Sprints, Upper Body & Core

Today was intervals and weights with Cristina at Pura Vida Club.  We started with springs of course!  After a quick warm up, then minute run at 6mph, I did 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9.5mph, and 10mph 30 second sprints with no problem.  During my 10.5mph sprint I felt my right hamstring tighten up.  I decided to go ahead and try 11mph but at 18 seconds into the 30 second sprint my hamstring said no and I quickly bailed off treadmill.  Cristina had planned for me to do box jumps and other leg exercises but did a change of plans on the fly.

Instead we focused on arms and core.  I started with alternating 12 assisted pull-ups and what I can the caterpillar crawl for 15 hands forward then 15 hands back.  I did three sets of each.

Another exercise set was 12 chest presses with crunches on the ball followed by 14 opposite leg and arm lifts in plank.  The plank move looked easy but I quickly found out it is tough really focusing on balance and core strength.  As soon as I was done with three rounds of that set, I told Cristina that I obviously needed to do those because they were tough.

I also 12 chest wide bar pulls with 12 weighted leg kicks.  When Cristina was setting up the weights for the leg move, I said "5 pounds?!?!?!" She said just try it.  Well it was actually 7.5 pounds and I quickly found out why she went light weight.  Balancing on a bent leg with weighted leg bent and off ground, then kick forward extending leg from knee down isn't easy!

Here's a look at those exercises so you can try them too.

With the hamstring flare up I got a little extra stretch time on it.  Yes I give in.  I'm going to Airrosti to get it worked on.

Constant Climber, Renegade Rows....Great Weight Intervals

Yesterday was intervals and weights with Cristina.  I usually workout with Cristina on Thursdays but had to change because of a lunch meeting this week.  In the session I hit the ground running....literally.  After quick warm up it was into sprints.  These are 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off at 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, and 11mph.  I was really pumped that I only did 30 second rest before the 11mph sprint.  Sometime I'll take 40-45 second before that one.

I didn't get much of a break before hitting the Constant Climber machine to do oblique pull downs for 40 seconds on each side.  These were paired with 10 box squats on each leg.

Then to renegade rows and what I'll call weighted side hops.  The second one is actually to help me with form.  With lunges I tend to turn my toes in slightly instead of pointing toes straight ahead, so these hops are suppose to help hip flexors fire better so I don't turn in.  Those rows are tough to do with weights that roll!  I did 20 renegade rows (alternating 10 on each side) and 10 weighted side hops on each leg.

One other set was biceps and triceps.  As Cristina said when I did a drop set to exhaustion on biceps, "Your biceps need a little love"....in other words they need a lot of work to be ripped!  Those alternated with overhead tricep push downs, which I actually went up on weight with each set.  Got to do 12 of each for the three sets, until the last set of biceps when Cristina dropped the weight and made me keep going with bicep curls to exhaustion.

With the exercise pairs, you do both exercises for 3 sets with minimal rest between sets.

Here's a quick look at how to do the exercises.  Have fun!

Lots of Lunges

Last Thursday was intervals and weights with Cristina at Pura Vida Club.  Instead of coaching me through and time watching, Cristina ran the sprints with me.  I love it when a trainer jumps in and does some of the exercises with me.  We did 30 second on, 30 seconds off at 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, and 10.5 mph. Then off to do some weight sets including the constant climb machine.  Never done that one...and certainly felt it through the weekend.  I think Cristina was on a lunge kick Thursday because I certainly had to do a ton!

Here are some the exercises including:  Lunges with ViPR Twist, Side Lunges with Weights, Constant Climber, and Bosu Lunges with Overhead Press.

Have fun trying these at the gym!

Get 'Er Done Intervals

Yesterday I had a one hour intervals and weights session with Cristina at Pura Vida Club.  I text Cristina right before session asking if we were going outside.  YES! I got back.  Ok here we go I thought - one hour of sprints, hops, lunges, shuffles, and other moves that made me tweet out afterward that the new name of my sessions with Cristina are officially called "kick Jen's booty hour."

We did start indoors for sprints.  I'm better at sprints on treadmill so I can watch speed and time.  So after a quick warm up, I was off and running sprints at 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, and 11mph.  I did 30 seconds at each miles per hour then 30 seconds off before going on to the faster speed.

After sprints, we headed outside for some top of the parking garage fun.  First up was set of lunges with ViPR row and shuffles with Cristina adding resistance to the band that was around my waist.  I did 10 lunges with 20 swings and 10 shuffles each side for three sets.

Another series was leg hops over small hurtles and bicep curls.  I did 10 hops then straight in to 12 bicep curls for three sets.

The toughest one for me was the lift of a 24 pound ViPR.  That was followed by jumps over a small hurtle.    Cristina had me do 4 lifts of the ViPR (using 4 small lifts up and down) then 10 jumps.

Here's a look at some of the intervals.

Push It With Intervals & Weights

Today was one hour of intervals and weights with Cristina at Pura Vida Club.  Which really means one hour of push me to the max.  I went in full of energy and ready to rock after a great day of work and 45 minutes of running around scrambling to get a few errands done.  We hit it right away with sprints after a warm up.  That meant 30 seconds running on treadmill at 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, and 10.5 miles per hour with 30 second breaks in between.

After sprints, it was some arm work, several intervals with VIPR, squats with 85 pound barbell, more arms including TRX moves of pull ups and triceps extensions.  All weights were three sets of 12.  All intervals were 30 seconds with short rest in between.  Goal with intervals is 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off like Cristina has me do with sprints.

Here are a few of the exercises so you can see how to do them if you want to try them out!

Got 30? Go High Intensity Intervals

Yesterday was a high intensity intervals session with Cristina at Pura Vida Club.  I love the tough, kick your butt 30 minute workouts.  Cristina does make me laugh though when she tells me I have another round with a smile.

She had me start with a quick walk then jog warm up on treadmill as set up for sprints.  My right hamstring has been a little extra tight for a few days so I did 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off sprints from 6.5 mph up to 10.5 mph, increasing speed by .5 mph for each sprint.  I had an average pace of 8:42 mph.

Next up lateral jumps shuffle and forward hurdle hops.  Let's just say I wasn't exactly Miss Graceful on those!  These drills are not something I normally do, which is great because they are that much more of a challenge.  Cristina had me do 4 passes of lateral then rest, 4 passes of forward (right lead 1 & 3, left lead 2 & 4) then rest, then do two more rounds.

Then to the ViPR, or weighted tube.  I did a squat swing through then hop twist.  Cristina had me start with just squatting and swinging the the tube up before I advanced to adding the 180 degree jump.  I did three sets of 10 of those.

Here are those two exercises:

I finished out with some glute and hamstring stretches. In and out of gym in 30 minutes...and got a workout that kicked my butt!

Going The Rounds With High Intensity Intervals

I was absolutely thrilled I was able to squeeze in a high intensity intervals session with Cristina at Pura Vida Club today. With the snow it was looking like I was going to have to cancel which would have meant a no workout day for me. Instead I got a good old-fashioned butt kickin' today.

Cristina had me start with a quick warm up on treadmill then right in to sprints of 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off. I did sprints at 6 mph, 6.5 mph, 7 mph, 7.5 mph, 8 mph, 8.5 mph, 9 mph, 9.5 mph, 10 mph, and 10.5 mph. Thinking I was done there...boy I was wrong. After a 40 second rest, I hit 11 mph for 20 second then a 30 second rest and 30 seconds back at 8 mph.

At some point in 10 mph spring, Christina said, "You're getting in the best shape of your life." Yes I'm going for it and pushed through. In the 11.5 mph sprint, she said, "You've got this." Yes I did....but barely!

We moved on to the ViPR, or weighted tube.  Cristina had me do three 30 second rounds of curtsy lunges with a jump up should press.  After the second round, I looked at her and said you're going to make me do three rounds aren't you. She just looked at me and smiled.

Next the ViPR drag. That's starting in plank position. Drag the tube with one arms. Move backward three hand placements then drag tube with other arm and repeat sequence for 30 seconds.  I did three rounds.

Finished off with a warm up 30 seconds on rowing machine then three rounds of 30 seconds rowing as hard as I could with 30 second rest in between.

Here what the ViPR and rowing exercises look like:

Ready...Set...Sprint!

When my friend Kim was visiting me this past weekend, she told me about a cardio workout the trainers at her gym in Dallas had turned her on to.  They say it will re-shape your legs.  Kim has been doing it a couple of weeks.  She has great legs to begin with, but she works for them.  So I decided to try one of her workouts today.  Like most females, I'll try anything to shrink to the thighs!

I'm super tired but I trudge over to Pura Vida Club.  If I head home from the station I won't get a workout done today!  So I downed some Honey Stinger Organic Energy Chews and off I go to hit the sprints on the treadmill.

I did modify the workout slightly so I could also get some mileage in.  Sprints AND distance - guess who's going to be sore tomorrow!

Here's my one mile warm up:
Walk 3.5 mph for .25 miles
Walk 4.0 mph for .25 miles
Jog 6.0 mph for .25 miles
Jog 6.5 mph for .25 miles

Sprint Time!
30 second sprint at 8.0 mph then 30 second rest
Repeated at 8.5 mph, 9.0 mph, 9.5 mph

30 second spring at 10.0 mph then 1 minute rest
Repeated at 10.5 mph and 11.0 mph
Then repeat backwards to 8.0 mph

That's 13 thirty second sprints for right at 2 miles for me.

Yes I did feel like I was going to puke at 10.5 mph and 11.0 mph!  I'm sure I looked like an idiot to anyone else working out as I flying on the treadmill as fast as I can, focused, sweating, and breathing heavy then just trying to catch my breath and jamming to my tunes in the rests.  Just hope I didn't sing out loud!

Then another mile at 6.5 mph (9:13 mile pace) to finish four miles in 33 minutes.  I rounded out the cardio workout with an easy quarter of a mile walk at 3.5 mph.

As hard as it was I'm going to add this sprint workout in once or twice a week for awhile, build up to sprints up to 12 mph, and see the difference these make over the next few weeks.

Some days are long, slow, easy runs.  Others days, like today, the chase is on in full out sprints!