Check in and Sunday's workout

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

last week was a pretty decent week for me workout-wise!

Sunday - Huckabee's PowerFit Harmony Upper and Lower Body (was still a bit off from the stomach virus and definately not up to a FIRM Tortoise!)

Monday - FIRM Calorie Killer and PowerFit Harmony Core Balance

Tuesday - FIRM Max Body Shaping w/ Tracie Long (can't remember if I did anything else)

Wed - FIRM Super Cardio Sculpt & Recorded Classical Stretch Episode form PBS

Thurs - PowerFit Plus Cardio Kick & Ellen Barrett's Yogini

Friday - FIRM Cardio Sculpt (BSS1).

Saturday - I rested, we had a houseguest and although I could have done some stretching upstairs before everyone was up - I didn't! Eating also was not the best - we got pizza in (one of my downfall foods!) and DD and I went to a carnival in the afternoon. On a bright note, I only had ONE beer all weekend. I am not a huge drinker by any means, (at least not anymore - I can't handle it - it makes me too tired the next day!) but on the weekends I normally have a couple of glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday.

Today, I started the PowerFIt 2-a-day rotation that Huckabee created. I plan to aslo add on at least an additional 20 minutes so that I can get a full 60 min each day. There are rest days thrown in sporadically, but I decided that I'm going to workout on the rotation's rest day - doing either cardio or strength, or whatever i feel that I need and keeping my normal rest day as Saturday. I like to sleep in one day a week and I usually sleep a little later on Saturday and just do a stretching workout.

Here's how PowerFit went today!

PowerFit Legs & Shoulders - I wore my weighted gloves throughout and tried to choke up on the band as much as possible for resistance. I think some moves will work better for me w/ weights though - the last series of dips, delt raises and frontal raises. I have a hard time having enough tension for the dips, delt raises and frontal raises. Seems that if I have enough tension for the dips, the ROM on delt raises and frontal raises suffer b/c my band is really short. I also think I would probably benefit from doing the overhead presses w/ weights. I do want to try to use the bands as much as possible since most of my other strength workouts use weights and I figure this is a good way to cross train as much as possible. I picked up weights for the squat series that doesn't use the band. I only had 5's handy though. Probably could have handled more.PowerFIT Harmony Move It - Definately got a good sweat goiing in 20 minutes. I wore my

weighted gloves throughout and added impact, large range of motion and the step to the workout. I definately like that I can really make these as difficult as I need them to be on a particular day. I also find that in the cardio segment where you hold the band, if you really focus on pulling it out to the sides that you get a good upper body burn.My add ons today were the Upper Body, Glute, and Stretch section from Exhale Core Fusion Pilates Plus. The upper body is half stretching/half strength. As I recall, only 4 exercises were done - plank on elbows, plank on hands (Have to say, they hold the planks for a decent length of time!), push-ups and tricep dips. Then, lots of upper body stretching. The glute/leg work was the "knee" dancing type stuff and then some stuff done on all-fours - extending the leg, lifting, "bird dog", etc. Good glute activation exercises. The stretch on this DVD is really nice, one of my

favorite short/add on stretches. The funny thing is - in spite of the ab work on this DVD that sent my back into fits last Xmas I think a lot of the exercises can be very rehabilitative for the back - there are good stretches that both extend and flex the spine and there is quite a bit of stabilization work that is also good for the back. I am too scared to even try the ab work again though on this or any other "barre" workout. Still, I think these may be keepers for the other segments. That was way more pain than I ever want to be in again!Oh - I forgot to add - I also included a set of 20 push-ups and 20 pull-downs. Last summer I got the best arms of my life by focusing on doing alot of push-ups. I don't have it in me (mentally) to devote so much time/energy to doing them, but I plan to add at least this much on every day.

Tomorrow the rotation calls for Power Fit Cardio, PowerFit Harmony Strong Push (or Pull??) and I will likely add on some Pilates and maybe a mile on the TM if I have time.

Take care!Donna