Day 114

Week 1, Day 6 Dirty 30 and Yoga Fix done. I have done yoga 2 days in a row now along with the scheduled workouts and I am really enjoying it. I was so resistant to working out this morning, for no reason. It felt good to get a good sweat on and get that workout in. Since I did yoga right after Dirty 30, I was already warm and was sweating. I started in on the yoga and the first part is sun salutations and vinyasas so I just continued to sweat. My muscles were really sore this morning as well. I could feel this in the warmup, which was the same as all the others (big shock haha). After yoga was over, I felt pretty loose. I still am feeling a lot of tightness in my lower back, but I think doing this yoga daily I am going to really get that loosened up.

Dirty 30 is closely related to the CVX workout in X3. It is more of a weighted cardio workout, but not as intense in my opinion. She also does the hardest stuff right out of the gate and the last series is more focused on abs. I am beginning to see a trend with her workouts. I don't find fault with it, but I find how a workout is constructed very intriguing. Putting the most difficult right after the warm up when you have almost all your energy and the less difficult near the end where you are most likely more gassed. I think it's great for a bunch of reasons.

1. You have the required strength and energy to do it with minimal issues.
2. You get a greater confidence boost from the workout if you can do it well instead of doing the easy thing first and then the most difficult near the end and feel poorly about how your workout went, this can lead to giving up and not doing it again.
3. Since the hardest thing requires more muscle groups, you can do that first then start to change the moves up that focus on specific muscle groups. Tax them hard at first then give them a little rest before hitting them from a different angle with a more muscle group specific workout.

I had trouble with the bands again, and feel that while you can use the bands, you will have to pause more than you would have to or at all with weights. Struggling with getting the placement right and making the resistance equal will be a definite learning curve even for the most skilled band user. It isn't impossible to do, but it is a challenge. I felt less frustrated with the band use on this workout than I did on Upper Fix, but still I had a couple of times when I feel like I missed out and had to pause and even rewind a few times. All in all, I enjoy the workout. I just need to invest in some #25 dumbbells and I think that would be sufficient for this.

I also got my planking in today for the ab challenge. 4x1 min planks. I wanted to tell everyone in the group that forearm or full planking would work as we are concentrating on the abs and either work the abs equally. I think most will get it or do well enough that I don't need to be that on them. Most that are active in the group are more workout savvy and probably know and if not, they can do which ever and it won't be much difference.

Time to get in that hot tub. Last night I finished up the book Today Matters by John C. Maxwell and while some may not have his views on religion or faith, you can't deny the information in this book as being invaluable. I have grown to like his writing style and the way he puts his points across. He also outlines some particular quotes, mostly by others that he cites, but they are all very worth while to knowing and understanding or even live by. I have another of his books called Failing Forward yet to read. Last night though, I came across several quotes, but this one I think sums up how my thinking has changed over just the last few months.

The only thrill worthwhile is the one that comes from making something out of yourself

The chapter was on growth and it was the last chapter. I think it is something we can all use in our life daily as you are either doing 1 of three things.

1. You grow daily.
2. You do nothing and stay stagnate daily.
3. You decline or go backwards daily. 

Staying stagnate reminds of pond water with scum on it and mosquitoes and flies all around, oh and the smell. Declining or going backwards makes me think of something that will be gone soon enough without any change. I don't ever want to be in decline. Growing daily means you get better and stronger and you are moving forward in a general progression. Which one do you think you are now? If you aren't growing, what do you need to do change that?