Yay for 60's!

Today's temps were in the mid to high 60's. We had clear skies, a bright sun, and a pretty good breeze going. Absolutely beautiful!

Sweetie and I took our dog Max on a walk as soon as I got home. Tonight was my 20-minute walk/jog so I decided I'd just keep going. Runkeeper tracked me doing 1.32 miles at a pace of 15 minutes/mile. Not nearly as fast as I was when I was running with the C25K music but it was enjoyable and that's what really matters!

When I got home, I did the Strength rounds and was consistent with the 11 rounds in 10 minutes. I still had 45 seconds left on the timer but called it quits instead of getting halfway through a 12th round. I don't need to beat my record every time, LOL! I think I must be getting faster on my push-ups because that's the only part of those sets that I wasn't already moving pretty fast on.

Tomorrow's supposed to break the 70's! We're going to enjoy it while we can!

Whoop Whoop!

I was sick off and on all last week. I would feel better and decide to hold off for a day to keep from relapsing - then I'd relapse anyway. It was so frustrating. Until last night, I had not exercised at all since Friday, February 10th!

I surprised myself yesterday! I ran in place at a pace of 4 footfalls per second for the entire 20 minutes and pushed a 9th round out on the 10 Minute Strength rotations. I had mentioned before that I didn't think I could do more than 8 rounds without compromising form. Well, I still can't be sure I'm doing the crunches right. I haven't looked it up. I can say with certainty that my abs were worked though - there was some noticeable burn today!

Tonight's targeted workout was Shoulders, Arms & Abs. The whole thing took me 30 minutes. I made sure to do each rep for a total of 8 counts (4 up / 4 down) and did them until I had trouble doing them instead of some arbitrary number. It felt great.

Personal Record!

I achieved a personal record on "strength exercises" in tonight's workout. 40 push-ups, 80 crunches, and 120 squats in 10 minutes! I'm pretty sure that's my limit without sacrificing form so my new goal is to maintain that. Maybe by March I'll have to modify to make it more difficult.

I also ran harder on the :20 jog/run. Still running in place but for the last 3 minutes I was going full out. I'd guess about 8 feet beats per second? Whew! So I've still got room for improvement on the run part. I can't wait for it to warm up again so I can see if I'm still at the 12-minute mile I was at before I quit or if I've gotten better!

A Deck With Syd, Manny, & Diego

Last night was my once-a-week Deck of Cards Workout on the workout schedule. I got through the whole deck again, and pushed harder on some of the exercises (I'll explain below). I picked Ice Age as the dvd to accompany me. Although I was listening more than watching this time around. My head was so into completing the motions that I noticed I wasn't paying attention to the movie most of the time. It's still nice background noise.

I meant to update last night but I got online to update my log and got distracted by editing its layout to be more readable (and easier to update).

A few notes on the exercises I did:

Lunges - I counted each leg as a rep and completed each rep as 2 seconds down / 2 seconds up
Knee-to-elbow Planks - Also counted each leg as a rep and completed as 2 seconds in / 2 seconds back. I had to stop a few times when I'd flipped the Ace and King. Whew!
Jumping Jacks - I focused on making sure my feet were flat and knees soft when doing these. I don't feel like I get as much benefit when I bounce off the balls of my feet
Tricep Kickbacks - This is what I did instead of Chair Dips. I focused on slow and controlled movements, no faster than 2 seconds up/down. I used 5 pound dumbbells in each hand.

Targeted Workout

I was a little disappointed and "eh" about last night's Chest, Back & Abs strength exercises. It took a total of 17 minutes and I barely broke a sweat. The sweat that did break through was under the band of my sports bra which is a pretty thick material and probably more the cause of sweat than actual muscle-burning heat.

I found an exposed I-beam on the unfinished side of the basement and tried to do the chin-ups & pull-ups on that. My fingers weren't curled around anything and there wasn't a really good way to grab on. I wasn't able to successfully complete even one chin-up or pull-up. I'm not going to blame it on the grip though. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it even with a bar. I don't recall ever doing those in gym (in 1994-95). I do remember "the hang" but I'm thinking I started at the top. So, pull-ups are something to work toward! (As well as that project to put a pipe through the rafters)

Also, I don't feel like I really maxed out on the weight by any stretch. I guess I need to find some paint buckets or something for the next targeted workout.

Pushing Through

Today was the 20 minute jog/run and then 10 minutes "total body" (rotation of 5 push-ups, 10 crunches, and 15 squats).

For the jog/run, I finished But I'm A Cheerleader. It was the last half which is the funniest. It made the 20 minutes fly by. I only quick-marched for about a minute.

I did 7 rotations total in the 10 minutes. That's a total of 35 push-ups, 70 crunches, and 105 squats. I felt a definite improvement on the push-ups. If I'd have had more than 10 minutes, I'm confident that I could have done at least a few more rounds!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Chest, Back & Abs strength exercises. 10 exercises of 15 reps each and 2 stretches. I'm guessing it will take around 15 minutes? It's considered an optional "targeted workout" which might be why it's so short. It's also intended to be difficult by using resistance bands or weights that push to failure by the end of reps. I won't be doing the chin ups because I don't have a bar to do them on. We do have exposed rafters on the unfinished side of the basement so maybe I could drill a hole and run a pipe through or something.

All in all, I'm feeling really great about this schedule and I'm pretty proud of my follow-through so far!

Workin' It!

Today was 20 minutes walk/jog/run and then 10 minutes "total body" which was a rotation of 5 push-ups, 10 crunches, and 15 squats.

I'm on my first day of feeling like I can breathe fully, my nose is dry and my head is clear(er). I decided to take it easy so I don't relapse just in time for another work week. So for the walk/jog/run, I put in a movie (But I'm A Cheerleader - total cheese and I LOVE it!), and fast marched/jogged in place.

I did 6 rotations total in the 10 minutes and wasn't pushing myself. That's a total of 30 push-ups, 60 crunches, and 90 squats. I think I have Beachbody programs to thank for this! I haven't done crunches since I was a sophomore in highschool (1994 to be more specific!) so I'm not entirely sure if I did those right. I seem to remember I'm not supposed to go all the way up. Basically, I laid my feet flat with bent knees, had my lower back against the floor but my shoulders off. I crossed my arms on my chest and basically curved my stomach in. Whether it was correct form or not, it definitely was working my abs. I was getting shaky on that last set. Squats were super easy. All of the Beachbody programs have been squat intensive so I'm pretty sure that's why. The push-ups have always been a weakness for me and I'm hoping to improve throughout this workout schedule! Those last 5 were pretty shaky but I got them done.

Yoga

Last night I did 2 segments from "10 Minute Solution: Yoga" (linked to Amazon) on Netflix Instant. Max was very concerned and seemed stressed while I was doing this so Sweetie took him into the other room while I continued. This was my first time doing a 'real' yoga workout. My previous exposure was a few moves on Wii Fit, and apparently the Insanity workout.

I figured a good place to start would be with The Basics segment. I learned Mountain, Sun Salutation, Upward Facing Dog, Downward Facing Dog, and Warrior. She moved pretty fast and didn't hold the stretches as long as I expected from what I'd heard about yoga - but then again, this was a 10-minute segment so that's probably why. I think there were 3 rounds of that cycle. By the 3rd time I almost had it down without watching her.

I didn't want to do any segments that were geared toward "toning" since my body was pretty tight from the Deck of Cards workout. I skipped to the end and did the Flexibility and Relaxation segment. This one felt good and I probably should have done it twice. It started with a butterfly stretch, lateral bend over left leg, twisting stretch to left, lateral bend over right leg, twisting stretch to right, bridge pose, ham string stretches by hooking my fingers over my big toe and trying to extend the leg (then also bring leg to side for inner thigh stretch), and finished with a lying spinal twist on both sides.

The segments I skipped were Buns & Thighs, Abs, and Burn.

I'm undecided whether I want to look for another Yoga workout or keep doing this one. Since I'm only scheduled to do it twice a month, I'll probably just stick with this one. Next time though, I think I'll do The Basics & Flexibility and Relaxation twice each instead of once.

A Cold, A Deck Of Cards, And Me

I started my new workout schedule this evening. Today was the Deck of Cards Workout. I had mentioned before that I didn't think I was to the level yet of being able to get through the whole deck, because it would have meant I'd done 105 reps of each suit (lunges, knee-to-elbow planks, chair dips, and jumping jacks).

In addition to just guessing I wouldn't be able to do that, I also came down with a cold today. So far it's not in my chest and I don't have a fever so I went ahead with the workout. I really didn't think I'd be able to do much.

Oddly enough, I felt better while I was doing the exercises! The box of kleenex went untouched after about 3 cards. Before I knew it, there were no more cards in the deck. I checked the time and only 30 minutes had passed. I had completed the deck! I was shocked. I was so excited about it, I got on my computer to update my log before showering!

A few notes on the exercises I did:

Lunges - I counted each leg as a rep
Knee-to-elbow Planks - I counted each left/right pair as a rep
Jumping Jacks - I started doing a squat jack toward the end of the deck because it seemed too easy
Chair Dips - I didn't have any sturdy furniture to dip between so I just used my dumbbells. I basically got into the position of a bridge and dipped my body down and up from that. I don't think I worked my triceps at all. I have since looked at the proper form of a chair dip (using a chair) and I don't trust myself to do it right without supervision. I'm not in a hurry to mess up my shoulders or back so I think instead of chair dips, I'm going to do Tricep Kickbacks with my dumbbells.

Tomorrow is Yoga. I think I'll do the "10 Minute Solution: Yoga" (linked to Amazon) on Netflix Instant and just bring my laptop down with me. Or I'll do it upstairs if sweetie is okay watching me stretch and bend :-)