Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Taking the Madness to the Parking Lot

For those of you who don't know, our oldest daughter is a competition gymnast. We spend 3 to 5 nights a week at the gymnastics center. Each night we go to the gym, she has practice for at least 3 hours. This is one aspect of life that has changed so much and caused us to have to reschedule our workouts.

Yesterday as I was picking up Melisa, I spotted an empty field behind the gymnastics center. I asked the gym management if it was their property and if they would oppose to me working out in it. It does belong to them and they said I could have at it. :-)

Today, when I loaded the girls up for gym, I also loaded up the kettlebells. It was strength training day in my Ross Enamait challenge. My workout consisted of double kettlebell split snatches, double clean and push presses, one armed bench presses, plyometric pushups, wall sits, and jumping squats. To top it off, Ross recommends one armed swings.

I must say, I am feeling good after this one! I worked my double snatches with my 25 pound kettlebells. I managed to use Clark's 36's for the clean and push press. When I got home I realized I was push pressing more than half of my body weight! :-) I was bench pressing with a 36 lb kettlebell, however by the last round I had to finish with my 25's. I did one armed swings with the 36 to top it off...I would have used heavier weights but I didn't bring a heavier one to the gym.

I actually felt pretty strong after this workout. I can tell that I am getting the strength and endurance back from what I lost this summer. That makes me smile!

Happy training!

Mason Madness Challenge

I could sit here and make all kinds of excuses about why I haven't been on here posting. I could tell you how busy we have been and I could tell you all the challenges that life has brought our way in the past few months. I could give you all the gorry details and stories - - - but the short of it is that we haven't been on here posting our workouts and for that I am sorry!

I could also sit here and promise to be back. I refuse to promise that you will get a daily or even weekly post about our workouts. It is my goal. I want to get on here and keep a log of our workouts, but I just don't know what tomorrow may bring. So, when I have the time and I am not so tired I can't think straight, I will get on here and post what we have been up to.

This summer was a killer for Clark and I. The schedule had us hitting 3 workouts a week rather than the 6 that we are used to. Cutting workouts in half is never a good thing. We were able to maintain our body weight but strength and endurance took a big bite. We are paying for the break in our normal schedule and having to build back up now that we are on a normal schedule again.

Clark and I decided the best way to get back to where we were is a challenge. What challenge is fun unless you blog about it? We haven't decided how we are going to judge the winner, but we have each chosen the workouts that we are going to do.

I, Michelle, am going to follow Ross Enamait's 50 day challenge from his "Infinite Intensity" book. I am in the middle of week 2 of his challenge and have altered it slightly. Ross's book calls for 4 days of workouts and then a day of rest followed by 4 more days. However, I need to stay on a daily schedile, so I do four days of workouts then on Friday I do Steve Maxwells kettlebell doubles routine and on Saturday I randomly pick a workout that looks fun. Sunday is my day of rest. I plan on doing this for 10 weeks.

Clark is going to spend the 10 weeks doing Scott Sonnon workouts with supplemental workouts from various sources. He is also aiming for 6 workouts a week again. He is not following a routine as structured as mine but I am sure the workouts will be something else. :-)

We need your help in deciding how to determine the winner of the Mason Madness Challenge. We aren't following the same routines so this is going to be hard to judge. Post your ideas and we will make a decision on the judging of the challenge next week. :-)

This is going to be FUN!