QuarterLife Girl Gets Fit!

I was this close to not working out again today (for some reason I thought I had woken up too late and lost my “window of opportunity”) but I got up and did it! Then again, after yesterday’s embarrassment/disappointment skipping today was not an option.

I did nearly everything well enough today. I’m not sure if it’d be enough to please Jillian, but I’m nearly impressed! lol. This time I did the jumprope right and all the way through (apparently all it takes is a little discipline), but I STILL can’t manage the anterior raises with 3lb weights. Ugh. Whatever muscle that is, I guess its my weakest one. Plus it doesn’t help that I struggle to get my posture right during those side lunges. I feel like I lean forward to far, and yet I still don’t get down enough. Times like those I wish I had a trainer next to me to let me know how to do it correctly (then again I’d get yelled at, so I don’t know…)

So, stay tuned for Day 7 of the 30 Day Shred!!

Have a great weekend, and happy mother’s day (tomorrow) to any mother’s out there!

I almost didn’t post today because nothing spectacular happenend during my workout this morning. However, I got scared I’d forget what day I was on, so I’ll just put this up as a placeholder.

I can feel a difference already, but I’m still wimping out on some parts. I haven’t wimped out on pushups since Day 1 (yay me! Although they’re still “girl” pushups.) If I miss a jumping jack (or some other move) I always make it up after they’re done (their transitions are sometimes a little too fast for me), and I haven’t been standing up while punching the air. I think I did all of my squats and lunges/curls (if I missed any it was very few). Still, my two weakest moves are that damned jump rope move (although today I did it mostly right) and the side lunge with anterior raises. Dang it, my arms are just plain weak!!! I WILL do all of these next time….I have to! I can’t keep coming back and saying I’ve wimped out on my workout. Its less than 27 minutes for goodness sake!!!

On a positive note, I strangely find myself looking forward to that last Cardio circuit. Knowing that its just 30 seconds motivates me to go all out with each move!

Anyway, enough of that. 5 Days and going strong. I shouldn’t be too sore tonight after my dance class, so by this time tomorrow I’ll have finished Day 6! I’m already halfway through level 1!

(You know what my favorite part of working out in the morning is? I don’t have to worry about convincing myself to workout after work, since I move around during the day I end up less sore than when I workout before going to sleep and lying still for 6 hours (maybe this is just my imagination?), and I don’t have to interrupt my evening plans to workout and then shower. Then again, waking up early is HARD. My hope is that after 21 ways I’ll have established a habit and it won’t seem as hard anymore.)

Yeah, I’m getting lazy and abbreviating.

I completed Day 4 though! This was my 2nd day waking up before the crack of dawn, and let me tell you…it was a LOT harder to do it today. I was so sleepy and I kept catching myself thinking “sleep just a little longer….meh, skip it, does it really matter?” And then I remembered all the Crunchwraps I’ve eaten lately, and the Big Mac I had for lunch yesterday. So yeah, I got up.

I can already tell I’m doing better with the workout. I got in all my jumping jacks today! The only parts I wimped out: the “jump rope” part. For some reason I have trouble doing this. I always revert to skipping onto alternating feet instead of both at the same time, and when I finally do it right I get tired or lose my balance, lol. I also added in weights while doing the anterior arm raises with a side lunge. I made it through about 8 of them before my arms wanted to die. I skipped out on about 4 of these in total.

Next time my goal is to NOT skip ANYTHING! I can do it.

I’m glad I got up to workout….my only problem is that now I’m sleepy as hell here at work. You think they’ll notice if I take a nap?

(The sad part is they probably wouldn’t notice!)

I’ll probably discontinue these daily updates once I get bored writing them, but for now I’m pretty excited to report!

For the first time EVER, I woke up at 5am today to get in my workout before leaving for work. It was odd. I kept thinking “why am I doing this? I feel so silly….”. I’m not sure why I felt so silly. Maybe its because I associate waking up at 5am for exercise with hardcore exercisers? And in no way am I a “hardcore” exerciser….

Either way, I’m very impressed with myself. I only hit snooze once, and at 5:05 I grabbed my shoes and socks and head downstairs (it helped that I slept in “pjs” that are exercise friendly). While the workout was equally tiring as other times, I think I’m already starting to feel my endurance improving! I’m sure I’m not the only one that finds exercise to be at least 50% mental. And this time I had to fight less with myself to keep going!! I only skipped about two jumping jacks (I always miss the first of each circuit!), still didn’t use weights for the anterior arm raises (wimp), only got up for one punch during that part where you have to kinda squat down and your legs want to die (I usually have to fight really hard with myself to keep squatting, and end up getting up anyway). In the end I finished it all!

The worst part about exercising in the morning (other than the waking up part) is that my regular breakfast just won’t do anymore. I normally have some toast, or a banana, or a cup of oatmeal on the go (yeah, not very hearty to begin with). Unfortunately I had a long drive this morning and on the way I was falling asleep and staaaarving! I ended up pulling out the ravioli I had packed for lunch and eating it cold. Yeah, not a proud moment. lol.

I am also happy to report that my soreness has gone down tremendously. My hamstrings are still pretty sore, but only when I stretch them (and I won’t be doing that in the hallways at work!). My arms are a tiny bit sore, but little enough that I don’t really notice. While the drive still made me sleepy, I do still kinda feel that buzz I get after I workout.

So far so good. Who knows, maybe I’ll get used to — and maybe even like –working out in the mornings?! We’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning after day 4!

I made it this morning! It was a tiny bit easier (meaning I was closer to doing the workout 100%. Its not like I didn’t sweat though!!!). I did the anterior raises with the side lunge without weights this time, and I was able to do it all! I’m trying it one more time without weights tomorrow, and then I hope my strength/endurance is up enough to add in the 3 pounders back in.

I was a little sore this morning, I’m supposing from yesterday’s workout. I hope it doesn’t get worse after today! Although from experience soreness kinda just fades away when I keep working out. So far so good….only 28 days to go!

On a side note, the BF has a competitive streak in him. Seeing that we finished that 5k in 43 minutes he wants to see his time improved!! He’s been wanting to get back into shape for some time now. He’d tried P90X in the past and after just one day he was beat and super sore. I saw he hadn’t done it since, so I suggested to him easing into it with the 30 Day Shred workout. He laughed, said it was a “girl workout”, and said he wouldn’t do it. Well, that got me a little mad (all in good fun though) and so I’ve challenged him to see whose workout program would make the biggest difference in 30 days (or, depending on how you look at it, who could stick to their workout program the longest, hehe). We’re trying to come up with a “prize” for the winner (he suggested $500, I said no!), but after that….it’s ON!

Yay! I did it!! Well, kinda. I kinda wimped out on a few sections, but I’ll just attribute that to being a little hungry and possibly not as well hydrated as I should’ve been. =[ I'll try and have a snack prior to my workout tomorrow morning and hydrating myself throughout the day today.

If you need to know where I wimped out, I can never last all the way through the side lunges with the arm raises!!! Maybe I'll try it with no weights next time to see if that's the problem? I only use a 3lb weight, so that's pretty pathetic, lol.

I find it really funny how I have my "skinny" days and my "fat" days. I'm obviously the same size on these days, but depending on what clothes I'm wearing and what I've eaten I'll feel completely different. This morning was definitely a "skinny" morning. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the tv and I looked good! A sideways glance at the mirror as I'm going up stairs and my legs actually looked toned! My calves totally feel rock hard! (I swear they do!) Well, I just wish every morning felt like this. I'm going to make a mission to figure out what gives me my "fat" days and banish it from my life!

Its not just about how I look....on my "skinny" days I always have a little bounce in my step, since I'm in a good mood I don't have those endless cravings for something junky (well, today I AM craving pizza....but still...), and I just overall feel...GOOD! So yes, let's see if I have another "skinny day" tomorrow, after my Day 2 workout!!!

So far so good, let's hope the motivation sticks. =]