Working Girls!

*UPDATE* - I was training two 25-year-old women. Unfortunately, they have both dropped out for various reasons. I've edited the info in the blog below.


They were training with me twice a week using full-body exercises for strength, explosive strength and metabolic conditioning.

On the days they were not training with me, I asked them to perform some sort of activity that they enjoyed for about 20-30 minutes to help facilitate recovery from our full-body sessions and to also help burn some extra calories and get some additional cardiovascular benefits. This included jogging, biking, fast walking, basketball or any other sport or activity they enjoyed at a moderate pace.

The schedule looked like this:

Monday - Full-body Session with Nate focusing on strength, explosive strength and metabolic conditioning
Tuesday - Active rest (bike, jog, swim, etc. for 20-30 minutes)
Wednesday - Active rest (or if our schedules allow - Metabolic Conditioning)
Thursday - Full-body Session with Nate focusing on strength, explosive strength and metabolic conditioning
Friday - Active rest (bike, jog, swim, etc. for 20-30 minutes)
Saturday - Active rest (or if our schedules allow - Metabolic Conditioning)
Sunday - OFF

Although they had limited weightlifting experience (and Lola had never used free weights - only machines), they progressed very quickly. They only had 5-6 sessions with me. This means, that in only 4-5 sessions over three weeks, they improved their strength, balance, coordination, form and fluidness of movement.

I told them from the very beginning that the workouts would be simple, but hard. I let them know that we focused on athletic movements and full-body, compound, multi-joint exercises such as front squats, bench presses, barbell rows, Romanian deadlifts, dumbbell overhead presses and assisted chin-ups. In addition, we trained explosive strength and metabolic conditioning through the use of box jumps, squat jumps, burpees, medicine ball woodchoppers and a few other exercises. We also used bodyweight exercises for metabolic conditioning, strength endurance and strength.

I was amazed at how quickly they progressed in just 5-6 workouts. Everything seemed to click. As their bodies adapted to the exercises, they were able to add weight or increase their reps each workout. They also reinforced proper form with each rep and learned how to move quickly and efficiently from one exercise to the next while pushing themselves when their legs began to burn.

I expected Becky and Lola to make fantastic progress during the next several weeks. Unforunately, they both dropped out and will tackle their training and nutrition on their own and hopefully by continuing to follow this blog.