Workout #3 with Travis!

More awesomeness working out with Travis! 

On Saturday, I was able to work out with Travis again -- this is the last of the sessions we've paid for with him (alas) so I won't be able to do it again for a while, but I've hugely enjoyed the sessions I've had with him. And have gotten some great exercises to work into my own workouts. 

Saturday's workout was no exception -- we were focusing on back and shoulders (I was hoping for a bit of chest as well, but we didn't have enough time).

Once again, I can't remember all that we did (and don't know the names of everything anyway). 

I know we did these (in order of how much I loved them, not at all in the order in which we did them): 

• Arnold Press - 2 or 3 x 12, I think -- I think I had a pair of 10lb dumbbells. I don't know what made these so much fun but they were pretty much pure awesome. (You can see a video of someone doing these here.) Maybe I liked the twist because it took some of the pressure off the pure shoulder action of a shoulder press. I don't know. I just know I loved them. These are going to show up next phase without a doubt. 
• Gorilla Raises - 2 or 3 x 12 - I was using 5lb dumbbells for these. Travis called them Gorilla raises. I can't find them on bodybuilding.com under that name. The closest thing I can find there is a front raise (you can see a video here), but instead of holding the hands with the palms toward the ground at the top of the raise the palms are facing in (thumbs up at the top of the raise). These are also a lot of fun. I think they'll be in the same slot in my workouts (shoulders) as the Arnold Press, so they won't be in the next phase, but maybe the one after that. :D Travis thought I could probably do 10 lbs but because it was late in the workout he'd let it slide. I told him I thought I could do 8, but the 8lb dumbbells were in another room and not worth going to get.
• Iso-Presses - 2 x 12 - I think that's what Travis called them. Basically you hold your arms with your upper arms parallel to the floor, hands raised with weights. Keeping your upper arms parallel to the floor do three presses on one side, then three on the other. The non-working arm always has the upper arm parallel to the floor. This is definitely on where having a mirror to watch your form is a good thing. 
• Isolateral Rows on some sort of big lever-action, plate loaded row machine - 3 x 12 (I think) -Those were pretty good. I started with a pretty light weight then he added a bit once I'd done a set and had the feel of what I was doing. This is a back exercise and all about squeezing the shoulder blades together. Also about keeping control lowering the weights. 
• Lat Pulldowns (seated) - 3 x 12 - We did these on the cable machine, but at the seated pulldown station. He had me using a D-handle (rather than a long bar handle) which was kind of neat actually and for the second and third sets added a twisting action that was really cool. For the second and third sets he also added 15 lbs. Ooff! I'd been going to ask for five more. 
• Seated Cable Rows  - 3 x 12 - Again on the cable machine and again with the D-handles. I think we did some twisting action but honestly can't remember for sure. This time when I asked for more weight, I convinced him that I really could only do 5 more lbs, not 15. :D 
• Pulldowns - 3 x 12 - On the cable machine with a rope handle though we didn't add the twisting motion that makes possible with them. I was doing pulldowns in Phase 7 so these were pretty familiar and I liked them. 
• Some sort of diagonal raise thing which was really weird and difficult on the cable machine but just fine and kind of awesome with dumbbells. The weight was basically the same, I just had a devil of a time with the cable machine on these. Weirdly, it was straining my *wrist*. Huh. 
• Back Extensions with a Row - 2 x 15, 10 - I'm not sure about the count. These are basically back extensions/hyperextensions with a bar held in the hands (about 20 lbs) at arms length. When in the up position I was doing a basic row with the bar for the first set (those were just fine and nice). For the second set he had me doing a sort of twist component -- down, up, right, down, up left, that's one rep. That was *tough* but good. I'll probably be doing something along these lines in a future workout. I liked them and they moved a Whole Lot Of Me. 

I'm pretty sure that's all I can remember. Pretty sure. 

Well we also did five minutes warming up on the elliptical machine and five minutes (I think) on the Jacob's Ladder, which is a ladder climbing machine. Sort of. The Jacob's ladder was a lot of fun -- one of those things that as long as I wasn't thinking about doing it I was fine, but as soon as I started to notice where my feet and hands were gong, I'd get all un-coordinated like crazy. 

Once again, I've got some new things to take forward with me, which I totally love! Arnold Presses! Gorilla Raises! The rowing back extensions! All of those were awesome. 

Next workout is scheduled for tonight -- Workout P #2. That'll be squats on the BOSU and the devilish slider pikes and crossover step ups (so I need to make sure I have a step). Should be great! :D Goal for the workout -- be more steady on the BOSU!