W12D2, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 10 + SPS P4: Functional Rest Cardio + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W12D2, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 10 + SPS P4: Functional Rest Cardio + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

Major time crunch today because of weird schedule changes while school is out. Very early morning workout after a Shake Breakfast.

This is where the short routines take the cake. The Yoga shred was a great warm up AND workout. Focus was core today, and I could not hang. I don't know if it was because I had just woken up, or my core is just that weak, but I'm going to have to do thi...s one again, someday.

SPS was the much shorter routine that I skipped on Friday in favor of weights and the fact that I had much more time. This routine is intended to be a rest day from weights, and it was. But it definitely was not a rest day from work. Today, only one Triset of 5 sets. Jumping Jacks/Mountain Climbers/Star Jumps. Each 20 seconds each, with a 1 minutes recovery. Nothing difficult or complicated, just straight cardio. Got a good sweat on.

I didn't have time to hold all my stretches for splits today as usual, but I held them as long as I felt I got the muscles stretched. and I was able to hit my mark on the splits. Not a quickly as previously, but by the third pass, I was on mark.

I felt rushed my the time and the first flow got all messed up and I ended up having to restart the flow. Just botched up the moves and lost balance trying to rush through it. That type of attitude will never get it done. If I had just remained calm from the beginning, I would have finished earlier. Today's lesson learned. Off to work.

W12D1, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 9 + SPS P4: Back & Triceps + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W12D1, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 9 + SPS P4: Back & Triceps + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

Saturday was beautiful! Sun was out, and temps were perfect. Went to a small park near my house and tried to do muscles ups. The bar was sticky and it hurt a bit because there was no sliding. I didn't get up, but I got further uptown I have in the past. I'll need to check my technique because I feel like I'm strong enough to do them, but I'm just getting stuck at the same point. More time o...n that one is needed.

Today, I was very busy right off. My daughter had a soccer game so we went to watch. Unlike yesterday, it was cold and rainy. Terrible conditions for a game. Worse for spectators. I had to try to dry soaked jerseys between games, and bring stuff back and forth from the car. Busy busy, but I loved watching my daughter play. Everyone was cold and very wet. When I got home, I did not feel like doing anything. Because of that feeling, I knew I had to do my workout as soon as possible, so I got to it.

After a good yoga warm up, I got to the weights. Not many moves today, but burn out the target muscles. First was 3 sets of Dead Lifts (12 reps) supersetted with Prone Cobras (10 reps). My back was feeling okay so I went up To 20kgs in weight. At the end of it, my back was burning, but in a good way. No dangerous pain. Next was 4 sets of One Arm Rows (both arms of 8 reps, 25kgs) supersetted with again Prone Cobras. Although Mike didn't call for it, I did 2 sets each of elbow in then out grip. My back was really feeling it. Burn burn. 4 sets of Skull Crushers (12 reps, 10kgsx2) with weighted (25kgs) dips. I thought this would be easy, but NO! My Triceps were getting a huge pump and burn. Failure came suddenly. The final move was functional cardio and core. 4 sets of Jumping Lunges into Lying Heel Touches. 20 sec. Each with 20 sec. Rest. It was a good burn out to finish out the routine.

Splits and Flow brought good closure to my workout. Calm and smooth and peaceful.

W11D6, Walk + Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 8 + SPS P4: Arms & Chest + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W11D6, Walk + Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 8 + SPS P4: Arms & Chest + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

Kind of a busy afternoon up for today, so I had to do a morning workout. I like doing morning workouts because I get to have a breakfast Shake. YUM!

After leg day yesterday, I was looking forward to the upper body stuff today. But the Yoga for today was lower body. GREAT! But since it was not that long I enjoyed it and it got my body warmed up.

I had to mix up the routines Mike has set up in the SPS program to fit my weird schedule this coming week. It was supposed to be a functional rest day today with only a little cardio, but I am only going to have a little time on Monday, so instead of doing Day 5 as scheduled, I'm doing Day 6 today, and then doing Day 5 on Monday morning before my day gets out of hand.

Arms and chest burned out but then got rejuvenated mid-routine. It seems that I'm able to get to a second wind pretty fast recently. First up, 4 sets of Incline Chest Press (8 reps, 25kgsx2) with Wide Push Ups (10-15 reps) for the active rest. I was really struggling right off the bat. I got through the first set okay, but I felt failure coming on quick. Barely made it through the second set, needed a mid-set break at 5 reps next, then only made it to 6 on the last set. For the Wide Push Ups, I did 15 the first 2 sets, then only could manage 10 on the last 2 sets. Totally Fried. Next move was 3 sets of Weighted Dips (30 reps, 25kgs) with the same Wide Push Ups for active rest. Made it through all 3 sets struggling and in pain the last few reps. Maintained only 10 WPU's. Next was 3 sets of Standing Alternating Dumbbell Bicep Curls (8x2 reps, 17kgsx2), and again WPU's for the active rest. First 2 sets were a real struggle, but the last set, I had to break at 4, then finish the last 4 out. Kept 10 reps, but felt really good and regretted not going for 15. The final weights move was Standing Dumbbell Hammer Curls Drop Setx3. 8 reps each, Starting with 14.5kgsx2, then 13.25kgsx2, then 12kgsx2, and finally 10kgsx2 for the final drop. Then I went to 20 WPU's for the final active rest set. Man, that really burned my arms out good. The final move of the routine was another Triset, but strength instead of cardio. 3 sets at 20 sec. each of: 4 count push ups, Side-to-Side Push Ups, then finally, Side Plank on both sides. Felt really good on all the push ups. But the last set of Side-to-Sides were a struggle. Got an awesome Pump and Burn!

For splits, I was so happy, that I was able to get right to my mark on the first set. and I pushed it even lower on the subsequent tries. The goal is still fuzzy, but it is moving into focus. Glad I started the timed style. I also got up out of the splits in 8 seconds. Fastest so far. For some reason, the first run through of my Flow was terrible, Messed up in a couple spots and lost my balance once. Took a deep breath and the Flows after that were spot on. NAILED IT!!! But still not happy about that beginning. Have to iron those misses out.

Great way to flow into the weekend and my off day. I'll be here when you get here!

W11D5, Walk + Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 7 + SPS P4:Legs + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W11D5, Walk + Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 7 + SPS P4:Legs + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

Still sore from the weights earlier in the week, I was sort of procrastinating today. Made myself busy with other things. My daughter was supposed to meet some friends at a park, so she asked me to walk her to the park. So we took a walk. When her friends weren't at the park, my daughter thought to go to another park, so we kept walking. Same thing, so we walked to the big park. No friends, so we walked back home. Actually I was walking, my daughter was Ripstiking, so I had to jog-walk to keep up with her.  Ended up walking for almost an hour. It was some lovely father daughter time as well.

When I got home, I was raring to go so I got ready and jumped in right away to the Yoga Shred.  I'm a little off their schedule so day 7 was a recovery day, but I still did it and really stretched out. Great warm up.

Today was leg day. I was glad for that since my upper body was still a touch sore. Mike likes Trisets. The first move was a Triset. Weighted Squats/Weighted lunges/Jumping lunges. 12x12x20 seconds. OMG! Individually, these moves are good, but put them in a triset and they are a TRIAL! I can't believe how winded I was at the end of each set. Thankfully there were only 3 sets.  The next move was a superset, Stiff legged dead lifts with One Legged Balance Toe Touches. That second move brought me back to P90X2.  Although Mike didn't say to, Each of the 4 sets for this move combo, I put my leg in a different position. First, back, like the runner, then ankles close, then leg to the side, and finally, leg out front. Very tough and I almost cramped up several times.  For the dead lifts, again, because of my gimpy back, I used only 7.5kgsx2. The odd thing is that for the most part, my left lower back is feeling the pain, but my right hamstring is really tight. Painfully clear on the dead lifts.  The last move is the timed functional cardio, 20 seconds of Low Wide Squat Jumps, then Stepping Taps, and rest.  That was for 6 sets. I was able to handle this a lot better than the previous day's cardio, but I still got really winded.

I feel my splits are getting better and lower. With the 30 secondx2 time frame, I'm able to get loose better.  I have to consciously tell my muscles to relax and open up.  I can feel my muscles fighting the stretch to spare themselves the stretching pain. So I have to gain control and open up. If I don't, I could end up hurting myself.

The Flow has become very comfortable now. I don't know if it is automatic yet, because once today when trying to increase my speed, I totally went off the rails and had to start over. But aside from that blip, I'm happy with today's Flow, and overall workout.

W11D4, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 6 + P90X3-X3 Yoga + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W11D4, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 6 + P90X3-X3 Yoga + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

Today I was focusing on getting rid of my soreness.  After three days of hard and heavy and focused weights, I was quite sore.  So instead of pushing more and putting myself at risk of injury, or worsening my back and wrist injury, I went with a more centering and calming and loosening workout.

I was thinking to forgo the Yoga Shred today so as not to double up on yoga, but I figured that it is still in my wheelhouse of getting rid of my soreness so I went with it.  It was short and sweet and gave me a good warm up for the next round of yoga.

I really missed this routine. I hadn't done a pure yoga routine for a while so I was excited about getting back to it.  Getting started, I was doing pretty well.  My back issue didn't allow me to go for the range of motion limits I would have liked to go for with this routine, but I was able to keep up with Tony.  Not doing any PiYo or Yoga for almost two weeks, I lost some balance. That was especially noticeable on my Half-moon pose and twisted half-moon.  My hands out warrior three was also not very good.  But the biggest Uh-Oh happened when I went for the wrap.  Something instantly cramped up in my right shoulder and a shock of pain shot out.  Either a muscle didn't reposition for the move and it got pinched or something like that, because the pain came the instant I connected my hands and started to lift my shoulder.  Luckily, after shaking it out a bit, the pain went away and I don't seem to have any residual effects.  We'll see how it fairs tomorrow.  The Toe Grab Bind move was also not good, but better than I had expected.  Overall, aside from that one incident, great loosening up and calming stretch that was much need was had.

As usual, the splits and Flow were the perfect way to end my workout.

W11D3, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 5 + SPS P4 + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W11D3, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 5 + SPS P4  + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

The Yoga Shred was a short flow today. Good warm up, as I later found out.

If you wanted a lesson in muscle failure, today was it for me. Shoulders, Core, Calves, Cardio.  Very VERY intense workout today. Standing dumbbell press and Front Shrugs with crunches, 5 sets. I used 19.5kgs and didn't go down. WOW! It was a really interesting progression. Did the 8 reps in set one struggling a bit with the last rep. Second set, I died at 5 reps, after swinging it out, did the last 3 reps. Same for the third, Made it to 6 reps on the fourth set, and did all 8 reps. I was surprised at the lose then strength gain in just 5 sets.   I went down to 12kgs for the next set of moves. 5 sets of Front Shoulder Press with Side Shrugs, with Crunches. With the lower weight, I still really struggled, but got to 8 reps each set.  My shoulders and core were BARKING hard and loud!  The next move was just 3-position Calf Raises. I had 19.5kgsx2 and did 30 reps at each position.  Parallel feet, Open Toes, and Pigeon Toes. The first set was easy. Then second, I needed a few breaks. The last set, I needed a break almost every 6-8 reps. Calves were BARKING!!!.  Final move was the cardio move, 20 secondsx3 for Jump Knee Tucks, Rocking Get Ups, in other words, the  "Dreya Roll", and Forward Bending Fast Arm Circles with a 20 second rest. That series with 20 seconds of rest in between. Doesn't sound like much, but I was dying, DYING I TELL YA!  Such a great workout routine.

The splits and Flow were a real treat after that trial!  But I had a great time with today's workout.

W11D2, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 4 + SPS P4 Tri's & Back + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

W11D2, Yoga Shred Challenge, Day 4 + SPS P4 Tri's & Back + Splits + Tai Cheng Flow.

Vacation is nice! The first couple days I'm just taking it easy. Then, I'm into my vacation projects. Today was a relaxing day.

Didn't get started with my workout until about 3:20pm.  I guess I was a little bit lazy in there, too, with the relaxation. But I started off with the warm up yoga.  Today, was just a simple flow.  These routines are just about 10 minutes long which is why I'm doing them as a warm up.  Also, my sister is doing them, too. So we are talking about them.  Nice bonding technique.

In phase 4, SPS introduces what Mike calls the "Active Rest".  What happens is this, right after finishing a set, I use 20 seconds of the 60 second rest for another move. So you're actually only resting 40 seconds.  Today, I totally burned out my Tri's and Back.  Started with 3 sets to failure of Wide Pull Ups. with 15 push ups.  Did 12-5-8 reps. Second move was T-Bar Rows with Prone Cobras.  Since I don't have a barbell, I just jacked up one dumbbell with 30kgs.  It also killed my back.  And yet another back move, Back Extensions, also with Prone Cobras. I couldn't last. It was just killing.  I didn't use heavy weights to protect my lower back, so I only used 3kgsx2.  I will try upping that next time. Hopefully my back will be better by the time it comes around again.

The next two moves were for Triceps.  First, Cable Tricep Extensions.  Since I don't have that machine at home, I hung a resistance band over my pull up bar and did the move that way.  I used the heaviest band I had but it was still not that heavy, so I got as low as I could and did slow reps. The rest move was 15 Close Grip Push ups.  The final Tricep move was the One Arm Dumbbell Extension with again, 15 Close Grip Push Ups. I used only 7.5kgs but I was really struggling to get the DB up at for the final few reps.  For the Close Grip Push Ups, I was really tempted to go on my knees, but I stuck it out and stayed on my toes all 3 sets.  I was reeling in pain on that last rep. OUCH!! But my Tris got a rock hard pump.

The last move was a Triset. Toe Touch Crunches/Reverse Crunches/Bent Over Arm Circles.  20 seconds back to back. 3 sets.  It was a crusher for my core. I had to take it a bit easy on the reverse crunches because of my back, but still got an awesome burn.

I love doing the splits with the time clock. I was able to get really low with all the splits. And the Flow was really good as well. I went a bit off on the first Flow, but the next few Flows were virtually seamless.  It felt really good.