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Diary of an Athlete

Posted by  on Friday, February 22nd 2013     

So bet you’re dying to know how the bath salts went down…

…incredibly!

Muscles felt more relaxed than they have in ages and my calve felt practically back to normal!

I took it easy for a couple of days, getting in some quality rest – stretching and sleeping (rather than slumped on the sofa). Decent rest is important as it gives your muscles time to recover and grow so you can keep training hard and get stronger / faster.

This week I trained with Carol again. It was great! A really good motivator to have someone really strong with excellent technique beside you and it was no messing – we got a lot done!

Started with Deadlifts again (paired with seated boxjumps and plyo push-ups). New PB of 110Kg!

And it felt good actually. Tough but I think I kept my form pretty solid so much happier than last week.

We also did a pretty tough strength circuit which included push-ups with 20Kg’s on my back, one-legged squats and pull-ups with 7.5Kg as well as some good weighted box jumps and glute ham raises on the gyms cool, oddly (but perfect for this purpose) shaped box thing!?

Really good session, thanks so much Carol and Dave!

About David & Carol Petersen

David & Carol Petersen run Results by Design Personal Training - a personal training gym in Clapham at 292 Battersea Park Road SW11 - Call 020 3551 6739 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation session and discover how we can help you or complete the blue form on the right hand side of our blog and we will call you. We provide one to one personal triaining, group personal training, classes as well as bespoke healthy eating plans and more. We help our clients lose body fat, tone and sculpt their body and look great outside while feeling great inside.

category: Client Testimonials, Personal Trainer Battersea, Personal Trainer Clapham, Personal Training Battersea, Personal Training Clapham, weight loss
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Diary of an athlete

Posted by  on Wednesday, February 20th 2013     

I came across this youtube link theother day – it’s one of the best american teams talking about their training – what they’re doing is pretty much the same as what Dave gets me doing each week!

Highs and Lows…

Good news: Another new piece of kit!! :) The SLIDEBOARD.

Dave’s been talking about it for weeks so I was pretty excited to get on it… but not until we’d done our session apparently!

On the down side though my calf was feeling pretty sore, not injured, but in that tight, solid, state like just before a cramp. And it’d been like it for a couple of days. I’d been rolling it, massaging it, trying to take things easy, surely it should just be sorted!

We made sure we did a really good warm-up and Dave showed me some ways to really get a deep massage on my calf. Pain but good pain!

We hit the deadlifts – using the smaller bar and dropping it instead of lowering it back down was great and we got up to 2 x 100Kg. I them went to try 105Kg. I went for a lift but couldn’t get the push in my legs. I re-composed myself, took a deep breath and went again. It was slow and I had to work hard. For the first time I felt my back beginning to round – not the technique we want! – but I managed it!

We did a strength circuit of pull-ups (wide arms and with legs held up at 45degrees), push-ups (with 10 and then 20Kg plate on my back) and step back lunges but with the back foot on the slideboard(!)

Having the back foot on the board was amazing… it meant that you couldn’t get any friction there so in order to get back up, you had to pull with the hamstrings / glutes of the front leg – perfect for sprinting!

Aside from the lunges, I wasn’t feeling that great with how I was doing… I was inpatient with my calf, disappointed that I’d struggled with the deadlift, frustrated that I couldn’t complete the push-ups and annoyed at myself for not having more energy in the pull-ups. I want to be better!

He told me not to be too hard on myself… I’d been training hard, my body and my calve were telling me I needed a rest. He recommended some bath salts and told me to do nothing but stretch and relax. Good plan. Will let you know how it went!

Oh and he let me have a proper go on the slideboard… so much fun! And great for lateral movement conditioning. You basically stand sideways on it and push off one end with the outside foot, keeping your hips low and chest up as you slide to the other end! Woohooooo…

About David & Carol Petersen

David & Carol Petersen run Results by Design Personal Training - a personal training gym in Clapham at 292 Battersea Park Road SW11 - Call 020 3551 6739 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation session and discover how we can help you or complete the blue form on the right hand side of our blog and we will call you. We provide one to one personal triaining, group personal training, classes as well as bespoke healthy eating plans and more. We help our clients lose body fat, tone and sculpt their body and look great outside while feeling great inside.

category: Client Testimonials, Personal Trainer Battersea, Personal Trainer Clapham, Personal Training Battersea, Personal Training Clapham
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Diary of an athlete

Posted by  on Wednesday, February 13th 2013     

Deadlifts here I come! I’m really enjoying them, but at RBD Gym I get to use the special thinner bar so it’s much easier to grip and therefore even better! Dave also does the moving around of the plates so there’s less faff. We got up to 100Kg – new PB and I felt like I could do more!

We also did weighted box jumps – jumping onto the medium box (about 30cm high) with 8Kg dumbbells in each hand. I could see that they were really useful but they’re one of those slightly frustrating exercises – you’re not pushing or pulling so you can’t feel the strain but for some reason, you can’t jump higher!

We also did slams, pull-ups, press-ups, chops and a sprinting stance plank.

The sprinting stance plank made a lot of sense! When do you ever need to be able to hold your body in the normal plank position? Pretty rarely! But being able to really control your body whilst in a sprinting position is exactly what you need in order to allow your legs and arms to use their power efficiently. In order to make it a bit harder, I had a bungee round my waist which could be tugged in every direction, making me resist and hold the stance firm… or try to anyway!

About David & Carol Petersen

David & Carol Petersen run Results by Design Personal Training - a personal training gym in Clapham at 292 Battersea Park Road SW11 - Call 020 3551 6739 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation session and discover how we can help you or complete the blue form on the right hand side of our blog and we will call you. We provide one to one personal triaining, group personal training, classes as well as bespoke healthy eating plans and more. We help our clients lose body fat, tone and sculpt their body and look great outside while feeling great inside.

category: Client Testimonials, Home Fitness, Personal Trainer Battersea, Personal Trainer Clapham, Personal Training Battersea, Personal Training Clapham
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Diary of an athlete

Posted by  on Wednesday, February 6th 2013     

This week David gave me a new program so we went over all the exercises to ensure that I had the right technique and was using the right weight if needed.

He designed the program to my particular needs so that each exercise is beneficial and careful paired so that good muscle combinations are worked. It’s perfect for sports as it doesn’t just focus on muscle growth but on power to weight ratio (there’s no point getting stronger if you also get a lot heavier and therefore your overall speed of movement actually goes down) and also includes stabilisation and core which are key to preventing injury and enabling your body to perform the movement you want in a controlled way.

A program to follow is really great but also seeing David every week means that I can go to him with questions or let him know how I’m getting on and he can adjust it if needs be rather than just blindly continuing.

It contains a lot of deadlifts and so today we focused on my technique for them. He told me to just drop the bar from the top!!! It was scary but also felt a bit like a pro! And it makes such a difference. I always felt that lowering the weights was when I was likely to injure myself – trying to do it quickly but not bend my back etc. and so dropping them is perfect! I can go a lot heavier. Obviously the only slight problem is that lots of gyms don’t like you dropping their barbells and not everywhere has a platform like Dave does. Time to go and ask my gym!

About David & Carol Petersen

David & Carol Petersen run Results by Design Personal Training - a personal training gym in Clapham at 292 Battersea Park Road SW11 - Call 020 3551 6739 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation session and discover how we can help you or complete the blue form on the right hand side of our blog and we will call you. We provide one to one personal triaining, group personal training, classes as well as bespoke healthy eating plans and more. We help our clients lose body fat, tone and sculpt their body and look great outside while feeling great inside.

category: Client Testimonials, Personal Trainer Battersea, Personal Trainer Clapham, Personal Training Battersea, Personal Training Clapham
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Diary of an athlete

Posted by  on Tuesday, January 29th 2013     

Today we really pushed the single leg bench squat – I got up to 52Kg in total (16Kg in each hand and a 20Kg vest).

It feels so good to be able to push it to your 5 rep max… and without the range of Kettle bell weights, the weighted vests or the new soft boxes, I simply wouldn’t be able to.

I’d feel like I’d had a good workout with a lower weight but until you are pushing yourself, you’re not getting the full strength building benefits.

We also worked on push-ups (with some weight on my back ofcourse!), slams and box jumps (think we’re adding some weights to these next week as well!).

One of my friends asked me how different I felt physically compared to before I started working with Dave. I hadn’t considered it like that before so it was interesting to think about. I said I definitely felt stronger. I also felt faster and more kind of in control of my body –as in, movements felt more powerful and controlled. Touch wood (!) I have felt pretty injury free and when I go for big bids etc. I can get back up again a lot quicker. So overall definitely a lot better!

About David & Carol Petersen

David & Carol Petersen run Results by Design Personal Training - a personal training gym in Clapham at 292 Battersea Park Road SW11 - Call 020 3551 6739 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation session and discover how we can help you or complete the blue form on the right hand side of our blog and we will call you. We provide one to one personal triaining, group personal training, classes as well as bespoke healthy eating plans and more. We help our clients lose body fat, tone and sculpt their body and look great outside while feeling great inside.

category: Client Testimonials, Personal Trainer Battersea, Personal Trainer Clapham, Personal Training Battersea, Personal Training Clapham
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Diary of an athlete

Posted by  on Wednesday, January 23rd 2013     

Today David was like a kid in a sweet shop – he’d got some new kit!

He’d ordered in 4 foam boxes – sturdy enough to jump onto but soft enough to be kind to shins and
knees and able to be used for so many exercises!

We gradually built up in height in order to get used to the box jump technique and he explained how to get the most out of it – they are so versatile and really useful for any sport that involves power from the legs. I’m starting to wonder how people reach their full potential without a personal trainer with as much quality kit as Dave…

As usual, we mixed the exercises up, in a couple of circuits so you definitely don’t get bored or feel like you’ve settled into a drudgy pattern you have to slog through…

Towards the end he said, ‘right, pull-ups, as many as you can do…’ He wanted to set no target as often people will psychologically make the last few feel harder, when they know that they are the last few. However, as soon as I went to the bars, I set myself a target of 8! I think I just about eeked out 10 but next time I’m going to try and not set myself a target… will let you know how I get on!

About David & Carol Petersen

David & Carol Petersen run Results by Design Personal Training - a personal training gym in Clapham at 292 Battersea Park Road SW11 - Call 020 3551 6739 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation session and discover how we can help you or complete the blue form on the right hand side of our blog and we will call you. We provide one to one personal triaining, group personal training, classes as well as bespoke healthy eating plans and more. We help our clients lose body fat, tone and sculpt their body and look great outside while feeling great inside.

category: Client Testimonials, Personal Trainer Battersea, Personal Trainer Clapham, Personal Training Battersea, Personal Training Clapham, weight loss
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Diary of an athlete – part 12

Posted by  on Saturday, December 22nd 2012     

Back into the swing of things and am loving the strength work! We did kettle bell swings which are great, once you get the right technique! It’s surprisingly easy to think you’re doing it right when actually you’re quite far off.

Also worked on weighted push-ups, a double set of pull-ups with 10kg (not sure quite how I deserved that!?) and hip bridges with a barbell. Hip bridges are great – they seem to work the perfect muscles for sprinting. Dave has a big pad to make the bar comfortable and then you can really load it up! The first couple always seem fine but the 7th and 8th in the set are tough going.

He included some ‘loaded carriages’ basically carrying heavy medicine balls! Although apparently it also includes pushing and pulling the prowler –some more of my favourite things! J They are tough but you can feel that it’s a full body work-out. Arms, core and legs.

I’m going to make sure I have a little bit of relaxation over Christmas… but not too much, it’ll only be harder when you come back to it!

About David & Carol Petersen

David & Carol Petersen run Results by Design Personal Training - a personal training gym in Clapham at 292 Battersea Park Road SW11 - Call 020 3551 6739 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation session and discover how we can help you or complete the blue form on the right hand side of our blog and we will call you. We provide one to one personal triaining, group personal training, classes as well as bespoke healthy eating plans and more. We help our clients lose body fat, tone and sculpt their body and look great outside while feeling great inside.

category: Client Testimonials, Personal Trainer Battersea, Personal Trainer Clapham, Personal Training Battersea, Personal Training Clapham
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