Upper Body Strength

I had a great early morning session with my trainer. 8am may seem early but I’m so happy when I get to the gym. It’s a great way to start the day. We trained upper body today. I started off by throwing the medicine ball over my head and running to catch it. It reminded me of when I had to do throw ins in soccer. It seem’s easy but the ball is heavy and it’s hard to make it go far. I alternated that exercise with a row to push press using the bar. I’m so much better at this exercise than I was last week. I’ve gotten the technique down and over all I feel so much stronger.

I moved on to 15 reps of shoulder press. The next exercise was Ts, Ys, and Ws. I had to lie forward on an inclined bench and raise my arms to form those letters. It’s a great back exercise. The last exercise in that circuit was rows using a blue resistance band. I had to do as many as I could in 30 seconds. It was tiring but a fun challenge to do.

The next circuit was floor chest press. It was a easier than regular bench press because my arms only had to touch the floor. I increased my weight to make it more difficult. I then did push-ups on the Bosu. I’m so proud of myself for doing this! I didn’t think I would be able to. They were tough but they really worked on my shoulder stability. My trainer helped me on my lest set by putting a resistance band around my waist. He would help pull me on the way up so I could do more push-ups but it was still a challenge. The last exercise in that circuit was to do as many chest passes as I could against the floor in 30 seconds. That was really fun but really tiring!

I did an ab circuit that consisted of a plank with 10 arm reaches, side plank on one side, 10 arm reaches, side plank on the other side, dead bug, and 20 ab crunches. After the circuit I had to do a 300m sprint on the rowing machine. It was a really fun challenge. I did the circuit 3 times! The hardest ab exercise was the plank with arm reaches. It was hard to lift my arm while maintaing my balance and not rock my hips back and forth.

My session ended with the battle ropes. I had to do 4 different techniques: alternating arms, 2 arms at the same, outside circles, and open close arms. After each style, I had to sprint back and forth across the room twice. I repeated the whole sequence twice. Overall, it was a great work out! I was tired after but it was so worth it. I love the feeling of accomplishing something! I’m already starting to feel stronger. Can’t wait to see what my trainer has planned for me tomorrow!