Cardio Blitz - recap

So December has come to an end and I successfully achieved my goal of 40 minutes of cardio for at least 4 days per week. I did that for 5 weeks! Go me!

The first 2 weeks, I exercised in the morning prior to work, Monday through Thursday. I rested on Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. I changed it up, not intentionally, during week 3. I did the normal AM workout Monday-Thursday for 40 minutes. I also added a Zumba class that Wednesday night, and on Saturday I ran to and from the gym and did a Zumba class. All in all, I got in 7 workouts of (on average) 40 minutes.

During week 4, my workout changed just slightly. I still got in the 4 days of 40 minutes, but my rest day came in the middle of the week. I exercised Monday-Tuesday and Thursday and Friday. I also did a run to and from the gym on that Friday.

This last week, I changed it up again. This, to me, was the most intense week (again unintentional) in that I did 4o minutes of cardio on Monday and followed that up with a boot camp class. Whew! It was quite intense and the soreness was major. I made it the gym the next day, Tuesday for 40 minutes, but needed to rest on Wednesday. I was back on Thursday and Friday (today) for a short session on the elliptical and another exercise class.

All in all, I'm really proud of myself and glad at what I accomplished:

• 2 Zumba classes
• 1 boot camp class
• 1 HABIT class
• running to and from the gym
• engaging in group exercise classes
• utilizing the treadmill

This was a good month! I'm looking forward to doing more in 2011 since the gym is so much closer to my house. That, I think, makes a world difference and will allow me to increase my workouts and offer diversity (more on that later).

So glad I ended 2010 in this manner.

Cardio Blitz - day 20 - 75 min

Whoa! This last day of my Cardio Blitz was a doozy! I started off with 15 minutes on the elliptical knowing I was going to take a group exercise class at 8:30 which was 60 minutes. The title of the class is HABIT: Hips, Abs, Butt, & Incredible Thighs (oh my! - I think they should add that to the acronym, it would be most appropriate considering how you feel at the end.)

It was quite the workout. Kinda similar to the boot camp class I did on Monday, but without the treadmill part. We did front squats, lunges, side bends, side squats, leg lifts, inner thigh lifts, butt lifts, several abs exercise on the ball, and reverse crunches. That may not seem like a lot, but we did them with weights and many, many, many times. Oh, I shall feel it later today and most definitely tomorrow especially since the soreness from Monday was still lingering slightly.

Ended the blitz on a high note!

Cardio Blitz - day 19 - 40 min

My rest day yesterday was needed. Though I'm still store, I don't feel quite as bad as yesterday. This morning's workout was quite refreshing, and I'm ready to get my butt kicked again tomorrow. There's a class called HABIT: Hips, Abs, Butts, & Incredible Thighs! (oh my!) I'm sure that class will work muscles I haven't worked in ages, and I'll be cussin' & fussin' about the soreness come Saturday. Oh well, no pain, no gain, right?

This AM I got in exactly 40 minutes of cardio. 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the treadmill. I didn't do the cool down at all.

One more day and I will have reached my goal of 40 minutes of cardio at least 4 days of week for the entire month of December. Almost there!

Cardio Blitz - day 18 - 44 min

I was a trooper this AM and made the gym despite my body wanting to just lay around and not move due to soreness. I knew, however, that I needed to go so that my muscles could stay loose so off I went. I completed 32 min on the elliptical and 12 min on the treadmill. On a scale of 1 to 10 my soreness is an 8. I knew those squats and lunges would do me in!

Cardio Blitz - Day 17 - worn out!

I'm off work today so I knew I didn't have to go to the gym at my usual 5 AM time. I slept in and headed over there about 7:40. I looked at the group exercise schedule and saw there was a Boot Camp class at 8:30. If I had known that earlier, I probably would have just taken the class instead of the machines. But, I was there so I got on the elliptical and rocked out 20 minutes. I then moved to the treadmill for 20 minutes. I was about 15 minutes in when one of the worker sidled up to me, and asked if I was planning on taking the boot camp class. I said that I had thought about it, but since I was already on my way to 40 minutes of cardio, probably not. He said okay.

I looked at the time, and the time left on the treadmill and realized that if I really wanted to, I could do the bootcamp class since I didn't have anywhere to be this morning (or day). I finished up the 20 minutes and headed over. I had no idea of what I was getting myself into, but I did it with as much gusto as I could muster up.

Oh my goodness! I'm going to feel it tomorrow! The squats, lunges (forward and sideways!), arm curls, front raises, side raises, abdominal exercise, push-ups, and running on the treadmill will cause me to be majorly sore come tomorrow AM. I just know it! She really pushed us, and I pushed myself (running on the treadmill!).

So today's workout consisted of 40 minutes of cardio + 1 hour of boot camp = WORN OUT!

Cardio Blitz - day 15 & 16

I failed to update the blog yesterday even though I completed cardio yesterday. I was too busy baking and prepping for a party last night.

So, yesterday I completed 44 minutes of cardio, 22 minutes on the elliptical and 22 minutes on the bike. I didn't go as early as normal since I was off from work, but I did go in the AM.

Today I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, but I book-ended the workout with a run to and from the gym. Doing so gave me 35 minutes of running for just over 1 hour of cardio today. Bonus! So, although I didn't make the gym 4 straight days this week, I did get in 4 days of cardio. I guess Wednesday was my rest day!

Cardio Blitz - no go

No workout this AM. Stayed up waaaaayyyyyy to late last night so there was no way I was going to be at the gym for 5 am this morning. I'm okay with the miss. It's one day when I've made all of the other days I aimed to go, and got in 2 bonus workouts last week. I'll be back at it tomorrow!

Cardio Blitz - day 14 - 44 min

Today is a Great day! It's my Birthday! Despite it being my birthday, I didn't take the day off from the gym. Health is still important! I'm grateful to have lived another year and started the day I was born off with 44 minutes of cardio. 22 minutes on the elliptical (forwards & backwards pedaling) and 22 minutes on the stationery bike. I'm feeling good!

Cardio Blitz - day 13 - 44 min

Week 4 of cardio blitz, and all is well. I really haven't been paying attention to the scale all that much, but I know I'm doing something right due to how my clothes are fitting. I had on a pair of slacks yesterday that were quite loose in the waist. That's a good feeling!

Today I did 22 minutes on the stationery bike and 22 minutes on the treadmill. I'm slowly building my stamina on the treadmill doing the random hill program.

Cardio Blitz - bonus day

I decided to get in an extra day of cardio over the weekend. As I stated before, I joined a new facility which is quite close to my house. It is so close that I can walk, run, or ride my bike. I debated about using my own power (not a car) to get there on Saturday morning, just to see the distance and time it would take me. I left it up to the weather on Saturday morning as to whether that would take place. It turned out to be pretty nice, so I set out to do a walk/run.

I needed to be there for 9:30 as that is the time the Zumba class I wanted to take began. Now, you may think I'm crazy to do a walk/run to the gym, do an hour Zumba class, then walk/run home, but that's what I aimed to do. And I did!





As you can see, from the images, the walk/run there took me just over 1 minute longer. I can only assume that was because I was engaging in exercise on the way to the gym on a cold body. Whereas on the way back, I had the walk/run, then a full hour of cardio so my body was warm and much more ready to move on its own power for the walk/run back.

My goal is to be able to run the entire distance to the gym in about 12 minutes. That will probably take some time since the only day I can really run to to the gym is on Saturday. It gets dark too early to do so during the week. In due time though!

Cardio Blitz - rest day

I've made to the end of week 3 of my cardio blitz. Two more weeks to go! Come January, I'll change up my routine, once again. Change is good for the body!

Actually, I'm going to change it up next week, somewhat, since I'm going to add in a few group exercise classes to my routine. I did a step class this past Wednesday night (which kicked my butt!) and tomorrow I'm going to do a Zumba class. I plan on doing 2 group exercise classes in addition to my morning cardio workout. I'm kickin' it up a notch!

Have an excellent day!

Cardio Blitz - day 12 - 45 min

Did you read about the additional cardio I completed yesterday evening? I attended a step class at my gym. It was quite the workout! I don't feel the soreness yet, but I'm sure it's coming.

This morning I broke up my routine by completing 15 minutes on the three machines in the cardio room: elliptical, bike, and treadmill. I completed the random hill routine on each of the machines. Worked up a good sweat and the time just flew by!