S&S Day 56: Body Remix

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I (Sef) was attacked by the snooze monster this time around (must have been this dreary rainy morning) but have no fear!  I was high-tailing it down to gym to meet up with Sariah who already had a 8 min run going on the dreadmill. The gym regulars saw me walk in and gave me that look like "mmmn hmmm" with the side eye/smirk glance to their wrist as if to say we see who's late today...  HA!!  Anyway I went up to Sariah and said "let's do this." We grabbed medicine balls, 5lb weights, and jumpropes and attacked the Nike Training Club Workout called "Body Remix"  and started the clock on a workout that...

kicked

our

^#*@!.


30 min folks...we were drenched in sweat around minute 2.

Take that take that take that (said in a classic Diddy voice)...   Um yeah.  that's what NTC told P90x.

It was gooood though.

It went a little something like this:

1 min: back pedal
2 min: light jog (we jumproped)
2 min: sliding glides
1 min: recover (we had no idea this was the only recover in the whole workout. dizzam - shoulda enjoyed it).
1 min: Burpee to shoulder press
1 min: Pushups with feet on medicine ball (really? really? try just holding a plank with this!)
1 min: Plank row to rotation (basically lift one arm with a 5lb weight in hand sideways)
1 min: Ski jumps (wide side jumps with medicine ball in hand)
2 min: Basketball lunge with medicine ball press (I personally love this one)
2 min: squat arm curls (squat then stand and do a bicep or hammer curl)
2 min: bunny hops with medicine ball overhead (this was so hard! and easy! we had to break after each 4 hops lol!)
1 min: bicycles (do this in ab ripper..psshhhh.. a breeze! hehe)
1 min: toe touches (ok not a breeze)
1 min: kick downs - we each took 30 seconds pushing each others legs down (GREAT ab excercise!)
1 min: Push up to frogger  (grrrrrrrr....pushing through)
2 min: single leg deadlift dumbbell row (great combo exercise...hard to do without losing balance!)
1 min: Medicine ball triceps push up (uhhhhh yeah... not that hardcore yet - hold a plank on ball or baby pushup )
1 min: alternating forward lunge to shoulder press
30 sec: mountain climbers
30 sec: knee tucks (we did jump tucks instead)
5 min: cool down/stretch (thank goodness)

Did that make you tired just reading it?  Multiply that times 100 and that's how we felt.

:) TGIF people!

If there was a fire, Sariah would be SCREWED!

OMG - talk about deep sleeping.  LOL.. the beginning of the video explains it all.  When S finally got herself out of bed we took our workout outdoors for a quick 30 min session.  We ran about a mile then got to the field. we did the following at the field:

Down the field with 3 breaks:
Lunges (about 20)
20 pushups
side shuffles (left)
20 squat jumps
side shuffles (right)
modified burpees
15 lunge switch jumps

Back down the field with 3 breaks:
side shuffles (left/right)
20 pushups
side squats (left)
15 squat jumps
side squats (right)
towel hops


Down the field with 3 breaks:

side squats
mountain climbers
side squats

20 squat jumps
side shuffles (left/right)
modified burpees

On the bench:
in and outs (20)
tricep dips (20)


Back down the field with 3 breaks:

Tires
mountain climbers
Tires
On the bench:
in and outs (20)
tricep dips (20)side shuffles (left/right)

Then we ran back home.  What a crazy morning!  Ah well - we will have a slight break from video podcasts but not to worry - Sariah and I will be separately posting... She'll be tackling working out on the road in the midst of all-star weekend while I continue to keep doing the do' back on the home front. 

S&S Day 41: Should you work out while being sick?

Sefa here: Back from our mini hiatus - S&S pulled in a 30 min circuit challenge workout courtesy of Nike Training Club. It was intense 30 minutes - especially for being inactive for 3 days. Being sick totally sucked and it took more effort to stay in bed than get to the gym and put that 30-60min in.  I mean-it's so easy to feel guilty after all the work we put in over the past few weeks.   So I did a little research to see if I should have worked out or stay in bed:

On cnn.com I found that:

Dr. Rick Kellerman, of the American Academy of Family Physicians, advises his patients to skip their workout if they have a fever. It puts too much stress on the heart, which already is beating faster because of the higher body temperature. If you're suffering from chest congestion, coughing and shortness of breath, he said, you also shouldn't work out. And exercising with a stomach ache will probably make you feel worse, he added.  But if you have the sniffles and milder symptoms of a cold, moderate exercise is probably OK, Kellerman said.

He also suggests easing back into a full workout.  "When you're feeling better, don't start back at 100 percent," he said. "Start at a lower level. Give yourself time to recuperate [or] you might relapse or prolong the illness."

Bodybuilding.com featured an article about a study sponsored by the American College of Sports Medicine headed by Thomas G. Weidner, Ph.D., Ball State University, which indicated that exercising moderately while you have a common cold doesn't affect the severity or duration of the symptoms.  The study revealed that exercising at a moderate intensity level does not intensify cold symptoms or compromise the immune system. It seems that a moderate level of intensity is not enough to alter immune response.

The article went on to warn readers that high intensity exercise such as heavy weight lifting or high intensity aerobic training has been shown to have a negative impact on the immune system during a cold or any respiratory infection.


Amy Dixon at Women's Health  echoed a similar message, advising that "Your symptoms hold the answer. The general rule is that if your sickness is above the neck, such as a runny or stuffy nose or general cold symptoms, it is okay to exercise at a moderate intensity.  Remember that now is not the time for intense interval training."  

Mayo Clinic website echoed a similar rule of thumb:

• Proceed with your workout if your signs and symptoms are "above the neck" — such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing or sore throat. Be prepared to reduce the intensity of your workout if needed, however.
• Postpone your workout if your signs and symptoms are "below the neck" — such as chest congestion, hacking cough or upset stomach. Likewise, don't exercise if you have a fever, fatigue or widespread muscle aches.

After reading a few more articles it seems the general consensus is to listen to your body.  I do want to add that you should be HONEST about listening to your body.  Some people confuse "sickness" for laziness and use it as an excuse (you know who you are!) ... that is just a slippery slope leading back into your bad ways (and undoing all your work!).   In the long run, getting those few extra days of rest just put me in a better position to get back into busy-woman mode.

Well Thank goodness for Sariah waking me up after a 1hr snoozefest I had with my alarm clock lol. We got it in and am happy we did.  I have to teach 3 classes tonight and one tomorrow as well as travel this weekend to New Orleans.  I'm not 100% but I definitely feel better than I did monday.  We'll be back on the grind in no time!

Nike Training Workout: Pioneer

Today was a rest/stretch day on the P90 schedule but S&S just had to step it up a little and try a new workout by nike called the Nike Training Club. It's a super duper app you can find on the itunes store that has these guided workouts complete with audio and video tutorials set to your own playlists. We decided to give it a shot and randomly picked the "Pioneer" workout. We really liked the change of pace and the fact that we could put our own tunes on the playlist. WE also commented how funny it was to not hear Tony's corny jokes today - ha. Anyhow, we are definitely going to test a few of the other workouts. The only criticism we have of the workouts is that they should offer alternatives in case you don't have equipment...we'll just say with the exception of the jumprope you really don't need the equipment but it's nice to have a little resistance if it's available. Give it a shot!

S&S Cardio Express - Day 3

It was a little warmer today compared to yesterday so the S&S Squad headed outside for a session of cardio express. By warm we mean 30 degrees with minimal wind :)

Here's the line-up of exercises:

Warmup: 10 min jog
stretch/warmup: 10 squat switches, 8 jumping jack (reg, t-up, crisscross), 10 run each of regular, knee up, and kick backs. If you're doing this workout inside, repeat this set 3 times with about a 30 sec break in between if needed.

1st set: towel hops (20), mountain climbers (20), sprint out
Repeat that set 3 times

2nd set: drop squats (10), 4 direction lunge kicks (3 each side), "prison cell" pushups - (one of our fav combo p90x exercises) do 8 of these
Repeat set 3 times - if outside, sprint about 50m in between sets.

3rd set: Tires (20), side shuffles (15 each left and right side), Dreya roll (4-8)
Repeat set 3 times

The hundred Ab workout (courtesy of olivia)
10 each of the following positons on the left and ride leg
regular
knee to elbow
leg up touch toes
leg pull knee in
leg straight
lay flat

Finish: 10 min jog and cool down


There ya go. We'll be posting the week schedule as we go along. We're still gearing up for our giveaway but in the meantime - get our updates and workouts by following our blog (you can click the link on the right).

Til next time,
S&S