Conditioning and abs

Ben's out the door five minutes, and I'm back doing a CrossFit workout! This is the first time I've done Cindy since April 2013.

Cindy: Amrap 20
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats
Score = 16 rounds + 2 pull-ups

That's only one rep less than my PR, so I'm pretty pleased about that. I didn't use my previous death-by strategy, but I didn't rush myself, either. I took short rests between each movement and each set. Consequently, each individual set of movements was unbroken until the last round of push-ups.

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Bicycle crunches
50, 40, 30, 20 per side; 60 seconds rest in between.

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Plank - 60 seconds, broken up as needed
1 set, 1 set, 2 sets

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Ab rollouts
10, 10, 10

Abs

Situps
50, 50, 50

Russian twists
30, 30, 30 per side

Plank, feet elevated
60, 51, 43 seconds

Bicycle crunches
50, 50, 50 per side

Side planks
3 x 30 seconds per side, continuous

Legs

Back squats, a2g
95lb x 8
135lb x 10, 10, 10

Front squats
95lb x 5
115lb x 3
135lb x 3
155lb x 3
165lb x 3
175lb x 2
Equaled my front squat PR. Not bad.

Leg extensions
100lb x 10, 10
100lb/62.5lb/37.5lb x 10/9/6

Straight leg deadlifts
145lb x 10, 10, 10

Single leg curls
25lb x 10, 10
30lb x 8

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Ab roll outs
3 x 20

Bicycle crunches
2 x 50 per side

Shoulders, traps and abs

Emma Storey-Gordon

Shitty weather, so just went to the Stonecroft gym.

Dumbbell push press
30s x 12, 12, 12

Close grip push ups
20, 12, 12

Seated Arnold press
25s x 10, 10, 10

Seated French press
25lb x 12, 12, 12

Dumbbell front raise, alternating
25s x 15, 15, 15

Dumbbell skull crushers
20s x 15, 15, 15

Seated bent over dumbbell reverse fly
15s x 15, 15, 15

Dumbbell tricep extensions
25lb x 15, 15, 15 per arm

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Bicycle crunches
50, 50, 50 per side

Dumbbell side bends
40lb x 15, 15 per side

Scissor kicks
20, 20 per side

Conditioning and abs

Chest burner!

4 circuits:
12 x parallette jumps
15 x barbell thrusters @ 65lb
15 x lateral kettlebell swings per side
10 x shuttle runs

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Ab roll outs
3 x 20

Bicycle crunches
3 x 30 per side

Swiss ball plank
60 seconds, 46, 44

Conditioning

3 circuits; 1 minute's rest in between:

100 skips
15 ball slams
15 kettlebell lateral swings per arm
15 box jumps
15 burpees
20 ball squats (lifting the ball to the top of the punchbag)
10 shuttle runs

Today was another one of those days when I didn't want to do a conditioning routine, but pushed myself anyway. It took me a little while to get going in the first round, but by the second round my mind was in the right place. I started to drag my arse halfway through the third set as fatigue started to kick in. However, a couple of people came into the yoga room to do some stretching, and that seemed to give me some impetus. Nothing like an audience to get me going.

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3 x 20 ab rollouts

3 x 50 bicycle crunches

Conditioning and abs

Kayla Baumgardner

Had a crappy night's sleep and felt like total shite today, but I needed to get in some conditioning this week, so I had to push myself. Even walking to the gym I doubted I'd be able to do anything challenging, but I felt that if I could at least get started I might be okay. That proved to be the case.

I just made this up on the spot, rather than my usual planning ahead.

3 circuits, 90 seconds rest in between

30 kettlebell swings (12kg)
15 burpees
15 lateral kettlebell swings per arm (8kg)
10 burpees
30 kettlebell swings (12kg)
5 burpees

Simple, but good enough to get the heart pumping. I was drenched in sweat by the end.

Ab rollouts - 3 x 20
Bicycle crunches - 3 x 30 per leg
Swiss ball pushups/rolls - 10, 10, 7
Leg raises - 3 x 12

Abs

Streaky

Bicycle crunches
50, 50, 50 per side

Plank with feet elevated (untimed) x 3

Dumbbell side bends
40lb x 15, 15, 15 per side

Leg hip raises - 20, 20, 20

Side planks
30 seconds per side x 3 (continuous)

Back and abs

Weighted pull-ups
25lb x 3
30lb x 3
35lb x 3
40lb x 3
45lb x 3
50lb x 1

Wide cable rows - 90lb x 12, 12, 12, 11

Deadlifts
135lb x 10
185lb x 10, 10

Row/rear delt machine (burn) - 50lb x 40, 40

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Bicycle crunches - 50, 50, 50 per side

Plank, feet and arms elevated on Swiss balls x 3 (untimed)

Russian twists - 20, 20, 20 per side

Abs

A quick Stonecroft gym workout.

Pushups/dumbbell rows - 20s x 10, 10, 10

Plank with feet elevated (not timed) x 3

Bicycle crunches - 50, 50, 50 per side

Leg hip raises - 20, 20, 20

Side planks - 30 seconds per side x 3 (continuous)

Abs

Bicycle crunches - 50, 50, 50 per side

Plank with feet elevated on a Swiss ball
38 seconds, 55, 49

Dumbbell side bends
40lb x 15, 15, 15 per side

Leg hip raises - 12, 20, 20

Side planks - 30 seconds each side x 3 (continuous)

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Treadmill - 15 minutes

Quads, hamstrings and abs

Back squats
95lb x 5
115lb x 5
145lb x 3
165lb x 3
185lb x 3
195lb x 3

Leg extensions
87.5lb x 10, 10
Drop sets - 87.5lb/62.5lb/37.5lb x 10

Straight leg deadlifts
135lb x 10, 10, 10

Leg curls
50lb x 12, 55lb x 12
Drop sets - 55lb/25lb x 12

Crunches - 25, 25
Front raises - 15, 15
Bicycle crunches - 50, 50

Abs

My workout sessions this week have been a bit shorter than usual, due to family commitments. 

3 circuits; 1 minute rest between each circuit
25 x sit-ups
20 x scissor kicks (per leg)
Plank - max time
25 x bicycle crunches (per leg)
25 x side-to-side ankle touches (per side)
Side plank - max time (per side)

Abs

Arsenal's new signing, Mesut Ozil.

Leg hip raises - 20, 20, 20

Bicycle crunches - 30, 30, 30 per side

Sit-ups - 25, 25, 25

Dumbbell side bends - 40lb x 12, 12, 12 per side

Scissor kicks - 50, 50, 50

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45 minutes swimming

Abs

Didn't have much time today, so I did a quickish workout at the Stonecroft gym.

Bicycle crunches - 30, 30, 30 per side

Plank with feet on a Swiss ball - 54 seconds, 45, 51

Dumbbell side bends - 15, 15, 10 per side

Decline sit-ups - 15, 15, 15

Scissor kicks - 30 seconds x 3

Side planks - 30 seconds each side x 2

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10 minutes running

Chest and triceps

My shoulders and traps are sore as hell, following yesterday's first PT session with Ben.

Bench press - 110lb x 5, 5, 5; 115lb x 5, 4

Barbell incline press - 95lb x 8, 6, 6, 5

Dips - 12, 8, 7, 6

Incline dumbbell flies - 20lb x 100 (resting when needed)

EZ bar skull crushers - 50lb x 12, 10, 10, 9

Feet elevated parallette dips - 14, 13, 10, 7

Cable tricep extensions - 5 minute burn

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Abs

Abs and swimming

Stonecroft workout this evening

Bicycle crunches - 30, 30, 30 per side
Plank with feet on Swiss ball - 47 seconds, 36, 43
Weighted crunches with dumbbell on chest - 29, 19, 14
Dumbbell side bends - 15, 15, 10 per side
Lying scissor kicks - 15, 15, 15 per side

20 minutes of swimming

Conditioning and Abs

I had a fun, active morning today. I was cycling to the gym and as I went past Madi's house, she shouted out to me from her bedroom window. When I doubled back, she'd come downstairs, and she asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride with her. So before I even got to ABsolute Fitness, I'd already had a 45 minute warm up! I can't believe how quickly Madi's grown up. She can cycle without supervision now, as long as she doesn't go further than around the block.

4 circuits:
12 x parallette jumps
30 x kettlebell swings
30 x ball slams
2 minutes skipping
10 x sprints (one end of the yoga room and back equals one sprint)

I was one sweaty bastich by the end, and my quads were burning.

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Ab roll-outs - 3 x 10
Decline sit ups - 24, 15, 14
Bicycle crunches - 3 x 50 per leg

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I should be mowing the lawn, but I don't have any energy left.

Full body: Heavy weight and conditioning

I decided to revisit a whole workout from about a year ago. This was originally done as a personal training session on November 26, 2011. Yeah, I know yesterday would have been more symmetrical, but I didn't think of doing this until this morning.

Clean and push press (t&g; 2 second lockout)
95 x 3
105 x 3 (only did 2 last time)
110 x 2
115 x 1
120 x 1 (but not a full 2 second lockout)

I only just checked out the video from last time and realized I did squat cleans back then. However, today I only did power cleans. A year ago I failed the press at 115lb several times, but I managed a single at both 115lb and 120lb today. The heavier lift stayed up for about a second before I had to drop the bar. Coincidentally and bizarrely, looking back on that video I noticed I wore exactly the same shorts and shirt today!

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Cindy on Steroids: Amrap 20
5 wide grip pull-ups
10 clapping push-ups
15 jump squats
Score = 10 + 1 pull-up

That's significantly better than last year, when my score was 9 rounds and 5 pull-ups. I can't remember if I used any type of strategy back then, but today I did a kind of "death by" technique. I would complete a round - which always took over a minute - then rest for the remainder of the two minutes. I would only get into position for the pull-ups when my watch approached the end of the second minute. This seemed to work quite well, hence the improvement. All of the pull-ups were unbroken, except for the 10th round, which was 3 and 2. The first round of all three moves was completed without any breaks.

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Each for time: 15 sit-ups (strict) and 30 bicycle crunches per side
59, 1:15

These were tougher crunches than a year ago, but I still beat both times, which were 1:05 and 1:25.

Overall, a decent workout today.

Full body

Miranda Oldroyd

Personal training with Paul

I was pretty anxious before today's workout because I wasn't sure how my left shoulder would hold up. It's not weight that's causing problems, but more the movement into certain positions. I was concerned that my injury might be quite serious and mean that I wouldn't be able to train properly for a while. In the end, my worries were pretty much unfounded and I got through the session without any problems.

Speed back squats:
115 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5
170 x 2
165 x 5

This is the first time I've done speed squats and it took me a while to warm up to get a good flowing movement. It all happened pretty quickly so I'm not really sure what happened, but when I failed during the third rep at 170lb I lost my balance, my right ankle twisted, and I dropped the bar behind me. My ankle still hurts a bit today, but I think it's just bruised rather than anything more serious. It's certainly not as bad as when I hurt my the same ankle in the summer of 2010 while playing soccer; that time, it was swollen and was agony to walk. The injuries are mounting up!

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Complex: 1 power clean + 3 front squats + 1 power clean (starting within 10 seconds)
95, 115, 120, 125, 125, 130

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3 rft (5 minute cap):
20 sit-ups
30 x bicycle crunches
Time = 4:52 (phew!)

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The complex is what proved to me that my shoulder injury isn't as bad as I feared, although I still have to be careful not to exacerbate it. The most painful part of my time at the gym was back in the changing room when I reached for my jacket from the coat rack!