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!! :)