Workout of the Day

Warm Up: 1-min Toy Soldier March + 1-min Samson Stretch

ZWOW #67 (12-min AMRAP)

10 Crab Flip Burpees
10/10 Single Leg Deadlifts
3 sets of 10 Start Crunches, Reverse Plank between sets

Bonus
3-min AMRAP of Walking Lunges + 1-min Plank
POP Pilates: TOUGH LOVE Handles Workout (13 min)
3-min AMRAP of Plié Squats + 1-min Plank
POP Pilates: Amazing Upper Back and Leg Stretches (11 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment

15-lb dumbbells: Single Leg Deadlift, Walking Lunges and Plié Squats

ZWOW 67: I set my timer for 12-min and apparently failed at properly getting timer to work, which means I ended up doing 3 rounds of this without even knowing how long it took me. Ha! For the last move, I held each reverse Plank for 5-secs (instead of Zuzka’s 3-sec rule). I also just realized that I didn’t do the first move quiiiite like Zuzka did. (Awkwaaaard.) I kind of did a Side Plank Reach rather than a Crab Flip Reach. Um, basically, I did whatever I wanted. I was a total rebel. I guess I’ll have to do again soon and actually do what I was supposed to. Oops.

Bonus: Walking Lunges = 38 reps, holding the dumbbells by my sides as I lunged. Pliés = 40 reps, holding the dumbbells on my shoulders. In between those circuits, I did TOUGH LOVE Handles Workout from Blogilates. Still super challenging, my balance all over the place (though I think I still did better than other people…judging from the YouTube comments). So, that was fun.

I did Week 4/Day 3 of the pushup challenge on Sunday. I did fairly well… untiI fatigued by rep 14 on the last set. I should be doing Week 5’s Exhaustion Test on Wednesday, and then I’ll decide whether to keep up with the program or not. (Should I? I don’t know.)

Warm Up

Pushups (Week 4/Day 1)
5 sets of 12-14-11-10-max (at least 16) reps respectively
60-secs of rest between sets

Circuit (3 rounds)

10 Crossover Step Up to Single Leg Squat Reach*
10 (Decline Pushup)* Burpees
10 Squat to Step Up
10/10 Elevated* Kickback

POP Pilates: ABC Abs (10 min)
POP Pilates: Feel Good Stretches (9 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment

15-lb dumbbells: Crossover Step Up/Single Leg Squat and Squat/Step Up

Modifications*

Single Leg Squat Reach: cut the “reach” on the upward motion. 15-lbs felt too heavy for that.

Burpees: turned the pushups into Decline Pushups, legs on the chair seat. 

Elevated Kickback: held myself in plank position (feet on the chair seat, extended arms on the mat), mimicked the kickback motion (touched the mat with my toes before lifting my leg up and back).

Pushup Circuit, W4D1: Late start on Week 4, Column 1. I handled it pretty decently until the last set, where I fatigued on rep 12. I took a Downdog breather and then finished the last 4 reps. Still, I still felt a big improvement from Week 2 (when I first did this particular circuit). I decided to honor the “rest time” between sets because I knew the circuit I was about to do would kick my ass, anyway. [Also, I did warm-up before doing this. It was just too much of a random sequence to bother to write it up. Ha!]

Circuit: I wanted to focus on lower body, so I went for the 15-lb dumbbells (both) for the first time. For the Step Ups, I used a chair (18”). The Burpee variation (with the Decline Pushups) as well as the Elevated Kickback modification I did KILLED my core. Particularly the latter. The Kickback move was everything. Felt it in my core, legs and butt. I finished the 3 rounds in 31:15 mins. I took water breaks as I found necessary, but tried to keep it moving.

ABC Abs, POP Pilates: I expected to feel this workout, but not nearly as much as I’m feeling NOW. Not in a million years. So, yeah, I totally underestimated it. I definitely felt it in my core AND quads. Many the 3 rounds I’d just finished contributed to the overall feel of this workout, but still. It felt awesome.

Workout of the Day

Warm Up: 1-min Jump Rope

Pushups (Week 3/Day 1)
5 sets of 10-12-7-7-max (at least 9) reps respectively
60-secs of rest between sets
Circuit ( 3 sets) 
1-min Jump Rope + 5/5 Tree Pose Challenge (Dips to Pushups)

Cardio Blast: 1-min Jump Rope

Bonus: Blogilates’ Drive By Inner Thighs + 25 Overhead Squats
TIU: Stretch and Release (8 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment

15-lb dumbbell: Narrow Squats (active recovery during Pushup Circuit) and Overhead Squats

Pushup Challenge, W3D1: Since I did 20 consecutive pushups during my last exhaustion test, I’m going to be doing Column 1 for Week 3…which is basically Week 1 & 2’s Column 3. I didn’t exactly dominated on Week 2, so I’m OK with doing it all over again. I’m expecting to be able to do exceed the number of reps I was able to do on Week 1 on that last set, though. As far as Day 1 went, I was able to. I managed to do 20 consecutive pushups on the 5th set, which is pretty amazing! I did 56 pushups total, and 25 reps of weighted Narrow Squats between sets (for 100 reps total).

Circuit: I had absolutely no plan as to what to do after the Pushup Circuit, so I figured I would just keep playing with Jump Rope. The Jump Rope never fails. I use another move from Zuzka’s YT channel: Tree Pose Pushups, and made a circuit out of it. I did 5 Tree Pose Dips + 5 Tree Pose Pushups (then switched sides) + a 1-min fast-paced Jump Rope interval. I repeated that circuit 3x. 

Bonus: Added for a bit of inner thigh/ab work. I finished it all with 25 Overhead Squats (holding a 15-lb dumbbell overhead) because I know those kill me and get my heart rate up very fast. IN fact, this entire routine was pretty simple, but my heart rate was up and going through all of it. It was good.

Workout of the Day

Week 3, Exhaustion Test: Pushups to Failure

ZWOW #65 (3 rounds)

5/5 Pistol Squats
10 Vertical Leaps
10/10 Bulgarian Squats to Single Leg Deadlift
20 Side Lunge Hops
10/10 One Leg Bridge
20/20 Standing Leg Lifts Combo

POP Pilates: Uh Oh! Obliques (13 min)
POP Pilates: Amazing Upper Back and Leg Stretches (11 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Modifications

- Vertical Leaps: I cut them ‘cause they seemed silly and I wasn’t in the mood for “leaping”.

- Pistols: Still can’t properly do them. I started doing the reps holding my bookcase for balance, but by round 2/rep 2, I could get down but not get up. Ha! Modified from then forward into Mini Pistols, holding 8-lb dumbbells.

- One Leg Bridge: Turned it into a combination move of Leg Lift to Hip Thrust.

Exhaustion Test, Pushups: I managed to do 20 consecutive pushups, which is 4 more than two weeks ago. THANK GOD. After two weeks of the One Hundred Pushups program thingy, I’m just happy to see some progress. I think I’m going to keep up with the program for AT LEAST the next two weeks, and see what happens at the end of Week 4.

ZWOW 65: I did this, but to be honest, my heart was never really into it. And then my inability to do Pistols was also kind of off-putting. But well, I dealt with and tried. It took me 32:52 min to complete the 3 rounds. A lot of that time went by just trying to pull off the Pistols. My heart rate was up. Not as intense as other ZWOWs, but still up.

Uh-Oh Obliques: Some oblique/core work. I owed it to myself. I haven’t done this one in a while, so I’m expecting the familiar soreness that always comes with it. Always challenging and still one of my favorites POP Pilates videos.

Workout of the Day

Warm Up: 1-min Jump Rope 

Pushups (Week 2/Day 2)
5 sets of 14-16-12-12-max (at least 17) reps respectively
90-secs of rest between sets

AMRAP (15-min)

10/10 Lunge with Torso Twist
10/10 Single Leg Deadlift
20 Jump Shot & Squat

Song Workout: Rocking Torch to Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Zero
Bonus: 3-min AMRAP Kettlebell Swings
POP Pilates: Stretching for Flexibility (10 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment

16-lb dumbbell: Lunge Twist, Single Leg Deadlift and Jump Shot & Squat
25-lb kettlebell: Swings

Pushup Challenge, W2D2: Um, today went slightly better than on Tuesday, but I struggled to complete the darned last set as required. Not that I didn’t expect it. I have never done 17 consecutive pushups in my life, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be doing them on the 5th set of a pushup circuit. That would have been…crazy.

On Set 3, I struggled by rep 10. On Set 4, I struggled by rep 8. I took an additional 30-sec break between Set 4 and 5, but I still fatigued by rep 12. It was still good, though. I pushed 5 more reps after that somehow. So, those were 71 Pushups total, plus 1-min of fast Jump Rope at the start AND end of the pushup circuit.

AMRAP: Um, so I kind of just threw together this part last minutes. AGAIN.  But well, it got the job done. I used a 15-lb dumbbell for all the moves. I held the dumbbell overhead for all the Lunge reps. My heart rate became elevated pretty quickly and remain that way throughout. I did 2 rounds + 10 reps in the 15-minutes, and then went on to complete the third round after the buzzer.

Song Workout/KB Swings: For the Song Workout, I picked the Rocking Torch because it is a dynamic core exercise. I used a 8-lb dumbbell for the first 20 reps or so (with the additional overhead press added), and then dropped it. I managed to do over 60 reps by the time the song ended. As for the KB Swings AMRAP, um, I kind of forgot about it…and then went back to do it after I was done with the stretching. Meh. I managed to do 79 reps this time around though, so the extra rest paid off.

Workout of the Day

Warm Up: 1-min Jump Rope

Pushups (Week 1/Day 3)
5 sets of 11-15-9-9-max (at least 13) reps respectively
120-secs of rest between sets

ZWOW 64 (15-min AMRAP)

15 KB Swings
15 Stability Ball Hip Extensions
15 KB Swings
10/10 Stability Ball Single Leg Hamstring Curl
15 KB Swings
20 Stability Ball Single Leg Booty Pops

Bonus, 3 sets: 15/15 Knee Plank Kickouts + 15 Goblet Squats
POP Pilates: Amazing Upper Back and Leg Stretches (11 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment

25-lb kettlebell: Swings
16-lb dumbbell: Booty Pops and Goblet Squats

Modifications

- Booty Pops: Opted to keep both of my feet on the ground (LIKE THIS) because of balance issues and upped the reps to 20. Held a weight at the waist.

- Knee Plank Kick (Advanced): Hovered in a one leg decline plank for the entire duration of reps. My “kicking” leg never touched the ground for rest.

Pushup Challenge, Day 3: 57 pushups and last Day of Week 1. I did it! The rest between sets was 2-minutes for Day 3 so that definitely helped making it doable. During the breaks, I did 10 Sprinters (right + left = 1 rep) as active recovery. I’m going to give Week 2 my best effort, but ah, it kiiiiinda looks intense.

ZWOW 64: Focusing on butt and hamstrings! I did 2 rounds in the 15-min AMRAP, and went on to complete 3 rounds in 22:18 min. By the second round, I kind of felt my butt went numb…I keep squeezing though, but somehow the feeling was different. I modified the last move because —I keep saying it— my balance sucks and I didn’t want to do half-ass reps. I have actually tried to do the Single Leg Booty Pop before but somehow I can’t never get it together. I need to practice!

Bonus sets: I used a chair for the Knee Plank Kickout. I felt this move on my core, butt (from the kicking leg) and quads (on the static leg holding the plank) and arms. Great total body move and it definitely elevated my heart rate. For the second move, I chose Goblet Squat. 15 reps per leg felt like enough because my heart rate was UP. I took water breaks between sets to settle my heart rate a little bit.

Workout of the Day

Warm Up, 3-min AMRAP: 10 Pike Spidermans + 15 High Knees

Pushups (Week 1/Day 2)
5 sets of 10-12-8-8-max (at least 12) reps respectively
90-secs of rest between sets

Bender Fitness: Summer Ready Tummy Workout (2 rounds)
20 reps per exercise

Plank Jack
Pendulum Squat
Temple Tap Abs
Pendulum Hop
Plank Crunch Pushup
Twisting Sumo Squats
Weighted Leg Lift Abs
Star Tap
Crab Toe Touch
Runner’s Lunge Twist

Bonus, 3 sets: Concentration Curls + 15 Back Extension & Squeeze
POP Pilates: Stretching for Flexibility (10 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment

16-lb dumbbell: Leg Lift Abs and Runner’s Lunge Twists (round 1)
10-lb dumbbell: Leg Lift Abs and Runner’s Lunge Twists (round 2)
12-lb dumbbell: Concentration Curls
Stability Ball for Bonus sets

Pushup Challenge, Day 2: 50 pushups completed. I did 25 Wrestler Squats during the allotted 90-secs rest breaks. I’m slightly intimidated by Day 3… since I have only been able to keep up with Day 1 and Day 2… but hopefully I can push through it. I don’t even want to think about Week 2 now. *thinks about Week 2*

Bender Fitness, Summer Ready Abs: This routine mainly focuses on the core with a bit of upper and lower body work. I only did 2 rounds because the first round took me longer than expected (18:51 min). I used a heavier weight one that round (15-lb DB) and then went a bit lighter for the second one (10-lb DB). The second round took me 14:13 min to complete. Getting through the 20 Plank Crunch Pushups was HARD on my arms, particularly on the first round. Same for those Runner’s Lunge Twists. 

Bonus sets: I used a 12-lb DB for the Concentration Curls for 8 reps per arm per set. (I kind of needed to assist [read: cheat] on the last 3 reps with my left arm. These are tough.) I love Concentration Curls. I love slowing down the movement and REALLY feeling it. I worked the back with the Back Extension & Squeeze. I went weightless on this one because my arms were pretty much done.

Workout of the Day

BeFit Challenge: 1-min Competition Burpees
Warm Up, 3-min AMRAP:  2 Split Squats + 1 Pike Jump

ZWOW #63 (12-min AMRAP)

10/10 Step Ups
20 Sumo Deadlifts
10/10 Step Ups
12/12 One Leg Elevated Bridge
10/10 Step Ups
12/12 Bulgarian Squats 

Bonus, 2 sets: 15/15 Single Leg Sit Squat 

Pushups (Week 1/Day 1)
5 sets of 10-12-7-7-max (at least 9) reps respectively
60-secs of rest between sets

POP Pilates: Feel Good Soul Stretches (9 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment

16-lb dumbbell: Step Ups, Elevated Bridge, Bulgarian Squats and Single Leg Sit Squats
32-lb load: Sumo Deadlifts
Used chair (18” step) instead of a Box

BeFit challenge: SO TODAY, bodybymeme sent me this challenge and, since we are challenge buddies in general, I figured “WHAT THE HELL! I’ll throw it in there”. (I’m that easy.) I ended up doing 20 reps, and I plan on doing again soon ‘cause these 1-min challenges just keep getting better after the first try. 

ZWOW 63: I swear to God, ZWOWs keep getting— AND FEELING — more challenging every week. I don’t even know what to do with myself once I’m half-way through them!  My balance is not the best, so that factor definitely came into place on the weighted Step Ups and Bulgarian Squats. I used a chair for the Step Up (for an 18” step). I did 1 round + 27 reps during the 12-min AMRAP, and finished the 2 round after the buzzer. Barely.

So, just to be clear, I’m already dead by this point.

Bonus sets: I did 2 sets per legs (15 reps each), holding a 15-lb dumbbell in front on my chest as I did the movement. 

Pushup Challenge: Day 1 was today! And Day 1 is basically the only day I am confident I was going to complete smoothly, ha! (I’m doing the third column.) I managed to complete all sets as intended, BUT it wasn’t really easy to do so…probably because I left it for the end of the workout. I tried to push for extra reps on that last set, but speaking on behalf of my arms, 9 was enough. 45 pushups for Day 1. I turned the 60-secs rest intervals between sets into active recovery. I used up that time on Wall Squats. I tried to hold the squat for as long as I could during those breaks, alternated the leg stance every time: regular to wide, regular to narrow and back to regular stance to finish. 

Workout of the Day

Fit Test, April: 1-min Squats
Warm Up, 3-min AMRAP: 2 Wrestler Squats + 1 Tuck Jump

ZWOW 62 (3 rounds)

10 Competition Burpees
20 KB Swings
20 Split Squat Jumps
10/10 Single Leg Deadlift

Bonus, 3 sets: 10 Goblet Squats + 10/10 Single Arm Row
Song Workout to Calvin Harris’ Sweet Nothing ft. Florence Welch

Star Toe Touch (alternating) during verses and chorus
Floor Knee Tucks (aka In and Out) during music solos

POP Pilates: Amazing Upper Back and Leg Stretches (11 min)

WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

Equipment and Modifications

KB Swings modified into Dumbbell Swing: 20-lb dumbbell
Single Leg Deadlift: 25-lb free weight
Goblet Squat: 25-lb free weight
KB Row modified into Dumbbell Row: 20-lb dumbbell

Squat Fit Test, April: 42 Squats
2 more reps than my March score! Which is awesome, but seriously, it keeps getting tougher and tougher. 

Warm Up: 23 sets of that.

ZWOW 62: So, lately, ZWOWs have been kicking my ass. Today was no different. I completed 3 rounds in 19:08 minutes that felt like a lifetime. My heart rate was all over the place from the get go. 

Bonus sets: I took a 5-min break before even thinking about going ahead with these sets. (I was THAT tired.) I took 60-90 second breaks in between sets (to settle my heart rate), but tried to move from the Goblet Squats to the Rows as quickly as possible.

Song Workout: I picked two moves: one for the verses and chorus, and the other one for the instrumental solos. For the Toe Touches, I alternated legs on every rep. My balance sucks (as you know) so I lightly held myself with my free hand to make this move work for me. Because the Toe Touches were giving me such an intense burn on my legs, I opted to do Knee Hugs as active recovery during the music breaks.

Workout of the (Fri)Day

Warm Up, Tabata: Single Leg Squat Jumps (R/L) + Side Hops

ZWOW # 6 (10-min AMRAP)

10 3-pulse Squat Jumps
8 Side Burpees
6 Jump Leg Kick Ups

ZWOW #12 (10-min AMRAP)

5/5 Pistol Squats Single Leg Squat Jumps
20 Low Jacks
10 Dynamite Burpees
20 Low Jacks