Week 1 - in the bag!

I've managed to complete week 1 without completely falling apart! The first few days were really tough, I won't lie. As with the first time I tried this thing, by Saturday my body was screaming at me - I was soooo sore! The hardest were Core, Legs & Back and Yoga; (and of course, Ab Ripper). There were many moves that I didn't even attempt for fear that I might hurt myself. Other moves, (such as with Superman / Banana), I had difficulty with because I couldn't lie on my belly as it squished my milk-laden boobs! I did skip Yoga this week, as I didn't have time on Thursday due to taking care of my child, (general stuff, etc.)

The trickiest part of this endeavor is to time the workout of the day. The sweet spot seems to be: 1) After I've fed her (so the boobs are less full); 2) Either during or immediately following a nap; 3) Placing her in either her bouncer chair or her swing so that she can watch me. Surprisingly, she does seem to stay interested watching mama bounce and kick around in front of the TV ... but that interest is limited, of course. I had to cut the Legs & Back routine short last week and skip the Ab workout as she was beginning to melt down.

Of course, this week I've already missed a day (today - Shoulders & Arms), which I'll just do tomorrow instead. The nice part about having a day of rest is that I can try to strategically pick a day during the week where I know I probably won't have time to work out. Today, I decided to attend my mother's group lunch, and by the time I got home, L just wanted to eat and play. So ... today became my official day of rest for the week. Just gotta keep it up through the next few days (which, of course, are the harder workouts!)

My favorite workouts so far? Cardio X and Kenpo. All others huuuurt! ;)

P90X Lean

Ok - Just figured out what videos I'll need to do for the next 13 weeks (roughly, with a small break while we're in Denmark over Christmas). I figure that by "officially" starting on Sunday, I'll have completed the series by mid February!! Exciting! I still struggled a bit with whether to do the Classic or Lean, but it seems that the Lean version emphasizes more cardio (and weight loss) than the Classic, and since I have some serious LBs to lose, this is the route I'm taking.

Post Baby. Attempt #2.

Well... it's obviously been quite awhile since my last post. Over a year later, (and many more pounds), I'm ready to tackle this thing again. I'm on maternity leave, so there's not much excuse for lack of time. I may have to pause between workouts to feed / change diapers / soothe crying, but I'm determined to do it this time around.

As for the Danish, since we now live in Oakland, the Scandinavian School is a bit far for me to travel (plus baby) for some Danish lessons. Fortunately, we've agreed that Søren will speak to Lily in Danish, so perhaps I'll learn some Dansk via my baby.

I attempted the Yoga video yesterday, and only got about half way through. I'm SOOO out of shape. It's going to take me a long time to ease back into this, but even if I can't finish a video, I'm determined to do a little sumthin'-sumthin' every day. My back has been killing me for the past 6+ months (while pregnant, and post baby), and I need to get my abs / ass back into shape and relieve some stress off of my poor achin' back!

I'm going to do a few more videos this week (just to ease into things), and then next week - Game On!!

Day Four & Five

Friday, July 29th: Yoga X

Yoga, from what I've read, is one of the harder workouts. Plus, it's the longest... 90 minutes. As I started at 8am, (and still needed to get to work on time), I sorta knew that I wouldn't finish the entire DVD. Got through about 50 minutes (not too shabby!). Missed most of the balance poses, but got through the tough stuff. Surprisingly, I'm more flexible than I suspected, so it wasn't as "hard" as I'd thought. Looking forward to increasing my strength, balance and flexibility for sure.

Saturday, July 30th: Legs & Back (and Ab Ripper)

Day Three: Shoulders & Arms (plus Ab Ripper - brief)

So far, this one is probably my favorite. Perhaps I'm not using heavy enough weights, but after my post-Legs & Back workout experience last weekend, I'm trying to ease into the weight-workouts. I've always had trouble w/ my triceps and upper body strength, so it felt amazing to get my biceps, triceps and shoulders pumping! I've had prior issues with my right wrist, though (damn workplace injuries!), so I found that everytime I would do a hammer curl with my right hand, I'd get that old snapping/ pain sensation in my right wrist. Guess I'll have to continue to modify those (or avoid altogether), as well as invest in a good wrist brace. I just bought an Ace bandage-type, so hopefully that'll arrive tomorrow or Monday. I even went in for the bonus round - the side tricep presses were HARD! Definitely going to have to work on those. So far, I feel most of the stress in my triceps (will see how they feel tomorrow during Yoga!). Can't wait to wave good-bye to my weak, "flabby" arms!! :)

Ab Ripper: Ok - because I was running late for a meeting, I had to end after the Heels (or Hells) to the Sky. No qualms about skipping vertical uprights or mason twists!! Maybe I'll try to tack 'em on after Yoga tomorrow. Or... maybe not. ;)

Day One & Two

So, though I "cheated" a little and did some of the videos last week, Tuesday of this week was my official "Day One." There are 3 versions of the program, and not really knowing which would be best (and based on the advice of many Team Beachbody bloggers), I've decided on the "Classic." The program basically consists of 6 days of workout and one day of rest... for 90 days. I have also decided to perform these exercises in the mornings, as part of my "getting ready for work" routine. However, since the majority of these DVDs run for at least an hour (and some longer since I will probably have to hit the pause button a few times in the beginning), that means that I'll have to start getting up earlier as well. Not such an easy task. As for when to start, since I wanted Mondays to be my "day off" (and they're always the toughest day at work), my Day One would have to be a Tuesday.


Day One: Tuesday, July 27th. Chest & Back (plus Ab Ripper).

This was one of the videos that I'd "test driven" last week, and boy was it tough. For the fitness test, I was required to do a minimum of 3 push-ups (which I couldn't do), or 15 on knees (which I could... barely). For this video, I logged approximately 87 push-ups of various sorts: Wide Front, Military, Decline (!), Diamond, and what they call the "Dive Bomber." In addition, I was asked to do a number of pull-ups. Unfortunately, the pull-up bar that I bought doesn't fit the doorway of our old San Francisco apartment, so I've been getting by with resistance bands. Though I doubt I could even complete 1 pull-up (the minimum requirement for the Fitness Test - ha!), I am disappointed to know that I can't use the pull-up bar - even when I (hopefully) become stronger. Perhaps I can perform some modifications to the bar... TBD.

Ab Ripper X: HOLY CRAP. I always thought that I had a fairly strong abdomen... guess not so much. Though only 15 minutes, it ends up being about 20-25 minutes since I need to add breaks! The hardest moves: Reverse Bicycles & Mason Twists. Yikes!! Luckily another blogger clued me in on removing shoes before performing the work out. No need for additional weight in this exercise!!

Day Two: Wednesday, July 28th. Plyometrics

Feeling a little sore in my arms from yesterday, but not nearly as bad as Sunday (the day after my "test run" of Legs & Back. I could barely walk for a day and a half!). Plyo is more my speed - all cardio. What I liked most is that they break each movement down into 30 second increments. Like Tony says, "you can do pretty much ANYTHING for 30 seconds." However, after about 40 minutes of this, I wasn't sure how much further I could go. Plus, I'm so worried about my downstairs neighbors - they must be hating all of the jumping! Overall, this thing certainly got my heart pumping! Probably took me a total of 70 minutes, however, due to all of the pause-button-hittin'. Will have to revise my schedule going forward to accommodate my "unscheduled" pauses if I want to complete the video and still manage to get to work on time!

Plus, I just gotta say - I LOVE the fact that one of the "back up dancers" (as I like to call 'em) has only one leg! Such motivation! As Tony says, if this guy can do it with one leg, I have NO excuses!! :)

Danish - Not so much the "Beginning"

As many of you already know, my husband Søren is Danish. Considering that most of my in-laws speak English, I've managed to get away with just English up until recently. However, neither his Grandparents nor youngest cousin speak English (though his cousin's English is surely better than my Danish!), I've decided to try to get with the program.

Back in early 2010 I completed "Beginner's Danish" - an 8 week course where we cover the Basics: How to count, basic grammar, etc. For "Beginner's II, " the course became drastically harder. In addition, I had missed about 3 or 4 of the 8 classes, and never seemed able to catch up on my own.

Therefore, starting August 16th I'll be back at it. Blogging my experiences in both P90X and Danish... 2 major projects for the next 3 months!