PiYo Week 3 – A complete schedule rewrite

With school officially going, I’m finding my rhythm again. My body hasn’t completely accepted the 10 hour work days yet, so working out is currently exhausting. I know that in another couple of weeks my energy levels will even out again, but until then I have to be exceptionally demanding with myself to get off the couch. It always pays off though, and by the end of the workout I feel great and energized, and by bedtime I crash. 🙂

MONDAY – Upper… hmm…

I did some sort of upper body workout, but I have zero recollection of what it might have been. Then I ate nachos and had a margarita to celebrate surviving the first day of school (while also negating all calorie burn 🙂 ).

TUESDAY – Buns

Ooh wee! Bun is a good one! This was a hardcore squat and lunge workout that had my legs burning in the most wonderful ways. 🙂 In fact, it was so leg heavy that half way through (during a water break) I texted John that buns was kicking my buns, although I didn’t feel it in my butt. I definitely spoke to soon. No soon had I typed that, the workout changed and morphed into a glute burning incinerator. My quads and butt hurt for several days. 🙂

WEDNESDAY – Left late, had a date, no workout.

THURSDAY – Open House #2, Core

After getting home at almost 9:00pm, I decided to go ahead and workout. Having done Core before, I knew what to expect and figured I would at least survive. 🙂 Survive was the right word; I was tired, and while I did all the moves, I ended exhausted… and then slept hard! Core is incredibly hard on my wrists, even with my WAGS, and I end up modifying a large percentage of the moves. I don’t actually “pansy” on anything, but I utilize my power stands for virtually all planks and down dogs. It’s truly the only way I can get through the upper body intensive moves while allowing my wrists and forearms to heal from whatever stress or strain I’m currently experiencing.

FRIDAY – P90X3 Yoga

This was supposed to be Sweat, but I was super tired. My workout and work schedule has kept me flying by the seat of my pants, so I chose to have a yoga day instead. I haven’t done X3 yoga in FOREVER! That being said, it was interesting what poses I have improved upon and which have gotten worse in its absence. Crow is not an option. 😦 I LOVE crow… But my wrists/right forearm just won’t have it. Some of the standing poses, however, are MUCH improved. Twisted half moon was darn near impossible back in March when X3 arrived on my door one Sunday morning, but my balance and strength now allow me to at least pretend I’m in an incredibly mediocre version of what was once simply pitiful. 🙂

As a side note, it super sucks that my wrists – my right wrist and forearm in particular – are so messed up currently. I’m not totally sure when this happened. I’ve had a level of discomfort that then leads to numbness and general inflammation for as long as I can remember… at least a decade and then some. But this is something different. I am getting a sharp BURN in the base of my right hand that instantly jumps about an inch up my wrist. To be honest, I’ve only iced my wrist twice, so despite my frustration I’m not irritated enough to actually do anything about it. It’s just a bummer because I LOVE upper body, body weight floor moves of almost any kind.

SATURDAY – Sweat

I. Love. Sweat. It’s a great cardio! That’s all.

SUNDAY – Strength Intervals

This was my first go at Strength Intervals, and I have to admit it was far easier than I anticipated. Easy and short. I ended up finishing Intervals and then adding in a round of X3 Isometrics. Man! That’s a great workout… I was never sure why it was employed so infrequently in P90X3, but it’s a great one and leaves your back and glute medius (upper outer butt) S   O   R   E. For this I will probably substitute a full body strength workout like Triometrics for this, as it was really too easy, or something like the bonus HIIT 20 that came with Piyo.

Bam! Block One DONE!

TRANSITION WEEK! Isometrics

Today starts my block one transition week, which in actuality means that month one is almost done!

The sheer fact that the schedule is different is exciting! I really love P90X3, but different keeps it interesting. When I got home I changed into my favorite pair of leggings and newish bright green tank (❤ GapFit) and did about half an hour of yoga to warm up. I’m sticking with my goal of doing some headstands, backbends, and shoulder stretches everyday in addition to everything else. Just because I’m on a new fitness routine doesn’t mean my yoga goals should change.

My headstands were MUCH better today! Much straighter, and my Sirsasana B (legs @ right angle) was a lot stronger. Progress!!!

ISOMETRIX

I loved this workout! 🙂 🙂 🙂 With my well established yoga obsession, this fits extraordinarily well into my fitness repertoire. I love it so much that it is incredibly disappointing to discover that it only appears 3 times the classic P90X3 schedule. I already told John that from now on my yoga day is going to be a doubles day with X3 Yoga followed by Isometrix.

Isometrix takes yoga poses and adds a 45 second hold to each, alternating between arms/core and legs/core poses.

• Plank with Left Arm Reach THEN Standing Left Leg Extension (switch sides) – I did too many handstands before starting Isometrix, so my already bad wrists were shot. I very quickly modified all planks in this workout to forearm planks, which I assure you were still hardcore.
• Plank Right Arm, Left Leg Lift THEN Chair with Left Leg Extended (switch sides) – I love all leg extension poses. I used to hate them until my ego embraced them for Ashtanga. 🙂
• Forearm Side Balance Right THEN Royal Dancer Right (switch sides) ❤
• One Arm Sphinx Right THEN Tree Pose Right (switch sides) – One arm sphinx is super hard to keep my hips parallel to the ground, and I feel like my body was not very straight… I should video this the next time I do it to see what my form looks like.
• Side Arm Balance Right, Left Leg Lift THEN Warrior 3 Right (switch sides) – Despite my angry wrists, I did this anyway just because I like the pose

• Bound Dog, Right Hand Left Ankle THEN Inner Balance Right (switch sides)
• Bound Dog Leg Lift Right THEN Moon Dog Right (switch sides) – My wrists and ankles were pulsing by the time I got to this, and there was just no way this time. I modified and just did regular Bound Dog.
• Crane Burnout – My crane was AWESOME today!!! 🙂 At least more awesome than it has been!

Yay Isometrix!!!

 

(and this week’s calendar is my Cosmos homage)