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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Working Out: Week 5

Week 1  Week 2  Week 3  Week 4

I can't believe it is already week 5! Sadly, my weight continues to fluctuate, though a few days ago it said I lost 4lbs, but recently said I gained it back. Maybe it's water weight fluctuating, or the fact I have been doing this at different times of the day. I'll take it that my weight is flexible at the moment. Maybe in a week, I'l lsee more downs then ups!

I use a mix of Wii Fit Plus and EA Active More Workouts for the Nintendo Wii to lose this weight, along with one or two things done on my own. If I find other fitness games, I may try them too, but mainly ones my sister has already bought. I already tried a pilate-yoga one that was annoying and not possible to do in the room I'm in.

Please note that, unless it mentions it in the video description, many youtube videos I may link to exercises are not my own, but randomly found on youtube. If anyone has better quality videos that demonstrate the exercises from the game, they are welcome to post in the comments to suggest them.

August 7 - Tuesday (Strength)
I did my usual warm ups of Sun Salutation, Tree, Half Moon, and Palm Tree yoga poses upstairs (on my own, not on the wii), then went downstairs to do Standing Knee, Chair, Warrior, Triangle, Downward-Facing Dog, Grounded V, Cobra, Bridge, Spinal Twist, and Jackknives (10) on the wii. Sun Salutation has made it so I can nearly touch my toes without bending my knees; something I never could do!

Since it was strength day and last strength day I used Wii Fit's exercises, today I used EA Active More Workouts for my strength, using my usual workout set of "Crunch & Core Easy." There's a varied amount of exercises in it, but I will mainly go over ones worth commenting about.

Push Ups, I was able to do 10 of them cleanly, unlike the wii fit version. Heck, even Mountain Climbers wasn't so bad; I managed to do a little more than 40 while waiting for the rep counter to count correctly. I still did count my own reps, though, since the counter still doesn't keep up. Another good thing was being able to do all the Leg Raises without converting them into JackKnives.

Also felt more comfortable with the medium fitness trail; leaves me out of breath but the form doesn't ache my body as much. Running in place used to make me wonder what style of running I should do. I usually just lift my knees up and down while keeping back straight up to do the run in place, but wonder if I should try other styles. Running in place is not the same as how I would normally run.

Also did Sideways Hip Raises which I did well but the sensor sometimes couldn't pick up. And it can get rather grueling with it being the starting and ending exercise, you're extended, and that counter hasn't even started!

As usual, I ended the whole thing with 20 minutes of Wii Fit's Free Step mode. I am going to try to end most days with at least 10 minutes of it, more if I feel it is needed. Today I watched the South Korea vs Brazil game while Free Stepping, and I rather regret doing so; The match was overkill on South Korea, and mainly bored me.

August 8 - Wednesday (Aerobics)
Today felt pretty good. Did my usual warm ups before starting my Wii Fit Plus aerobics for the day. Started off as usual with 10 minute Super Hoola Hoops. When spinning right, I felt a good ache in my abs a little, as if I was really working it. I suppose I found the right muscles to work during that spin! Unfortunately, that wasn't the case when spinning left; just couldn't find the right rhythm and muscle movement.

After I finished the hoola-ing, my ankles were a bit sore, so I took a break with Bird's Eye Bullseye (10:22) on Expert. Expert mode is pretty good as you chase the balloon. Some bullseyes move so you have to move with it before landing on them, but part of the fun and good for the arms! Scored 148 on it for my first try.

Next was a 10 minute Free Run. This had me a little more winded than usual. Maybe it is because I didn't have pockets, so had to hold the WiiMote in my hand, swinging my arms for the my "steps" to be recognized, or because I was still a little winded from the hoola-ing. I managed to jog the whole time without stopping at least

I did Skateboard Arena on Advanced next, which surprisingly gave me a good lower-muscle work out! My calves and feet were so sore after making it to stage 8 before I ran out of time. Scored 138 points in the end. Apparently, you can unlock "Free Skate" if you complete it all, but I haven't been able to yet.

To finish up, I did 30 minutes of Free Step while I watched TV. Felt pretty good today and right now. Tomorrow, I need to figure out a way to wake up early AND work out early. Faith has a vet appointment AND USA's women's soccer team is in the Olympic finals tomorrow around the same time.

August 9 - Thursday (Wild Card)
Due to the excitement of taking Faith to vets and watching the USA game, I didn't work out today. I wonder if this is a sign of being lazy again soon, or that I really need that one day off after 2 days of working out... Or just bad circumstances.

August 10 - Friday (Strength ??? Day)
Today I ended up hanging out with my cousin Olivia, which threw me off track with my work out. I ended up not doing any warm ups or strength exercises, but not wanting to be a slob twice in a row, I did three sets of 30 minute Free Steps. Since I would be just watching TV while I do it, it was nice and low paced. I'll call that a cop-out workout. It's better than doing nothing, and I made sure to move my arms with each step to get my whole body into it. Tomorrow, I am GOING to do strength exercises. I really should find a way to do them so when I get a job, I can balance working out and going to said theoretical job.

August 11 - Saturday (Strength)
Managed to do a pretty normal strength workout. Got my arms more into this one!

After the usual warm-ups, I got to work using Wii Fit Plus strength exercises today.. I did some push ups on my own instead of using Wii Fit Plus; 2 sets of ten. First set did mostly okay, but exhausted myself, and second set I broke into two sets of 5, giving myself a 10 second breather before doing another 5 reps.

3 sets of 30 rep JackKnives as usual; no not at once, just over the course of my workout. With each set i experimented how high my legs should be up, with the last set them being nearly flat on the board. Did 1 6 rep set of Torso Twists, which I'm not sure how well I actually stretched my body but the game said I scored an 8 on it, so I'm okay with it. Then I did 15 Rep Lunges, which brought out some hunger pains in me. I finished all right, but took a 30-40 minute break to eat something and digest the food.

To warm myself back up i did Bird's Eye Bullseye on Expert. First time, I tried finishing the run early by going directly to the finish instead of exploring around the mountain on other bullseyes and only scored 37. The next time I played it, between other exercises, I went to as many bullseyes I could and scored 246, a personal best!

Did 20 reps of Single-Leg Twists. The game-trainer says I should feel it in my abs, but I felt the burn more in my legs. Did two bouts of 30 second Planks, 57 first time, 71 second time. Sideways Leg Lift (20 reps) I was rather clumsy. I felt the burn but only score 63, nearly stepping off the balance board a few times. Arm-and-Leg Lift I did rather well, doing a 20 rep instead of 10 and got a 91. Last strength exercise I did was 15 reps of Side Lunges. I think last time I did them, I was over-stretching. This time, I stretched out my leg at a more comfortable angle. I still felt the burn, so I'll work to stretch myself out a little more slowly.

Ended it with 20 minute Free Step. Feels good to have done some exercises after having two odd/off days in a row.

August 12 - Sunday (Aerobics)
Just a typical Aerobics day. Did my warm ups, then jumped right into 10 min Super Hoola Hoops. For some reason when I was supposed to spin left, the balance board wasn't picking up my movements too well. Got about 300 less spins compared to spinning right, which was fine and even gave me a little bit of ab work. Perhaps my footing was off, maybe I was tired, or I just can't spin left correctly for some reason?

Next up was a round of Bird's Eye Bullseye on Expert. Got a nice arm work out with my arms flapping around for about 6 minutes. Scored 321 by trying to go to every platform that wasn't too far away from me, AND hit the bullseye at the end this time! Seriously, it's why I'm doing this more often, it's a pretty decent exercise for a balance game.

Free Run was next for ten minutes. This was a little more of a pain, to be honest, but I held on. I keep trying to find a good type of running-in-place form, but they all end up hurting my ankles in some way. After a small water break, jumped into Skateboard Arena on Advanced again to work my legs. This is another balance board game with a good exercise to your legs. My legs were so sore during the last round of the game, I got all turned around. Scored 321.

This led me to play other balance board games since now my legs really were sore. Obstacle Course on Advanced was next, scored a 572 this time. I actually fell off on the last course cause I thought I could outrun the iron ball, haha.

Two rounds of Snowball Fight; first was on Advanced, the other on Expert. Advanced was decent, scored 39. Expert had me on my nerves. I forgot Expert mode was 1 hit and you're out! In one try, however, I managed to score 41 and only got hit with ten seconds left on the clock. There were quite a few near-deaths though! I think I prefer advanced, however, as I won't be gambling for a longer sitting.

I decided to go ahead and do Rhythm Boxing on Advanced. I haven't played it in forever,so ended up really rusty. Scored 542 hits, which is kind of bad really. I suppose I got as much of a work out as I would with Free Step, just including arm movements. I didn't care much for it, but I suppose I may give it another try once I get used to it again; it's not fair to judge it considering I was messing up constantly. My only real feeling of a work out was at the end where you go wild with your punches for about 10-20 seconds, though.

Last i finished up with 30 minutes of Free Step. Tomorrow is Wild Card day, which I will hopefully not skip like the last two wild card days.

August 13 - Monday (Wild Card Day)

I wasn't sure what to do today, but my friend had text me, inviting me to go to the arcade for In The Groove gameplaying. I did my usual warm-ups at home before he picked me up. I must have played... about 6-8 games on doubles. Feet are killing me but got a great cardio workout from it today!

Assuming I'm not too sore tomorrow, I'll resume my strength exercises with EA Active. I'm also going to be possibly taking off from working out over the weekend since a big tournament is happening then. I'm not sure what time I'll be going though, so I may just doing Yoga warmups those days.

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