Home Gym Workout

Recently I had Branda Polk and our good friend Michelle over for a workout in our make-shift home gym in the garage. I've known Branda for a long time now and she's a fab trainer and friend. Michelle and I met through her, really hit it off and we get to train together about once a month via one of Branda's tough concoctions!

Now to put our workout together. We had some parameters and a few limitations. They both wanted to work on the TRX, so we had to include that. We only had 1 hour total. There were 3 of us. Michelle does not have kettlebell experience yet. It was blazing hot. My space is small and my equipment limited. How to get in the most work, expose them to the TRX and keep us all moving? Hmmm...

Not fancy, but it works!

I penciled out a workout that would be sure to include every major muscle group. I was excited so it turned out to be 12 different exercises! Then I arranged the exercises into 4 mini-circuits. Each mini-circuit would have 3 exercises, one for upper body, one for lower body and one for core. Since there were 3 of us, we would do stations for time. This means we each started out on one of the three exercises, worked for a set amount of time, then rotated until we'd done each exercise twice. We did this for each one of the circuits. Allowing for transition, it timed out for about a 48 minute workout. Not bad.

Equipment included the TRX, the ValSlides, the 20 pound soft-sided medicine ball, an upright roman chair for leg raises, kettlebells and dumbbells and the GymBoss.

The TRX Suspension Training System is a unique system that can be used anywhere, but we keep it hanging from a beam in our garage. We have a rubber mat underneath for foot traction and you can easily get a full body workout with it alone. Now I'm rethinking the word easily I just put in that sentence because it's challenging, but you know what I mean. For this workout we concentrated on inverted rows, atomic push-ups, side plank and balance lunges using the TRX.

Look at that wall that needs to be painted. I'm calling the builder.

Oh wait, he is the builder.

I love our 20 pound soft-sided medicine ball by Dynamax. It's huge! We used it for slams, which really works your core and arms, not to mention it is a great stress reliever! We found this big one at MuscleDriver USA. For a smaller version that is more practical check out my GFWK Amazon Store.

The ValSlides are too cool. Let me tell you guys, they are not just for girls. One of the last times I used them I was sore for days. You can use them in all sorts of ways under your feet or under your hands. This is one type of unstable surface training that works. They are one of the most inexpensive things you can add to your equipment and they are totally portable. For this we used them to do a lateral type lunge with a punch. While one leg works to keep from sliding, you slide the other leg back at an angle and throw a punch! I've also used them under my feet for all types of squats and lunges, mountain climbers and walking with my arms in plank. Under your hands you can do a run (like a bear crawl), extended plank, and other core work. Crazy fun!

Since Michelle had not used kettlebells before, I adapted a few moves I've learned from Anthony Diluglio of Art of Strength from my Providence DVD. We held a kettlebell goblet style for squats. We also did single-arm overhead presses, but sitting on the floor with legs stretched out wide. You should try this. It totally takes your lower body out of the equation so you can't use it for assistance. Really tough. Then we used them for tactical lunges. These are reverse lunges in which you pass the kettlebell under your bent knee to the other hand each time you lunge. This lunge is challenging not only for balance but also because you have to go deep if your arms are short in comparison to your torso. Not that mine are, I'm just saying...

Jimmy got the upright roman chair for Father's Day. It includes bars for pull-ups, dips and padding on the back so you can do leg raises. It's really been a helpful, compact piece of equipment to have around. We found it at Dick's Sporting Goods.

We got in a great, fun workout with three people literally in a double garage. Oh, I forgot to mention that until you've used the TRX a few times it's tricky to get your feet in it right for certain moves when you're on a timer. So we brought Jimmy out to be the atomic push-up helper boy. He even made us all protein shakes afterwards. Gotta love that guy.

What type of workouts do you do at home? What equipment do you use? Would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

This post uses affiliate links with the exception of the link to Branda Polk. Branda is a personal trainer and friend. Please see my disclosure statement.

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Arnold Sports Festival 2009

We slipped away for a few days this past weekend to attend The Arnold Sports Festival , held in Columbus, Ohio. It was our first time to attend. What an event! I'll attempt to give you some highlights and will share a few pictures, but you really have to see it for yourself to appreciate it. The event started as a one day male bodybuilding event in 1989 by a partnership between Jim Lorimer and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was called the Arnold Classic. It has since grown into a multi-sport festival over 3 days long.

Activities include amateur and pro male and female bodybuilding, figure, fitness, amateur bikini (new this year), powerlifting, boxing, grappling, mixed martial arts, gymnastics, table tennis, weightlifting, armwrestling, archery, cheerleading, dance, youth dancesport, deadlift and bench press contests, wrestling, an educational summit, an active aging festival, party with the pros, racewalking (also new this year), a 5K run, and 5K pump and run, a fitness fashion show and a three day expo of 700+ vendors. The Governator himself shows up on Saturday and the expo tickets (including most of the sports activities) were only $10 a day!

We were able to see a friend compete in the amateur figure competition and also got to see some world records broken in the strong man competition. Approximately 17,000 athletes from all over the world come to compete and participate. We watched some weightlifting competitions covering all ages, where even an 87 year old man was doing snatches and clean and jerks! There's something going on in pockets of space all over the convention center and a few other buildings every day. It was quite a weekend!

First, let's talk about bodybuilding. We walked in the Expo the first day and on the first aisle ran into Jay Cutler, Mr. Olympia 2006, 2007 and a former Arnold Classic winner. I had to take Jimmy's picture with him, and he was a really personable guy.

And these traps and arms are off season?!?!

We also met Dexter Jackson, Mr. Olympia 2008. For some reason, all the bodybuilders had huge watches. I guess the bigger the arm, the bigger the watch!

I must mention Lou Ferrigno, the incredible hulk. He looks great at age 57 and is much taller than I imagined.

There were male and female bodybuilders of all shapes and sizes at the show, competing and in the vendor booths. I don't think my camera memory card could have held all the inches of biceps and quads we witnessed. I have an appreciation for what it takes to build muscle, strip fat and go through the competition process. Some are tremendous athletes, and some are just jacked up. For that all I can say is Holy Steroids!

Now let's talk food. One of my favorite highlights was meeting and talking with Tosca Reno, creator of The Eat Clean Diet. This woman literally changed the way we eat for life, and I was excited to be able to tell her so. She is quite beautiful and a very gracious lady. Her story is amazing as she didn't start her own transformation until her forties and is now pushing fifty. Wow.

It was interesting how all the hotels and even the convention center made an effort to have extra protein on hand (they all advertised grilled chicken breast) and there were even hard-boiled eggs to be found. There was a really cool, one-stop-shop style market with every kind of food you can imagine being served, groceries, sundries, etc. called the North Market. We ate the best bison I've ever tasted at Ted's Montana Grill, just across from Nationwide Arena, where events were being held and Rampage Jackson fought Jardine in a UFC fight Saturday night (and won). I do have a confession though; we slipped in a great meal at La Fogata Grill (Mexican) and topped it off with salted caramel ice cream from Jeni's Ice Creams the last night we were there! Fortunately the weather was fantastic and we could walk everywhere we went, so that helped counteract the carborama.

Now for the expo. If you love sensory overload type events with huge crowds this is for you. (I happen to love it, the same way I love the chaos of the Las Vegas strip). There was an overabundance of supplement companies giving out samples of fat burners and other chemicals that do God-knows-what to your body, but there were others that had some very cool stuff. One vendor had The TRX Suspension Trainer System set up with a really fit guy doing demonstrations. We had already discovered this but it confirmed we want to get one as our present to each other for our anniversary. What, you don't think that's romantic? I was surprised though that only 2 vendors were highlighting kettlebells. I think they are still an underappreciated tool in the fat loss arsenal for anyone.

Overall this was a fun event for all ages. It definitely provided some renewed motivation and encouragement for me. Columbus is a nice, hospitable city with friendly people and we were in a very clean, safe area. We would definitely go back, so I would recommend it!

This post contains an affiliate link for the TRX Suspension Training System. The Eat Clean Diet book can be found in my Amazon Store. Please see my disclosure statement.