Focus T25 - Week 6 (First Week of Beta Round!)

Day 37 - Monday | Core Cardio

I like new workout videos.  I tend to get bored of doing the same workouts over and over again, even if I'm not very good at them.  So, this was motivating in that sense.

I bought myself a new workout top.  $10 at Burlington Coat Factory.  I love it!  I want more.  Nothing like new workout clothes to motivate you.  Also, you can't workout unless you're wearing neon. It's the rules! ;-)

Before. Let's do this!

On an unrelated note - that little blip of a fingernail you see on my thumb is my real nail. I have ended my lifelong habit of biting my nails. I also got some OPI Nail Strengthener for Christmas, and it's helped my nails to not chip, crack, break, or bend. So now I have feminine fingernails, hooray!

After.

The first eight minutes of this had me thinking, "Holy cow, my cardio is great! I've really improved here!"  Two minutes later I decided I am a liar and I still suck at cardio.  So the last 17 minutes of this workout were really hard.

I did regular moves for most of the workout, but I did have to take a lot of breaks.  Also, Lily had an accident and I had to go clean that up. I DID pause the video so I didn't skip anything in the workout.

At six minutes to go I did modified moves for the remainder of the workout.

Day 38  - Tuesday | Speed 2.0

Oh.my.gosh. that workout was AWESOME!  Speed 1.0 from the Alpha round was my favorite because it felt "dancey."  Speed 2.0 is absolutely like a dance.  The music is awesome and extremely motivating for me. I have never had so much fun working out, ever.  Hooray for a workout to look forward to!

Even though I really liked this one, I still could not keep up with the regular moves the entire time.  I took extra breaks, but since I was having so much fun, my breaks were short, sweet, and I tried really hard to get back into the action.  If only I was this motivated for every workout!

I am so sweaty, and I LOVE it!  I feel very accomplished right now.

Also, my butt is very sore from yesterday's workout, so that's awesome.  I've been doing squats and lunges for 6 weeks now, so I'm happy that whatever I did yesterday was challenging enough to give me some sore glutes!

Day 39 - Wednesday | Rip't Circuit

Waking up today was difficult.  My glutes were more sore this morning than they were yesterday morning. My abs are also sore.

 The name of this workout scares me. This is the first workout using the dumbbells. This was my first time ever working out with weights at home.  I used to work at Gold's Gym, and I had a free membership there. So with that free membership, I used to alternate lifting weights and doing cardio every day after work. But yeah, this was my first time at home. I think it went really well.  You don't use the weights for every move, just a few here and there.

This workout is pretty difficult. I had to stop early on most of the moves, but I was drenched in sweat by the end, and I feel very accomplished.

At the end there is a sequence of ab moves and I honestly was surprised at how well I did them.  Ok, that's an understatement, I was stoked at how much I freakin' rocked those moves.  My abs have come a long way!

The sequence goes like this:  Lay on the floor, keeping your head and shoulders off the floor, with your legs extended in front of you. You slowly lift both legs at the same time, while Shaun T counts to four (to make sure you're moving slowly). You touch your toes with your fingers, then take another four counts to lower your legs, but you don't let your feet touch the floor.  We did that a few times, and I rocked it.  

Then after the leg lifts, you do something called 5 count power abs.  You start with a c-sit position (that I learned during Insanity), then do a butterfly with one leg in, then switch legs and do the butterfly with the other leg in, then you do a reverse crunch, and then a V hold.  I think we repeated that sequence four times, but I made it through three times before I died.  You guys, my V hold rocks!  I'm so proud of myself!

Overall I think I used weights that were too light, but I think it's a good start.  I'll probably end up picking up 8lb dumbbells eventually though.  Still light, but not as light as the 5lb I'm currently using.

Day 40 - Thursday | Dynamic Core

Well, if you've read my past updates, you might remember I posted about a stomach pain problem I've been having for the past 8 months.  I got the pain again today, about 7 minutes into this workout.

I did great for those 7 minutes. It was basically just warming up stuff, though. Nothing too hard.

It's been two hours since I attempted to do this workout, and my stomach pain has gone away for the most part, but there is still a little twinge in the spot where the pain was.  I think I know what's causing it, though.  You know what I started taking 8 months ago?  It Works! Greens.  The first time I had this pain was a few days after I had started taking greens.  Now that I think about it, every time I get this pain, it's after I've stopped taking the Greens, and started up again.  Two days ago, I took some greens in my water.  I'm not sure if I should continue taking the greens and not stop, or if I should stop completely.

Day 41 - Friday |  Upper Focus & Core Cardio

Upper Focus was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. This, like Rip't Circuit, also uses the dumbbells. I almost was able to do the entire workout. So, I'm pretty sure my weights are too light.  But I'll have to keep it this way for another week because I don't have time to go buy heavier ones until next weekend.  I guess my arms are kind of naturally strong because I didn't struggle with any of the arm moves, except for triceps dips. My triceps have always been a problem.

I did modified moves for most of Core Cardio. I took more breaks than I want to admit, but I'm still incredibly sweaty and tired right now.

Day 42 - STATurday

As of today, I'm down 1.6lbs from starting. It's a little frustrating that my weight fluctuates so freakin' much. It's also frustrating that I'm not losing weight faster.  It's been 7 weeks and that's all the weight I've lost? I'm ready to throw my scale away.

Day 43 - Sunday |  Stretch


I didn't stretch today, unfortunately.  Lance's cousin was in town so we visited them all evening. It was so great to see familiar faces!  Here's to next week!