Today was my kettlebell training session with my trainer, Bill Maeda, and my workout partner, Liz. I dragged my butt into FitPro Hawaii hoping that I would come out feeling energized; I had almost fallen asleep driving into town.
Right away, we jumped into our workout. No time for chattiness; we were met with a timer, a jump rope and a 12kg kettlebell. While I jumped for one full minute, Liz did full swings. Beep beep beep! Switch! I did one minute of full swings, and Liz jumped. Cool.
We switched again, me jumping rope, and Liz doing swings. Cool. Oh wait– we’re switching again? Without a water break?
By the third round, I could not complete a full set of jumps. If you’ve seen any of my videos, you know that I can hop at a pretty good pace, something like 90 jumps a minute… except when I’m doing it back-to-back! I was actually happy to get into the swings!
Ten total minutes later, we were pau. I cannot believe that ten short minutes felt like an hour’s worth of work! But we weren’t finished!
Next, we did clean and presses with two 8kg kettlebells, alternating with the plank… using the gymnastic rings.
Now, y’all know that I have a love/hate relationship with the plank. I think it’s an awesome and simple exercise to work your core, without moving! That being said, I find it difficult!
Add a little elevation with the gym rings, and there you go– a really hard exercise.
So, while Liz is cleaning and pressing for 10 reps, I’m doing my best to keep in plank position… and failed. Multiple times. Finally, I asked my trainer to help me so that I could complete the exercise without straining my back so much. And guess what I learned? I can actually work my abs even more!
My form needed some adjustment, so Bill busted out a contraption that looked a bit like a back support brace with elastic bands attached. With the “brace” part against my back, and the handles of the elastic bands hooked into my thumbs, I assumed the plank position.
The task: stretch the elastic bands as far as possible, by “rounding” your back. This action actually works your upper abs, shortening the distance between your rib cage and pelvis.
Whew! That is a harrrrrd task. But, we got it done. And from hereon out, my ab work is more intense and therefore more productive!
At the end, I needed to stretch my abs. I somehow forgot how to do it. To do one simple stretch, I lay on my stomach and pushed my chest and hips up off the floor. Pushing my hands closer to my body gives a bigger stretch!
And so ends the story of the recent workout that kicked @$$!
You go, girl! Planks are tough. My face turns all shades of red/purple when I have to hold that for a long time. Congrats for getting through an awesome workout!
Angela – I just heard this song by Fulanito and thought of you.
It’s called “Wiggle Wiggle”.
Download it and other songs for free at reverbnation.com/windows and create a workout playlist that’ll get you pumped!
Enjoy and keep moving forward!
Lidia