In short... it kicked my butt.
I used the resi
stance band that came with the program. You put one foot, or two depending on how tight and difficult you want it to be, on the band and use it like weights. I guess it gives you a harder workout than if you just use weights. (See picture to the left - obviously that's not me in the picture - if I had her body I would not be writing this blog.)They make you do all kinds of things with this band. My arms are going to be killing me tomorrow. I think I'll be switching to light weights next time.
We also did lots of push ups. I had to cheat and put my knees on the ground. And I cheated even more and put a pillow under my knees so I wouldn't hurt myself on the tile. Even the "cheater" push ups are hard!
When it got to doing lunges... I could only do half of them. My knees were cracking all over the place! Makes me feel so old! But I was very proud that I kept up with all the other parts of the video! It was hard and I really tried my best to get a good workout. My legs were very tired by the end.
Then it has you doing something called chair dips. Oh hell no! I didn't even attempt this insanity! I knew I'd either hurt myself with the actual exercise or fall and crack my head open on the tile. Either one of those would not be a good result. So I skipped this activity.
But seriously, by the end of this circuit workout... I was feeling it. My back is tired. I'm hoping it's not going to hurt tomorrow. My arms feel week, which I'm sure is a good thing. And my legs are noodles. I do have one minor injury. My neck hurts. Not sure if it's a workout related injury or if I just slept on it weird, but it's tight and I can't turn it all the way. It impacts the way I hold my head when I do some of these exercises so I hope I'm not making it worse as I do them. I am finding that I'm focusing on my posture more than I used to. I'm a sloucher, always have been. But even while sitting and writing this blog I've noticed three or four times that I was slouching and I made myself sit up straight. It makes my back feel stronger.
On another note, it's difficult working out with a very curious 2 year old. I put on his Barney video in the living room in the hopes he'd stay entertained while I worked out in the bedroom. Half way through he came in and wanted to steal my resistance band. Then he put the pillow on the floor and pretended to do push ups with me. It was really cute.
Anyway - Day 2 workout is complete! Tomorrow the real challenge begins.... I'm going to really be hurting tomorrow but I know I have to work through the pain anyway.
By the way, thanks for everyone's support! I know I haven't been responding to all the comments on this blog or on facebook, but I have been reading them all. I'm thankful for all the support I have received since starting this blog. I'm grateful to all my friends and family for your advice and for giving me the internal strength and motivation I needed to start and to continue. =) You guys are all awesome!
Time for some Advil...
Until tomorrow...
Chair dips are evil. I have a bad wrist and can't do them either, and I still do the push-ups on my knees! Chair dips are working your triceps, so there are two alternatives you can do to build up your strength. One is the tricep kickback, which involves extending one hand at a time behind you in a straight line with your back and gently pushing up. The other is to raise both hands above your head, keeping your elbows vertically close together, and then lower your hands down toward your neck and back up. These both require light weights, but you can use water bottles or cans of soup to begin. The tricep is the biggest muscle in our arms --- and where we women get bingo wings. Keep up the good work!
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