I did it!!!

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30 Day Shred

I've been getting frustrated at my lack of progress with the Push Up Challenge (still can't move past week 4), so I've decided to shake things up a bit. I had heard good things about The 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser fitness guru) so I decided to give it a whirl.

People - I have exercised at least 4 days a week for the past 10 years - and I found this TOUGH! You can tone it down a bit (there are 2 girls showing beginner and advance versions of the exercises) - you're just not allowed to stop! Well, maybe if you pass out you can stop for a few seconds. This is a very short workout - not counting warmup and cool down it is 18 mins of pure torture! She does 3 minutes of strength, then 2 minutes of cardio and then 1 minute of abs - and then does that same circuit over again three times in total, changing up the moves each time. There are 3 different workouts on the dvd (3 different levels). I have tried both level 1 and 2 so far.

I will keep you updated on how things are going, but I have a feeling this is going to get some results. This has got to be one of the most time effective, tough workouts I have ever done.

She is tough, no nonsense and brutally honest. Here are a few of her phrases.....
"I want you to feel like you're gargalling your heart"
"I want you to feel like you are going to die"

And, yes..... you do!

Edited to add: Just thought I should add on a little more info about the types of exercises performed during the workouts.

Strength moves: these usually incorporate lower and upper body moves simultaneously - such as bicep curls while doing lunges, or shoulder presses and squats, or front lateral raise with side squat, etc - and pushups of course!

Cardio: not for those with knee problems as there's a lot of jumping going on. Jumping jacks, butt kicks, high knee runs, "fake" jumping rope, etc - yep, brutal I tell ya.

Abs: pretty traditional moves - crunches, reverse crunches, both together, bicycles, ab moves from the plank position, etc.

There ya have it!

PushUp Update

I'm still doing the Hundred Pushup Challenge. Unfortunately I seem to have hit a plateau. I've been doing Week 4 Day 1 for at least 6 days now - it's just so brutally difficult I haven't been able to move past it. I guess I'll just have to keep at it. It's 5 sets of pushups (yes, from the toes!) - 21, 25, 21, 21, 32. Yep, brutal.

I've also just started doing the Two Hundred Sit Ups Challenge this past week. My abs are actually pretty strong from doing the pushup challenge - doing them normally I could do 72 which meant I could start on Week 5 of training. That seemed too easy, so I tried them on my Bender Ball instead. Can you say brutal?! So, yeah, definitely started with Week 1 training (still Level 3 though) using the Bender Ball - it is a challenge that's for sure!!

Unfortunately, the scale has actually inched up by 1 or 2 pounds. However, I know that muscle weighs more than fat, so that is likely the culprit.

Either way, hopefully I don't pack on too much over our cruise!

Push Up Update

So, after Week 2 of the PushUp training program you're supposed to do another exhaustion test to see where you're at. Basically you do as many consecutive pushups as you can without killing yourself. I had to do this before starting the program so see what level of training to follow.

Before starting the program I could do 11.

Now..... drum roll please..... I can do 28!

That's a pretty good improvement in 4 weeks of training I'd say (yes, it took me 4 weeks to do 2 weeks worth of training - I repeated one day for one week because it was so difficult, and took almost a week off when we went on our little trip). Unfortunately this also means I have to train at the highest level of training this week - and this week's training looks scary! Wish me luck.

Push Up Update

I have to admit that I did not do pushups during our little holiday - but I did swim every day and one day I even exercised on the hotel elliptical and treadmill for 30 mins (total, not each:)

But today I was back on the pushup attack and managed to do Week 2, Day 1 which was 5 sets of pushups - 14, 14, 10, 10, 15 with 60 seconds rest between each set. Which means I can do 63 pushups in less than 10 mins - not too shabby if I do say so myself!

PushUp Update

My abs are so sore. Seriously.

Pushups affect your abs much more than I thought they did. On Day 1 of my workout I had a really hard time doing the situps after the pushups. Today, for Day 2 - my abs hurt so bad I literally could not do the situps at all. So, I will wait till my abs have recovered a bit, and then I will do 1/2 the situps and see how that goes.

My armpits hurt too of course. Ugh - this is gonna be hard!

Each workout is 5 sets of pushups. Day 1 you rest 60 seconds, Day 2 you rest 90 seconds, Day 3 you rest 180 seconds (or more if needed), then it starts over again at 60 seconds. Today I did 10, 12, 8, 8 and then the max you can do - which was 14!!!! Go me!

New fitness goal

Since giving birth 10 months ago for the fourth time, I have managed to shed most of the baby weight I had leftover. I've lost about 20 lbs and have only about 6 more pounds to go to reach my goal weight. However, I've been at the point for about 2 months now already. Part of the problem? All my clothes fit again. Huh? How is that a problem you ask? Well, it's harder to be motivated when one of your big motivating factors was to be able to fit into your pre-baby clothes!

So, I'm making a new fitness goal - I found The Hundred Pushups Training Program. Now, I have to admit I'm rather out of shape at this point - something which is rather unusual for me actually. I have been committed to exercising about 5 days a week for about 10 years now. During the summer my exercise takes the form of hour to hour and a half long walks pushing a heavy double stoller with my best friend Candace. For some reason though, I just haven't managed to get myself back into exercising indoors after the weather made these outdoor walks rather unpleasant. And since I was only walking in the summer and not weight training - well, let's just say that I felt my pushup test was rather pathetic. I did the initial test which is basically just doing as many full body pushups as you can with proper form.

I did 11.

Now, I somewhat regretting pushing past 10 because that means my training program is starting off a lot harder than it would've been if I had done 10 cause I made it up into the next category! Argh! Anyway, today was my first training day and I am committing to going through the program and I'm making it public so I have some accountability!

I'm adding an extra challenge though - I'm also going for 100 situps (using the Bender Ball I purchased which makes them really hard!) . I'm using the same program to work up to this goal.

So, there you have it! Go me!

Edited to add: I am also doing aerobics every other day - and I'll likely do some lower body weight training the same days I do the pushups/situps training.