Congratulations Jesse and Brandon!
We’re taking a minute to say congrats to our AIM trainers — Brandon Gonzalez and Jesse Bethke — for recently stepping into Lead Coach positions! We thought we’d share with you what they do best by capturing one of their personal workouts.
Train like a trainer…
AIM Lead Coaches Jesse Bethke and Brandon Gonzalez have impressive backgrounds in sports and fitness.
Jesse was a record-holding collegiate thrower in discus, shot put and hammer/weight throw. He also played collegiate golf and intramural basketball while excelling at many other sports throughout high school, undergrad and grad school. His workout combines weight training with plyometrics to sustain the height and power of his jumps.
Brandon has a lengthy list of certifications that compliment his fitness and athletic expertise — USAW Level 1 Coach for Olympic weightlifting, Les Mills Body Pump, RPM, NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). Prior to joining AIM, Brandon was a Strength and Conditioning Assistant for the University of Texas Basketball program and University of Texas San Antonio Football program. He competed in active martial arts for approximately 20 years and fought in the ring of golden gloves amateur boxing for over 10 years. His workout is largely strength based.
Jesse Bethke’s Personal Workout
Jesse started with a series of movement prep stretches.
First, the cage series included stretches for the
HipHamstringThoracic Spine
Next up, Jesse used the ankle board to work on stabilizing and mobilizing the ankles, arches of the feet, calves and achilles tendons.
Out on the turf, Jesse did a few more dynamic stretches to target all of the right areas including:World’s Greatest Stretch x4 per sideStep and Reach 3rd Matrix1/2 kneeling Windmill x8 per side
Plyometrics are exercises where muscles exert maximum force in short intervals to increase power. Jesse’s included:Speed Squat x5Low jump to speed squat x5Front jump to speed squat x5
He also used the 12″ Micro Hurdle for a series of jump hurdles to repeat x4 in thesedirections: Front, Right, Left, Rotational 90Jump to load and holdJump to load and goJump to bounce and goQuick repeat jumps
Finally, for the main blocks!
Block 1: Power Block Strength Speed 3 roundsDumbbell 1 arm snatch x3 per sideDumbbell squat curl press x5Med Ball 3d jump to chest throw x3 per side
Block 2: Power Block Speed Strength 3 roundsWeight Vest Box Pause Jump (3-second hold) x4Lateral Jump to Squat x 2 per sideCable perp 1 arm row x8 per side
Side note — this is where the power in his jumps showed.
Block 3: Power Block Triple Extension 3 roundsApproach jump and reach (dunk) x 2 perBB Hang Clean x 4MedBall Split jump exchange 1 arm press x5 per sideCable OH tricep Extension x 10
Brandon Gonzalez Personal Workout
First, three rounds of:
Kneeling Dumbbell Press
Cable Face Pulls
Split Jerk
Then, three rounds of:
Dumbbell Snatch
Kneeling Landmine Press
Pull Ups
Another three rounds of:
Cable Row
Pendlay Row
Reverse flys
Finally, three rounds of:
Dumbbell Lateral Raises at three different weights sets of 12, 10 and 8 with increasing weight
Finished off with three core exercises — v-ups, side crunches and Keiser machine core twist.
