Personal Training
Client Workouts!
Hey everyone! Hope everyone is having a great day! I had an amazing weekend filled with so much love and happiness. My brother and his wife are still on cloud 9 and I could not have asked for a more perfect weekend.
My new sisters 🙂
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For today’s post, I wanted to share some videos I took of one of my clients. I have been working with Stephanie for 6+ months and the strength, focus and confidence she has gained is incredible. She has a very athletic background, being a figure skater so working out was very natural for her; what she wanted when she first came to me was variety, challenge and strength and of course fun. She still skates and wanted to incorporate some exercises that would keep her legs strong as well as work on her balance and core stability. Stephanie, who had never touched a kettlebell, barbell, trap bar, TRX and has turned into a machine! Her high energy and fun spirit make our sessions together so enjoyable. She always walks away smiling, happy and ready for whats to come!
Stephanies sessions are more full body. I typically create a 6 exercise circuit, depending on what we have been working on and always end with some metabolic style training.
A typical session could look like this:Â
Kettlebell Goblet Squat (either holding one or two)
Kettlebell Walking lunges, holding them by her sides
TRX jackknifes
Full kettlebell sit ups
TRX back rows
Assisted band pull ups
Metabolic workout: 10 ball slams, 30 seconds burpees, 30 seconds TRX speed skaters
Goblet Squat
As you all know I love the goblet squat, especially with a ketllebell. The benefit to goblet hold while performing the front squat is that the weight is more anteriorly (in front) placed which not only works your core like you wouldn’t believe, but it also helps to keep you in an upright position and really focus your energy on the quads. I really love teaching all of my clients the goblet hold PRIOR to learning any other form of squat (barbell back squat, front squat etc) the reason being when you go to perform a squat, more likely than not, you will only be able to get about halfway with proper form before your knees start caving, upper back rounds and the weight gets transferred to your toes. Although this could be due to tight lats, hipflexors or ankles, this could also be due to a lack of stability. The goblet squat hold puts the body in a more natural position, forcing the chest to stay upright and allow the glutes to fall ‘back and down’ the way they are supposed to. Once the goblet squat is mastered, we move on and get fancy
Bosu Oblique Twist
Here, I have taken the traditional side plank exercise and have added both a twist and some instability using the Bosu Ball. Â I love all plank variations and really try to give Stephanie a taste of everything because due to her fitness level she is able to perform some more advanced variations. This side plank with a twist on the Bosu ball really challenges her balance as well as aiming to maintain that straight plank posture. Besides working the core, Â the shoulder will get a nice isometric workout as well by balancing on the ball.
If you are a beginner, I would NOT start right away with this exercise. Simply start with a traditional side plank and work your way up to adding the twist, if you try this move before you have the proper set up and form, this move will not work to your benefit
Slider Push ups
Ah, the evil push ups. I say that because when I tell a client we will be doing any sort of push up variation they give me ‘that look’ I have found common theme that the majority of clients I train are not the hugest fans of push ups-but that’s why I always try to incorporate them! They are a powerhouse exercise and learning how to push up properly can be harder than one thinks! I really like using the sliders because they can make any traditional exercise just one step more advanced. There are always ways to kick your workouts up a notch! You can also perform any exercise that uses a slider in your own home using a paper plate, towel or Tupperware container!Â
Using the sliders on certain exercises require so much more stability and balance, therefore when you g back to the traditional exercise (slider push ups vs regular push ups) It almost becomes a bit easier! I use the val-slides with clients of all fitness levels because one of the benefits is that the individual can control the range of motion and intensityy as well as modify if necessary
This slider push up exercise is great and a pretty challenging push up variation that that recruits stabilizing muscles to move through the push up motion. You will also get a great core workout here due to the anti extension that takes places while trying to keep the hips square to the ground
Ball Slams
At the end of our sessions, I always give Stephanie a HIIT or Tabata workout, usually combining anywhere from 2-4 metabolic exercises. I vary the length of time, intensity and  exercises each time we meet depending on how she is feeling at the end of our session together. Today we did a combination of 10 ball slams, 30 seconds val slide mountain climbers and 30 seconds squat jumps on the TRX
Ball slams are one of my favorite metabolic exercises that really work the entire body and get that heart rate up very fast, similar to kettlebell swings.
Ball slams is a full body exercise with a lot of focus on the core. To make the most of this exercise you want to make sure you use 100% range of motion throughout. Pick up the ball and raise it as high as you can above your body and as you slam it down, exhale  and bend the knees into a squat. Reaching down to pick up the ball should mimic a squat, the back should stay flat, not rounded. Pick it up and do it again! This sand ball is 10lbs, but we are working our way up to 15 and 20, respectively
Are you looking for some metabolic workouts? Click here!
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There you have it! I hope you enjoyed looking at a little glimpse of my training session with Stephanie.Â
Have you tried any new exercises recently that you enjoy? Please share!
