Goal: 6 Fit2B routines in 6 days for just 25+ minutes
We are officially into some longer workouts this week. It will definitely challenge your endurance. But it isn’t worth sacrificing your form and core engagement, so you can always break the workouts into small increments or even just stop early if you can’t keep going. As always, if you still have an abdominal separation, make sure to modify when Beth mentions it.
I’ve been a member at Fit2B for more than four years and this routine just joined my favorites list. While I like using different fitness equipment, I love that this workout doesn’t require any. It is a full upper and lower body workout. Plus, it takes up hardly any space. Nothing is more aggravating than going down to our family room first thing in the morning only to discover that the kids have left it so messy that I can’t even move. Then I end up wasting my workout time cleaning. But this workout takes up so little space that all I had to do was shift some toys out of the way with my feet. For those of us whose workout areas aren’t large, this workout is essential.
While not up there with my favorites, this workout succeeds in providing just what its name suggests, a great thigh workout. There are ways to increase the upper body work if that’s what you want, but I decided to focus primarily on the lower body with this one. I’m finding that the”thigh thing” (that you’ll see featured in many of Beth’s workouts) is getting a bit easier for me. I don’t quite have the range I want yet, but I’m being especially cautious that my core is steady and my upper body isn’t shifting every which way.
Since I’d already done the suggested Pilates & Yoga Loaded two weeks ago, I opted to substitute Weighted Warriors instead. This was an exercise in restraint for me. I began the workout with my heavier set of weights and quickly downgraded. I’m glad I did. I was able to focus on maintaining proper form and I was even a tad sore the next day, so clearly the larger weights would have done more harm than good. It can be so difficult to remain in a lower level when we want so badly to be pushing ourselves harder. I’m learning, slowly, that it’s better to be confident at a simpler level than to struggle at higher one. Learning when to push and when to hold back can be so hard to discern sometimes. Hopefully it will get easier as I continue to know my body better.
For those of you who miss traditional Pilates workouts, this is a good one. It’s so much like what I used to do before I found Fit2B. That being said, I continue to find any extended portion of my workout down on my back depressing. It makes me acutely away of how far I still have to do with closing my DR. (I also take it as an opportunity to measure my abdominal separation if it’s been a while and I’m not due to start my cycle. In this case things had improved since I last measured, but still not where I’d like to be. Discouraging, but living in denial won’t help either).
The side leg series here were very challenging to my glutes especially, though I’d like more inner thigh work, since that seems to be an area that doesn’t get much attention. Overall a successful workout though; heart rate up, muscles engaged but not over taxed, not too much sweat.
I finally invested in a weighted ball after doing this workout many times with just a dumbbell. (I purchased this 8 lb ball from Amazon. You can check out this link for the exercise equipment Beth Learn recommends or just find something from around the house). Wow, this workout got my heart rate going and the part that it worked the hardest, my fingers. If you have the time, I recommend doing Fingers and Toes after this workout. My hands actually ached a bit.
(I even I wasn’t aware of it at the time, this workout worked my hamstrings like crazy because I was sore for days.)
This workout is usually not very difficult. But I did do it the day after Tabata ball. The entire side leg series was killer on my glutes and hamstrings. It was a good reminder why it is important to alternate the kind of workouts I do and which major muscle groups they work. As much as I want to do cardio everyday or weights everyday, for me, alternating seems to produce the best effect with minimal overtaxing or injury. Overall, I wouldn’t call this a difficult workout, but it’s nice to do the day after something pretty new and challenging.
There are definitely days when I still feel discouraged. But overall I do feel like I’m making progress. I’m trying to squeeze a workout in first thing after breakfast (at least after the kids eat, sometimes before I do). I never know if I’ll have the almost two year old sitting on me or the five year old running circles around me. On tired days I really struggle. Sometimes I have to take it easier than I’d like, using lighter weights or doing fewer reps. But I feel like I might finally be seeing some progress. (Now I just need to break the cookie habit to jump start my weight loss!) Week 5, here I come.
Don’t Forget! You can use the coupon code laundryblog to get 30% off an annual membership with Fit2B Studio!
This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
