Day 40

DVD - Max Interval Circuit

It's been 40 days and 40 nights ...

I had to come home early from work today to give a plumber doing work in one of my building mates' apartments access to mine at several points during the afternoon. This mean I got to start the workout around 4:00 instead of my usual 6:30. It's amazing how much harder I can push myself when I'm not mentally exhausted from a day at the office.

I'm not able to compare myself much to the crew in the video at this point because I am so intently focused on my own workout that I barely watch the TV, except to see which moves are coming and make sure I am doing them right. I don't remember if it is in this workout or one of the other Max workouts, but Shaun even says at one point "don't try to follow us. just do what you can do". Sure, he's talking about not trying o emulate their pace, but I'd have to be watching them to even attempt to do so. I have caught the "go at your own pace" warning flashing on the screen a few times.

I had an easier time with the combo moves this time. By easier, I mean I felt coordinated enough to do them. I seem to have trouble when moves require part of my body to go one direction and another part to go the opposite. For example, the S-S jump rope move in the warm-up when I'm supposed to be moving my legs side to side and my arms in an s-pattern going the opposite direction. I actually have to think about what I'm doing to get it totally right. I think I figured it out tonight, though. It works if I keep my hands more in front of me going the way they are supposed to go, without moving them as far to the side as I had been trying.

It seems as though the two days of less stress on my shoulders sufficed. Today the shoulder intensive exercises were merely difficult, not next to impossible. I notice I have more trouble with the ones that require a push-up like press toward the ground. The ones where I'm required to hold a plank pose are much easier. When I got to the ski abs/push-up jack/in & out abs/oblique push-ups segment, I was able to do close to all of the ski abs and in & out abs, but had to do slightly fewer of the push-up jacks & oblique push-ups.

I think over the course of the next few weeks I will make great progress with this workout (assuming no extraneous ankle or other injuries). I already did better with it than the first time (knowing the moves before they were introduced certainly helped). Maybe by the end of next week, I'll be able to watch the crew a little more to see how I measure up.