WARNING: extremely long post...
Razz, I was so gungho about giving you tips and pointers until I saw that you decided to give up. Although I was disappointed, I decided not to give up on you and went ahead with my plan this morning to do the “Shredded for Summer.” I figured unless I’ve done it, I wouldn’t know exactly what I’m talking about.
Okay, a quick fitness lesson. You want fast fat loss, you work the big muscles on your body, which are your quads, your butt, your back, and your chest. The theory is that after a workout, your muscle breakdown, and it needs energy to recuperate. Therefore, your body will continue to consume calories throughout the day even after you’re finished working out.
Let’s look at the exercises in this workout: Squat, Lunge, Push Up, Squat Jump, Hop Scotch, and Baby Burpee. With the exception ‘hop scotch,’ all the exercises work your butt, quads, hamstrings, chest, back, and a bonus core (abs). The ‘hop scotch’ is a great cardio exercise. So is the baby burpee.
Okay, I don’t know what’s your fitness level is, but you do. What’s even better is that you’ve done the first workout, so you know what you can and cannot do.
Squat and push-up, it says to do 25 reps
or as many as possible before a rest is needed – whichever comes first.
Hop scotch, it says to do 30 seconds
of max effort.
The goal here is to work your muscles and keep the heart beating for a good cardio workout. Squats, don’t go down as deep, just as much as you could. Go down farther when you’ve become stronger. Push-ups, just do as many as you could and as they say, as many as possible. And stick with girlie style. You don’t even have to go down that deep, just enough to work your muscles. Who says you HAVE TO do 25 reps? It sure didn’t. Do as much as possible to your strength. Hop scotch, if you watched the video, the jump is pretty far. Don’t do that unless you could. This morning, my jumps were very close, just a foot apart or so. Shameful to admit? Not really, I got a good workout, who cares what others can do. I was able to jump for 30 seconds, but if you’re exhausted in 15, 20 seconds, stop. Or just jump slower and closer to be able to last the 30 seconds. The goal here is to have a good workout to your body’s capability. You can do more as you get stronger. This is YOUR workout, follow your body’s ability.
I know I’m being lengthy, but here’s a short example. In ‘Insanity,’ there’s the knee jump exercise. You jump and pull your knees up as high as possible, and everyone in the dvd was had their quads at least parallel to the floor. Me? I was hopping like a bunny rabbit. Feel barely off the floor and knees just bent. But hey, I was in my own home, so who cares. Eventually, I was able to jump up and pull my knees like those people in the dvd. It wasn’t done in a day or two, or a week, but I eventually did it.
In the website, the ‘Shredded for Summer’ workout, right above the WARM UP, it lists the 6 exercises in red. If you click on it, it directs you to an instructional youtube video. You can modify it to your level. For example, the important thing about the lunge is have your knee above your ankle and not past it. But you do not have go down that far.
That’s why I said, “Do your best, and forget the rest.” This is YOUR workout, do what you can and become stronger from there. You said you were only able to do 2 rounds the first time you did it? I say that is WONDERFUL!! Give yourself a pat on the back to even have done it. If you follow the plan, by next week, maybe you could do 3 rounds, and eventually, you’ll get four. By then, you would’ve been toner and stronger and not realize it.