Day Two 1/2 (Sort Of): Upper Fix

Day Two. How do I feel?: Upon waking up Tuesday morning, I typed up an e-mail to my boss that went a little something like this:

Dear Boss,

I cannot come to work today. I know yesterday was my birthday and you're going to assume I'm hungover, but I promise you that is not the case. I physically cannot come to work today. Like, my legs won't move from the horizontal position. Please excuse my absence. If you have any questions, call Beachbody and ask for Autumn. She'll explain.

 

You would think I turned 80 on Monday instead of 26. I managed to talk myself into swinging my legs over the edge of my bed and making my way to the bathroom (not without gasping and muttering "ow" with every, single, tedious step). Somehow, someway I managed to leave my condo. Walking down the stairs sucked. Then sitting in my car sucked. Then getting out of my car was even worse. Oh, and I work on the second floor of the building, so you can imagine every time I needed to go downstairs for something... You get the picture.

Overall, Tuesday I didn't feel "more energized". I would like to point out, I've only done one day of this shin-dig, I did actually feel more energy Monday after I did it (well, after the feeling of wanting to puke/pass out faded), so then I stayed up later and ended up not being able to fall asleep until midnight. Also, I haven't started the nutritional part yet--which I definitely think isn't benefiting me any. I'm hoping once I start on the nutritional part and really jump into this thing headfirst, my energy will be up.

Anywho, on to day two!

I one hundred percent researched the work-out at work Tuesday afternoon. I think I was slightlyyyy hoping I would see something like: Ultimate Quad Work-Out! and quit instantly. But instead, I read: Day Two: "Upper Fix". I was ecstatic. Upper--aka no legs. None! Nada! They can't possibly make me use my legs 'cause that's not upper. Duh. A kindergartner could tell you that... (foreshadowing: I was super naive to think this...).

So my review of the Upper Fix:

I kind of forgot that even though Tuesday was an "upper body" day, I would still need to warm up my legs. I supposed I assumed that maybe the warm up would be different? But alas, no. Same warm up. Same, killer leg movements. Ouch. However, even in the incredible pain I had felt from the legs (my legs were like jello on Monday), I felt like it was easier to get through the warm ups this time around. Yes, my quads were throbbing and burning and pulling in every direction, but I was able to push through it a lot easier than the day before.

So this work out consisted of 5 different exercises with 2 rounds. We started with a "bent over row". You could use weights or resistance bands. I chose the bands because my weights have yet to come in. Autumn tells the girls they should be using a set of lighter weights/resistance--anywhere from 2 lbs. to 5 lbs. (my resistance bands start at 3lb-6lb resistance) and then the heavier set should be 5 lbs. to 8 lbs. She says to start with the heavier pair for the first exercise. This thought was terrifying. I literally yelled at the TV, "WHY do you like to kill me right from the get-go?!" In my mind, Autumn/Beachbody has some sick fascination with pushing you to your limit before it even really begins.

Basically with the resistance band, you keep it held down under your right foot. Your left leg is at a 45 degree angle lunged behind you. You do a "rowing-like" motion with the weights or resistance band handles. I realized when I started doing this exercise that I really wasn't feeling much of a burn...at all. I even craned my neck to look at my little cheat sheet that came with my resistance bands to make sure that I was, indeed, using the "heavier" (more resistance) of the bands. Huh. As if on cue, Autumn tells us that the girl using the resistance bands decided to make hers "more resistant" by making a loop on the floor with a little bit of slack from the band and standing on it. Basically, creating more resistance. So I did it! I was actually able to follow along and IT FELT GREAT! This is only day two and I'm already keeping up better than I was before. I definitely felt the pull, but it wasn't anything like the feeling my quads were feeling the day before. Autumn stresses squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your abs tight--both things I had to really focus on, but I was glad I had that reminder. It made me realize I was working out the right way.

Next you go into something she calls the "Transverse Twist". I have to admit, I felt pretty badass with this one. Feet hip-width apart, knees bent a little, and you punch the weight across your chest and then pull it back, then go in the other direction. Autumn noted it was really important to keep your abs tight and rotate your palms to face the ground. Again--two things I had to keep in mind. I also had to focus on not punching so hard to throw out my elbows--which I was doing quite a bit (read: clearly a badass). We were supposed to switch to the lighter weights for this but I kept the heavier resistance band (seriously though, why am I so convinced I'm a badass right now?! Newsflash: you wanted to cry every time you had to sit down after that last workout, let's not overdo it). I switched to the lighter resistance band when I realized this was more of a "safety thing" with the elbows and didn't really limit my badass-ness.

Then were the push-ups. My arms still didn't feel like they were dying (until push up number 12 or so). I changed it up and did the modified (from my knees) and then the regular every-other-one. My arms were shaking. I hadn't realized it had been so long since I'd done push-ups. Sheesh. Also, during this round I decided that I'm prettttty sure Autumn is a mind-reader. I was just thinking "I can't do this anymore" when she told me to take the word can't out of my vocabulary.

...that was a little bit scary.

Anyway--here's the reason why A) this is two days late and B) I didn't finish this day's work-out.

I ended up having to take someone to the ER. We were there for 5ish hours. He has Shingles (did you know you don't have to be 50+ to get Shingles? Because that was news to me...) then I went home. I climbed into bed around 3ish in the morning on Wednesday. I woke up roughly 3 hours later to go to work. I felt like I was dying at work all day. I went home last night. I called my Grandma to wish her a happy birthday. I picked up the boy's prescriptions from Walgreens. I took a shower, realizing I hadn't showered after my Upper Fix the night before (and then went to work anyway. Gross). I opened my computer to watch an episode of Friends and before I knew it, I was asleep. At 8:30.

So now it's Thursday. Thank you, life, for the curve balls. Though I plan to jump right back into the Fix tonight :).

And next week I get to start the nutritional side! And Shakeology! Color me stoked.

Well, that's all folks! What you should take away from this blog entry: Upper Body Fix is fun! Shingles is not. My legs still feel like they're going to fall off. My armpits hurt a tad and my shoulders could use a massage, but it's nothing like the pain my quads felt so I'll stop complaining. Oh, and clearly I think I'm a badass. Til next time! :)

Day One (Sort Of): Total Body Cardio Fix

So this is day one--sort of. If you read my last blog, I'm not planning on starting the full nutrition plan until this weekend after pay-day. I'm planning on eating well this week no matter what--minus today because it was my birthday and work brought in cake (can you really blame me?!). I kept it to one sliver of a slice, though! That counts for something, right?

Day one in the 21 Day Fix is the Total Body Cardio Fix. I had read horror stories regarding this work-out but didn't really take them seriously. I don't think I fully understood how intense these work outs would be considering I can do them from home in my living room. Well, let me tell you (or let my quads tell you, rather)...

It starts off with a warm-up. There's a group of people keeping up with Autumn Calabrese (the creator of this masterpiece [or nightmare, however you decide to look at it]) and then there's a woman who does a modified version of the warmup or the exercise. I foolishly thought I could keep up with Autumn and the rest of the crew. I was horribly mistaken.

I think the moment I realized I was in trouble was when I became aware that we were still on the warmup and I was looking for a water break...

It's been 7 months since I've gone for a run. It's insane to me how hard of a hit my body has taken in seven months of limited to no physical activity. 

The workouts go something like this: Autumn goes over two exercises--the first one is something she calls "Surrenders". She even states that this one is the hardest of them all, because we have the most energy right off the get go. Uh, I'm not sure who she's talking to but I already feel winded... Why in the world would we start with something that sounds so terrible?! The Surrender consists of holding weights at your shoulders parallel to the floor, then taking turns--first set of these exercises you kneel onto your right knee, then bring your left knee down, then up with your right, up with your left. Repeat. I was about ready to surrender after this set, but somehow kept going into the second exercise.

The next exercise are the side-shuffles. Sounds easy, right? Well, after those Surrenders, my knees, quads and shins felt like they were waving a white flag. I definitely went with the modifier for the first few rounds. Instead of two shuffles, I did one. Ideally, it's two shuffles to the right, reach down to the floor between your feet (shoulder-width apart or a little bit more) keeping your back straight and your head up--chin parallel with the floor, then shuffle left and do the same thing. 

Then you go back to Surrenders (I did the modifiers on this round--which consisted of doing the same motions, only minus the weights).

Then back to the shuffles. Because I modified the last round of Surrenders, I was able to do the full shuffle exercises.

She highlights these "twenty second breaks" at the beginning--saying we'll need them. Twenty seconds have never gone by so quickly before in my entire life.

Round two.

We start with something called "Squat Wood Chops". I felt excited about this round because it's name reminded me of pork chops... Clearly, I'm delusional by this point (and very obviously hungry). But no, this exercise is where you basically bring the weight up over your head as you squat--not my most favorite, as I mentioned previously. My. Quads. Are. Dying. They hate me by this point and I'm only pissing them off more. The second exercise is called Cross Country Skiers, which genuinely scared me at first. You basically lunge-jump while lifting a weight of your choice above your head. I modified this one a bit and didn't really "lunge-jump", more just lunged while lifting the weight above my head. Now my shoulders hate me. Fannnnntastic. Again, you do each exercise a couple of times (honestly? I didn't pay attention. The only things I listened for her to say were: "Ten more seconds!", "Okay, five more seconds!", "DONE!")

Round three. Ohhh, round three. I wasn't sure I would actually make it to you. I'm still not too certain I'll be conscious by the time you're over. We begin with the Weighted Jog, where you hold the weight straight out in front of you, arms parallel with the floor and jog in place. Shockingly--I'm still shocked--this wasn't bad? I'm thinking at this point my body went numb and I simply couldn't feel the pain anymore. Then there were the knee pulls, which consisted of also holding the weights, standing in a lunge and bringing the knee behind you up to mid-waist level. This one was one that I definitely felt in my butt and my quads. Holy quads. Like I really don't even know how I stood in the shower after all of this.

I was extremely thankful for the last round, as it focused on the abs. I still had to do some movement with my legs, but the "frog crunches" wasn't nearly as scary as it sounded. I liked taking the focus off of my quads and onto my abs--however now my abs feel like they hate me, too. MY WHOLE BODY HATES ME.

...but it'll love me later on.

As an overall review--so far, so good. Autumn is encouraging and seems to know the exact moments to say something like, "I know you feel like you want to quit right now, but you can push through it. Tell yourself you can push through it." As crazy as it sounds, in those moments I did want to quit, and in those moments I did tell myself to push through (I'm pretty sure my legs were yelling back: "YOU TRY 'PUSHING THROUGH'! NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS!") But we did it.

Also--I will honestly note that I took breaks. Yeah, it happened. You're supposed to do it straight through but my out-of-shape self couldn't handle it. It got to a point where twenty seconds wasn't long enough, but that's OKAY. At least I'm telling myself that's okay. One day at a time, folks.

I'm stoked for this program. I'm excited to get on the nutritional part of it, as well (I'm blaming the pain on the cake; yeah, let's blame the cake). Here's to a new year! 

21 Day Fix

Twenty-Six.

I've gotta say, the last twenty-six years have been pretty great. I've lived experiences, traveled within the country and outside the country, I've done things I never thought I would. I'm old enough now to realize that in my adult-life, I've made those opportunities and those things happen.

Recently (actually since Easter), I've wanted to get on a health-kick. And by "wanted", I mean that I've talked about it a lot. I went to the gym once! It was Easter Sunday. It had been three months since I had gone for a run. When I moved back from California and lived with my parents, any time I needed space I would go for a run on the trail behind their house. Since moving into my own condo, that thought had gone out the window. 

Working out on Easter Sunday felt great! I felt motivated. I felt ready. I was excited. I was ready to make this a routine (or was I?). 

And then that very next day, a frog jumped on me and changed my pace. At least, I like blaming the frog. I mean, it was somewhat reasonable to blame the frog. I really did some damage to my toe and my foot, so I was in a walking boot for 4 weeks. But now I'm out of the boot. The first few weeks after being out of the boot, it was pretty much impossible to get my foot in a sneaker without tears being shed. But now that's different. I haven't even thought about my toe in a few weeks.

About two weeks ago, I just decided to make a change. I don't know how and I'm not sure why, but I ordered the 21 Day Fix Challenge from Beachbody. And then I ordered weights, resistance bands, a yoga mat. I got a blender for my Shakeology shakes, I ordered a new work-out outfit (I had to bribe myself somehow--I mean, once the clothes are on, I may as well work out, right?). 

I haven't yet been able to stock up on the necessary groceries--fresh produce, frozen berries for my shake, chicken, lean meat, etc. but I'm planning on doing so on Friday when I get paid. However, I felt ready to kick it into gear today, so I'm going to start with the first work out. So this will really become more like a 28 Day Fix, considering the food portion (just as important as the exercise) will technically begin next weekend/Monday. Can't hurt to get some work-outs in?

So this is my blog--detailing jumping into the work-out routine at 26, from a girl who really has never pushed herself to "work-out" all that frequently. Running is one thing--weights and all these crazy moves Beachbody likes to throw at you are another.

Here goes nothing!