This was the happiest week! I started working with my own personal trainer! I know some of you might be thinking, “wait what?” but let me explain.

For the past couple of years I have been saying that I need a trainer and considered hiring someone to work with or program for me. It’s not that I don’t know how to put together workouts and exercise plans but I wanted to not have to think about it and have someone else push me in ways that I don’t necessarily push myself. I truly believe that working with a trainer can be a huge catalyst for growth and change, which is part of why I love my job as a trainer so much. I selfishly wanted some of that back for myself.

Last fall I got an itch to really get back to strength work and lifting. I kind of pushed it to the wayside when I was training for my half and then participating in our studio’s 62 day challenge but when the new year rolled around I was more than READY to hit the gym hard.

Imagine my excitement when I opened an envelope from the boy on Christmas morning and found a gift certificate for 14 personal training sessions! He was a personal trainer for 10 years and totally understood my wish to have my own trainer.

I was pretty picky about who I wanted to work with and I love, love, love who I ended up with. I have so much respect for her and I know that she is going to push me to a new level and help me find the strength and muscle gains that I am looking for. I’ll keep you guys updated on my progress.

Monday

REST

Tuesday

Easy 3 mile run outside with the pup + pushing focus strength

Strength:

2 sets of 15 reps of each of the following:

Dumbbell chest fly (25#)
Single arm dumbbell press (25#)
Single leg dumbbell squat to bench and stand back up (holding a 25# dumbbell)
Single arm tricep kickback (15#)
Bench reverse crunch
Regular crunch

Wednesday

3 miles treadmill intervals + pulling focus strength + hot yoga

Treadmill intervals: 

5 minutes warm (8:20ish pace)
9 minutes of 45 seconds on, 15 off (starting at 7:15 and working to 6:30ish pace)
7 minutes of 20 on 10 off (starting at 6:24 and working down to high fives pace)

I really pushed the speed on this interval workout. I tried for 45 on, 15 off until it felt hard to sustain the pace for the duration of the sprint and then switched to 20 on/10 off to finish.

For those of you who have asked about how I handle my rest intervals, I don’t slow the belt down (that would never work logistically and rest periods would have to be much longer). Rather, I VERY CAREFULLY hop to the sides of the treadmill and leave the belt running and then VERY CAREFULLY hop back on. I’ve been doing this for years and it works well for me.

Strength

3 sets of 10 of  each of the following exercises:

Single arm dumbbell rows (30#)
Dumbbell bicep curls (20#)
Straight bar RDLs (90#)
Assisted pull ups on machine
Lat pull downs on machine
Hanging knee raises

Thursday

First session with my trainer! 45 minutes with tons of core work (she may love planks more than me…haha), pull ups, lunge variations, kettle bell deadlift/clean/overhead press combo, slam ball work, dynamax ball exercises, plyometrics, mini bands and more. It was hard and awesome!

Friday

Hot yoga

I needed a stretch day after three straight days of lifting!

Saturday

7.25 mile run with Zoey

This run can be titled “all the things you shouldn’t do when running in the dark on a Saturday night.” Zoey and I set out with 4-5 miles in mind but then I decided to try a new running route thinking I could just “figure out” how to cut through a neighborhood to get from one main street to another. Well, that didn’t go as planned and we ended up winding through the neighborhood for what felt like eternity before finally finding our way out the same way we came in. It was freezing, I didn’t wear gloves, I brought my iPod instead of my phone so I couldn’t look up directions or call anyone and I tripped on the sidewalk about a mile from home and totally ate it. Bad runner.

Luckily, Zoey was a TROOPER and was full of energy for the entire duration of the run. And still was acting like her normal playful self when we got home. This girl loves to run and has endless energy.

I did put together a great playlist for the run so at least there was that.

And yes, I followed my own advice and wore my reflective vest so at least we were safe in that regard. Next time I won’t leave my phone at home! The problem is that I recently got the new iPhone 6 plus and it’s huge! How do you take that thing with you when you run?

Sunday

Today will be rest or yoga.

Have you ever worked with a personal trainer? If not, would you like to? 

If you plan your own workouts, where do you find inspiration? 

REMINDER: Today is the final day to enter to win a $100 Kohl’s gift card!