Push in Review: Workout 2

Carlos Mencia: Not for the Easily Offended: Live in San Jose (2005) = 7/10. Not his best stuff, but Doug and I nearly cried during parts of it.

Once again, this will probably be boring to anyone but my future self. I've officially decided to make Push Reviews a regular installment (they'll show up every two weeks) because a) I think I'm the only blogger out there doing it (at least, there are only about 20 links to Push site. Sounds like a job for BK.), b) someone might want to read about how the program changes over time, c) it holds me accountable (then again, so does the $225 I dropped on it), d) because I can.

So, Push said it had "progressive" workouts. And by progressive they mean "the modifications we will add to the exercises you were able to successfully complete on workout 1 will kick your ass now."

Examples of progressive nature:

* Hip lift - Workout 1 had me lay (or is it lie? whatever) on my back with my knees bent, close to my body. You'd then, lift up your hips, hold a few seconds, and return to the start position. Workout 2 is the same thing with one essential modification: straightening out one leg. Damn, talk about killer! Try it to feel the difference.

* Back raise - Workout 1 had me lay on tummy with arms at 90 degree angle. Like if you were holding your hands in the air for the cops. Raise chest and arms up, hold for a few seconds, come back down. 6 reps. Final 6 reps you also lift your legs. Workout 2 was a back raise with an arm sweep. Lay on tummy with arms straight over head. Lift up back. Now sweep your arms all the way back by your butt, bring them forward, down. 6 reps of that and then adding the feet. It's more difficult, but not impossible. Try it. You'll feel like an ungraceful swan.

* Roll-ups - workout 1 was with knees bent. Workout 2 has it exactly like this chick is doing. Legs on the floor. Definitely not a killer for me, but more difficult.

Concerns:

*What concens me about the progressive nature of this program is the fact that right now I can barely do the chest exercises, namely the push ups. I have a feeling in a few months Trainer Bob is going to make me do some crazy chest stuff that I'm not sure I'll be ready for.

* Trainer Bob makes comments during a few of the exercises like "man, those are tough, aren't they?" He makes this comment during side planks. And every time he says it, I think "it's a little difficult, but I'm not just dying. OMG, that means I'm probably doing it all wrong if Bob says they're hard." He also says a similar comment on the inner thigh taps. Which are not a big deal for me.

*...but Bob says NOTHING during the push ups or the 12 sets of dolphin to plank. Which makes me think it's going to get worse for me.

* I wasn't able to do the workouts for three days last week because I was sick. You would think that would be a blessing in disguise because then I might have my 2^nd DVD in perfect time for me to begin my second month of workouts. No so! My second DVD was shipped out on 2/20. This means that I'll probably lose 4 days every month waiting for my DVD to arrive. Not cool.

How I feel:

Pretty much the same as I did a month ago. Although, I did detect what I think might be a new small bump muscle between my biceps and triceps (can't find what muslce that is). I'm not really sure because I already had somewhat strong feeling upper arms. Either it's a new bump or I'm just paying closer attention/feeling myself up more often.

The scale still says the same number it did a month ago, but I haven't changed my diet and my main goal hs nothing to do with weight loss. My diet consists of about 95% crap right now. By June, I'd like to bring my crap food percentage down to about 80%. Why just 80%? Because anything faster than that will be a short-term diet. And I'm not in this for the short-term. Small, gradual changes over time is what I'm striving for here.

Doug hasn't said anything about me looking or physically feeling different. Since he probably spends the most time looking at me, he'd presumably be the first to notice any kind of changes. Then again, he might not be one to say anything at all. I certainly won't be able to tell until probably nine months after changes occur. That's how dense I am.

Overall:

Still worth every penny, fits with my lifestyle, Trainer Bob is funny.