Metabolic Rotation: Week 1

I'm back from a very relaxing vacation...and excited to, once again, dig deeper into some of Cathe's workouts in a different way.

A few weeks ago, I ran across an incredibly good article that made me re-think the way I work out.  By looking through Cathe's live workouts, I found some great options and put together a great workout calendar with some guidance from 2 Lazy for the Gym's rotation.  Mine runs 11 weeks and those last three weeks will be reserved for really changing things up by trying some of Cathe's new workouts and throwing in some Michelle Dozois.

Vacation was great and I didn't exercise at all, except to walk.  I was super proud of getting over 10,000 steps every single day.  But I needed to rest.  My body needed it.  Now, I feel rested and ready to get back to it!

Monday: Cathe's Mixed Impact HIIT with Bonus Abs + YWA

My only concession on the first day back was to do a shorter workout.  The cardio portion of this workout only lasts for 30 minutes and I didn't add on any more.  Really, that much HIIT should be perfect....I just tend to try to do more.  In the future, I should just stop when Cathe stops.  I did do the bonus abs and they were nice and challenging.  At the end of the day, a short but great YWA to open up and flow.

Tuesday: Cathe's Smokin' Upper Body Blast + walk + YWA

I'm really liking the idea of all these new workouts!  But then this one started with snowboarders and I realized how my bum hurt from yesterday's workout - yes, a cardio workout from Cathe made my bum hurt.  This woman knows how to work the lower body at all times.  Smokin' Upper Body alternates a cardio blast move and an upper body sequence.  My arms were definitely tired by the end.  I walked at lunch and then this YWA was great for my poor lower back.

Wednesday: Cathe's Trisets Legs Live + walk 

Time for legs this morning.  I did this workout last year and knew it would be painful - but effective.  And it was - both.  I tried to really support my back since it hasn't been happy, which meant lifting less for dead lifts. And I'm fine with that!  At lunch, I walked at the rec and then really stretched out my legs.  That felt marvelous!  After work, I had every intention of doing yoga, but after a horrible commute, I just couldn't do anything else.

Thursday: YWA + YWA

Rest day!  And I needed it today: my muscles are in shock with all these workouts after vacation!  This YWA was new-to-me and very good.  Adriene really knows how to make you concentrate on one area of the body; this was all about the spine.  After work, I did the other yoga, though I wasn't self-doubting; I was decompressing after a very long day.  And it was good!

Friday: Cathe's Totally Pumped Total Body Live 

My shoulders were killing me this morning.  I don't know from what - maybe yesterday's early morning yoga.  Either way, weights did not sound fun but weights it was this morning.  This was a good, fast-moving weight training video.  I enjoyed it - as much as was possible when I hurt so much.  I didn't use a step because my legs were still sore from Wednesday.  

Saturday: Cathe's ICE: Low Impact Sweat

This was my second workout from Cathe's intermediate series, ICE (well, except for the ab workouts).  The other one I'd done, Rock'm Sock'm is great so I had high hopes for Low Impact Sweat...and it did not disappoint.  This is a serious workout and a very well seasoned intermediate workout.  There were tons of new moves which I loved!  And Cathe's concession to intermediate seemed to only be the lighter weights (3s and 5s) she used.  I used 6 lbs throughout and got a great workout. I also did the Blizzard Blast, which was fun.  After that 50 minutes, I had a good, long stretch.

Sunday: Cathe's Sweat Blast + XTrain: Core 1 + YWA

Another great metabolic workout today.  This one alternated one cardio move and a weighted compound exercise.  My heart rate stayed amazingly high!  And I had fun!  The compound moves added some nice variety!  After that 40 minutes, I did the 10-minute Core 1 from XTrain.  Ouch!  Then, a stretch and a YWA.  I really like this one!

Calorie Counts:

Monday - 1200
Tuesday - 1220
Wednesday - 1209
Thursday - 1871
Friday - 1451
Saturday - 1307
Sunday - bad

I'm annoyed with having so many bad calorie counts this week.  When I weighed on Thursday morning - before the bad eating, I was up 2.5 pounds from before vacation.   Not bad.  When I weighed after a crazy workout on Saturday morning, that had dropped to being only 1.6 pounds over my pre-cruise weight.  But I'm sure Sunday ruined that.  Sigh.