Mid-week means a fair amount of training for me (Sunessa). While Matthew takes mid-day breaks for soccer several times each week (Tu, Th, Fr?), I usually workout in the mornings or evenings. It gets predictable after a while, so I've changed up my routine lately. For example, instead of just cycling/spinning at 6am on Wednesday mornings, I've started going swimming for 45 min and then doing the 7am spin instead, so I get a swim-bike combo. Three other days I'm in the gym between 6:30-8am lifting or running or taking a personal training client. One evening I go for my own workout, usually following an Intro to PT session for a client.
Yesterday, however, was different. I slept in and skipped my Wednesday morning routine because I knew that I had a mid-day instruction session on how to instruct special cardio/strength combo classes called BURN. What I didn't know is that this would be a participatory class and I would get sweaty, big-time. The instructor was Tina DeMarco, a master trainer, and she almost let me "just watch" but then I saw that two other trainers, Tom and Lesley, would be taking the class AND participating. I couldn't just sit on the sidelines in my office clothes! So I got changed into workout duds and laced up my shoes...
- First running interval: 10 mins total - 2 min warmup jogging, 1 min incline running followed by 1 min recovery for 4 repeats. The catch...a 3% incline raise on each run segment. Start with 3%, 6%, 9%, and finally 12% incline. "Slow your run speed if you need to" Tina said, but us trainers were too competitive for that.
- Strength interval #1: Lunges, Bicep curls, Shoulder presses, and more Lunges. After the hill running, those Lunges got the quads tired quickly. Now I see why they call this BURN...
- Second running interval: 10 mins total - speed over hills with a sprint at the end. This time Tina pushed the hills up to "only" 6% and told us about shin splints. Lots of her new clients in the BURN sessions had really sore shins from the hills. More stretching was needed, but she admitted that stretching is the first thing to get cut from these short, jam-packed 55 minute workouts. Go figure!
- Strength interval #2: Wide squats with more curls and presses, plus Pushups. Using the back of the treadmill for our hands, we did these on a slight incline. But still, pushups are hard, really hard when the instructor says "Down and hold for 10 seconds hovering 2" from the ground". More BURNing going on, this time in the chest.
- Third running interval: 10 mins total - speed, Speed and more SPEED. We cranked it up with each 30 second that passed, taking only one break to a jog in the middle of the set. This was not easy, but it was fun, and again we (the trainers) got a little competitive. I could see double digits on Lesley's 10+ mph pace, but I held back at 9mph while Tom probably hit 11 mph. I just did not want to get thrown off the back! Oh, and I'd have to go back to the office in less than 15 mins so I wanted to not sweat too much more. Ha.
- Strength interval #3: Abs on the BoSu - I love ab/core work, so this was no problem. I got to ask questions about success and challenges with offering these BURN courses. Tina told me that she gets lots of "regular" clients for these, and that she has a reputation for being tough (I can see why!). She pushes her clients a lot, and it made me realize that I should push mine harder, too. I'm too nice sometimes. I should really toughen up. BURN will help.
