I'm not only keeping to my workout schedule which IS TOTES AWESOME BABAY!! But I also did Step Work's from Cathe's Cardio Hits dvd ~ an oldie but goodie ~ AND I DID the whole thang pretty much without pausing! Which is HUGE!! As I haven't done it in about 2 years! Yes, you heard me, 2 years! And it's pretty intense! I used to have to take it down a notch without fail during the step skips over the step when I was doing it before and now I don't. Way cool! This is ALL as a result of doing Cathe's Tabata and HIIT workouts. I've been doing them way more lately as I've been doing an experiment to see if they really open my lungs up cardio wise and because I've been coming home late from work and surprisingly enough the plyometrics in the Tabata and HIIT jiggle my condo way less ~ less agony for my neighbours, lol! ~ than step. One of the reasons is because I've learned to land very softly, bending my knees deeply and taking it into my quads and landing toe, ball, heel. Thank ballet for that! So as I said to a friend I land so quietly like a First Nation's walking in the forest ~ NO sound. Even the squirrels make more commotion than me! lol! With that said, the experiment is working! My cardio capacity really is getting better. WooHoo!!
Somebody said it this way on Cathe's forum: "I have always thought this (Step Works) was Cathe's hardest step
workout! I love it, but it's a killer! It's the one I always reach for when I want to check my fitness level and be sure I'm "up to par"!
... so practice, do some Tabata & HIIT, then test it with Step Works, and all is coming.
I got this amazing compliment at the gym on Friday whilst I was minding my business doing my biceps. I got this coveted position at the corner mirrors ~ there's those mirrors again! ~ so I could see myself in front and sideways doing my barbell curls. And this cool, youthful, need I also say handsome, TALL, built dude was doing biceps on a bench behind me with his buddies egging him on for one more rep. And there I was, as I said, minding my beeswax doing my reps and checking my form in the side mirror. And who told me to notice that my back was looking mighty fine, thick and rippling every time I took a rep! I was in shock. Was that MY back doing that!?! Haha! NICE!! I was secretly thinking. Then suddenly the cute, young, BIG thang turns around and exclaims, "Wow, do have an amazing back!" I'm like, "Who me?", in all innocence," ;) And he's like, "Yah! Your like jacked in the back, it's like rippling!! Man, I'd like to get ripped like that!" This is this big dude who's got all his workout buddies buzzing around him! Well, blow me over with a feather! Let's just say I was a-swaggering when I walked out of that gym! Lolol!
Tonight I did XTrain's Tabatacise! Woohoo! This is just my second time doing it. And already I see a teeny-tiny bit of improvement. I also squeezed in my Intensity dvd (warmup to combo 2) that was planned for Saturday but I just couldn't resist doing today. Call me eager but I LOVE intensity and plyometric type workouts. I just love jumping. I guess it's a throwback from ballet where I excelled in jumps. It's in my blood. I just hope my knees behave!
Cathe gives you five tabata's on this dvd. Of which she separates them into LEVELS. Each LEVEL tacks on another tabata. LEVEL 1 has only one tabata and by LEVEL 5 you're doing all five tabatas. And, yet the way tabata's were designed you really ONLY need to do ONE tabata to reap the benefits of epoc calarie burn for the next days and of course increased cardio capacity. But Cathe's a machine and wants you to be one too. Lol! So I did LEVEL 2 with tabatas 1 and 2 which including warmup and cooldown is 25 minutes. Each tabata is actually just 4 minutes long though Cathe does top each tabata off at the end with a short blast to finish it off. Kinda like a burn set for cardio. Each tabata has eight 20-second high intensity blasts followed by a 10-second recovery. If you want to get a burn in your lungs and legs this will do it! It will also fast-track your cardio capacity like nothing else. But who told me to do it the day after, yes, I said the day after a heavy leg workout. But hey, give me a break, I didn't feel any quad pain before or during so I thought DOMS would slip under the radar, just for me of course. Haha! I'm joking right?! My legs are suddenly in P.A.I.N, I mean A.G.O.N.Y. I don't even want to think about tomorrow! Seriously, I'm a little afeard!!
AND to top it all off as I said before, I got a little gungho, couldn't leave well enough alone and added Intensity step into the mix. Thanks be to Jesus, I only did the warmup to combo 2. But still! The tabata should have been more than enough. This step is all power moves, plyo's, and intensity blasts which is basically like a frikken full-on 20 minute non-stop blast, I kid you not. Which includes a crazy-ass step section followed by an HIIT step section, high impact floor HIIT, low impact floor HIIT and a bonus bootcamp section. The really nice thing about it is Cathe designed it purposely so you can do as little or as much as you want, and use it to tack on sections to the beginning or end of say your weight workout. It's very flexible. But as one reviewer said, there's no downtime on this dvd. You go from intense to maximum-intense-on-roids-over-n-over-again. Yowza! BUT it hurts SO good! I guess that will be my mantra tomorrow!
I don't know what has gotten me all fired up with goals this year. Maybe it's to fight the blues from taking over in this most squalid of winters or just maybe I'm all inspired from within. Well, whatever it is, I shall not question and just ride the wave.
So here are my goals for 2014 in no particular order. Notice I did not say New Year's resolutions. Somehow this feels so carved in stone and if I don't do it I'll be a loser of losers, a failure of failures, a characterless person. Goals sound so much more positive and realistic ~ something you're reaching for as opposed to being so resolute you'll never budge. Hmmm. But I digress:
Overarching
• maintain a consistent painting schedule
• maintain a consistent workout schedule
• maintain a consistent Ashtanga/yoga schedule
• Get thee to your Mysore classes backslider!!! lol!
Painting
• To get more creative and start painting again after I let a couple of years slip by. Which I have! Woohoo!
• To do at least two of the most inspiring pictures I've taken last year. I'm starting small with two as to not overload myself. I even prepped three canvases. Who knew they would be the primary colours!
In the beginning there was Cadmium Yellow Light!
In the beginning there was also Primary colours!
Yoga
• To get an open Baddha Konosana or as I like to say a "Badass" Konasana. I'm hoping to have my knees on the ground by next December. This will open up so many postures for me.
• Be in full frontal splits by the end of the year.
• Widen my side splits. I won't say full, as I have a LONG reach to go!
• Being able to get my leg to face in Supta Padangusthasana ~ because I want to! Is it wrong?!
• A more open, deeper backbend: What would that look like?
– straighter arms in Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel)
– a more rounded Ushtrasana (Camel pose) with more open hips and quads,
– and starting to work on Laghuvajrasana
• More lift in my arm balances: being able to consistently get my feet back to bakasana from tittibhasana and a better positioning of the knees on upper forearms for jumping back with dignity instead of a sad flop.
• A cleaner jump through because it'll make me look fly!
Ways to get me there:
• Always do crow, supta padangusthasana, titti-transition, splits, backbends and wheel with every practice.
• When watching TV sit in butterfly pose, or front splits. Also, practice passive stretches every other night for backbends over a chair with pillow, over yoga blocks, and on my exercise ball to open my back.
Cardio:
• Increase my cardio capacity: What does that look like?
– 1st: Being able to do a Cathe cardio dvd without pausing one iota.
– 2nd: Perhaps being able to do all of Cathe's Step Works without pausing one iota.
– Pinnacle: If I want to go for broke, being able to do Intensity dvd's step portion including the HIIT step portion without pausing! I'm not even going to attempt the other HIIT segments in this dvd as my goal as there's no need to bother. As it is, this one's going for gold. But ya neva know until ya try! As one reviewer said this has NO downtime, even the "moderate" segments are intense ~ it goes from intense to maximum intensity over and over again, no in between. Get it!?!
Ways to get me there:
• Doing a varied and consistent routine of steady state, metabolic (since it has alot of anaerobic cardio that really pushes plateau's), HIIT's (anaerobic for plateau pulverizing) and Tabata's (app).
Hopefully, I'll remember to check in 6 months from now in July to see how I've been doing with these little goals of mine.
... so practice, make inspiring but realistic and maybe even some unrealistic INTENSITY goals ~ cause ya neva know unless ya try as my friend said, at least it will get ya some ways there! ~ and all is coming.
... in doing three sets of chest exercises followed by a burn set for!?! My chest is on FIYA and I did the Burn Sets dvd on Sat! I'm realizing this dvd is not a misnomer! I'm living proof of it! I can hardly open and close doors or put a fork to my mouth. Wait a minute, that might be a good thing! I'm not regular at doing weights for my chest and it's also my weak area as it gets sore really easily, though I have no problems doing full push ups whether on the floor or inclined with my feet off the step. But I just wasn't putting my little noodle of a brain in gear to assess this a little further before being so ambitious. Oh well, they say no pain no gain for a reason. Just gotta suck it up sometimes.
OMG, I had a very productive satisfying day. And man it feels goooOood! And Party Rockin' it made it that much better! I got alot done by my standards. Now, I say by my standards as I'm sure others beat me by a mile like my EverReady Bunny, Mom. Who keeps going n going n going! Haha! I can't compare to that! So I do my own thang! So, by my standards it was productive.
I made a wicked two bean veggie chili. It was supposed to be a three bean chili but I ran out of room! And I had a big pot! (Check out my Recipe section.) Then I did Party Rockin Step 2 followed by Burn Sets Chest, Back & Shoulders. Then as it was my cheat day foodwise I went to my fav fish n chips restaurant and pigged out on my usual "Fish, Ceasar and a Few (chips)" and not to be outdone, chased it all down with my fav dessert "Apple Walnut Crumble with Icecream." I kinda went a little overboard on my cheat and at home had my saved in the freezer Godiva dark chocolate with creamy mint center and, wait I'm not finished yet, along with one melt in your mouth frozen christmas shortbread cookie. I take cheat to the extreme! Then I sketched my composition on my canvas in preparation for tomorrow's creative painting fest. And now watching good ol' TV. So it was a very satisfying day.
Party Rockin' Step 2
Once again Party Rockin' Step 2 was rockin for me. I love this dvd as it has a great fun factor, great music and a great blend of steady state mixed in with Cathe's famous blasts that keep me challenged and my heart pumping. I even noticed that I hardly paused this time around. Actually only one time! Okay, there was two other minor times only to remember the steps quickly, that's it. So, it's great to see my cardio improving. And I think it's due to a more regular ~ trying at least ~ cardio schedule and incorporating more metabolic workouts. ... Oops, but I have a confession, I didn't do the last combo or the complete combos put together at the end. So, sue me!
Burn Sets
Then I followed it with Burn Sets' Chest, Back & Shoulders. Love this disc as it's a traditional strength workout that's the same as I do at the gym. And is very effective in muscle building. With this dvd you work each muscle group entirely before moving to the next and you do three exercises per muscle group doing 3 sets each with the last working to failure using heavy enough weights to peak out at around 10 reps. Then you finish each muscle group with a burn set to totally "burn" the muscle group before moving on. And man, I "burned" those muscles! I know I'll have great DOMS the next day! Yowza! I love this as I don't have to go to the gym every second day. Yeah! ... And I DID do it all!
... so practice, love what you practice and all will be coming!
And then there was Light! Cadmium yellow light to be exact.
I had a great day today! Very productive. Prepared all my foods for the week, painted for the first time in ages, did my Cathe step and then my blog. Now, I wish I was this well behaved every weekend. Ha! Snort! But I digress ...
Athletic Step
Did Cathe's excellent Athletic Step routine which is about 47 minutes in length (30 minutes of actual step) as it's meant to be tacked onto her amazing STS heavy weight program. So the length is compact. However, I just did her step as I was planning to do weights but it felt a little too ambitious for the day. I do have my limits!
This is a nice mix of steady state step with high intensity power moves/sequences mixed in to each combo keeping it challenging especially on the first and last combo. She even puts in a light blast sequence at the end to top it all off. Nice! I felt pretty accomplished with this one and saw a little bit of improvement in cardio power. As I had very few pauses for me. But still have trouble with the last sequence. It's so challenging that I keep thinking she's finished the combo when she invites you to now do it from the top! Waaaaa??? You mean we haven't done the full sequence yet??? It sure felt like we did and then some!! She gets me every time there and I always have to stop as my lung's about to bust a vessel. That's my measuring stick, that last combo. When I can do that one without pausing to catch my breathe, I know I've arrived. Almost! For this dvd anyway. There's ALWAYS more vista's to climb with Cathe. She's never finished with you. Oh, and the music's groovin! As always with the gurl!
I was very proud of myself as this past Wednesday I did Cathe's new Greatest Hits Vol. 1 step for the second time. And noticed some more cardio improvement. And again it hit the spot for my aerobics as it's a great compilation of my favorite step routines and is a great mix of steady state and high intensity intervals. And man, I'm really starting to finally notice some cardio improvement in quite unusual ways.
The Marathon Dash
When I was in Miami I was tearing down Dadeland Mall on a marathon run through the mall. Going from one end to the other in a crazy dash. Because we were literally doing some marathon shopping before we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for a cocktail party. It was hysterical! And I noticed that I was not breathing heavy at all. Not even a little bit. It was like I was just taking a leisurely stroll meanwhile I was literally running, yes you heard me, running through the mall from one end to the other and back again, at one point. Thank goodness I could do this because it was the week day and it was practically empty. Love that! And I was astounded at the improvement cardiovascularly. It was so noticable. Yeah!!
... so practice marathon shopping and all is coming.
Fortune House, what a beautiful place to stay.
Reminded me of Agatha Christie's Bertram Hotel.
I'm back down from the heights that was Miami! What an experience! I hope and plan for many more in the future. New day, new chapter, I say! However, I've landed like a drug come-down into the dank depths of reality. No fun! ... To counter this see saw highs and lows I've decided there's nothing better than planning. The bible says "Where there's no vision the people perish." I know, I know, sounds rather heavy. But it's helping me to plan and keep my focus so I don't go keening into a real depression. So, I've got three main goals/plans for now: planning and saving for my next vacation, widening my social circles, and artistry specifically painting. By the end of this month I need to have two canvases prepped; by next month a nice big deposit into my vacation fund; and by the next two months getting my butt back to Mysore School and joining some cool groups of interests. This will keep me buoyed up and mind busy to get me through these dull, cold, non-Miami days! Lol! But I digress ...
No Cop-Out!
I finally won mind over matter. And dragged myself to my gym at 9pm tonight. My shadow hadn't crossed it's threshold in almost a month! What with Christmas, a cold, running around in readiness for my Miami trip there just wasn't any time. Besides I was getting great workouts at home. However, there's no substitute for going heavy at the gym. And my legs really need it for therapy. So finally I was able to psych myself to get there and it was no easy task I tell you! You have no idea the war that goes on in my head every Friday to get there. But my head finally won and I did the "Just DAMN WELL do it!" moto. And it worked! Got my butt there and a-kickin. Did my leg extensions for my vastus medialis quads to help my patella track in place. Can do 90lbs and 105lbs now. Did my barbell plie squats at 100lb (down from 105lb) doing 2 sets of 16 plus 4 low ends. I usually do 3 sets but since I haven't been at the gym for about a month I need to ramp up slower. But now that I finally lost the weight (I was NOT going to Miami not at my best, no way no how!) down to my normal 114lbs, my knee braces aren't fitting tight enough and I have to really watch my form. Time for new braces, but with saving for said vacation, I may have to put it off for late summer. We'll see how my knees fair. I did back work, chest pec machine, triceps and abs on the nearly 90° ramp. Wicked! But totally forgot to do my inner and outer thighs! Bummer! I'm going to be SORE tomorrow. I always get sore when I've been delinquent in my weight workouts. Yowza, serves me right!
More Plans
My plan is to do yoga tomorrow, maybe Eion Finn's Power Yoga for Happiness, Strong Free and Happy 53min sequence. As it's got some nice arm balances thrown in and an ashtanga type floor work. Also, has some good warrior holds for strengthening the legs. Then on Sunday, I'm going to decide what two paintings to start and the ground colours to use. And do my step aerobics possibly Cathe's Athletic Step or 4 Day Split High Intensity Step plus shoulders and biceps thrown in.
... so practice planning and DAMN WELLs, and all is coming.
that Cathe's Low Impact Series: Athletic Training would hurt so good in the legs!! Just did it yesterday for the first time after coming off Christmas week where I hosted, for the first time, an amazing Boxing Day Christmas dinner with my family. This was all done while nursing a not so nice achy-breaky cold no less. So with that I thought I'd start out with something "lighter" and less challenging to ease my way back into Cathe and yoga. It looked so innocuous! Well, Cathe fooled me again. I woke up to a hint of soreness in my legs and thought great it DID do something for me, surprise, surprise! Well, I was in for more of a surprise when I came home from some pre-Miami trip shopping and low and behold my legs were in AGONY, like a full on heavy leg workout!! What was I thinking. Cathe snuck up on me again. Never underestimate this woman! lol!
Athletic Training
Cathe's Athletic Training is part of her Low Impact Series and is a low impact circuit workout done metabolic style. You start out with the step doing a very simple athletic repetitive steps done really fast and leaves you out of breathe pretty soon. It snuck up on me pretty fast, and I had to pause a couple of times due to being out of breathe and my legs aching. It was a bit repetitive as I'm used to very advanced interesting choreography and more jumping. But surprisingly enough it's quite effective! And just what I needed for post-cold workout and for my neighbors sanity. Lol! Then we moved onto weighted leg work using the step at 3 risers. I used 15lb when Cathe used 8lbs, I believe. I wanted to go heavy (in terms of this type of evercise) with my legs. From then on I used heavier than Cathe on all the leg work except the one where we did shoulder lat raises where I did do the 8-10lbs called for. At this point I really didn't think I was working my legs much even though we went up to 3 risers. As I consider this quite light weight work. Who knows I'm still flummoxed as to what worked my legs out this much. Whether it was due to the cold or due to working with weights on the step repeatedly. Whatever it was, it worked! ... I've now come to the conclusion that it's using weights while employing a higher step. As I just saw a guy doing the same thing at the gym. And if a dude is doing it, ya know it's effective!
Then we went on to more weight work. However, by the time we got to the pushups off the step I had had it. This workout is MAJOR anaerobic cardio burn!! I was sweating and huffing like you wouldn't believe. Even though it's metabolic in nature and I find this approach usually does NOT give me an effective strength workout for neither my upper or lower body. Nonetheless, it's incredibly effective in upping your cardio anaerobically. It worked for me!! And I was dying!! I nearly fainted at one point! Lol! I felt myself receding and my surroundings darkening when Cathe was going "Now lets do pushups off the step." Ya right! And I usually have no problems with pushups on the floor or incline with feet on steps. So I knew I was beat and surrendered the white flag! AND I even felt that exercise induced nausea too! Starting exercise at the tail end of a cold is not for wussies!!
... practice, suck it up and don't be a wussie, and all is coming!!
... what with Christmas fast approaching. And what with feeling rather tired and draggy of late fighting a cold for nearly 5 weeks no less. I don't have a cold but my body's trying desperately to push this virus out of me for that long with me taking a vitamin C powder in my green smoothie. The darn vitamin C powder is working enough to keep it at bay with hints in my throat and if it leaves my throat it tries to give me an eye cold. So the darn virus has been moving back n forth, up n down for nearly 5 weeks now, whilst everybody else at my work is dropping like flies. But I am DETERMINED to kick it out of me for good. So my new tactic is to up my Vitamin C to morning and night. And it seems to be working. Darned if I'm going to get a cold when I'm putting on Christmas dinner!! So take that you virus!! So what with that and the added busyness I've been feeling a bit wonkered and my workouts have been lagging. But I'm proud of myself that when I'm feeling a little up to it I fit one in. But I'm not pushing. So with that I managed, finally, to fit in a workout with both Gym Style Legs and tacked on the floor work of my new Cathe dvd, Lean Legs & Abs. Both are leg workouts but I had a sneaky suspicion that Lean Legs would be too light on my legs and heavier on cardio and I was right. So I was really glad to mix the two dvds as Gym Style is just what it is, a nice heavy leg workout making your legs toast if you use heavier weights than what's called for, which I do. So I got my sweat on with these 2 workouts.
Gym Style Legs
Gym Style has lots of squats with barbells, lunges with pulses (believe they'll get you burning), plie squats followed with low ends, 15 low ends followed by 15 more to be exact! And I use a barbell of 55lbs as opposed to their lighter dumbells. Suffice to say, I'm still working on completing the 15 low ends without breaking. But I'll get there yet! There's also leg presses where I use a 15 lb weight rather than their stretch band.
Lean Legs and Abs
I stopped there and went onto my new dvd, Lean Legs and Abs, which I had been looking forward to doing for awhile now but just hadn't fit it in yet. Finally I got to and it was a fun workout. Rather metabolic in nature with alot of compound moves while working out the legs with lighter weights. Cathe kept it quite aerobic based while she kept saying "I want to keep your heart rate up." And she wasn't mincing words! Cathe never minces words! lol! The cardio kept on creeping up on me with her non-stop squat presses, lunges, jumping sumos, lunges to jumping scissors with nary a break in between. I was glistening with sweat in Gym Style, but by the time I got a third of the way through Lean Leg's floorwork I was pouring sweat like any cardio class or sweaty studio Mysore class, and huffing and puffing to boot! And the music was the boss! Nice! So, even though I didn't find it a heavy leg workout, I find it PERFECT for tacking onto a heavier weight dvd to get a nice chisel effect to the legs and some cardio/metabolic work at the same time. A perfect combination!
... so fit in a practice, no matter how big or small, and all is coming.
... tonight with Cathe's Lower Body Blast dvd. Check out my sweaty forehead to prove it. Okay, it could've been sweatier but I kept forgetting I was going to take a pic and kept wiping it off with my oh so cool superstar wristband.
I can't remember where or when I got that thang and discovered it in my drawer just lately. And I'm oh so thrilled it appeared. It's definitely handy, if I do say so myself. lol! And check out the pink nail polish, in the middle of winter no less. Very matchy matchy. I promise it wasn't planned. I was just trying to channel summer. But I digress ...
Lower Body Blast!
I decided to do my new fav lower body workout again. I have a secret, I don't really want to admit to myself. But I think I ramped up my high impact cardio too quickly for my achilles' own good. Humf! So now they're kinda complaining, with their old injury giving me reminders. I get over enthusiastic with cardio as I LOVE step and I LOVE jumping as it reminds me of my old love ballet. I was really good at jumping in ballet. My teachers used to say I had amazing ballon, I had height ~ took air ~ and looked weightless when I jumped. So getting achilles tendonitis or a hint of soreness there is my nemesis as I LOVE to jump. So, I've been really diligent about icing but it seems to be still creeping in. Yuck! With that I've been taking calculated risks trying to figure out how many high impact cardio's I can slip in here or there to assuage me need for speed and before my achilles say it's really time to go grounded now. So I decided Lower Body Blast is now or never. And I must say it was a blast!
It's a 60 minute funtastic, effective, lower body strength workout that intersperses fat burning cardio blast intervals in between the strength segments. It worked me good! We started out with a warmup into the first cardio blast off the mini step with repeaters, power 7's, jacks, etc then into the first segment of leg work using free weights, barbell, gliding disks and stretch band for floorwork. And man she worked my legs good with walking lunges Cathe burn style, low step ups to low lunge (really works the thighs and glutes), barbell squats with pulses and low ends (I sub plie squats as they're safer for my knees), barbell plie squats, lunges, sliding warrior lunges, dead lifts, hover squats (killer), you get the drift. Done at an almost non-stop pace with cardio blasts interspersed to keep the heart pumpin and the fat burnin. And all to great music. I felt the burn and Missy Cathe kept my sweat glistening and me wiping with my superstar wristband. Cathe never fails.
P.S. Me hopes I'm still walking tomorrow or the next day! Those DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) can really sneak up on you and take you by surprise. Just like when I did my step aerobics on Saturday (still have to post on that one as I was so proud of myself) using 3 risers instead of 2 and surprise, surprise, my legs were killing me not on Sunday but on Monday!! Ouch!! I haven't had sore quads from step in YEARS!! ~ until those 3 risers kicked in!! Wow!!
... with Cathe's Party Rockin Step 2 again just last Monday AND I broke my workout barrier by doing Low Max Step in it's entirety!!! Unheard of for me. You see I've always had challenges with stamina (left over chronic fatigue reminders) and actually rarely have completed a FULL Cathe DVD ever. Yes, I'm a cheater. Ha! So, you can imagine my shock and awe when I finished the complete Low Max workout last Wednesday which is a 70 minute high intensity low impact step workout with 7 combo's combined with 7 HIT blasts after every combo. I felt on top of the world! After the 4th combo/blast I kept psyching myself up with "come on, don't stop at your usual spot you can do another." And I did another and another and another! WooHoo!! I was a very sweaty proud mess at the end.
I decided to do a low impact step as my achilles were acting up a bit but still wanted to get in some much needed fun cardio and still keep my goal of building my cardio capacity. I love this workout because it's so much fun, the music is great and it's deceiving. The intensity sneaks up on you and by the 3rd combo/blast your huffing and puffing and feeling the quad burn. Cathe is a master at ramping the intensity up in her workouts and she didn't disappoint here. She uses alot of quad work in this to ramp the cardio up and go anaerobic on you. She even teeters after a blast because she just burnt out our legs big time. It's hilarious to witness because we all swear Cathe is made of steal. Lol!
A Party Rockin Step #2 P.S. ...
I recant my previous "Happy Thanksgiving ..." post where I said Party Rockin Step #2 wasn't as intense as her other blastier type step workouts. What was I thinking??!!@@ When I did it again last Monday for the second time, I realized how intense it was! And I did more combo's that time too. I actually liken it to her Intensity DVD but a more toned down, balanced, dancier version. If that makes any sense. I find this the PERFECT balance of dancier step/blasts/plyo to use for really ramping my cardio capacity. As it allows for just the right amount of mini recovery within the plyo moves and blasts.
Can't Wait For Party Rocking Step #1
I just previewed Party Rockin Step #1 and I can't wait!!! It's prancier, dancier, twirlier and more low impact than #2. Perfect for my naughty achilles. And has rockin techno music to boot. The jokes on me because when I bought it ~ it came as a package with Step #2 ~ I wasn't impressed by the choreography in the online preview. Really NOT impressed. I thought it looked cheesy, awkward and forced in it's complexity. Was-I-wrong. Upon previewing the whole dvd the other night I realized how much fun it is and how the moves go great with the funtastic techno music. Man, I LOVE workouts where it's challenging and FUN with a capital F. And Cathe hits the mark every time!!
... so practice, have FUN with a capital F, and all is coming.
More like Woo Hoo!! Or Whoa Hoa!! Last night Cathe burnt my triceps and shoulder muscles with her new workout Flex Train. Ouch! Yah, that picture on her front cover says it all! She will burn your shoulders silly. And here I was trying to keep to my new workout schedule,
~ Nice huh! ~ but she burnt my triceps and shoulders so bad that the plan to do Ultimate Yogi's Strength was killed quick time. It was a night of rest for me. Travis' penchant for all those power chatarunga's would've took me out in no time flat. Travis and Cathe, you guy's kill me in a good way.
Flex Train
This dvd is one of Cathe's new one's and kind of a hybrid between a high rep workout with metabolic tendencies, shall we say. And it's low impact, great for those times when my knees or achilles get twingy. Also great when I want to top off with a full body weight day with added cardio mixed in at the end of the week after having done a heavy weight day earliery on. This will burn! I have to say these metabolic and high rep workouts are new to me as I tend towards heavy weight work and separate cardio work OR sometimes a circuit workout to top off my week. I find dedicated workouts more productive for me as my muscles don't respond to light weight lifting. And metabolic is notorious for using light weights as it's just trying to up the cardio factor and get a little anaerobic at best to burn fat longterm. But to see muscle growth effects, NOT ~ for me anyway. So I've always tended to view them as "time-wasters" and pooh-poohed them. However, done Cathe style, I seem to be enjoying them, surprisingly. And as long as I use them wisely to top off my week or every 2 weeks not replacing my heavy weight days then I'm golden.
If I remember correctly, actually I should remember this correctly as she just about did in my shoulders. In fact, check out all the shoulder work in this preview alone! She started off with shoulder and I made the mistake on the first exercise when we picked up the 8lb weights, I thought I knew better than her and picked up 10's instead. Well, later on I was really sorry I did that! We went from one metabolic shoulder exercise to another to another to another. Waaaa! I was feeling it! I thought when is this ever going to stop!? Next time, I will obey Cathe's cues if I know best. Then we went to heavy back with 25lb, I did 20lb and then some light let's-burn-the-back work. We continued on with bicep, chest and triceps with legs sprinkled in. Then abs to close. I went heavier on the biceps and didn't do the pulses but did more traditional sets and reps. I have to be very careful not to do high reps or pulses for my biceps as I believe that type of lifting is too stressful for my bicep brachialis tendons. And I don't want to get tendonitis there again.
This was a great workout as it gave me a nice two for one ~ high rep and cardio conditioning. How can I go wrong. And I sweated nicely. The only thing that I fault is that you won't get a leg workout with this. Barely burnt the legs except for the last leg exercise where you WILL feel the burn. But there wasn't enough exercises and heavy enough to warrant it in any way close to a leg workout. All in all Cathe's Flex Train is a keeper!
The dynamic trio! ... I'm so proud of myself as I just did 3 workouts in a row since I've been back at work starting this past Monday, with my awesome go to trainers. I decided to print out a workout schedule and try really hard to focus and stick to it. I find that planning, printing and having my schedule in front of me at my desk is really helping me with my motivation and focus. I was finding that in my heart I want to do it. The heart drive is there BUT my physical, psychological motivation was lagging behind once the evening came around. This way, seeing my planned schedule and also knowing my days off is really helping me so far. But the true test is time over tension and consistency. So we'll see!
My Bakasana Ideal (arms straight, knees higher)
My Bakasana Reality (arms bent, knees lower, but getting there!)
I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet. Just an overview as I need to get to bed!
Travis Monday:
On Monday I did my hearthrob, Travis', Ultimate Yogi Flexibility and snuck in a bakasana (arm balance) and jumpback to chatarunga. Weee! I felt stronger the second time around. Love the front splits in this one which he has you sit in forever! I'm practically groin down on one side. Yes! My hammies feel quite knackered the next day, but you know it's just stretchy growing pains — the Travis' leftover effect — pummelling my hammies to submissive openess. All's good.
Cathe Tuesday:
Then on Tuesday I did the awesome Cathe's XTrain All Out Low Impact HIIT. My achilles have been feeling a touch twingy lately from all that plyometric jumpy fun I've been having. Been icing diligently but thought what better time than this to try her dvd. Man, this got my heart rate up. It was funtastic.
She uses alot of low impact cardio moves that really hit the quads hard making it anaerobic too. Those quads burn!! There was floor work then step work and finally glide disc. I'm still having trouble with those discs. I can't quite keep my feet on them without them sliding off during the exercises. I'm trying to figure out what the magic trick is. But overall this was an amazingly fun, challenging, HIIT, quad quaking sweatfest without any impact that left my quads nice and sore the next day. I even felt the soreness in my vastus medialis muscle (the teardrop) muscle close to my knees. Nice! This is a muscle that's always been hard for me to engage properly yet is key to keeping my patellas stabilized. So, it's nice to know that all those vastus medialis leg extension machine exercises that I do at the gym is paying off.
Kino Wednesday:
And I topped it all off tonight with my favorite beautiful ashtangi yogini teacher, Kino's Primary dvd. Not that I don't have other fav yogi teacher's ~ we all know me and Travis ~ but sorry Travis I have some other loves too. lol!
With Kino's dvd, I love her pacing which is a bit quicker and her impressive non-stop dialogue of instructions. Some will love the chatter and some won't. I love it. It actually keeps me focused and in the zone. Also, if you really listen to what she's saying her directions are a phenomenal gold mine of tips, teaching and guidance into each posture. Literally a treasure chest of information. And I got to practice my jump backs and throughs. I will master you yet! Funny, the Travis set has helped give me more strength and stamina for the primary which is a nice bonus. I'm actually not surprised as I thought it might.
Hmmm, I don't think I was successful in keeping it short. Oh well!
So, it's been a good week so far and it's just past hump day! Now it's all down hill from here. Weeee!
... practice, schedule ~ do whatever works ~ and all is coming.
Yeah, that's right I tried, is the operative word, to do premix X49 on Cathe's new high intensity dvd X10 last Tuesday. Ya right who was I fooling! Delusion is the reason for optimism! ... This awsome dvd is actually 5 separate workouts that are only 10 minutes long, a misnomer as none of them are actually 10 minutes, more like 12 minutes to 17 minutes long, but when you add the warmup and cool down works out to around 25 to 30 minutes each. They were designed to be used as mini-blast-that-bootie-into-afterburn workouts that you can do when you're short on time or want to tack it on to a weight training or yoga day. Or you can use the premix section and do a number of the workouts all in one. All these ways are equally valid and this dvd was purposely designed for all these varied uses in mind. It includes 5 workouts: Step, Low Impact, Hi/Lo, Cardio Blast and Fat Burning Circuit.
So with that I thought I'd go all out and do the X49 premix. Now, I got to premise that the amazing Cathletes out there have been running forum threads that they did X77, the most powerful and cardio blasting of ALL 5 workouts strung together. Talk about ironman! Well, I have no inclination to go to nosebleed levels in the near or far future but I just thought why not try X49? It's just 3 sections, the step, low impact, cardio blast sections plus warmup and cool down. What can it hurt? Oh ya, it hurt! I could only get up to low impact and I was through. Done in! Caput! But come to think of it I only had one more section to go. So really not so bad, eh? So I'm still proud of myself and won't disturb my ego by comparing to the nosebleed Cathletes.
I initially thought the warm up would be boring as I don't particularly like floor cardio warmups, preferring step. But the music was so amazing that I forgot all about my funny preferences and really got into it. In fact, I got an earworm of the song in my dreams it was that good. Haha! Actually Cathe outdid herself in this dvd and really chose amazing music for all the workouts. Especially notable was the low impact section that played a revved up version of Aerosmith's Walk This Way. It was a blast and just pushes you to keep going. Speaking of keep going, I thought I was going to die with the step portion. I knew from previewing it I was going in deep and felt it was the hardest workout of the 5 and let me preface this by saying that all of them are hard. And I'm not the only one that feels that, the Cathletes do too. Ha! And the reason it is, is because she starts right off without a by or leave into fast feet shuffles into jump ropes into power 15's with NO breaks at all which she cycles over and over until she moves onto long hop turns etc. Holy nap Batman, when can I breathe! I had to do my forced breaks to breathe. lol! But I made it through and soldiered onto the metabolic section after the step and then onto the low impact segment where I called it a day. And proceeded to have a nap later on. That workout deserved a nap, darn it!
I.am.sore.with.DOMS.all.over.my.body.from.tip.to.stern! I was very good and rested on Wednesday then on Thursday did Burn Set Bi's, Shoulders and Ab's that Cathe was so nice to put as bonus workouts on her XTrain dvd's so you don't even have to get her Burn Set dvd if you don't want to. Though you still have to flip from dvd to dvd to get at them. Details, details. Then yesterday was heavy weight work at the gym and I did back, legs, chest and triceps. And I'm so proud of myself as I'm now at 105lb on both the leg extension machine and the squat rack. Yeah! I think I'll go to 110lb for plie squats next week. However with those two heavy weight days in a row I am SORE! I haven't been this sore all over in ages and no amount of whey protein with added BCAA's is putting a dent in it. Ha! My shoulders ache, my chest aches, my lats aches, by ab's burn, my biceps ache, my inner thighs ache! The only muscles that don't yelp at me yet are my triceps and quads BUT they may just be biding their good old time only to bite me in the butt tomorrow. They don't call it delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) for nothing. But I digress ...
Cathe's XTrain Burn Set Bi's and Shoulder's
XTrain Burn Sets is one of Cathe's newer dvds which I did for the very first time on Thursday. I actually don't have the dvd but she's so amazingly generous that she added them as bonus workouts on her other XTrain dvd's so I did her Burn Set Bi's added as bonus on her Cardio Leg Blast dvd ~ the full workout no less, no short changing here. And Burn Set Shoulder's added as bonus on her All Out Low Impact HIIT dvd. And I think it's now going to be one of my favourite heavy weight dvd workouts. It's exactly the way I like to work with weights as I like to go heavy. And this way allows for that along with the rest periods in between sets.
How she does it is for each muscle group we do 3 different exercises plus a burn set to really burn and work the muscle to submission. This allows for really good gains. For each exercise we do 2 sets with a goal of 10 reps so you should go as heavy as you can for 10 reps. Then you do the third set to failure. On the failure set you shouldn't have your weight too light that you could go past 15 reps and too heavy that you can't go past 5 reps. Then after those 3 exercises you do the burn set finisher. It was awesome and I new my muscles were worked and I'd be feeling it the next day. I liked the exercise choices she used for biceps and shoulders, they are the one's I find the most effective and that don't strain my tendons. Like incline bench biceps curls my tendons HATE and I won't do. And she didn't do them. Yes! And she didn't do the front close grip close to the body barbell raises for the shoulders that my scapula muscles despise. Thank goodness it's not a popular exercise anymore anyways. I did cheat and skip a set in the biceps and shoulders as I need to be careful with my bicep tendons and I needed to work up to this dvd. lol! Awesome and effective. Cathe did it again!
Everything is sore from sore muscles to sore eye. lol! I do love sore muscles as I know I did some crazay effective workouts. Like yesterday's amazing Xtrain Cardio Leg Blast by Cathe which made my quads and hamstrings sore and the day before Travis' Ultimate Yogi Flexibility which darn well did in my butt, hamstrings and shoulders. So, I've got DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) setting in nicely now. Yowza! With that a rest day was in order today. And to top it all off my left eye began feeling achy when doing some minor grocery shopping in my neighbourhood. Today was the first day I went out with my eyes fully undressed from the protective sunglasses the doc gave me. And my eyes felt the wonky vision full on in broad beautiful daylight. My eyes are so miss matched blurry that the walking around trying to focus through the brilliant haze proved a little too much too soon. Thank goodness I wasn't out too long and still managed to enjoy the fall sunlight. I even took this beautiful vision of a picture above on the way home which made me almost and I say almost love fall! lol! But I digress ...
Xtrain Cardio Leg Blast by Cathe
I did Cathe's amazing Cardio Leg Bast for the first time yesterday. I had this disc for a while but had to shelve it until my knees grew stronger. So, now I'm enjoying some good ol jumping cardio. It reminds me of my ballet days doing all the beautiful jumping floor work. I felt so light, lithe and strong back then and it makes me feel the same now, so exhilerating being finally able to do it again.
This is a great cardio and moderately heavy weight leg circuit workout with 12 rounds of about one minute plyometric cardio blast (HIT) with one moderate weighted leg work for about a maximum 16 reps which you repeat 12 times. The first 6 rounds are done off the step and the next 6 rounds are done on. No exercises are repeated so it's really fun. At first I used slightly lighter weights than Cathe and crew wanting to play it safe with my knees but then realized if I wanted to feel any burn with just 16 reps I needed to match or go heavier with the weights. So when I hit the round where we did plie squats — my legs are strong for this — I went with my 50lb barbell than their lighter pound dumbbells. I also added some extra pulse squats to the squat section to feel more burn and instead of doing their side lunges after that set — my knees do NOT like side lunge motions — I did pop squats interspersed with jump ropes. I found this more effective for my quads following quad style plyos with weighted quad work. It employs the quad muscles in a way that forces the quads to get strong very fast. Also, I noticed that, especially with the jumps on the step, I bend my knees more than the crew does. I think my ballet training has alot to do with this. This technique creates a softer, quieter, more controlled landing and also takes the impact into the quad and calf muscles more than the knees. Thus protecting the joints while building powerful, more explosive lean legs. I did have to take some extra breathes here and there but all in all I was able to keep up nicely and ALMOST completed the workout. I got to round 11 and quit. Naughty girl! I didn't realize there was only one more to go!
The music was great and keeps you going when it gets hard and was one of the reasons I was able to even get to round 11 and also I love step work. Cathe's a pro at using amazingly hip music and crescendoing it at just the right moments to keep you fired up and getting that extra wind to take you to the next level. Really amazing! (Can you tell music is very important to me for workouts. It actually will make or break what would be a very good workout for me. Cathe is a genius for this most of the time. The one time she derailed was when she did her amazing STS heavy weight periodization program where for me the music did NOT work.)
I forgot to do the bonus Burn Set Bi's at the end. But was probably wise that I forgot. As I'm feeling the sore today and don't need anymore added to it. That's another wonderful thing about Cathe is she's so generous (Amy Bento does the same too) she always adds premixes to all her dvds and sometimes adds bonus workouts from her other dvds in the set. Which she really went all out on with her Xtrain set. Kudos Cathe!
... so practice, get nice and sore, and all is coming.
Had a busy day today bringing my sweet furry Maine Coon of a cat home from exile at my Dad's, picking up litter (huge bags, wearing wrist braces no less), her food, and all sundries home. Lots of stops and lugging of heavy things. Yet I was determined to do my Insanity step DVD back to back with 4-Day Split's biceps when I got her settled in with my two other adorable Tonkinese platinum mink boy beauties of which now that both have finally grown out of kittenhood and are the same size (one is 7 months older than the other yet they're brothers and the younger one is the uncle of the older one, try to figure that one out! lol!), I can hardly tell them apart visually, especially when I want to place them fast. What a conundrum! Next time I'll get a platinum point so I can easily tell them apart. Didn't think it through the first time. Haha! Anyways don't judge, they're oodles of animal lovers in my building with multiple households of 2-3 dog owners, or one dog with one cat, and my many friends with 2 or 3 cats in tow. So please no labelling allowed. lol! But I digress ...
Intensity and My Baseline
Anyways, I was determined to do Cathe's high octane step workout as I wanted to go out with a bang before my Corneal Cross Linking (CXL) and PRK on my eyes on Friday. With that I won't be able to lift weights and step for about a week. Woe is me! And the CXL for one of my eye's has the potential to knock me out with fatigue for a good two months. But I'm really hoping that with the improvement of the procedure, it's much shorter in duration from 30 minutes to just 10, I'm crossing my fingers it will be less intense. We'll see. No pun intended. So Intensity was in order. I wanted to give it all I got just in case. And what fun it was! But make no mistake about it, it was INTENSE!! It's like Cathe mashed together high intensity step along with plyometric blasts, along with high intensity interval training put together without any breaks. Holy green smoothie Batman, it's CRAZAY! This was way advanced for me! I had to break to a side step ALOT though I was very proud I kept on going. And even though it really was too advanced aerobically for me I had to admit sheepishly, but my legs could actually keep up with the plyometrics really great it's just my aerobic capacity could not YET. And I say YET with emphasis. As I'm using the breaks as my baseline and plan to do it at least once a month to check how I improve, hopefully taking less and less of them. Also, I like to make the excuse that I use two risers to Cathe and crews one. Which I like to say does make a difference. So there take that for advanced! lol!
