But put me in a gym (away from the cardio machines), and I am completely lost. I don’t know what to do with weights or how to stretch. I don’t know the proper form. I don’t know the proper terms. I feel completely out of my element.
So, last night was completely comfortable for me.
Actually it was … well except for that last set of push-ups.
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| Ack! Uncomfortable arms! |
Last night was my first session with Chris from Peak Wellness. We went through some moves I’ll be doing in Phase 1 of my program. He was patient. And explained and demonstrated things … many, many times. And he was the reason I was comfortable in an unfamiliar environment.
We started with foam rolling (I hear great things about this, but I don’t do it … err, until now – it’s on my plan) and rolling calves with tennis balls. They both felt awesome in an “ahh, this hurts but it feels so good” way.
Then, things got serious: push-ups, split squats and cross leg-ankle rock (without the crossing of the legs and rocking). I did three sets with eight reps of each (look at me use these new terms).
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| Feels so good on the calves |
Next up: band pullbacks, single-leg dead lifts and side-lying clams. I did three sets of each with 20 reps of the pullbacks (which got surprisingly hard … does pulling on a band sound hard?) and eight reps of the dead lifts and clams.
The fun part of the night: medicine ball slams. I slammed a medicine ball into the ground as many times as I could for 30 seconds. I did three sets with 30 seconds of rest in between.
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| Now this is fun ... but my arms hurt |
We wrapped up with stretching that felt pretty darn good. I was even familiar with one of the stretches.
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| I do this after every run. |
It's pretty cool to know that I have a program made for me. The things I did last night (and will continue to do) all support my goal of becoming a better runner.
Do you feel comfortable with weights? Do you know what to do? Do you use a foam roller? Have you ever had a session with a trainer? Do you like push-ups?
