NerdStrong Open Gym - Battleropes & Back Squats

Today was open gym at NerdStrong. Coach Blair (who usually runs open gym) was out of town and when I got to the gym no one was there. There were about seven or so of us and we waited until 7am but still no coaches showed up. I had gotten coach Andrews phone number a few days prior for something else so I texted him asking if he or another coach were on their way. He informed me that it was suppose to be coach David (he did arrived about 15 minutes after) but coach Andrew was only five minutes away. As we waited for his arrival we took it upon ourselves to do our own warm up so we jogged around the parking lot and got some stretching in before Andrew pulled up on opened the gym. We did a bit more stretching inside before everyone split off into their individual workouts.

I started my workout with Battleropes. I worked with the ropes for 10 minutes, :30 seconds of work, :30 seconds of rest. I don't know why I love Battleropes, but I seem to be the only one who does at NerdStrong. I feel as though Battleropes give me the best upper body workout.

I then joined fellow NerdStronger Josh as he was doing Back Squats. I did 3 sets of 3 at about 180lbs before trying to break my 1 rep max, which is 200lbs. I started with 205lbs and did it with ease, I then upped it to 210lbs, 215lbs, and finally 225lbs. I think I could have gone a bit heavier but after doing all those back squats I felt I needed to stop there as I didn't want to push myself to far. But I am happy that I set a new 1 rep max of 225lbs for my Back Squat.

While Josh and I were doing back squats coach Andrew was pushing a weighted "sled" around outside so I asked him if I could give it a go. It's alot harder then it looks but once you hit the sweet spot that thing just slides across the asphalt with ease.

Overall it was a nice workout, not to crazy.. but I definitely worked out my upper body on this one.