Hey there! So I've finished another week of my 30 day exercise challenge (they are kind of simultaneously flying by and also having aches and pains and "I don't wanna" moments at the same time...if that makes any sense at all!)
Week three went…fine. Three workouts, so no change there (again, I’d aimed for four but there was a day after one workout where my calves were so tight I thought they might explode). I did stretch but apparently not enough. I've also been having post workout headaches, does anyone else get those? They stink, why does that happen?! It's like my body is punishing me for being all noble and healthy, grr!
I’m feeling a little bit down on myself because I had more days where I was slightly over my calorie target than under (I’m blaming pms, but still). And despite this being a “bad week” compared to the first two, I still feel it is doing me more good than not to try to track my calorie intake and be more mindful of my eating.
So anyway, the exercise – here is what I got up to this week:
1.Davina: Buff Arms: Yowza! Fifteen minutes of solid, focused
arm exercises, using hand weights. I really need to get a new set, I have two –
one set is slightly too light, the other too heavy for all of the overhead
stuff. Saying that, even using my light weights I still felt this by the end –
I just think they’re not quite heavy enough.
Buff Legs & Core: (same day as above) Twenty minutes of frankly exhausting squats and lunges, then more squats, then more lunges, then more squats…you get the gist! Also 60 second intervals of high intensity moves slotted in every five minutes or so. I managed most of it but I’m trying to preserve my knees so didn’t do the last section of lunging. And was grateful the next day because wow did my legs feel this! My calves were in agony/so tight, so I need to stretch even more than I did here, which I thought was a lot.
(also did the Warm Up & extended Cool Down)
2. Davina: Cardio Box: Sorry, a repeat from past weeks but this
is just an easy one I can throw on and not think about. Saying that, I twisted my knee like a numbskull but it feels ok now.
3. Cardio Hip Hop: Ok so this one I put on for a laugh, I
remembered it being super corny – and it still is, it’s kind of like “Hip Hop for
Soccer Moms at the YMCA” (Here is a short clip I found of it on YouTube if you want to envision the mad hip hop skillz I am pulling!) which I can’t really talk, it’s not like I’m from “da
club” (though I have seen all but one of the Step Up Movies! ;-0). But still,
the instructor makes me giggle when she talks about “getting funky!”
Saying that, this “cardio
hip-hop” got me sweating, for real, because I am very out of shape. It’s not
like it’s high intensity, but non-stop dancing does make you sweat. Some of the moves are tricky on a carpet/with
my knees, but I just try to improvise. My “waterfall” and “salt-shaker” would make
anyone laugh I am sure, but I did actually have fun with this, which I forgot
about, maybe it was just that I needed to dance, I don't know, but I shall be attempting to "pop lock" again in the future I think!
This is one of the Quick Fix series, so each workout is
divided into ten minute sections. There are four all together (I did three – there
is actually one that is under “Bonus” that is kind of hidden that I prefer to
one of the main sections). There is no warm up or cool down which is not ideal, but this is basically just having a little dance type work out, so relatively minor
stretches were ok for me. I’m actually
kind of tempted to mix this one in with a strength type workout, because the
aerobic aspect of some of them is slightly lacking. A section or two of this
would boost my cardio a bit I think, even though I feel a bit silly doing it as
I am in no danger of putting Channing Tatum out of work!
Pilates: Ermegosh…I had one night where I did my legs and
some side planks (I remember because I was watching Plebs and it was hard to
concentrate because I was giggling!). As I predicted I am letting this aspect slide now that I am doing more exercise elsewhere– my Pilates class starts back up next week though so I will be back on track
with it soon hopefully.
So yeah, that’s that! I am feeling pleased overall with my efforts,
because I really was not in the mood to exercise this week. Also, it sounds weird, but when the
weather is rainy and blah, as it has been here in the north of Scotland all
week, I find it so much harder to motivate myself to work out. Even though it’s an
indoor workout and shouldn’t matter, it does discourage me. So I need to put up
a big poster of the sun outside my window or something!
A mini-goal I am setting for myself this week is to walk
more. Because on days where I don’t walk, I am struggling to meet my calorie
target, whether I exercise or not, even just a short walk tends to boost me
enough to stay under. Also I need to buy an 80's style sweatband for my hair because I'm tired of washing it so much! I really can't believe it's the last week of my 30 day challenge this week. I'm a little sad it's ending and think I (might) just keep up this exercise lark, because I am feeling stronger and more positive generally just from the small changes I have made so far.
that clip of the exercise video reminded me of this clip from a video game, i don't know why (MAYBE CAUSE EVERYTHING REMINDS ME OF VIDEO GAMES)... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMUX6b82Zbc&nohtml5=False
ReplyDeletesomething tells me i need to watch more channing tatum movies ;)
Omg that is hilarious! If only there was a Wii version (um not that I have a Wii but I kinda want one for the exercise stuff). The dvd's I'm doing are mostly at least ten years old so I'm sure a lot of the dance moves are like dinosaur-ish. Channing Tatum just needs to dance in every movie, and not even the cheesy stripper dances, he needs to do like an old school Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly type flick with some other dancers.
DeleteCardio hip hop sounds fun! I did not even know something like this exists! I love pilates, but only under the careful eye of an instructor. RGU Gym had a fab one, that pushed me to the limits but in a month my body changed so well!
ReplyDelete