21-Day Shred program Day One

I found a program I think I can do because it's only three weeks long, and only requires four days at the gym, allowing me to reserve my weekends. I never go to the gym on weekends! It's a bit daunting at first because there's no rest time built in, which is actually a good thing. I'm less confident about the "diet" part since it seems to be a standard high protein, lots of veggies and a bit of fruit diet. Oh, and a ton of supplements, which I will not be taking. Today I decided to ease into the program by still eating my breakfast oatmeal with egg. My compromise was to omit the teaspoon of sugar and add a scoop of whey powder after the oatmeal had cooked.

I just don't like this brand of protein (ON Gold Standard 100% Natural Whey). It has no taste (suppose to be strawberry) and gets a bit rubbery in heat. I had to add more water to dissolve the graininess but the oatmeal still didn't taste very good. Today is a school holiday so I have my son in tow as well. It's a good thing this program is suppose to take just 45 minutes. It doesn't actually because it doesn't take into account the need to move from one station to another, to blot the sweat from your face or to take a swig of water. Still, it's a quick moving program and does get your heart racing.

First I need to do 20 minutes of HIIT but since it's a holiday, the cardio area is ridiculously crowded and all the ellipticals are occupied. However, some of the LifeFitness recumbent bikes are free so I get on one, pulling the seat all the way forward. I punch in Manual mode for 15 minutes, assuming that the cool down will be a standard 5 minutes. But it's not. It's only 3 minutes. Ugh. I'll have to make that up later even though I can hit the Add Time button, it only adds 15 second increments and I'm not satisfied that this is really 20 minutes of HIIT. I don't like the bikes, don't like how I seem to be sliding forward while I pedal. I'm constantly trying to straighten up my back, and I find it unpleasant to breathe hard in the sitting position (as if my ribs are cramped).

The program calls for 20 reps each of five exercises in quick succession: bench, one-arm DB row (20 reps each arm), standing military press, BB curl and DB Kickbacks. Unfortunately I'm not really sure how much weight to use so I'm kind of winging it today. I know I can easily do 50 reps with just an Olympic bar so I toss a pair of 10s on. 20 reps is easy but I'll have to adjust the weight next time. I don't really know what size DB to use for One-Arm rows for 20 reps so I pick 25 lbs arbitrarily. I can do 20 although it's making me flush and sweaty. Next session I'll see how 30 lbs feels. The Standing Military Press is something I don't normally do so safe to say, I go really light with this movement: only a 30 lb BB. Sadly, I can easily knock out 20 barbell curls at the same weight, but I've been doing curls a lot longer. 15 lbs is light for Tricep Kickbacks but figure that after 4 sets of 20, I'll probably feel them.

I goof in my workout by moving back to the bike to do the 10 minutes HIIT when in reality the program calls for two rounds of this circuit before doing more cardio. To make up for this, I do another round of weights, then a quick 5 minute round of HIIT on the finally available Precor elliptical. Then two more rounds of the weight circuit. I up my bench weight to 75 lbs which is still too easy for 20 reps (next time I'll do 85 lbs), but keep everything else the same.

Except the Military Press and Standing Curl. I couldn't get the 30 lb BB for the 2nd round (some guy seemed to be using it as a back-scratcher) and resorted to the 20 lb BB. What I should've done was grabbed the 15 lb DBs but honestly, I'm literally running back and forth all over the gym doing this routine. For the 3rd and 4th sets though, I got the 30 lb BB. Hard for the Military Press, too easy for the BB Curl. I'll adjust for the next Upper Body (A) Session which will be Thursday. Tomorrow is Lower Body (B) and promises to be interesting because I'll be doing movements I don't normally do. Like DB Lunges, and DB Calf Raises. I'd skip the Calf Raises if I had a suitable substitute. My calves are big enough as they are. Afterwards I do a quick Cage Stretch and a brief Mat Stretch. I probably shouldn't count those in my workout time.

The gym scale reads a hefty 113.8 lbs but I'm carrying a lot of water weight because my face is very puffy. Yesterday's dinner and lunch was dumplings liberally dotted with spicy rooster (sriracha chili) sauce and soy-roasted duck my husband bought from the Asian food market. I'm not worried. I've barely drunk half my water and I'm not really hungry after my workout. Other than my shoulders, the rest of me feels okay. The program calls for Lower Body tomorrow, Upper Body (like today) on Wednesday, active rest on Thursday, and Lower Body again on Friday. I'm thinking the Nexersys looks good for Thursday. Gotta have something to look forward to!

21-Day Shred Program Day One (A):
20 min HIIT: 1 minutes On / 1 minute Off  (no idea what the mileage was on the LifeFitness recumbent bike)
Bench Press: 20 reps @ 65 lbs
One-Arm DB Rows: 20 @ 25 lbs
Standing Military BB Press: 20 @ 30 lbs
BB Curls: 20 @ 30 lbs
Tricep DB Kickbacks: 20 @ 15 lbs
10 min HIIT: 1 min On / 1 min Off (about 2 miles on the LifeFitness recumbent bike)
Bench Press: 20 reps @ 65 lbs
One-Arm DB Rows: 20 @ 25 lbs
Standing Military BB Press: 20 @ 20 lbs
BB Curls: 20 @ 20 lbs
Tricep DB Kickbacks: 20 @ 15 lbs
5 min HIIT: 1 min On / 1 min Off (Precor elliptical)
Bench Press: 2 x 20 reps @ 75 lbs (upping the weight to 85 lbs on Wed)
One-Arm DB Rows: 2 x 20 @ 25 lbs (upping the weight to 30 lbs next time)
Standing Military BB Press: 2 x 20 @ 30 lbs
BB Curls: 2 x 20 @ 30 lbs (upping the weight to 35 lbs next time)
Tricep DB Kickbacks: 2 x 20 @ 15 lbs
Cage Stretch
Abbreviated Mat Stretch