Today, I am continuing on with the interview with Shawna Kaminski.

If you would like to listen to the interview, click here.

Continuing on with the Questions and Answers

Rick Kaselj: What are some common injuries that your community faces when it relates to them pushing themselves so hard?

Shawna Kaminski: I think the mentality of my reader is sometimes we are our worst enemy and I know with me I don’t know when to quit.

And so, for example, we talked about it Rick, my elbows pain got sore because of an overuse injury.

So I haven’t had a lot of people talking specifically about other injuries but when I would comment about shoulder and elbow injury, you know when I write blogs about that, then I get some comments about that.

And so, I think that the common denominator with my clients on the blog would be that it’s just a little bit of overuse.

And so, I am trying to incorporate that in my own training and try to see if it works like that and in my blog post to remind people that rest is important and things like grip and things like not locking elbows,  not coming to a full hanging, all those things your taught me Rick, those are the things that I am trying to talk about.

And in my challenge work out blog it is not just about push-ups and pull ups, we do split squats and head lifts and those kind of things.

People that do challenge workout, we work hard sometimes in our training we do it for mental health. Sometimes our joints might suffer a bit.

Rick Kaselj: Okay, so then what is your favorite challenge workout?

Shawna Kaminski: My favorite challenge, oh, I don’t know if I could say one in particular but workouts that I like best are things that are under time, very measurable.

So for example a 100 burpee pull ups.

Ok, so I know I did it in a certain amount of time. Now I know what time to beat.

And when I do something like that, I’ll take splits so I’ll do, you know, I’m very particular with my training.

I do splits every 10 burpee pull ups. And so I’ll know if I’m on track, anything that has a time challenge, I really love.

Or say the 3-minute push up challenge, so that it’s very measurable. I love those kinds of challenges.

So anything that has a measurable outcome and we can replicate not necessarily to beat but has an obvious score to it. Does that make sense?

Rick Kaselj: Yes, that makes sense. And I know you’re a huge fan of this, I know I’ve seen you with this. You’re a big fun of the gymboss. Right?

Shawna Kaminski: I love gymboss.

Rick Kaselj: I have no idea what it is, maybe you can explain to me why you like the gymboss and why it would be of helpful to someone that worksout?

Shawna Kaminski: Yeah, the Gymboss is a small timer that you can set, actually there’s even a more complicated one that you can set-up more than 2 intervals.

I’m happy with just 2 intervals. For example, if I wanna increase my fitness level or if I just wanna do intervals for example, this is a common challenge that I’ll give myself.

Just the other day I did skipping with a 15-second transition, a minute squat with a 15-second transition.

Within that time I have to do 10 pull ups and 25 push-ups, and then have to repeat that.

And so it keeps me on time, and to beat, my work sets over it gives me a satisfied rest time and so it helps me to kinda stay on track.

And for example, when I am doing, say I am training burpees and let’s say I wanna get my burpee pull up time down, when I am not doing a timed burpee pull up sets I might set my Gym boss at 30:05 or at 30:10 and so in 30 seconds maybe I can get 8 burpees and I rest 10 seconds and I work myself to try to get 8 burpees before that beep goes again. And then I get 7 and then have to go to my rest period to get the 8. It’s just awesome for doing intervals. I don’t know if that make sense. Does that make sense to you?

Rick Kaselj: Yes, it make sense. You have formal training which is based which is based upon reps and set schemes, you can always go on time intervals to make things a little bit different.  That’s good!

Shawna Kaminski: Yeah, the thing is I can maintain my volume, so that within a certain amount of time, like I make push-ups in 30 seconds or I may get 10 push-ups but say on my 3^rd set I still need to be able get 10 or I get more than 10 on 30 seconds. I can try and hit that number within that 30 seconds.

 I can maintain my volume and density in such a short amount of time really increases intensity. Just keep the workout really short and sweet which is awesome for fat burning which is another kinda focus of challenge workouts.

Rick Kaselj: Okay, so we’re kind of near the end of the interview any last minute tips or comments that you wanna leave with people?

Shawna Kaminski: I am a few days away for my 49^th birthday and a lot of people might think, “Oh Shawn that workout is really not for me.”

 It’s really where you are at. It doesn’t matter if you can do 30 pull ups or 120 push-ups, who cares?

It doesn’t matter what I can do or what you can do Rick, the challenge is if you can have 5 from your knee and tomorrow you can give 2 from your toes and then 5 from your knees, you’re winning.

So that’s what challenge workout is all about. It’s all about just increasing your fitness level, where you’re at. So, that I mean, I don’t want people to be looking so super fit before going to challenge workouts. No, my program is based on someone that can even do just one pull up or can less than 5 push-ups. The challenge is increasing your fitness level where you’re at. So that how I want to inspire people. I don’t wanna just cater to those super elite people, it’s just not for those super fit.

Rick Kaselj: Okay, and then where can people get more information about you Shawn.

Shawna Kaminski: I’m at http://exercisesforinjuries.com/check-out-challenge-workouts/ or my blog at www.challengeworkouts.com4/blog,

Yeah, there’s lots of cool workouts and free contents on that blog and I encourage people to go on it and comment and if they have questions, ask questions on the blog because that’s great for me because then I can know exactly what people want and I’ll try and provide it for them.

Rick Kaselj: Perfect! So thank you very much for your time Shawna.

Shawna Kaminski: Yeah, thanks for having me Rick. It’s great talking to you and can’t wait to see you again in May.

Rick Kaselj: You bet. So thank you very much exercisesforinjuries.com listeners. I hope you enjoy the interview talking about training, kinda pushing yourself when it comes to your training.

So this Rick Kaselj of exercisesforinjuries.com saying take care and bye bye.

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