The Skinny: Week 4

What's up party people!

On Sunday I went to Musical Theatre class again and now we have another 2 week break...sigh.

Oh well, at least now I have another 2 weeks to impress everyone!

I told Barb and Suzy (Anika was away this week. :( ) that last class I could hold a plank for maybe 20 seconds and today I can hold one for a minute and 15 seconds or more! They were very impressed which makes me really happy. I've impressed myself and I've impressed my friends. Very good, Erica! Lets make week 4 and 5 even better than the last 3.

When it came time for planks during warm-up I brought out my phone and headphones and they looked at me.

"Oh I'm sorry, I have to listen to Spice Girls in order to plank. I have to distract myself."
Barb: *laughing* Okay go put on Spice Girls on the speaker then!

That's right guys, I got to listen to Never Give Up on the Good Times on the speaker while Barb, Suzy, and I sang doing our planks.

My lovely cast mates have suggested the wall sit and Barb suggested mountain climbers with high knees and burpees and to try to do side planks (which I will try this week. However, I will most likely fall). So now, on Monday, I start a new routine.

Daily Basic Workout Routine:
1. Full Plank
2. Half-Teaser
3. Dolphin Plank
4. Breath for a song and relax
5. Burpees (as many as I can do)
6. Wall Sits
7. Mountain climbers to high knees (as many as I can do) (aka. MCtoHK)

• Can I just say how confused I am by Burpees and my MCtoHK? No not because the exercise confuses me, but I don't know what my goal is...Is it time? Is it Reps? Is it BOTH? Ultimately I've decided, this week any way, to just try to do as many as I can. I will time it just to keep track and then try to form a goal from there. 
• IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT MY GOAL SHOULD BE FOR BURPEES AND SUCH PLEASE TELL ME! Should I be concerned about time or reps? Should I aim for the amount of reps in the time and try to shrink my time and increase my reps or just time or just reps? I'm so confused...
• I hope that makes sense.

Try:
1. Side planks
2. Those weird horrible pushups Barb showed us.
3. THIS    

Credit goes to Blogilates (Thank you for showing it to me Henna and Sarah!)

I looked at her basic beginner workout as well and honestly, I'm not strong enough for that right now. Maybe in May? We'll see. I started off with a fitness level on a scale of 0-10 of a -1 so.

Goals for this week:
1. Cut down on sugar even more (please see: last week I had insane mind-controlling cravings that I could barely control and the fact that I only had a little bit of some stuff on some days was huge) excluding Easter Sunday
2. 1 liter of water a day MINIMUM NO EXCUSES! ENOUGH OF DEHYDRATION
3. Pilates 5 times this week

Ultimately my goal is to be able to walk home from school or work or just a 40min-1.5 hour walk a day PLUS the basic daily workout I put together PLUS Pilates. IF THE WEATHER WOULD BE GOOD FOR ONCE IN IT'S LIFE, THAT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! IT'S APRIL THIS WEEK GET IT TOGETHER!

I would add like a squat challenge to my daily routine but lets see how I do with this this week. I don't know how my body is going to react. I'll try to take a "before" photo this week because I regret not taking a before photo four weeks ago...

Monday March 30:

Today I woke up sore and as the day progressed I got more and more sore...But I don't know if that's because I did so many exercises or if it was from yesterday's rehearsal warm up. Time was all messed up today, I planked at school and did my half teaser at school during spare because I was bored. I can only do calculus word problems for so long! Then I came home and had snack before a nap. When I woke up from my nap I did my dolphin plank, wall sit, burpees, and MCtoHK. I need to work on the order of my basic workout because burpees followed by MCtoHK's is a very bad decision for me. They're exhausting. As each exercise passed, my body became more and more sore. I went to cake decorating class and then came home and ate dinner. I took a break before doing the 30 day slimmer thigh challenge and then Pilates at 10:20pm. When that was done I grabbed another bottle of water before an Epsom Salt bath with baking soda. I did attempt the side plank on my right side earlier and have come to the conclusion that I cannot do it at the current time. Maybe next week. Maybe I'll keep trying but I'm not getting my hopes up. 

The weather was actually quite nice today if it weren't so darn windy. The weather situation is looking up guys, and I can hardly wait! I successfully exceeded my goal for water intake and did a plank for 1:30 which means I've reached my NEW goal already. I'll try to keep that up for three times in a row before assigning 1:45 as my next goal. 

I highly doubt I'll be able to move tomorrow morning but we'll see. I will still workout regardless of my mobility but if I am extremely sore, I will lower my expectations and not be disappointed in myself for not achieving my usual. This is going to be a long week...

Tuesday March 31:

So the Epsom salt bath really did help because I was able to move today. HOWEVER, My right leg and arm felt very sore. I couldn't hold a plank very long today which was devastating but after the reassurance of my mom, dad, and Cece, I was able to get over the disappointment and move forward. I was going to try it again later but I didn't because I think my body is trying to tell me to rest. Typically I'm able to breathe through the pain and keep going, but not today... It's over, I still held it for over a minute, and I still did it. 

Friday April 3:

The end of week 4. This week I have experienced post-exercise pain like no other. It lasted...and lasted...and lasted. Today, Saturday the 4th, I'm finally feeling like it's over! I wore a character costume last April for 6 hours and literally could not move the next day. I stayed in bed. The 2nd day, it was was better and by the 3rd day I was fine. This week I hurt on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I started getting a weird nerve pain in my right arm, Thursday was painful, and Friday WAS KILLER! I love the burn, but when it gets in the way of your everyday life for long periods of time, it's not so fun. Every night I did this:

Epsom Salt Bath

1. Fill bath tub with hot water. Not too hot that you burn yourself but I see steam coming off of my bath water.

2. Put 2 heaping cap-fulls from your Epsom Salt container into the bath.

3. Add 1/4-1/2 cup of baking soda to your bath.

4. Watch an episode of Friends on your iPad while you soak. (aka stay in the bath for 20-25 minutes)

And then I would rub voltaren on my arms and legs and abs after my bath. Painful week...But I'm alive!

I've also come to the conclusion that I am not physically fit enough to add the burpees and MCtoHK's right now. I need to build up my endurance which brings me to my next point; I will be adding a daily jumping session on my exercise trampoline next week. Once my endurance is in check, I'll try adding those exercises back.

Achievements of the Week

• I planked for 1:30 multiple times this week which means I achieved my 2nd planking goal! New goal 1:45 (which will be hard because around 1:10 I have to start going all Kimmy Schmidt* and enduring something for 10 seconds at a time.)
• I drank 1L of water or more pretty much every day!
• I did Pilates 5 times this week despite the pain I was in
• Exercising is becoming a habit! Wow...never thought I'd say that! (please see: Fitness level -1)

*If you don't know what I'm talking about, please watch The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix.

Plank Log:

March 28:Full plank 1:19
Teaser 1:27
Dolphin 1:15
March 29Full plank: 1:20
Teaser: 1:15 (done in class, very painful so it's okay)
Dolphin: 1:19
March 30Full plank 1:30
Half teaser: 1:29
Dolphin 1:20
Wall sit: 54 seconds
Burpees: 8 in 30 seconds
Right side plank (on knees attempt): 22 seconds
MCtoHK: 4.5 in 60 seconds
March 31: (rough day, sore)MCtoHK 5 in 50 seconds
Half teaser: 1:29
Burpees: 9 in 35 seconds
Full plank 1:04
Wall sit 59 seconds
Dolphin plank 1:13
April 1:Break day but I did a full plank for 1:26 despite right arm pain just to see something
April 2Full plank 1:30
Teaser 1:31
Dolphin plank 1:12
Wall sit 1:10
April 3

Plank 1:30
Teaser 1:25
Dolphin 1:14
Wall sit 1:14

Exercise Log

Saturday- Planking

Sunday- Warm up at Rehearsal, including the planks

Monday - Pilates and planks, thinner thighs

Tuesday- Pilates and Planks, thinner thighs

Wednesday- Walk and pilates, thinner thighs

Thursday - Planks and pilates, thinner thighs

Friday - Pilates and planks, thinner thighs

Goals for Week 5:

• Drink at least 1L of water a day
• Do Pilates 5 times
• Use the trampoline 5 times
• Hold a plank continuously for at least 1:30
• After Monday, control sugar intake
• Maybe add weights?
• Work on Posture

 I guess I'm at the point in my exercising where I've stayed still for a while because I don't notice a difference in my body for the past two weeks...So...Am I at the point where I'll be seeing results quicker yet? I've got a long way to go still. Here we go week 5! (With Easter, it'll be hard) As well, no before photo...not the best looking week for me. Ignore the weird black font halfway through too...Don't know what's going on with this stuff.

This photo speaks to me. I'm closer today than I was yesterday.

Wish it. Dream it. Do it.