Push in Review: Workout 3, 4, 5

Yes, I'm still Pushing. Apparently so much that I forgot to blog about it.

But before you read this boring entry, listen to my shout out from Adam Tinkoff at Burning 20. Fast forward until you get to 17:10 into it. Aren't I just so cool? Except I'm not being sponsored. Just not that smart, I suppose.

How the workouts are progressing:

Man, this new (to me) concept of a progressive workout is a double-edged sword. I can't skip out on what seems to be a really hard exercise now because then I certainly won't be able to do whatever the next step is in the exercise in a month. Then again, I'm utterly shocked at how easy the 12 long reps of "hump the floor" (dolphin to plank) is now compared with how it was at the beginning. The first month of it literally had me on the brink of tears and I'm quite certain I would have cursed at Trainer Bob had I been able to speak upside down.

Workout three starts using resistance bands. They weren't easy in the beginning, but now they're pretty fun.

Did you know I have an irrational fear of stretched rubber bands? Please don't ever point a rubber band gun at me. I think this fear has something to do with the fact that it could snap and hurt me. I dunno. At any rate, working with the resistance bands have made me slightly less scared. Except they pull the hair on my arms a little.

Workout 5 starts to include the stability ball, my newly purchased step, and dumbbells.

Exercises that killed me in these workouts:

*1-Arm Push Ups-NOT what you're thinking. You do a regular push-up and then add this movement, then go back into another push-up and do the movement on the other side. Aside from making me wobbly-armed and nearly cursing, I have no idea what this movement actually accomplishes.

* Extended plank-instead of just getting on my forearms and holding a plank position for 35 seconds, now you hold for 35 seconds and then lift up into a full plank position for about a minute more. Add some out to the side leg movement during the last 20 seconds and you've got something I can barely do.

*Bridge-you get in this position and stay there for two minutes while Trainer Bob makes you lift up one leg and then ther other multiple times. Feel the tush burn. In prior workouts, I'd just have to get in the bridge position, stay there for like 10 seconds and come back down.

*Single leg squat-aside from killing my glutes, I also have to keep from not falling. Not an easy task with me. He has you do 6 reps with one leg bent at a 90 degree angle and then you do 6 more reps with the leg curled around the other at the ankle. Just try it...see how you fall. Or laugh at Rachel being uncoordinated, one of the two. These got much easier to do as the weeks progressed.

Exercises that I don't get but are probably precursors to killers:

*Plyo push-ups-get in a plank position. Do a regular push-up but when you're in the up position, lift one arm and one leg as fast as you can. Let me know how you feel after 12 of those babies.

*Side squat- stand, spread one foot shoulder width apart and squat half way down. This was so easy for me that I'm scared to see what comes next.


Concerns:

Nada.

How I feel:

* My abs definitely feel much stronger...under the layer o' flab I have. I'll have to work on that whole "eating healthy" thing at some point.

* One day at work when I was wearing a long-sleeve button up shirt, my shoulder started itching. I had to press my shoulder into my fingers so that the scratch was pleasurable (the shirt is kind of thick). When I did so, I noticed another arm bump.

* I have a pair of jeans that I bought two years ago. When I bought them, they were two sizes too big for me. I had to buy two sizes bigger because apparently my waist is slightly smaller than average but my thigh/glute? (the area inches below the bottom of the butt cheeks) is slightly bigger than the average size...whatever I wear. The result at the time was jeans that showed my butt crack when sitting. Lovely. At any rate, I put those on two weeks ago and they were not tight on the aforementioned butt portion. Which means that they're just too big for me, I guess.

* Scale still sits at the same number if did when I started. Like I said, though...haven't changed my very poor eating habits.

And on a slightly similar note, I have decided to buy a body composition scale with part of my tax refund. I just need to figure out which one now. That way, I can track how much muslce I'm gaining. I should have thought about this in the beginning. But I didn't.