Starting Body of Fire!

Today is the first day of Body of Fire.  It went well.  I'm not a big fan of AMAP reps sets, but I survived.

BOF Ph1/Wk1/Wo1
55min
Warm up - Jump rope 3 min, golf ball roll 30s, cat/camel x10, wall squat x10
Jumping jack - 5x10
Mountain climber - 5x10 (5ea leg)
One-arm row - 25# - 20L18R, 16, 13, 17, 14, 13
One-arm shoulder press - 20# - 12L13R, 5x10
Split squat - 20#ea - 12L/11R, 10, 10, 11, 12, 10
Plank - arms on swiss ball - 6x30s
Power clean/Push press - 15#ea - 2x20
Stretches - 20s ea - hip flexors, calf, chest, T-spine

Done with FBB!!!

I finally "fine-tuned" and finished Female Body Breakthrough! It feels like a good accomplishment. I did the vast majority as planned, even the high-rep stuff! I did give up on the warm-up during the past week or two. Also, I mixed in other stuff for the met con days, like kettlebell workouts and met cons from other sources. I think my goal of increased single-leg work was a good one and I think it did help things. Yes, I'm not hitting the numbers I would have with SnG, but I knew I wouldn't.

I'm still annoyed at how this day has two barbell exercises with drastically different weights in the same superset. I do have two bars, but if I didn't (as many commercial and home gyms would be) I would either have to deviate from plan or waste a LOT of time swapping plates. (That wouldn't happen in a 30s break!)
Now, it's on to Body of Fire. This will also be a non-heavy workout. But, it's a killer from what I hear. I hope I survive!

Fine Tune B6
0:58
Foam rolling and 3 min rope skipping
Swiss Ball Crunch - 2x10/10# (slow!)
Complex - High Pull, Front Squat with Push Press, Back Squat 4/8x45#
Deadlift - 2x15/135#
Dumbell Rotational Overhead Press - 2x15ea/15#ea
Single-Leg Squat - 2x15 to bench
Bent-Over Row - 2x15/65#

Last A workout of FBB!

Here is the last A workout of Female Body Breakthrough Fine Tune.  Woo hoo!
I did have to fight some mental resistance to get it done, but the draw of finishing the program was great enough.

Fine Tune A6
~1:15
Foam rolling and a few minute minutes of rope skipping
Plank with Alternate Arm Reach - 2x10
Complex (Deadlift, High Pull, Push Press, Reverse Lunge) - 4x8/45#
Bulgarian Split Deadlift - 3x10ea/20#ea
Single-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press on Swiss Ball -10ea/30#, 2x10ea/31.25#
Back Squat - 3x10/65#
Chinup - 6/JG, 2x8/JG

Yoga and TGUs

Today, I got up and did a 30 minute Qi yoga class from YogaDownload.com.  Great class.  Then I did my Turkish Get Up workout.  I didn't do the warm up, since I was warm and twisted from yoga.  Then I did 5 minutes of TGUs with my 20# kettlebell.  I did better this time and got 5 on the left and 4 on the right.  Nice start to the day!

Deadlifts!

I didn't get a PR today in deadlifts, but they were still good.  This is more than I've lifted in a long time.  I was getting annoyed with the complex and was going to shorten the number of sets for that and the rest of the workout, but my son came down during the 3rd round and somehow that encouraged me to complete the workout as planned.

Fine Tune B5
1:25
Foam rolling and 5 min rope skipping
Swiss Ball Crunch - 2x10/10# (slow!)
Complex - High Pull, Front Squat with Push Press, Back Squat 4/8x45#
Deadlift - 5/155#, 2x5/160#, 5/165#
Dumbell Rotational Overhead Press - 5/20#, 3x5/25#
Single-Leg Squat - 4x5 to 6 risers
Bent-Over Row - 5/65#, 3x5/75#

Three workouts to report

While travelling on business, I did get two workouts in:

Tuesday
Warm up - 2 rounds of (10x wall squats, 10x halos, 10x pumps)
Workout - TGUs for 5 minutes, alternating sides, did 4 left and 3 right with 20# KB
After - laps in the hotel pool

Wednesday
Warm up - 2 rounds of (10x wall squats, 10x halos, 10x pumps)
Workout - 12minutes (7 sets) of 20 swings (~30seconds) using the 16kg kettlebell with 1 minute of active rest in between
Active rest betwen KB swings - 1.5 rounds of 4 exercises for 1 minute each: jumping jacks, mountain climbers, squat thrust with pushup, high knees

Today was another high-rep squat workout. I still dislike high-rep workouts, but I made it through. The one good thing about it is that it's relatively shorter than the ones with more sets. I couldn't stand the thought of the same warm-up again, so I skipped rope for 4 minutes instead.

Fine Tune A5
~1:03
Foam rolling and 4 minutes of rope skipping
Plank with Alternate Arm Reach - 2x10
Complex (Deadlift, High Pull, Push Press, Reverse Lunge) - 4x8/45#
Bulgarian Split Deadlift - 2x15ea/15#ea
Single-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press on Swiss Ball -2x15ea/25#
Back Squat - 2x15/60#
Chinup - 2x10/JG

Split up

I got up later than normal today.  I had to cut the first part of my workout short, so I could help get the kiddos ready for school.  I'll be travelling starting in a couple hours, so I wanted to finish the workout.  Hours in the car go better if I've had movement in the morning!  The order of my exercises weren't normal, but I got them all in!  I did sub a couple minutes of jump rope for the regular FBB warm up, in the interest of time and my sanity.  (I'm soooo tired of that warm up!!)  I have a new jump rope.  I don't know why it took me this long to cough up the $5 for it.  It is sooooo much easier to jump with this cable rope as opposed to the other rope jump rope.  (Ha!)  The only problem is that it HURTS when it hits my feet!  I'm going to have to leave some shoes downstairs to wear when using the jump rope.
Less than two weeks and I'll be on to my next program!  (4 workouts left)
Fine Tune B4
1:10
Foam rolling and rope skipping
Swiss Ball Crunch - 2x10/10# (slow!)
Complex - High Pull, Front Squat with Push Press, Back Squat 4/8x45#
Deadlift - 10/145#, 10/150#, 10/155#
Dumbell Rotational Overhead Press - 3x10/15#
Single-Leg Squat - 3x10 to bench
Bent-Over Row - 3x10/70#

Squat PR!

Today marks the halfway point in this FBB phase.  I wasn't super excited about the length of the workout, but I did like the low reps during the second half.  I managed to pull out a PR for back squats and probably could have gone up a bit more.

For the chinups, I used the JG and tried to put minimal weight on my legs and even pull myself off the floor.  Toward the end of the sets, I wouldn't get my legs lifted much.  They still feel very effective.

Fine Tune A4
~1:30
Foam rolling and warm up
Plank with Alternate Arm Reach - 2x10
Complex (Deadlift, High Pull, Push Press, Reverse Lunge) - 4x8/45#
Bulgarian Split Deadlift - 5ea/20#ea, 3x5ea/25#ea
Single-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press on Swiss Ball -5ea/35#, 5ea/36.25#, 5ea/37.5#
Back Squat - 5/75#, 5/80#, 5/85#, 5/90#
Chinup - 4x6/JG with feet out front on floor, lifting up the first few reps

Swinging some more kettlebells!

I meant to lift this morning, but I misread my logs and did the next KB workout instead. That's ok, because I didn't have enough time to lift. Tomorrow I will have more time. I just realized I way overstated what I did last time I did swings. By 2x! I'll correct that to 12 sets. This time, I actually held to the 12 mintues for swings. I also increased to my 16kg kettlebell. My heart rate kept getting up to the 170s during the swings. Good work out!


Warm up - 1/2 FBB warm up, 2 rounds of (10x wall squats, 10x halos, 10x pumps)
Workout - 12minutes (6 sets) of 20 swings (~30seconds) using the 16kg kettlebell with 1 minute of active rest in between, then 5 minutes of skipping rope
Active rest betwen KB swings - 1.5 rounds of 4 exercises for 1 minute each: jumping jacks, mountain climbers, squat thrust with pushup, rope skipping

During the active rests and rope skipping, I kept feeling like I was in aerobics class. I had Lady Gaga playing and the beat was so strong, it was impossible not to keep with it!

TGUs and a little running

This morning was my TGU workout.  It was short, so I added on a fast (for me) mile.  I wanted to get out and run a mile as fast as I could.  Considering I haven't run in a while, it went well.

Warm up - 2 rounds of 10x wall squats, 10x halos, 10x pumps
Workout - TGUs for 5 minutes, alternating sides, did 4 left and 3 right with 20# KB
Finisher - 1 mile, 9:27, lots of sweat

High reps again

Normally, I don't like high rep workouts.  Today's lift called for 2 sets of 15 reps.  I often dread these. However, today something clicked and it was fine.  I even enjoyed the feel of the speedy deadlifts.  They felt strong.  I remembered this time to wear longer pants and my long socks for the deadlifts.  Even with loads of Eco Ball on my legs, bare-legged deadlifts are not a good idea.  It only takes a slight rub with the bar and I've got bar burn on my legs.  It's not the knurled part that hits my legs, it's the smooth, shiny part.  It sticks and pulls my skin with it.

 I had to take a couple mini-rests in the middle of some of the reps, but overall, it went very well.  I almost talked myself out of lifting this morning, since I didn't sleep very well last night.  With only two sets, it was slightly on the short side of the FBB workouts rather than the long side.  6 workouts left in FBB!

Fine Tune B3
1:10
Foam rolling and warm up.
Swiss Ball Crunch - 2x10/10#
Complex - High Pull, Front Squat with Push Press, Back Squat 4/8x45#
Deadlift - 2x15/135#
Dumbell Rotational Overhead Press - 3x15/15#
Single-Leg Squat - 2x15 to bench (niggle in the knee, so I didn't do the last two sets)
Bent-Over Row - 2x15/65#

Kettlebell swings!

I started a new kettlebell program today.  It starts with just swings on one day and Turkish Get Ups on the next.  That said, it was still a great workout, although I realized I did the program wrong.  I did all rounds instead of stopping at 12 minutes.  So, I did 26 minutes instead of 12.  Oops.  Today was swings and the whole thing took about 36 minutes with warm up.  It was a LOT of swings.  240 swings, to be exact.  I did feel like that type of volume helped me feel when I was getting it right and when I wasn't.  It helped me start adjusting.  It felt great and I felt strong, a lot more snappy than last time.  I did much better jumping rope this time.  I actually jumped more than 4 times in a row.  Oh, and I got a blister on the ring finger of my left hand.  I think it will just dissolve into a callous.

Warm up - 2 rounds of 10x wall squats, 10x halos, 10x pumps
Workout - 12 sets of 20 swings (~30seconds) with 1 minute of active rest in between
Active rest - 3 rounds of 4 exercises for 1 minute each: jumping jacks, mountain climbers, squat thrust with pushup, rope skipping

Then, I rode about 5.5 miles with the kiddos, pulling the Trail-a-bike.  We had some nice hills.  Beautiful day!

Lifting and kicking

This fall, I am helping coach my daughter's soccer team.  So, during my lift this morning, I had a coach training video on.  I learned a little. I learned a lot more during our first game today, though!

I really love the chin ups using the Jungle Gym XT.  Here is the lift:

Fine Tune A3
Foam rolling and warm up
Plank with Alternate Arm Reach - 2x10
Complex (Deadlift, High Pull, Push Press, Reverse Lunge) - 4x8/45#
Bulgarian Split Deadlift - 3x10ea/15#ea
Single-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press on Swiss Ball -10ea/25#, 10ea/27.5#, 10ea/30#
Back Squat - 3x10/65#
Chinup - 3x8/JG with feet out front on floor

Another circuit

Today I put together a circuit for myself. I did 20s off, 1:10 on for 4 rounds:
KB swings (16kg, 16kg, 12kg, 12kg)\
JG pull up
jumprope
KB L/R clean (12kg, 20#, 20#, 20#)
JG push up

I don't know what was up, but I couldn't jump rope for anything.  The Jungle Gym XT (JG) push ups were hard.  Really hard.  By the 3rd and 4th round, I was kind of getting them.  The JG pull ups are great.  I can see them really helping my regular pull ups.
Here is Saturday's FBB workout:

Fine Tune B2
1:22
Foam rolling and warm up.
Swiss Ball Crunch - 10/10#, 10/10#
Complex - High Pull, Front Squat with Push Press, Back Squat 4/8x45#
Deadlift - 3x5/155#, 5/160#
Dumbell Rotational Overhead Press - 2x5/20#, 2x5/25#
Single-Leg Squat - 2x5 to bench (niggle in the knee, so I didn't do the last two sets)
Bent-Over Row - 4x5/75#