Day 29: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X

After a week of giving my muscles a break during recovery, it felt SO good to get back into intense muscle work outs.  I was impressed with how much better I kept up with Ab Ripper X - I think after Core Synergistics, it just seemed easier :o)  V-Up Roll Ups are still the hardest for me to do correctly, but I am getting there.

I was nervous to try a brand new work out but I really liked Chest/Shoulders/Tris today and I felt like I really worked those muscles hard.  During the clapping push ups I had a little issue when I dropped myself on my head!  My arms and chest were just so tired that I could not catch myself fast enough before smacking my head on the mat - OUCH.  I really did work my chest to muscle failure because my chest/arms would literally just give out towards the end of a push up sequence.

I think I need to get some 5 pound weights for some of these exercises since 8 pounds is a little too much for me on the tricep exercises and 3 pounds is not enough.  I ended up holding both 3 pound weights in one hand for many of the tricep exercises to bridge the gap between the two different weights I had.

Tomorrow is day 30 and I will take more pictures and compare.  I am kind of nervous, though everyone who has done the program says the biggest change can be seen between phases 2 and 3.

Also, I should mention that my HRM does a summary every 7 days and I found the information to be very interesting.  During the last week (recovery week) I worked out 6 times for a total of 6 hours and 40 minutes and burned 2,363 calories!  I can only imagine what that number is going to be after a non-recovery week of exercises!