Hi everyone,
This week we have had a little heat wave in Northern Ireland! It has been amazing and I have been topping up my Vitamin D at every given moment! My Kindle and I have been heading off on little trips together too. And honestly, I have never felt so content as I have this week – I’m not quite sure what happened, but that corner I turned last week, now seems like a distance dot. Two days ago I started reading a life-changing book (The Secret
While I am on the topic of books, I had pre-ordered “Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking
Here is a video of Susan Cain talking about The Power of Introverts. This video had a large part to play in pulling me out of the hole I was in, because I felt my introverted ways would only ever hold me back … not realising that they are likely the reason why I have got so far! It’s all about perception people, perception! 🙂
There’s simply no question about it – each of us has the ability to attract what we want in life. What most of us do instead is think about what we don’t want or don’t have. Your thoughts govern your feelings, so if you are only ever thinking “I am fat”, “I am weak”, “I just can’t do pull ups” etc then you will always feel bad about these things and never make the progress you really want. Start to visualise the life you DO want and begin to emit good feelings and attract good things. At worst you will see the bright side of everything, at best you get EVERYTHING you want. So you have nothing to lose by trying!
The Workout
Earlier in the week I posted the Best Beginner’s Home Workout Routines to help newbies get started, so today I am focusing on my more experienced readers and giving you an High Intermediate/Advanced Strength and Conditioning Workout.
What makes this workout more advanced? The exercises are all combinations and the intervals are longer!
Set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 18 cycles of 25 seconds rest and 1 min effort. Complete 3 rounds of the following 6 exercise combos. The weights I used and my reps per exercise (except the swing) are indicated in brackets below.
- Thruster into Reverse Lunge (right) (16kg) (8, 7, 7)
- Same on Left (8, 8, 7)
- Burpee (with push-up) into Pull Up (6.5, 6, 5) – these are totally badass!
- Contra-Lateral Single-Leg Deadlift with Row (right leg, left arm) (16kg) (7, 7, 7)
- Same but opposite sides (8, 7, 6)
- Roundabout Swing (20kg) – couldn’t be bothered counting these
I really enjoyed this workout because a) there was lots of concentration required so it went in really quickly and b) because I was outside in the beautiful sunshine!
Let me know your feedback on any of the topics on today’s post. I always love to hear from you 🙂
Cheers
Marianne
Love how God expresses himself through you being yourself Marianne. 🙂 Acts 17:28
I’m discovering this much more funnily enough since i left church and I’m losing my religion! But not my belief 🙂
Can I recommended ‘Secret of Contentment’ by Andre Rabe, he has a website which is worth a read too hearhim.net.
Thank you Rachel, what a lovely, encouraging thing to say! I am the same about religion btw, and my Faith is intact! 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check it out x
I love your site and, yes, I, too, am an introvert. Susan Cain’s book is fantastic. Have you ever taken the Meyer Briggs test, Marianne? I have. I’m an off-the Richter Scale “INFJ.” 🙂 I wonder what “type” you are? … Anyway, keep up the fantastic work!
Hey, I just took that test and I am an Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging type (ISFJ). It pretty much has me down to a “T”. LOL!
I’ve been out of the loop for a couple of weeks with moving, which is still only half done! Somehow I found this workout on my phone so I did this this morning. Boy was it tough! I was breathing hard the whole time. OK, I haven’t worked out in two weeks, but I have been moving heavy things, so I figured that counted for something. And yes, I am 3600 feet higher than I used to live… but, oh well, this was a challenge!
It took me 15 minutes to put my pullup bars back together, and then I searched around the house for a door jamb that would support it! I was actually thinking I was going to have to forget the pullups, but I found one door that worked. (Darn! No not really, I just didn’t want to find out how much strength I might have lost.)
So –
1. thruster to rev lunge, R: 12 kg 10, 8.5, 7
2. ” ,L: 9, 8, 8
3. Burpee pullups 7, 7, 6
4. Contralateral SLDL rows, L arm 14 Kg 12, 12, 12
5. ” R arm, 14 Kg 12, 11, 12
6. Round-about-Swings 16 Kg 35, 35, 35
HR 2 sweat 1.25 face red
My heart was pounding for some time afterwards. I’ve been doing heavier workouts lately, alternating with those mad BW cardio workouts, like insanity, so going back to weights AND cardio was really tough.
As always, Marianne’s workouts are the best! Once we get done with moving, I intend to get back onto a regular schedule, and I won’t feel like I got splattered on the floor!
~ Gillian
You have been busy!! You’re so high up now! Do you actually notice a difference with the altitude?
Glad you enjoyed. Way to go with the Pull Ups BTW 😀
I don’t know if the altitude made it more difficult or its just me. I will have to acclimatize for a while to see. Actually, I think the WO was just tough! 60 sec work is longer than you usually have us doing. And those breaks just flew by!
I have been trying to work on wide grip pullups and strength in general, by adding in heavy lat pulldowns and cable rows. From this WO, I did chinups only, and they are much easier, though I doubt I could have gone another round. You always seem to know just how much to push!
~ G
Love your website, it has pushed me to start doing everything with the 16kg Kettlebell…..we’ll see how the thrusters go tomorrow as my shoulders are a weak spot. Thanks for inspiring me to be brave enough to pick up a heavier kettlebell.
My gym doesn’t have a pull up bar…any suggestions for an alternative exercise?
Thank you Rebecca! It’s difficult to replicate the same movement as a pull up at home, unless you go out to a park and find some monkey bars etc – so the next best thing is some sort of row. Either with the KB, or an inverted Row, using 2 chairs and a broomstick. But it might be worth considering buying a door frame pull-up bar. Hope this helps! If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know 🙂
Hey marianne,
thanx for the TED talk, very inspiring! I also beleive that we were all created like no one else, so all are gifts & talents we were blessed with….are needed in this world. I liked the comment you posted about “each of us has the ability to attrack what we want” very true:)
Well cant wait to try this work out, oh and dont know if you remember I was telling you about the extra calories/protein still giving it a little bit more time, It’s only goin on 2 mos. So I’ll keep track. I’ve also been reading on Bret C. lately regarding nutrition & I’m begining to learn the best time to intake carbs as well. I know you’ve giving me advice but if you can think of anything else that might help for growth, please feel free. Thank again for everything and take care.
Cita
Great workout (and TED talk!) — Thanks! Quick question about single leg hip thrusts, as I’m having a tough time progressing (per Bret’s blog): when I perform a single leg hip thrust, whether elevated or not, many times I can feel it (in a bad way) in my lower back. I’m pretty sure this means poor hamstring/glute activation or ability, but my glutes/hams are pretty good! I can do glute bridges, weighted or unweighted, just fine. Do you have any advice? Maybe the bench I’m using is too high? (it’s standard height) Are my legs and shoulders too far apart? Any advice would be great! Thanks, Marianne!
Hey Abby. Try bringing your feet closer to your butt and really tilting the pelvis (as if you are flattening your low back and bracing your abs). Also, try stretching out your hip flexors more as they could be restricting the end range of movement. Final advice is that if it continues to hurt (in a bad way), just regress back to glute bridges, I mostly do glute bridges anyway, so it’s definitely enough for my goals. And you have much more support for the back. Hope this helps. 🙂
My boyfriend’s Mum introduced me to The Secret last year when I was going through a really tough time in my life- my little baby sister ( and my only sibling) was going through treatment for a tough disease for the second time ( still is), I’d felt I had wasted 5 years at University and was dreading the thought of applying for university again to do a new degree to get a better chance of a career job, generally just felt that I was lagging behind everyone else and truly was at a dead end.
Negative thoughts just kept spiralling out of control really. So when I got the book, I had my usual skeptism about it but thought I’d give it a go anyway.
While I dont live by the book it has certainly helped me in so many ways. I try to think of nothing but good thoughts and do visulisation exercises too at times.
Do they work? Yes they do! I visualised a good job, a happier me, even wrote out a salary I wanted. And in a strangest way ever I got offered a dream job out of the blue, believed I already had it in the bag through all of my interviews for it and I got the job 🙂 I even got the starting salary I had written down too!
I keep notes of what I want under my pillow and believe I will get it. I believe I deserve what I am asking for and I believe I will get it sooner or later if its for me. The best thing about the concept is that it really gives you a positive focus.
I think the happiest people practice the happiest thoughts. And thats a tough discipline in itself!
Though I still need to use it to get back in control of my eating feel like thats erratic and unhealthy at the moment lol! But none the less I find The Secret has helped me get to a better place in life 🙂
I like to use it for those days doubt creeps in or I’ve just had a stressful day- it keeps me on the straight and narrow 🙂
Thought I’d give you my outlook on it lol
Loved it ! I used my sandbag and a dumbbell for weights and did no pull ups, but still was great. Thank you so much !
Great workout and your back does look freaking awesome!!!!!
Thank you so very much for this video Marianne! I am slightly introverted – but have moments of need to be extroverted! However, I have a wonderful daughter who is VERY introverted, and at times very misunderstood to be snobby, impersonal, …etc. I KNOW she is not, and it has been hard knowing others may believe this about her. She is now 14 and will painfully try to be extroverted to be accepted in certain situations, but it is tough for her! I’m trying to help her learn how to “turn it on” when she really needs to, or when others she loves need her to – but, I’m also learning how to let her be herself! I pushed her a lot when she was little to be extroverted – we were in ministry and everyone expected her to be talkative and social as my husband and I were, but she just wasn’t! I’m sure I did some damage, but thank God the last few years I’ve had a chance to redeem those mistakes and am learning to support and defend her, again still helping her to be “socially appropriate”! Thank you for sharing of yourself!!! So thankful I stumbled upon your site almost 2 years ago!!!!
Michele 😉
Michele, I am sure with your awareness, she will be just fine 🙂
You’ve been reading my blog for nearly 2 years? 😀 How cool! I wonder who the longest reader is??
Yep! I’ve recommended you to several people also! I had switched over to you from a previous site that you also, at one time, followed! It’s been great and I have come very far physically with your workouts – in strength and leanness (not suoer lean, but better than before)! I love your no-nonsense approach that is very knowledge based and not over the top that your whole life is consumed with exercising and perfect eating! I want a real person as a personal trainer – you fit the bill perfectly and I have learned a ton about having a healthy approach to fitness! You inspire me, challenge me, teach me, and crack me up!
Thanks!!!!
Aw thank you! I crack you up? lol Must be that unintentional awkward funny seem to do quite well 😐 lol!
Well, it’s great to have you here too Michele 🙂 Thank you for coming back xo
Hi Marianne~
I haven’t done this one yet, but I know i’m going to love it. These are all some of my fav exercises (that you do). Esp. the burpee to pullup. 🙂
BTW..your back is amazing. I swear you can see every single muscle..big and small. I admire your shoulders, arms, rear..ok..everything. I one day I will get my bod in that shape! My problem areas are the back of the legs. Seems no matter what I do..that area is immune to it all. *sigh*
Interesting watch by Susan Cain. I think i’m an Ambavert, weighing more on the introvert side however. My son is an introvert and I think they have the most gentle, patient and loving and caring personalities and that is how I see you. And..that’s a good thing 🙂 I tell my kids, don’t try so hard to be something or somebody you’re not. You are who you are and you’re good at it. And You.. you’re are making changes in this world and helping others. That’s pretty darn good! Wouldn’t you say?
I’m glad to hear your days are feeling lighter and brighter for you. 🙂
Take care!
Penny
Thank you Penny. You know, I used to think I’d never have hamstrings LOL, but heavy swings, RDLs, Good-Mornings and Squats have allowed my hamstrings to be one of my proudest achievements. So keep doing what you’re doing and your legs will keep improving too!
I appreciate your kind encouragement 🙂 Here’s to brighter days!
Question: When you perform the Good-Mornings, do you normally do them with a barbell or do you use say one KB and lower it behind your head resting between your shoulderblades? How much weight do you use for those? (ok, that was two questions)lol
Hey Penny, I always use a barbell. I start with 40kg and work up to only 50kg. I keep the reps at about 6-10 and only do 3 sets. The next day, my hamstrings are in bits … every time! lol
You can also use a KB behind your shoulders, but I find you can’t go too heavy because you nearly rip the shoulders off yourself trying to get the KB into and out of that position.
Ok Great. Thanks for the feedback. I bought another barbell today to use for good mornings, DLs and military presses. Yay. I hope my hammies are in bits too the GMs. (call me psycho..but I love that feeling!)
Have a good nite!
Thanks for sharing this video. It is nice to have someone say it is ok to be quiet and introverted. The TED talks are amazing. Here is one of my favourites by Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor. I really recommend you read her book My Stroke of Insight. It really changed the way I looked at my power to change my life.
Thanks Ellen. Do you have a link to that talk?
sorry about that I thought I had included it. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU
Hi there,
I’m going to do this workout today, but I wont be able to do the pullups, because I dont have anything to pull myself up with so I’ll just do the burpees the whole interval. I saw a KB movement on another channel where the person was swinging the KB around them, like a circle( they started with the right hand and swung around a grasped with the left and so on, what exactly does that work? Could you please post how long it takes you to do workout. Thank you
This workout took about 25 – 30 mins with rests and intervals. As for that exercise: was the person standing with their legs together and rotating the KB around their hips? Do you have the link? Cheers
Hi, Marianne – and Patty!
Not sure this is what she saw, but the move Patty describes sounds like one we do in class called an “equator.” We keep the KB at belly-button height as we pass it from hand to hand around the body (thus, circling it around your “equator”) and feel it in the abs and shoulders. 🙂
Great post, Marianne (both the workout and regarding being introverted)! I was once passed up for a promotion because I was considered “too quiet.” It bothered me for a bit, but then I let it go, because I realized that it’s just how I am, and if they can’t see through my performance that I’m right for the role, then it’s their loss; I wasn’t going to start grandstanding like others just to be seen as a better leader in their eyes. 🙂 That was years ago, and while I still believe that it’s fine to be on the quiet side, I find that I’m much less of an introvert these days. I think it’s because of the confidence I’ve gained through my fitness journey and my associations there as well as through personal development I’ve been blessed to have from certain business mentors.
Cheers!
Jean
ps – Eek on the pullups! I can still only do one chinup, though my coach says I have more in me. Need to work my back more and visualize to make it happen!
I just happened to click your link from the GGS facebook feed. What a gem to find the ted.com talk on introversion…I loved it and am so glad I clicked on that 1-out-of-1000 links that came across my FB today 🙂
Aw, how weird! But good weird 🙂