Wow, I just now am getting a chance to update this blog. But don't think I haven't worked out since Thursday (the last time I posted) because that's just not the case. It's been a few days, so forgive me if I forget some details.
Friday I forget what happened, but the evening hit quickly and I did not get to work out. I ate healthy though, so that counts.
Saturday I still had one more ESP-XC workout for Week 3, and that workout went well. It was Core/Balance and it went well. I got my 100 situps in in the finale and overall felt great about the workout.
Because I worked out Saturday I took Sunday off. Then came Monday. Monday was Legs, and this is a dreaded workout. It's hard, really hard, and my legs were on fire at the end. However, I think I had my best leg workout ever in this program and I felt great about it. I only get to do this workout one more time, since next week starts Month 2, the Strength phase, and all new workouts are coming out.
After the Legs workout the group came over and we ended up having a very interesting workout. We started with bench and pullups, which felt good, but then somehow we started rotating sets of 2 people and those 2 people would grapple for a few minutes. Mark's been showing us a bit of jiu jitsu (not to the level where any of us would claim to know what we're doing) but everyone got to roll with everyone at least once, and that took up about 45 minutes of the evening. It was fun! I really want to study jiu jitsu sometime soon so I'm going to look into it. But long story short the workout was a blast and it was awesome cardio!
Last night I hit play on Upper Body from the Endurance phase of ESP-XC. This was the last time I was doing this workout and I wanted to make it awesome! I pushed hard, held the pushups for a long time, held the chinup for the entire minute on the total gym, and overall had an amazing workout. and I did all 55 pushups in the finale! It was great!
So that's been the last few days. Just 3 more days in Month 1 of ESP-XC, and then onto the Strength phase!
Bring it!
Let's get Mazel-Tough!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Group Workout and Ab Ripper X
I got home a little later than I wanted to last night, and after a bit of being lazy time on the couch I realized I didn't have time for ESP-XC last night. Fortunately there's 5 workouts per week and the instructions aren't really clear on if I should take two days off, space them out, or what, so I opted to push my last workout of Week 3 to Friday (tonight). The group was still coming over the normal workout, so I wanted to have some energy for that. The ESP-XC workout that was scheduled was Core/Balance, and I knew that after 100 situps I would have no desire to do any weight training.
The group showed up around 7 and we got started around 7:20. I started out with hammer pullups. I don't know what to call them, but they use the hammer handles instead of the chinup or pullup handles. I focused on going really slow and going to full extension down, and I ended up with 2 sets of 4 and 2 sets of 3. It felt good, even though by the end I felt my arms hurting from the upper body workout from Wednesday.
After that I got into bench and did 2 sets of 10 and 1 set of 12. Then came a set of deadlifts, some more pullups and then came Ab Ripper....
I don't really know how we decided to do Ab Ripper, but I'm really happy we did it. It was the usual 15 minutes of absolute agony, followed by an amazing feeling of relief. I did all 50 Mason Twists and felt great about it.
So that was about it. Tonight I'm wrapping up Week 3 of ESP-XC.
Bring it!
The group showed up around 7 and we got started around 7:20. I started out with hammer pullups. I don't know what to call them, but they use the hammer handles instead of the chinup or pullup handles. I focused on going really slow and going to full extension down, and I ended up with 2 sets of 4 and 2 sets of 3. It felt good, even though by the end I felt my arms hurting from the upper body workout from Wednesday.
After that I got into bench and did 2 sets of 10 and 1 set of 12. Then came a set of deadlifts, some more pullups and then came Ab Ripper....
I don't really know how we decided to do Ab Ripper, but I'm really happy we did it. It was the usual 15 minutes of absolute agony, followed by an amazing feeling of relief. I did all 50 Mason Twists and felt great about it.
So that was about it. Tonight I'm wrapping up Week 3 of ESP-XC.
Bring it!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
ESP-XC Days 13 and 14
Forgot to blog yesterday. Sorry. Almost forgot to blog today. I've actually been playing on SpoonerSpot, a website that I'm beta testing, and lost track of time. That's beside the point though.
So last night was Cardio/Combo from the Endurance phase. I like this one because it's the most punching and kicking of any of the DVDs in the first month. Well, punching and knees. There aren't actually any kicks. But it's fun. Hard too. My cardio really needs work, and especially with my legs being shot from the day before (it was legs day) it made for a difficult workout. Also this is the only workout in month 1 that doesn't go in rounds, so there really aren't any breaks. It's a great workout, but rough. I did well with it. Broke a good sweat and fought through the leg pain. Good stuff.
After that I made ground turkey red beans and rice. It had spinach and tomatoes in it too. Healthy and tasty. I was pleased.
Tonight I got home from the office and hit play around 6:40. Today's workout was upper body. I've really only done this one once since last week I was tied up with the other workout during this one. Upper body is my favorite part to work since it's usually all weights; I like lifting weights. This one really doesn't have much weights (though it has some), but the whole thing is very different than a traditional weight lifting workout. There's a ton of doing one rep and holding it for 1 minute things. That's really hard in a chinup and a pushup. The chinup one I held for about 15 seconds, then a few more sets of 8 seconds. Good, but not great. But man did my biceps hurt afterwards! The pushup ones though I did great on! It was hold at the bottom for 10 seconds, followed by an up and then a straight back down, for 1 minute (so basically 6 reps). I did all of them. No breaks!
The shoulder stuff in this workout is great! Again it's all slow stuff or isolation stuff, but my shoulders were on fire by the end. All of the regular rep stuff went great too. It's all slow up, hold, slow down, repeat. That gets difficult after a few reps, and it's never just a few reps in this workout.
The whole thing ends with 10, 9, 8....., 2, 1 pushups, totaling 55 pushups done in under 3 minutes (2:30 in the DVD). They started to get hard around the 5 mark but I did them all, and actually did them a little faster than the DVD folks so I did the last 1 rep with them too.
Overall a great workout yesterday and today. Tomorrow is Core/Balance one more time to round out Week 3, followed by the group workout. Wish me luck!
Bring it!
So last night was Cardio/Combo from the Endurance phase. I like this one because it's the most punching and kicking of any of the DVDs in the first month. Well, punching and knees. There aren't actually any kicks. But it's fun. Hard too. My cardio really needs work, and especially with my legs being shot from the day before (it was legs day) it made for a difficult workout. Also this is the only workout in month 1 that doesn't go in rounds, so there really aren't any breaks. It's a great workout, but rough. I did well with it. Broke a good sweat and fought through the leg pain. Good stuff.
After that I made ground turkey red beans and rice. It had spinach and tomatoes in it too. Healthy and tasty. I was pleased.
Tonight I got home from the office and hit play around 6:40. Today's workout was upper body. I've really only done this one once since last week I was tied up with the other workout during this one. Upper body is my favorite part to work since it's usually all weights; I like lifting weights. This one really doesn't have much weights (though it has some), but the whole thing is very different than a traditional weight lifting workout. There's a ton of doing one rep and holding it for 1 minute things. That's really hard in a chinup and a pushup. The chinup one I held for about 15 seconds, then a few more sets of 8 seconds. Good, but not great. But man did my biceps hurt afterwards! The pushup ones though I did great on! It was hold at the bottom for 10 seconds, followed by an up and then a straight back down, for 1 minute (so basically 6 reps). I did all of them. No breaks!
The shoulder stuff in this workout is great! Again it's all slow stuff or isolation stuff, but my shoulders were on fire by the end. All of the regular rep stuff went great too. It's all slow up, hold, slow down, repeat. That gets difficult after a few reps, and it's never just a few reps in this workout.
The whole thing ends with 10, 9, 8....., 2, 1 pushups, totaling 55 pushups done in under 3 minutes (2:30 in the DVD). They started to get hard around the 5 mark but I did them all, and actually did them a little faster than the DVD folks so I did the last 1 rep with them too.
Overall a great workout yesterday and today. Tomorrow is Core/Balance one more time to round out Week 3, followed by the group workout. Wish me luck!
Bring it!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
ESP-XC Day 12: Endurance Legs plus the group workout
ESP-XC preaches throughout the whole program that "Legs and abs separate the pros from the Joes" Pretty much every workout in some way works the legs and to a lesser extent the abs, and that makes the leg workout, at least the one I've been doing in Month 1, extremely difficult.
It doesn't help that my legs are weak. Weak is a relative term....they're actually the most defined portion of my body. We were being dumb in the gym last week showing calf and quad muscles, and somehow mine were the most defined of the group. I've been working out a while and have always done sports and activities that require a lot of leg, so my legs are pretty awesome looking. But strength wise, or maybe it's endurance wise, they give out quick and this workout is excruciating!
The workout goes back and forth between holding something with your legs for a minute or two, followed by slow movement exercises like lunges and squats. There's almost no weights used, but it's still so painful. The frog sits in the beginning got my legs feeling sore within a minute, and the second minute was me holding for ten seconds and then taking a five second break over and over. The rest of the workout went similar. On a few sets of the one leg lunges I felt like my quad was going to explode. It's a genuinely painful feeling, like a muscle became a knife and is determined to rip through my skin. I pushed through and did the whole exercise, even though one set has you going ten right ten left, and I could only manage five right five left.
So overall a good workout, but I don't understand why my legs hurt me so much! I want to be a pro, not a Joe!
Anyways, that was started around 6:15, so I finished right as the group was arriving for workout. We talked for about five minutes and then hit the gym around 7:15.
The first thing we did was a round of Ab Ripper X. We had talked about it via Facebook during the day, and since it'd been a while (not once in 2012 so far!) since we'd done Ab Ripper we decided to START the workout with that. Ya, start....
So we hit play and all found room on the floor. No one made it through, and we probably should have done a better warmup, especially for our legs. Mine were already killing me (obviously). But we did Ab Ripper and all of us got an excellent ab workout in!
We hit up 300 next. I did pullups for 2 sets of 5. I realize my numbers were higher a few weeks ago, but I'm really focusing on doing the full range of motion at a slow slow tempo, and that really does make it harder.
Deadlift was next and I did 2 sets of 10 and 1 set of 5 at 135. It felt good, but towards the end my legs were giving out.
I finished with 2 sets of 15 on bench at 135. It always amazes me that even though I can (or could) do sets of 5 at 175, 135 still feels extremely heavy. I was proud of my two sets of 15.
After that I went inside to check on Heather but she was sound asleep on the couch. I didn't want to wake her but was pretty sure she hadn't eaten all day, so I did a quick stretch, called it quits on the gym for the night and got started on dinner. I made turkey burgers and rice.
So ya, I'm pleased with the night's workout. After the workout and dinner I got started on some work. My company is creating a very cool, unique new product (I'll post a link sometime soon) so I'm going to be working around the clock for a few weeks. Stayed up til midnight working, then went to bed, and got up this morning about 30 minutes ago to work some more. I'm just using this blog to wake myself up (working good so far!).
Tonight I'm going to get my Cardio/Combo workout in and follow it up with more work or sleep depending how I'm feeling.
Bring it!
It doesn't help that my legs are weak. Weak is a relative term....they're actually the most defined portion of my body. We were being dumb in the gym last week showing calf and quad muscles, and somehow mine were the most defined of the group. I've been working out a while and have always done sports and activities that require a lot of leg, so my legs are pretty awesome looking. But strength wise, or maybe it's endurance wise, they give out quick and this workout is excruciating!
The workout goes back and forth between holding something with your legs for a minute or two, followed by slow movement exercises like lunges and squats. There's almost no weights used, but it's still so painful. The frog sits in the beginning got my legs feeling sore within a minute, and the second minute was me holding for ten seconds and then taking a five second break over and over. The rest of the workout went similar. On a few sets of the one leg lunges I felt like my quad was going to explode. It's a genuinely painful feeling, like a muscle became a knife and is determined to rip through my skin. I pushed through and did the whole exercise, even though one set has you going ten right ten left, and I could only manage five right five left.
So overall a good workout, but I don't understand why my legs hurt me so much! I want to be a pro, not a Joe!
Anyways, that was started around 6:15, so I finished right as the group was arriving for workout. We talked for about five minutes and then hit the gym around 7:15.
The first thing we did was a round of Ab Ripper X. We had talked about it via Facebook during the day, and since it'd been a while (not once in 2012 so far!) since we'd done Ab Ripper we decided to START the workout with that. Ya, start....
So we hit play and all found room on the floor. No one made it through, and we probably should have done a better warmup, especially for our legs. Mine were already killing me (obviously). But we did Ab Ripper and all of us got an excellent ab workout in!
We hit up 300 next. I did pullups for 2 sets of 5. I realize my numbers were higher a few weeks ago, but I'm really focusing on doing the full range of motion at a slow slow tempo, and that really does make it harder.
Deadlift was next and I did 2 sets of 10 and 1 set of 5 at 135. It felt good, but towards the end my legs were giving out.
I finished with 2 sets of 15 on bench at 135. It always amazes me that even though I can (or could) do sets of 5 at 175, 135 still feels extremely heavy. I was proud of my two sets of 15.
After that I went inside to check on Heather but she was sound asleep on the couch. I didn't want to wake her but was pretty sure she hadn't eaten all day, so I did a quick stretch, called it quits on the gym for the night and got started on dinner. I made turkey burgers and rice.
So ya, I'm pleased with the night's workout. After the workout and dinner I got started on some work. My company is creating a very cool, unique new product (I'll post a link sometime soon) so I'm going to be working around the clock for a few weeks. Stayed up til midnight working, then went to bed, and got up this morning about 30 minutes ago to work some more. I'm just using this blog to wake myself up (working good so far!).
Tonight I'm going to get my Cardio/Combo workout in and follow it up with more work or sleep depending how I'm feeling.
Bring it!
Monday, February 20, 2012
ESP-XC Days 10 and 11 - Endurance Core/Balance
I have two workouts to recap plus one crazy birthday event in the middle. The two workouts were both Core/Balance from the Endurance phase, and it occurs to me that it's kind of lame that the end of Week 2 and the beginning of Week 3 are the same workout. Meh, at least it's a fun workout.
Friday I got home from the office and hit play on this DVD. Awesome workout as always. The 100 situps at the end seemed to go by really fast; so fast, in fact, that I finished before the guys on the DVD by a good 30 reps. Overall a good workout.
Saturday I worked out of the house most of the day, and that night we went out for my and Heather's birthday. The group went to sushi followed by a big Mardi Gras party called Naughty Gras. Very successful evening, we had about 20 people floating in and out of the group and we all got home around 2:30 am. Very fun way to bring in my old age.
Yesterday was the beginning of Week 3 of ESP-XC, and like I said, it was Core/Balance again. My roommate decided to join me for this workout, which was good cuz it forced me to work a little bit harder on some of the isometric stuff. I held Superman pose longer than ever before (still not the full 2 minutes though), I held the entire plank, and the rest I kept my pace up really well. Also on the situps I tried to go a lot slower than I have been. I ended up finishing my situps about the same time as the trainers this time, and I kept a good pace rather than focusing on sets of 30 or 20, which is what I have been doing. This felt harder so the slow tempo is what I'm going to stick to.
Overall a good weekend and two good workouts. Right now I'm writing this blog to get my head clear because I've gotta get some work completed before I go in today.
Tonight it's Legs and the usual group workout. I'll let you know how it goes.
Bring it!
Friday I got home from the office and hit play on this DVD. Awesome workout as always. The 100 situps at the end seemed to go by really fast; so fast, in fact, that I finished before the guys on the DVD by a good 30 reps. Overall a good workout.
Saturday I worked out of the house most of the day, and that night we went out for my and Heather's birthday. The group went to sushi followed by a big Mardi Gras party called Naughty Gras. Very successful evening, we had about 20 people floating in and out of the group and we all got home around 2:30 am. Very fun way to bring in my old age.
Yesterday was the beginning of Week 3 of ESP-XC, and like I said, it was Core/Balance again. My roommate decided to join me for this workout, which was good cuz it forced me to work a little bit harder on some of the isometric stuff. I held Superman pose longer than ever before (still not the full 2 minutes though), I held the entire plank, and the rest I kept my pace up really well. Also on the situps I tried to go a lot slower than I have been. I ended up finishing my situps about the same time as the trainers this time, and I kept a good pace rather than focusing on sets of 30 or 20, which is what I have been doing. This felt harder so the slow tempo is what I'm going to stick to.
Overall a good weekend and two good workouts. Right now I'm writing this blog to get my head clear because I've gotta get some work completed before I go in today.
Tonight it's Legs and the usual group workout. I'll let you know how it goes.
Bring it!
Friday, February 17, 2012
ESP-XC Day 9: Endurance Upper Body
Got into Endurance Upper Body from ESP-XC last night. Unfortunately it was also workout night and I had to take care of some stuff before hand, leaving me stuck doing my workout during group gym time again. I had promised everyone on Monday I wouldn't do that, so I put the DVD and did a combo of 300 and upper body. Basically between my sets of 300 I did whatever the DVD was doing. I got a good workout, but it wasn't great. In about a week I'll have some big stuff off of my plate and I can get back into working out in the morning on those days, which will really help me out.
Despite the kind of sort of ESP-XC workout I definitely worked out and I'm counting it! Today I'll hit up Core/Balance and wrap up Week 2. I don't think I'm going to post tomorrow, so just in case tomorrow is my girlfriend Heather's birthday and I want to wish her a very happy birthday!
Ok, tonight's workout sounds fun. I'm ready! Bring it!
Despite the kind of sort of ESP-XC workout I definitely worked out and I'm counting it! Today I'll hit up Core/Balance and wrap up Week 2. I don't think I'm going to post tomorrow, so just in case tomorrow is my girlfriend Heather's birthday and I want to wish her a very happy birthday!
Ok, tonight's workout sounds fun. I'm ready! Bring it!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
ESP-XC Day 8: Endurance Cardio/Combo and a tribute to Jerrame Glenn
Well, last night was kind of a whirlwind of events and emotions, so let's recap that.
It was Valentine's Day, as I mentioned in the last post. I got home around 5:30 from the office, sat for ten minutes and then went straight into the gym. I hit play on Cardio/Combo from the Endurance phase. My legs were in absolute agony from the night before and it made the workout very difficult. The whole thing goes back and forth between a combo (punch, knee, elbow, etc.) and a cardio exercise (weird jumping jacks, regular jumping jacks, burpees, etc.). I made it about 20 minutes in and all of a sudden my body decided to be extremely tired and sore. I pushed through and finished the workout, but the intensity in the second half wasn't even close to what I've normally been bringing to my workouts.
I got done around 6:45 and would overall give the workout a low B. Not terrible at all, but between my legs and my energy the second half I'm not to thrilled with either.
After that was dinner. I met Heather at her restaurant, Mr. B's, around 8. They were packed, which slowed dinner down a bit, but I had my veal with ham and sauce and whatever else it is (it's mighty tasty) and it was a great night. And I got to dance with my girlfriend! I'm not a really mushy guy, I've never been into Valentine's Day and even relationships are something that a part of my brain doesn't fully grasp, but I know that spending last night dancing with Heather was awesome and I'm smiling now just thinking about it!
So I came home and went to work on some homework, but sadly I got some news about a friend of mine from high school named Jerrame Glenn. Apparently Jerrame took his life about a week ago. I was never incredible friends with Jerrame, but we were in band together from 6th grade through the end of high school. I shared a room with him for a week when we went to Hawaii 10 years ago on a band trip. I have nothing but good memories for Jerrame and was very sad to hear that this had happened to him. So I'm dedicating a part of this post to Jerrame. I'm sorry things ended up the way they did for you sir, but please know that I have nothing but excellent memories of you, and I will always remember you as a positive, caring individual.
...
...
...
So that's my post for the day. No workout tonight. It's actually my birthday (I'm not big on birthdays, but I guess last year I didn't work out so that seems like a nice little tradition) today so I'm going to see the folks for dinner tonight. That's all I've got.
Bring it!
It was Valentine's Day, as I mentioned in the last post. I got home around 5:30 from the office, sat for ten minutes and then went straight into the gym. I hit play on Cardio/Combo from the Endurance phase. My legs were in absolute agony from the night before and it made the workout very difficult. The whole thing goes back and forth between a combo (punch, knee, elbow, etc.) and a cardio exercise (weird jumping jacks, regular jumping jacks, burpees, etc.). I made it about 20 minutes in and all of a sudden my body decided to be extremely tired and sore. I pushed through and finished the workout, but the intensity in the second half wasn't even close to what I've normally been bringing to my workouts.
I got done around 6:45 and would overall give the workout a low B. Not terrible at all, but between my legs and my energy the second half I'm not to thrilled with either.
After that was dinner. I met Heather at her restaurant, Mr. B's, around 8. They were packed, which slowed dinner down a bit, but I had my veal with ham and sauce and whatever else it is (it's mighty tasty) and it was a great night. And I got to dance with my girlfriend! I'm not a really mushy guy, I've never been into Valentine's Day and even relationships are something that a part of my brain doesn't fully grasp, but I know that spending last night dancing with Heather was awesome and I'm smiling now just thinking about it!
So I came home and went to work on some homework, but sadly I got some news about a friend of mine from high school named Jerrame Glenn. Apparently Jerrame took his life about a week ago. I was never incredible friends with Jerrame, but we were in band together from 6th grade through the end of high school. I shared a room with him for a week when we went to Hawaii 10 years ago on a band trip. I have nothing but good memories for Jerrame and was very sad to hear that this had happened to him. So I'm dedicating a part of this post to Jerrame. I'm sorry things ended up the way they did for you sir, but please know that I have nothing but excellent memories of you, and I will always remember you as a positive, caring individual.
...
...
...
So that's my post for the day. No workout tonight. It's actually my birthday (I'm not big on birthdays, but I guess last year I didn't work out so that seems like a nice little tradition) today so I'm going to see the folks for dinner tonight. That's all I've got.
Bring it!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
ESP-XC Day 7: Endurance Legs and a little bit of jits
So weird thing about me....about once ever two months I'll wake up with the hiccups, and they won't stop until I go to bed. Well, they'll stop, but only for a little while. Basically I'll have them for about 30 minutes, then they'll go away for an hour, and that repeats all day. And they're painful hiccups. So anyways, I was going to start ESP-XC last night around 6, but my hiccups lasted til after 6:40! There was no way I was going to get the workout done before everyone came over for the night's workout. Then I had an idea....what if I do legs while everyone else does 300?
So that's what I did. We got started around 7:30 and everyone decided to do the first round with me on ESP-XC. Legs is so far the hardest DVD I've done from this program and I was impressed with everyone holding out. Well, until the second minute of the squat hold thing in the beginning. In that exercise you sink into a squat, and then hold it for 2 minutes. Yup, 2 minutes. I made it just about a minute before I needed a break, and the second half was me holding for sets of 10 seconds. At that point everyone else had pretty much gone on to 300.
So I had a killer leg workout last night. I'm really trying to go all the way through the motions on this exercise because my legs have always been a weak part of my body in terms of working out. How they feel today, I feel pretty sure that they got a good workout!
I finished the workout and everyone else still had a few more exercises to do on 300, so I decided to keep working out. My roommate was in there too (the one who practices jiu jitsu) and we decided to spar (roll? I don't know what it's called). I'm not very good and only know enough to sometimes not get taken to the ground, but it's still fun and an amazing workout! So we rolled a few times, and the first two rounds he dominated. Somehow the third round I actually got him in a choke. No clue what kind of choke it was, but it was a choke! He tapped! I couldn't believe it! Still no clue how I did it or what I did, but I was impressed with myself.
After that Mark pretty much destroyed me and punished me for getting that choke, but it was still awesome. He kept trying to choke me and I wasn't going to let it happen, but getting cranked on the chin sucks a lot and I had to tap.
I did a few pullups and floor wipers and that was the end of my workout. Overall a good workout and great progress on week 2 of ESP-XC.
Quick note, today is Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day to my girlfriend, my love, Heather! Tonight we're going to dinner around 8, so I'm going to get home, workout and then head over to the restaurant. Should be a fun night!
Bring it!
So that's what I did. We got started around 7:30 and everyone decided to do the first round with me on ESP-XC. Legs is so far the hardest DVD I've done from this program and I was impressed with everyone holding out. Well, until the second minute of the squat hold thing in the beginning. In that exercise you sink into a squat, and then hold it for 2 minutes. Yup, 2 minutes. I made it just about a minute before I needed a break, and the second half was me holding for sets of 10 seconds. At that point everyone else had pretty much gone on to 300.
So I had a killer leg workout last night. I'm really trying to go all the way through the motions on this exercise because my legs have always been a weak part of my body in terms of working out. How they feel today, I feel pretty sure that they got a good workout!
I finished the workout and everyone else still had a few more exercises to do on 300, so I decided to keep working out. My roommate was in there too (the one who practices jiu jitsu) and we decided to spar (roll? I don't know what it's called). I'm not very good and only know enough to sometimes not get taken to the ground, but it's still fun and an amazing workout! So we rolled a few times, and the first two rounds he dominated. Somehow the third round I actually got him in a choke. No clue what kind of choke it was, but it was a choke! He tapped! I couldn't believe it! Still no clue how I did it or what I did, but I was impressed with myself.
After that Mark pretty much destroyed me and punished me for getting that choke, but it was still awesome. He kept trying to choke me and I wasn't going to let it happen, but getting cranked on the chin sucks a lot and I had to tap.
I did a few pullups and floor wipers and that was the end of my workout. Overall a good workout and great progress on week 2 of ESP-XC.
Quick note, today is Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day to my girlfriend, my love, Heather! Tonight we're going to dinner around 8, so I'm going to get home, workout and then head over to the restaurant. Should be a fun night!
Bring it!
Monday, February 13, 2012
ESP-XC Day 6: Endurance Core/Balance
Week 2 of ESP-XC has officially begun. For some reason this program doesn't count the rest days as days, so according to the program this workout was Day 6. I'm going to stick with that on the titles, but know that this was the first workout of Week 2.
Last night's workout was Core/Balance from the Endurance phase. I got to do this workout last week once and this week I'm starting my week with it. It's an interesting workout. It goes back and forth between balance and core stuff. The balance stuff isn't too hard for me, in the sense that I have pretty good balance. That doesn't mean it was easy, but I didn't break a sweat much in these sections. In the core stuff though I really felt my abs getting a workout and I was soaked by the end of each core exercise. Things like holding Superman pose for 2 minutes (yup, 2 minutes P90Xers!), doing a situp and going into boat pose, side crunches and a lot more along those lines. The workout even ends with 100 situps. Fortunately I'm good with situps and ended up finishing them about 20 reps before the crew on the TV, so I threw in 10 more for a total of 110 reps.
Overall it was a good workout, and I like the mix of hard and not hard. It was a very lazy relaxing weekend and working extremely hard didn't sound up my alley.
Tonight I have another round of Legs (didn't we just do this workout?) followed by the group working out as usual. Should be fun.
Also tomorrow is Valentine's Day so the workout will be tight to get in (that's what she said?) but I'm going to make it work somehow. Then the rest of the week is interesting with my birthday (I'm getting old) followed a few days later by my girlfriend's birthday. Should be fun, but a very hectic week.
K, that's all I've got for the moment.
Bring it!
Last night's workout was Core/Balance from the Endurance phase. I got to do this workout last week once and this week I'm starting my week with it. It's an interesting workout. It goes back and forth between balance and core stuff. The balance stuff isn't too hard for me, in the sense that I have pretty good balance. That doesn't mean it was easy, but I didn't break a sweat much in these sections. In the core stuff though I really felt my abs getting a workout and I was soaked by the end of each core exercise. Things like holding Superman pose for 2 minutes (yup, 2 minutes P90Xers!), doing a situp and going into boat pose, side crunches and a lot more along those lines. The workout even ends with 100 situps. Fortunately I'm good with situps and ended up finishing them about 20 reps before the crew on the TV, so I threw in 10 more for a total of 110 reps.
Overall it was a good workout, and I like the mix of hard and not hard. It was a very lazy relaxing weekend and working extremely hard didn't sound up my alley.
Tonight I have another round of Legs (didn't we just do this workout?) followed by the group working out as usual. Should be fun.
Also tomorrow is Valentine's Day so the workout will be tight to get in (that's what she said?) but I'm going to make it work somehow. Then the rest of the week is interesting with my birthday (I'm getting old) followed a few days later by my girlfriend's birthday. Should be fun, but a very hectic week.
K, that's all I've got for the moment.
Bring it!
Friday, February 10, 2012
ESP-XC Day 5: Endurance Legs and more 300
I hit play around 6:30 last night on Legs, the final workout in Week 1 of ESP-XC. On Sunday I made the comment that this was one of the best leg workouts I'd ever done and it was enjoyable. Last night, not so much. It's the same workout, obviously, but being the end of the week my legs were feeling pretty beaten and I really tried to push it, making them hurt even more!
This workout focuses almost entirely on body weight stuff, and there's lots of isometric moves in there. The beginning and end both focus on holding a squat for 1 or 2 minutes (I can't remember how long....felt like a few years personally), and throughout the whole workout there's lots of lunges and single leg squats. I feel like I take it easy on leg day sometimes (it's my least favorite body part to work) and I'm really trying to make that no the case in these workouts. That means that my legs are truly killing me today! Sharp pains from going deep on some moves made me know that I did well, but afterwards hurt like a bitch!
The gang came over right as the DVD was wrapping up. We hit the bag for a few minutes, then stretched, and then got into 300. It was an awesome 300 day! My pullup numbers have gone down, but that's because I'm really focusing on going slow with a full range of motion. These pullups were quality. Deadlifts at 135 were good; I did 3 sets of 10. It's amazing how much energy deadlifts zap from me, even at 135 (I was deadlifting 205 a few weeks ago!).
Floor wipers, body squats (no jumping squats today with the leg workout having just been completed), bench press (32 reps total at 135) and more pullups rounded out the workout. Overall I was very pleased.
So that was yesterday. It doesn't look like I'll be able to workout today. Dinner with the folks and grandparents, so maybe tomorrow I'll hit the gym in the morning. We'll see.
Week 1 of ESP-XC is done! So far I'm liking the program a lot and can't wait to get better at these workouts!
Bring it!
This workout focuses almost entirely on body weight stuff, and there's lots of isometric moves in there. The beginning and end both focus on holding a squat for 1 or 2 minutes (I can't remember how long....felt like a few years personally), and throughout the whole workout there's lots of lunges and single leg squats. I feel like I take it easy on leg day sometimes (it's my least favorite body part to work) and I'm really trying to make that no the case in these workouts. That means that my legs are truly killing me today! Sharp pains from going deep on some moves made me know that I did well, but afterwards hurt like a bitch!
The gang came over right as the DVD was wrapping up. We hit the bag for a few minutes, then stretched, and then got into 300. It was an awesome 300 day! My pullup numbers have gone down, but that's because I'm really focusing on going slow with a full range of motion. These pullups were quality. Deadlifts at 135 were good; I did 3 sets of 10. It's amazing how much energy deadlifts zap from me, even at 135 (I was deadlifting 205 a few weeks ago!).
Floor wipers, body squats (no jumping squats today with the leg workout having just been completed), bench press (32 reps total at 135) and more pullups rounded out the workout. Overall I was very pleased.
So that was yesterday. It doesn't look like I'll be able to workout today. Dinner with the folks and grandparents, so maybe tomorrow I'll hit the gym in the morning. We'll see.
Week 1 of ESP-XC is done! So far I'm liking the program a lot and can't wait to get better at these workouts!
Bring it!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
ESP-XC Day 4: Endurance Cardio/Combo
Day 4 of ESP-XC is in the books. I got through Cardio/Combo from the Endurance phase last night. I did this workout once before, a week ago, when I was just trying to get a feel for this program to make sure it was something I wanted to do. It was a lot of fun that day. Last night when I did this workout it was noticeably less fun, but still fun and an awesome workout overall!
I hit play around 6:30 and this thing instantly takes off. Two minutes of jumping jacks and then right into a combo. The jumping jacks were killing my calves at the end of the two minutes, and this is when I realized that it wasn't going to be as fun of a workout; my legs are dying from the other ESP-XC workouts from this week! Doing the workout fresh is one thing, but doing it after doing this program all week is very different and much harder!
The combo mentioned above is long, but a good start to the workout. I think it's two straight punches, two ducks, two hooks, two elbows, two covers, two upper cuts and four knees. If that sounds like a lot then I agree with you.
The rest of the workout goes like that, switching back and forth between a basic cardio exercise and a punch/knee combo. No actual kicks in this workout, but I'm expecting those to show up in later phases.
The whole thing ends with a finale (all of the workouts end with a finale in this....it's a cool little twist) of 5 counts of running in place, 5 counts of high knees in place and 3 sprawls, all for 3 minutes. The sprawls really worked me, but by the end I was covered in sweat and I never gave up!
These workouts have so far been an excellent challenge. They all work my body in ways different than what I'm used to. I can do all of them, pretty much, which is a testament to my strength and conditioning from the last year and a half, but keeping up is still difficult and I've got a long way to go on my belly, which says a lot for growth and diet.
So that's my story. I realize yesterday (and the day before) I said I was gonna do Pt24/7 too, but time just isn't on my side these days. Soon I want to get back into a doubles schedule but I've gotta get a few things off of my plate first.
Tonight is Legs again and then I'm officially done with Week 1. I'll be lifting afterwards too with the gang, and tomorrow isn't a scheduled workout but I'm going back to Sunday through Friday on, Saturdays off, so I'll find something fun to do. I'll keep you posted.
Bring it!
I hit play around 6:30 and this thing instantly takes off. Two minutes of jumping jacks and then right into a combo. The jumping jacks were killing my calves at the end of the two minutes, and this is when I realized that it wasn't going to be as fun of a workout; my legs are dying from the other ESP-XC workouts from this week! Doing the workout fresh is one thing, but doing it after doing this program all week is very different and much harder!
The combo mentioned above is long, but a good start to the workout. I think it's two straight punches, two ducks, two hooks, two elbows, two covers, two upper cuts and four knees. If that sounds like a lot then I agree with you.
The rest of the workout goes like that, switching back and forth between a basic cardio exercise and a punch/knee combo. No actual kicks in this workout, but I'm expecting those to show up in later phases.
The whole thing ends with a finale (all of the workouts end with a finale in this....it's a cool little twist) of 5 counts of running in place, 5 counts of high knees in place and 3 sprawls, all for 3 minutes. The sprawls really worked me, but by the end I was covered in sweat and I never gave up!
These workouts have so far been an excellent challenge. They all work my body in ways different than what I'm used to. I can do all of them, pretty much, which is a testament to my strength and conditioning from the last year and a half, but keeping up is still difficult and I've got a long way to go on my belly, which says a lot for growth and diet.
So that's my story. I realize yesterday (and the day before) I said I was gonna do Pt24/7 too, but time just isn't on my side these days. Soon I want to get back into a doubles schedule but I've gotta get a few things off of my plate first.
Tonight is Legs again and then I'm officially done with Week 1. I'll be lifting afterwards too with the gang, and tomorrow isn't a scheduled workout but I'm going back to Sunday through Friday on, Saturdays off, so I'll find something fun to do. I'll keep you posted.
Bring it!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
ESP-XC Day 3: Endurance Core/Balance
Alright, I'm moving forward full steam with ESP-XC and so far I've gotta say that it's awesome!
I had to take care of some stuff when I got home last night, but ended up hitting play about 6:45. Last night's workout was Core/Balance from the Endurance phase. This was a very interesting workout. My balance is pretty decent, always has been. So the balance stuff felt like a really good stretch. The abs section was pretty intense. There were some moves I'd never seen before and the vast majority of the entire workout was on body weight stuff. There were also a few things that were from P90X and other workouts like that, but because this is endurance we did things for a lot longer than I'm used to. Like Supermans. In P90X you do Superman for 10 seconds, then put it down. In ESP-XC you do Superman (attempt is probably a better word) for 2 minutes! Crazy, but that's how you build endurance.
The whole thing ended with 100 situps. I may have a layer of pudge but I can handle some situps. They sucked but I completed all 100 and felt great at the end!
So I know I'm less than a full week into this program but I've gotta say that so far this is one of my favorite workout programs ever. Ken, the trainer, is a real fighter and he comes across as knowing what he's talking about. And the program itself focuses on actually getting better at martial arts (last night's workout he even says that this is for someone who can't afford a trainer but has a fight coming up). I'm not a fighter...just a guy who likes MMA and likes to pretend....but I definitely appreciate the reality of these workouts. And so far they're mostly body weight stuff, which has been really interesting. My upper body feels incredible after Monday's workout, and it's been a while since I've really felt "worked" after a workout.
Tonight is Cardio/Combo. I did this one last week just to try it and I'm really excited to do it tonight. I also might try to do PT24/7 after, or possibly Bas Rutten, but we will see.
Bring it!
I had to take care of some stuff when I got home last night, but ended up hitting play about 6:45. Last night's workout was Core/Balance from the Endurance phase. This was a very interesting workout. My balance is pretty decent, always has been. So the balance stuff felt like a really good stretch. The abs section was pretty intense. There were some moves I'd never seen before and the vast majority of the entire workout was on body weight stuff. There were also a few things that were from P90X and other workouts like that, but because this is endurance we did things for a lot longer than I'm used to. Like Supermans. In P90X you do Superman for 10 seconds, then put it down. In ESP-XC you do Superman (attempt is probably a better word) for 2 minutes! Crazy, but that's how you build endurance.
The whole thing ended with 100 situps. I may have a layer of pudge but I can handle some situps. They sucked but I completed all 100 and felt great at the end!
So I know I'm less than a full week into this program but I've gotta say that so far this is one of my favorite workout programs ever. Ken, the trainer, is a real fighter and he comes across as knowing what he's talking about. And the program itself focuses on actually getting better at martial arts (last night's workout he even says that this is for someone who can't afford a trainer but has a fight coming up). I'm not a fighter...just a guy who likes MMA and likes to pretend....but I definitely appreciate the reality of these workouts. And so far they're mostly body weight stuff, which has been really interesting. My upper body feels incredible after Monday's workout, and it's been a while since I've really felt "worked" after a workout.
Tonight is Cardio/Combo. I did this one last week just to try it and I'm really excited to do it tonight. I also might try to do PT24/7 after, or possibly Bas Rutten, but we will see.
Bring it!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
ESP-XC Day 2: Upper Body and some weight lifting
I got home a little later than I wanted to last night (grocery store, work stuff, etc. kept me out of the house) but I finally hit play on the Endurance Upper Body workout from ESP-XC around 6:30. This is a very cool workout, and was completely different than I thought it would be. I'm in the Endurance Phase of this program. Each month is a different phase, Endurance, Strength and Power, and each phase has the same 4 DVDs with emphasis on whatever phase you're in. So the Endurance Upper Body one was all about building endurance in my upper body (that sounds obvious now that I have it written out).
I'm used to working out and I love lifting, but this was completely different than anything I'd ever seen in an upper body workout. According to Ken, the trainer, there's three parts of any exercise: the lift, the hold and the descent (I may be using the wrong terms here, but that's basically it), and they build muscle from most to least in the order of hold, descent and lift. This sounds different than what I've been told in the past, considering all of the emphasis on my bench/dead/shoulder press/everything else I've put all my effort into the lift. But whatever, I gave it a shot.
The whole DVD focused on stuff I'd done in the past, like chinups and pushups and rows, but most of the exercises put WAY more emphasis on the hold and the descent than anything else. For most exercises I focused on 1 second up, 2 seconds of hold and 4 seconds of decent, and I've gotta say that this was excruciating! Rows and shoulder flys that use that rhythm suck! I mean suck in a good way because today my shoulders feel excellent, but ya, they were really hard. And almost everything was like that. There were a few exercises that were even harder (as in holding yourself at the top of a chinup for 1 minute), but overall that was the scope of this workout. It was great, and I can definitely see how in 4 weeks my endurance will be a lot better.
I haven't really explained the ESP-XC workout too much on this blog. Each phase has a Legs, Upper Body, Core/Balance and Cardio/Combo DVD, and there's three phases. I only know info on the endurance phase, but I imagine Strength uses a lot heavier weights and power ties it all together. But basically you do each DVD once or twice a week depending on what the schedule says, and after 4 weeks you move on to the next phase. The focus is on periodized workouts, which, according to a few websites (ESP-XC.com included) means that you go through different phases and each period has a different emphasis for the workout, all building towards the end result.
So far I like ESP-XC a lot. I'm looking forward to Core/Balance tonight.
Anyways, the last five minutes of yesterday's workout didn't happen because people showed up to lift. Fortunately I was getting pretty tired so I turned the DVD off, took a five minute break and then got started with 300. I did a much simpler version considering the upper body workout I'd had, but I still did some really great work. Pullups (10 total, but all slow from bottom to top), deadlifts (2 sets of 10 at 135), pushups (didn't count. There were a lot), jump squats (3 sets of 10), floor wipers (2 sets of 10 at 135) and that was it. I did more pullups and the clean and press, but not well enough to even mention. Hey, at that point my arms were beat!
So that was Monday in a nut shell. Tonight I'm going to do ESP-XC and possibly some PT 24/7. I'll keep you posted!
Bring it!
I'm used to working out and I love lifting, but this was completely different than anything I'd ever seen in an upper body workout. According to Ken, the trainer, there's three parts of any exercise: the lift, the hold and the descent (I may be using the wrong terms here, but that's basically it), and they build muscle from most to least in the order of hold, descent and lift. This sounds different than what I've been told in the past, considering all of the emphasis on my bench/dead/shoulder press/everything else I've put all my effort into the lift. But whatever, I gave it a shot.
The whole DVD focused on stuff I'd done in the past, like chinups and pushups and rows, but most of the exercises put WAY more emphasis on the hold and the descent than anything else. For most exercises I focused on 1 second up, 2 seconds of hold and 4 seconds of decent, and I've gotta say that this was excruciating! Rows and shoulder flys that use that rhythm suck! I mean suck in a good way because today my shoulders feel excellent, but ya, they were really hard. And almost everything was like that. There were a few exercises that were even harder (as in holding yourself at the top of a chinup for 1 minute), but overall that was the scope of this workout. It was great, and I can definitely see how in 4 weeks my endurance will be a lot better.
I haven't really explained the ESP-XC workout too much on this blog. Each phase has a Legs, Upper Body, Core/Balance and Cardio/Combo DVD, and there's three phases. I only know info on the endurance phase, but I imagine Strength uses a lot heavier weights and power ties it all together. But basically you do each DVD once or twice a week depending on what the schedule says, and after 4 weeks you move on to the next phase. The focus is on periodized workouts, which, according to a few websites (ESP-XC.com included) means that you go through different phases and each period has a different emphasis for the workout, all building towards the end result.
So far I like ESP-XC a lot. I'm looking forward to Core/Balance tonight.
Anyways, the last five minutes of yesterday's workout didn't happen because people showed up to lift. Fortunately I was getting pretty tired so I turned the DVD off, took a five minute break and then got started with 300. I did a much simpler version considering the upper body workout I'd had, but I still did some really great work. Pullups (10 total, but all slow from bottom to top), deadlifts (2 sets of 10 at 135), pushups (didn't count. There were a lot), jump squats (3 sets of 10), floor wipers (2 sets of 10 at 135) and that was it. I did more pullups and the clean and press, but not well enough to even mention. Hey, at that point my arms were beat!
So that was Monday in a nut shell. Tonight I'm going to do ESP-XC and possibly some PT 24/7. I'll keep you posted!
Bring it!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
PT 24/7 Combo Sculpt and ESP-XC Day 1: Legs
Alright, big things are happening! I've been working out consistently again, at least for the last week, and I've finally started a new program. Let's get a recap...
On Friday I got home and popped in Combo Sculpt from PT 24/7. I've made fun of Tae Bo in the past because honestly it's not my type of workout. I love martial arts workouts, but the Tae Bo I've done in the past has been cheesy aerobics at best. Not the case with PT 24/7. I've done two or three of these DVDs since I bought it and I've gotta say they're a blast. Practical combos, lots of punching and kicking, and the bands/gloves that come with the system are awesome. They tie your hands to your feet so you have resistance when you punch and kick and it totally works.
Back to the story, Friday I did Combo Sculpt. This one used way more kicks than I'd done in this DVD series before and it added a nice new challenge. The combos were mostly 3 or 4 strikes done slowly for a few sets, then the other side, then faster on both sides, then move on. The pace is really fast and it makes for an awesome cardio workout. Coming in just over 30 minutes it made for a good quick cardio workout before dinner with the girlfriend and some friends too.
Saturday I took a rest day, and today, Sunday, I finally got started on ESP-XC. I've been talking about this program for a while, I've done a few of the workouts just to do them, but today was officially day 1: Legs.
I absolutely hate working my legs out. It's like the most painful thing that man can experience and any chance I can pass on it I do. So starting with this made me a little weary. The entire thing is six 5 minute rounds, almost entirely doing body weight stuff. Most rounds were a 2 minute exercise, a 2 minute exercise and a 1 minute exercise, and the exercises ranged from isometric stuff like holding a squat to doing sets of kicks. I've gotta say, this was one of the better leg workouts I've ever done. I enjoyed not having to touch weights (I usually like weights, but not on leg days) and right now my legs are on fire so it feels like they got a great workout. Sadly I've gotta do this one again at the end of this week, so wish me luck.
ESP-XC, so far, has been a cool program. Ya, today's only day 1 but I've watched/done a few of the other discs and I like it. The coach, Ken, is pretty chill and is a good motivator. The music is the best of any workout DVD I've ever done, which is probably because it's all house/techno music. That's good considering you can't turn the music off. I hope this program goes a little more mianstream someday. I like it so far.
So tomorrow I have a scheduled workout! I'm pretty sure it's the upper body workout, but don't quote me on that. I'll keep you posted.
Bring it!
On Friday I got home and popped in Combo Sculpt from PT 24/7. I've made fun of Tae Bo in the past because honestly it's not my type of workout. I love martial arts workouts, but the Tae Bo I've done in the past has been cheesy aerobics at best. Not the case with PT 24/7. I've done two or three of these DVDs since I bought it and I've gotta say they're a blast. Practical combos, lots of punching and kicking, and the bands/gloves that come with the system are awesome. They tie your hands to your feet so you have resistance when you punch and kick and it totally works.
Back to the story, Friday I did Combo Sculpt. This one used way more kicks than I'd done in this DVD series before and it added a nice new challenge. The combos were mostly 3 or 4 strikes done slowly for a few sets, then the other side, then faster on both sides, then move on. The pace is really fast and it makes for an awesome cardio workout. Coming in just over 30 minutes it made for a good quick cardio workout before dinner with the girlfriend and some friends too.
Saturday I took a rest day, and today, Sunday, I finally got started on ESP-XC. I've been talking about this program for a while, I've done a few of the workouts just to do them, but today was officially day 1: Legs.
I absolutely hate working my legs out. It's like the most painful thing that man can experience and any chance I can pass on it I do. So starting with this made me a little weary. The entire thing is six 5 minute rounds, almost entirely doing body weight stuff. Most rounds were a 2 minute exercise, a 2 minute exercise and a 1 minute exercise, and the exercises ranged from isometric stuff like holding a squat to doing sets of kicks. I've gotta say, this was one of the better leg workouts I've ever done. I enjoyed not having to touch weights (I usually like weights, but not on leg days) and right now my legs are on fire so it feels like they got a great workout. Sadly I've gotta do this one again at the end of this week, so wish me luck.
ESP-XC, so far, has been a cool program. Ya, today's only day 1 but I've watched/done a few of the other discs and I like it. The coach, Ken, is pretty chill and is a good motivator. The music is the best of any workout DVD I've ever done, which is probably because it's all house/techno music. That's good considering you can't turn the music off. I hope this program goes a little more mianstream someday. I like it so far.
So tomorrow I have a scheduled workout! I'm pretty sure it's the upper body workout, but don't quote me on that. I'll keep you posted.
Bring it!
Friday, February 3, 2012
The group worked out last night
We all worked out last night. I did about 20 minutes of cardio, did one power set of everything in 300, added in some bicep curls and called it good. It was a good workout. Sorry I've gotta make this short but I wanted to document it.
Bring it!
Bring it!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Two days of workouts!
I have officially worked out for 3 days in a row, of which 2 need to be documented. We're getting back on track!
On Tuesday night I was going to do cardio, then the roommate talked me into yoga. As I was pulling out Yoga X2 from P90X2 (yes, I succumbed to pressure and bought it) I came across Recovery and Mobility, and I'd heard good things about it. We decided to this workout instead. It's not really a stretch; instead it's a lot like working on the body's actual ability to move. And there's a lot of foam roller action involved. I liked it.
Last night I got home and after a tiny bit of getting dinner started I got into the gym and hit play on Endurance Cardio/Combo from ESP-XC. I've watched a few of these DVDs while working in the gym but this was my first time actually doing a whole workout. It was killer!
It starts with 2 minutes of jumping jacks, and then goes back and forth between a 1 or 2 minute combo (jab, cross, hook, elbow, knee, etc.) and 1 or 2 minutes of cardio (jumping jacks, burpees, high knees, etc.). Overall it was a great workout and I felt awesome at the end. The trainer in these videos is surprisingly motivating and the music is actually pretty awesome (which is good because you can't turn the music off) and overall I was kept really motivated. I got tired, but I kept wanting to try harder. There's a lot of workout DVDs out there, and with the exception of P90X and to a lesser extent Insanity I really haven't seen this kind of positive motivation in a DVD workout before. I dig it!
With that in mind I'm planning on starting this actual program on Sunday. I need another solid program to do because just picking a DVD gets me too lazy. So ya that's the plan! I'll keep you posted how that goes!
Bring it!
On Tuesday night I was going to do cardio, then the roommate talked me into yoga. As I was pulling out Yoga X2 from P90X2 (yes, I succumbed to pressure and bought it) I came across Recovery and Mobility, and I'd heard good things about it. We decided to this workout instead. It's not really a stretch; instead it's a lot like working on the body's actual ability to move. And there's a lot of foam roller action involved. I liked it.
Last night I got home and after a tiny bit of getting dinner started I got into the gym and hit play on Endurance Cardio/Combo from ESP-XC. I've watched a few of these DVDs while working in the gym but this was my first time actually doing a whole workout. It was killer!
It starts with 2 minutes of jumping jacks, and then goes back and forth between a 1 or 2 minute combo (jab, cross, hook, elbow, knee, etc.) and 1 or 2 minutes of cardio (jumping jacks, burpees, high knees, etc.). Overall it was a great workout and I felt awesome at the end. The trainer in these videos is surprisingly motivating and the music is actually pretty awesome (which is good because you can't turn the music off) and overall I was kept really motivated. I got tired, but I kept wanting to try harder. There's a lot of workout DVDs out there, and with the exception of P90X and to a lesser extent Insanity I really haven't seen this kind of positive motivation in a DVD workout before. I dig it!
With that in mind I'm planning on starting this actual program on Sunday. I need another solid program to do because just picking a DVD gets me too lazy. So ya that's the plan! I'll keep you posted how that goes!
Bring it!
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