Conditioning at a Higher Level

conditioning fitness Aug 14, 2007

During the past three weeks, I've had the toughest workout sessions since I was on the track team in high school.

I began working out with a personal trainer at a fitness center in the Tampa Palms neighborhood.

James Adams has been a personal trainer for about three years. He's friendly and he knows his stuff. During the first few sessions, he's focused on core strength. It's clear that I need it.

When I was running the school in the Quad Cities, I spent so much time on teaching and marketing that my training fell off a cliff. I was also putting in 55 hours a week on my job, including the commute. Between job, the school, and my cute young wife, I didn't have time to train privately. I didn't feel good. I looked like I was in good shape, but I knew I wasn't from the way the old body felt. These photos were taken tonight, and show James coaching me through a core exercise where you grip the balance wheel and roll your hips on the fitness ball. Using the core muscles, you maintain control and pull the legs back to center. From there, you do a pushup and roll your feet into a pike with your butt up in the air. Personally, I think he's trying to kill me. :)

Tonight, James also had me lie back on a fitness ball and hold a 25-pound medicine ball behind my head, throw it up in the air and catch it, then repeat the movement -- 16 times per set. We did three sets. Exercises like these force you to use a lot of muscles, but when you throw the ball, you have bring a lot of the core muscles into play.

My favorite exercise is when he hooks me up to a bungee cord contraption that pulls me back. I step out into a lunge, catch a 20 or 25-pound medicine ball, hold it over my head and throw it back to him. We did that during one of our first workouts and my abs were sore for days.

I usually end our sessions, drive home, walk into our home and collapse on the living room floor while Nancy laughs at me. It's easy to see why not very many 54-year old guys put themselves through this. Shouldn't I be ready to sit on the couch at my age, or go play a round of golf?

Something's wrong with me. I want to get in top shape and go compete in some big martial arts tournaments. I'm going to depend on James to help me get in the best shape of my life. I already see more of my abs, and when I ran through Hsing-I, Tai Chi and Bagua forms on Sunday, I felt stronger than I have in a couple of years. My balance is also improving as the core muscles grow stronger.

If you have the opportunity to work with a personal trainer, you'll quickly see that you've taken it too easy on yourself in your own workouts. It has been a long time since a workout has hurt so bad, and felt so good.

--by Ken Gullette

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Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

Conditioning at a Higher Level

Try Two Weeks Free and Get Step-by-Step Training in Taiji, Xingyi and Bagua from Basic to Advanced Skills with No Mystical Mumbo-Jumbo

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