Burpee burnout

Today I revisited the first ever workout I did when I started doing Zuzana's bodyrock workouts. :) It was approx. a year and a half ago and I remember working out in my room mate's room, because mine was too small. I chose this one as my first, because I thought that it doesn't look as demanding and long as others and it really was a great start to working out regularly. Ahhh, memories ...

Breakdown:
10 minure countdown of the following exercise:
Plank - 2 reptile knee tucks - dynamic push up - jump up = 1 rep
Completed 55 reps in 10 minutes. I am not entirely sure about my previous scores, but it was somewhere near 40 reps. At the time I did not own Gymboss interval timer, so I had to set my mobile phone as a stop atch and check the tome every now and then. That is why I'm not sure how I did - it may have been less than 40 reps, maybe more, the important thing is I got hooked and have been working out since. :)

Now, my own diet challenge is going well, I'm focusing on making good food choices. I will stick to it 'till the end of the week and in the next I will focus on portion controll. I think for me it will be the hardest challenge of all. I know I tend to eat too much at once and then nothing for 4, sometimes 6 or more hours. But for now I'll stick to choosing foods that complement my health and fitness. I must say I really, really like it. :)

P.S.: this picture was taken on this year's holiday in Dalmatia - we had a lovely time! :)

Bootylicious workout

Leg torture session, murder and cruel workout! My legs haven't been this targeted for a long time, so this was pure brutality. I can see myself being unable to get out of bed tomorrow morning, but I hope that won't be the case. I did this one for the first time and sometimes Zuzana still doesn't cease to amaze me. To put together a workout based on such basic movements and produce this intense and effective routine ... hands down. Anyway, enough of my babbling, here's Bootylicious workout breakdown:

1. dive bomber - 5 reps
2. pull up - 5 reps (close grip)
3. 6 rounds 20/20 intervals
   a. squats
   b. air chair (mini squats)
There are 3 rounds to this workout and it takes approx. 15-17 min, depending on how fast you manage dive bombers and pull ups. I used 4,5 kg weight for the third part and did all pull ups chair assisted. Unfortunately I don't have scores to share and my mind was just blank after the third interval in the first round. I didn't imagine it would be THAT hard!

As I rummaged through my photo archive on my computer, I came across this somewhat representative photo that was taken less than a year ago. My boyfriend took it, even though I was against him taking pictures of me (I don't like to be in pictures). What's behind these hazel eyes ...? ;)

ZWOW #31

Can I just say OMG! This one made me a bit nauseous at the end. Zuzana, you rock! To make something so challenging and physically demanding out of five elementary exercises ... ouch! And to think I was sure it won't be hard as much as some of her prevoius ones ... wrong! Even though I said I won't be jumping for a while due to my injured ankle, I felt good enough to give it a go. And I am not sorry one bit. :)

Here's the workout breakdown:

1. push ups - 10 reps
2. competition burpees - 20 reps
3. squat jumps - 30 reps
4. mountain climbers - 40 reps
5. sit ups - 50 reps
Completed 3 rounds in 20:35 min. Burpees after push ups were lethal combination for my shoulders as they still felt weak after MyWO #3.

As far as the diet challenge is concerned ... well, yesterday was OK, but day nr. 2 ... I think I need a weekly goal. So this week I am focusing on making sane, sensible and healthy food choices. And cutting down on nuts, cranberries and raisins mix (which I can gulp down tons!).

I'd also like to upload some pics, but I don't own a camera and can't load pictures from my phone on my computer. There IS a live person behind this blog, I just have to find something from my current picture archive and present it here. ;) That's how blogs work, right?

MyWO #3 and 30 day diet challenge

Today's routine was a mind game. Exhausting, I haven't been sweatting like this probably in my entire life and feeling this good for some time. :) Even though it was not as physically demanding, it was more of a psychological testing and endurance routine. Here's its breakdown:

Complete 5 rounds of the following exercises:
1. prisoner get ups - 10 reps
2. diamond push up - 5 reps
3. prisoner get ups - 10 reps
4. pull ups - 5 reps
5. prisoner get ups - 10 reps
6. one arm push ups - 3 reps on each arm
7. prisoner get ups - 10 reps
8. leg lift toe touch - 10 reps
I managed to complete all 5 rounds (though I wanted to quit after the 4th round - I paused my timer for approx. one minute and then pushed through the final round) in 28:58 min. I included exercises I haven't been doing for a long time now and I have to say that it was a huge challenge for me, especially pull ups, snice this is my FIRST EVER workout which includes them. :) I did them all chair-assisted, because I can't do a single pull up yet. :/ One arm push ups were really demanding and I did them off my knees. At first I planned on doing handstand push ups instead of diamond push ups, but when I tried them, I realised I will get more out of diamond push ups, since I couldn't go very far down in handstand. I might include them some other time.

Yesterday me and my boyfriend went to have a piece of cake each. I was SOOOO delicious and I realized that it's a pity to put anything other than REALLY good sweet stuff in your mouth and body. Chocolate, ice cream, cookies and salted crap ... these are all a waste of money, because they are not REALLY good. I suddenly understood what treating myself means and so decided that I will gladly stick to Primal Blueprint and all I believe in (but haven't been sticking to yet) for a month and by the end of it we (my partner and I) will treat ourselves with something REALLY good. :) I'll see, maybe I won't even feel like eating that piece of cake. The point here is allowing myself to aspire for something I konw and experience as GOOD. :) I consider it as a lesson and not a project. And I think I'll report every day to remind myself of my goal and if I made it official, it's more serious and at the reach of ma hand. :)

Oh, and if you decide to try the workout, let me know, how it went. :)

MyWO #2 - putting my own routines together

Hello, healthy and injury-free people out there! You're probably wondering, what the hell means "MyWO". It means My workout and it labels the workout I put together. The reason behind me putting a workout together (and the #2 mark indicaties the second one) is my injured foot. Fortunately I did not break anything (as I assumed a couple days ago), but I hurt my tendon that connects foot muscles and lower leg. The first day it hurt like crazy, tears were pouring down my face from pain and I had to jump around on one foot for several hours. Now the pain is nearly gone and I can walk normally, only not far and for longer periods of time.

I don't want to sit on my butt and wait for approx. 6 weeks (!) for my tendon to heal (yes, it normally takes that long), so I decided that I'm going to put my own routines together that don't involve skipping, jumping or extra pressure on injured leg. This means I'm going to get less cardio, but health is more important to me than acchieving certain numbers and goals in certain period of time. I hope some of you who have similar problems can help yourself maintaining your fitness level with these workouts, if not, well, I'll post them anyway. ;)

Here's the workout breakdown:
Do 4 rounds of the following exercises:
1. sumo mini squats (or sumo pulses) - 50 reps
2. side crunch - 20 reps each side
3. swimmer - 30 reps (lay on your belly, legs and arms fully extended, lift chest off the ground, bringing your elbows towards the sides of your body, squezing shoulder blades together - as if you were breaststroke swimming - kind of) :)
4. tricep dips - 20 reps (choose your own style, I did them off a chair with legs extended)
5. 1-2 reptile push up - 10 reps (do 2 side knee tucks - each side one - and a regular push up = 1 rep)
I completed the workout in 22:50 min.

Though there weren't cardio exercises inolved, I got really good burn and was sweatting like crazy. I felt it the most in my shoulders and arms, but also in my ab section. I was kind of surprised that it took me that long, but I did not want to push too much, I was concentrating on my form. And this is the way I'll be doing my exercises from now one. To avoid further injuries.

Have a great week and injury-free workots! :)

ZWOW #7 revisit

Today I revisited one of Zuzana's ZWOWs. I already posted the workout breakdown and my scores here. This is why I won't be posting workout breakdown in this post, only my new scores. Here they are:

I managed three rounds in 14:33 min using the same amount of weight as before. This means that I beat my personal best and am satisfied with it. :)

There is only ine thing I'm not satisfied with at all. I think I somehow broke one of the bones in my feet while jump rope jumping. Maybe not broke, but cracked it a bit. I thought something was not allright since the Ab-tastic challenge I did approximately 3 weeks ago. It hurts a lot, but I can still move my fingers. I'll see what the future brings, hopefully it will mend by itself ... :/

ZWOW #29

This ZWOW was quite fun to do, I tried hard, but am not satisfied with my result - when compared to others' results. First to the workout breakdown and then to other stuff:

10 min AMRAP
1. pistol squats - 5 reps on each leg
2. side hops - 50 reps
3. plank row knee tucks - 10 reps
4. 180 burpee - 10 reps
I completed 3 full rounds an 3 burpees, finished 4th round in 10:42 min. I supported myself with the other leg when doing pistol squats.

I feel like I'm falling behind even though I try my best. I don't know ... will see what the future brings ... hmmmm