Sunday, February 5, 2012

At Home Fitness! (30 day challenge) Days 2-4

I have now completed 4 days of the 30 day challenge and I gotta say, it is curing my boredom!!  I mentioned before that I have completed P90X and Insanity (twice and then some).  What I don't like about those programs, (and probably the only thing I don't like), is how long a workout takes.  I am totally willing to work until I cannot move anymore, but I NEED to do it in a short time.  Like the first month of Insanity being 45 minutes was great!  I just don't have the time right now to devote to working out much more than that which is why I workout at home, playgrounds, or while pushing a stroller!  Anywhere I can fit it in.  That being said, I was initially a tad disappointed that Body Rock was so short because I was thinking, "Man, now I am going to have to find something to supplement with." But once I did day 3, I stood corrected.  Now, that doesn't mean I am not walking/running every chance I get, playing soccer with my 7-year-old, doing extra sets of pull ups and leg raises as I pass the pull up bar, and other such things, but those are moments and not a period of time.

As far as the workouts themselves are concerned, I have found myself in the kitchen, the living room, and in the doorway of the laundry room.  There is the usual run of the mill push ups, burpees, tucks, squats, lunges, but they add in the use of the sand bag, and as I mentioned last post, I have a home-made one.  They also make use of this dip station, which I must say, looks pretty cool; but I have made due with stools, chairs, and my pull up bar thus far.  It may be worth looking into for the vast majority of things you can do with it though!  The workouts still consist of 50 second intervals with 10 seconds of rest, but you can make them as hard or easy as you want.  You can add weight to the sand bag, you can go as fast as possible, you can hold things longer that are challenging.  She also gives several options if you find that the exercise is too difficult.  A lot of times it is even a difficult, medium, beginner level.  She also gives you options to do without the equipment.

I have pushed as hard as possible like  putting 2 bags of sand in the backpack and I do pull ups in place of her version of reverse pull ups, though I do like hers and have tried them. 

On day 3 I was given a surprise because there was a guy on there giving you a second workout for muscle isolation and all I can say is WOW!  His involved timing.  You do 15 reps of each exercise 3 total times.  You time yourself to see how long it took.  He took 14:15 and I took 14:50 so I was pleased.  This was on top of the regular workout.  I got exhausted though and on 3 different times, I only had 1 of the sandbags in the backpack.  That is saying a lot for me.  I do not like to be defeated by people on the TV!!  But that just proves I am being challenged and that is exactly what I wanted.  I feel sore, I sweat, and I feel it is time well spent. I am going into all of these blind with no clue what to expect.  Going with it!

Now as for food...I am not a flavor needy person with food and I also do not care about variety so simple garlic chicken in a tablespoon of olive oil makes my mouth water.  I do rice and beans and feel very happy :) I do lots of salads and I could eat a hundred raw red or yellow peppers.  I drink coffee in the morning but I rarely manage to finish more than a cup, though in most cases I want to.  I drink wine too but usually no more than a glass.  I do not eat late at night and I do not eat very much sugar.  I do allow some cheats here and there but with no regularity to their timing.  I try to keep it simple and it works for me.  I also began making egg muffins.  I scramble some eggs and chop up spinach and squash and fill up muffin tins and bake.  Then I put them in a big ziploc bag for the week. Pop them out and microwave!  Easy peasy!

Any simple menu ideas with few ingredients?  I have the worst time with lunch.  I usually end up with salad with avocado and almonds or garden veggie pasta with black beans.  Totally happy with those!
 I plan to do a few videos of some of my alternative exercises, though I do try to  make them harder if I have to vary.



Will report again in the next few days!!

2 comments:

  1. For easy lunches, I do things like peanut butter and bananas on toast (whole whete or multigrain)
    Pikadegiao and black beans with tortilla chips
    fruit smoothies with hidden veggies
    carrots or any veggies with dip
    anything wrapped up in a tortilla
    sandwitches, with all the veggies
    cold wraps (cream cheese, spinnich, veggies, and a slice or two of meat)

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  2. I am definitely a big fan of smoothies with veggies.

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