Turbo Jam: First Half

I'm presently doing the Advanced Rotation of Turbo Jam Basic set, meaning I had bought Turbo Jam alone not Turbo Jam and Turbo Jam Elite.  With Turbo Jam Elite the schedule seems much more demanding, or at least it adds variety.

What am I doing now?  I may have already written this, but week one of Turbo Jam was Learn & Burn, 20 minute Cardio, Cardio Party (~40minutes), 20 Minutes Cardio, Cardio Party, 20 minutes, Rest and then Punch, Kick & Jam.  Week 2 starts right in with Cardio Party, 20minute workout + Ab Jam, Cardio Party, 20 minute workout + Ab Jam, Cardio Party, Rest and then Punch, Kick & Jam.  Today is Punch, Kick and Jam.

I'm trying to get back on track with calories, which should be much easier now that Christmas, New Years, and Pete's birthday are all over.  I've been stable since November, which is good given the over whelming number of calories I can eat in a day.  For instance yesterday I clocked in around 2400 calories and had a 400 calorie workout.  The day before I ate at least 2200 calories and didn't work out, because it was Pete's birthday and would kind of be weird if I was like "ok I'm going to ignore you for exercise."

I have two weeks of Turbo Jam and then I'm doing the last 6 weeks of P90X starting with Week 7.  After that I'd like to go onto Turbo Fire, which seems crazy, but I think super fun.  I want to focus on some cardio for awhile since I'd like to increase my cardio capacity.  Which P90X doesn't really even the schedule is more cardio in the lean version really still isn't...so I may add the 20 minute Turbo Jam Cardio workout to the sculpting heavy nights to help keep it up while finishing the last phase of P90X.

So for the next couple of weeks I'll be finishing up Turbo Jam and focusing on getting back to a good calorie intake, which Turbo Jam recommends a net of 1300-1500 per day.  I have noticed that my heart rate stays high after finishing Turbo Jam unlike the P90X videos.  It is interesting you watch the infomercials about how Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire are designed to keep you burning calories throughout a 24hr period and I think they actually might.

Day 3 of Turbo Jam

I know...what happened to P90X, well I got up to Week 8 and well...got married.  This put a huge damper on finishing my round of P90X.  I intend to, but after getting back, then going on a business trip, I just needed something fun.  I decided on Turbo Jam (and eventually Turbo Fire).  I needed something...girlier.  Tony Horton is amazing and great, and incredibly male.  So I went and got married and well, am feeling well, kind of like I need something fun. 

Turbo Jam is a quick program and should get me back on track, because I am off track I am a derailed train.  I was going to start the program at beginner, because I still believe I am a beginner...turns out I am not.  I popped in the "Learn & Burn" video and well, did it twice in a row and still could have gone on.  The next day was the 20 minute workout and I could have done it twice, so I decided to move onto advanced instead.  That's what I'm doing, so day three was Cardio Party.  Yes it is dancy, yes it is way more girly with all the house music and "finesse" but it is a capoeira workout in disguise.  It has lots of punches, lots of ab work, and lots of kicks.  I like it, actually.  I can do this for four weeks and then go and finish my round of P90X.  After that I would like to do Turbo Fire, which is like Turbo Jam, but with more HIIT rounds than the Turbo Jam sessions have.  HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training, and you peg your heart rate, bust is all out and then recover, then do it again.  If you do that for 20 minutes then well, you burn a hell of a lot of calories. 

So that is my update.  I worked out on Christmas!  Yes!  Woot!  It was good and my thighs hurt and well, I had pie, so it all evens out :)

Merry Christmas

Half Way!

Phase II didn't change much from Phase I.  Instead of Arms you swap in Chest, Shoulders & Triceps which basically means an hour of push-ups.  The first week I did it in the morning and as with all my morning work outs it was...meh.  This past week I did it after dance class and tried to bring it...consequently I was sore for 3 whole days after.  I don't even attempt this video from my toes, there is no way I'll do more than a couple from my toes so I try for high reps on my knees instead. 

Week 6 also was the first week I skipped a day.  I ended up not sleeping Sunday-Monday so I didn't exercise on Monday.  I feel guilty about this, which is totally irrational, things happen...do your best forget the rest.  There is no guilt in P90X if you're doing your best.

Overall I've lost 9lbs in 6 weeks and my hips dropped in inches (Finally).  My arms look like they are shaping up nicely and really overall I like the mix of workouts.  I still don't care for the flow of YogaX, but I'll tell you what I sleep the best after it, I sleep long and hard and it feels great. 

Weeks 9 and 10 I'll be in Mexico, and I'd really like to keep up with the exercise.  I understand I'll be on vacation and probably doing a crap ton of swimming, but it isn't the same.  Also I have a business trip RIGHT after getting back from Mexico and I know I won't exercise on the business trip.  I always try, and my feet usually hurt so badly that I just can't.  This is what happens when you are forced to stand for 9-10hrs a day, and I really would be ok if I typically stood around for several hours, but I don't.

Week 9, 10, 11 and 12 have a lot more sculpting/pull-ups which I won't have a pull up bar in Mexico and I'm not entirely certain about wrapping the resistance bands around the hinge of a door.  *sigh* so we'll see, I'll have to pack all the resistance bands and figure it out.

Recovery Week in the Books

Well almost, just YogaX and Xstretch left to do.  I've decided I don't like YogaX.  I like Yoga, just...YogaX isn't a yoga session, it is an isometric stretch session and while hard and good for you, it has no flow. 


Recovery week has no sculpting in it or Ab Ripper X.  Can't say I miss Ab Ripper X, but the break will probably mean I'll be better at it next week.  Usually that is what it means.

So how am I doing?  6lbs in 4 weeks, so not bad! 

Phase II doesn't change much, and I'll likely not have much to report.  Phase III will have to wait until after I am a married woman.

Week 3 in the Books

Week #3 is in the books.  My favorite is KenpoX, it is super fast I don't need extra warm-up and you burn a ton of calories.  In fact I am sitting on the couch, the morning after, and my tooshy is still tired.

This coming week is a recovery week, and it probably is well timed.  My food this past week was up and down, I was STARVING half of the days and so it was hard to stay on the path.  I may have lost half of a pound (my scale doesn't do anything but whole pounds and was confused as to what weight I was this morning), but as of now there was no weight loss this past week.  I also wanted steak, which I never want when I'm not at the end of my cycle (yes I went there, it happens).  I am pretty sure I started to put on muscle.  I'm starting to see some changes in my back an my tricep area.  I don't see any changes in my middle or legs, but this is not surprising. 

I did notice an improvement in Ab Ripper X.  I added a towel under my butt because balancing on my tooshy hurts, like actually hurts in the tail bone.  This helped a lot, so I am not distracted by what my butt feels like and can just get on with exercising.  I am now doing all the in-outs and actually tried a couple with my arms up.  If I do them with my arms up I am toasted for the rest of abs, so well, I'm not putting my arms up.  I also have now gotten more than half of the mason twists at the end, which is a great improvement over the 10 I did the first time.  I also am thankful for the "break" of full sit-ups since I can do those and at least feel like I'm doing something right.

This coming week is recovery week #1 which means I'm 1/3 of the way done!  How quickly this goes.

So: Monday = YogaX, Tuesday = Core Synergistics, Wednesday = KenpoX, Thursday = X-Stretch, Friday = CardioX, Saturday = YogaX and Sunday = X-Stretch.  This means I have to be really careful about what I eat since I won't be burning 500 calories a day, well I will on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The rest of the days I'll be burning about 150calories or well, 4 like I do during X-stretch.  I won't be adding the walking I have been adding to my workouts, I'm just going to "recover." 

Pete and I are dancing on top of this.  Tuesday nights are salsa, which I wore my heart rate monitor one night and burned 200 calories in an hour.  Now this is not overly exciting, but if you burn 500 calories in the morning and then 200 more...you gotta be careful.  We're adding ANOTHER dance class Wednesday night, though it is an intro class to discuss our wedding song so I don't expect it to add any calorie burning, but it will once those lesson's start.  It is possible that I am not eating enough, though my work day is incredibly sedentary.  I work my heart rate monitor and my morning routine + work = 60 calories.  If I add a walk mid day I add about 100 calories, so I am a lightly active person, but if I don't walk at lunch I am, well, not. 

I have been subtracting about 80 calories off of what I burn during my exercising to compensate for my lack of caloric burn during the day.  So we'll see.  With the 2 evening dance classes in the future I'll probably stop subtracting those calories on those days.

Here's to Phase II!!

Ab Ripper X

Makes me want to puke.  I assume that wanting to puke = working hard.

That is all.

Week 2 in the Books

Week 2 all done!

I went to my doctor a couple of weeks ago to talk about some things and to get my knees recorded in my medical record.  I officially have arthritis in my knees...yup, I could have told you that.  So...week 2 came with a week of dreary, rainy, damp, cold weather.  Come YogaX and my right knee has decided it has had enough and would like a vacation.  I've kept going, just very carefully.  For example KenpoX today was 480 calories instead of 620calories, I'm ok with this.

Pete thinks I may have a knot in my hamstring, I'll let you know.  KenpoX is still super fast and super fun. 

So far in 2 weeks I've lost 3lbs, so not bad!