After what can best be described as an epic weekend. I think I am still catching up on sleep. Sleep deprivation is definitely something to study more as it has lasting effects into the week. However, muscles were feeling good today and I was as rested as I can be. Off I headed this afternoon to Green Mountain Rock Climbing to work with my trainer Steve. I feel as though I am a broken record in saying it is never a dull moment with him.

I had no told Steve what I had been up to over the weekend but just by looking at me he knew it was something. His goal is to push me each week but not burn me out. So he modified his plans based on my weekend but still offered an incredible workout. We started as we always do with bouldering around the gym, today I had the pleasure of doing it twice. My form a little sloppy but made it around.

After the warm-up we jumped into the workout which included, cinderblocks, slosh pipes pull of rice, a 50lb sandbag, 25lb plates, and a few other surprises. We did another of Steve’s count down workouts where we started at 10 reps then down to 8,6,4,2 and with twists at the end.

We started with a Farmers Walk around the gym grasping a cinderblock in each hand overhand, so as no to have the aid of the arms. This was purely grip strength. After a walk around the gym we jumped into dips, then a lung walk around the gym with another slosh pipe weighing about 25 – 30lbs. The key here was to hold it underhand but not wrap your fingers around. I quickly dropped the pipe and picked up a larger one this time for a squat to overhead press into triceps and back. Again the challenge was for the pipe to never hit the ground while the rice inside moved around.

Jumping right into the next exercise, I pressed the 50lb sandbag above my head and walked again around the gym. I can say the walks each time got faster and faster as fatigue set in. After the first couple times around the gym with the sandbag I switched over to the plate. I couldn’t safely keep the bag above my head, too much Bikram Yoga over the weekend. Guess I have another area to work on! Finally we finished out each round with leg raises.

Everything was going as expected until the last set. I did my walks and my reps as instructed, no surprises. Then the last set happened, I got ready for my dips Steve added 45lbs on my legs, two were done with this additional weight, two more at 35lbs, two more at 25lbs, then to failure with just my body weight. This only took about 10 more reps. The hanging leg raises this time included 10 straight leg raises then another 20 knee raises.

After this part of the workout was done we did three climbs alternating in pulldowns on the climbing rope just to add the cherry on top. After my workout I stuck around as Steve has three women working out doing modifications of what I do each week. It was great giving back and helping out even if my body was screaming. I added a few minutes of leading the ladies through planks and offered encouraging words, and technique and form demos. It was great to give back to Steve after he helps me so much. Here is a glimpse of what we did today.