So, it looks like my life is about to take me on an unexpected journey … to Saudi Arabia, where Jonathan works. It just blows my mind how much has happened in my life in the last year: Moved home (feeling i was back to square one), met Jonathan (and tried to remain positive about the long time we’d have apart), left my nursing job (hugest leap of faith i ever took!) … then things really took off when I got engaged to Jonathan (to get married on New Years Eve 2013) and… moving to the KSA early next year! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Talk about an adventure!
Never give up hope of your life being better than you even thought possible. Though you will have challenges, pain and hardship, you should always seek to look at the bigger picture, never feel insignificant and always feel grateful for the things you learn along the way.
And now, since you survived all the mush, here is my latest workout as your reward 😉 lol
The Workout
Set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 6-9 cycles of 20 seconds rest and 40 seconds effort. Complete 2-3 rounds of the following Triplets and rest as indicated:
Triplet 1
1. Goblet Squat (20kg) (18, 17)
2. Single-Leg Hip Thrust (r) (15, 13)
3. Single-Leg Hip Thrust (l) (14, 14)
(Rest for about 2 mins)
Triplet 2
1. Renegade Row: (2x16kg) (18, 16)
2. Single-Arm Swing (r): (20kg) (23, 20)
3. Single-Arm Swing (l): (20kg) (22, 20)
(Rest about 2 mins)
Triplet 3
1. Push Press (r): (16kg) (12, 10)
2. Push Press (l): (16kg) (13, 10)
3. Two-Handed Swing: (24kg) (30, 29)
So, that’s about it for today. BTW – I saw a few of the ‘tests” for my new site design the other day … and it is going to be awesome ! Getting new photos taken in the next couple of weeks. I really can’t thank you all enough for allowing me to keep improving things and to continue doing what i love.
Obviously, most of you know that I am not going to sit and lecture you or guilt-trip you for enjoying Christmas goodies – I think we should enjoy Christmas in whatever way makes us least stressed and most happy! So, if you don’t want to burn off a Mince Pie yet … you don’t have to! I may need to burn off more than one in a few days time 😛
Just remember one thing – if you normally feel REALLY guilty about it all afterwards and start stressing in the New Year, then identify that behaviour and this year try a new approach 🙂
Now a little Christmas talk…
I have a love / hate relationship with Christmas! I love what Christmas means to me; I hate what is seems to do to nearly everybody else!
Regardless of what you believe (in your Religion), Christmas should not be about what people want! Yet that’s all I hear. Work colleagues talking about their children WANTING WANTING WANTING. What people hope for are things that they do not need. They think they do though! It’s all buy buy buy and all about satisfying the greed of others!
Years ago my Granda Jim use to talk about how the Mafia were behind Christmas Greeting Cards and he refused to buy them. In fact, he didn’t buy into consumerism at all because he knew, at the end of the day, it was feeding some fat-cat’s wallet and fueling the greed of humanity. All helping people confuse want with need. I used to think he was paranoid but as I have gotten older, I wish I could hear more of his wisdom.
I realise that the economy needs this growth, but where has the true message of Christmas gone??
For me, Christmas is all about SHARING! Sharing your love, time, company, food and drink with the most important people in your life (Family and friends) while giving what you can to help the people and animals who are struggling more at this time of year. I like to donate food to the Animal shelter and give what I can to charity. I do know that the same people and animals don’t just struggle at this time of year, but I think everyone should feel that they are cared about at Christmas; so if what you give makes someone feel this – then THAT is a feeling worth sharing!
Before I share today’s workout I just want to say a big Thank You to everyone for coming back here week after week and following my workouts! I appreciate every last visit and every last comment – because each one enriches the content here and brings a sense of community and such a great buzz. I always say that Myomytv would be nothing without its faithful readers.
So, I wish each of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! x
The Workout
Set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 21 cycles of 15 seconds recovery and 45 seconds effort. Aim to complete 3 rounds of the following 7 exercises for conditioning:
Burpees (I did them without Push Ups)
Thruster (right) (12kg then 14kg)
Thruster (left) (same weight)
Two-Handed KB Swing (20kg)
Contralateral Reverse Lunge (Right leg forward, 16kg KB on Left)
Contralateral Reverse Lunge (Left leg forward, 16kg KB on right)
Bench Jump Overs
I realise I said I would post my numbers, but I didn’t write them down at the time and I didn’t have enough time today to go through each video clip and count them – but I’m sure you’ll all survive without them 😉
It was a good wee buzz and I enjoyed using a lighter weight for the Thrusters. I hate Thrusters because they take the breath clean out of you!
So I can’t get too excited because I have some news … this workout beat me! 🙁
Remember yesterday how I said I wanted to go to the gym instead of doing a workout?? Well that’s exactly what I did. But instead of being sensible and breaking myself in slowly to training heavy after a week off, I went all out for a 1RM on my Back Squat. It paid off at the time as I made a PR of 70kg 😀 But did I stop there, no – I did Front Loaded Reverse Lunges, Good Mornings and Pull Ups. Had the lifting platforms not been occupied, I probably would have thrown in Deadlifts too, just for the craic. By last night I could already feel the DOMS creeping in and this morning I could hardly move! Sitting down was a pain, never mind doing any squats LOL!
Not to let any of you down I reckoned I would “work around” my muscle soreness and come up with something that was still a killer. Well, it was a killer, because I only managed one round before I had to stop. Not a chance did I have of completing this today! 🙁 Boooo
All the same, I hope you will not feel too demotivated by seeing me stop and you will continue on and make the most of this workout. I’d say if you set the intervals up right, this will be a real cardio/contitioning challenge.
The Workout
Set your Gymboss Classic Interval Timer for either 24 cycles of 20 seconds recovery and 40 seconds effort (feel free to increase the intensity to 15/45), or 8 cycles of the same. Then complete 3 rounds (either continuous or separate). Using Kettlebells and your Jump Rope complete 3 rounds of the following 8 exercises:
My reps and weights per exercise on my meesly 1 round are noted in brackets:
Suitcase Deadlift Burpee (2 x 24kg) (6) <=or a Goblet Squat instead
Jump Rope (feet together) <= jogging on spot or use imaginary jump rope lol
Kettlebell Roundabout Swing (20kg) (24)
KB Push Press (right) (16kg) (9)
KB Push Press (left) (16kg) (10)
Jump Rope (running)
Renegade Row (2 x 16kg) (16) <= with dumbbells or body weight
Two-Handed KB Swing (24kg) (26)
I hate giving up on things, but my body was just screaming at me to stop and rest today! However, I will be back with more torture once I recover. No more heavy training until I have done a great workout with my KBs 😀
Don’t know why I added “Batman” to the title, it seemed funny, so I went with it …
So a little news for those who don’t follow me on Facebook. Tomorrow I am heading off for a week in Malta! Yes, I deserve a relaxing holiday and I intend on making the most of it. This week of annual leave was pre-booked from last year, as it was meant for something else that is no longer happening – so for that reason I am going to take a break from workout uploads and focus on ME 🙂 Now, that’s not to say that I won’t perhaps film a workout for upload when I get home, and I may even have a chance to do a little article while I’m relaxing. In fact I have one in the pipeline that I think you will all like to read …
Oh and if I see anything of interest then I may share some of my favorite things about Malta. I know this is a fitness blog and all, but I feel I have a lot of friends who now visit the site and they might want to know how I am getting on on my holiday.
Now that I have the update done, I will get on with telling you about the killer workout I did today!
Conditioning at its best. If you want to increase your heart rate to the point of wanting to puke, then here is the workout for you! Also, if you are wanting a helping hand to burn a FEW 😉 calories, then go for this conditioning circuit. Using resistance in this interval training style, you will stand to burn more calories during and after you train. With this type of workout, supplementing your strength training and other activities, there will be no doubt your body and mind will thank you ten* fold!
*not an exact figure
The Workout
Set your Gymboss Classic Interval Timer for either 30 cycles of 20 seconds recovery and 40 seconds effort (feel free to increase the intensity to 15/45), or 10 cycles of the same. Then complete 3 rounds (either continuous or separate) of the following 10 exercises:
As usual my weights used and reps per exercise are in brackets.
Vertical Swing Burpee (20kg) (11.5, 10, 10)
Stand-Kneel-Stand (left) (16kg) (16, 14, 13)
Stand-Kneel-Stand (right) (16kg) (15, 14, 13)
Two-Handed KB Swing (24kg) (25, 24, 24)
Super Plank Climber (11, 10, 8.5)
Goblet Squat (20kg) (14, 14, 12)
Kettlebell Half Snatch (left) (16kg) (8, 8, 7)
KB Half Snatch (right) (16kg) (9, 7, 7)
Burpees (13, 11, 11)
**Evil Jumps (10, 9, 8.5)
**One Evil Jump = One Dynamic Squat + two Two Lunge Jumps (one each side)
I LOVED this workout! For me the interval times were perfect for a 10 exercise round and it felt great to have so much variety to keep the workout fun, yet enough technical exercises to make it challenging 🙂 Today I felt a lot happier with my Snatches as I used a heavier KB. So the extra weight made me use my hips more. I thought I would give revisit the Evil Jumps hehe, because I have a funny feeling you all have secretly missed them 😛
So that is it for today and I hope you will keep tuning in while I’m on holiday as you never know what spur of the moment madness I might post! Besides, don’t I have a “Glute Bridges Everywhere Tour” to start?? All those donations have come in handy 😉 😉 😉 xx
Have a great weekend everyone!
Marianne
PS – for those of you who don’t have a Facebook account … GET ONE! Even if it’s only to “follow” me, then it’s worth giving in to Social Media peer pressure!!
Firstly I have to apologise for my absence. With work and my injury PLUS getting things organised for my trip, I have just been so busy to get much blogging done. This is the only chance I have had to do a workout! It’s a bit crazy around here. So I hope you can keep yourselves occupied with older workouts for a while.
I do intend on posting updates and I hope the odd workout while I’m away, as that is kinda what it’s all about (plus socialising of course 😉 ).
After work I had just enough energy to do 2 rounds of this intense full body workout. Because it’s a conditioning workout, it is great making you feel like you’ve really made an effort. The intervals keep you motivated and the pace it just right for breaking a sweat 😀
The Workout
Set your Gymboss Interval Timer for 8 cycles of 15 seconds rest and 45 seconds effort. Complete 2-3 rounds of the following 8 exercises and perform either pull ups or horizontal pull ups in between rounds:
My reps and weights per exercise are in brackets as usual.
Kettlebell Thruster (right) (16kg) (12, 11)
Kettlebell Thruster (left) (11, 11)
Two-Handed Kettlebell Swing (20kg) (30, 30 )
Dynamic Squats (33, 32)
Kettlebell Vertical Swing Burpee (20kg) (11, 11)
Alternating Single-leg Hip Thrust (22, 20)
Renegade Row (2 x 16kg) (17, 16)
Alternating High Deficit Reverse Lunge (20kg) (13, 12)
Pull Ups x 5 after each round (found these tough again, need to start doing more pull ups again).
Beginners
You can try the thrusters as they are in the video, or replace them with Goblet-Hold Thrusters. This is the same movement but you hold one KB with both hands.
You can do Vertical Swings minus the Burpee part, or do body weight burpees here instead.
Choose the appropriate Glute Bridge/Hip Thrust variation according to your ability level, keeping in mind the importance of regression as explained in my Glute Bride to Hip Thrust post.
Either do Alternating Kettlebell Reverse Lunges from the floor, or Body Weight High Deficit Reverse Lunges.
Change the intervals to have a longer rest and/or shorter effort period if needed.
I hope you all enjoy this torture and I REALLY hope to have time for another workout before I go on Friday morning.
