Day 5! Legs and Back

I just finished up the legs and back workout. I liked it! The lunges with the toe roll BURNED, and doing calf raises for that long burned quite a bit as well. I love the variety though! I did Ab Ripper X right after, and some of it felt better while others felt harder. The bicycles KILL ME, but this time it wasn't too bad! But then I get to the scissor kick things which haven't been bad before, and my abs are completely exhausted! My HRM said I burned 948 calories overall! Woo hoo! I love that! So far I think my favorite workouts are this legs today and the yoga. Plyo just kills me so I don't think I'll like that until I feel stronger. Chest is soooo hard for me, so we'll see how I feel about that when I do it again next week. Only thing left for the week is Kenpo!

Yoga X - Day 4

Today was Yoga X, and I was definitely looking forward to it. I figure if anyone can put together an awesome yoga workout, Tony Horton can. A few years ago when I was living in Bethlehem, I went to a yoga class at Easton Yoga. I wasn't expecting much, and I was shocked when I left. I was dripping with sweat! Not only that, but my whole body was sore for days. Since then, I've been trying to find a yoga workout that can do that for me. I believe I've found it! I was sweating a lot, my muscles were burning, and I loved it! I will say that there were times I was cursing to myself, but overall, I think it's an awesome workout. I was a bit worn out afterwards, but I feel great now. I need to get some blocks because there are quite a few things I can't do yet, so I'll look at target for those soon. I think I got the closest I've ever gotten to some of those balance poses before too. The power of the mind, I guess... I'm going at this workout thinking I have try my hardest at everything, and it's working out!

Back to studying... yuck.

Heart Rate Monitors and my sore muscles...

So although the arms workout seemed easier to me, let's just say it was working. My arms are quite sore! I think the exercise where you hold the bicep curl in a static position really got me. I can feel it in the bottom of my biceps. The last exercise where you push your body up with one arm... the one that Dreya rock? That is awesome! It was hard but I think I did 10 or 12. I would've never thought of that either! That's the fun of this workout. It's all sorts of new exercises I've never tried.

On to heart rate monitors... with every workout, I'll be wearing my HRM so I can track my calories. It helps me figure out how much to eat. I have a Polar F11, but the Polar F6 does the same thing mine does and is cheaper. I highly recommend it! You enter your age, weight, sex, and fitness level. Then it estimates your VO2 Max based on your resting heart rate and how it fluctuates over a few minutes. When you exercise, it measures your heart rate and using all the other information to calculate calories. I think it's pretty accurate... definitely more accurate than the treadmill at the gym. I've heard from some hardcore calorie counters that they think it overestimates because it also takes into account the calories you would've burned just sitting around. IMHO, that's not that many calories (maybe 100-200?) and it's not going to make or break me.

In case you want to buy one:

http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/

Time for Yoga X!

Day 3 - Shoulders and Arms

Just finished up shoulders and arms... it wasn't too bad! I guess my arms and shoulders are stronger than other parts of my body. I think I'll have to get heavier weights eventually, but for now my 8 pound and 5 pound work fine. My arms were burning at the end of my sets with those weights. I have to say this workout seemed like a nice break from the first two workouts! I'm happy for that though because I think mentally I need one workout at least that I feel really confident about. I can't totally struggle through everything! I'm sure I'll struggle through a lot though. Ab Ripper X felt much better today too! I think it was mostly because I knew what to expect so I could psych myself up... only 25 reps! Ha! That sounds easier than it is!

So far food is going well today too. I had an omelette at breakfast, a yogurt for snack, salad at lunch, and I just finished a little protein shake. I was STARVING yesterday when I went to bed, so I obviously didn't eat enough. I hope today is better with respect to that.

Calorie report - 733 calories!

Be back tomorrow to chat Yoga X!

Plyo WHAT?!?!?!

Before I get into today's workout, I'll chat a bit about how I felt today. So I woke up, and wow, I was really energized! I think it was partly physical from the workout yesterday but also mental because I felt like I had accomplished something really tough! I was NEVER an athlete, so doing things like this as an adult is awesome. In fact, I've decided I'm going to be way fitter at 30 than I ever was at 20! So anyway, I was definitely sore but good sore today. My lats are feeling it, my chest is feeling it... so I know I did some good work. I think I might have been losing form a little bit in the pushups because my neck is a little tired today, so I'm going to have to be conscious of that next time.

I wasn't good about food yesterday, but today I'm right on track. I'm not following the exact meal plan as written. I'm doing the food groups thing where I eat 7 proteins, 4 veggies, etc. It's definitely a lot of food but I'll need it! Let's just say plyo was TOUGH today! There were a few times I decided I needed another 30 seconds to rest so I hit pause and walked around while my heart rate came down a bit. Again, Thank God I have a HRM! It's my saving grace in this workout. Today it told me I burned 1,085 calories! Are you freaking kidding me? That's insane! My legs were burning a ton during some of those moves. Some of them I didn't do double time like the people on the video but I'm sure by day 90 I'll be working it like them.

Phew. That was tough! I'm glad I did it though! Now I have to pull myself together so I can do a take home final exam. Three straight hours of writing... woo. Isn't that fun? Only one more week till a little vacation though, so I'm going to work hard for the next few days!

Back tomorrow when I bring it once again for the next workout!

Day 1 - Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X!

Okay, so I did Day 1 today, and I have to say I feel good! It was definitely difficult, but I didn't get discouraged at all. I tried to concentrate on good form as much as possible. When I couldn't keep good form, I rested and if there was time, I pushed out a few more reps. I *know* I'll be sore tomorrow, but that means I worked! I loved the neck stretches we did in the beginning... I think I'll do those whenever my neck feels a little tight. As for the push ups, I had the most difficulty with the decline pushups and the dive bomber. Practice will have to make perfect with those! It's pretty cool to watch them do the dive bombers though... WOW. I want to be able to do that! As for the pull ups, I used a chair to help me, but I really feel it in my muscles, so I'm hoping it did something for my back. I felt like I was using my legs to assist me sometimes... hmm. I think next time I'm going to put a step underneath me because my chair slid around a little. Ab Ripper X was pretty rough but I can tell I'll get better at that too. We shall see how everything feels tomorrow! All in all, I'm proud of myself! I drank a TON of water! I still need to get recovery drink. I'll have to check into that later. I used my heart rate monitor too, and it said I burned 910 calories! AWESOME!!! And it's only 4:30! Time to do some laundry and some studying... Ahhhh.... I feel so accomplished!

Fit Test

I did my fit test today! It wasn't too bad. I was able to do 8 pushups, and I think I could've done more. I can do a ton on my knees so I want to make sure I do the ones on my feet to get stronger. I did well in the last part too where you have to get your heart up and recover. I recovered really well after a minute. Thank God I have a heart rate monitor... make life easier!

I'll be doing the first workout tomorrow! I'm definitely intrigued... I'm hoping my enthusiasm gets me through. I'll update tomorrow with the results of the first day!

Soooo unmotivated....

I am so unmotivated today! To do school work that is... I am just ready for this semester to be over. Only 4 more days of class, and then it's finals! I've decided that for the workouts I'm going to start on Thursday. Once my classes start up again in March, I will have a pretty hectic Wednesday schedule, so I'd like to make that my rest day. I have to do my fit test still, so I can do that later today or tomorrow. I have to get myself ready for the eating plan as well. I figure that having a couple more days to do all that planning will help me out in the end! I even bought a pull-up bar yesterday. I'm pretty excited about it! I can't do a pull-up yet, but I will be able to eventually! I tried a couple with assistance yesterday and I can actually feel it in my back... taste of things to come!

UPS is torturing me!

So my package was out for delivery yesterday, and I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting for it. At 7 PM, I get an e-mail saying that they forgot to put it on the truck!!! Ahhh! So now I have to wait for it today... and it's not here yet! I'm thinking now I'll start the workouts on Sunday because my friend is visiting this weekend. I can take care of reading the information it comes with and getting familiar with it, and then I can do workout 1 on Sunday after I drop her at the airport. I actually took a dance class on Wednesday, and I'm sore! Might as well just keep the soreness going!

It shipped!

I'm so excited! I will now watch UPS obsessively until it arrives...

It's in Ohio... so close!

Anxiously awaiting...

So, my DVD's haven't arrived yet, but I can't wait! I have to admit I've kind of fallen off the health wagon, as I call it, over the past few days. I had a big assignment due this morning for school, and I was hardly sleeping. I'm going to hit the gym tomorrow though to get myself back on track. I can't go completely dormant waiting for my DVD's! That would be a bad, bad idea.

I actually bought these DVD's last year and returned them... not sure if I got scared or I felt guilty for spending money. That happened to me a lot last year since I was planning to go to graduate school. I am now completely at ease with student loan debt (haha), so spending is not an issue! School has been rough on my health though... don't have a regular workout schedule, don't have a regular sleep schedule, don't have a regular eating schedule... I can feel it! So now I'm happy to have something to follow on a daily basis. Having a calendar will definitely keep me motivated! I will post my before pictures later... most likely with the 30 days!