Looking fine in Week 9! Photos / Supplied
With just three weeks to go, Tina and Tessa are well and truly into the groove of Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide challenge.
This week, no amount of Mum's cooking or sore muscles can slow these two down.
I was able to keep up with BBG Week 8 last week - despite travelling around NZ with my parents, despite a hens' party that included a wine tasting, despite my mother making a giant pot of red sauce that will make any good Italian cry.
I won't say my workouts went great, but I was able to do them despite all the temptations (which I succumbed to, #sorrynotsorry).
That said, I'm looking forward to Act III of BBG 1.0. I've heard that at this point we start doing [drumroll] high-intensity cardio sessions: sessions where you exercise for less time but you're expected to sprint or increase your speed for a period of time, then slow down to recover. Do that 10-15 times, and that's it. That's a cardio session.
Tessa's PDFs have had her doing HIIT sessions earlier on; today the Sweat app includes them in this week's regime.
Less time on cardio? Sign me up. I don't love the idea of getting workout clothes dirty for a measly 15-minute session, but I stop complaining because it's still less exercise (in a way. I think. It's all relative?). I also like that there will be more variety in the workout regime. No more boring, slow four-times-a-week cardio sessions. A little variety to break up the monotony.
In the past when I've done interval training, I've seen my stomach slim down. Maybe those intervals help target the beer belly fat I have over my slowly developing abs. I'm looking forward to a bit of a more drastic slimdown, perfect and just in time for a wedding we're invited to in about a month's time.
Fifteen minutes is nothing. Fifteen minutes is half a strength workout. Bring it on.
How I'm feeling: Anxious. What will HIIT do to me?
What I'm listening to: The Nerdist podcast
Favourite workout: Hmmm. No favourite really.
Least favourite workout: Jump lunges. No matter how I do them, I wobble.
Yikes. The last time I felt sore muscles was in Week 4 of Kayla's guide after attempting to complete straight leg jack knives. These by themselves are hilarious, if you can imagine what a tired Tessa looks like attempting to reach her fingers to her toes while they are mid-air. Just think about a fat toddler trying to touch its feet while they're jumping. That's what I look like.
Anyway, the reason I am once again feeling the somewhat sickly but nice pain of sore muscles is because I ran 8.4 kilometers yesterday for Auckland's Round the Bays. Sure it was fun, I got to do it alongside my best friend and it wasn't super-fast paced, although there were some idiots who thought it was a race.
I think a run usually counts as a LISS session under Kayla's guide, but given that it was a lot longer than I would normally run, I counted it as one of my HIIT sessions. Adapting right? Surely we can be lenient to a certain degree?
Adapting to things is something we all have to do it life. Some things are challenging, some are easy. Adapting to Kayla's guide has definitely been something that has challenged me in more ways than one. From Week One to Four I was fine. I felt good. I added in yoga and pilates sessions on top of my three required workouts each week.
But then I hit a brick wall. I felt exhausted, tired and drained - both physically and mentally. Cue the growls and lectures from my mother, father and friends. I personally don't think it was entirely the physical exercise that drained me to the point that I was diagnosed with fatigue by my doctor. I believe it was managing the exercise as well as everything else that popped up around Week Five of the guide.
When the extra things like an increased work load, university exams and sick family members happen, as well as maintaining exercise, perhaps that's when it can become a bit too much. There are always ups and downs in our lives, weeks and days. This is where we need to adapt.
One week you can do a lot, you'll be calm, collected, productive, efficient and happy. You'll smash out three HIIT sessions, and three LISS sessions plus visit your Nana, meet your work targets, clean the flat, get a B+ on your essay and save the world.
Other weeks, you'll hardly manage to get through your required workouts and you may get a LISS session in, which in reality is you wandering down to the dairy for a CalciYum and an RJ's stick. That's totally okay, because we're all human.
Adapting is a natural requirement in our lives and it's essential we understand that. If we don't, then we end up at the doctors, unable to work out for a week, if not more.
Anyway, enough of the emotional stuff. My legs hurt and I'm scared to complete week eight (remember, I'm a week behind Tina) of legs and cardio today. I can't say that those tuck jump and broad jump burpees are looking too good.
How I'm feeling: Not too bad, sore legs but I have an motivational vibe going on.
What I'm listening to: Jeremiah (gutted I missed his NZ concert). So I've got my own concert in my head while I workout.
Favourite exercise: X-jumps. They make me feel like a hyperactive three-year-old. Which I act like at times.
Least favourite exercise: I don't like the look of these broad jump burpees. No thank you. Vomit.
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