Mesocycle 2 Back and Biceps

I started this week off with STS (Shock Training System) Mesocycle 2 Back and Biceps.  I had a great workout. Muscles were definitely spent by the time I got done with this workout.  When I did STS the second time and had the push/pull tower was the first time I tackled doing chin ups and pull ups. They are hard and I'm not even doing them the hard way. It was great to add them into my workout routine.  In this workout, we started out with the back exercises.  We would do one exercise start out with 12 reps, then 10 reps, 8 reps, and then to failure.  You have a minute rest between each set. The to failure ones really push the muscles to work harder.  After the warm up sets, I had three different back exercises and then I went to biceps and we had three different exercises and again did the 12, 10, 8, and TF in reps before going to the next exercise.  I love working my biceps. 

Yesterday I made the decision to buy Insanity. I bought it on ebay and I was bummed because today I got an email that listing was removed on the item I bought.  I don't know what happened.  I paid for it through paypal. It gave me steps I need to take if I had already paid for it.  I was so looking forward to getting it. I've heard pretty good things about Insanity.  I'll have to see how things play out. 

What did you do for your workout today?  Did you do strength training, cardio... I'd love to hear from you.

Keep moving!!

Chest and Back, HiiT 40/20, 4DS Kickbox and Bootcamp Cardio

Thursday I did Mesocycle 3 Chest and Back. I had an excellent workout.  I was either having a good morning or I actually gained strength but I was able to bump up my weight a little on the chest presses.  In the chest and back workout we an exercise for the chest and then the back and repeat those same exercises 4 times.  We do a total of 4 groups of exercises with the adequate amount of rest in between for strength training.  At the end of the day I wanted to get a little extra calorie burn so I decided to do HiiT (High Intensity Interval Training) 40/20. You do an interval that last 40 seconds and then rest for 20 seconds. Throughout the workout at three different times we get a minute rest.  This is one tough workout.  My legs were still sore from plyo legs the other day and then I did this.  I did better then I expected but boy where my legs screaming.  The HiiT workouts are excellent for a quick hard cardio workout. 40/20 last 29 min.  Man do you work hard in those 29 min. 

Today I did another one of my favorites.  Cathe's 4 Day Split Kickboxing and Bootcamp Cardio.  We have the warm up and then do about 1/2 hr of kickboxing and the other 1/2 hr was bootcamp, doing intervals. The workout lasts 53 min so I added on 200 jacks and 50 high jogs for a little extra cardio. My legs were spent after doing 40/20 last night and then bootcamp this morning. I always try to keep pushing myself.   I love the pain because to me it's a good pain.  Really it's not pain it's a nice soreness, DOMS as they would call it (delayed onset muscle soreness). 

What was your workout today???  I'd love to hear from you. Let me help motivate you and hearing from you will help motivate me.

Keep sweating!!

Mesocycle 3 Disc 35 Plyo Legs

Today I had Plyo Legs.. WOW what a workout.  I love plyo legs.  You get an excellent leg workout along with a good cardio workout.  We do one weighted exercise and then a plyometric exercise.  On this disc, we do one-legged burpees.  OMG... man those are hard.  Those along with doing 1/2 turns for 30 seconds to one side and then after while she comes back and has us doing them the other direction.  Man those burn by legs. It's one of those exercises you love to hate.

Oh and by the way, I am sore from my shoulder, bicep, and tricep workout yesterday.  I feel it more in my biceps & triceps. To me that soreness is a good soreness.

What was your workout today?  Didn't get it in yet... you still have some time to get to it!!

Keep moving!

Mesocycle 3 Disc 30 Shoulders, Biceps, and Triceps

Today was going for strength. That is the one thing I love about Mesocycle 3, it's heavy weights low reps. In this workout we do an exercise for shoulders, biceps, and triceps and repeat this group of exercises 4 times.  We do three groups of exercises.  Cathe makes sure that we get the appropriate amount of rest in between each exercise.  The one thing I found out with Mesocycle 3 was how much I could really lift. I under estimated myself on a lot of the exercises of how much I could lift. I never thought I'd see myself lifting a 25lb dumbbell doing a concentration curl. I love feeling that struggle and then finding out that I did it. All the improvements I have seen over the past few years, I have to thank Cathe for that.  Yes, it was me having the drive and dedication but I made an excellent choice when I decided to start working out with Cathe's workouts. 

Are you ready to give it a try?  You want my opinion on any of her workouts, I'd be more then happy to share them.

Work those muscles!!

Start of a new week with Imax 2

Happy Monday!!

I started out my Monday morning with Imax 2.  I know I have talked about Imax 2 before and how much I love this workout and how much fun it is. It's a hard workout but the music in here gets you through it.  I remember when I first tried this workout, other then thinking I was going to fall over, some of the footwork was a little challenging at first and after a while it became a breeze.  Cathe does toe taps on the step. For some reason when I first tried this I felt like such a clutz.  Thinking, gosh, they make this look so easy and graceful. It took a while but I finally did feel a little more graceful doing the toe taps and now it is one of my favorites.  It's always so good to see how you have improved on certain things over time.  Cathe always helps push me to the next level. 

Can I help push you to the next level?  Can I help motivate you?  Let me help you and lets help each other.

I'm going to keep asking until someone comments... what was your workout today?

If you haven't workout yet... go kick some butt and sweat!!

Keep moving!!

KPC, Intensity, and Cardio Coach Press Play ended the week

The rest of my week was cardio, which felt really good.  Thursday I had Cathe's Kick, Punch, and Crunch.  I love this workout.  It is one of my favorite kickboxing workouts.  She starts with the warm up and after that she kicks up the intensity to mid-high intensity drills.  Then after that we do three kick punching combos which she starts out with the punches and then incorporates the legs.  Love the combos in this workout. It's a great cardio workout, plus does a great job of sculpting the arms, legs, and abs.  Then the workout ends with ab work on a stability ball and then a well deserved stretch.

Friday I was supposed to do the original Imax but I wanted something that was going to give me a good calorie burn so I decided to do Cathe's new Intensity.  I absolutely love this workout!!  My legs and butt were still sore from my leg workout on Weds, so this pretty much kicked my butt but I loved it. 

Saturday I was supposed to do Step Blast, which is a fun workout but I always like to get at least one day in on the elliptical.  I did Cardio Coach Press Play.  In this workout he takes intervals from his other workouts and puts them into one.  I broke my record. I did 10.5 miles in 1 hour.  I was booking it.  Felt great!!

What workouts did you do the past few days.  I'd love to hear about them!  I hope you pushed yourself. 

Keep moving and here's to the start of another great week of workouts!!

STS Mesocycle 2 Disc 17 - Legs

Oh yeh, I think I'm going to have a hard time walking tomorrow.  This morning I had STS Mesocycle 2 Legs.  Mesocycle 2 is the hypertrophy stage. In this cycle she does triple sets which is three leg exercises with only a few seconds between each exercise and then a minute rest and repeat that two more times for that group of exercises.  Then we do this two more times with different exercises.  I was already feeling it my legs and glutes today, so I can only imagine what tomorrow is going to bring.  The rest of the week I have cardio so that will give my muscles a little bit of a rest. I have gained so much strength on definition in my lower body since doing Cathe and really since I've done STS.   Give it a try... I dare you. :-)

I'm a Survivor fan so I have 15 minutes before it starts.

Keep moving!!

Day 2 of Rotation... STS Back and Triceps

Today I had Mesocycle 1 Disc 5 for back and triceps. I had a great workout.  STS gave me my first exposure to doing chin ups and pull ups.  The first time I did STS I wasn't able to do the chin ups/pull ups because I didn't have the equipment.  By the time I did STS for the second time, I purchased Cathe's push/pull tower.  If you don't already have equipment at home to do chin up/pull ups, I highly recommend Cathe's push/pull tower.  The tower has a multi purpose. It can be used when doing the bench presses as well as for chin ups/pull ups.  In this workout she switches back and forth being back exercises and tricep exercises. Then she through in a superset to push the same muscle group harder. 

At the end of the day I decided I wanted to get a little cardio so I pulled out a DVD I haven't done in a long time.  Turbo Jam Cardio Party 3. I enjoy Cathe's workouts better but this is something fun to toss in from time to time. Turbo Jam does use really fun music so that always helps. 

I know you're gonna make me ask it again... what was your workout today?  I would love to hear from you.

No time for down time!! (one of Cathe's sayings :-))

Sleep well!

Start of a New Rotation

Today I started one of Cathe's rotations from last year, which uses a mix of STS.  Today I did Disc 1 of Mesocycle 1, chest, shoulders, and biceps. Once I go back and do one of these, it reminds me how much I love Cathe's STS program.  I never knew there were so many different ways to do push ups. She starts the workout with doing one full push up and then a 1/2 push-up and do that 8 times, rest 8 sec and then go into a wide stance and repeat that and then she blasts us... 30 push ups... OMG!!!  Seriously... okay granted you can make it easier if you need to and drop to your needs but I always push myself to do as many as I can on my toes even if I have to slow it down. I managed to get 23 before I had to drop to my knees.  Man do those push ups get the heart rate going.  In Mesocycle 1 she does such a huge variety of push ups for the chest work.  I remember when I first started doing Cathe, I was lucky if I could do maybe 10 push ups on my toes.  I have seen such a huge improvement in my chest strength since working out with Cathe.  Aside of the excellent chest workout, you get just as good of a shoulder and bicep workout.  She really pushes you with doing 21's (do the lower end 7 reps, top end for 7 reps, and full motion reps for 7 reps).  Those really work the muscles. 

I will continue sharing my thoughts and experiences with you through this rotation. I will enjoy sharing my experiences of STS with you. I can't enough how much I love this workout.

I'm going to keep asking until someone answers.... what did you do for your workout today?  Share your experience with me and lets motivate each other!! 

Keep moving and keep sweating!!

End of a Rotation

Well, the rest of the week, I had pretty good workouts.  Thursday was Cathe's Lower Body Blast.  A great lower body workout.  She has exercises in there that you love to hate. You hate them because they are tough but you love them because of the results they provide. 

Friday I was supposed to do Cathe's MMA Kickboxing but I wanted something that had more of a calorie burn so I did 10 mi on the elliptical while doing Cardio Coach 7.  Absolutely love the Cardio Coach workouts. 

Saturday, my week ended with High Reps.  Another awesome Cathe workout.  She leaves no muscle unworked that's for sure.  Love the band work she adds in this workout.  After doing High Reps, I decided since it was Saturday and I had time on my side I did the 3 kickboxing combo's from Cathe's MMA Kickboxing workout. I do really like Cathe's MMA Kickboxing workout but I usually save that workout for a day where I don't want a intense workout. I love the kicks and punches. When I do that workout, I usually add Cathe's Original Bootcamp cardio only portion and then I do the Kickboxing workout. 

I ended my Saturday on the perfect note.  I had a massage schedule for late in the afternoon.  I was long over do for one.  I think my massage therapist can attest to that. :-)  She did an awesome job and totally kicked my butt.  I was going to rent a movie to watch in the evening but I was tired and didn't feel like stopping and picking anything so there was a fairly good movie on regular TV so I tried watching that....yeh, didn't see too much of it. I ended up falling asleep.  This morning (Sunday), I'm feeling the aftermath from the massage.  It's all good!!  I think I might have to sit in our hot tub for a little bit to warm up and help loosen up my muscles. 

I haven't figured out yet what my next rotation is going to be.  I have today to figure it out.  I might do Cathe's STS again and input all her intense cardio workouts in between.  Not sure.  I'll figure it out today.

Today is my rest day of working out.

What have your workouts been the last few days?  Please share with me, I'd love to hear from you.

Keep moving and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Imax 2.... Still one of my favorites!!

This morning I had Imax 2.  Love this workout.  If you're not familiar with Imax 2, this is an interval workout.  The workout starts with a warm up and then a cardio section (repeated 6 times), an interval blast, and a recovery period and we do that 10 times. Love the music in this workout.   It's a tough workout and the music helps get you through it.  All the blast are hard but some just kick my butt. :-) 

So, do I have you convinced yet that you should try some of Cathe's workouts. She truly is an inspiration.  She has so many excellent workouts.  I have seen some wonderful results since working out with Cathe.  I have so much more definition in my arms, shoulders, legs. I think back to what I used to lift when I started working out with Cathe to where I am today.  Love seeing what I have accomplished.  You can do the same. I would love for you to join me in my on going journey in continuing to improve my health and share your workouts with me, even if it's not Cathe.

Keep moving!!
Brenda

Last week of Rotation

My last few workouts have been pretty good ones. Last week after MMA Boxing, I had Lower Body Blast on Thursday, Friday I did Cardio Coach 7 and did 10 miles and Saturday I had High Reps again.  All three workouts went really well.  Really loving Cathe's new DVD's.  Today I had Intensity.  Love, love, love this workout. 

I've been checking out some of Cathe's other rotations. There are some that I would love to do but the workouts last well over an hour and with working out in the morning before I go to work, I only have an hour to get my workout in. I might put my own rotation together and really mix it up.  I have until Sunday so I should be able to put something together.  I will share it with you once I put it together. 

Stepping away from the workout topic.  Saturday night my husband and I, my sister and her husband, and my niece and her boyfriend went to see Riverdance at the Milwaukee Theatre.  If you have never seen Riverdance before, I recommend it. It was amazing!!!  The talent and energy they have is incredible.  It always amazes me how fast their legs and feet can move.  Riverdance is one of those shows to truly appreciate it, you need to see it live but make sure you have really good seats.  We had Orchestra section which are pretty good. 

Also, how about those PACKERS!!!  I'm not a big football fan but I thought it was pretty awesome that the Packers won the Super Bowl.  WAY TO GO PACK!!

Well, keep moving and sweating and burn those calories!!

Sleep well!!
Brenda

High Reps and MMA Boxing

Last couple of days I have had good workouts.  Yesterday was High Reps.  This workout really helps muscle endurance.  I really enjoy this workout.  I would seriously put on the list of DVD's to purchase or digitally download. 

Today I had Cathe's MMA Boxing.  MMA means mixed martial arts. This is a real fun workout.  This workout is about 49 min. so I always prefer to do about an hour of cardio so before I started MMA Boxing I put in Cathe's Bootcamp workout and did the warm-up and the 8 cardio blasts.  This is an excellent short cardio workout that really gets the heart pumping.  I did that first and then I did MMA Boxing.  MMA Boxing has a warm-up, 3 combo's and each combo consists of an upper body combo, arm blast and then lower body.  The workout ends with a great ab workout and a cool down.  I love the arm combo and the lower body cardio in this workout.  If you give your all in the upper body punch combos this is a great workout for the upper body. 

Who had a snow day today?  I did, I decided to take a personal day and keep myself safe at home.  Took until the afternoon that we could even get the cars out of the garage. 

If you had a snow day today, you had all sorts of time to get a great workout in.  What did you do for a workout?  Don't let the weather get you down, get moving and break a sweat!!

With the temps dropping, bundle up and keep warm!!

Brenda