W11D1, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 3 + SPS P4 Push + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W11D1, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 3 + SPS P4 Push + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

Kind of lazed the first half of the day away. Woke up late and had a nice family breakfast. Then everyone did their thing. Around 1pm I watched a movie with my son. LOVED IT!!! After watching the "Extras" I got to it.

Day 3 is part 2 of the core focus.  It was only about 7 minutes, but really intense.  Really hit the core hard.  It served the purpose I had intended, to warm up for the main body of my workout.

Phase 4 of SPS is the phase that is supposed to shred me, so I am going for it.  Unlike phase 3, I am not to put on the heaviest weights possible, but rather about 85% of that weight and stabilize the rep counts.  I missed one important piece of information. The target rep count is 8, but we are not to lower the weight in following sets even if we can't hit 8 reps.  But I did lower the weight to get to 8 reps. I won't do that next time.  Target areas today were Biceps and Chest, plus killer cardio. The first two moves were for the chest. Chest presses (4 sets of 8) and then Chest Flies (3 sets of 8). Supersetted with toe-touch crunches.  I had 25kgsx2 and the first 2 sets were relatively easy, but I stressed on the 3rd set near the end, and I was really struggling to get the last rep up on the last set. Oh, and instead of 8, I did 12 on the first set, the 8 the last 3 sets.  I had 17kgsx2 for the Chest Flies.  Really struggled all the way through the 3 sets, but got through them.  After each of the seven chest sets, I did 20 seconds of those Toe-Touch Crunches. 7 sets in all. Added to the core pain from the warm up, but a good pain.

Biceps moves were Standing Bicep Curls and Preacher Curls.  I tried 17kgsx2 on the first set and only made it to 5 of 8, took a short breather, then did the last three. That is when I lowered the weight to 14.5kgsx2.  Still couldn't get all the way to 8 reps, but the break was shorter.  Next time, I'll start with 14.5kgs.  In the past, since I don't have a Preacher Curl bench, I would just kneel on one knee, hang my arms down and curl up.  Today, I remembered what I did with Tony in P90X2 and used my balance ball with my Preacher Curls. I could barely get 5 reps in. Somehow I got to 8 then I lowered to 7.5kgsx2  The first couple reps were noticeably easier, but then the move got hard really quick.  Really struggled on the last two sets.

The final move was 8 sets of Burpees. 20 seconds on, and 20 seconds rest. But for the first 4 sets, I only took 10 seconds rest. I was DYING by set 4. I took a 60 second rest, then did the last 4 sets with the recommended 20 second break.  I was just dying! 

I did my old splits training today with my bad back.  I was able to get back to my mark. I was very happy about that!  But the one different thing I'm doing is I'm controlling the time.  Instead of holding as long as possible, I'm holding for 30 seconds with a push down, then coming out.  So it is more intense, but quicker.  I'm going to go with that style for a while and see if I get any gains.

I went for fluidity in my Flow today. As non-stop as possible. I think I nailed it about 60% of the Flows.  I did shake a bit a few times, but I need to keep my head in the game.

Great way to Blast into a new week.  Phase 4 is not numbered as far as how many weeks it is. Basically do it for as long as you want.  So, I'm going to stick with this for a month then go into my hybrid including SPS routines with Beachbody programs.  There are 10 routines in phase 4, so I'm going to do 5 a week twice for one month. On the non-SPS day, I'm going to do a yoga workout to keep flexible.  That is the plan of attack! CHARGE!!!