Couple of days...

Wednesday:

I couldn’t get up on Tuesday , so I missed it…I’m finding that I’m lacking motivation to get up early to exercise before i shower and get ready for work.

This morning however, i did get myself out of bed and was faced with the decision of sticking to the schedule for Wednesday, or doing Tuesday’s one that i missed.  I decided to stick to the schedule, and did Speed 1.0

Speed, as with all of the workouts don’t ease into it at all, and you’re going flat out from the get-go.  I looked at the countdown timer at 18 minutes to go and thought “Shit, there’s no way i’m going to make it to the end.  But I pushed through, just like Shaun T tells you to do and I made it.  Interestingly, Speed makes me sweat a lot more than cardio does.

Having done it all once, I can now make the following observations:

• It is MUCH easier when you have done it once (or more than once) Even though you don’t yet associate the moves with their names as yet…you do see them as they are described, and are able to do it.
• I am way less uncoordinated now than I was when I first did these exercises.
• I’m also able to keep up a LOT more.  In fact, I’m finding that I’m mostly able to keep up with Shaun T.  I'd say more that 50% of the time, I’m actually doing it properly, and when I get tired and can’t go on, I fall back to the modified version..Unlike before when I was doing the modified version and would fall back to standing still panting!
• If you are going to do it, make sure you wear good shoes!  Plenty of cushioning and support, because you will jump around a LOT!
• You may not notice results straight away, but i do feel my core tightening, and once i get rid of the layer(s) of fat, I reckon I’ll start to see a 6 pack developing.  It’s a nice feeling, which leads me to want to do more fat burning cardio to get rid of the fat.

Thursday. 

7:50am 

Mrs G wanted to go for a bike ride this morning, so, this fit in well with my plan of doing more cardio to get rid of the layers of fat.  So off I went.  It wasn’t strenuous or stressful (other than a sore saddle) I rode about 5 kms at a slow to moderate pace.  I’m fully intending to do my T25 Cardio which is scheduled today as well, so we’ll see how that goes. I can feel that I’m tired, so I’m having a rest for 10 minutes before starting it.

9:00am

Well, it was bloody hard but I managed it. I take back what I said yesterday about Cardio not being as sweaty as Speed, because, geez, I sweated today!  It was very hard, but I managed to get through it. My average heart rate was 116bpm, so pretty good. But as I write this many hours later, I’m exhausted.  I’m yawning and schlepping about.. I’ll sleep well tonight, and look forward to doing two workouts tomorrow! We’ll see how that goes.

Take Care.

G

Missed a day :(

Hi everyone.

I missed Friday's scheduled exercise which is a double header: Cardio and Lower Focus.

I had a really late night on Thursday and slept right in.  I just barely made it to work on time!

On Friday night Mrs G and I went to see Mrs Brown's Boys live on stage which is playing in Melbourne at the moment. It was great, and we enjoyed talking to the cast afterwards as well.

Saturday saw me running around doing chores and preparing for our visitors.  I made pizza pin wheels, which is pizza toppings rolled in puff pastry.  Not exactly healthy or "diet" food, but omg..yum!

Sunday is the "rest" day, but I reckon I might do Friday's double, or if not both, maybe Lower Focus which is the only of the exercises that I havn't done even once yet.

Monday is back to Cardio again so I will likely do Lower Focus tomorrow and thats it.

In week two, according to the schedule the exercises are re-arranged:

I havn't yet decided whether I'm going to attempt to do it properly with Shaun T, or whether I'll aim to keep up with Tanya.  Likely it will be the latter!

I havn't been keeping track of the tick boxes for each day.  Because if I had to choose between "Nailed It" and "Barely Made It", I would likely be looking for the "Happy To Be Still Alive" box.

Take care of yourselves dear readers, and please feel free to leave me a comment.

G

Oh My God!

I had to really push myself today.  I nearly didn't start.  If it wasn't for Mrs G-Diddy, I would have skipped it and made some excuse.
But I didn't, I got up and around 7:10am the DVD was in and I was getting ready to start Alpha Ab Intervals.

This workout, unlike the previous ones requires a mat, so I borrowed Mrs G's yoga mat, which I found was too thin and when I was kneeling on it, it may as well have been the floor.  Never mind.

Many years ago I did some regular "ab focus" group classes.  This one is worse!  I really struggled, which goes to show how unfit I am, and I was ready to call it quits around 12 minutes into it, but again Mrs G motivated me to keep going.  My core was tight and I stuck it through until the end, although I think I only did about half of the reps that Shaun T and the gang were doing.

I don't know why I was really unmotivated this morning, but I hope as I get fitter, the motivation will increase.

The schedule calls for Cardio and Lower Focus tomorrow, but I don't think I'll have time to do both of them.  I'll probably do one tomorrow and one on Saturday.

Despite making the decision not to obsess about food too much, i am still quite conscious of what I eat.  I usually don't overdo the food (too much)  Today I had cereal for breakfast, leftover rice and bbq chicken for lunch and Nandos for dinner. (It was a complimentary birthday meal) So, other than the fried chips with my dinner, I would say the rest of the day has been reasonably good.

Time for bed now.  Goodnight!

Back on the Wagon!

After nearly two weeks of illness, I am happy to say I'm back on the wagon!

I have had a severe cough, and blocked nose, according to the doctor it was a bad cold.  I spent a good week getting over it and having the strength to exercise.

I began again on Monday and started with Cardio 1.0. this time I knew the moves and didn't feel quite so uncoordinated.  I kept thinking that I was almost keeping up Tanya the modifier. This excited me quite a bit, and I felt good after having completed it.  I was swearing profusely and managed to burn 1055Kj (according to my Apple Watch)

On Tuesday I did Speed 1.0 again. Again, I feel with more success than the first time.  Obviously it needs some "practice" as well. I really like the fact that the workouts consists of doing several exercises to "teach" you, then combining them all at the end.  When you are concentrating on keeping your core tight (which I did) the time passes quite quickly.

Today I did Full body circuit.  For the first time.  There were some exercises that were familiar from the previous day's workouts.  It was quite hard and I made it by the skin of my teeth.  By the time I get around to doing this one again, I hope it will be a little easier!!

I forgot to weigh myself this morning, so I'll do that tomorrow, but I have to say I'm kind of scared.
I haven't been recording my food either, I think I'm going to start off concentrating on excercise and doing food later.  I know the best results will be gotten by a combination of food and excercise, so don't flame!

So, loyal readers, that is my update for today.  I'll do better at updating more regularly, I promise!

G

Sickness :(

I think this week has been written off and I'll start again on Monday. I've been sick in bed since yesterday and haven't excercised or kept track of what I've eaten. I'll see you soon!

Tuesday - Day Two

Speed 1.0

8:05am

I nearly didn’t get up this morning, but I couldn’t skip after only 1 day.  I think I’m coming down with something, I have a sore throat and a bit of a blocked nose. On several occasions I woke up during the night, I was toying with the idea of having today off, but then decided to see how I feel at the proper wake up time.  At 6:50 I made the decision to get up and do my best.

Upon weighing myself, it seems I’ve put on weight since yesterday. (117.kg)  I have decided to weigh myself twice a week instead of every day.

I’m glad I gave it a go.  Only to confirm that I am indeed unco.  If this session was called Unco 1.0 I would have been better off!  As it was, I would say with my lack of coordination, and my level of fitness, today’s session was Speed 0.6

I’m just glad that nobody was there to see me, because I felt really self conscious.  Even my rabbits were staring!

The exercises again were not hard to do, but I still struggled.  I’m sure I’ll get better as I get more used to them.  I also found I was going a fair bit slower than they were on the tv. And my squats weren’t as deep.  Again, as my fitness improves, I think this will all improve.

Shaun T constantly talks about engaging core and keeping it tight.  Right now I’m too busy trying to just follow the movements, but a couple of times I was able to engage it properly and I feel it now. Along with my arms, legs, chest and abs a little.  My body is going “Hey..you’ve used some muscles..whats the deal?” Get used to it boys!

I decided to stop tracking the exercise on my watch BEFORE the cool down in an attempt to get a better indication of my average heart rate, and it was better!  Today I managed to average 120bpm. 

I’m also going to start tracking my food and sharing it with you.  Partly because I have done a “points” based food tracking program before, with some success, and secondly because it will make me justifiable to you, my readers.  I can’t be expected to lose weight if I’m eating a burger and large chips followed by a large piece of cheesecake!

I have found an app called ProTracker and I have begun recording everything I eat in that.  It allocates you an amount of "points" that you are allowed to consume each day, calculated based on your age, weight, etc.  Each item of food and drink is worth a number of points which reduces your allowance as you go.  When you track exercise, it credits you a number of points based on the time taken, and the level of intensity.  I decided that my T25 workout today was only moderate, thus crediting me 3 additional points.

Breakfast

 I had yummy eggs on toast for breakfast with a glass of OJ.

Total of 16 points (out of 52)

Cup of tea at work, then a coffee mid morning – 8 pts (Total 24)

12:30pm

I’ve been thinking about how to track my lunch.  Pasta curls, sun dried tomato, pine nuts, bacon, spinach.

Using the lookup function in ProTracker, here’s what I’ve calculated:

Pasta – 1cup: 4 points

Bacon – .5 rasher: 1 point

Sundried tomato in oil – about 6 pieces: 3 points

Pine nuts: 1tbs 2 points

Total: 10 Total 34.

Which means 18 + 3 points for dinner/dessert…easy!

(3 points was a bonus for my exercise..which I’m sure was worth more, but it’s better to overestimate the number of points you’ve used, so you can lose weight quicker!)

7:30pm

I'm not in a good way :( I don't know if I'll be well enough to do anything tomorrow.  I'll again decide in the morning.

Dinner was yum, but I'm sorry I forgot to photograph it.  It was grilled chicken in a Caesar wrap.  I had no idea where to begin calculating it's points value, so I just assigned it the remainder of my daily points allowance. (Again, better to over-estimate)

Well, I'll make an effort to post tomorrow, even if there isn't much to update.

Goodnight!

Monday - Day One

After seeing the infomercial and the type of results I can expect, I have visions of my belly transforming into a 6 pack, and feeling more energetic, and being much fitter.

I know the program is meant to be a 10 week one, to complete Alpha and Beta, but I’ve made the decision to take it a little easier to start with and have Week One as the warm up week.  Given that I’m totally unco, and very out of shape, I’ve decided to do the modified program for the entire week, and begin the real program next week.  That is after all going at my own pace, which is an important aspect for me.

7am. 

Butterflies.  I’m excited that I’m about to take the first step to being a fitter, healthier and more active me.

I got on the scale.  116.9kg.  That is my starting weight.  I’ll get on each day, and keep a running total of weight loss.

I pressed “Other Workout” on my apple watch with no goal, pressed Start, then hit play.

...

27 minutes later… 25 minute workout and 2 minute cooldown stretch.

I’m actually very surprised!  I made it through the Alpha Cardio!  I only paused the video once for about 15 seconds to get some water.  I was sweating profusely at the end, but that’s the point!

My average heart rate according to my Activity app was 111bpm.  Not bad I guess considering 126 is the lower end of my target heart rate zone.

The exercises aren’t difficult, even though I struggled with my balance and coordination a little bit, but nothing unexpected. You don’t have too much time to get used to it or perfect it, before it changes.  I guess mastering each exercise will also come with practice. Which will in turn make it easier to do, easier to do more reps, and therefore get more benefit out of it.

I spent the day reflecting on how I felt after having completed the Alpha Cardio.  My muscles in my legs were a little bit sore, as were my abs.  Not very sore, just a little.  Enough to know they had done some work when normally they don’t.  I don’t know if I should be more sore, but I’m happy that I’m not, because that might be off putting.

In the past when participating in a class, I spent a very full-on hour and felt very sore for the rest of the day.  Three such classes were enough for me to quit.

I am currently feeling the opposite of quitting.  I’m quite looking forward to tomorrow... Speed 1.0

Thanks for reading my blog post.  Please feel free to comment or ask any questions, and I promise I’ll respond.      

G