

PRO: I always like the idea of swiss balls before and after using them
CON: I remember how much they suck WHILE using them...

PRO: They use your body weight instead of added weight
CON: When working with weights it's because the weight is too heavy... with these its my body weight thats too heavy...

PRO: You get to play with balls
CON: They get really sweaty...

PRO: Mike mixes it up and does circuits with lots of different exercises
CON: Just when you think you are done he makes you do more dead bugs...or banging bugs which I'm sure I'll talk about another time.

PRO: You get to lie backwards over them at the end of the workout (trust me its amazing)
CON: You have to survive the workout to get to the end

PRO: I always survive and feel good about it.  =)

~Biz

Schedule Swapping and Consistency

Heather doing whatever they are called...
but they make her butt look amazing!

So just as soon as I get back from my snowboarding and think we can finally get back to a normal schedule I remember that I have to go out of town for work... sheesh. Then it turns out Heather will be gone as soon as I get back so our reschedule options are limited. I will say that getting the three of us on schedule is one of the harder parts of partner training (the rest is super easy?)

Thankfully Mike is always willing to work with us to find times to train (even when they are inconvenient for him). He was willing to squeeze us in just before I left town for Montana and right when I got back so we managed to keep 3 sessions in 3 week. Once again he is working with us and is now sacrificing his Sunday morning to train us before I leave so we don't have to miss a week. I am less than excited about giving up my bloody mary but sometimes you just have to makes those tough sacrifices. This leads me to some thoughts on consistency of a training regimen. Consistency seems to be critical. We've been able to keep our weekly session going for around 5 months with minimal interruptions... although I seem to remember Shannon (who's awesome) coming once to save me when Heather abandoned me for what I'm sure was an awesome work trip.

Bulgarians.  Not to be confused with Bulge-atarians

As usual I did a little googling and I found this that seemed to ring true:

For some people, it is common to become energized about working out and jump right in. In these cases, unless there is a long-term plan in place or some thought has gone into how the fitness activity will be sustained, there is often a drop off in enthusiasm, resulting in inconsistency. A well thought out fitness plan will go a long way in helping you to reach your goals.

I'm waaaaay to lazy to plan so Mike is my plan. I'm very much the type to go all in and then when unable to maintain it to give up. Having training once a week is sustainable and has allowed me to maintain consistency with a strength workout that I have never had before.

Having a partner is also key. Heather will yell at me if I try to flake out (yeah, she's pretty mean). Seriously having 2 people counting on your being there makes it a lot easier to keep it up and knowing there will be 2 smiling faces is a added incentive (and yes when Heather isn't yelling at me she does smile for about 30 seconds until we start swinging kettle balls).

For optimal results, you will want to build up to higher and higher levels of cardiovascular strength, flexibility and strength training. A gradual increase in intensity will allow your muscles, tendons and ligaments a chance to adjust to the strains and challenges of a fitness regimen.

Training with Mike each week allows for the gradual increases in difficulty. I am getting stronger even while I've been working on some injury recovery, travel, holidays... life in general. This is because of the consistency we've achieved (and good training of course).

~Biz

Banging training v 2.0

Tears in the Gym

So on more than one occasion I have exercised myself to tears. I’m sure I’m not the only person out there (right Biz?). Pull-ups and squats so far have been the big ones. Sometimes I just want to cry and sometimes it’s like I blew a fuse and start laughing and crying at the same time. It’s the like the emotional equivalent to farting and burping at the same time. No one knows what the hell is going on.

I did some really basic googling and here are a few fun facts from good ol’ Wikipedia:

A neuronal connection between the lacrimal gland (tear duct) and the areas of the human brain involved with emotion has been established.

So crying and emotions are connected in the brain – no big surprise.

Tears produced during emotional crying have a chemical composition, which differs from other types of tears. They contain significantly greater quantities of the hormones prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, Leu-enkephalin, and the elements potassium and manganese.

So when I cry in the gym it’s different than crying over the onions.

Here’s my favorite though:

Crying is believed to be an outlet or a result of a burst of intense emotional sensations, such as agony, surprise or joy.

I cry at the gym as a result of a burst of intense emotional AGONY. And sometimes some surprise is added in as well. And thanks to Biz there might be moments of joy, but first…

THE AGONY

I cried this time while doing squats and not just to make Biz feel better. We go deep – past parallel and past all human decency. Mike is there to support us and push us, of course. He is also present to supply loads of fresh agony.

I made it to my last set and the last rep of that last set broke me. Mike tried to give me an assist but even with no weight I was just stuck there like a frog trying to take a big dump. Even after he moved the weight I couldn’t stand up. (You don’t even want to know how I felt for the next 3 days).

THE JOY

So my camera sucks but Biz is rocking some serious tricep definition. She was doing like 20 pounds more than me for triceps pull downs. I think it’s from a lifetime of pants-ing boys but what do I know.

Also, we tried this new exercise that I can't even explain so I will let Biz demonstrate through pictures. I absolutely did cry during this one and it way definitely joy. Partner training is where it’s at! Stuff you don’t want to do but is stupid-good for you, weird awesome things you’d never do alone in a gym and an opportunity to check out your buddy’s sweet behind.

Angry Balls II - You thought you looked dumb last time

Ok so I'm not one to accuse anyone of anything but I'm pretty sure that after my blog post about angry swiss balls Mike went home and tried to think of the most ridiculous thing for us to do with balls.  Call it a hunch.  I believe this enough so that we have, for the first time, felt the need to provide video evidence of our experience.  To give you a taste picture Heather and I attempting this:

Except take away the handle part and picture us only using our legs to hold the ball.  

Now before you just scroll to the bottom and watch the video to mock us, read the rest of the blog that I worked so hard on while developing a mental picture of what is coming.

So in addition to new swiss ball exercises we also did kettle bells (henceforth to be known as kettle balls in keeping with our theme).  Additionally, to clarify, training will now be referred to as "banging training" as improved banging seems to be the strongest motivating factor for us.  

Of all the banging training Kettle Ball Swings probably rank second in the "banginest" moves we do list.  So much hip thrusting and grunting.  There is one other hip thruster that likely takes top honors but we'll talk about that another time.  We did about 100 ball swings (and thats not an exaggeration it's just how badass we are).

Although Turkish Getups sound like they'd be pretty "bangy" they actually are just hard and to clarify I mean difficult.  They are mostly about trying to not let the kettle ball hit you in the head when your arm muscles give out, which they will. A dead Heather is only fun for Jack.  6 of these and we are warmed up and ready for bigger balls.

Both Heather and I told Mike how much we liked working with balls and he apparently misunderstood us because he got out the swiss balls for us to workout with, silly trainer.   One of us (Heather) asked for more ab work..."idiot", I mean "love you".

We started with:

•  "Use you feet to bring balls to your butt" aka Hamstring curls.  Totally counts as banging training.

Then there was the repeat of: 

• "Dead Bug" Heather had blocked this one out so Mike had to remind her.  I might rename this one "Soon to be a Dead Bug" as the torture more closely resembles that than a dead bug.  I could lay there like a dead bug all day.
• “Practice trying to close your legs while there’s balls in the way” Apparently I needed more practice at holding a ball between my legs. Once again the sideplank with a swiss ball between your legs.  I rocked the first side by not cheating for a full 30 seconds of the 60 seconds (Mike was not impressed).  The second side was not so pretty but I still tried.

And then there was:

• “Practice trying to close your legs while there’s balls in the way – Version 2.Oh!” (hold a medicine ball between your legs while you “boat”).  Seeing as how I made comments about not being able to keep my legs closed for more than 10 seconds  Mike decided to offer up some practice for me.  So kind of him to be so thoughtful.  It looked vaguely like this:

OK... OK.. You've read enough.  For your mocking pleasure:

Be Kind.  We try so hard,

  ~ Biz (the Serious one)

My Angry Balls are better than your Swiss Balls

Rockin' Balls

Following my Physical Therapists advice I notified Mike that I was pretty limited in my leg exercises.  Apparently Mike took this on as a challenge to see just how hard he could make us work anyway.  Let me tell you it hurts to sneeze today so he accomplished his mission.

There I was 1 minute late to the gym (as was noted by the always punctual Heather) and we started foam rolling and Mike tells us we are going to work with the “Swiss balls”.  My thoughts are “that sounds like fun”, “great that will give me a good workout without risking my injured knees” and “I like balls”.  I guess I was right on certain points and not others.

It looks so easy...

We launched into a series of exercises that I call 

“How dumb can you look while trying to do something simple with a big inflatable ball?” 

Here is what we did:

• “Sit on the ball and lift this weight” sounds simple enough until Heather loses her balance, I laugh at her and loose mine and we both have to start over.

Heather's a dead bug

• “Lift this ball with your feet and then move them up and down" aka windshield wipers.  This works out well until I lose my ball and it rolls into Heathers ball therefore distracting her and we had to start over.

• “Act like a dead bug” (hold the ball between your arm and knee while ‘hovering’ the other arm and leg) works fine for the first 5 but we have to do 30… 3 times…

Solid Sideplanks

• “Practice trying to close your legs while there’s balls  in the way” (hold the ball between your legs while you side plank).  Seeing as how I can hold side plank for as long as I can keep my legs closed (a full 10 seconds) this obviously went well for the 10 minutes it felt like we had to hold it for.
• “Play catch with yourself” Sure I love any exercise where I get to lie on my back and play with myself but lying on your back lifting the ball with your legs and grabbing it with your arms is a sit-up without having to sit-up.  You can’t fool me so easily so I repeatedly threw my ball at Heather in protest as she dutifully completed her “not sit-ups”

Last but certainly not least (unless there are other ones I’ve blocked out):

Yes they were clean

• “See if Heather wore clean socks" (Plank with a ball under your feet)  My plank looked spectacular the first time we did this.  I was all the way stretched out with my feet were on the ball and I was a long straight supported superhero.  I held it for a minute while assessing my manicure needs as distraction.  When we did this at the end of the workout I confidently rolled out to about my shins before losing my balance and falling off the ball with the grace of a drunken mountain goat.  I tried again this time stopping at my knees and slowly trying for a minute to convince myself that I could go further without falling.  I may have made it to my shins..

The one I blocked out

Then my favorite part of the workout:

•  “Trick Heather into standing up”. While lying on the gym floor in exhaustion I rolled my ball at Heather (an attempt at a Swiss Ball high five) my ball veered off course toward the hulk on the rowing machine and Heather, using that same adrenaline that new mothers use when saving their babies, jumped up and saved the ball before it lead to my pummeling (or getting a dirty look). 

As I left the gym my thoughts were “that wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be", “what a good workout without my knees hurting” and “I like balls”.  As a special treat when I showed up at my physical therapists office the next morning he said "I think today we will try some things on the swiss ball"  I didn't punch him.  Only cause he has a pretty face not because he didn't have it coming.

  ~ Biz (the Serious one)

Me not distracting Heather at all....

Stand In: A flashback to my first session

I finally got rid of Heather!  Just kidding I love Heather but as she was out of town last week I seized the moment to torture another friend.  Shannon agreed to be my fill in training partner and check out what training is like.  It gave me flashbacks to my first few sessions and a lot of thoughts that I had back then.  So for my first blog I’m going to flashback to some notes I made after my first session.

“Today I had my first personal training session.  I was excited and a little nervous because I didn’t really know what to expect as I’d never really been to a personal trainer before.  Things went well and it made me recognize what the value of having a personal trainer will be.  I will have someone else telling me what to do and expecting me to do certain things which will make me push harder than I would push myself.  Those extra couple repetitions or extra couple pounds of weight could really make a difference.”  

“I think every exercise that we did today was something that I would never have come up with on my own.  We used a lot of different equipment (but not many machines) and had a lot of variety in exercises which I think will be good for me and keep me interested.  At one point he said something about us being almost done and I felt like I hadn’t been there very long so I was obviously into what we were doing and not counting time down on the clock.”

 “I feel like a lot of the session was spent on assessment and trying to figure out for both he and I what I can do and what my limits are for different things.  For example he asked me “how do you feel about box jumps?  Can you do 10 box jumps?” Well, I have no idea cause I've never done a box jump, it's probably something I can do but even if I can do it I don’t know how many.  It was like that with a lot of exercises.  I didn’t know if I could do it at all, how many I’d be able to do or how much weight I’d be able to do.  Mike was good at assessing and everything we did was pretty close to where I needed it to be. He started me a little easier which is fine with me because there was no defeating moments where I couldn’t do what I was asked to do and instead I got to do more.”

“I’m sore and I’m not really very excited about how I’m gonna feel tomorrow.  Overall I think a lot of today was about not knowing what to expect, being nervous, getting kind of over that and he and I trying to figure out where i’m at.  That will help us figure out where to go next.”

One of the hardest parts of personal training for me was getting over the fear of getting started.  The anxiety, nerves, self-doubt, fear of failure, etc. etc. etc.  By my third session or so I had dropped most of those and instead look forward to training days as the days that I do something good for myself.  Training is still hard but the fear and anxiety is gone.

My newbie Shannon handled the session like a Rock Star and by the end I was exhausted on the floor and she was still smiling.  As I was the first time I'm sore and tired but glad I take the time each week to go see Mike for my "me time" in the gym.

~Biz