August 2023
Continuing on with STS 2.0 ROTATION with my additions. Still loving it!!!
WEEK 9
31- 2.38 Mile Walk; Caroline Jordan (Foam Roller Stretches for Recovery/Full Body...=31 min.); Julia Reppel (15 Min. Feel Good Mobility Flow...)
1 -
STS 2.0 Standing Abs: Metabolic Core Warm Up; STS 2.0 TriSets Total Body (Express #1: Upper Body Only =43 min.); Mady (Full Body Stretch); Caroline Jordan (Foam Roller Stretches for Recovery...LB only) LOVED this upper body premix to get in/get out...a great workout when only wanting to work your UB with DB's. I will be doing this premix a lot, I'm sure.
2 -
4.11 Mile Walk; Caroline Jordan (Total Body Foam Rolling Routine =20 min.) Very cool temps today - felt great out there on my walk...wasn't sure walking would make my leg worse but going for 4 miles seemed like a pretty good test w/ no pain. This is a different roller workout of Caroline's that is newer and in this one she holds the stretches for only :90 as opposed to 2:00 like in the one I've been doing the last few days???? Not sure why she changed up her method as I was getting used to holding them for 2:00 each and felt the tissues being stretched was really helping. Anyhow, my leg has been feeling much better and I can't help but think it's due to the foam rolling...I'm a bit amazed at how much it helped cause the pain was really bad at times and I still get some pain when I turn my leg a certain way but nothing like over the weekend! Thumbs up!!!
3 -
STS 2.0 Standing Abs: Metabolic Core Warm Up; STS 2.0 Giants Sets (Mish Mosh #2 - Groups 2, 3 & 3 =48 min.); Caroline Jordan (15 Min. Foam Roller For Low Back Pain Relief...=19 min.); Mady (SFLBPR) Another superb premix!! I didn't feel like I wasn't getting the most out of the workout not done as is, as Group 1 exercises are still done during Group 3 - just not as many reps. Group 2 are the unilateral exercises and I loved repeating Group 3 exercises but did not find it repetitive. I went lighter for my LB today (nothing over 30#) due to my hip/leg for the first 2 sets but did go heavier on the last round on a few exercises. I did weighted glute raises in place of the hip thrusts...I didn't want to challenge my hip with a heavy 60# BB; I used a 30# DB instead and for a finisher, I did the 8 reps, then 50 reps of pulses w/ a hold at the end. It felt great taking things a little lighter but still got a superb workout! These total body workouts are just GOLD and so versatile!! Caroline's w/o seemed a bit rushed and didn't seem to get into the tissues as well as her others. There also was an echo in this one which added to the negative vibe. She didn't hold the stretches :90 (or 2:00) even though there wasn't a timer in the corner. I did have to hold one of the hip stretches longer since she held the other hip stretch longer and it was my "bad" hip so I wanted to get in there good. She did include some low back exercises though which I liked and still feel the foam rolling is helping in the long run for my hip/leg. I needed Mady to stretch my total body out after all that!
4-
Five Parks Yoga (Evening Release Yoga Class =20 min.); Julia Reppel (8 min. Beginner Hip Mobility Routine); Julia R. (10 Min. Hip Mobility Routine) I am listening to my body with stretching/mobility the next couple days.
5-
Five Parks Yoga (Take The Time to Move Your Body =24 min.); P30 (Mobility)
6-
STS 2.0 (Standing Abs: Metabolic Core w/u & Core + More Premix =25 min.); STS 2.0 Lower Body 2 (Express #2 - Two Sets Maximum =42 min.); STS 2.0 Mat Yoga; Mady (BPR) Love the standing abs combo and such a great w/u. I really liked the Express premix of LB2...there's only 3 exercises that are done for 2 sets instead of 3 or 4 sets, so in reality, it didn't seem like much was shortened. And as it so happens, 2 of the exercises are ones I change up anyway, LOL, so I'll probably be doing this premix often for a shorter workout option. Still love this one too and now I've done all the TB and split workouts 2x. On to Body Parts Round 2...
WEEK 10
7-
STS 2.0 Body Parts Chest; STS 2.0 Foam Rolling UB; Treadmill Interval Walk (1.0 Mile); Mady (SFLBPR) Chest is a thorough workout and I felt I got enough without the bonus today. I used my 2# wrist weights and could use my 20's# (22’s) on the unilateral bench presses and close grip bench presses which was awesome, but mostly 15's (17’s) for the rest. After doing this one last in June, I really was pleased with the poundage increases I could make and that's saying something with my shoulder issues! I was lazy today about putting the door attachment up, so I used my tubing around the bottom of my Weider machine for the low chest flyes and put it around the backrest of my Weider for the mid chest flyes which worked great!! Will be doing that going forward as an easier and quicker set-up but may need heavier band(s) next time. This chest workout is just so much more enjoyable for me with only a few p/u's!! I enjoyed Cathe's Foam Rolling workout today...and felt great for my chest and upper body.
8-
3.10 Mile Walk; Julia Reppel (7 min. LB Cool Down); Julia R. (25 Min. LB Mobility Workout...); 75 Min. Yard Work (2 mile walk) I had over 10,100 steps by the time I was done with the yard work...and I literally
just put the blower back on the shelf and it started pouring! It was nice and sunny for my yard work; that shower just popped up so quick!
Side note: My calves are still SO sore from LB 2 on Sunday, yikes!
9 -
STS 2.0 Mini Ball Abs; STS 2.0 Body Parts Tri's/Bonus Premix =39 min.); My Triceps Finisher; STS 2.0 Mobility 1 Great workout today! I would deem this workout the easiest of the body parts, as it's hard to keep upping your weights for the smaller muscles. I pretty much matched my poundages from last time using my wrist weights again and using my pulldown machine @56.50# in place of the dips. Once again I tried my new experiment of wrapping the tubing around my Weider machine in various places for the band work...worked great and so much less set up time. So glad I thought of this! There's not much to the bonus exercises in this one (even though I had to drop the poundage for the OH extensions, yowsa!), but added on my finisher of 2 sets of 10 pulldowns @56.50# (+wrist weights) w/ OH and UH grips, and 2 sets of 10 pulldowns @69# (+wrist weights) w/ OH and UH grips. Maybe next time I can up those stats...couldn't this time, as those finished me right off, LOL! I love that I can add on pulldowns...they are more enjoyable for me than the OH tricep exercises and work more muscle groups in the process. Awesomeness.
10-
KCM Cardio Fit (Cardio Kickboxing - No DB's Premix =21 min.); Five Parks Yoga (Short & Sweet Vinyasa Flow Yoga Class =30 min.) Dark & gloomy again this morning and wasn't feeling a walk today and was missing some k/b lately. This premix is so fun for a little movement w/ k/b variety. Love Erin's continuous flow and felt great to add in yoga today.
11-
STS 2.0 Standing Abs & Metabolic Core Warm Up; STS 2.0 Body Parts Biceps Biceps/Bonus Premix =43 min.; Yvette Fit #260 (60 Min. Cardio Kickboxing & Back Workout =50 min.); Mady (BPR) Biceps is just so good! I maybe went heavier on a couple exercises and with my wrist weights, it was 17#'s and 14#'s for most exercises which added up! I also matched Cathe on the Waiter Curl today...that was hard keeping my hands flat with my wrist issue! I found this exercise easier if kneeling holding the weight...maybe more of a mental ploy? LOL Since it was stormy out this morning and wanted some cardio as well, I added on Yvette's newest workout. Kickboxing cardio at its finest! In place of her weighted back exercises, I did bicep exercises, using 10's, 12's, & 15's, usually 10-12 reps. I did a lot of 'W Curls' since Cathe doesn't do any in the Biceps workout.
Skipped the last 10 min. and added on Mady's stretch. Great Bicep Pump and got my k/b fix these last two days!
12-
STS 2.0 Active Recovery; Michelle Briehler (Slim Inner Thigh Workout/Ankle Weights + Pilates Ball =16 min); Charlie Follows (40 Min. Daily Yoga Flow...) I wanted a little more leg work at the end of the week but not necessarily weighted exercises and with all the leg work yesterday, this fit the bill. Ankle weights and a pilates ball are used - I used my ball for Cathe's workouts and it worked great. Format is :30/:10 with 3 blocks of repeated exercises which I thought might seem repetitive but didn't and it just sailed by. Really hits the inner thighs from all angles. I missed Michelle and was great to work out with her today!! Charlie kept popping up on my YT feed for weeks now, so decided to try one of her practices. I loved it and really like her style. This is a well rounded class with Vinyasa flow with hip openers, backbends, mobility and some balance work. It starts out with an incredible neck massage/stretch which felt awesome. Subscribed to her channel.
13-
Rest Day
WEEK 11
14-
STS 2.0 Standing Abs: Core + Floor; STS 2.0 Body Parts Back + Bonus Premix =48 min.; my Pull Down Finisher; TM 1.10 Mile Walk; Mady (BPR) Loved doing Back again - my fav body part! Today I used my pull down machine more often in place of some of the tubing exercises. I had it set on 56.50# (+ wrist weights) for all except for my finisher (69#). I feel I got a much better challenge today using that in place of tubing. For the tubing exercises that I did do, I used my Weider machine as an anchor instead of the door attachment. I did regular rows in place of the Pendlay rows again, I don't want to chance anything
now with my lower back(!); I also did hip huggers in place of the shrugs. I upped my weight on the single arm pullovers w/ 15# (17#) which felt great (surprised my R shoulder didn't complain!) and did OH/UH pull downs in place of the over/under pull ups. My finisher consisted of 12 pull downs with an underhand and 12 with an overhand grip at 69#...which I had to do in increments of 3 to complete w/ a 1 min. rest between sets, as I was just "done" at that point, LOL! I am so glad I can use my Weider machine for this workout (as a band anchor, but mostly for weighted back work since my band tensions are not heavy enough and not foreseeing purchasing any more). But changing it up w/ band work every so often as a maintenance back workout is good to mix it up to keep the muscles guessing! Cathe just nailed it with these!!!
Added on a mile of walking...the threat of rain
again! (I'm going to have a nice low water bill!)
15-
3.77 Mile Walk; STS 2.0 Mobility 1; Mady (Stretches for Neck, Shoulders, & Upper Back Pain Relief); Mady (SFLBPR); 1.50 Hours Yard Work (2 mile walk) Really cool temps this morning. During Cathe's Mobility workout and doing the Shoulder rolls, I noticed how SORE my upper back is from all those crazy pull downs yesterday! All these stretches felt awesome. Great temps for yard work today.
16-
3.76 Mile Walk; Michelle Briehler (20 Min. Foam Roll & Release...); Charlie Follows (30 Min. Energizing Morning Yoga Flow); 2 Hours Yard Work (@ DS') Another great day for a walk & yard work! 2lazy4gym reviewed Michelle's Foam Rolling workout awhile back; I didn't even realize she had one! Michelle is so calming (not hyper like Caroline can be!
) and I loved it...it was more lower body focused which I was needing and she gets in those legs really, really well. As I was just thinking to myself how my wrists and shoulders get tired when having to pick up my body to roll my calves, etc. on the roller, Michelle makes the suggestion to put a somewhat deflated pilates ball behind your lower back to sit on to help ease the weight on the wrists...BRILLIANT!! Will be using a ball in the future./Charlie's yoga practice was enjoyable...nice flow focusing on strength and stretch. Filmed outside in front of a lake...very calming.
17-
STS 2.0 Standing Abs: Metabolic Core Warm Up; STS 2.0 Body Parts Legs & Shoulders Express 3 No Repeats Premix =49 min.); STS 2.0 Mat Yoga This premix was pretty good when wanting a shorter combination workout which includes one set of each exercise and no bonus material. I neglected to adhere to my notes from last time re: shoulders to take off my wrist weights!! Totally forgot and my shoulders got toasted!
18-
4.15 Mile Walk; Julia Reppel (20 Min. Mobility & Core Routine/FUN Full Body Workout...); Mady (SFLBPR) Great morning for a walk and took the hilly route today...gotta get used to the bus stops again. Hard to believe it's that time already! Julia's newer workout is definitely one of her more challenging mobility workouts mixed with excellent core work...FUN? Debatable!
19-
STS 2.0 Body Parts Chest & Triceps (Mish Mosh Premix #1 =35 min.); STS 2.0 Body Parts Biceps (No Repeat Premix =29 min.); Biceps Bonus w/o =6 min.; STS 2.0 Foam Rolling (Total Body: UB & LB =31 min.) The ch & tri premix included only flat bench presses, flyes; no incline presses or flyes (IIRC), and no band work (but could have missed some exercises). The tricep workout included BB Lying OH ext, single arm OH ext, dips and no band work. I really wish the dips (I did skull crushers) would have been omitted and more band work and k/b's would have been added (I missed those tricep press downs!). I did have on my wrist weights and this would probably be enough for maintenance work combining with chest when short on time, but not enough on its' own if doing another muscle building rotation, IMO. The bicep premix, OTTH, I felt was enough and I was worked well. (Could also be I was more fatigued at that point and also adding on the bonus made a difference). This premix includes BB curls, kneeling sweepers, hammer curls, crossbody curls & kneeling hammer/crossbody combo, preacher curls, reverse curls, and banded DB curls. It doesn't include the bonus but I was glad I added it. The waiter curl was tough again with the 25# (+ wrist weights) but by kneeling, it seems to make it a little more doable for me. I was ready to throw off my wrist weights by the end! Overall, a good upper body workout (by adding the biceps) and the total body foam rolling workout hit everything for me...that's a good premix, too!
20-
Rest Day Side note: I wore a pair of black capris to church that I found at GW awhile ago with the tags on and a size smaller than what I normally wear that now fit great!! (They were still tight about 3-4 weeks ago but now are a great fit, yay!! That alone is worth doing these workouts for 11-12 weeks!!!!) However, I’m sure this wouldn’t have happened without adding in my speed walks, too. ;0)
WEEK 12 (FINAL WEEK) Yahoo!!
21-
STS 2.0 Mini Ball Abs; STS 2.0 Giant Sets Total Body (Express #1: No Group 3 =40 min.); STS 2.0 Chair Yoga I am not feeling the best today so as much as I love Group 3, shaving off the 10 min. of this workout served me well. I change up CY to do all the stretches on the floor instead of a chair. Sometimes I need to be a little creative but I change up some of the stretches to make me feel good sitting/lying. There's no way I can do cat/cow seated in a chair to make my lower back feel stretched, ha./Later, I cleaned the house and did laundry, so that's it for me today...I already have dinner planned to pop in the oven. Excessive heat warnings this week, so b/t that and not feeling the best, I'm not sure I'll get many walks in.
22-
Mow Max (2 mile walk); Charlie Follows (Exploration Flow of a Different Kind of Yoga Practice =36 min.) It really wasn't bad out early in the morning and that was after my early hair appt. Today is the coolest of the next 3 days, so thought I'd better get the mowing done and got my walk in too! Charlie's practice was really a different puppy! She puts a different spin on traditional poses - more flowy with challenging holds. Liked it for some challenging yoga but did seem a little hard on my wrists.
23-
STS 2.0 Standing Abs: Core + More; STS 2.0 Super Sets Total Body (Mish Mosh Premix #1 =58 min.); STS 2.0 Total Body Stretch This TB workout is sooo good and this premix seemed even more challenging that kept up that HR! Both Groups of Legs are done at the beginning, so you are off with a soaring HR! The cardio effect is fantastic with this workout - doing it originally or with the premixes (esp. with the 3 supersets)…LOVE!!!
24-
Michelle Briehler (30 Min. No Jumping All Standing Cardio/Full Body @ Home Workout/No Repeat; Yvette Fit #261 (65 Min. All Out Step Aerobics with Resistance and Bonus, sans w/u & last 20 min.=32 min.); Mady (SFLBPR) 85* at 7:00 a.m. = no outdoor walk for me! Temperature @ 99* currently; Highest heat index in 75 yrs. @ 121* yesterday and today is even worse! Very unusual for my neck of the woods. Michelle's class was super fun - uses 1# wrist weights and ankle weights which was a good toning workout with all the arm raises and leg lifts. [This class had lots of ads in it for some unknown reason??]...Yvette's class was a fun step workout. I used my topper and is basically step moves which had a really fun mambo sequence. An hour of cardio was enough for me, so I stopped at her break @ 42 min. Stretched it out with Mady...been missing her lately./Hibernating inside today...catching up on my shows! :0)
25-
STS 2.0 Tri Sets Total Body (Mish Mosh #1: Total Body Legs First =60 min.); Sydney Cummings (10 Min. Full Body Foam Roller Routine); Sydney Cummings (10 Min. Full Body Resistance Band Stretch); Mady (BPR) Ooo, found another FANTASTIC premix!! This premix was similar to the Super Sets Premix I did the other day. It has you do the first grouping of legs followed by the last grouping of legs (step ups, etc.). I was still feeling fresh for those Step Ups, Side Lunges, and Double Tap Rear Lunges doing it this way. I can understand Cathe wanting to put the last set of legs at the end as a finisher and this workout is great both ways!! Getting them all done at the beginning might just have a little less dread for me, knowing I don't have to tack another 2 sets of legs on at the end! But the biceps!! They were last in the sequence and by that time, my arms were so fried!! This is such a great workout to add to her outstanding total body workouts and by having my wrist weights on for all the reps, those little sneaky 2# on each wrist really add up! :0) I think Super Sets may be the hardest (just by a
tad for me with the different groupings & sets--and basing it on how heavily I'm breathing, LOL) but I equally
LOVE all the TB workouts!!/Sydney's foam roller popped up in my search so thought I'd try her out. This was pretty good - more lower than upper body focused. And her stretch was ok, I added IT band stretches and a few others. Mady to stretch me out the way I like. :0) Great workouts this week/month/last 3 months!!!
26-
3.29 Mile Walk; Michelle Goldstein (Yin Yoga) Cooler now through next week...yay! It's even raining now - that wasn't predicted! Felt so good to get out there again and I was just a few seconds over my 5K PR, so not too shabby with the lingering humidity. All I wanted to do after I watered was to lay there and Michelle's yoga is super for that--I missed this stretch so much!
27-
Rest Day
STS 2.0 12 WEEK ROTATION OFFICIALLY COMPLETED!!
RECOVERY WEEK
28-
3.18 Mile Walk; Julia Reppel (10 Min. Hip Opener Mobility - Unlock your Hips) Beautiful weather this week!
29-
Mady (10 Min. Morning Stretch); (15 Min. Yoga Stretch for Stress & Anxiety Relief); SFLBPR; Running errands; 60 Min. Cleaning Windows outside & vacuuming screens; (inside windows were still clean from last time) :0) Started back watching babies again...9 babies but had decent help.
30-
2.22 Mile Walk (at DS's area); 1.5 Hours Yard Work @ DS'; Mow Max/Yard Work @ my house (2 mile walk) Gorgeous weather!!
31-
3.22 Mile Walk; Michelle Goldstein (Yin Yoga)
This didn't seem like much of a recovery week with all the yard work/window cleaning/babysitting! I'm going to take it easy today but I want to get thru some closets to see what can be donated.