Intro to Squats

Hemmed and hawed over what to do today.  I had a scheduled hour with a fitness trainer that ViaSat is paying for, so I definitely had that on the agenda. We were actually only supposed to get 30 minutes with the trainer, but there was no one scheduled after my slot, so I got a double dose.  It went by fast. 

But before that, I wasn't sure if I should try to slip in a run or at least a session on the elliptical.  Today would normally be a hard run day.  I thought it wiser to either keep it easy or not run at all.  That would make for two non-run days in a row, so I was more inclined to just work in an easy recovery run. 

It's raining again, so the treadmill would have to do.  I managed to squeeze in 30 minutes at a very soothing pace, and I made interesting by listening to a playlist of Bailey's pop tunes that I'd adjusted the tempo on to around 173-175 bpm.  She thinks it's hilarious that I do that, or that I even am listening to Lady Gaga.  ("Oh no...you're not going to be one of 'those kinds of dads' are you?") 

Yes.  Lady Gaga's "Telephone" and Rihanna's "Disturbia" sound pretty good revved up.  Funny how the tempo actually sounds kind of frenetic and boosting, but it actually equates to a rather slow stride rate.  I'm not running fast and to exhaustion until I'm up around 185 bpm. 

With that done, I booked on over to the company gym -- treadmill work was at Pure Fitness -- and met with Brandon. Nice guy, former Marine, and very buffed out.  I felt quite scrawny.  I explained to him that I wanted to learn how to use free weights specifically for leg work: quads, hams, hips and supporting structures.  Not so much calves, though techniques for loosening and stretching would be much appreciated.  He went over my nutrition first, which I thought was interesting...and good.  I like that he wanted to get to know where I stood first and that he understood the importance of nutrition rather than just blasting muscles. 

When we finally got to the workout, he helped with with squats with the barbell, squats on the Smith machine and using the leg press.  Next, we worked on lunges with dumbells.  Then variations on bridges without weights, working on glutes and hamstrings.  Very Pilates-esque.  Next, planks with some "superman" poses and some side planks.  I think that was it.

My favorite part of the session was the end, using the hard foam roller on the calves and IT band.  Never done that before, and it was awesome. I'm going to have to get one of those. 

Speaking of which, a lot of the leg work I could do at home in calisthenic fashion, just watching TV.  Squats and lunges and calf raises and planks...and the stretching and roller...I should make that a regular thing every 2-3 days. 

It was a worthwhile session, if not a big calorie burner.  At $60/hr, I doubt I'll be hiring him for future work, but it was nice to get a freebie, and now I won't be intimidated in the free weight section of the gym.  (Just realized we never got to cleans and power clean lifts.  I wanted to go over techniques for those as well.  Darn.)