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!