Bridal Boot Camp – Day 23

Day 23 – July 28

It’s been a very busy week already! Yesterday I had a one-on-one with the Arena District Athletic Club’s personal trainer – Terry. I sort of thought that Terry was taking it easy on my yesterday, because none of the moves I did yesterday ever left me with that crazy muscle fatigue I have come to know so well. What I didn’t know, was that Terry was sneak attacking me and his workout was WAAAAY harder than I thought.

Terry sneak attacked me with his kettlebell circuit.

Terry is basically a Smooth Criminal. He set up a workout circuit and then walked me through each station/move to make sure I understood the movement and had the correct form. So we did some assisted pull ups and then I had an in-depth training on push ups. I have always been curious about push ups. I mimic the moves that I see other people do in the gym, but as it turns out, I have never done one correctly.

My version of a push up is to place my palms way out to my side, bend my elbows out to the side, and come down an inch or so before going back up. I also let my belly sag and so I have a huge arch in my back. This is all wrong and can be very bad for my back. So Terry patiently walked me through the correct form of a push up. You want your palms down just under your shoulders, not to far out, not to far in, not up by your ears and not down by your ribs. When you come down, your elbows should go out a little and back a little, basically making an arrow with your body. If you keep your elbows too far out, you work your chest muscles, but don’t fully engage the muscles in your arms, back and shoulders.

To fully engage all of the muscles you want to work out when doing a push up, you should come down so that your chest is almost touching the floor. Be sure and do this while keeping your core tight and sucking your belly button into your spine.

Turns out, my years of misusing my muscles in my faux push up movement have made me pretty week. I can’t do a real push up. So first we modified it by having me take a wide stance with my feet. I still wasn’t strong enough. My belly wanted to flop on the floor. So then I went down on my knees, which is another modification. Getting all the way down to the floor and keeping my spine straight from my head to my butt was still a challenge. Terry showed me another modification of a push up to help me be able to get comfortable with the movement and build my strength up. In this modification I leaned against a bar, stood on my toes and did a push up against the bar.

My modified bar push up!

Terry told me that if I keep practicing, I’ll be able to do a real push up in no time. Thus begins my journey to real push-up hood.

Terry likes to work with kettlebells, which is fun. I’ve always wanted to try using them at the gym, but was so afraid of looking stupid or tossing at someone. I am the type of person that this would happen to. But Terry eased my fears as we worked my biceps with a 25lb (I know right!!!! Look at how strong I’m getting) kettlebell. I would hold it down in one hand with my palms facing forward and then whip it up and across my body, where my other hand would catch it. The movement was terrifying at first. I was standing there imagining myself smashing my teeth in right before my wedding, but it wasn’t nearly that dramatic in real life.

You can watch me do the Kettlebell Bicep Whip if you want to.

We also worked my core with the kettlebell by doing pass arounds my body. Then I learned how to do an honest-to-goodness kettlebell swing. You have to shift your weight back into your butt (not a squat), and then as you swing the kettlebell through your legs and up towards the ceiling, you swing your hips forward and tighten the glutes. As the kettlebell comes down you tighten your core and let it’s momentum drop down. The whole time you must also keep your chest up!

Always remember to keep your chest up and your core engaged.

Another one of my favorite moves was this slightly elevated squat. Terry had me stand on yoga blocks and squat with 15lbs weights in each hand. Standing on the blocks is nice because it is easier to drop down even further and get your quads below 90 degrees in order to fully engage those butt muscles.

We also did a side crunch with kettlebells. Turns out I LOVE doing abdominal work that doesn’t involve sit ups or crunches! He also had me do some reverse crunches where I laid on my back and lifted my legs up slightly. I’d bring them all the way up above my head and then I’d shoot my heels up toward the ceiling lifting my butt of the ground.

I wasn’t super sore right after the workout and I left thinking that Terry had taken it easy on my. But when I woke up this morning my whole upper body groaned. I am coming to love that feeling of sore muscles though. I think it’s true what they say – it is addicting.

This morning I went to my second Total Strength class with Ellen (Tues and Thurs at 6:30 am). Last time, she was pretty affective at kicking my butt and she did not let me down today. We started by grabbing weights and running up 5 flights of stairs. I grabbed 15lbs in each hand and felt like a bad ass for about 3 minutes. I was determined to push myself harder this week than I have, because I want to see real results fast. But after a tiny bit my will broke and I finally looked to see how many flights I had done. I was on flight 3 when I really started to feel it. Thankfully, the woman in front of me was also feeling it and slowed from a jog to a brisk walk. By floor 4.5 we were both walking and panting heavy. But going back down I felt strong again (I got my second wind) and we ran the rest of the way.

Ellen had us do lots of side lunges today. We did side lunges with a dumbbell row, then side lunges with a shoulder press then side lunges that we held for what seemed like eternity. My legs are what I consider my very strongest muscle group. As a soccer player and runner, I have come to heavily rely on my legs to carry me fast and furious. But today as Ellen had us squat and then raise one leg while we held the other in a squat position, my legs started shaking. The left one started to tremble a little as I was holding my right leg in the air. Then it went into full on Tickle-Me-Elmo mode and I almost giggled out loud. “Silly leg, what are you doing?” I was thinking to myself. But then we switched and my right leg also betrayed me. It was shaking worse than my left.

I couldn’t take pictures because I was working my butt off, but this is a side lunge with a dumbell row.

Thank God that tomorrow is my Amazing Abs class. That is the only muscle group that doesn’t hurt right now. I’m serious; I don’t think I’m even going to be able to lift my arms to brush my teeth tomorrow morning.

The Arena District Athletic Club is more than just a gym, it’s a premier fitness facility located in the heart of the Arena District in downtown Columbus. We provide convenience and quality, featuring top-of-the-line equipment, top-notch personal trainers, spa-like locker rooms and a wide variety of free group fitness classes daily including Cardio, Spinning, Barre Fusion, Yoga, Boot Camp and more. We offer free 2-hour parking and convenient contract-free memberships, to fit your healthy lifestyle needs. Don’t just join, belong.