Hello workout friends!
I hope you're all staying healthy and finding time to try some new workouts.
Two weeks ago Sonya and I were scheduled to give CrossFit a try. We almost decided to cancel. Sonya did the Copper Creek Triathlon the day before the shoot and I taught two classes at the Y the morning of the shoot. Needless to say, we were both pooped but we decided to show up anyway. I still don't know if that was a good idea, but we got one heck of a workout.
The first thing you notice when you walk into the CrossFit Des Moines location is that it doesn't look like a typical gym. There aren't a lot of machines and there isn't an aerobics instructor in sight. Instead, you find coaches like Mike Brown - a former Air Force Special Ops member who informs us that we've shown up on the day Crossfitters are doing what's called "The Filthy Fifty." The workout is so hard, it happens only a few times a year. It's a sequence of ten exercises and you have to do fifty reps of each one. What?!?! We raise our eyebrows and immediately start whining about how tired we are and how we're both nursing injuries, and Coach Brown allows us to do "The Dirty Thirty" instead. "That's the thing about CrossFit," Coach Brown explains, "everything is scaleable - no matter who you are or what level you are."
That's great and all - but it doesn't diminish the fact that this is really, really hard. We're doing things like box jumps and kettle bell swings and push presses that work your entire body. "It gets you functional strength for real things," says Mike, "we're preparing for our sport and our sport is life."
This particular workout is also timed. So you're not only pushing and pulling a lot of weight, you're also doing it as quickly as possible. That becomes tough when you get through about twenty reps of exercises like burpees, not to mention things we'd never heard of - like knees to elbows and wall ball (if you're curious, watch this workout online). And there is no slacking. The coaches in the room are counting, and they force everyone to do every rep. "Whatever we put on the board, we finish," explains Brown, and he means it. I couldn't get through another push press, so I had to do extra burpees to make up for it. No mercy.
We always ask the trainers we work out with how many calories we're burning, and people here seem to think that's a funny question. "We treat our bodies like machines," says Coach Brown, "we put good fuel in and we're gonna burn it off." We have no doubt about that. Our muscles are burning and our hearts are thumping and we know we've gotten a great workout.
If you're interested in giving CrossFit a try - drop in, check out the website or call:
3209 99th Street (behind Stella's Blue Sky Diner)
Urbandale, IA 50322
(515) 360-8209
www.crossfitdesmoines.com
Have a great week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Work? Play? Both!
Thanks for stopping by the Workout of the Week blog!
What you'll see this week is really fun. We visit a park and playground with personal trainer Heather Brunk - who sees the perfect outdoor gym. "I look around and see a million different exercise options," Heather says with a sly grin. And that's when Sonya and I realized we were in for a beating.
On the basketball court we ran sprints, did sports shuffles and walking lunges and squats. "You'll never look at a playground or a park the same way again," Heather tells us - and she's right. Next we move to the playground equipment. While Sonya does a minute of jumping jacks, I do a minute of reverse grip pullups and then we switch. It doesn't take long to get our hearts pounding. "It doesn't even have to be a long period of time," Heather explains, "thirty seconds to one minute intervals are amazing."
And if you don't have a playground nearby, don't worry. You can turn a park bench or a picnic table into workout equipment, too! For instance, we put one foot on the seat of a picnic table and do repeating knee lifts. Pretty soon our quads are burning and we're out of breath. Next, we put our backs to the seat and use it to do tricep dips. If we turn around, we have the perfect setup for incline pushups!
We're starting to realize the possibilities are endless, and excuses like not having a gym membership or being too busy are sounding really lame. "These are things you do for as long or as short a period of time as you want," says Heather, "and you can do all of this while your kids are enjoying an outing at the park! It's a great way for you to spend time with them and get fit at the same time."
We had a blast with Heather and she's got a bunch of other workout ideas up her personal training sleeve. If you'd like to contact her visit her website www.motivationllc.com.
Have a happy, healthy week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com
What you'll see this week is really fun. We visit a park and playground with personal trainer Heather Brunk - who sees the perfect outdoor gym. "I look around and see a million different exercise options," Heather says with a sly grin. And that's when Sonya and I realized we were in for a beating.
On the basketball court we ran sprints, did sports shuffles and walking lunges and squats. "You'll never look at a playground or a park the same way again," Heather tells us - and she's right. Next we move to the playground equipment. While Sonya does a minute of jumping jacks, I do a minute of reverse grip pullups and then we switch. It doesn't take long to get our hearts pounding. "It doesn't even have to be a long period of time," Heather explains, "thirty seconds to one minute intervals are amazing."
And if you don't have a playground nearby, don't worry. You can turn a park bench or a picnic table into workout equipment, too! For instance, we put one foot on the seat of a picnic table and do repeating knee lifts. Pretty soon our quads are burning and we're out of breath. Next, we put our backs to the seat and use it to do tricep dips. If we turn around, we have the perfect setup for incline pushups!
We're starting to realize the possibilities are endless, and excuses like not having a gym membership or being too busy are sounding really lame. "These are things you do for as long or as short a period of time as you want," says Heather, "and you can do all of this while your kids are enjoying an outing at the park! It's a great way for you to spend time with them and get fit at the same time."
We had a blast with Heather and she's got a bunch of other workout ideas up her personal training sleeve. If you'd like to contact her visit her website www.motivationllc.com.
Have a happy, healthy week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Sonya is my hero
Hello workout friends! Last week's workout didn't air because of severe weather, so below you'll find a repeat of last week's blog. In the meantime I wanted to let you know how amazing Sonya is. A few weeks ago she hurt herself during one of our workout shoots. Did she decide to stop her triathlon training? Of course not. Instead, Sonya started going to a physical therapist. She completed the Copper Creek Triathlon last Sunday. That in and of itself is incredible to me, but she also still gave 110% during the insane workout shoot we did yesterday morning. I've really enjoyed working out with Sonya - she always makes me work harder than I do on my own and I always walk away with a desire to do better next time.
Workout like a Navy SEAL
This week we're giving TRX Suspension Training a try. The exercises might appear to be pretty easy, but they aren't.
"It's basically a strength-training system," explains Barb Mendoza, "it's just body weight and two nylon straps!" It doesn't get much more simple that that and simple is part of the reason this personal trainer was drawn to the TRX. The other selling point - the system was invented by a Navy SEAL for working out in the field. "TRX 101 is that where you position yourself makes a huge difference," Barb tells us during our training session. We start out with our hands in the straps, feet on the ground, doing one-legged squats and lunges. Then we move on to upper body exercises like rows, flys and tricep extensions. We play around with the position of our feet and can immediately feel how a change in stance changes the level of difficulty.
What we didn't anticipate was putting our feet in the straps, but Barb shows us some moves that really push us out of our comfort zones. "You'll be on the floor for a couple of things and you'll be unhappy when you're there because it's gonna be hard!" She's not kidding. Sonya goes first. Her feet are in the straps and she's face down in a basic plank. That move is tough in and of itself, but then Barb tells Sonya to push her hips to the ceiling, into a pike. After several reps it's back to the plank - with a twist. Barb tells Sonya to swing her hips from side to side. This routine blasts your entire body, but really targets your core. "When we say core, everybody thinks abs," says Barb, "but hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes and back are also part of the core." And I get to target those muscle groups. Barb also puts my feet in the straps, but I'm face up. First I do hamstring curls like you would on a stability ball and it doesn't take long to burn out. The next move is a high bridge that torches your glutes and I'm thinking this is the fast track to a fantastic looking butt! Finally Barb has me swing side to side just like Sonya did and I can instantly feel my obliques and back working.
We loved the TRX workout. It was really hard and we're sure it produces results. If you want to give it a try with Barb, call her at 277-9721 or visit her website www.fitnessbydesigndm.com.
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com
Workout like a Navy SEAL
This week we're giving TRX Suspension Training a try. The exercises might appear to be pretty easy, but they aren't.
"It's basically a strength-training system," explains Barb Mendoza, "it's just body weight and two nylon straps!" It doesn't get much more simple that that and simple is part of the reason this personal trainer was drawn to the TRX. The other selling point - the system was invented by a Navy SEAL for working out in the field. "TRX 101 is that where you position yourself makes a huge difference," Barb tells us during our training session. We start out with our hands in the straps, feet on the ground, doing one-legged squats and lunges. Then we move on to upper body exercises like rows, flys and tricep extensions. We play around with the position of our feet and can immediately feel how a change in stance changes the level of difficulty.
What we didn't anticipate was putting our feet in the straps, but Barb shows us some moves that really push us out of our comfort zones. "You'll be on the floor for a couple of things and you'll be unhappy when you're there because it's gonna be hard!" She's not kidding. Sonya goes first. Her feet are in the straps and she's face down in a basic plank. That move is tough in and of itself, but then Barb tells Sonya to push her hips to the ceiling, into a pike. After several reps it's back to the plank - with a twist. Barb tells Sonya to swing her hips from side to side. This routine blasts your entire body, but really targets your core. "When we say core, everybody thinks abs," says Barb, "but hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes and back are also part of the core." And I get to target those muscle groups. Barb also puts my feet in the straps, but I'm face up. First I do hamstring curls like you would on a stability ball and it doesn't take long to burn out. The next move is a high bridge that torches your glutes and I'm thinking this is the fast track to a fantastic looking butt! Finally Barb has me swing side to side just like Sonya did and I can instantly feel my obliques and back working.
We loved the TRX workout. It was really hard and we're sure it produces results. If you want to give it a try with Barb, call her at 277-9721 or visit her website www.fitnessbydesigndm.com.
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Workout like a Navy SEAL
Hello workout friends!
This week we're giving TRX Suspension Training a try. The exercises might appear to be pretty easy, but they aren't.
"It's basically a strength-training system," explains Barb Mendoza, "it's just body weight and two nylon straps!" It doesn't get much more simple that that and simple is part of the reason this personal trainer was drawn to the TRX. The other selling point - the system was invented by a Navy SEAL for working out in the field. "TRX 101 is that where you position yourself makes a huge difference," Barb tells us during our training session. We start out with our hands in the straps, feet on the ground, doing one-legged squats and lunges. Then we move on to upper body exercises like rows, flys and tricep extensions. We play around with the position of our feet and can immediately feel how a change in stance changes the level of difficulty.
What we didn't anticipate was putting our feet in the straps, but Barb shows us some moves that really push us out of our comfort zones. "You'll be on the floor for a couple of things and you'll be unhappy when you're there because it's gonna be hard!" She's not kidding. Sonya goes first. Her feet are in the straps and she's face down in a basic plank. That move is tough in and of itself, but then Barb tells Sonya to push her hips to the ceiling, into a pike. After several reps it's back to the plank - with a twist. Barb tells Sonya to swing her hips from side to side. This routine blasts your entire body, but really targets your core. "When we say core, everybody thinks abs," says Barb, "but hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes and back are also part of the core." And I get to target those muscle groups. Barb also puts my feet in the straps, but I'm face up. First I do hamstring curls like you would on a stability ball and it doesn't take long to burn out. The next move is a high bridge that torches your glutes and I'm thinking this is the fast track to a fantastic looking butt! Finally Barb has me swing side to side just like Sonya did and I can instantly feel my obliques and back working.
We loved the TRX workout. It was really hard and we're sure it produces results. If you want to give it a try with Barb, call her at 277-9721 or visit her website www.fitnessbydesigndm.com.
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com
This week we're giving TRX Suspension Training a try. The exercises might appear to be pretty easy, but they aren't.
"It's basically a strength-training system," explains Barb Mendoza, "it's just body weight and two nylon straps!" It doesn't get much more simple that that and simple is part of the reason this personal trainer was drawn to the TRX. The other selling point - the system was invented by a Navy SEAL for working out in the field. "TRX 101 is that where you position yourself makes a huge difference," Barb tells us during our training session. We start out with our hands in the straps, feet on the ground, doing one-legged squats and lunges. Then we move on to upper body exercises like rows, flys and tricep extensions. We play around with the position of our feet and can immediately feel how a change in stance changes the level of difficulty.
What we didn't anticipate was putting our feet in the straps, but Barb shows us some moves that really push us out of our comfort zones. "You'll be on the floor for a couple of things and you'll be unhappy when you're there because it's gonna be hard!" She's not kidding. Sonya goes first. Her feet are in the straps and she's face down in a basic plank. That move is tough in and of itself, but then Barb tells Sonya to push her hips to the ceiling, into a pike. After several reps it's back to the plank - with a twist. Barb tells Sonya to swing her hips from side to side. This routine blasts your entire body, but really targets your core. "When we say core, everybody thinks abs," says Barb, "but hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes and back are also part of the core." And I get to target those muscle groups. Barb also puts my feet in the straps, but I'm face up. First I do hamstring curls like you would on a stability ball and it doesn't take long to burn out. The next move is a high bridge that torches your glutes and I'm thinking this is the fast track to a fantastic looking butt! Finally Barb has me swing side to side just like Sonya did and I can instantly feel my obliques and back working.
We loved the TRX workout. It was really hard and we're sure it produces results. If you want to give it a try with Barb, call her at 277-9721 or visit her website www.fitnessbydesigndm.com.
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com
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