Wk 13, D3. T25-Gamma: Speed 3.0 + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Full Flow. Tennis.

Wk 13, D3. T25-Gamma: Speed 3.0 + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Full Flow. Tennis.

Earliest start to date! Woke up at 6:15am and was sweating by 7am! New record for me! What a way to start my day. Then the drive to the gym to play tennis. Total of over 3 hours of working out and sweating to begin a cold rainy and windy day.

T25 was kickin'! I totally nailed today's routine. Straight 25!!! I was very solid on the transitions and only messed up on one move where I missed a squat. But I did made up the missed squat and nailed it. It was cold, but I got a good sweat going.

I pushed it hard this morning and really went down on the splits. I was able to get down further than ever before. Getting out of the splits was slow going, though. It was good that my muscles were warm or I might have torn something.

Tennis was good. The gym was especially cold this morning. I say good, but it didn't start out that way. Warming up took longer than usual. I just wasn't hitting my spots and was spraying the ball all over the court. I went down in the first set 1-5, but then I got my groove started to roll. I ended up taking the first set 7-5 final score: 7-5, 6-1, 6-0, 6-2, 6-0. It was great to test myself by digging myself into that hole.

In the end, I torched 700+ kcals with Beachbody and over 1000kcals with tennis. It's great to have my HRM back!

Wk 13, D2. T25-Gamma: Rip'T Up + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Full Flow.

Wk 13, D2. T25-Gamma: Rip'T Up + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Full Flow.

Switched it up a bit to get "2 strength and 1 cardio X2" this week, then I'll do the 3 in a row Strength next week. My schedule is such that that will fit better this week and next.

Today's morning workout was awesome. I was able to keep up with the crew and Shaun T but due to some unforeseen circumstances involving family members, I had to take a few quick breaks so I was unable to do a Straight 25. But I was able to nail the moves. I was able to power through the pain and get to the end of each move except one. I got through the first three moves in the Chest Press progressions. I could not continue on to the 4th. I had to take a quick "Shake-it-out" break before getting back to it.  That progression is the nemesis progression of this routine for me. Everything else is doable... with much pain, but doable.  I'm going to do a Straight 25 by next week. That is my vow!

The Neural Reboot is as usual, but I've seemed to hit a plateau with the splits. As I said yesterday, I've got to push through and get off this plateau. I tried that today and got down a bit lower, but still not enough for me to say, "I'm OFF".

The Flow felt good today. But not there yet. I still feel like I'm sort of over-extending my front stance on some stances. I need to keep focused on my footing.

The odd thing about today's workout is that at the end of i, my legs were shaking like I had done a leg routine. Going down the stairs my legs were just quivering like wet noodles, and even on into the evening, my legs were sore and tingling. I think I'm going to try and get some extra Z's tonight to prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow starts the "Holiday Party Season" for me. Parties with several different groups to say "Good-bye" to 2014, and Xmas parties. More Shakeology for me on those days.

Wk 13, D1. T25-Gamma: The Pyramid + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Wk 13, D1. T25-Gamma: The Pyramid + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Burned it up today and TOTALLY NAILED THE PYRAMID!  STRAIGHT 25! It was awesome. So happy I was able to finally get this one in the bag.  I was still using the 6kgs, and I think I'll try going up to 7kgs at the end of the week when I have to do this a second time.  I was able to keep up with each move and the transitions were good. A few times I was a bit late off the gun, but I sped up to catch up with the crew.  I thought I would have lost some strength already because of my day off, but I think that the day off helped me, and I was happy that I was able to maintain my strength level.

I cannot believe this is the last week of Tai Cheng. I will continue to do the flow everyday, but I'm wondering what to do about the Neural Reboot. There are some moves that I want to keep working on, like the splits, but I think I might go back to doing yoga, or do a core workout.  I want to capitalize on my cough-strengthened ab area.  As I said, I've had a cough for almost a month now, and I just can't kick it totally. Throat is just always scratchy and dry. Last week, my abs were really sore, and hurt when I coughed. Now, not pain, and I think my abs are noticeably stronger than before, so I don't want to lose that. At least something good will come from my suffering. hehe.

I think I've hit a plateau with my splits, I guess I need to dip into the dangerzone and push it harder if I want to get results. The flow is good if I don't speed up too fast. But I think I'll try to bump it up a notch next time.

Great way to start the week.

Wk 12, D6. T25- Core Cardio + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Wk 12, D6. T25- Core Cardio + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Another morning workout today. Great way to start my day and end my week.
I was very happy because I was able to keep up with Shaun T and crew today. At least as far as their pace. Their pace seems just a touch faster than Speed 3.0 on several of the moves. The odd thing about this routine is that the moves and the rhythm of the music, at several points, felt a little out of sync. Then when Shaun T started to count, the count was not in sync with the beat of the music. That made it difficult, but it actually forced me to focus even more on what I was doing to keep pace. I don't know if that was intentional, but whatever it was, intentional or not, after the initial frustration, I was able to get into it rather well. I only took one break, that was between the first and second round. Shaun T doesn't stop, but today, I had to. But I caught my second wind and from that point on, I blew it out the seal!

I was able to get to the mark with the splits quicker today despite feeling a bit tight. I have basically memorized the whole reboot sequence so I can do it faster than the DVD and I can take more time where needed.

I tried to speed up the flow today. I have been averaging about 83 seconds for the entire flow, but I wanted to try and get it to 70 seconds. When I sped up, a lot of issues came into play. I lost my balance several times because of movement momentum, I lost footing several times, brain farts, bad form, etc. So I went back to my 83 second pace and all was well. I guess I'm not ready to speed up. I will need to solidify the flow in my body and mind a lot more before I try to speed up again. But I learned a lot from all those mess ups. I may try again on Monday.

Day off tomorrow, and boy do I need it. Aches and pains at different points in my body. Not a full day off, I think I'll do some foam rolling on those problem points, and I think I will keep the splits stretch on whenever I can, even while I'm just watching TV or something.

Have great weekend, everyone!

Wk 12, D5. T25-Gamma: Rip'T Up + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Wk 12, D5. T25-Gamma: Rip'T Up + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

AM workout today. Felt a bit tight all over and my hammys felt a bit gimpy for some reason.  Instead of going back up to 7.5kgs as I did the previous go around on this routine, I stuck with what I used yesterday on The Pyramid, 6kgs.  I was able to go longer, but the burn was intense on the last 4 reps or so on the dumbbell moves. BURN BURN BURN!!! Felt good.  For some reason, I got winded really quickly on the cardio moves and needed some extra time to catch my breath.  The oddest thing was the pull ups. There are only two pull up moves in this routine: first regular pull ups, and second, side to side pull ups. Going straight up, again, caused some acute but bearable pain in my left shoulder. But the side to side pull ups, no pain. Not sure why. Maybe it was the angle at which I was pulling wasn't straining the strained muscle, but it was nice to power through those pull ups with no pain.

Tai Cheng was its usual self today. Got a good stretch. Was able to get to the limit line quicker than yesterday, and I pushed a little past the line, but not so much so as to rip anything down there.  The flows went quickly and smooth. Didn't have time to do too many reps, but got some quality flows in before heading to work.

Great way to start the busiest day of my work week. 14 hour day today. BRING IT ON!!!

Wk 12, D4. T25-Gamma: The Pyramid + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Wk 12, D4. T25-Gamma: The Pyramid + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Last time doing this routine I got burned with 7.5kgs. Just couldn't keep up and took too many mid-set and in between breaks. I went down to 6kgs today and kept my mid-set breaks to only three moves and only about a third of the in between breaks. Added just over 4 minutes to the 25. Got a good burn right off the bat. Strength endurance is still a problem for me. I started off strong, then died coming to the finish of some of the curl moves. But I was strong on most of the other moves. Felt good.

Splits today started off tight. But by the second round, I was back to the same position as yesterday. I tried to stretch it out a bit more.

The sequences are getting better.  As I go through the flow, each time there is a point where I feel a bit unsure as to what should come next. It is odd because I sort of automatically do the move but that uncomfortable split second hesitation is still there. I need to work that unsureity out of the flow. I want to get to the point where I can trust my movement without thinking and I am confident with each move without a bit of hesitation.  But I was able to increase my rep count to 12. That is 2 up from previous times.

Great workout today.

Wk 12, D3. T25-Gamma: Speed 3.0 + Tennis + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Wk 12, D3. T25-Gamma: Speed 3.0 + Tennis + Tai Cheng: NR4 + Seq. 1-3.

Very odd day with a big morning and good evening.

Recently I haven't been sleeping well because of my throat and cough. But tonight I had to wake up at 3am to say good bye to my son who left for his class trip.

But I got in my T25 in the morning. STRAIGHT 25! The first time for me to do this routine without stopping. NAILED IT!!! Nailed all the burpee moves and everything else! Very happy about the performance.

90 minutes later, I was on the court playing in frigid temperatures. Again, shot like a bullet right out of the gate. Slow a bit as the session went on though. But everything was firing on all cylinders. Very happy about my game today. Final score: 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-0.

Got home at night and went right to my Tai Cheng! Splits were a little lost at the start, but got it back out by the end of the session. Got 10 flows in today. I'm able to go a little faster and not think so much about my movements.  Still not automatic, though. It still hasn't become part of me, but it's getting there.

Instead of my HRM I've been using a pedometer so today, I got over 7000 steps with T25 and Tennis. But from past experience, I torched 1500kcals today.

On an odd note, I discovered that coughing is an awesome workout for my abs. As I said, I've had a cough for over a week now. Since last night, my abs have been sore, and it gets a sore kick with every cough now. Once my cough gets better, I'm going to integrate a core routine to keep that burn on.

Working out all day is great!