Hey Everybody,
Sorry for the brief hiatus in workout updates. This past weekend I went with Katie to Little Rock for a wedding, and so I've been outta pocket (although she and I managed to squeeze in a yoga class on Saturday morning to complete my P90x-style recovery week!).
Anyway, Sunday officially marked the end of Month 1 (Burn Circuit) and the beginning of Month 2 (Push Circuit)...although I actually didn't do my workout until last night. Too much stuff going on! So how about the new Push workout? Well, even after just doing Push Circuit 1, I can already tell that I'm going to be enjoying these new workouts a heck of a lot more than the Burn Phase. Instead of doing a bunch of frequently awkward compound exercise moves that combine upper and lower body, Push Circuit 1 focused on really isolating one muscle group at a time to really let you create a massive burn. Plus, the Push Phase encourages you to go even heavier than you have been so that you fail in between 6-8 reps. So we're talking REALLY heavy (and for that matter, still slowly)!
Last night seemed to focus primarily on biceps and triceps as far as the upper body was concerned, as well as some general lower body squats, etc. And I really enjoyed it all pretty well! Actually looking forward to Push Circuits 2 & 3 :)
Here's the exercise breakdown:
STANDARD BICEP CURL: This isn’t the standard bicep curl you see in the gym. No swinging, you’re not arching your back to lift the weight, no rocking, and all that other stuff typical of gym rats. In this set, you are lifting slow and steady. Isolating your biceps to do ALL the work (just to give an idea of how heavy we're talking, I barely pumped out 6 reps at 40lbs... that's heavy for me! Perhaps as heavy as I've ever attempted)
STANDARD SQUAT: Again, focus on form, keep your chest up, and your head up. Lower yourself slow and controlled, keeping your knees over your ankles, and then raise yourself slow.
SINGLE ARM BENT-OVER TRICEP EXTENSION: Be careful on this one. You don’t want to get too much weight and lose your form. If you are lifting this weight slowly, and contracting at the top, you don’t need a lot of weight to make this work!
V-PRESS BICEP CURL: This one was tough for me! Only did 5 reps, so I'll have to go lower on the weight next time. I’m still working through some soreness in my shoulder/bicep area. You are lifting into a standard bicep curl, but you stop halfway. You then angle your arms outwards, an then press upwards. You lower back down, then turn to the front and lower again. You might have to see this one to see how it actually works, but it’s a tough exercise, and you can tell it works!
EXTREME BICEPS: It’s now time for the first of MANY extreme sets. You get a little spoiled in the Burn Circuit, where you do 2-3 extreme sets (the "extreme sets" are where you take a quick 10-sec break from the previous exercise, and then pump out three more reps...even more slowly than before). If you are lifting heavy at the regular set and “failing” between 6 and 8, when it’s time to do the extreme sets, you should be very close to muscle failure. Meaning you can’t lift anymore.
SINGLE LEG SQUAT: This is another challenging exercise. By isolating one leg at a time, you can really make your leg work. I had to really focus in to complete this set.
EXTREME SINGLE LEG SQUAT: The regular set was bad enough! Next we had to do an extreme set of the same thing. I barely made it through the regular set! As Tony Horton says in P90X, “You gotta get your mind right.” I’m curious to see how my legs feel after this workout. I judge my workouts on how I feel immediately after, and how I feel two days later when the soreness starts to set in.
OVERHEAD TRICEP EXTENSION: On this exercise, a good rule of thumb is to take the total weight of your single arm tricep kickbacks, and then reduce the weight slightly. This was the perfect amount of weight for me. Excellent set!
EXTREME TRICEP EXTENSION: Again, another extreme set.
HAMMER BICEPS: Very similar to the standard bicep, except your thumbs are pointing upwards. Chalene cautions us during this DVD, to think about your grip, don’t squeeze the weight so hard that you fatigue to quickly. Focus on the biceps.
EXTREME HAMMER BICEPS: Another breakdown extreme set. I love these extreme sets, you have to imagine the muscle growth you are promoting when you breakdown these muscles, forcing them to get stronger.
HEEL SQUAT: Just like your standard squat, with the exception of focusing in on your heels. You want to take all the weight off your toes and put them back in your heels. Because of this, you want to lighten your weights down from the standard squat.
EXTREME HEEL SQUAT: Need I say more than I already have?
SLOW PUSHUPS: Your goal is a total of 12 super slow and controlled push ups. When you can no longer stay on your toes, drop to your knees. If you can’t maintain good form before 12, stop. But keep working on your goal of 12. Then after a short 10 second break, you do an extreme set of push ups, and then you are DONE.
**Tonight is Push Circuit 2!!
Sorry for the brief hiatus in workout updates. This past weekend I went with Katie to Little Rock for a wedding, and so I've been outta pocket (although she and I managed to squeeze in a yoga class on Saturday morning to complete my P90x-style recovery week!).
Anyway, Sunday officially marked the end of Month 1 (Burn Circuit) and the beginning of Month 2 (Push Circuit)...although I actually didn't do my workout until last night. Too much stuff going on! So how about the new Push workout? Well, even after just doing Push Circuit 1, I can already tell that I'm going to be enjoying these new workouts a heck of a lot more than the Burn Phase. Instead of doing a bunch of frequently awkward compound exercise moves that combine upper and lower body, Push Circuit 1 focused on really isolating one muscle group at a time to really let you create a massive burn. Plus, the Push Phase encourages you to go even heavier than you have been so that you fail in between 6-8 reps. So we're talking REALLY heavy (and for that matter, still slowly)!
Last night seemed to focus primarily on biceps and triceps as far as the upper body was concerned, as well as some general lower body squats, etc. And I really enjoyed it all pretty well! Actually looking forward to Push Circuits 2 & 3 :)
Here's the exercise breakdown:
STANDARD BICEP CURL: This isn’t the standard bicep curl you see in the gym. No swinging, you’re not arching your back to lift the weight, no rocking, and all that other stuff typical of gym rats. In this set, you are lifting slow and steady. Isolating your biceps to do ALL the work (just to give an idea of how heavy we're talking, I barely pumped out 6 reps at 40lbs... that's heavy for me! Perhaps as heavy as I've ever attempted)
STANDARD SQUAT: Again, focus on form, keep your chest up, and your head up. Lower yourself slow and controlled, keeping your knees over your ankles, and then raise yourself slow.
SINGLE ARM BENT-OVER TRICEP EXTENSION: Be careful on this one. You don’t want to get too much weight and lose your form. If you are lifting this weight slowly, and contracting at the top, you don’t need a lot of weight to make this work!
V-PRESS BICEP CURL: This one was tough for me! Only did 5 reps, so I'll have to go lower on the weight next time. I’m still working through some soreness in my shoulder/bicep area. You are lifting into a standard bicep curl, but you stop halfway. You then angle your arms outwards, an then press upwards. You lower back down, then turn to the front and lower again. You might have to see this one to see how it actually works, but it’s a tough exercise, and you can tell it works!
EXTREME BICEPS: It’s now time for the first of MANY extreme sets. You get a little spoiled in the Burn Circuit, where you do 2-3 extreme sets (the "extreme sets" are where you take a quick 10-sec break from the previous exercise, and then pump out three more reps...even more slowly than before). If you are lifting heavy at the regular set and “failing” between 6 and 8, when it’s time to do the extreme sets, you should be very close to muscle failure. Meaning you can’t lift anymore.
SINGLE LEG SQUAT: This is another challenging exercise. By isolating one leg at a time, you can really make your leg work. I had to really focus in to complete this set.
EXTREME SINGLE LEG SQUAT: The regular set was bad enough! Next we had to do an extreme set of the same thing. I barely made it through the regular set! As Tony Horton says in P90X, “You gotta get your mind right.” I’m curious to see how my legs feel after this workout. I judge my workouts on how I feel immediately after, and how I feel two days later when the soreness starts to set in.
OVERHEAD TRICEP EXTENSION: On this exercise, a good rule of thumb is to take the total weight of your single arm tricep kickbacks, and then reduce the weight slightly. This was the perfect amount of weight for me. Excellent set!
EXTREME TRICEP EXTENSION: Again, another extreme set.
HAMMER BICEPS: Very similar to the standard bicep, except your thumbs are pointing upwards. Chalene cautions us during this DVD, to think about your grip, don’t squeeze the weight so hard that you fatigue to quickly. Focus on the biceps.
EXTREME HAMMER BICEPS: Another breakdown extreme set. I love these extreme sets, you have to imagine the muscle growth you are promoting when you breakdown these muscles, forcing them to get stronger.
HEEL SQUAT: Just like your standard squat, with the exception of focusing in on your heels. You want to take all the weight off your toes and put them back in your heels. Because of this, you want to lighten your weights down from the standard squat.
EXTREME HEEL SQUAT: Need I say more than I already have?
SLOW PUSHUPS: Your goal is a total of 12 super slow and controlled push ups. When you can no longer stay on your toes, drop to your knees. If you can’t maintain good form before 12, stop. But keep working on your goal of 12. Then after a short 10 second break, you do an extreme set of push ups, and then you are DONE.
**Tonight is Push Circuit 2!!
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