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)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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. ;)
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. ;)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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!! :)
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!
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!
The Beginning.
So, I was watching the Today Show one Friday morning, and an infomercial for P90X aired. Now, there's only been one product that I've ever truly loved bought from an infomercial (and it's unfortunately been discontinued). So, I thought perhaps they're not all so bad. On a whim, I logged onto Amazon.com (my favorite site!), and in 2 clicks spent $120 on the program. 3 days later, it showed up at work... http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/best_sellers/p90x.do?tnt=P90X_SHAKE_B2&code=ERROR_P90X
Anxious to begin, I read through the manual and learned that prior to beginning the program, they delineate specific tasks:
1) Take before photos. As much as I loathed the idea of stripping down to my skivvies for documentation, I decided to have some fun with it. I had jokingly purchased a "Stars & Stripes" bikini around the 4th of July that I thought would be fun for a quick trip to Vegas (or a Kid Rock video). Donning the flag, I had Søren take a series of mortifying photos for my records: Front, Side, Back (!), all with various "muscle" poses. All I can say is - I cannot WAIT for the after photos!
2) Fitness test. Before beginning this "extreme" workout regimine, they recommend a series of fitness (stamina) tests. Since I received the package on a Tuesday; Wednesday morning I asked Coach Søren to track my scores. Thankfully I at least met the minimum requirements.
3) Track weight and Body Fat %. Around this time last year, I was preparing for my wedding and weighed in at the lightest I'd been since college: 140 lbs = my target weight. As of July 23rd, I weighed in at154lbs and over 30% body fat (on a 5'7" frame). Yowch. Again, something I looked very much forward to improving!!
Anxious to begin, I read through the manual and learned that prior to beginning the program, they delineate specific tasks:
1) Take before photos. As much as I loathed the idea of stripping down to my skivvies for documentation, I decided to have some fun with it. I had jokingly purchased a "Stars & Stripes" bikini around the 4th of July that I thought would be fun for a quick trip to Vegas (or a Kid Rock video). Donning the flag, I had Søren take a series of mortifying photos for my records: Front, Side, Back (!), all with various "muscle" poses. All I can say is - I cannot WAIT for the after photos!
2) Fitness test. Before beginning this "extreme" workout regimine, they recommend a series of fitness (stamina) tests. Since I received the package on a Tuesday; Wednesday morning I asked Coach Søren to track my scores. Thankfully I at least met the minimum requirements.
3) Track weight and Body Fat %. Around this time last year, I was preparing for my wedding and weighed in at the lightest I'd been since college: 140 lbs = my target weight. As of July 23rd, I weighed in at154lbs and over 30% body fat (on a 5'7" frame). Yowch. Again, something I looked very much forward to improving!!
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