Cross-training and Having a Blast with Step Blast!

Had a blast with Cathe Friedrich's Step Blast today! This woman knows how to literally BLAST you into the stratesphere with her blasts of high intensity intervals! If you want to build your VO2 max fast she's definitely the way to go for a short cut. Pretty much all her aerobics will incorporate high intensity blasts to push you to your limits. She wastes no workout getting you to your max output one way or the other. And it's always fun! This is an oldie but goodie step workout where it's pretty much high energy steady state for the warmup and 3 combo's then when she puts the combinations together at the end called "The Challenge" she adds in high intensity plyometric intensity blasts between each go around. It's awesome! Check out the video starting at 5:31, 6:19 and 6:51 and  and you'll see her start adding in the intensity blasts. Her last blast at 6:51 is a doozer (just drag the little ball over to 6:51, it will let you really it will) starting with benign 3 repeaters with an over the board, face, and over the board and then SURPRISE, 2 plyo-jacks followed by 2 air-jacks followed by one tuck jump and jump ropes and then you do the 3 repeaters, over face and over, plyo's, cycling through it 5 more times!! Yowza!! It's so freakin invigorating and fun, fun, fun!! A total BLAST!!

Cross-Training

I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to keep up with this one and not stopping too much to catch my breathe and doing most of it at full output. Awesome! What's also quite amazing is how I'm noticing that the cross-training with ashtanga, weights, and step aerobics is really benefiting each other. For instance what was so surprising is that I found the plyometric blasts easier than the steady state as my legs are getting so much stronger from my leg weight training (90lb leg extensions @ 6 sets-4 turned out and 2 straight, 100lb barbell plie squats @ 3 sets)! My legs are so strong from the weights that I don't feel it in them for plyo's which feels amazing. It just eventually hits me aerobic's wise. But that is even getting better fast as it becomes easier on my legs and also the stamina being built in my cardio capacity. Moreover, the cardio is causing my ujjayi breathe to be a bit more open and steady and contributing to a bit more stamina in ashtanga. Still a work in progress though! lol! So it's all feeding on each other. Quite remarkable but shouldn't be so surprising. Yet it's so neat to actually see the benefits of it.

Forgot to Post

Did an awesome weight workout on Saturday. As I still have to be careful with my wrists always wearing my wrist braces and weights gloves I have been able to start back a limited upper body routine. And of course always wearing my knee braces: So I got in my:

Back: (didn't overdo it this time. Shewf!)
• Seated Lat Pulldown: 3 x 12 (60lb)
• Seated machine row: 3 x 12 (60lb)

Leg Extensions: 90lb + weight plate
• feet turned out to get my vastus medialis to stabilize my patella, 1 x 18, 3 x 13
• feet straight to get overall quads, 2 x 10

Barbell Plie Squats: 100lb
• 2 x 16 reps + 4 reps of 3 pulse squats going for the burn

Pec Dec: 45lb
• great cause it doesn't require your wrists
• 3 x 12

Tricep Pushdowns: 75lb
• safer for my wrists right now than the cable pulldowns
• 3 x 15

Abs: Killer 80° incline bench
• 1 x 40, hands crossed on chest, KILLER!
• some mat frog leg situps, really gets your upper core especially when muscles are already worked!
• reverse situps and leg lifts to get lower core. Hoping this will benefit me with achieving, one day in the not so distant future, the floaty jump backs and forwards and fancy fun hand balancing postures.

Practice and all is coming ...