Brrrrrrrrr..........

Back outside today as the skies have finally cleared, but man was it freezing! At least by Arizona Standards, 38 degrees is arctic. Not to worry though, as everyone will be warm enough in short order. Warmed up with a little jump rope, and then dove right in.
1)Half Get Ups, 10x right and left
2)Walking Overhead Lunges, uphill and back down
3)Snatches with two dumbbells 15 reps

Three times through the circuit, 90 second rest between rounds. Then on to:

Lunge chops with two dumbbells 10x right and left, three sets.

Finished with 30/30 sprints. They go as follows: On a thirty yard course marked by cones, sprint back and forth between the cones for thirty seconds, then walk for thirty seconds, sprint for thirty seconds, walk for thirty and so on. Completed a total of 8 sprint/walk intervals and called it a morning finishing with stretching.

Everyone welcomed the increased intensity brought by this deceptively tough workout.

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

The uncharachteristic wet weather forced us indoors for todays session, so we met at the studio at the usual time and got to it. Since there was equipment available, I decided to put it to use in todays workout. We performed three different circuits, Circuit 1 consisted of two rounds of:
1)Push Ups
2)Jumping Pull Ups
3)Sand Bag Squats
4)Belly Blasters(kind of a plank in motion)
30 seconds each set, 15 seconds rest in between sets. 1 minute rest between circuits.
Two minute break and then on to the next circuit.

Circuit 2 was two rounds of:
1)Push Ups
2)Medicine Ball Slams
3)Kettlebell Deadlift
4)Crunches on a Stability ball
30 seconds each set, 15 seconds rest in between sets. 1 minute rest between circuits. Heart rates were high, but after a two minute rest, we pushed on.

Circuit 3 two rounds of
1)Kettlebell Swings
2)Reverse Lunges w/25# medicine ball
3)Elliptical Sprint
4)Modified Pull Ups on Squat Rack
30 seconds each set, 15 seconds rest in between sets. 1 minute rest between circuits

Everyone was pretty well smoked at the end, but there were smiles all around as they knew that there is no way they could handled this in the first week.

Kickin' Off Week Three

The weekend rain left the field virtually unusable, so it was onto the concrete for today's workout. Dumbbells, medicine balls and jump rope are the tools for the day. Did a four station circuit workout, with each station lasting 30 seconds for max reps. the staions were:
1)Medicine Ball Clean
2)Push Press
3)Jump Rope
4)Squat to Upright Row
Four rounds, 1 minute rest between rounds. 3 minute rest, and then it was on to the "man maker" drills. Borrrowed from kettlebell training protocol, the drills consist of performing a full body movement with running between sets as active rest. The movement of the day was Dumbbell Snatches. 3 sets, 8 reps each hand, run to the light post and back between sets, approximatelty 80 yards round trip.

The rain returned right as we finished, and everyone ran for the cars, foregoing any stretching.

Week Two Draws to a Close

After a joint mobility warm up and running a lap around the perimeter of the soccer field, we got into the workout. Everyone is making great progress in strength, stamina and functionality. Today is a Tabata style bodyweight workout featuring 20 seconds of work with ten seconds rest for six sets with each set being a different exercise. Maximum number of reps per set was the goal, with the exercises being:
1)Jumping Jacks
2)Push Ups
3)Squat
4)Squat Thrusts
5)Plank
6)Mountain Climbers
This circuit was performed four times with 1 minute rest between each. 3 minutes rest, then it was on to the agility course. Carrying an 8lb medicine ball, run forward, sideways, backwards around a set of cones, finishing with a sprint over hurdles, five times through. Then four sets of line drills with participants running in pairs. Cool down stretch.

Session 5

The field is somewhat dry so it's back out to the field. Everyone's up to speed now, and the intensity level will be pushed up another notch. This is a diverse group, which range in age from mid-thirties to mid fifties, of differing levels of ability, but everyone is putting in great effort and having fun doing it.
Todays workout:
1)Jumping Pull Up
2)Wall Ball(of the soccer goal)
3)Medicine Ball Slam
4)Kettlebell Swing
Four rounds done continously. Then finished with some sprint drils:
1)Walking Lunges 20 yards, sprint back
2)Skipping 20 yards, sprint back
3)High knees, 20 yards, sprint back
4)sprint 20 yards, sprint back
Four rounds with 60 seconds rest between rounds.

Cooled down, stretched

Week Two Here We Go

Rain over the weekend forced us on to the concrete due to soggy field conditions. But it also created an opportunity to be creative. So out came the Concept II rowing machine, and the park benches came in handy. Todays workout was circuit style, with everyone performing one minute each of
1)Rowing Machine
2)Dumbbell Press
3)Jump Rope
4)Push Up on the Bench
5)Body Weight Squats
6)step Ups on the Bench

Four rounds, with a two minute break between rounds. Six straight minutes of work at a time was pretty demanding, but the anaerobic nature is great for elevating the metabolism.

End of a Good First Week

Today, was the end of the first week of the Holiday Boot Camp. Everyone is getting past their initial soreness, and they're getting ready for the higher intensity work. Today we employed the "field circuit", an eight station workout consisting of 1)Mountain Climbers
2)Push Ups
3)Jumping Jacks
4)Kettlebell Swings
5)Burpees
6)Jumping Jacks
7)Planks
8)Medicine Ball Squat and Press

Each movement was performed for thirty seconds, with a fifteen second break to move to the next exercise. The circuit was completed three times. Finished with cool down period and stretching.

A Little Sore But....

Everyone was a little sore from day one, but they soldiered on. Took a little more time on the warm up, and then got down to business. Started with some core strengthening with planks and russian twists, then moved on to weights, focusing on the large muscle groups with squats, press, deadlifts, rows and squat presses using dumbbells. Finished off the workout with rope jumping, which most hadn't done in years! Intervals of 30 seconds jumping 15 seconds rest got the heart rates sky high!

The Holiday Boot Camp Kicks Off!

This morning at 5:45 am, the Holiday Boot Camp kicked off with participants ranging in age from early thirties to mid fifties. We got right to it, hitting three rounds of interval style calisthenics consisting of push ups, squats, squat thrusts, planks and mountain climbers, with jumping jacks as active rest. After a short rest, there were some plyometrics hops, lunges and sprints to finish off the first day. Despite a little first day rustiness, everyone got through todays workout with good effort. We finished up with some cool down stretching and called it a day.