Finishing 2018 with the TRI-Challenges.
Let me start by giving my review of the Challenges I did this month. December started off as a Quad-Challenge because I was doing 4 different challenges, three set up here, and a personal one of Pull-Ups. Near the end of the month, I had to abandon the Pull-Up challenge due to an injury in my left shoulder. The three other challenges were unaffected.
Burpees were fine until the rep count got up around the '40s. Then, they just weren't fun anymore. If there were off days, like every 5 days or so, it may have been different, but 31 days straight was tough. And with a compound move like Burpees, 45-50 reps take a LOOOONG time. I'm glad I did it, but I'm more glad it is finished.
The Pike-Up or V-Up challenge was a good one. There were several days when I doubled up on ab exercises because an ab section was embedded into a workout, and I made the mistake of doing this challenge after the routine. Then, I would barely get to 20 reps before I would have to take a break. But near the end, when I entered my Tennis Tournament Prep and I wasn't doing any regular routines, this challenge (along with the other two) became my main workout for each day. And, I was able to hit 50 reps in a single set. Then I'd have to finish out the last 2-10 reps in an extra set.
The Push-Up Challenge was my favorite. Since my month off from any type of regular exercise in September, when I started doing Push-Ups again in October, they were slow and labored. I really wanted to get back that explosive power I had previously so I was really putting a lot of expectations on this challenge. Well, I think I crushed it. By the middle of the month, I was feeling the power again and pumping out reps was much smoother and less labored until I started hitting my max zone. Today, I hit a personal record of 60 reps in a row. I was extremely happy with this challenge and my performance in it. As I said earlier, These three challenges ended up becoming my main workout this past week because I entered my tennis tournament prep period (I have a single tournament on January 2). So I was very thankful that I had this to get me up and moving on days when I didn't play any tennis. But it was definitely tough when I had to do the high reps after practice. I hope to do this type of challenge again.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Dec. 29. Saturday night bonus tennis.
December 29, Saturday. TRI-Challenge + Bonus Tennis Practice.
Saturdays are usually off days for me, but since the tennis tournament is coming up on Wednesday, I was invited by a member of my club to have an extra practice with another member who is planning to play in the January 2 tournament. So, the three of us went to the courts on a frigid Saturday night and practiced some match play in the singles format.
We started off with a little warm up, then did a little Stoke/Volley and Serve/Return and Smash practice, then we got right into singles matches. Out of the three of us, I have the least amount of tournament experience. This will be only my third singles tournament in two years. The others have played in several tournaments throughout the year. So I just wanted to try and get my head and mental game used to the singles format. I played in the first two matches, and I lost both matches 3-4. They were really good matches and close. The one match between the other two players, it wasn't even close, the younger guy won 4-0. So I didn't have to wait that long to play again. There wasn't a lot of time left, so we played Tie-Breakers. I easily won my first tie-breaker, 7-3, but lost the next one, 4-7. I lost the final tie-breaker 6-8. I should have won that one because I was up 6-3 serving, but I choked and lost five straight points. Weak mental game. I was stroking the ball well, and I hit some solid shots, and I was working points well, but when it came right down to it, my decision making failed me. I would try to hit the low percentage shot when I wasn't even in a good position or the ball was not in a good position. I need to be more patient and wait for my opportunities instead of trying to create them when it is ill-advised. Also, I caught myself on the majority of my service points instinctively walking to the doubles serving position instead of the singles position. And at times, I wasn't moving into the center because I was expecting my partner, who was non-existent, to be there to cover the return. I think I got the hang of it though, I was doing better by the end. All in all, it was a good practice that showed me what I need to do and what I need to be aware of on the 2nd.
I forgot to mention that before leaving for tennis, I did the TRI-Challenges so I wouldn't have to do them all tired and sweaty when I got home. Good decision!
In the end, I burned a good 1609 kcals. A good burn for a cold session. I'm ready as I'll ever be for the tournament!
Saturdays are usually off days for me, but since the tennis tournament is coming up on Wednesday, I was invited by a member of my club to have an extra practice with another member who is planning to play in the January 2 tournament. So, the three of us went to the courts on a frigid Saturday night and practiced some match play in the singles format.
We started off with a little warm up, then did a little Stoke/Volley and Serve/Return and Smash practice, then we got right into singles matches. Out of the three of us, I have the least amount of tournament experience. This will be only my third singles tournament in two years. The others have played in several tournaments throughout the year. So I just wanted to try and get my head and mental game used to the singles format. I played in the first two matches, and I lost both matches 3-4. They were really good matches and close. The one match between the other two players, it wasn't even close, the younger guy won 4-0. So I didn't have to wait that long to play again. There wasn't a lot of time left, so we played Tie-Breakers. I easily won my first tie-breaker, 7-3, but lost the next one, 4-7. I lost the final tie-breaker 6-8. I should have won that one because I was up 6-3 serving, but I choked and lost five straight points. Weak mental game. I was stroking the ball well, and I hit some solid shots, and I was working points well, but when it came right down to it, my decision making failed me. I would try to hit the low percentage shot when I wasn't even in a good position or the ball was not in a good position. I need to be more patient and wait for my opportunities instead of trying to create them when it is ill-advised. Also, I caught myself on the majority of my service points instinctively walking to the doubles serving position instead of the singles position. And at times, I wasn't moving into the center because I was expecting my partner, who was non-existent, to be there to cover the return. I think I got the hang of it though, I was doing better by the end. All in all, it was a good practice that showed me what I need to do and what I need to be aware of on the 2nd.
I forgot to mention that before leaving for tennis, I did the TRI-Challenges so I wouldn't have to do them all tired and sweaty when I got home. Good decision!
In the end, I burned a good 1609 kcals. A good burn for a cold session. I'm ready as I'll ever be for the tournament!
Dec. 27, LIIFT 4, end of week 2.
December 27, 2018, Thursday. HY: LIIFT 4 - Legs, HIIT + TRI-Challenges + TCF.
Today is the last day of week 2 in the LIIFT 4 program. I am not doing this program according to the calendar, rather, I'm doing the routines when I can and don't have tennis. So that is about twice a week, so one week basically takes me two weeks to finish. Also, after today, I will be entering my Tennis Tournament Prep period so not heavy weights, and mainly conditioning and tennis and playing with my daughter are my workouts and activity until after the tournament which is on January 2, 2019.
Today, Legs. I was a little wary of doing Legs in this program because the last time, I was so sore for almost a week afterward. But I discovered that the routine was not a weighted routine, but rather just a HIIT routine. So I went for it. Only four moves declining in time as the move gets more and more difficult. The moves were: 1. High-Knee Run for 60 seconds, 2. Triple Bear for 45 seconds (the form is like you are on your hands and knees but your knees are off the ground, so you are on your hands and toes. Then you hop from center-left-center-right-center, knees stay low), 3. High Jump Burpees for 30 seconds, 4. Alternating Lunge Jumps for 14 seconds. Each move has a 15 second break after it except for the last move at the end of the set which had a 30 second break.
There were 5 sets of those moves, but the last two sets were done doing all four moves for 30 seconds no breaks. That was sort of the burn out, and it was totally burning me out. Then of course, there was the Ab/Core round of two moves, 30 seconds each, in three rounds. and that was a killer part as well. It was a good workout. So good, that I decided to integrate the TRI-Challenge and count the moves in the routine towards my reps in the challenges. Good thing, because I was dead afterward.
I finished with a Flow series, but I was sweating like a pig, for sure!
In the end, I burned a good 581 kcals. Again, a pretty good number for a short workout.
Today is the last day of week 2 in the LIIFT 4 program. I am not doing this program according to the calendar, rather, I'm doing the routines when I can and don't have tennis. So that is about twice a week, so one week basically takes me two weeks to finish. Also, after today, I will be entering my Tennis Tournament Prep period so not heavy weights, and mainly conditioning and tennis and playing with my daughter are my workouts and activity until after the tournament which is on January 2, 2019.
Today, Legs. I was a little wary of doing Legs in this program because the last time, I was so sore for almost a week afterward. But I discovered that the routine was not a weighted routine, but rather just a HIIT routine. So I went for it. Only four moves declining in time as the move gets more and more difficult. The moves were: 1. High-Knee Run for 60 seconds, 2. Triple Bear for 45 seconds (the form is like you are on your hands and knees but your knees are off the ground, so you are on your hands and toes. Then you hop from center-left-center-right-center, knees stay low), 3. High Jump Burpees for 30 seconds, 4. Alternating Lunge Jumps for 14 seconds. Each move has a 15 second break after it except for the last move at the end of the set which had a 30 second break.
There were 5 sets of those moves, but the last two sets were done doing all four moves for 30 seconds no breaks. That was sort of the burn out, and it was totally burning me out. Then of course, there was the Ab/Core round of two moves, 30 seconds each, in three rounds. and that was a killer part as well. It was a good workout. So good, that I decided to integrate the TRI-Challenge and count the moves in the routine towards my reps in the challenges. Good thing, because I was dead afterward.
I finished with a Flow series, but I was sweating like a pig, for sure!
In the end, I burned a good 581 kcals. Again, a pretty good number for a short workout.
Dec. 26, Last official club tennis practice of 2018.
December 26, Wednesday. Tennis + Tri-Challenges.
Today, was a rainy day pretty much all morning. But fortunately, the rain let up around noon and the sun peeped out from behind the mostly cloudy skies. So, since it was not raining heavily, the practice went on as scheduled. However, we had practice at a new park that I had never been to. Getting directions was a little tough, but once I understood where it was, I was fine.
The new courts were still kind of wet and had puddles all over them so the first 15-20 minutes, we squeegeed the surface as best we could, but there were still wet spots that caused the ball to skid instead of bounce. Plus, the lights were a lot dimmer than normal court lights so it was really difficult to see the ball. Everyone was missing easy shots, and timing due to skidding was causing problems all over the place. But that forced us all to focus even harder and we were really zoning in on the ball. We eventually started to get the hang of playing through these conditions. Another thing about tonight was the fact that we had two courts and only 9 members showed up. So we were pretty much moving the whole night with virtually no rest. The menu was the same for the first two drills, Stroke/Volley and Service/Return in a double court rotation. But in the last 45 minutes, we did something a little different. Still using the double court rotation, one court was doing the regular Game-sim, and the other court was doing a game-sim but starting with an actual serve, but only from one side, The Deuce side, then after one rotation, we switched sides to the Ad side. For me, it was a lot of fun and I hit some really good shots, but of course, I shanked some points as well. But I was really playing well against certain players and junk against others. I still have a weak mental game, probably stemming from a lack of confidence and experience. I'll have to keep playing to get over that weakness. It was a good practice, albeit on a pretty cold night. I was wearing a warm pullover jacket that I needed to remove after warming up, but put back on when the wind started picking up. It just got too chilly.
When I got home, I did the TRI-Challenges and that was it.
In the end, I burned a good 1609 kcals. This was for around 90 minutes of play, so I was happy with that number.
Today, was a rainy day pretty much all morning. But fortunately, the rain let up around noon and the sun peeped out from behind the mostly cloudy skies. So, since it was not raining heavily, the practice went on as scheduled. However, we had practice at a new park that I had never been to. Getting directions was a little tough, but once I understood where it was, I was fine.
The new courts were still kind of wet and had puddles all over them so the first 15-20 minutes, we squeegeed the surface as best we could, but there were still wet spots that caused the ball to skid instead of bounce. Plus, the lights were a lot dimmer than normal court lights so it was really difficult to see the ball. Everyone was missing easy shots, and timing due to skidding was causing problems all over the place. But that forced us all to focus even harder and we were really zoning in on the ball. We eventually started to get the hang of playing through these conditions. Another thing about tonight was the fact that we had two courts and only 9 members showed up. So we were pretty much moving the whole night with virtually no rest. The menu was the same for the first two drills, Stroke/Volley and Service/Return in a double court rotation. But in the last 45 minutes, we did something a little different. Still using the double court rotation, one court was doing the regular Game-sim, and the other court was doing a game-sim but starting with an actual serve, but only from one side, The Deuce side, then after one rotation, we switched sides to the Ad side. For me, it was a lot of fun and I hit some really good shots, but of course, I shanked some points as well. But I was really playing well against certain players and junk against others. I still have a weak mental game, probably stemming from a lack of confidence and experience. I'll have to keep playing to get over that weakness. It was a good practice, albeit on a pretty cold night. I was wearing a warm pullover jacket that I needed to remove after warming up, but put back on when the wind started picking up. It just got too chilly.
When I got home, I did the TRI-Challenges and that was it.
In the end, I burned a good 1609 kcals. This was for around 90 minutes of play, so I was happy with that number.
Dec. 25. Xmas workout, From QUAD to TRI-Challenge
December 25, Tuesday, HY: Transform :20 + Tri-Challenge + TCF.
Merry Christmas! It is Christmas and there is basically no difference today than there is with any other normal day. Christmas isn't really celebrated here in Japan so my daughter had school, and businesses are still open. I had the day off because I worked on Monday which was a national holiday. So I got today as a replacement holiday.
Today's workout was a test routine for the new Shaun T program, "Transform :20". I did a little intro routine a couple weeks ago, but that was not even a full routine, just Shaun T doing a few of the moves for about 13 minutes. This was the first routine in this 60-Day program. I did this first look routine of Transform :20 and this is what I honestly thought of it. First of all, I did the modified version because I don't have a step thing so that would have made the routine much more painful, I'm sure. That being said, I thought it was okay. It really didn't wow me. It didn't kill me. Personally, I am not a fan of the "do a whole progression on one side then repeat on the other side" style of workout. That was my one big complaint about the PiYo program as well. It was much better than the 13-minute sneak peek "phone video" Shaun T posted a couple weeks ago mainly because of the countdown clock and the progress bar. This time, I knew (sort of) how much time I had left on any particular move. That being said, it was a little weird because most of the moves didn't start right on :00 or :30 so you have to really watch to make sure of the starting point. Since the moves are one-sided, it takes a little getting used to when switching sides. Several times during the routine, I got confused as two which side I was doing and had to rewind the video, check the move to make sure I was, in fact, doing the opposite side, then restart. It especially happened on the more complicated moves. There was one move were you lunge, step up, then raise the knee on the opposite leg and the hand opposite that leg. So it was a mess this time around. I'm sure I would do better after a few run-throughs. Something that bothered me a little is the fact that the team doing the routine had all different forms, so it was a little weird to see so many different ranges of motion and styles. It didn't seem as uniform as Insanity or T25. The one thing that gave me the biggest problems was the lateral movement. The jumping and landing on a flat surface was hard enough, but add a step, I don't think my knees or ankles could handle it. I had to slow down and make sure I was stepping squarely on my feet instead of landing in an odd angle to keep a fast pace. It was not worth it to me to go at their fast pace and potentially land wrong and injure myself. In tennis, there is a lot of lateral movement, but that lateral movement is different because I can plant my foot at the end of the movement at a greater angle which provides more support. With these moves, there was little to no support on the fast lateral moves which for me, is dangerous. I much prefer moves like the "4-Way Heisman" because it is a lateral move, but it also provides ankle support because it also integrates vertical movement. Another somewhat odd thing is the "Transformer" 1-minute moves. There was no special emphasis put on them like in Chalene's TurboFire program when the progress bar changed color and the music amped up. This was just Shaun T talking for a minute. Besides, doing one move for a minute, in one case 30-seconds on each side, will burn no matter what program you do, so this isn't that original. What's more, they just seemed like something to bring the pain during the workout. Again, nothing special. This apparently was hyped as Beachbody's first Step program, but other step programs are just as, if not better, than this one. I've seen other trainers (non-TBB) use a step before and I didn't see anything original here. ***Bottom line: Transform :20, to me, is not as solid as any of the Insanity programs or even the comparable T25. It just seemed a little bit forced together and it lacked the fluidity that the aforementioned programs seemed to have. I don't really see this program being a solid standalone program it is something for me to do in a time crunch. To me, this is more of a supplemental program than a main or standalone program. It will be interesting to see what the other routines do. I've written this review based on only two routines, so it is just my preliminary thoughts.
Finally, was doing four challenges through a group my BB Coach started, Push-Ups, Burpees, Pike-Ups, and Pull-Ups. It was a hard decision, but I had to discontinue the Pull-Ups Challenge. Unfortunately, the pain in my left shoulder was too intense so I decided to rest it for the rest of the month and restart the challenge from January 1, 2019. So, instead of four challenges, QUAD, I'm now only doing three challenges, TRI.
I finished off my workout with a good Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 526 kcals. That is a good number for such a short workout.
Merry Christmas! It is Christmas and there is basically no difference today than there is with any other normal day. Christmas isn't really celebrated here in Japan so my daughter had school, and businesses are still open. I had the day off because I worked on Monday which was a national holiday. So I got today as a replacement holiday.
Today's workout was a test routine for the new Shaun T program, "Transform :20". I did a little intro routine a couple weeks ago, but that was not even a full routine, just Shaun T doing a few of the moves for about 13 minutes. This was the first routine in this 60-Day program. I did this first look routine of Transform :20 and this is what I honestly thought of it. First of all, I did the modified version because I don't have a step thing so that would have made the routine much more painful, I'm sure. That being said, I thought it was okay. It really didn't wow me. It didn't kill me. Personally, I am not a fan of the "do a whole progression on one side then repeat on the other side" style of workout. That was my one big complaint about the PiYo program as well. It was much better than the 13-minute sneak peek "phone video" Shaun T posted a couple weeks ago mainly because of the countdown clock and the progress bar. This time, I knew (sort of) how much time I had left on any particular move. That being said, it was a little weird because most of the moves didn't start right on :00 or :30 so you have to really watch to make sure of the starting point. Since the moves are one-sided, it takes a little getting used to when switching sides. Several times during the routine, I got confused as two which side I was doing and had to rewind the video, check the move to make sure I was, in fact, doing the opposite side, then restart. It especially happened on the more complicated moves. There was one move were you lunge, step up, then raise the knee on the opposite leg and the hand opposite that leg. So it was a mess this time around. I'm sure I would do better after a few run-throughs. Something that bothered me a little is the fact that the team doing the routine had all different forms, so it was a little weird to see so many different ranges of motion and styles. It didn't seem as uniform as Insanity or T25. The one thing that gave me the biggest problems was the lateral movement. The jumping and landing on a flat surface was hard enough, but add a step, I don't think my knees or ankles could handle it. I had to slow down and make sure I was stepping squarely on my feet instead of landing in an odd angle to keep a fast pace. It was not worth it to me to go at their fast pace and potentially land wrong and injure myself. In tennis, there is a lot of lateral movement, but that lateral movement is different because I can plant my foot at the end of the movement at a greater angle which provides more support. With these moves, there was little to no support on the fast lateral moves which for me, is dangerous. I much prefer moves like the "4-Way Heisman" because it is a lateral move, but it also provides ankle support because it also integrates vertical movement. Another somewhat odd thing is the "Transformer" 1-minute moves. There was no special emphasis put on them like in Chalene's TurboFire program when the progress bar changed color and the music amped up. This was just Shaun T talking for a minute. Besides, doing one move for a minute, in one case 30-seconds on each side, will burn no matter what program you do, so this isn't that original. What's more, they just seemed like something to bring the pain during the workout. Again, nothing special. This apparently was hyped as Beachbody's first Step program, but other step programs are just as, if not better, than this one. I've seen other trainers (non-TBB) use a step before and I didn't see anything original here. ***Bottom line: Transform :20, to me, is not as solid as any of the Insanity programs or even the comparable T25. It just seemed a little bit forced together and it lacked the fluidity that the aforementioned programs seemed to have. I don't really see this program being a solid standalone program it is something for me to do in a time crunch. To me, this is more of a supplemental program than a main or standalone program. It will be interesting to see what the other routines do. I've written this review based on only two routines, so it is just my preliminary thoughts.
Finally, was doing four challenges through a group my BB Coach started, Push-Ups, Burpees, Pike-Ups, and Pull-Ups. It was a hard decision, but I had to discontinue the Pull-Ups Challenge. Unfortunately, the pain in my left shoulder was too intense so I decided to rest it for the rest of the month and restart the challenge from January 1, 2019. So, instead of four challenges, QUAD, I'm now only doing three challenges, TRI.
I finished off my workout with a good Flow series.
In the end, I burned a nice 526 kcals. That is a good number for such a short workout.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Dec. 23 Final Tennis Sunday of 2018.
December 23, Sunday. Tennis + Quad-Challenge.
As the title states, this is the final Sunday the club will have practice on Sunday. There was a little fear about the weather earlier in the week because the forecast was the same as last week and tennis got rained out last week. But as we entered the weekend, the forecast cleared up and there was no rain forecasted at all. In fact, on Saturday, a day when there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the high temperatures were in the low 70's, we were all feeling pretty positive about there being tennis to be played today.
I got to the courts a little late, about 10:15 am. But there were only 7 people in attendance. Once I arrived, the odd man out and I started our warm-up and we had a good slug-fest. However, unlike last Wednesday, I wasn't feeling ON at any time after the warm-up. Also, since there were only eight of us, we decided to start playing matches earlier than usual. We usually start the drills with Stroke/Volley, then move to Serve/Return, then some other drill, but today we started with Serve/Return for about 30 minutes, then started with matches. In that time, four other people came for a total of twelve members. That meant that four people would be waiting while the other eight would be playing, and when the third shift is made, one team would have to play straight so the opponents would be all different. I ended up playing four matches. My record at the end of the day was 1-3. My partner was an older guy, and we seemed to both not feeling it today. In the first match, everyone on court won their service game. Then we lost the next two games. As for me, I won my first service game. I didn't get the chance to serve a second game. In our second match, I kept the same partner but we played the team the lost their first match also. This time, each of us lost our first service game, then I also won my second service game as did our opponent, so my partner served the deciding game, and we took it in dramatic style. It was a really good match. We were pretty evenly matched.
My last two matches, I partnered with my wife. We lost both matches, 4-1, 4-0. Unfortunately, I was playing terribly and I wasn't able to win any of my service games. The only game we won was a break of serve. But my wife, although she was nervous to play with the guys, she did well, and the opposing teams were gracious to her. My serve was JUNK today. Three different times I double-faulted to end a game. First time for that to happen. I could feel my toss being so erratic and out of control. I just felt really out of sorts. I had no confidence in my second serve. But all that aside, I had a good time.
When I got home, before taking a shower, I crushed the Quad-Challenges.
In the end, I burned 1984 kcals. Still lower than my Sunday tennis average, but that is because of the number of matches we played today. One thing I realized today thanks to all those matches, a big problem I have is my decision making during matches. Too often I try things that are ill-advised. Also, I try to end points too quickly by forcing shots that are out of not set up well enough. I need to go in with a better game plan and stick to it. I'm not good enough to adlib with crazy shots. Instead of going for the low percentage shots, I need to improve my high percentage shots and improve my accuracy. That is what I'll be focusing on Wednesday and Saturday night. This coming Saturday night, I have a special practice for the January 2 singles tournament.
As the title states, this is the final Sunday the club will have practice on Sunday. There was a little fear about the weather earlier in the week because the forecast was the same as last week and tennis got rained out last week. But as we entered the weekend, the forecast cleared up and there was no rain forecasted at all. In fact, on Saturday, a day when there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the high temperatures were in the low 70's, we were all feeling pretty positive about there being tennis to be played today.
I got to the courts a little late, about 10:15 am. But there were only 7 people in attendance. Once I arrived, the odd man out and I started our warm-up and we had a good slug-fest. However, unlike last Wednesday, I wasn't feeling ON at any time after the warm-up. Also, since there were only eight of us, we decided to start playing matches earlier than usual. We usually start the drills with Stroke/Volley, then move to Serve/Return, then some other drill, but today we started with Serve/Return for about 30 minutes, then started with matches. In that time, four other people came for a total of twelve members. That meant that four people would be waiting while the other eight would be playing, and when the third shift is made, one team would have to play straight so the opponents would be all different. I ended up playing four matches. My record at the end of the day was 1-3. My partner was an older guy, and we seemed to both not feeling it today. In the first match, everyone on court won their service game. Then we lost the next two games. As for me, I won my first service game. I didn't get the chance to serve a second game. In our second match, I kept the same partner but we played the team the lost their first match also. This time, each of us lost our first service game, then I also won my second service game as did our opponent, so my partner served the deciding game, and we took it in dramatic style. It was a really good match. We were pretty evenly matched.
My last two matches, I partnered with my wife. We lost both matches, 4-1, 4-0. Unfortunately, I was playing terribly and I wasn't able to win any of my service games. The only game we won was a break of serve. But my wife, although she was nervous to play with the guys, she did well, and the opposing teams were gracious to her. My serve was JUNK today. Three different times I double-faulted to end a game. First time for that to happen. I could feel my toss being so erratic and out of control. I just felt really out of sorts. I had no confidence in my second serve. But all that aside, I had a good time.
When I got home, before taking a shower, I crushed the Quad-Challenges.
In the end, I burned 1984 kcals. Still lower than my Sunday tennis average, but that is because of the number of matches we played today. One thing I realized today thanks to all those matches, a big problem I have is my decision making during matches. Too often I try things that are ill-advised. Also, I try to end points too quickly by forcing shots that are out of not set up well enough. I need to go in with a better game plan and stick to it. I'm not good enough to adlib with crazy shots. Instead of going for the low percentage shots, I need to improve my high percentage shots and improve my accuracy. That is what I'll be focusing on Wednesday and Saturday night. This coming Saturday night, I have a special practice for the January 2 singles tournament.
Dec. 20 LIIFT and Quad.
December 20, Thursday. HY: LIIFT 4 - Shoulders + Quad-Challenges + TCF.
This is the style of routine that I've wanted more of, Real integration of Resistance and Cardio. Much like the Burn Intervals in ChaLEAN Extreme. The only thing about this routine though is that the transitions between resistance and cardio seemed a little too deliberate and that caused the routine to feel a little choppy. It lost a fluid feel and instead had a clunky feel to it. But that notwithstanding, I had a good workout. I didn't lift my max for my shoulders, but I did choose a weight that challenged me. The toughest move was definitely that move where I'm holding light weights up and my elbows are at 90-degrees, then I open and close my arms while my knees are a little bent, and I'm leaning forward a bit. This is the second time to do this move and both times, I've had to tap out because even with just 3kgs in each hand, I couldn't hold the position. Too much BURN! The cardio moves were fine, and like the HIIT stuff from an earlier routine, it was the third round that really brought the burn. I keep forgetting to mention the Core Component, but the core work in all the LIIFT routines are surprisingly tough. Today was no exception. I learned my lesson before, and even though I have the Quad-Challenges listed second, I was actually integrating them into the routine by doing one move between each set of moves. I did the Pike-Ups first because the last time I left the Pike-Ups after the core work, I was dying from the burn. So this time, the separation between the two core sessions was enough to prevent cramping from the burn.
I finished off with a solid round of Tai Cheng Flows.
In the end, I burned a nice 469 kcals. Lower than I would have hoped for, but about to be expected from a resistance routine with a little cardio included. Next up in the is program is Legs!
This is the style of routine that I've wanted more of, Real integration of Resistance and Cardio. Much like the Burn Intervals in ChaLEAN Extreme. The only thing about this routine though is that the transitions between resistance and cardio seemed a little too deliberate and that caused the routine to feel a little choppy. It lost a fluid feel and instead had a clunky feel to it. But that notwithstanding, I had a good workout. I didn't lift my max for my shoulders, but I did choose a weight that challenged me. The toughest move was definitely that move where I'm holding light weights up and my elbows are at 90-degrees, then I open and close my arms while my knees are a little bent, and I'm leaning forward a bit. This is the second time to do this move and both times, I've had to tap out because even with just 3kgs in each hand, I couldn't hold the position. Too much BURN! The cardio moves were fine, and like the HIIT stuff from an earlier routine, it was the third round that really brought the burn. I keep forgetting to mention the Core Component, but the core work in all the LIIFT routines are surprisingly tough. Today was no exception. I learned my lesson before, and even though I have the Quad-Challenges listed second, I was actually integrating them into the routine by doing one move between each set of moves. I did the Pike-Ups first because the last time I left the Pike-Ups after the core work, I was dying from the burn. So this time, the separation between the two core sessions was enough to prevent cramping from the burn.
I finished off with a solid round of Tai Cheng Flows.
In the end, I burned a nice 469 kcals. Lower than I would have hoped for, but about to be expected from a resistance routine with a little cardio included. Next up in the is program is Legs!
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