Morning, friends! I hope you’re having a good week so far! I want to start this morning with a quote I found yesterday that fits blogging so perfectly.

Friendship is that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Is that not the perfect quote for this fabulous community? Thanks for letting me be a part of it and for visiting me here at FFF. Big love!

I love coming here because I know you all will get my excitement over the following.

I got my “spice” back with two new strength training workouts this week!

Now, why can’t everyone get the cause for celebration in finding a new challenge in strength training? They’re missing out, don’t ya think?  

What did I do to finally spice things back up? Since I like to save the best for last, I will talk about yesterday morning’s workout first.

Last Friday I discovered that my library has quite a few workout DVDs available for check-out. I scooped up Jillian Michaels’ The Shred and couldn’t wait to try it out!

Yesterday morning was finally the time to pop it in the DVD player and see how I fared against Jillian. Since each workout is 20 minutes in length, I decided to go through both Level 1 and Level 2 to get a bit more of a challenge.

Challenge, it was! At first, I thought it wasn’t too difficult…but by halfway through Level One I started feeling it. It progressed from there FAST! I was one hot mess by the end of my 40 minutes!!!

Looking a little something like this…

I think the many compound moves and those squat thrusts did me in. Whew!!!

As much as I loved The Shred (and can’t wait to give Level 3 a shot), I simply have to toot my own horn here a bit.

Monday morning I headed to the gym with a new circuit idea in mind. I had a feeling it either would either be a total flop or a total killer. If I’m talking about it…you know it was the latter. OH. Muh. Good-NESS!

I wanted something relatively quick (around 30 minutes), but with enough variety to switch things up from my regular weights routines. I went with the trusty circuit style, but instead of doing a few different circuits with 3 sets of each move, I went completely hodgepodge and did a different move each step along the way.

Let me explain a little better. I present you with the 5 x 5 circuit:

5 body parts x 5 moves per body part x 1 minute per move.

Basically, I crafted five DIFFERENT circuits. In each circuit, I picked a move for legs, chest, back, and shoulders, then finished with my fave move ever – the plank. I went through each circuit only ONCE, before going straight to the next one. I didn’t have a set number of reps for each move. I simply used the timer on my phone and completed each move for a full minute. Turns out – a minute is a long time in workout world!

Here’s a breakdown for you:

Told ya it was a good one! Be sure to let me know if you try it out! Or if you have any questions. Like “where should I keep my sweat towel???”. I think I may just have to do this again tomorrow!

• Have you ever done The Shred?
• What’s something other bloggers get your excitement over that friends and family do not?

PS – I’m not a certified trainer yet, so use this workout at your own discretion.

PPS – I can in fact do math, and know 5x5 is 25. The 30 minutes comes from the extra time added in for transitions/rest/etc.

I did something crazy this morning. No…make that insane.

Just did Insanity for the first time. That was the hardest workout I think I have done in my life.

October 12, 2011 8:33 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@TinaFFF

Tina Reale

Sometimes I like to exaggerate things. Play things up a little bit to entertain myself. Well, I did not exaggerate a single word in that tweet.

I have actually had the Insanity program in my hands for a few months, but always felt too intimidated to give the workouts a shot. I knew I wanted to try them, but always got too scared when push came to shove.

I don’t know what hit me this morning, but I popped the DVD in and picked the Pure Cardio workout. 40 minutes didn’t sound too bad. It didn’t have any crazy words like Max or Circuit in there, which I knew could mean trouble. That 40 minutes was no joke!

source

I was dripping sweat by the end of the warm-up. Not a good sign. When Shaun T paused to stretch a bit after the warm-up to prepare for the madness to come, I laughed. It was one of those laugh or cry moments.

The next 20-25 minutes owned me. Drill after drill after drill after drill. Burpees. High knees. Push-ups. Tuck jumps. And too many things I don’t even remember the names of because all I could hear was my own heavy breathing.

#huffpuff #iwanttodie

At the end, I parked my booty on the floor and stared at the screen in disbelief. Then Peter came downstairs and his eyes lit up at me trying unsuccessfully to catch  my breath and wipe sweat out of my eyes simultaneously.

He gets pleasure from my pain. He even sits and laughs with a big goofy grin as I go through the torture of ice baths after my long runs. Evil. <—Peter

I didn’t care though. My huffing and puffing turned into the biggest smile. I felt accomplished. I put aside fear and went for something I knew would challenge me. I didn’t half-ass the workout, because I knew I would only get out of it what I put into it.

I put a lot into it. It hurt. I thought I would hurl out my heart at some points. I had to pause and catch my breath a few times. But I pushed the limits. And I can’t wait to do it again next week. Yea. Next week. I loved it, but I’m not insane enough to do that madness every day!

• What is the hardest workout you have ever done? Or what is the last way you challenged yourself (fitness wise or otherwise)?