Before I even started today my shoulders and arms were sore. My left shoulder, which has long given me trouble, was not feeling good at all. It cracks, grinds, and pops all the time so I was a little nervous about todays workout. Fortunately the video does include time at the beginning for stretching and warm-up. All of the stretches are pretty much targeted to the days exercises and the exercises themselves kind of ease you into the more difficult stuff. I remembered from day 1 to pace myself so I managed to get through this workout a little more smoothly than the last. However, that isn't necessarilly a good thing.
To support the idea of this workout I went to the store today and bought some cheap free-weight dumbbells. They are fine and the weight range I have (upto 27.5 pounds per bar) is plenty sufficient for me at the moment. However, the video's pace is pretty fast and I like keeping with that pace because I feel like I'm really attacking myself. However some of the exercises are easier than others so I really have to change the weights at times to push myself (or to make them do-able at all) so I found myself hitting pause a lot today. I also bought some resistance bands which I was able to use at times - but it was hard to get those evenly distributed between my arms whenever I had to loop it to increase the resistance. Overall I got a little frustrated by the weight changes and the pausing.
I also was scheduled to do the Ab Ripper X today as well but I forgot to bring that video home with me so I had to do what I could remember - which, sadly, wasn't a whole lot. I remembered in/outs, leg raises, some variant leg raise where I lifted my but way off the ground, cement-punchers (or something like that), odd sit-ups with my arm extended, and the leg climbers. I did one set of each of those plus these killer crunch things I used to do in cross-country back in high school. I'm sure I didn't do nearly as much as I was supposed so I will make sure I keep the Ab Ripper video at home from now on because that is the one place I most want to improve (well that and my left shoulder).
It is already 11pm and I just finished - it is taking me a long time to do these things but I am enjoying them so that is a plus. Tomorrow is Yoga - another session I really, really need because my flexibility is nearly non-existent. I am told it is pretty hard to hold some of the poses but that just gets me fired up to try it. I've never been good at being told I can't do something! While there is obviously no physical sign that I have been working out I have already been feeling more energetic in the morning and through the day. However, at around 8pm I've been getting pretty sleepy. These workouts right before I go to bed have definitely helped me fall asleep faster (around 1hour compared to 3 hours) but, with all the water I've been drinking I've been getting up at night to take care of unwanted pressure. The rest of this week consists of Yoga, Legs Back Ab Ripper, Kenpo, and Stretch X (my rest day). After the Stretch X session I'll be putting up my second photo. I should have weighed myself when this started as well. Maybe I'll start doing that next Tuesday.