Please help me plan a session for my trainer!

[June2009]

I have been given the challenge to plan a gym session for my trainer this saturday...male, 20 yo, very fit, he wants a six pack for the summer.
It needs to be hardwork and fill an hour. Some of these exercises will be done in parallel, but some of them (the hanging ones at the chin up bar for example) we'll have to take turns.

I am thinking:

Warm -up

• skipping to warm up 5 minutes - if you mess up with the rope you do a press-up
• burpee, / press up / sit up / jump squat - 3 sets of 8 - 60 seconds rest in between

kettle bells workout

• 150 kettlebells swings (24kg) Target in under 6 mins.

Abs workout:

• dragon flag (lying on a bench, gripping the bench on each side of yours ears, lift your legs up until the they're pointing directly up making a straight line from chest to feet, top of the shoulder blade are on the bench) - as many as you can.
• hanging knee raise (2 sets of 10)
• hanging leg raise (2 sets of 10)
• full rotation hanging knee raises (twists left and right, 2 sets of 10)
• weighted gymball crunch (2 sets of 10)
• press up jack knife (2 sets of 10)
• gym ball plank, raise your feet one after the other (10 times)
• medicine ball lower leg (lying down, ball between your feet, hold your leg straight up (2 sets of 10)
• sitting down, balance on your bum (legs in the air, not too high) + medicine ball: twist your body and alternate left and right with the ball (2 sets of 20)
• plank to pess up 10 each arm

Stretch.

Even though we want to work abs, is that too much abs do you think?
and will that fill an hour....

Thanks for your input! I'm totally open to other ideas.

Have you told him you get a six pack in the kitchen, not the gym?

Get the direct core work in first but you could then throw in some full body exercises which work the core as well so he has more of a total body workout at the same time
.
Things such as off loaded squats, or dumbbell lunges with offset loading, suitcase deadlifts, turkish get ups, mixed grip chin ups, all of these require the core to work hard whilst still working the larger muscle groups as well.

Instead of the press up jack knife, you could do the press up pike , so much harder than a jack knife, though it does make the press up part because of the starting position with your lower legs on the ball rather than feet.

Do you have a cable machine? Static holds or one armed rows in front and side plank positions are good.

Sorry, that should say 'it does make the press up part easier because...

Sorry, me again. To make it really challenging you need to try and find exercises that he doesn't normally do/hasn't done for a while, that way he will really feel it.

thanks, yes he said he doesn;t do enough abs work, I think he was struggling last week with stuff he was getting me to do.(he would obviously deny that.)

So the things you suggested like turkish get up etc would be between kettlebells and abs right?

Where ever you like really. At the moment I do mine straight after my dynamic warm up, followed by some other direct core work like plank rows and lunge with cable chop, inchworms etc, then full body exercises along the lines of squat/deadlift/chest press/chin up, then I do my interval training type cardio such as kettlebell swings at the end. They say the best workout for you is the one you haven't done yet, so mixing up the order he usually gets you to do things in might be good.

Thanks for that.
Now I'm thinking it is too much straightforward "crunching" iyswim and I am going to have a look again tonight and mix it up with exercises that use the abs but are a bit more interesting.
I like the idea of doing somehting that we don't usually do (but of course that means I have to come up with it.)
We usually do some skipping and some boxing so I might take the skipping out of the equation and go outside for a quick jog if the weather is nice. That's different.

right, updated workout....

Warm -up

• skipping to warm up 5 minutes - if you mess up with the rope you do a press-up

OR

• Jog outside

• burpee, / press up / sit up / jump squat - 3 sets of 8 - 60 seconds rest in between

kettle bells workout

• 150 kettlebells swings (24kg) Target in under 6 mins.

• chin ups:
• hanging knee raise (2 sets of 10)
• hanging leg raise (2 sets of 10)
• full rotation hanging knee raises (twists left and right, 2 sets of 10)

• deadlifts lighter weight 8 reps, than 3x5 reps

cable work:

• chest press lighter weight 8 reps than 3x5 reps
• standing cable rotation perpendicular to machine, triangular handle, hold with both hands, arms out ni froint striaght, turn your shoulders. (10 reps 3 times)

Abs workout:

• dragon flag (lying on a bench, gripping the bench on each side of yours ears, lift your legs up until the they're pointing directly up making a straight line from chest to feet, top of the shoulder blade are on the bench) - as many as you can
• press up jack knife or spike (2 sets of 10)
• gym ball plank, raise your feet one after the other (10 times)
• medicine ball lower leg (lying down, ball between your feet, hold your leg straight up (2 sets of 10)
• sitting down, feet off the floor + medicine ball: twist your body and alternate left and right with the ball (2 sets of 20)
• One partner lying down legs raised, one partner standing up pushing the legs away towards the floor. the one lying down must resist and not touch the floor.

Stretch.

actually still think too much abs work, I want to add another compound movement but we did clean and press last week and squats the week before, any other idea? (bent over rows??)

all right got it now...
we'll do bench press after deadlifts and i'll swap the chest press on the cable work for the one where you kneel down and bend forward.

thanks for your suggestions :)

Sounds like fun, come back and tell us how he found it!

Are you doing regular deads or suitcase ones?

i haven't done suitcase ones before so I'm going to give him the choice providing he knows the correct form.
looking forward to it :) it's the first work out I've put so much planning into!!

Can't wait to hear how it goes. Very , I'd love to have a personal trainer.

thanks i'll come back and let you kow.
i looked it up on youtube and i'm definitely going for the suitcase deadlift by the way, with kettlebells, after our 150 swings. Thanks for that it'll fit in very well.

Done!

feedback from my trainer: it was good but the bench press in the middle slowed things down, if you're going to do just one strength exercise then you have to make it big.

we did a jog, which got me out of breath but not him so not sure i'll do that again, it is a warm up though.

burpee etc was challenging for both of us

kettlebells was good, we both beat our best times.
suitce deadlifts was easy, we did 3 sets of 8 on each side with breaks after alternating and then felt like w should do it again without any rest, and that was better

i skipped the chin ups prts as we were already halfway through the session

bench press, well it went well but didn't really fit in with the rest and i can't really spot him properly because his weights re so much heavier than mine.

cabke work was good, we did them simultaneously and i got him to up his weight. he doesn't think the kneeling down exercise is very effective. i think it is for me as i always feel it in my abs the next day, we'll see tomorrow...

i changed the abs this morning, we did
russian twists with the vipr, 2 sets of 20
then the swiss ball on each side 20 times too

and that was it, no time left for stretching.

I really enjoyed planning it and really want to do it again. next saturday he is leading though.
i'm hoping he will feel something tomorrow and that it has not been a waaste if s time, i'll find out wednesday.

can you not get a trainer at your gym? once in a while? i find it he oushes me so much harder than i would on my own.
i've lost 4.7 stones (30k) in 9 months thanks to him (pregnancy weight, nowack to my normal weight but with an awful jelly belly and probabky another stone to loose. i did put on a shit loads when i was pregnant, i had to stop training because of very early spd)

i mean it sounds like you know what you're doing, how long have you been training?

i do apologise for the typos, i was tring to type fast... it should say " i hope it was not a waste of his time"
i usually spend the next day after a particularly hard session cursing him, and was hoping he would be the same tomorrow. don't think he would admit it though.

I'm glad it went well, hopefully he will feel it tomorrow, but even if he doesn't it doesn't mean it wasn't an effective workout. I only really get DOMS the next day when I start a new program with new exercises in that I haven't done before/for a while. Unless you know what his regular workout is like it will be hard to make him really suffer!! Also, if it was the first time you had both done suitcase deadlifts then it would have been hard to workout what weight you both needed to use to make it challenging enough.

They don't offer personal training at my gym unfortunately, I think the staff basically know how to operate the machines and that is about it. Congrats on getting back into shape so quickly, it's taken me years! I only started weight training about a year ago, but love it. Do you always work out with him, or have some sessions on your own as well?

i had my baby in june 2009 so it took me quite a while to start training again because of work and no childcare basically. made me miserable.

i train with him twice a week and we train together on saturdays.
i do go on my own sometimes, but usually just end up doing some skipping, punchbag, or some running. and chin ups now i can do them ( well, 2 of them;))
i also do a vipr class, two spinning classes and a body combat class per week. i used to do one bodypump every week but the timetable is not convenient at the moment. i do like it a lot though.
are you in london?

he did the deadlifts with 24k, me with 16. same for kettlebell swings.

Wow, you do sooo much! I'm up North and there is only one gym near to me with no barbells . It does have some classes but they are mainly the dance aerobic type ones, no spinning or body pump etc unfortunately. What's a vipr class?

Really impressed with your chin ups, that is my aim for this year, to be able to do at least one by the end of the year! Could I ask how you have got to the point where you can do them unassisted, did you use bands or do negatives or use an assisted chin machine, or any other useful hints??

i have been doing assisted chin ups on the machine, started with 50 kilos or something, down to 40 and then 35 and then nothing I think.
i did several sets of 6 reps each time ( or however many i couldmanage)

i think my general fitness has improved so much it has really helped.

i'm not sure what you mean about negatives, I jump up, grab the bar and let myself down really really slowly which helps, something to do with your musce being under tension and therefore growing stronger. or smething.

it is very satisfying :)

i'm going to ask my trainer tomorrow if he is planning on letting me train him again, i hope so it was fun to plan and fun to do!

look up the Vipr on youtube, it's like a plastic tube that you use. as a weight and do cardio with.
it's great, really gives you a good workout.

yeah i do a lot at the moment and i hope i keep it up, exercise is making me happy, that and buying some size 12 jeans yesterday, first time in years....

Vipr loooks good, do they have different weighted ones so you can progress?

When you grab the bar and let yourself down slowly... those are negatives. I do them at the moment, and the assisted chins with 30kg, but there's still no way I can pull myself up from a dead hang. Ideally I need to do weighted negatives, but needless to say my gym does not have the equipment.

Congratulations on the size 12's. Shopping suddenly becomes more enjoyable doesn't it?

shopping yeah, definitely enjoyed that!! IJust got myself some colourful tops for training from sportsdirect, as opposed to the baggiest black t-shirts i could find...

How often do you do the chin up training? I guess it came on quite quick (well, 9 months) to be able to do just the one because I do quite a bit of weight lifting as well. I'd do the chin up exercise every 3 or 4 days though I think. Also, do you try with less than 30kg, just to see what happens, for just like 3 reps (my third one would usually fail) ? See this is what my trainer does, pushes that little bit further when sometimes you don't think you could.

vipr: yes they start at 4kg, that's very light, not seen anyone do 4kg in the class. The other girls usually do 6 kg, women who train fairly regularly do 8kg, I do 10kg (this is all during the class, I go heavier with my trainer as we only do a few reps.)
The guys who come to the class usually start with a 10kg or 12kg but are swiftly moved on to 16kg, the instructor does 16 or 20, I think there is a 24kg there as well. Only ever seen one guy do this one, very impressive. (and the instructor if we've ran out of viprs).

We have a gym challenge on at the moment, clean and press with the vipr, as many as you can for 60 seconds. 6kg for women, 12kg for men. Yesterday I managed 42 reps with 10kg during the class in 60sec.
This morning for the actual challenge I did 43 reps in 60sec with the 6kg (top of the leaderboard (I have to brag a little bit about it ;)) and 33 reps with the 12kg (the man record holder at the moment with 12 kg is 35 reps so not far off!)

Do you also have someone to train with sometimes? one of the girls from spinning approached me last week to do abs together, I think it works really well, brings in variety and motivation.

Congrats on being top of the leaderboard. Do you get a prize or just the prestige of knowing you're the best? Sounds like you have a great gym: loads of different things to try, trainers and motivational competitions
I train by myself as all my friends prefer zumba style cardio stuff. I am yet to see another women in the free weight section of the gym. I generally do the negatives every other session, so every 4 days or so, same with the assisted pull ups. I normally start off with 40kg and then drop it down by 5 each set, I can just about manage 2 with 25 kg. I've just started adding in face pulls and YTWL's and am hoping this will have some effect. Do you have any goals at the moment?

i really need to set new goals. i've only ever had goals to 'loose weight' then when i reach them I kinda lose motivation and start dropping out.

i want a flat stomach - or as close as i can get, i think i want to go down to 60kg and see what it looks like then. am a bit worried i've just got extra skin that i won't be able to get rid of. it looks awful but we'll see.

a few weeks ago my trainer asked me if I had/would consider training to be a class instructor. i had actually considered it before i got pregnant.
i would like to qualify as a gym/class/body combat instructor or something along the lines but as i work with my dh ( running our own company) he is not too keen on me spending time doing this instead of working for our own company iyswim.
we haven't spoken about it since, I will talk about it when the time is rit I think.

have you got any goals?

i tried zumba, didn't like it. I do enjoy the body combat classes though.

good luck with the chin ups, i went and did some yesterday, 2 is my maximum without any assistance, very proud of that:) also did leg and knee raises. i find it tougher training on my own, it's defintely more fun/challenging with my trainer!

i don't actually know if there is a prize for the clean and press challenge, and to be honest they never do anything like this.
i know the gym sounds good and i think it is all right (expensive though which is why i think people complain) however there is a high staff turnover, my trainer has been looking for other jobs/gyms/promotions for months as they are not happy. it's always been like that as far as i can remember and it's a shame. the managers do not stay long and whenever the existing staff try and get the promotion for manager they are made to jump through hoops for weeks inly to find out they were never going to get the job. he has quit once already and got offered more money so stayed on. I secretly hope he doesn't leave but good people always move on.

i will be able to lead one of our sessions again so i've been looking at loads of sites and magazines for ideas, i'd quite like to do the spartacus circuit i think. got this from mensfitness. do you have any mags you subscribe to? where do you get the exercises ideas and names from etc??