3 weeks of bootcamp

Tags

boot camp, fitwit, innov8, Running, running shoes, workout

I have finished the 3rd week!…and I’m still alive and moving! 🙂

(pic from fitwit)

The workouts have been intense and there are days when I am so sore, I basically have to just roll out of bed. But everyone has been so friendly and helpful. Each day is a challenge and I questioned if I was even improving from day 1. But then, I started running again and have seen a lot of improvement on my endurance and strength. I have not seen a huge change in my weight but I know that there is more to fitness than a number on a scale. I feel stronger and more energized everyday. I also think that I am adjusting to waking up at 5am everyday and can be so much more productive in a day now.

I have become more interested in natural running and decided to expand from my five finger vibrams to include another minimalist shoe from innov8.

I don’t know if hot pink would have been my first choice but the pink shoes were priced lower than the others so I went ahead and followed my frugal senses. The color is growing on me and I think I’m starting to like them. What I love is that they are flexible and have a pull-tie instead of shoe laces. The lightweight design promotes a more natural running style. It takes time to adjust from other running shoes with a thicker sole, but after the five fingers, and now these, I can feel the difference and prefer the minimalist shoe now!

Next week is our last week (unless I decide to continue with boot camp). So close!!!

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Week 1 complete-feeling sore!

Tags

bootcamp, fitwit, workout

But it’s definitely the good type of sore. After signing up for fitness boot camp, I am proud to say week 1 is complete! It has been a little rough adjusting to waking up at 5:30am to get ready and go but gratifying to be finished by 7am. I am slowly learning to get everything ready the night before and I’ve been making an effort to sleep earlier in order to get enough sleep.

Here is how the first week went–

Day 1:

• Warm ups (jogging and stretches) and introductions to proper form. The warm up was more than I was expecting and I was definitely out of breath before the actual workout started.
• Baseline assessments: Holding plank, push-ups (on my toes), jumping rope (especially challenging for those lacking coordination…me!), squats, and burpees (I have a love-hate relationship with these).

Day 2:

• Warm up and more introductions to proper form
• Kettle bell presses (15lbs each side), kettle bell swings (25lbs)
• Timed sequence of plank, kettle bell swings, push ups, then kettle bell swings

Day 3:

Rest day so I went for a light run

Day 4:

• Warm up jog
• 2 rounds of stations (spending 4 min at each station) including: running an agility course, 10 kettle bell swings, 10 bent over rows, bear crawl, crab walk back, 10 side plank crunches, 5 med ball burpee throws (12lbs), 10 jumps over a ball.

Day 5:

• Warm up jog and stretches
• Completed 5 rotations of: 30meter touch run back for 5 times, 10 push-ups, 15 sit ups, 20 squats
• Team game: 20 triceps dip, planks, table stance, 150meter sprint, 10 burpees, 20 box jumps.

Day 6: (tomorrow)

• Much needed yoga!!

So I’m feeling tired and sore but I think I that is reasonable considering the tough first week. The intro to proper form was really helpful. So many people are injured because of incorrect form and this is preventable. I think taking the time to learn the moves and having a proper warm up/cool down is the key piece! I even do a little more of a cool down stretch once I get back home to make sure I stay injury-free! Let’s hope I can keep up my motivation over the next few weeks!

The beginning of insanity!

Tags

insanity, insanity workout, workout, workout regimen

So what happened to all of my workout posts?! Yes, it has been a while. Doing regular p90x workouts made it a lot easier to write about progress with each daily workout. But for the past few months, I have been trying to mix in a lot of other outdoor activities as a supplement. During the summer it is hard to commit to staying inside for workouts when I could be running, biking, or even rafting! Plus, I have been out-of-town a lot so it’s hard to stick to a certain regimen, even if I do use the hotel gyms.

Well, I’ve decided it’s time to get back to some sort of workout regimen and give myself a new challenge for the next 60 days. INSANITY! I’ve been following other people’s progress with this routine on other blogs and have friends who have completed the 60 days. Eric and I have decided to give it a try. If I can do 90 days of p90x, maybe I have a shot at 60 days of insanity. Plus I won’t need any equipment. So for those that do not know about insanity, here is a video I found:

Will I make it? Who knows. But I’ve made it through the first few days! Wish me luck and hopefully I can keep up regular updates to stay motivated!

An enjoyable run

Tags

air force base, Easter, Running, workout

I have decided that my new favorite place to run is on the air force base.

Over Easter weekend, I went back to Maxwell air force base to visit family. While there, I decided to pack my running shoes in the hopes of doing some physical activity to offset all of the eating. Eric and I decided to wake up early to beat the heat and head out for a run. Best run ever! I started to think about what made this environment so great for running, and sadly, how difficult it is to find another place with all of these characteristics…

Here are the reasons this is my new favorite place to run:

1. The base is relatively flat. I really do not enjoy running in super hilly environments (basically my neighborhood). I don’t know why the base is so flat but my best guess is that they need flat areas to have planes land on the runways?

2. Small amounts of traffic and high incentive to follow the law. The base definitely does not have the traffic of a city, especially Atlanta. They also follow their slow speed limits. If you drive faster by even 1-2mph than the limit, they will ticket you! I felt a lot safer running and not worrying about cars speeding around a blind corner. Plus there were really like 2 cars driving that morning.

3. Nice scenery. Our run included passing by historic homes, old jets and bombers, a golf course, and there is even a path along the river and lake.

4. Other athletic people to keep you motivated. While running we saw several very fit, military people out doing their morning workouts. Being completely surrounded by people with optimal fitness levels encouraged me to keep going when I felt like stopping.

I’m glad I was able to enjoy my run because I would need it after eating endless amounts of food. Here is a sample meal of all the tasty food my aunt made for us that whole weekend. Yum!

Workout March 31-April 6

Tags

lawn mower, P90X, Running, workout, yard work

This past week, we started the p90x doubles phase (or at least attempted to start). For doubles, you basically add cardio on top of all the weight lifting days. My plan is to take advantage of the warm weather and do outdoor cardio activities instead of the cardio x dvd. So far, it has been running but I hope to include more bike rides (Atlanta traffic terrifies me while I’m on my bike). To avoid workout fatigue, I decided to split it up for the day. The idea of doing an hour of weights, 15-20 min on abs, and then another 45 min cardio straight in a row is just daunting. So, cardio is done in the morning and then the other workout later in the afternoon/ early evening.

1. Sat- run, chest, shoulders, tri, abs
2. Sun- plyo
3. Mon- rest
4. Tues- back and biceps, abs (I missed this run)
5. Wed- Yoga
6. Thurs- run, legs, back, abs
7. Fri- I ran instead of doing karate

(my legs definitely felt like jello after 6 and 7).

Eric had a little extra side workout. We soon realized that one of the duties of owning a house is to mow the yard. Our yard was out of control but we finally received our brand new lawn mower. I really should have taken “before” pictures. I’m almost certain our neighbors were making comments about our yard under their breath.

P90x March 10-16

Tags

P90X, workout

After deciding to start the phase all over, I was pretty happy with my progress this past week given everything else going on. It’s not perfect but hopefully I’ll get it down soon.

What I intended to do (What I actually did):

1. Sat– Chest and back, abs
2. Sun– Plyometrics (rest day due to a full day of new house cleaning/prepping)
3. Mon– Shoulders and arms, abs
4. Tues– Yoga (run, it was nice outside and I didn’t really want to be stuck working out indoors)
5. Wed– Legs and back, abs
6. Thurs– Kenpo karate (bike workout–I learned this is very difficult after completing legs and back the day before)
7. Fri– rest day (fell asleep right after work due to all the housework this week and a REALLY long workweek, eventually woke up to do more cleaning and packing)

Starting all over—p90x

Tags

P90X, workout

I cannot believe we are already approaching the middle of March. I am still trying to adjust to the switch over to daylight savings time. I am pretty sure I am still feeling the residual effects of losing that 1 hour of sleep.

Alright, no more babbling about sleep. Let’s talk about my real issue here…working out (or lack thereof). After starting off strong and posting weekly updates of progress, things took a sharp turn off track. I’m not trying to make excuses but between being sick for over a week, house activities, and really busy workdays lately, I’m having a hard time finding the time and motivation to keep up. Those 1.5hrs workouts are not easy to complete everyday! I tried to slightly remedy the problem by squeezing in some shorter bike workouts when I couldn’t dedicate all the time to p90x, but soon that stopped.

After thinking more about spring and summer approaching, and a trip to the Dominican Republic in a little over 3 months, I knew I needed to get it together and snap out of this. It’s time to put the girl scout cookies down and find a way to make time. Ultimately, there will always be house activities and job responsibilities so I need to stop using that has my excuse. So, this past Saturday we started all over again with Day 1/ Phase 1. Let’s hope it goes a little better this time. 🙂

Phase 1-week 2

Tags

P90X, workout

Feb 11-17

This week was a little difficult. I’m still working on setting aside enough time after work to establish a routine but things always get in the way. The whole diet part doesn’t seem to be happening. I’m doing better with the portion control, but I need gain self-control over sweets. Okay, that is enough of the negative. I am happy that I am at least making it through the workouts after long weekdays and I’m still optimistic that things will begin to improve.

1. Saturday: chest and back, abs
2. Sunday: plyometrics
3. Monday: shoulders, biceps, triceps, abs
4. Tuesday: supposed to be yoga but it was Valentines day so I skipped it for our fun dinner. (rest day)
5. Wednesday: missed another day blaaahhh
6. Thursday: legs and back, abs
7. Friday: karate (it was supposed to be a rest day but I already had 2 of those this week)

 

 

 

Phase 1-week 1

Tags

P90X, workout

Feb 4-11: The first week of P90x doubles

The transition back to P90x has not been as easy as I was hoping. For some reason I assumed that, even though I took time off from the program after finishing it last summer, I would be able to jump right in without any problems. While on a break from the program, I tried to stay somewhat active but in reality it is hard to replicate those workouts.

I started on the first day by taking my baseline measurements. This was the same notebook I used when I did the program last time. It made me a little sad to see how much progress I made before and how I pretty much lost most of it. But, then I thought about it a little more and decided that if I could do it then, I could certainly do it now. The results are attainable, I just need to get there again. It’s all about getting your mind straight (as they say throughout the whole program).

So, I am definitely feeling sore (but good sore) and I am still trying to block enough time in the day for the workouts but nonetheless, it was a good first week.  Luckily, the actual doubles part isn’t until phase 2 so I can ease into adding the extra workout in the morning. 🙂

Coconut water

Tags

coconut water, gym, workout, zico

Working out lately has been a little more difficult. I have tried to go back to my gym but found that the new times just were not working for my schedule and I was only really using it for yoga classes. This was not ideal since it is costing me $70/month. Unfortunately, the gym also has some silly policy which basically says it will take 2 months for the cancellation to take effect. I am slightly annoyed but what can I do. So I am riding it out until Oct. Hopefully by Oct, it will be cool enough outside to include outdoor activities in my routine. Besides being slowed down by all the work travel and limited class times that I can attend, I am still trying my best to pick up the pace.

Now that I am starting to slowly get back in my exercise routine, I have made a new discovery that I am absolutely obsessed with, Coconut water. I tried to supplement working out with protein drinks but I did not have a good drink to help with hydration. I’m not a huge fan of sports drinks and I needed something more than just water to keep me going, especially with those p90x workouts. So, after a little research, I decided that coconut water is the best all natural option.

Zico is one of 3 main brands but it is the only one that recently was found to have accurately listed its nutritional value. Apparently the others may have exaggerated a little. Anyways I really enjoy this drink option. It’s basically like sticking a straw in a coconut plus it’s healthy and natural with nothing added in the drink. Now that I found a drink that I like, let’s hope this helps to keep me on track.