My goals for 2009

By the end of the year I aim to be able to squat 110kg, deadlift 125kg and bench press 100kg. I’ll be adding about 2.5kg a week, so I should be on track to achieve these goals by December.

Over the past few months I’ve been lifting kettlebells, so I’ll be looking to improve my numbers on jerks and snatches. I also plan to compete in boxing by the end of the year.

Michael.

Working around what life can throw at you.

So many of you at the studio will have heard my big announcement this week, and for those that haven't....I'm having a baby!! And while there is great excitement, it has already been one steep  learning curve. 

All these years I have been convinced that, if I wasn't superwoman, then I was at least a distant relative of wonder woman. Of late, however, I have been given a bit of a reality check. Most physical goals don't normally daunt me. I was really looking forward to the 3 peaks as a nice day out, rather than particularly hard work. My nickname growing up (well one of them), was tigger as I was (I understand to the point of being annoying) overly energetic and bouncy. Now I struggle to get up the stairs at the studio without running out of breath. My fairly decent eating habits went out the window with morning sickness when white bread and cheese seemed all I could stomach, and I could sleep competitively for Australia (and in this instance we'd whoop the English). 

But what about the 'working around' bit in the title. Well this has been a great opportunity for me to listen to my body. So the snatches and cleans have gone out the window and in has come low weight, high rep exercises of the sort I haven't touched since before I became a PT. Swimming will be reintroduced very soon (should I be able to find a decent pool near me) and ante natal yoga is also on the menu. There have been some benefits to my body no longer being under my control. I have discovered I don't need caffeine, and alcohol - even a single glass of wine is seriously dehydrating these days. 'Relaxation' is also no longer a dirty word, and pacing myself - not burning the candle at both ends and the middle as I am normally wont to do is becoming the norm. 

So anyway the point of this blog is that sometimes you can't predict how you are going to react to things that life throws at you ... and working around - or with it, it is a good skill to have. Be adaptable and take some postitives out of it. Although of course I am expecting the biggest positive around the 1st Feb 2010!!

Till next week. 

Rach  

Setting myself Goals: Weightlifting and Kettlebell Sport

I enjoy training. Every aspect of it. However often I can just train for trainings sake and not towards any short or long term goal. Kind of like a 'Road to Nowhere'!

So to get my butt in gear I have set a couple of goals for what's remaining of 2009. Both goals should keep my training challenging, meaningful and with purpose.

The first goal is to achieve Rank 1 at a Kettlebell Competition on the 4th October. For this I have to Jerk 78reps with 2*24kg bells and then Snatch 150 reps (75 each hand) also with a 24kg bell. These numbers should be achievable, I'm going to overshoot Rank 1 and aim to get 100Jerks and 100Snatches each hand.

(left: my last Kettlebell Sport comp in May this year)

My second goal is to compete at a Weightlifting Competition on December 15th at Crystal Palace. This is the weightlifting you see at the Olympics. The two competition lifts are the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. It would be great to lift a 100kg Snatch and 125kg C&J. I have a lot of work to do!!

During August I will be combining Olympic Weightlifting and Kettlebell Sport, September I will focus on Kettllbell Sport whilst maintaining Weightlifting, October will be a combination like in August and November and December will have a Weightlifting focus.

So there you go, I know what I'm going to be training for and what kind of numbers I want to achieve. The rest should be easy.

I'll keep you posted.

BJ Rule

Thoughtful Tuesday - 1

I must confess I have been a bit slack of late. My training has been extremely sporadic. It never ceases to amaze me that just a few weeks of not much activity has done to me. I look in the mirror and see the effects (none of the positive!) I think to myself why have you let this happen?! You work so hard taking 2 steps forward and now you've just taken 1 back. That makes no frigging sense! That makes me mad! No more!!! It all gets back on track starting now.

Last night I dragged my butt down to the gym. I was excited about getting down there and nervous at the same time. I realised this was gonna suck! The first one always does. I had decided to deadlift, and deadlift A LOT! By the time I had done my warm up and finished my first set I knew I had missed this. Some primeval beast was starting to stir. All I wanted to do was lift more, lift heavier. I was now at war, me against the iron. I was going to win this battle. I got up to 170kg for a good strong 1 rep. I'll have that up to 175/180 next week

Anyway I guess the point is whatever you want from your training, more size, more strength, losing some weight you need to keep it up, because when you let up, even for a short time, things go backwards. Why let all your hard work get away from you?? Now we all fall off the wagon, the trick is to not be soft and stay off for too long. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to jump back on.

Last thing, I ache today.........it's great!

J

Joslyn's blog - week 1 - general intro

Hi All,

We've decided that we are all going to start blogging as a team:

Me (Joslyn) on Monday
Jamie on Tuesday
BJ on Wednesday
Rachael on Thursday
Michael on Friday

We are generally going to rabbit on about all things health and wellness, much like our newsletter, but a little more specific to us as individual trainers. BJ might bombard you with some kettlebell chat, Jamie may blog on why carrots are better for you than cakes, Michael might suggest some fly kickboxing moves to be used in training or indeed on the dance floor. Either way, feel free to stop by and have a browse at what we have to say.

Thanks for stopping by...

Jos