Friday, February 12, 2010

So far so good

I'm about to begin my third week of the Turbulence Training Transformation program. In Week 2 I kept my weights the same on most exercises but did increase volume. We'll see what Week 3 brings.

I'm also doing kettlebell drills at least twice a week. On Monday, I did a 15 seconds on/15 seconds off thing, alternating 1-arm swings and high pulls, for 20 minutes. It was a good session though not nearly as intense as it would have been if I'd been doing snatches. Unfortunately I was having some slight hand pain and numbness--nothing horrific but enough that I didn't think I'd be able to keep good form on snatches. Not a big deal since my main concern was gluteal activation, and that's the same whether you're snatching a kettlebell or swinging it.

I also did swings on Tuesday in place of the bodyweight tabata intervals Craig Ballantyne prescribes at the end of Transformation Workout 3. No particular reason, other than that it just sounded like more fun than squat thrusts and front squats. Okay, it did cross my mind that maybe all that hip flexion wasn't the best idea given that I was about to go teach spinning. But really that was a rationalization. If I'd felt like doing squat thrusts I'd have done them :)

Wednesday was a rest day of sorts, meaning that I went to ballet class but didn't do anything in addition. Well, I trained clients, but didn't do a separate workout of my own. Thursday I had ballet class again, and I also did a kettlebell workout that was all get-ups, pull-ups, goblet squats and swings. I used 20 kg for the swings (5 sets of 25) and it felt pretty good.

In other news, I think I need to lose a few pounds. It's the darned pointe shoes. When all your bodyweight is pressing down on about 1 square inch of satin you really don't want any extra!

It's funny: vanity used to be my big motivator. Now, not so much. I really don't care whether my jeans are a size 0 or a size 2 or even a size 4, as long as I'm healthy and able to do the stuff I like to do. It's nice to be able to say that after so many years of being hung up on looking a certain way.