Ready? Here we go!
Neck Measurement: 16.25” + 0.25 inches
Shoulders at their widest point: 48.5" + 1.50 inches
Chest (measuring tape right across your nipples and under your arms): 40” + 1 inch
Waist 3 inches above your bellybutton: 31” - 1 inch
Waist at your belly button: 32” - 0.50 inches
Waist 3 inches below your belly button: 34.25” - 0.25 inches
Hips at their widest point: 38.75” - 0.50 inches
Thigh 9 inches above the top of your kneecap: 23”
Thigh 6 inches above the top of your kneecap: 20.25”
Thigh 3 inches above the top of your kneecap: 18” + 0.50 inches
Calf at its widest point: 16”
Bicep (flexed) measure the widest point: 14.75”
Forearm (flexed) at its widest point: 12.75” + 0.25 inches
Weight: 162 pounds + 0.50 pounds
Body Fat Percentage: 4.7% - 2.2%
Ooo, look at that!
The biggest surprise for me: my body fat percentage. I knew that I was burning a lot of energy due to the high-intensity nature of the workouts, but with me starting out at such a low body percentage, I thought that I wouldn't lose that much, especially in the first week. I was wrong.
Another pleasant surprise: the significant gain in my shoulders. I injured them in high school from swimming, and was diagnosed with Chronic Tendentious. For those of you who don't know, the tendons in my shoulders had become enflamed, causing massive amounts of pain and discomfort. Now usually you can just ice and rest the injured section and it would go away. But when the condition is chronic, that means that it could happen again for the rest of you life. The best cure for it: keep your shoulders strong.
So I tried everything: weights, physical therapy, tubes...I even considered surgery at one point, but nothing. Then a little over a year ago, I was online looking at various exercise tools when I came across a tool called TRX Suspension Training. It is a versatile workout machine that's designed to use your bodyweight in a progressive manner to help build functional strength, especially in people who have injuries. I did research on it for about two months, trying to find any catches with this device, but couldn't find any. So I decided to buy it and use it to help bring back my shoulders.
It was one of the best purchases I've made in a very long time. Since I've started using it (last August), I have gone from bench pressing about 135 pounds (my max at the time I bought this product) to benching 185 (that's 114% of my bodyweight!). As long as I have good form, I've got strong shoulders.
Since then, my TRX has been at the core of many of my workouts, and I will continue to use them today, including showing you a workout that helped bring my shoulders to the point where my they could grow an inch and a half in 1 week.
Let's Go:
***High Pull: 4 sets of 30 seconds/side; 35 pound kettlebell
***2-Handed Kettlebell Swing: 3 sets of 1 minute; 35 pound kettlebell
***Walking Pushup: 5 sets of 30 seconds
***Depth Jump: 3 sets of 8
***Dumbbell Floor Press: 3 sets of 15: 2x50 pounds
***TRX I, Y, T: 3 sets of 7
***Car Lift: 3 sets of 15 followed by: ***3 sets of 10 pushups
Thoughts:
High Pull: A very functional movement combining a classic kettlebell swing with a semi-snatch. You begin with the kettlebell behind you with one hand, then swing it forward by thrusting your butt forward and keeping your core tight. Let the kettlebell swing in between your legs. As soon as the bell is in front of you, pull the weight up towards you by pinching your shoulder blade to your spine (like you were to crush a can in between your shoulder blade and spine). Pull the weight so that your arm makes an "L," with the bell pointed in front of you. Hold it there for a (very brief) pause, then push the kettlebell out away from you (like doing a chest pass in basketball, only with one hand), then let the bell swing back down. Repeat this process for the desired time or repetitions, then switch to the other arm (gotta balance it out you know!).
Here's a video:
A very demanding move on the back and the butt, with a bit of a lung burn just for extra kicks. I decided to up the reps by 1 to give myself that little extra "oomph," you know?
2-Handed Kettlebell Swing: A 2-handed version of what we just did, minus the pull. You swing the kettlebell back and forth and keep a pretty good pace. For all your ladies (or guys! This is the 21st century after all) looking to get a nice toned butt, do this motion; you'll burn tons of calories and really work those muscles. The most important thing about this is you have to initiate the movement from your butt and hips. Keep your core tight and thrust your hips forward, and you'll do fine. I love this exercise so much that I wanted to add some more reps, so I did (3 is better than 1 you know!). I also used my trusty 35 pound kettlebell for this one; hey I bought it for this workout, might as well use it!
Here's a video of a few swings with my 35 pounder:
Walking Pushup: A cool movement that really engages your core because you have to "walk" yourself so that for each pushup, you switch the hand that's on the object (in my case a kettlebell, but really it could be anything).
Start by doing your pushup (let's start with our right hand on your object), then as quickly as you can, walk your hands and feet to the other side of your object (keep hands on the ground!) until you are able to perform a pushup with your left hand on the object. Repeat for the desire amount of repetitions or time. For me, I did time, and instead of doing 3 sets of 30 seconds, I did 5; what's a little more work between friends, right?
Get down there!
This is the easy part...
Walk those hands over...
Prep yourself...
Do another pushup!
Depth Jump: Be on a bench or some kind of raised platform. Fall off of the platform and land. Sink into the landing, then immediately jump up as high as you can. Finish off by sinking down into the landing after the jump. It's extremely demanding on your leg muscles, but man does it feel good.
Check out how to do it:
TRX I, Y, T: This exercise helped me get my shoulders back into fighting shape. After a few years of trying everything, the TRX was the solution. Obviously it's not the only thing that helped, but boy was is the biggest.
The two biggest factors in using the TRX to its maximum benefit are: 3-D Pushup and form.
The 3-D pushup is a concept I came up with when teaching clients how to use the TRX. If you go down into the high position of a pushup (hand under the shoulders, feet together), what do you notice? Your abs are tight, like you're bracing to get punched in the stomach by the gremlin that lives in the ground (I'm just kidding...or am I?), and you could draw a straight line right from your head to your feet. You want to keep that kind of position whenever you do any TRX exercise, otherwise you won't get the full benefit, and you will risk injury.
Form just means that before you make any exercise easier or harder, you have to make sure your form is correct. Your body has to be stiff as a board the whole time.
To begin the I,Y,T, you must let your arms relax and go to full length. Then pinch your shoulder blades together, keep your arms straight, and bring your whole body through until your arms are even with the rest of your body. If you do an "I" your arms are straight up; "Y" your arms are at 45 degrees; "T" your arms are parallel to the ground.
Relax those arms!
Stick that chest out!
I...
Y...
And T! I can make letters!
Take it from someone who's tried a huge variety of shoulder workouts: this is one of the best exercises for your shoulders...period.
Car Lift and Pushups: Quick little lifts (about half a second) then a drop, followed by 10 full pushups. It was a nice little finisher. I love that kind of stuff.
Oh yeah, and here are some extra things I did today!
Bicycle Crunches: 6x25/side
Pull Ups: 6x5
And it wouldn't be a Monday without some ab work:
1x (Spartan Leg Raise x7, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
1x (Spartan Leg Raise x1, Clockwork Leg Raise x6, Spartan Leg Raise x1, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
1x (Spartan Leg Raise x7, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
2x (Hanging Knee Twist x6, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
Oh yes, and a Reiki treatment will follow shortly after this...but after The Sing Off Premiere...I love that show.
If you have any questions, videos or photos you want me to post, feel free to leave me a message here or email me at jordanmitchelllove@gmail.com.
Until tomorrow!
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