today's workout: cardio, abs, yoga

[Guest guest]

This morning I followed my trainer's instructions (see post on fitness eval) and drove myself insane keeping my heart rate lower and especially, constantly checking my monitor to make sure I wasn't moving below 133 or above 150. I'm sure it will get easier because towards the end of the workout I had a pretty good idea based on my perceived exertion level when I was going too high (too low wasn't much of a problem at that point, only in the beginning). The lower heart rate wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, maybe because I was so focused on keeping myself there but also because I could feel the difference and it felt good actually. I love my super high intensity workouts but being able to go longer at a steady state was a totally different kind of challenge (and it was high enough that it was interesting and felt like I was still working out, which I was concerned it wouldn't) and I'm looking forward to building stamina working out like this.

I liked the format I used for the small part of the Jari Love challenge I did where on cardio days I did 30 minutes cardio, 10 minutes abs and 20 minutes yoga so I think, since I need to improve all 3 of those areas especially, that I'll do something like that on as many cardio days as time allows. Today I decided to do Walk at Home: 5 Day Slim Down ( Sansone), the first 2 miles plus the warm up and cool down. I have this home from netflix. I thought it was enough time in my zone but my HRM showed me at only 20 minutes there. Oh well, I'll try more next time I guess. I had a hard time getting into my training zone because the first mile is very WATP basic (I think she calls it a "classic" mile). I had to pick up 5 lb. weights to get my HR up in the first place then I put them down as I started to go over it consistently. I think I was in the zone more than 20 minutes because it won't record it as in if you're 1 up or down but I'm okay with that. Anyway, about the video... this is alone, which is a little strange but she was still very good (I have others with just her too and don't mind those either). She is a bit lower key than she is with the group, less chatty and more focused on cues which was really nice. The 2nd mile emphasizes upper body but doesn't use weights. It is a bit faster than the first mile and has some good arm movements (using body weight to tone/shape). She also does lunges from side to side with a little bit of lift and some other higher intensity moves. The other 3 miles emphasize other things but I'm not sure what all it is yet. All 5 miles use the same warmup and cool down so you could easily do all 5 miles as one workout. I noticed that from mile 1 to mile 2 there is only a very short break and she doesn't really start all over in terms of intensity because she assumes you've warmed up at least and possibly did mile 1 already too. I really liked that a lot. On her other 5 mile disk I have (super challenge or something like that) the miles are all very separate workouts so I like the flow of this much better so far. The music is pretty good too, at least it is loud enough to hear. If I like the other 3 miles as much I will end up buying this one and probably getting rid of the other one which I don't use often because I don't like it as much as I do the Walk Slim series. I'd like to try the other 3 soon and would love to do all 5 at once but am not sure when I'll have time to do either. I've worked every day this week (except Sunday and Monday) and am subbing for people in meetings Friday and Saturday too, this is not a good workout week! Next week I'm only working Tuesday morning, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening so far so I should have more time for workouts and can hopefully do the 5 mile then. I'd like to see what my HR does for the entire workout. I was able to keep it pretty steady once I got into the 1st mile using the hand weights.

After I pulled out Tony Horton's Ab Ripper 200... yes, I now admit I have been ignoring my abs and really need to work on them. That's how committed I am, I pulled out Ab Ripper 200. I haven't done this since I finished P90 in April! I am happy to say (are you listening ?) I did all 200 and had pretty decent form for most of them too! I was dying at the end but better than I was when I was doing P90 so that's definitely improvement. I think I'll have to start doing Tamilee Webb's I Want Those Abs. That one totally kills me and will really help. I was going to try it today (workout 1, I am not anywhere near doing workout 2 yet) but was running short on time.

Since my cardio ran longer than I'd planned I only had about 10 minutes for yoga so after Ab Ripper 200 I did Yoga Basics from 10 Minute Solution Yoga. I hated this one when I first started doing it. The sun salutes were so challenging. They still are. This is called basics but except for not jumping to plank she seems to move quite quickly and with power. It is NOT for beginners. I love it now even though it challenges me (because it challenges me). That felt good. A little more power, a lot more stretching ('s stretch was pretty good too, especially for ).

Tomorrow I've got a doc appointment (feet) then grocery shopping in the morning (plus picking up clothes for my son from someone on freecycle) and working in the evening. I'm not sure I'll have time for a workout but I'm going to try to get something short in at least (cardio again). Will post it if I do it.

Gotta get to sleep now though!