Speed Queen!

This photo was taken just as I started teaching RPM Hi Performance this morning. I'm wearing my cool "Team Speed Queen" cycling jersey from www.teamestrogen.com . It's funny how you see yourself completely differently to what you actually "are". I knew I had pretty muscular legs but I didn't realize that my calves were so, uh, formidable :)

We had a great class this morning and afterwards Miss S and I met up with client and blogger, Michelle ( www.michcar.blogspot.com ) for a lower body training session and to check out Michelle's technique for moves such as deadlifts and squats. Michelle and I have never met in person and as far I know, Michelle has pretty much taught herself everything she has done in the gym. We did a few tough lower body drills, including suicide runs for Kerryn (I know she'll be pleased to read that we did quite a few sets of the suckers :) ). Then we moved onto BOSU sumo squats (these are great for establishing a strong squatting position), front squats, Romanian deadlifts and traditional deadlifts. I was thrilled to see that Michelle had fantastic technique! It's one of the biggest challenges I face when coaching online - how do I give clients the tools and understanding to be able to develop really good technique, having never met face to face. This is where I've found Mike Robertson to be fantastic - I've learnt a lot about coaching these moves by how he has taught me - I just wish that I had been as lucky as Lisa and had gone to his seminar!

I was also lucky enough to catch up with Lisa for lunch and marvelled at the changes in her physique after making the switch to powerlifting. I briefly dabbled with powerlifting years ago and I am still carrying around the changes I made to my physique, way back when. To make the greatest changes in shape you need to go for big compound moves and great periodization.

That's about all from me for today - hope everyone is having a great weekend.

My treat

I'm closing in on my third week of serious training and have decided to treat myself to some Lorna Jane clothing when I reach my goal. I don't think I have even mentioned the goal, which was to get six weeks of solid training under my belt and to lose 2 kg which mysteriously crept on whilst I was running around moving and not training a lot. I decided to chart a 0.3kg loss per week and was starting to get a little bit miffed that nothing had changed after two weeks. However, suddenly I got the scale "whoosh" I was looking for this week and at 3 weeks in have lost 1kg and done all my training. Maintaining a healthy weight and a relatively lean (but not competition lean) physique is extremely important to me as I want to be the type of coach who 'walks the walk' and is living proof of what a healthy lifestyle can do for you. Plus, it is always fun to be setting yourself these little goals.

Today I did deadlift shrugs which is a more explosive variant of a standard deadlift. I also did squats. The goal here is to get my technique perfect. As well as the lifting, I knocked out a 25 minute interval run. I warmed up for 10 mins then did 6 cycles of 4.45 min k runs for 2 mins, then cooled down. My cardiovascular fitness is starting to improve as well.

I had my panel interview for Fitness First. I was asked what sacrifices I would make to be a good trainer - I found that a little weird - as I truly believe that it is no sacrifice seeing someone's life improve for the better! Anyway I have a few "New Member Orientations" next week and I'm sure I can convince them that RPM is in their best interests, hee, hee.

Speaking of RPM, I am teaching class at Toowong tomorrow. I really like the crowd there and I have known many of them for nearly 20 years, so it is a very comfortable atmosphere.