Nope. I'm not too embarrassed to admit it. I was wrong. Legs & Back/Ab Ripper is still my least favorite workout. Back & Biceps was close, but nothing can compare to turning your legs into jelly and burning up your back, then being required to hold legs and arms in the air while contracting your midsection until it feels like one large muscle spasm.
Today was especially rough. First off, My Better Half (MBH) is a day behind, so he did Cardio this morning. Since that's one of the workouts I skipped, I jumped in, too. I'll fess up, I slacked off a little on the exercises requiring legs. But can you blame me? In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "I should not be doing this first. Why am I doing this first? I gotta do Legs & Back today. I barely survive that when I'm rested and it's my only activity of the day!" But it feels more efficient to do it with someone else. Wise time usage, adds a little competition, and a little humor. (Side note - Too much laughing, however, can have a negative effect on productivity.) Plus, after my last Cardio experience, I knew I could "Bring it" - I just chose a milder form for today. But even the mild version works you over pretty good.
Secondly, we still have half a container of soy miso in the fridge. It's expensive stuff. Even though we don't like it, I'm determined to use it til it's gone. Somehow. Therefore, lunch was a beef/pepper/onion stirfry with miso/arrowroot gravy. At first, I was all excited. The miso made a nice smooth gravy, adding a little flavor, but certainly nothing unpleasant. Miso has the benefit of being counted as a vegetable, not as a condiment or fat, which are restricted to two tablepoons a day. That meant that at supper, I could put both tablespoons of butter on my serving of butternut squash. Heaven on earth!
Unfortunately, miso in our family has some...unpleasant soy side effects. (If you are easily disgusted, you may want to skip this paragraph!) During the warmup, I couldn't do the jumping jacks because shaking pent-up gases (and other pent-up, ummm... substances) was proving very uncomfortable. (Soy protein bars have a warning label about their laxative effect for a reason!) Then, during the lifting and lunges, I kept having to take short 'musical' breaks - and then move to the other side of the room! (Anyone who is under the delusion that women don't pass gas is in for a rude awakening upon marriage. We just don't tend to get as excited about it as guys!) All those breaks really cut in to my momentum. MBH is even more soy-sensitive than I, so at supper we agreed it may be a long night. (Gotta love those heart-to-heart dinner chats!)
Ah well, live and learn. Who knows? Maybe I can have a group dinner sometime and serve miso gravy - that'd use it up fast! (Of couse, it might end the party fast, too!)
~Stick to it!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Day Thirty Three
Held the Yoga crane for two seconds today. (And for those of you who aren't impressed, you can try to best that feat next time I see you!) I don't mean to brag (well, actually I do, which is what usually follows that type of statement!) but I also did a pushup in the middle of each Vinyasa. (Ok, I'll admit it, once again, they were knee pushups, but still...a few weeks ago I couldn't even make it through all those nine-step torture-by-contortion punishments that were mandatory between every other experiment designed to exhaust every muscle I didn't know existed. Much less do the optional pushup in the middle.)
Personally, I think "Practice makes perfect!" is a load of hooey. Perfection is a nice thought, but unobtainable this side of heaven. A person can crush the joy out of life by trying to do the impossible. (Note: there is a marked difference between the 'impossible' and the 'extremely difficult.' Humanity is capable of doing much more than they often think. By all means, aim for what has never been done before. Many accomplishments once thought impossible have proven merely extremely difficult. However, perfection is impossible, so give it up.)
Therefore, I like to think, "Practice makes better." After four weeks of working on the guns, my triceps still flap like "grandma's seatbelt" but I've graduated to using two chairs for chair dips. I did succumb to a piece of dessert tonight (homemade caramel cream cheese flan, completely worth every illegal bite) but it's gotten easier to renounce the daily sugar of the past. And though I wander off into old patterns of thought or action, I understand that there is still work being done as I "press on to the goal, to the upward call."
~Stick to it!
Personally, I think "Practice makes perfect!" is a load of hooey. Perfection is a nice thought, but unobtainable this side of heaven. A person can crush the joy out of life by trying to do the impossible. (Note: there is a marked difference between the 'impossible' and the 'extremely difficult.' Humanity is capable of doing much more than they often think. By all means, aim for what has never been done before. Many accomplishments once thought impossible have proven merely extremely difficult. However, perfection is impossible, so give it up.)
Therefore, I like to think, "Practice makes better." After four weeks of working on the guns, my triceps still flap like "grandma's seatbelt" but I've graduated to using two chairs for chair dips. I did succumb to a piece of dessert tonight (homemade caramel cream cheese flan, completely worth every illegal bite) but it's gotten easier to renounce the daily sugar of the past. And though I wander off into old patterns of thought or action, I understand that there is still work being done as I "press on to the goal, to the upward call."
~Stick to it!
Day Thirty Two
I may not be a fan of the whole reincarnation/"circle of life" bit, but there is something to be said for cyclical experiences. Today, I barely made it through Back & Biceps, my new least-favorite workout. (Especially since I haven't done Legs & Back yet this week!) Ever heard of Corn Cob pullups? You should be grateful. Haul your sorry tush up there (or in my case mostly up there with the assistance of a exercise band and a jump from the bottom) then hold yourself at top height while moving your face over to your right hand, back straight across to your left hand, coming back to center, pushing straight out from the bar, coming back in...now release and slowly lower your body to hang from the bar. Now repeat! If you excuse the poor form and lack of completely clearing the bar, I did about four. (Ok, barely made it to three, tried another and collapsed. Does that still count? I was afraid that's what you were going to say.)
After the stellar work yesterday on Cardio, it was a bit of a deflation. Not only that but I skipped Ab Ripper and still barely made it to work on time. Then, a combination of a forgotten cell phone (don't ask), blown car fuse, stuck car windows, predicted downpour, and the temptation of a bonfire and hotdogs mean that I spent the night at my folks and never made it home to finish the workout. (Plus, I'm not even sure hotdogs have enough actual meat in them to count as a serving of protein.)
When they say life has it's ups and downs, what they really mean is life goes up and down and up and down and up and down and up and...you get the picture. If you aren't headed toward something good, you're headed toward something bad. Which is logical, but sometimes unfortunate. Therefore, if you are in an Up, enjoy it! And if you are in a Down, take comfort in its limited life span. This, too, will pass.
~Stick to it!
After the stellar work yesterday on Cardio, it was a bit of a deflation. Not only that but I skipped Ab Ripper and still barely made it to work on time. Then, a combination of a forgotten cell phone (don't ask), blown car fuse, stuck car windows, predicted downpour, and the temptation of a bonfire and hotdogs mean that I spent the night at my folks and never made it home to finish the workout. (Plus, I'm not even sure hotdogs have enough actual meat in them to count as a serving of protein.)
When they say life has it's ups and downs, what they really mean is life goes up and down and up and down and up and down and up and...you get the picture. If you aren't headed toward something good, you're headed toward something bad. Which is logical, but sometimes unfortunate. Therefore, if you are in an Up, enjoy it! And if you are in a Down, take comfort in its limited life span. This, too, will pass.
~Stick to it!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Day Thirty One
Red letter day! First of all, I kicked tush on Cardio today. Even did an extra rep at the end of most of the exercises. Contemplated the idea of trying Plyometrics next time. (It was a fleeting contemplation. The thought of all that jumping around has no attraction for me outside of the fitness challenge. There's a reason I don't play any sport that requires vertical movement!)
Second, I think I'm beginning to see some definition in the midsection. I put on twenty pounds within the first five months of getting married. When I ran screaming into the bedroom to blurt out the awful truth, My Better Half (being a calm and stable type) replied "I think that was to be expected. You're still hot!" (He's a keeper!) As my parents gifted me with a healthy body-esteem, it wasn't so much the amount as the placement that incensed me. I do not appreciate looking for jeans too big in the legs, so that they button over the gut.
Thirdly, first day back at work and it went well. I got up on time, did my workout, got all beautified, and still had time to eat before leaving. I wasn't sure how all the exercising, eating and working was going to work out. :) So far, so good!
~Stick to it!
Second, I think I'm beginning to see some definition in the midsection. I put on twenty pounds within the first five months of getting married. When I ran screaming into the bedroom to blurt out the awful truth, My Better Half (being a calm and stable type) replied "I think that was to be expected. You're still hot!" (He's a keeper!) As my parents gifted me with a healthy body-esteem, it wasn't so much the amount as the placement that incensed me. I do not appreciate looking for jeans too big in the legs, so that they button over the gut.
Thirdly, first day back at work and it went well. I got up on time, did my workout, got all beautified, and still had time to eat before leaving. I wasn't sure how all the exercising, eating and working was going to work out. :) So far, so good!
~Stick to it!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Day Thirty
It's official! Thirty days done, only sixty more to go. Week five also brings a new routine: Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps. The good news - no pullups. The bad news - lots of pushups. The good news - I can do one arm pushups! The bad news - I'm still doing the knee variation. ("Girl" pushups for those of you still sexist enough to use the term.)
This morning we didn't have enough time to do Ab Ripper after lifting (I know! Huge bummer, right?) so we popped it in this evening before supper. Tell you one thing - as a workout, it seemed harder starting it cold like that. But I'm not going to object to getting done in sixteen minutes. (Did I say the workout was twenty minutes long in an earlier post? That's because I thought it WAS twenty minutes. On the DVD, at ten minutes to go, Tony says "Halfway there!" Apparently, math isn't his strong suit either.)
~Stick to it!
This morning we didn't have enough time to do Ab Ripper after lifting (I know! Huge bummer, right?) so we popped it in this evening before supper. Tell you one thing - as a workout, it seemed harder starting it cold like that. But I'm not going to object to getting done in sixteen minutes. (Did I say the workout was twenty minutes long in an earlier post? That's because I thought it WAS twenty minutes. On the DVD, at ten minutes to go, Tony says "Halfway there!" Apparently, math isn't his strong suit either.)
~Stick to it!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Day Twenty Eight
Hopefully you haven't been following the dates of these blogs too closely. I am running an average of 1.467 days behind. (Don't you just love those percentages? Like the ones where the average American family has 1.2 kids. It's a funny mental picture!) Still, I highly doubt that your life revolves so closely around the memorizing of every post here that reading about yesterday instead of today causes severe emotional trauma. (And if it does...) For those of you who may be wondering, I completely made the 1.467 number up. I'm sure I could use a mathematical formula to give you an exact figure, however, math was never my strong suit, so I reserve my use of it for things that matter.
So this morning (and by that I mean the morning of day twenty eight even though, truth be told, it is currently the evening of day twenty nine) I did Core Synergistics again. (You'd think by now I would have double-checked the spelling.) The claim is that it may become the favorite workout, and I can see why. No repeating sets, works everything, keeps moving, etc. Not too shabby!
X Stretch this evening, with My Better Half alternating between providing comic relief and the competive push to excel. I am determined to make up the non-vacation days I missed. Doubles isn't so bad, though I don't plan to ever do the actual P90X doubles program which requires two-a-days. Can you imagine how far and how fast I'd fall behind in that! Nope, I'll just concentrate on finishing this first. First month down, only two to go!
~Stick to it!
So this morning (and by that I mean the morning of day twenty eight even though, truth be told, it is currently the evening of day twenty nine) I did Core Synergistics again. (You'd think by now I would have double-checked the spelling.) The claim is that it may become the favorite workout, and I can see why. No repeating sets, works everything, keeps moving, etc. Not too shabby!
X Stretch this evening, with My Better Half alternating between providing comic relief and the competive push to excel. I am determined to make up the non-vacation days I missed. Doubles isn't so bad, though I don't plan to ever do the actual P90X doubles program which requires two-a-days. Can you imagine how far and how fast I'd fall behind in that! Nope, I'll just concentrate on finishing this first. First month down, only two to go!
~Stick to it!
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