Strength of a Bear
Today we were chatty. We started without Jayne … she was running late (so she emailed us) and Chris had every confidence she’d show up. I did not.
I was wrong.
Get your weights and stop complaining (yes, I was already in the zone). 12.5s for Helen and me.
Unlike most days, I had news. Yes, I saw a movie over the weekend, one that is still in the theaters and still holding a record for first place: Gravity. Chris may even break down and see it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I also told Helen of the dreaded treadmill adventure she missed last Thursday when it was just me and Jayne. We did passive resistance sprinting (well, in my case, it was active resistance since 1) I hate sprinting and 2) I hate treadmills … the combo thereof constitutes a double hate, so therefore, it’s a love?). We also did Bulgarian split squats off the back in between the aforementioned resistance sprinting on the dreadmills.
But I digress.
Pick up your weights, do some squats. Put ‘em down, do jump squats. Pick ‘em up, bent over rows. Drop one, hold other overhead, calf raises. Wait, somewhere in there, we did reverse lunges. Or did they come later? Oh, we also did forward lunges in place (no weights first time, weights on the repeat). Repeat whole circuit. When we repeated, we did reverse lunges with weights, and one time we did them with one weight and rotations. These were all timed exercises, and for example, I did 21 jump squats the first time, second time, I did 31. I don’t know if he did same amount of time each time … all I know is I was breathing right hard. Not surprising.
Get a mat. On your back, with one weight. Left hand, neutral grip (legs flexed and feet on floor), presses. Right hand, neutral grip, presses. Both hands on one weight, tricep extension with hip raises at same time. Repeat whole circuit. With my right hand, I did 41 presses the second time (compared with 31 I think the first time). But with my left, I only did 22 the first time, and 39 the second. So after warming up, I usually do better the next time around. Unless, diabolically, he’s giving us more time the second time. But since I’m not running the stopwatch, how would I know?
Last circuit, we did more on the floor stuff, followed by standing, reverse lunging, with rotation with weights. We also did an exercise where we did kind of reverse lunges (straight), to burn our quads. Then squat in position, extend one leg back at a time, never coming out of the squat, and holding weights. More quad burning.
Cool down stretching.
Pizza talk. More food talk. Anyone listening to us would think we’re obsessed with food (we are). Brief discussion of potatoes (mainly I said I’d heard from Elena, and that we missed talking about potatoes).
Haven’t recruited anyone new yet. But we’re trying.
Cheers.
The Bear
PS, I just realized I didn't post last week (I thought I had). Jayne and I had the distinct pleasure of having Chris all to ourselves on Thursday, and with Dolores on Friday. On Thursday, he made us work really hard with cardio, including the above-mentioned dreadmills. On Friday, we did loads of core exercises ... none of which I can now call to mind. But, like childbirth (so I'm told), it's probably a blessing that I don't remember the excruciating pain, and it will allow me to keep coming back for more.
PPS, I just remembered one thing: we came up with new hand signals for when we relax, relax, relax ... except none of us remember what they are. For some reason, it makes us laugh. But then, just about everything in this class makes us laugh. Go figure.
I was wrong.
Get your weights and stop complaining (yes, I was already in the zone). 12.5s for Helen and me.
Unlike most days, I had news. Yes, I saw a movie over the weekend, one that is still in the theaters and still holding a record for first place: Gravity. Chris may even break down and see it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I also told Helen of the dreaded treadmill adventure she missed last Thursday when it was just me and Jayne. We did passive resistance sprinting (well, in my case, it was active resistance since 1) I hate sprinting and 2) I hate treadmills … the combo thereof constitutes a double hate, so therefore, it’s a love?). We also did Bulgarian split squats off the back in between the aforementioned resistance sprinting on the dreadmills.
But I digress.
Pick up your weights, do some squats. Put ‘em down, do jump squats. Pick ‘em up, bent over rows. Drop one, hold other overhead, calf raises. Wait, somewhere in there, we did reverse lunges. Or did they come later? Oh, we also did forward lunges in place (no weights first time, weights on the repeat). Repeat whole circuit. When we repeated, we did reverse lunges with weights, and one time we did them with one weight and rotations. These were all timed exercises, and for example, I did 21 jump squats the first time, second time, I did 31. I don’t know if he did same amount of time each time … all I know is I was breathing right hard. Not surprising.
Get a mat. On your back, with one weight. Left hand, neutral grip (legs flexed and feet on floor), presses. Right hand, neutral grip, presses. Both hands on one weight, tricep extension with hip raises at same time. Repeat whole circuit. With my right hand, I did 41 presses the second time (compared with 31 I think the first time). But with my left, I only did 22 the first time, and 39 the second. So after warming up, I usually do better the next time around. Unless, diabolically, he’s giving us more time the second time. But since I’m not running the stopwatch, how would I know?
Last circuit, we did more on the floor stuff, followed by standing, reverse lunging, with rotation with weights. We also did an exercise where we did kind of reverse lunges (straight), to burn our quads. Then squat in position, extend one leg back at a time, never coming out of the squat, and holding weights. More quad burning.
Cool down stretching.
Pizza talk. More food talk. Anyone listening to us would think we’re obsessed with food (we are). Brief discussion of potatoes (mainly I said I’d heard from Elena, and that we missed talking about potatoes).
Haven’t recruited anyone new yet. But we’re trying.
Cheers.
The Bear
PS, I just realized I didn't post last week (I thought I had). Jayne and I had the distinct pleasure of having Chris all to ourselves on Thursday, and with Dolores on Friday. On Thursday, he made us work really hard with cardio, including the above-mentioned dreadmills. On Friday, we did loads of core exercises ... none of which I can now call to mind. But, like childbirth (so I'm told), it's probably a blessing that I don't remember the excruciating pain, and it will allow me to keep coming back for more.
PPS, I just remembered one thing: we came up with new hand signals for when we relax, relax, relax ... except none of us remember what they are. For some reason, it makes us laugh. But then, just about everything in this class makes us laugh. Go figure.