Life is in the Details

XTrain workout series

 

I'm so excited to start my new workout program today! I received Cathe's latest XTrain DVD set when I returned home from Florida but I didn't have a chance to go through any of it or figure out when I would start it because I wanted some time to read the Users Guide that comes with the set to see which rotation I would do. I opted not to do a the 1RM (1 repetition max) test and am using my recent weight selections from similar exercises that I use for the STS series. I'm going to wing it on the new exercises and make notes and adjustments as necessary on the fly. That's how I roll this time around.

It's so nice to workout at home where it's never overly crowded... even this time of year! My basement is my workout haven.

It feels strange to not have started STS at all this fall/winter as it's been something that I've done for the past 4 years now. I knew this new series was coming and I wanted to be ready (rather than having to stop STS mid-cycle).

This past week I did a mix of the Low Impact Series and some older ones (TurboBarre, After Burn, Cardio Super Sets, Muscle Max) but for the next 3 months I'll be doing the 90-day Undulating XTrain Rotation and its' going to great (oh, and also challenging... I have no delusions about this). Here's what the first four weeks of the rotation look like:

 

I'll be shifting the rotation one day to make my week start on Sundays to accommodate my Saturday rest day. The frequency is the same as ive been working out 6 days a week for most of the last year or two (some weeks it's been 5 due to scheduling). What I just noticed is that with this program, 2 days a week I'll be working out for less time than I usually do, which can only mean that Cathe made it twice as hard. She's good for that you know! Oh, I can feel the DOMS already. Oh wait, that's just from Friday's workout. XTrain, here I come!

 

Later today: taking J to a dance class to determine what path she wants to take with dance, making savory scones to go with the big pot of chili I've cooked up for the gathering at our place with some friends and family to watch the Redskins in the playoffs.

 

DCAC - Day 1 continued

Yesterday was great! It was jam-packed with super classes. I was in desperate need of a shower by 6pm. The Schwinn Release & Relieve class with Helen Vanderburg was a Just below threshold cycling class that then used foam rollers and a massage ball to help Dacia and muscles to release. I have been wanting to write a blog post about foam rolling (and tennis balls/massage balls) because they are unparalleled in getting some of my tight areas loosened. When you get a runner or cyclist or triathlete on a foam roller working their quads and IT band area you will not believe the groans and grunts and other sounds that you will hear. It definitely sounded like there were some other activities going on in our room! Just that short session at the end of the ride and feeling the difference it made in how legs felt after two tough rides reminded me that I need to get back to using them... *DAILY* and made me realize I want to include these tools in my yoga classes. It's mind-blowing how much of our movement (of lack of range of motion) is related to the health of our feet. Tight areas in our feet cause all sorts of complications in our knees, hips, and lower back because everything is connected! Similarly, tight hip flexors are often the cause of knee pain. Again, everything is connected. Too often problem areas, areas where we experience pain, are looked at in isolation and it's nice to see fitness professionals address this and research being done to further our understanding of anatomy, kinesiology, and biomechanics.

An other session that was fantastic was Shifting is the New Lifting with Jonathan Ross. It explored using the body in all the planes (frontal, sagittal, transverse) and how to utilize mixes of them in our upper body and lower body to create more effective exercises that work your body smarter and more functionally. Most of the exercise utilized body weight as the primary load with a few that used some other tools (kettle bell, medicine ball) and it was amazing how effective they were. This class spoke to the need to not just having male (and some female clients) that just want to lift heavier. It was about how we can make our movements with clients more useful to help them in their daily lives. I am going to look into his book, Abs Revealed, because I was that impressed with what he was saying and his approach.

Nothing much to report from my two classes today so far. I did score some Larabar samples yesterday that I thought I'd share. :D

(Sorry about any typos. I'm posting from my phone.)

DCAC Fitness Conference

I started the morning with a yoga class with Lauren from Yoga I.S. (Yoga Integrated Science) that included some discussion of the origin of yoga and the yamas and niyamas. Then it moved into a flowing yoga practice with variations on sun salutations and a closing meditation. This class was a great way to start the day and kick-off the weekend.

My second class was an indoor cycling class with Keli Roberts that was killer (and I could listen to her Aussie accent all day long)! The focus of the workout was on high intensity training including tough climbs and tabata intervals to increase lactate threshold levels. It was the first time I've used the Schwinn stationary cycles with console and I love being able to view watt output. As any cyclist will tell you, it's how much power you're generating that matters, not only your heart rate. Your heart rate increases when you get scared or are stressed but it doesn't mean you're getting good workout. Power meters help to tell a more complete story and one that you can work to measure and improve over time. So needless to say, I really liked the bike!

I am dripping in sweat right now as I sit here on my lunch break but wanted to give a little update on the day so far.

After lunch I have 3 more classes. First is another cycling class called Release & Relieve. That sounds soothing just what I could use right now! After that it's Creative Yoga Sequences for Core, then ACE's Shifting is the New Lifting to end the first day of the conference.

Happy Friday! Off to finish lunch. :D

Today's Bread

Tomorrow I start my 3-day fitness conference (to keep my yoga, indoor cycling, and personal trainer certifications current) so I'm trying to get a bunch of stuff done today so that tomorrow's dinner will be easier. I have my cycling shorts, yoga mat, and workout clothes packed. Granola bars are wrapped and lunch is almost ready to go.

Tomorrow is usually pizza night but that's being put on hold this week and it's going to be sandwich night instead. Sandwiches are quick and easy, which is just what I'll need when I come home from 11 hours of fitness classes!

I'm making a rye-whole-wheat free-form loaf today, from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, with which I'll make sandwiches tomorrow.

 

 

Current Workout Rotation

I realize it's been a while since I posted my fitness routine and it's sometimes nice to document this sort of thing and see how this changes and evolves from season to season and year to year. It's an especially great feeling to be back to *doing* some of my favorite workouts again after my herniated disc injury (while moving my pizza stone out of the oven back in late March). I'm still not back to where I should be pushup-wise but I'm okay with that. I've been gradually easing into the high impact by doing mostly workouts from Cathe's recent Low Impact Series (it's low impact but still HiGH intensity!!). I've begun to sprinkle in the high impact stuff since receiving my 2 newest exercise DVDs (Cathe's To The Max and CrossFire). This past week I even baked my family's favorite challah again (the loaves that caused the spring herniation). I'm proud to say I lifted the stone out of the oven myself with no injury... Very s-l-o-w-l-y, I might add, bending deeply in the knees and keeping the stone as close to my body as possible. You can bet a little prayer was said as well. So here's what I've been doing for my workouts since getting back from vacation:

Week 1

• June 24 - MMA Kickboxing
• June 25 - STS #1
• June 26 - Step Moves & abs (from 4DS Kickbox)
• June 27 - STS #3
• June 28 - Teach yoga
• June 29 - STS #3
• June 30 - rest

Week 2 - I was going to start another round of STS (as you can see from last week but decided to go with variety instead. I'm so glad that I did!! I'm having so much fun!!)

• July 1 - CrossFire (55 min)
• July 2 - Total Body Trisets upper body & abs (56 min)
• July 3 - Kick, Punch & Crunch (68 min)
• July 4 - tried To The Max but it was way too hard for me today - thought i might be getting sick but think im tired so ill plan accordingly the rest of the week and likely take the weekend off - so stopped after 10 minutes and did Slide & Glide/Stretch Express instead (still felt kinda bummed, but oh we'll... there are days like this) (total 42 min)
• July 5 - Teach yoga (60 min)
• July 6 - rest
• July 7 - rest

Week 3

• July 8 - AfterBurn (54 min)
• July 9 - Low Impact Challenge (51 min)
• July 10 - High Reps (65 min)
• July 11 - Cardio Supersets (41 min)
• July 12 - Teach yoga
• July 13 - Total Body Trisets - Total Body Express (49 min)
• July 14 - HiiT 30/30 & abs (36 min)

Week 4

• TODAY July 15 - rest (this morning I had tons of energy and wanted to do something high intensity but I stuck with my plan and rested and I think my body will thank me for it later this week)
• July 16 - Athletic Training (56 min)
• July 17 - Teach yoga (this will be an hour and the kids will be in this class, as will some of their friends)
• July 18 - Body Max 2 Upper body/abs/stretch only (35 min)
• July 19 - Total Body Trisets Lower Body (49 min)
• July 20 - Slide & Glide (52 min) Cardio Fusion - All Step Cardio Premix (48 min) (really didn't want to do Slide & Glide today... needed something different)
• July 21 - To The Max (54 min) rest (swapping my work and rest days with each other)

Week 5

• July 22 - rest To The Max (54 min)
• July 23 - STS Total Body (66 min)
• July 24 - Low Impact Challenge Step (51 min) Teach yoga & Step Moves (44 min)
• July 25 - CrossFire (55 min) MMA Fusion (50 min)
• July 26 - Teach yoga or STS Total Body
• July 27 - if didn't do STS TB yesterday then do it today; if did it then Slide & Glide CrossFire (55 min)
• July 28 - Cardio Supersets (41 min w/o bonus step section; 64 min with it)

What have you been up to in fitness lately? Do you have any favorite summer workouts?

UPDATED with workout changes.

Posted with Blogsy

Last STS disc of Mesocycle 1

Just taught my new Friday morning adult yoga class and it went very well. Up next is the *last disc* of STS Mesocycle 1 and then I have a recovery week, which means zero strength training next week. I actually love strength training and think I'm going to miss not doing it so I've borrowed a Zumba DVD set from my friend to help spice up next week's cardio.

This recovery week is perfectly timed with the start of an online art class I'm taking with Flora Bowley that starts Monday that I've SO been looking forward to (yes, I *did* plan it that way back in December)!!! ;) Can't wait. It was just meant to be. I had just bought some huge canvases (like 15!!!) for the first time ever and a load of art supplies and then this class offering was announced which listed big canvases and much of the same things I had just purchased in the supply list. Sweet serendipity.

Wrapping up STS Mesocycle 1

I'm in my basement, about to start my workout for today: STS Disc #12 Legs... The last disc in this mesocycle. I still have disc #11 to do - planned for Friday so I'm still a few days away from my recovery week. I switch it up and do Back & Triceps on Fri to give some extra recovery time for my Chest/Shoulders/Biceps that I work on Sunday.

Again, I am reminded of how much I adore this workout series!! This is my third (or fourth?) time doing Shock Training System (a 3-month strength training program) and I like it more and more every time. And I liked it from the beginning!! More STS thoughts and observations to come, but for now I need to get moving...er, get squatting... And lunging.

Have a great day everyone!!

Kids Yoga Classes - registration now open

I'm really excited to share a new project that I have in the works. Starting in February I'll be teaching a kids yoga class on Tuesdays after school at the local elementary school once a week. Sign-up for the upcoming 7-week session starts today (and I just got finished printing out the flyers and putting them in the teacher's mailboxes for distribution). Class will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis and I'm limiting class size to 12 for this first session due to the room that we are holding it in. We'll see how it goes with this many and then open it up, if we are able to, for future sessions.

My adult classes are growing as well, as my current students asked if I'd be willing to add another day of classes so they could come twice a week. So good things are going on over here! I'm trying to manage growth in a sustainable way and I need to find/make some space in my schedule and may need to look into an additional space outside of my home so that I can have classes for more than 3-5 people. I've been resistant to doing this so far because it's nice (and convenient) to be able to have it my home so far but we're definitely close to approaching a space limitation with my current house configuration. It's definitely a good issue to have, don't get me wrong, it's just now I have to do some thinking on *how* I want this to grow and will be adding some items to my "to do" list. It's nice to be able to think about the possibilities of this and other heath and wellness classes that I'd like to offer including cooking classes/healthy eating workshops.

Okay, now that I've shared the good news, I need to go and do my workout for the day (it's a cardio day)... kickboxing here I come!

Low Impact Step Challenge (Low Impact Series)

My legs are so incredibly sore from yesterday's Total Body Trisets Lower Body Premix!! Bending down to tie my shoes is a real challenge, as is bending down to pick anything up. And I could have kicked myself yesterday when I walked downstairs only to realize I forgot to bring something down with me. That meant an EXTRA trip up the stairs. OWEEEEE! Though, that's the sign of a fantastic workout!

Today I thought about going easy and doing some gentle yoga to stretch things out but then decided to stick with my plan and go for it and I'm so glad that I did! On deck for today: Low Impact Challenge (from Cathe's new Low Impact Series), which is a step workout. I felt really creaky in the warm-up, as in ouch! this hurts to move any part of my lower body, but then once the blood got flowing through my muscles I was feeling a bit better (not great, just better). This 50 minute workout consists:

• warm-up
• step combo #1
• step combo #2
• step combo #3
• step combo #4
• all combos together
• cardio blast
• coodown/stretch

In addition to a bunch of premixes (including 4 express ones), this workout also contains a 22-minute step circuit bonus that uses gliding discs and dumbells, which I will have to try some other time since today was strictly a cardio day.

This was a FUN step workout and has all the complex choreography that Cathe fans love! I was never able to get all the moves down for step combo #4. There were times where I just knew I couldn't get the footwork down and would be staring at Cathe saying, "Really?!" and other times where I would think that I had it and I'd look up and see that Cathe was on the other side of her step. LOL! So I'll need to do that one a few times before I am in sync with Cathe and her crew. There are some moves for the core and also some burpees with pushups built right into the combinations. Pretty clever, Cathe, pretty clever! There were also some lunges and squats in the combos. I was wincing and grimacing through all of those!

Lower body officially fried

 

I started off the day with a pumpkin pie smoothie. It was my first time and I have to say it was interesting. I drank the whole thing down and it was quite easy going down. There were no greens in the mix but I still think it needs some work.

Here's what I did threw in the mix:

• a frozen banana
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• whatever was left in my jar of ground cinnamon
• about 10 swipes of nutmeg on the grater
• probably 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk (I think I used too much and will try to measure better next time, mine was thinner than I like my smoothies)
• 2 tablespoons of leftover my oatmeal/quinoa mix (that I defrosted from the freezer yesterday. This mix is usually what I have for breakfast topped with fruit and almond butter but I haven't felt like having it for a the last two weeks, favoring challah and cream cheese), and a tiny pour of some molasses.

I think vanilla paste or extract would be good here as would some almond or cashew butter. I'll have to try that next time. I also added some brown rice protein powder since I wanted something higher in protein as my muscles have been pretty sore from the new workouts.

After the kids were off at school I tackled another new workout from the Low Impact Series. Today was Total Body TriSets - Lower Body. I'm not sure why my legs still feel like they are trembling as I sit and type this. I mean, I've done much longer lower body workouts than this before. I've done the 90-day Shock Training System workout two times through already, in which the last mesocycle has a bunch of plyometric training. I've done HiiT training. This workout was only 39 minutes and I can't believe how gingerly I'm walking and how much I'm dreading the stairs in my house right now. 

Here's what the workout consisted of:

Warm up

Lower Body TriSet #1 (you repeat this set of exercises twice)

• Stability Ball Wall Squats w/Dumbells
• Dixie Cup Front Lunges
• Dixie Cup Side Lunges

Lower Body TriSet #2  (you repeat this set of exercises twice)

• Step Ups on High Step + Step Lunges w/Dumbells
• Elevated Lunges
• Dumbell Squats

Lower Body TriSet #3  (you repeat this set of exercises twice)

• Deadlifts w/Dumbells
• One-Legged Crossover Dip Squats w/Dumbells
• Roll-ins on Ball

Cooldown/Stretch

On *almost* all of the exercises you do 16 reps(some have 12) rather quickly with little rest in between sets and your heart rate really gets high and I often paused so my heart rate would come down a bit (and, yeah yeah, to catch my breath). So again, this is a muscular endurance workout, as opposed to a strictly muscular strength or hypertrophy workout where you'd use heavier weights, go slower, and have more recovery between sets. Though I have endurance in terms of being able to go bike riding for 3 hours without much problem, muscular endurance weight training is always challenging for me. STS Mesocycle #1 in the STS series always kicks my butt because it is of a similar style. And did I mention that challenge is good?!

The deadlifts in the third TriSet felt like a great rest compared to all the other stuff but don't let that fool you. I think the last two exercises in the 3rd TriSet are the reasons I'm still so wobbly. That One-Legged Crossover Dip Squat is HARD! What a great balance challenge as designed but I needed to put my back foot down to help balance me or I would have fallen over.

Between the One-Legged Crossover Dip Squat and the Elevated Lunges in TriSet #2, I found a slight muscular imbalance when I have my left leg back and the right leg is the leg working (either squatting or lunging, depending on the exercise). I feel a bit of fatigue in my lower back that probably is triggered by an imbalance in my obliques that I suspect has something to do with the foot surgery on my right foot. The good news is that when you find something like this... when you KNOW IT EXISTS you can work to strengthen and balance things out. I will definitely be doing these until I don't feel any different in my lower back on that side.

Oh and then the ROLL-INS. I hate these. No, I love these because I know they are good for me. No, I love to hate these. Oh, I can't decide! Why do these make my legs so sore?! LOL! These make my hamstrings feel SO on fire. The first time through I only did 10 out of the 12 but the second time through I was able to eek out the full 12 (though, admittedly, my hips weren't in the air quite as high as Cathe's).

This is another great workout that I look forward to adding to my rotation!

The plan for the rest of the week:

• Thursday - Low Impact Challenge
• Friday - CycleMax
• Saturday - rest (aka shuttle kids to their sport/activites) :D

To read about Total Body TriSets Upper Body Premix or Slide and Glide from Cathe's new Low Impact Series, check out yesterday's post.

Off to run some errands, which hopefully includes finding some jeans that fit!