Oct 30, 2011

Week By Week

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I haven’t done a weekly recap post in a while but if you want the condensed version of the past month or so, it’s been this: work, gym, tutor, repeat. But here’s a more detailed review of last week:

The Week in Review

A couple of weeks ago, I said I wanted to stop counting calories but in retrospect, I think I just really wanted to eat more leftover cake at that particular moment and was trying to justify it as good for my mental health. Sometimes I need to remind myself that there’s a difference between depravation and common sense (depravation = not having any cake at your mom’s 60th birthday party; common sense = stopping yourself after the first ginormous slice)

All kidding aside, I’ve decided that I’d like to lose the weight I gained while training for my half-marathon and I’m finally motivated to do something about it. For the past two weeks, I’ve been making an effort to eat better and track my calories. In an ideal world, I would be able to eat whatever I want and just burn it off through exercise (hence the title of my blog) but in reality, I know I look and feel my best when I eat healthy most of the time and am conscientious about what I eat.

And of course, I’ve been staying active because while I sometimes lose my motivation to eat healthy, my love of exercise remains constant. Here’s what last week looked like:

Sunday – went out for a 5 kilometre run before work (yep, I had to work on Sunday… fun times!). The weather was crisp but pleasant and the fall scenery was gorgeous. I wish I had more opportunities to go out for morning runs these days (for the record, I don’t count 6 a.m. as “morning” because it still looks and feels like the middle of the night).

Monday - Body Pump

Tuesday – Body Attack

Wednesday – Body Pump

Thursday – RPM. We did the new release and I just wasn’t feeling it. The music is blah and when it comes to RPM, it’s all about the music for me.

Friday – Rest

Saturday – Body Pump

This morning, I did the new Body Step release and it is radically different from previous releases. 

Instructors now have the option of replacing the party and quick step tracks with a boot camp style Athletic Circuit. I’ll admit that while the party and quick step tracks are lots of fun, they aren’t exactly challenging; you definitely get a lot more bang for your buck with the circuit track. I also really like the music in this release. I don’t do Body Step very much these days so this was a nice way to shake up my routine a little.

The Week Ahead

My exercise schedule will look almost identical to last week’s so my focus this week is going to be on diet. In particular, I need to get back into cooking. I’ve been slacking in the kitchen lately and letting my mom do most of the work (sorry mom!). To reverse this trend, I found two new recipes from Fitness magazine (one of my favourite sources for healthy recipes): Beef Stir-Fry with Avocado Salad and Lemon Thyme Chicken with Sauteed Vegetables. Sometimes, all it takes is the right recipe to get you excited about cooking again

Where do you find healthy recipes?

Anyone tried the new Body Step release? Thoughts?

Filed Under: Cardio, Motivation, Recipes · Tagged: , ,
Oct 26, 2011

Body Attack 74 Review

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Last night, I did Body Attack 74, which has the distinction of being the most challenging Body Attack release I’ve ever done. I’m not gonna lie – when a workout is this hard, I usually hate it. But this release is so much fun, you barely even notice.

And I did not feel like working out last night. At all. It was rainy and miserable out, my legs were still sore from Body Pump and I was still moping about the fact that I had to work all weekend and haven’t had a day off since October 15th. But a minute or so into the warm up and I had forgotten all about my pissy mood. That’s how good this release is.  

Here are some things I loved about Body Attack 74:

1. The music – check out the tracklist. There are some great little guilty pleasures in this one (“Heaven is a Place on Earth,” “Whip My Hair”), coupled with some classics (“Fight For Your Right”) and more recent hits (“Born This Way,” “Grenade,” “Higher,” and “On the Floor”). There were only a few songs I wasn’t really feeling but overall, the music energized me throughout.

2. The choreography - sometimes the moves in Body Attack get a little repetitive but in this release there are lots of directional changes from set to set to keep things interesting, especially during the first half. There is also a generous helping of totally cheesy, groan-inducing moves, particularly during the 80s songs but I secretly looooove cheesy choreography. Makes me feel like I’m in an 80s aerobics video.

(On an unrelated note, has anyone checked out Kanye’d By the Bell? If you’re a Saved By the Bell groupie, you need to check this out now after you finish this post)  

3. The walking burpee - Track 5 typically features a crap ton of chest/tricep push ups and planks. Here we get a new move – the walking burpee. Set to the breakdown of “Born This Way,” this move was one of my favourite parts of the workout; I hope they bring it back in future releases.

4. Lots of plyometrics - okay, this part I both loved and hated. I find plyometric moves really difficult but I know they are effective. Track 4 has an insane number of back-to-back lunge and squat jumps. I almost got through the whole track without taking the lower option of dynamic lunges but by the last set (which is twice as long as the other two), my body failed me and I had to take it down a notch. My goal for next week is to get through the whole track.

I’m excited to do this one again next week. And the week after. And the week after that. I can’t say the same for the new Body Pump release but I’m hoping that with a different instructor, I’ll enjoy it more. I’m going again tonight so we’ll see.

Plyometrics – love ‘em or hate ‘em?

Filed Under: Cardio · Tagged:
Oct 25, 2011

Body Pump 79 Review

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DISCLAIMER: I did this workout at 6 a.m. yesterday so it’s entirely possible that I dreamt the whole thing and there actually is no Body Pump 79.

Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up, on to my review of Body Pump 79 (or at least what I remember of it).

Warm up – I missed half the warm up because the instructor didn’t bother waiting for everyone to set up before starting. I understand starting without waiting for latecomers, but in this case the class starts a few minutes after the gym opens so there isn’t a lot of time to set up before class. She could have waited like an extra two minutes for everyone to get their weights (I wasn’t the only one not ready when she started).

Actually, I’m not a fan of this instructor in general – she always screws up the choreography and she’s not nearly as fun or motivating as some of my favourite Pump instructors. But, with my new work schedule, I’m stuck with her on Monday mornings. That kind of ruined the warm up for me but I think under different circumstances I would have liked it (the warm up song was a remix of Taio Cruz’s “Higher.”)

Squats – my main complaint here is that the music was kind of underwhelming. This is always the most difficult track for me so I like a good, high energy song to get me through it. “Closer to the Edge” just wasn’t doing it for me. I do like the combo in this one though – four single squats with four bottom halfs. I hate it when there are too many singles in a row because I can’t get deep enough into the squat without falling behind after a few reps; four in a row is manageable and the bottom halfs are always a nice a challenge.

Chest – set to Sean Kingston’s “Party All Night (Sleep All Day).” Finally, a song that didn’t make me want to go back to bed (which is saying a lot given the ungodly hour. Sean Kingston = guilty pleasure). The first few sets of this were fun and by the time the break came, I was thinking, “really, that’s it?” Yeah, don’t be fooled by the easy first half. The last set went on forever and I was dying by the end of it.

Back – this one is set to a dancey version of “Written in the Stars.” Here we see the return of the power press from a few releases ago (one clean followed by three presses). I had an “oh shit” moment when we first started when I looked around and realized I had more weight on my bar than anyone else in the class, instructor included. But I’m glad I didn’t chicken out because it turned out to be the perfect amount of weight for me. The power press wasn’t nearly as hard as I remembered it to be although there is a challenging set of seven wide rows in this release. This used to be one of the most difficult exercises for me but I’m getting better at it.

Triceps – there are two versions of this track - ”Born This Way” and “If We Ever Meet Again.” We did the Lady Gaga version. This one starts off easy with two sets using the bar for overhead extensions and presses. Then you get a painful set of tricep dips and overhead extensions with a plate. The last two sets are hard but Gaga got me through it ;)

Biceps – set to “Livin’ on a Prayer,” this one felt really challenging even though there’s nothing new here. I just sucked. There was a long set of singles at the end that for the life of me I could not complete. I hate not being able to complete sets. Next…

Lunges – this one is very similar to the lunge track in Body Pump 78. You start with squats, do a set of lunges on one leg, squat again, lunge with the other leg, squat, lunge, etc. Your legs will burn by the end of it. Aptly, this track is set to Bruno Mars’ “Grenade,” a song about loving something even when it brings you torturous pain. Kind of how I feel about Body Pump.

Shoulders – I’m usually ready to call it a day by the time this track comes around but I actually really like the shoulder track on this release. We get the Arnold press in this one, which is one of my favourites.

Abs – we start off with weighted crunches only here we hold the plate in a different position because it apparently activates your core better. I found the positioning awkward and it ended up tiring out my arms more than my abs. Luckily, we weren’t there for long and moved on to side planks pretty quickly. There are no hovers in this one so it was a nice break from the more challenging ab tracks of the last few releases.

Overall, this wasn’t my favourite release but that could be because of the time and the instructor. I’m going to try it again on Wednesday night when my favourite instructor teaches and re-evaluate how I feel about it then.

What are some of the qualities of your favourite (or least favourite) instructors?

For me, my favourite Body Pump instructor gets me, well, pumped about the workout. She makes jokes, yells out motivational phrases (from “Yes you can!” to “Earn your dinner!”), gets us amped between sets (especially the back track; whenever we put the bar down, she starts jumping around on the stage to get us pumped for the next set of clean and presses) and encourages us to challenge ourselves with the weight. She’s also ripped so I feel oddly powerful just doing the same exercises as her. I’m looking forward to re-visiting Body Pump 79 at her Wednesday night class.

Filed Under: Strength Training · Tagged:
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