Training Grace

Training my girlfriend Grace today, it's day 2 of a 3 day routine.  I wanted to set some set/rep goals for the day.  Grace trains this home routine 3 days a week.  If she wants to catch a Crossfit class I told her she can do it any time but MUST take the following day off before resuming training at home.  The CF workouts are taxing on your CNS if anything else and I don't want her to find herself in an overtrained state.  As a matter of fact, as a full time massage therapist I believe she is better off working programs similar to Pavels Program Minimum.  She only has so much recovery ability.  She should finish her workouts feeling fresh, not totally smoked as you find yourself at the end of a typical CF class. 

 In addition to working with as little volume as necessary Grace also cycles her home workouts.  I have her training 3 weeks forward, 1 week slightly back.  Cycling your workout intensity minimizes the chance of overtraining/injury and speeds up strength gains. 

Kettlebell Getups - 1-2 rounds with no weight, 8kg x 2 rounds, 12 kg x 2 rounds, 1 round with 16 kg, if successful we'll try a 2nd and maybe a 3rd round with the 16 kg.  If we don't feel strong with the 16 kg bell we'll go back down to the 12 kg bell and maybe do some extra reps in the opening movement of the getup. 

Kettlebell Front or Goblet Squats 5x10 - We'll be warm from the getups . If Graces body feels 100% we'll start pushing the Front Squats but if she has any issue with her lower back or neck we'll do Goblet squats which use less overall weight.  These squats will not be fun and I'm glad I will be watching her do it and not doing it myself.   Goal will be 5 sets of 10 using the 8 kg bells, 12, 16, 12-16, 8-12 depending on energy levels.  Grace can decide for herself as we are training which bell to use when there is a choice but we are still striving for 50 total reps. 

I think this is the 5th or 6th week of Grace following my routine in lieu of her Crossfit classes and she keeps growing and growing.  She's a perfect of example of how you can get as lean as you want so long as your make strength your priority.  We do not eat perfectly clean all the time but train as regularly as we brush out teeth. 

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Here's some notes on the workout and her actual numbers.

The amount of getups we do is not as important as the quality of reps and staying as fresh as possible as we get to the higher weights.  The last time we did Getups I think Grace was a little overtrained.   had her take it easy her last couple of session so I expected her to be strong today. Grace is a Certified Massage Therapist and her job is a workout in itself which draws from her recovery ability.  I paid close attention to how her form  as well as her emotional state.  I could tell she was physically strong today but feeling a little mentally tired from finishing a long day at work.  She ultimately decided on how many reps we were going to do.

Kettlebell Getups Bodweight x 2 reps, 8 kg bell 2 reps, 12 kg bell 3 reps, 16 kg bell x 1 rep, 18 kg bell for a PR on the right side finishing with another 16 kg rep. 


As predicted the Front Squats were tough!  She was light-heartedly cursing me through most of the session :)  I wanted her to do 50 reps total in 10 minutes or less but I let her decide on what weight to use as we reached the real hard working sets.   We trained on the 2nd minute which gave her enough time to recover but still kept her body warm.  I also wanted her to Clean the kettlebells herself.  I got into the habit of handing her the 16 kg bells which I decided is not a great idea.  If you can't clean the kettlebell  yourself you probably should not be working with it!

Front Squats  - BW x 10 reps, 15 lb bells x 10 reps,  8 kg bells x 10, 12 kg x 10, 16 kg x 10 reps for a PR :)