Day two

Oh Baby!

Well, I woke up this morning with a pending stiffness from yesterdays "fitness test" I felt ok but I knew I was going to get progressively more sore as the day went on. I had some work to do so I suffered through being chained to my desk chair for a little while. 

I figured I better do something to head of any major progress halting soreness so I took some ibuprofen, And have been drinking way more water than normal.

Neither was working so I decided the best way to help my body recover was to jump right into day number two of my workout .  I made the necessary preparations, and jumped right in.

They call this workout the plyometric cardio circuit. ( Google speller just hates that word) I definitely felt the cardio!  I was unable to slow down enough to take my heart rate but I am sure it was pushing the envelope.

Same as yesterday, I had trouble keeping up with even the warm-up, but I quickly got into the stride and did pretty well.  I think I felt my second wind come on about 4 minutes from the end. 

The routine consists of  a 10 minute warm-up/stretch and it goes right into the first of 4 or 6 ( I lost count) "circuits" the first two of which have the same six exercise routines. Each routine last a minute.  At the end of each circuit (6 hard core moves) their is a 30 second "water break"  Not long enough!

I was able to keep up and maybe do about 30% of the full routine. Which is to say that I did at least 20 to 30 % of the full minute of each routine. Not great, but given the level of this workout, and the level of my inherent slovenliness, I am very happy to have kept up that well. 

I was surprised to find that most of the routines are not to hard. what makes them effective is pushing the number of reps, and not resting in between. 

One exercise consists of squatting, going into a plank position, doing 4 push-ups, running in the plank position, then coming back up into a stretch. I don't know what they call it, but I know what I call it!

I concentrated on form because i can easily see how one could hurt themselves if they got sloppy. I am not exactly coordinated, or flexible so some of it was tough. I tried to slow down and just do good forms, and that helped me push through the times.

A very pleasant part of the routine were some basic and advanced yoga moves mixed in. I like that because I am sort of used to doing yoga, and I could really feel those moves.  I almost always feel immediate benefit from yoga and this was no different.

The cool down seems to be a good mix of deep yoga stretches that seem to prepare the muscles for recovery from the routine. I definitely had kept up well enough to get warmed up and it felt great to cool down properly 

Sitting here now about 45 minutes after the workout, and feeling the burn quite intensely, i can tell you that the routines target just about every muscle. and target them hard. During the routines, I was thinking that i was getting more lower body than upper body but right now I am realizing that my upper body got the brunt of the chaos. 

During the routine, aside from the slight pain of muscles being worked to failure, I had a little twinge in my right ankle, kind of like a shin splint pain but it is not bothering me anymore. I also felt a little crick in the lower right of my back but that went away almost immediately. I am being very careful not to hurt myself. 

My workout room was at 60 degrees when I started and was pushing 72 when I finished. I needed a sweat rag. I don't like the gym mat i bout mainly because it is not big enough. But otherwise, all is well!

All in all the whole exercise took about 40 minutes. I feel a little rubbery and a tad sore but otherwise great! I took a hot shower,  and my daily supplement routine.  I am going to do a little research now on workout recovery nutrition because i just know I am going to need to step that up.

I cant even imagine who great i am going to feel at my target weight or even closer to it.  Right now, it seems that i am carrying around a 50 pound bag of dog food every time I stand up or do anything! What will life be like without that burden? 

Stay tuned!