Fitgirl: Insanity The Asylum

I have tackled a couple weeks of The Asylum since I have gotten it.

Speed & Agility:
This work out is approximately 45 minutes in length.  The warm up consists of Jump Rope drills and Ladder drills, and it is about 10 minutes in length, and then we stretch for about 4 minutes prior to the work out.  Keep in mind that the warm up is pretty intense.
After the work out that included the jump rope and ladder drills, there was some stretching and then a 4 minute cooldown.  This is the typical set up of all the DVD work outs.

Strength:
The warm up includes using 1 dumbbell, I used a 12 lbs.  For the work out I used 10 lbs. dumbbell, you could also choose to use an exercise band instead of the dumbbells.  For this work out we also use the chin up bar.
The work out uses a circuit style program, going through the circuit 3 times with adding on to each exercise to make it a little more difficult or complex.  There are a little bit of cardio/plyo drills in this work out.

Back to the Core:
This work out focuses on strengthening your lats, traps, rhomboids, and deltoids.  We use an exercise band.  The warm up uses the band and we do alot of jumping jacks.  This work out is alot less intense than the others, but I really enjoy it, alot of control is required.

Vertical Plyo:
The warm up utilizes the ladder and jump rope.  The work out is alot of jumping and the active recovery is jump rope.

DVD's to come are the Game Day & Overtime.

I am looking forward to getting back into working out regularly & getting out with Ice for a little jogs :-)

Fitgirl: Chicago Work Out's

I am hoping that when I get back to Regina, life will be less busy and I can get back on top of these blog updates :-(  And good news...John plans on getting back on his P90X work outs, it has been a few months of neglecting his fitness.

We are in Chicago for John's work, he is attending a conference.  I got to tag along, lucky me!  We have done a ton of of walking, but also have done a ton of eating and drinking, blah!  So much yummy food!

Other than the walking that we have done, I also have hit up some of my own fitness, while John is at his conference.  I signed up for an "out of town visitor pass" at a Bikram Yoga studio.  With this pass, you get to come unlimited times for a week, you also get a mat or towel rental with this, it was $35.00, great deal!

I went 3 times during the time I was in Chicago.  The first day was crazy humid!  I walked in the building and immediately started sweating.  I decided to buy an outfit that day to wear, rather than wearing the fitness wear I came with.  The outfit was short shorts and a bra, nothing I would feel comfortable wearing in Regina, but no one knows me in Chicago :-P

The class is in a room that is 105-110 degrees, and there are humidifiers as well.  It is 90 minutes in length and every class goes through the exact same 26 moves, no class is different.
By the third, and my last class there, I felt as though I got a good handle on the class.  I will definitely go to another Bikram Yoga class again when I have a chance.

http://www.bikramcitychicago.com/index.html

David Barton Gym:  I went to this fitness facility for one visit.  I was thinking of going for more than one visit prior to going to the facility, but the cost benefit wasn't high enough for me.  For one visit it cost me $30.00, this included the fitness equipment and the fitness classes.  Their website is a really nice one, so I expected more from the facility: http://www.davidbartongym.com/gyms/Chicago_River_North.html

For equipment, there was nothing that was anything different than what you would see anywhere else.  It seems like a personal training facility, as there seemed to be quite a few trainers walking around.
The class I went to was called Melt, it was a 45 minute class.  The description for this class is:


Burn baby, burn! Get in here, get moving and don't stop...until we tell you to!  This workout is designed to help you burn away the fat by keeping your muscles working non-stop.  Our trainers will integrate high-intensity cardio intervals with moderate intensity active recovery intervals to maximize caloric expenditure, boost metabolism and burn fat.


The class consisted of 3 circuits done 3 times:
1. a) squat with OH press
    b) step back lunge w/ knee thrust
    c) quick toe taps on bench
   This circuit progressed during the 2 set by changing the step back lunge to a step on bench knee thrust and step back into lunge.  Also added a plank hold during the 2nd and 3rd set.

2. a) High Squat Jumps
    b) Wall Sit
    c) Chest press on bench with legs up
    d) Seated Biceps Curl

3. a) Bent Over Row: 1st and 2nd set palms faced forward, 3rd set wide row
    b) Triceps Kickbacks: 1st set palms facing in, 2nd palms facing down, 3rd palms facing up
    c) Isometric Lateral Shoulder Raise
    d) Supine leg lowers/lifts

Work out and trainer was good.

So, I did alot of walking, did some yoga, hit up a fitness class, and I also went for a run along Lake Michigan.  Running along the lake is where alot of runners seem to jog.  When I did this run, I jogged to Lincoln Park Zoo, walked around the zoo for a bit, and then jogged home, very enjoyable!!

Some of my purchasing has been fitness related while down in Chicago.  I hit up Lululemon, of course! lol  I also got a new pair of runners from Niketown, the runners I got are supposed to work out your feet muscles, they recommend not wearing these runners everyday when you first get them because your feet might end up really sore, excited to try them out!!  Lastly, I purchased another work out DVD set called Supreme 90 Day System.  This DVD set is supposed to be similar to P90X in that it utilizes muscle confusion.  There are 10 DVD's which include:

• Chest & Back
• Ultimate Ball
• Tabata Inferno
• Shoulders & Arms
• Cardio Challenge
• Legs
• Core Dynamics
• Back & Bi's
• Chest, Shoulders, & Tri's
• Total Body

https://www.supreme90day.com/?uid=AADE57FDFA08C09380D97DA4A881DDED

The bet part of this DVD set is that is costs $19.99, wow!!

That is all from Chicago, now excuse me while I go eat some left over stuffed crust pizza lol

Fitgirl: Update

I have been falling behind on posts due to being busy & going out of town this past weekend.  John, myself, and our dog, Ice, went to Medicine Hat for a visit & a 5km race.  John & I have been trying to tire Ice out due to excessive amounts of energy (him, not us).  The 3-4 walks a day have not been enough.  We have been jogging with Ice for about 1 - 2 weeks.  John does a noon hour run and I do a morning run, and then we walk him in the evening.  



I did the 5km race in Medicine Hat this Saturday with Ice, he did a great job for his first run!  Our training runs have only been 2-4km in length, so he really pushed himself hard!  Really proud of our boy.



Insanity: The Asylum

I ordered this DVD workout a couple weeks ago and received it last Thursday, I have been waiting for this to be release for quite some time. John and I did Insanity last spring/summer. Insanity is a 60-70 day work out program that is really intense. The Asylum is a 30 day program that focuses more on athletic performance. There are 6 DVD's: 

1. Speed & Agility
2. Strength
3. Back to Core
4. Vertical Plyo
5. Game Day & Over Time
6. Fitness Test

Insanity doesn't use any equipment, it is all body weight exercises. The Asylum comes with a jump rope & agility ladder. You can also order an exercise band & pull up bar with the program. I have both of these things, so I opted out of that choice. You also need dumbbells.

The use of equipment is a great addition to the program, I think this way I will get more results in the upper body. But one of the things that I love about Insanity, is that you do not need any equipment.

So, I did the fitness test after work today, it didn't seem as physically taxing as Insanity, but I did find it more difficult to do in regards to coordination, I believe that the next time I do the test I will do substantially better. The warm up included jumping rope, high knee run in place, etc. The drills in the fit test were all 1 minute in length:

1. Agility Heisman: I did 9. Had to fix my ladder a couple times, if you mess it up, you are supposed to fix the ladder before you go on, definitely a focus on form! My form definitely was not pretty with this drill lol
2. In & Out Ab Progression: 35 reps (again I had to fix the ladder)
3. Pull ups/Push ups: you can do pull ups or lat push ups, I chose the lat push ups of course lol: 12 reps
4. Mountain Climbing Arms with Switch Kicks: 66 reps
5. Agility Shoulder Taps: 5 1/2 reps
6. X Jumps: 40 reps
7. Moving Push ups: 2 1/2
8. Agility Lateral Shuffle: 13 reps
9. Agility Bear Crawl: 5 1/2 reps

Here is a link of someone doing the fit test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4A7tYLgIpQ

There is a schedule for the work outs. I will follow the schedule, but will only be doing days that I did not do much for fitness at work. If I work out at work or teach fitness, I will not be doing The Asylum at home.

Adrenaline Personal Training last Monday:

We did Sled Pulls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CthgoBvOgx8&feature=related

Hand over hand Prowler Pull http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJQclxgAGU8

Tire Flips http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwwo1soc3Hw

Keg Toss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RR8WTqrLM0

Sledge Hammer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEzFuozBU18&feature=related

It was sooo much fun, we did this all outside, left filthy :-D

Fitgirl: Group Cycling * 2

I had to sub 2 cycling classes this week, I very rarely have to instruct group cycling, thank goodness!!  I find it to be a very taxing work out, but I think the participants enjoyed them :-)

Class # 1 - 20:10 Cycling

Warm up

Work out: 20 seconds work to 10 seconds recovery * 8 sets for each drill

Sprints @ base; rpm 110-120

1 minute recovery (i.e. standing jog)

Sprints @ base + 2 gears; 110-120 rpm

1 min recovery

3.      Sprints @ base + 4 gears; 110 rpm

1 min recovery

4.       Seated Climb @ base + 6 gears; 90 rpm

1 min recovery

5.       Standing Climb @ base + 8 gears; > 60 rpm

1 min recovery

6.       Standing Climb @ base + 10 gears; > 60 rpm

1 min recovery

7.       No bounce legs @ base + 4-6 gears; rpm: whatever participant chooses

·         If participant has bad knees, just do standing jog

·         Make sure participants hips are hinged

1 min recovery

8.       “Chantel Says” variety @ various gears/speeds

Cooldown

Class # 2 - 1 Minute Add On’s

Warm up

Work out: 1 minute drill A, recovery; 1 minute drill A & drill B, recovery, and so on.

1.       1. Seated Sprint @ base + 2-4 gears; 110-120 rpm

Recover

2.       Seated Sprint

2. Seated Climb @ base + 6-8 gears; 60-80 rpm

Recover

3.       Seated Sprint

Seated Climb

3. Standing Climb @ base + 8-10 gears 60-80 rpm

Recover

4.       Seated Sprint

Seated Climb

Standing Climb

4. Standing Speed @ base + 4-6 gears; 80-100 rpm

Recover

5.       Seated Sprint

Seated Climb

Standing Climb

Standing Speed

5. No bounce @ base + 4-6 gears; whatever rpm participant chooses

Recover

6.       Seated Sprint

Seated Climb

Standing Climb

Standing Speed

No bounce

6. Jumps @ base + 4-6 gears; up and down, whatever rpm

 No bounce

6.       Seated Sprint

Seated Climb

Standing Climb

Standing Speed

No bounce

Cool down

I was pooped!

Fitgirl: Intense Interval's

Cory did this morning's work out, it's pretty funny because he definitely has a reputation of being a tough instructor.  The moans from the participants when he walked in the room gave this away! lol

Cory always starts his work outs with the agility ladder for the warm up.

Then we started the work out.  Two 1 minute drills back to back * 2 sets.

1. Squat High Pull http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkYJxDbPln0 12 lbs dumbbells
2. Heisman Hops http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agz7yb7hheI

1. Plyometric Push ups (I had to do this from my knees)
2. 1 legged Squat with Jump to switch legs

1. Airplane stance (on one leg, hinge forward at hips) & lift frontal shoulder raise with dumbbell 10lbs.
2. Jump Rope

1. Pistol Squat with Jump at the top   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3zbtsZ1zbw  (I always say that Cory does this move to show off, because I totally cannot do it.  My heel that should be off the floor stays on the floor for the squat lol)
2. Burpee

1. V or Downward Dog Pushup
2. Mountain Climbers

1. Supine Hip Extension with one leg up   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQg2qZaKU6U
2. V sit with flutter kicks

Stretch & done!!  Happy Easter everyone :-)

Fitgirl: Gymnasium Workout with Hilarie

Hilarie & I did a work out on Thursday in the gymnasium.  We used an agility ladder for the warm up & jump rope, Resistant Band & 10 lbs medicine balls for the work out.

On one side of the gymnasium we would do a drill, and then go to the other side for another drill, here's what it looked like:

A.  Medicine Squat reach down & up: 20 reps
B.  Run to other side
C.  Jump Rope: 1 minute
D.  Run to the other side
Repeat

A.  Medicine Ball Jumping Jack Legs: 1 minute
B.  Walking Lunges with Core Twist with Medicine Ball to the other side
C.  Mountain Climbers: 1 minute
D.  Walking Lunges to other side
Repeat

A.  Medicine Ball Burpees: 1 minute; Put ball down on floor, hands on ball, jump feet back, jump feet in & stand up to a jump
B.  Run to other side
C.  Jump Rope: 1 minute
D.  Run back
Repeat

A.  Side lunge with Medicine Ball Biceps: 20 reps
B.  Run to other side
C.  Jump Squats: 20 reps
D.  Run back
Repeat

Then we did some side shuffles with medicine ball passes to each other.  Out and back ~ 4 times
We put the resistance band around our waist while the other person held on and resisted as we tried to run across the gym.  Out & back ~ 4 times
We then repeated these 2 drills.

Fitgirl: TRX sessions 10 & 11 / 12

Getting behind on my work outs :-P  Here are Tuesday & Thursday's  classes, only one more left this Tuesday & then we start a TRX & Kettlebell Fusion (Beginner) Class.  It is only 4 classes in length though, I have way too much going on in May to commit to more than that.

TRX # 10: BOSU Combo class...this is one of my favourite combinations!

1.    45 seconds of each * 3 sets

• TRX Squat standing on BOSU
• Step off BOSU: Rows
• TRX Jump Squats, jumping on BOSU

2.    45 seconds * 4 sets

• Standing on BOSU, step back lunge; Option: do not put leg down when stepping back
• T deltoids
• Leaning forward high knee run: TRX is under armpits, hands tucked in close to core, lean forward and drive knees up

3.    20 seconds work: 15 seconds recover * 2

• TRX pushup with hands on BOSU
• TRX pike with hands on BOSU
• TRX Atomic pushup with hands on BOSU
• After doing 2 sets of these we did 1 more set with no BOSU

4.   45 seconds * 3

• Lateral Squat hops over BOSU
• TRX Hug: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62FwRYyyz2A
• BOSU Burpee (no TRX)

TRX # 11: need 1 dumbbell

1.    45 seconds * 3 sets

• TRX Full Body Extension http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmQ8Uv6atuA
• TRX Chest press with one leg
• Jump Rope

2.    45 seconds * 4 sets

• TRX Balance Side Lunge with 1 arm Dumbbell overhead press
• 1 Arm Row
• Jump Rope

3.    45 seconds * 2 sets

• TRX Lunge Back with knee lift in front (can add jump); 45 seconds each leg
• TRX Triceps
• Jump Rope

4.    45 seconds * 2 sets

• TRX Standing Ab Roll Outs
• TRX Biceps
• Jump Rope