Peak Fit Challenge - End of Week 5

Another week gone-- done with 5 weeks of the PeakFit Challenge! This was a big week for me-- I saw gains in strength, muscle tone, and FINALLY a drop in weight!  All this eating right and exercising is really paying off.  It took a little while for my body to figure it out, but I think it's caught up to all the work that's been done and showing results.  This week made the other tough weeks of perseverance worth it, I tell you!

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June 15, 2011 - Week 5, Day 1 (5.1)
Today’s Workout – Pure Strength II
Weekly Weight – 162.0

After really pushing myself this week and doing my best to stay on track with my eating, the scale was finally down this week! 3.4 pounds gone! I also took my mid-program measurements and was pleased to see my numbers either stay the same (larger biceps, but less fat) or become smaller (an inch off my waist!). Yesterday was tough, as some stressful situations at home had me leaning towards some bad choices in the kitchen. But thankfully, by God’s grace I managed to push through and stay on track.

Today provided its own hurdles for me—I was preparing to do my workout at around 2pm when I realized that it felt a little warm in the house. I went to check the A/C and was horrified to discover that it was completely disabled. With the temperatures in south Florida reaching the mid to upper 90s today, I knew it was only a matter of time before my house turned into an oven. I popped the Pure Strength II workout into the player and got right to work before it was too late to function in the heat.

While my strength and energy were up from yesterday, the workout was interrupted several times by issues with the kids (ugh!) and once when my husband finally called back with the A/C solution (yay!!). So while this workout could have gone better, it wasn’t too bad. I stayed on my toes for all of the pushups except the tricep ones, used my heavier weights frequently and had a better range of motion with the PFC band (except on that one impossible break-the-band move)!

Babysitting at a friend’s house later that evening, I had the opportunity to enjoy some cheese pizza, and after a difficult incident at home at 4:30pm I really wanted to indulge. But I’d brought my own carrots, apple, low fat cheese stick, 100-calorie Muscle Milk and light yogurt to have for dinner. These were better choices for me, keeping me on track and not defeated by the negative factors around me.


Day 5.2
Today’s Workout – Pure Cardio

Today was great! I really enjoy Pure Cardio, and I was actually excited about working out today. There are only a couple of moves within this routine that have the “dread” factor—the rest of the 52 minute workout is nothing but challenging fun! My energy was great, I pushed myself hard, and I did well in keeping up with the cast. My kids stayed occupied and I didn’t have to pause the video for more than water breaks. At one point my son passed through the room and said, “Wow—that’s really intense!!” It was intense, but I love it! That evening as I reached over to turn out the light, the music from Pure Cardio was running through my head. I think all of this is getting burned into my brain!

Later in the evening my husband and I were watching a DVD episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars while the kids were away. He and I were talking about my workouts and he congratulated me on my hard work, patting my pants on my left thigh. As soon as he did, he paused, his eyeballs got wide and he said, “Whoa! Your leg!! You’ve got some serious muscle going on under there!” While my thigh measurement hasn’t changed very much, the composition of it certainly has. There’s a lot less pudge there and plenty of new muscle. It’s toned and getting tighter. Results like this make all those atomic lunges worth the effort!


Day 5.3
Today’s Workout – Cardio Strength II

While I wasn’t dreading my workout today, there was a little bit of, “What, this workout again?!” when I read the schedule. This one has been on high rotation, and while I like it, the frequency is starting to get to me. These DVDs will definitely be well-worn by the end of the 8 weeks!

But as far as workouts go, it went very well today. I pushed myself with 6 and 12 pound weights, only once going down to 10 pounds. The total amount of time I spent in water breaks was probably more than last time, but I was pushing myself harder during the workout. I jumped higher during our peaks and just gave it my all while we were working. The kids remained occupied with The Empire Strikes Back in the other room, so everyone was happy. Feeling great!


Day 5.4
Today’s Workout: Pure Strength II

This is the first Saturday in which I didn’t have a lower-key workout to do—this was a full-blown one! I did well on Pure Strength II, pushing myself and making new gains. I’m getting a bigger range of motion out of the band and overall am feeling stronger. My weight has been dropping like crazy for the past few days with no change in my healthy diet or calorie level, so I can tell that all this work is starting to kick in. I was really starting to wonder there for a little while, so this is a relief. After today’s hard workout, I was thankful that tomorrow is a Sabbath/Rest Day with no workout required!


Day 5.5
Rest Day

Other than doing my best to cater to my sweet husband for Father’s Day today (special breakfast, general royal treatment), I took it very easy and just had a nice lazy day. I’m amazingly not sore from these workouts, but it’s nice to have a day off once in a while to let my body rest.


Day 5.6
Today’s Workout: Cardio Strength I

As I haven’t done this one in a couple of weeks and have had great gains in muscle strength along the way, I went into this workout with such a positive attitude, I think I was over confident! I figured that since I’ve been doing CSII for a while, going back to CSI would be a piece of cake. WRONG! Within a few minutes of starting the routine we were jumping down to do burpees—one of my worst! And while I’m still not up to the same level as the cast members, I’m very pleased to report that not all of my burpees were “burpettes”. I really did manage to do a few 100% correctly, which is really saying something! I was also able (just a few times) to jump back into the plank position later on in the routine when we performed the frog jumps, going from plank to frog and back.

I took quite a few water breaks, as I was pushing myself really hard and at times just couldn’t keep up. But I was able to maintain a better form throughout and I got in a great workout! Later in the evening, I had hubby give a quick poke on my obliques and he was just stunned! I may never have super-taut lower abs (babies, C-section, years of obesity), but my obliques have a good shot at success! It makes those awful “tiger” plank/pushup/side crunch things worth it!


Day 5.7
Today’s Workout: Cardio Interval Burn

I knew today’s workout would be a tough one, the longest in the series. At the same time, I’ve enjoyed it in the past and actually was looking forward to it today. To prepare, I had a bit more carbohydrates for breakfast and lunch, fueling up with 1 ½ ounces of oatmeal and later 3 ounces of salmon on 1 ½ ounces of whole wheat bread. When it came time to work out, I felt great! I was able to keep up with the video, with fewer breaks to catch my breath & get water. I still could use some improvement in the Peak zones, but everywhere else I’m right there with Michelle and her cast. The time flew by, and if my body hadn’t been fading I could have gone longer!

I think this week was the most productive so far. I saw huge gains in my abilities, I lost a few pounds, and my muscle tone is really improving. It really makes me glad that I stuck to the program during those weeks when the scale was climbing with no end in sight—I knew I was gaining muscle, and as long as I stayed on track, I had faith that my metabolism would kick in at some point and show some big changes. The changes are showing up, and for that I am grateful.

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Check back next week for the next installment of my PeakFit Challenge experience!

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