Week 9: Can You Believe?

Happy Sunday! I hope you're all having nicer weather than Chicago is. Who else is ready for spring? I honestly can't deal with this freezing cold much longer. It'd be nice to turn off the heat too ;).

This week was REALLY tough workout-wise. I moved in to Phase 3 of the program, which is the final phase. Here it the lowdown on the workouts.

Workout 9 is the first front of body workout for phase 3. It is inspired by a lot of power yoga moves and is INCREDIBLY tough on your quads and core. The first two circuits are totally brutal, and the cardio intervals involve a lot of plank (my favorite...NOT). With that being said, I do kind of love this workout despite how "evil" it is. I was dripping sweat by the end of it and felt like I really got stronger with every passing second. It also showed me how far I've come in terms of my fitness level since the beginning of the program. I could have NEVER gotten through a workout like this two months ago. It's empowering to know that I can do this workout. Sure, there are some moves I still struggle with, but that's going to be the case whenever you  move up. You're not supposed to look like the fitness models in these videos. That's what you're ASPIRING to. Do you know how long those people have had to work out in order to be in that kind of shape? If you're doing this program and feeling discouraged because you don't think you can do it, remember that. The fitness models in these videos work out for a living, and it has taken them years to look like they do. The same is going to apply to me.

Workout 10 is the first back of body workout for phase 3. This one is KILLER on your legs and butt. It also involves a lot more jump training with weights and cardio intervals with weights. Once again, as difficult as this workout is, (I personally feel it's the hardest thus far), I do love it because I feel my legs getting exponentially stronger with each exercise and am dripping sweat by the end. I feel as though I've accomplished something and gotten a good workout in. Once again, I did struggle with some of the moves. There are a lot of balance moves in this workout that are incredibly difficult for people like me who struggle with that, but I'm confident that will improve with time as I continue to work out more.

Cardio 3 is the cardio workout for phase 3, and it's the cardio I'll be doing for the remainder of the program. This instantly became my favorite. It's definitely hard, but because there are 24 exercises per circuit, each lasting about 20 seconds, the workout is fast-paced and goes by really quickly. Once again, it's so empowering to see how far my conditioning and endurance has come. I did very well at the cardio DVD both times I did it this week, given that it was my first couple times. Sure, I had to stop for about 20 seconds the second time I did it, but compared to where I was a month ago, that's not so bad. I'm confident that by the end of this phase I'll be killing that workout and doing it without pause.

In terms of my diet this week, that was frustrating. I can definitely see that I'm making better food choices, and I did a really great job of sticking to the diet I'm on. What was frustrating this week was my body! It was holding on to water throughout the week and I'm chalking that up to not watching my sodium intake enough. I was getting bloated, and as a result when I'd weigh myself throughout the week I'd see that the scale wasn't moving. I really watched it the last two days and lo and behold I ended up being down about 3.3 pounds this week. I still ate my designated number of points for the day, but I didn't drink as much soda and was careful to eat more fresh veggies and fruits that weren't too high in sodium. Boom. Weight lost, ready to keep rolling.

Another lesson that I'm going to have to stick to: STOP WEIGHING MYSELF EVERY DAY. Your body goes through natural fluctuations throughout the week and compulsively weighing myself only creates more frustration. I'm going to stick to weighing myself Sunday mornings after I wake up and putting my scale out of sight for the rest of the week. That way I won't harp on it and obsess.

Ready to keep rolling on to week 10! I'm taking things up a notch this week. One of my friends asked me to do a fitness challenge with her at her gym, so I'll be doing this program in the mornings and the challenge in the evenings. It should be interesting...hope my body can handle it!

Until next week!

Sarah