Warm up 3 mins cross trainer

Smith machine squats
Warm up set 20-30 reps 10 KG
12-15 reps 20 KG
10-12 reps 30 KG superset with step ups on bench holding 2 6 KG dumbbells 12 reps each leg
Repeat x 3
Ugh it was so hard!

Kickbacks on machine with 17 KG 
15 reps each leg and then drop set to failure
The sweat was literally falling off me by this stage.

Boxing circuits 30 secs of each

Jabs
Bosu ball jumps

2 jabs/ 2 hooks
Bosu ball jumps

2 jabs/hooks/upper cuts
Repeat x 3 and superset with jumping squats

Ab circuit 30 secs of each

Glute bridges with leg raise
Leg raises
Repeat x 3

Mountain climbers
V sit flutter kicks
Repeat x 3

Plate twist crunches with 5 KG
Repeat x 3

Russion twists with 5 KG
Plank
Repeat x 3

Stretch out.  I felt amazing after this work out.  I think I sweat more in this one than in any other.  And when you feel so good after that's always a great sign.  The ab work out was really good too, I had a really intense burn in my abs doing it.  The trainer encouraged me to do all the moves really slowly and feel the burn rather than rushing.  He always reminds me to do this with all my moves as otherwise I rush too much because you want it over with haha.  But not I'm trying really to focus on slowing it down as it's so much more effective.  I will be working out every day now as I leave for holiday in a week today! I'm so excited.  My hard work will pay off :)

A great sweat session with my trainer yesterday.  This time we focused completely on conditioning circuits.  Beforehand as a pre-workout I had a smoothie made from 2 scoops of Fitness Guru egg protein powder in 'blueberry cheesecake', mixed with 1 banana, ground flax seeds, chia seeds and rice milk.  I found that it kept me nice and energised!  I also had my usual creatine and amino tablets which I love.  I always find when I take them that I never run out of energy or want to give up! I just carry on.

Boxing circuits all for 30 secs
2 jabs/2 hooks
Step


2 jabs/ 2 hooks/ burpee


Step
Shoulder press 30 KG
Biceps curl 20 KG
Bear crawls w sand bag
Repeat x 3


TRX narrow press
TRX shoulder press
(All on one foot)
Repeat x 3


Press ups on and off step
Sand bag throws
Squat pulses on coreboard
Sand bag squat, press and throw
Repeat x 3


Battle ropes all for 30 secs
One arm at a time
Both arms
Figure of 8 to work core


Boxing again
My trainer would shout a certain number of jabs then point to a wall I would run to, same with hooks, then with upper cuts.


I felt really good after this.  I then hit the gym in the evening with my friend to do the chest and triceps work out my trainer gave me.  Double work outs as I leave for holidays next week!  This was my chest/tris work out:


TRX chest press into coreboard twists
Repeat x 3


Barbell bench press for 12-15 reps using 15 KG
Repeat x 3


Tricep pressdowns 
Tricep dips
Repeat x 3


Single arm tricep extensions.


Then we finished with the ab work out he gave me.  I could really feel the work out in my tris/chest today so I'm happy it worked! Now I'm off to the gym to attempt the leg/glutes workout he has given me.  Good times!

This morning I did legs and conditioning circuits with my personal trainer.  We started off with the usual warm up of 3 minutes on the cross trainer and stretching out on the power plate.

Smith machine squats


Warm up set- 20 at 10 KG
12-15 at 20 KG
10-12 at 30 KG repeat x 2


Bulgarian split squats holding 2 10KG kettlebells (But I dropped down to using 2 8 KG after the first set as kept losing my balance, they felt a bit too heavy)
12 reps each side
Repeat x 3
After the last 2 sets I did squat pulses with the 10 KG kettlebell for 30 secs 


Superset
Leg curl at 32 KG for 12 reps
Glute bridges with leg raises for 15 secs each leg
Repeat x  3


Conditioning circuits


Firstly we started with boxing.  For rest periods I had to do a light jog instead of actually resting.


Jabs 30 secs
Step 30 secs


2 jabs / burpee 1 min


He would tell me a certain amount of jabs to do - anything ranging from 1 - 30, and then I would complete that then run to whatever wall he pointed at.  And then we did the same with hooks.


Second conditioning circuit 


Battleropes standing on the board and keeping it still 30 secs
Mountain Climbers 30 secs
Putting one leg on the block and stepping up then switching to the other leg
Repeat x 3


Sand bag squat and throws
Chest press with heavier sand bag
Side to side jumps on bosu ball holding onto TRX straps
Repeat x 3


To finish I did 30 more secs of sand bag throws and then had to use the other sand bag all the way up and down the track to pull it through my legs and do bear crawls to get to it.


Well I'm glad that's over!  It was very challenging, and it's my second week now of doing these high intensity work outs, but I'm trying hard to keep up the momentum I started with.  I always feel so happy when I've completed it all!

This morning I did a full-body conditioning work-out with my PT.  We started with boxing circuits, then did weighted supersets, and finished with HIIT (High intensity Interval training).

Warm up: stretching on the power plate and 3 minutes on the cross trainer.

Boxing circuits 


Jabs 30 secs
Running on and off step 30 secs


4 Jabs + a burpee (repeated) 30 secs
Running on and off step 30 secs


4 Jabs + a burpee then run and find him + repeat 30 secs
Jumping side to side on step and punching across the body 30 secs


Weighted Supersets


Clean and press with 30 KG for 10-12 reps
Clean and press with 20 KG for 15-20 reps
Mountain climbers for 30 secs
Repeat x 3


Sand bag squat and throws 30 secs
Bunny hops 30 secs
Repeat x 3


Seated row 32 KG for 12 reps (squeezing back muscles)
Ab crunch with 5 KG plate 30 secs
Repeat x 3


Seated row drop sets starting at 36 KG and gradually working down each weight until muscle failure.


HIIT on the rowing machine for 7 minutes
20 secs moderate pace 
10 secs as fast as you can (it's really important to go as fast as you can in this phase as this is when you will be burning the fat)

Stretch out on the power plate to finish.

My trainer has devised a work-out plan for me to do on my own as well.  I have an ab circuit which I need to do every other day, and then a different muscle group to work nearly every day, and then my work outs with him will be more focused towards high intensity fat-burning.  He's still working on the plan as I had some changes I wanted made to it but the ab circuit is as follows:

Ab crunch with plate
Russian twists with plate
Knees up crunch
Leg raises
Mountain climbers

Repeat each exercise for 30 secs and do 4 sets.

Firstly we did a warm up.  Which was going up and down the track and doing stuff like bear crawls, bunny hops, lunges with a twist, high knees, walking push-ups.  Then we did an ab circuit and moved onto the ring skills.



Ring Skills

Progressions through some of the following gymnastics movements:

Ring Support and Ring Dips

L-Holds (from Hang and Support)

Inverted Holds (Tuck and Straight)

Skin The Cat and Levers

Muscle Ups and Progressions

3 rounds for time:

Run 400m
20 Russian Swings 12 KG
15 Press Ups
10 Toes to Bar ( I did V sit ups as I can't do enough toe-to-bars to keep it up for the whole work out)

I completed it in 9 minutes.

Another great session with my personal trainer this morning! This time we did straight sets of weights first and then did two conditioning circuits and abs.  The whole session lasted 1 hour 15 minutes.  It was a killer!

Warm up 5 minutes on the cross trainer

Smith machine squats
Warm up set: 20 reps at 10 KG
12 high quality reps at 30 KG
Repeat x 3

I found the smith machine squats so hard.  But I pushed  through and I'm so happy I completed all the sets at the heaviest weight I could do.

Bulgarian split squats
20 KG barbell 
12 reps each leg
Repeat set x 3

My legs KILLED after this.  I have no idea how I managed to get through the rest of the session!  Will definitely be feeling it tomorrow morning.

Straight leg deadlifts with 20 KG kettlebell (Keep back as straight as possible
Superset SS with glute bridges with feet on the step (2 second hold at top)
30 seconds of each
Repeat x 3

It's really important to keep your shoulders pulled back and your back as straight as possible so that you don't injure your back.  We do it side on so I can look at myself in the mirror and make sure my form is correct and back straight.  My back was really aching though so I massaged it on the power plate.

Conditioning circuit 

Each exercise for 30 seconds

Stepping on and off step  (fast pace)
On balancing plate squatting down and pulsing (burn!!)
With sand bag squatting down and throwing the bag on the floor
With sand bag bear crawls pulling the sand bag through your legs 

I repeated this circuit twice through

Second conditioning circuit

With dumbbells punching and stepping on and off step
On balancing plate full squat - up 3/4 of the way and back down again - he would shake the plate whilst I was doing it so it was a great core exercise 
In plank position pulling the sand bag from one side to the other
With sand bag full squats and throwing it to the ground
Finish with 10 reps of a full squat with 1 second hold then jumping up onto the box and back down again.  On the final rep I had to hold the squat for 10 seconds before the jump.

Repeat circuit twice through.

Ab circuit to finish
Each exercise for 30 seconds

Holding 5 KG plate and holding it above yourself twist up from one side to the other
Mountain climbers
Glute bridges with leg pulse (for lower abs)
Repeat x 3

Then I stretched out on the power plate.

So happy I didn't give up at any point.  And felt so amazing after this work out!  I will be on a high for the rest of the day now.  Next session, which is on Sunday, we will be doing boxing, So I am looking forward to that! 

My last crossfit session done! So happy, that I can now go to any class I want whenever.  

We ran through a lot of the moves I had previously learnt, and also introduced a new move called the 'clean', which was basically, beginning in a deadlift position, shrugging your shoulders as you bring the bar up, and then dropping down into a squat position and bringing the bar up to shoulder height, how you would have it if you were doing a front squat.  We spent ages on this move, I found it hard to get my head around, but managed eventually. Need to keep working on my technique though.  Also tried double-unders again, and I just couldn't do it! I was getting more and more frustrated.  I'm going to do it some day soon.

I then did a fitness test which I will do again at some point as a measure of how much my fitness has improved.  My muscles were really aching from my PT session yesterday, so I did struggle and I know I could have performed a lot better had my muscles been okay.  I was also really tired as I stayed up half the night preparing for my seminar, but enough excuses haha.

This was what I had to do:

400m sprint
50 air squats
40 sit ups
20 press ups
10 pull ups
30 KB swings with 12 KG
400m sprint

I did it in 11:03 minutes.  I have no idea what other kinds of times people manage to do this in, so not sure how pathetic my attempt is in comparison, haha.  But I want to keep exact track of every measurement so that I know exactly how I have improved.

Tomorrow, I will do my first session, which I will write about after.  I am either going to do the kettlebells or abs class, I haven't quite decided, as they are both on at the same time.  What crossfit abs class entails I slightly dread to think, but I'm excited.  I then have my second PT session friday morning, so oh what joy he has in store for me then, we'll see. 

This morning I had my first personal training session at Pure Gym in Leeds.  I am going on holiday to Miami and the Bahamas at the end of the month with my boyfriend and family, so I'm on a mission to get into great shape for that.  I will be doing 3 PT sessions a week as well as Crossfit, and in the final week of the month in the run up to my holiday, I will be stepping it up to 5 PT sessions in a week, plus Crossfit.  I have my final Crossfit fundamentals session tomorrow, so after that I will have finished the course and can officially begin the sessions!

This session was really intense.  I told the PT that I wanted to lower my body fat % and maintain lean muscle, so he said we would be doing conditioning circuits.  You can never prepare yourself for quite how hard it's going to be though.

This is what we did.  If you want to try this yourself in the gym, do each set continuously with a 20 second rest in between.  I had to do each set for 30 seconds.  I got to rest a full minute between each completed set.

Barbell clean and press 30 KG
KB clean and press with 8 KG in each hand
Repeat x 3

Burpees on and off the step
Repeat x3

Stepping onto a high block with an ab twist at the top x 20 each leg
Repeat x 3

With a sand bag (I'm not sure how heavy they were but I used 2 different ones for each exercise, and one was heavier than the other).
Squat and throw bag hard onto the floor
Squat with bag to chest and to floor
Repeat x 3

Stiff leg deadlifts
Single leg glute bridges (lower one leg continuously, so you are targeting the lower abs as well as the glutes)
Repeat x 3

Ab circuit
Crunches with 5 KG plate and 2 second hold at top x 20
Mountain climbers x 20
V sit position with a twist x 20
Repeat x 3

My abs were on fire after this circuit!

Finish on StepMill
I had to reach 344 steps (the amount of steps it takes to get to the top of Big Ben) as quickly as possible.  I did it in about 3 minutes.  Lastly, I stretched out on the power plates as my legs were aching like crazy.

This was an awesome workout.  The whole session lasted just over an hour.  I was bright red and sweating afterwards, but it felt great.  Definitely the hardest workout I have done in a long time.  My PT text me afterwards saying I absolutely smashed the session.