If you’ve been reading a while, you’ll know cardio and I have a complicated relationship.
I’ve tried dabbling getting back into running twice this year, and neither time stuck more than about ~2 weeks (if that). 😩
I’ve had varying levels of success with Emkfit dance videos on Youtube. They’re fun, short (~20 min) and I love her. Sometimes they didn’t feel quite challenging enough though, and also, I was just picking random videos from her channel each time (ie. no “program” to follow, which is less motivating for me).
Overall this summer my cardio track record (besides dog walks) was WEAK.
So, I’ve recently pivoted yet again, in another effort to stick with regular cardio. I happened to notice an email from Beachbody (which is pure serendipity that I even looked at it and didn’t just delete!) saying I could get one full year of Beachbody (now BODi, I guess) for just $39. Hmm! That is a good deal. (Considering I cancelled my old membership when it went up to $179/year.)
I used to like some of the cardio days in those programs, so decided for $39, why not.
I decided to do 10 Rounds, which I had never tried before but always kind of meant to. I enjoyed the “martial arts style” Fight Club cardio workouts in Morning Meltdown. To me, that’s fun cardio- it’s not hard like burpees (HARD PASS) but the boxing style stuff really gets your heart rate up quickly. And it’s a good stress reliever!
(I actually tried one Turbo Fire workout first (different BB program, also boxing style), but the choreography was WAY too hard for me. I spent more time being lost than exercising. 10 Rounds is much more my speed.)
The program is supposed to be 5 days/wk: 3 boxing (cardio) days and 2 Lift days (1 Upper/1 Lower). Since I aim to lift at the gym 4x/ week, I’m just doing the 3 cardio days! Perfect, since my goal is to do cardio…3x/ week.
The only negative is that it’s only a 6 week program. But I’ve successfully completed all 3 cardio workouts for the last 2 weeks! 🎉🎉
Current overall schedule:
I did a little re-thinking/ sketching out of overall workouts now with school starting. (I feel like I frequently post about this, and every time I’m like, Ooh, I have a new plan! 😆 What can I say. At least I’m honest, and I haven’t totally given up!)
But so far I think I really like this new plan:
Monday: Upper Strength #1 (at gym, on lunch break)
Tuesday: Cardio (10 Rounds, ~35-40 minutes; either early morning or after work if no evening plans where I can’t be sweaty)
Wednesday: Lower Strength #1 (at gym, on lunch break)
Thursday: Cardio (10 Rounds, ~35-40 minutes, after work. *Usually Thursdays are a pretty guaranteed low key night at home, unless I have to go to a kid thing. But usually an okay night to be sweaty and/or just shower before bed)
Friday: Upper Strength #2 (at gym, go at 7:00 am right when Ethan leaves for school, and can be home before Asher has to go. Usually I walk Charlie at this time, but I decided he can wait a little later one day/week and have a slightly shorter walk on Fridays.)
Saturday: Cardio (10 Rounds), whenever fits in
Sunday: Lower Strength #2 at gym, whenever
Things I like about this plan:
- The alternating strength/cardio days feels like a really nice balance
- I’m only going to gym or exercising during work day 2x/ week- feels realistic and do-able (and, if I take slightly longer lunch 2 days/ week, I feel this is fair. If I took a longer lunch every day, I would maybe feel funny and/or just too rushed.)
- Only trying to get to gym 1x on weekend is more realistic when busy
- The cardio days being at home= easier to fit in/ move around as needed
Stay tuned! I hit a perfect week this past week for first time in a long time. (Only thing missing from my schedule is some flexibility/ stretching work….). Also, I have no dedicated “rest day”, but I think I would rather do it like this vs trying to make time to double up with both cardio + strength one day. Besides, I am not working out at a crazy high intensity or anything. Cardio is 35-40 min, and strength workouts rarely, if ever, exceed 60 minutes. All very reasonable, yet I feel, very effective.
In other news…
Ethan had his first soccer scrimmage of the season on Saturday! It was fun to see him out there again. He suddenly looks so much more mature- not only physically, but just his style of play. Very controlled, experienced, etc. It was fun to watch him! 🙂
He made the Varsity Reserve team this year, which means he basically has to suit up for all JV AND Varsity games!! The weeknight game nights are now going to be loooooong evenings….. but he’s excited and happy he made the VR squad as a sophomore. 🙂
And, my Outfit of the Day, August Saturday Soccer Mom style:
Oh, and 2 random additions:
- I saw this on Facebook yesterday and it made me LOL:
2. I bought Charlie this toy at the grocery store yesterday, and it lasted exactly 10 minutes. ARGH. For a rather small dog, he is vicious on toys. He can kill any and all of them. (And then starts eating whatever is inside- this one just has a rope inside, no stuffing, so I thought it would be okay! Nope, the interior lining peels off and he started eating that…. into the garbage it went….$7 down the drain.)
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a VERY RARE quiet evening last night (ie no extended family in da house….we’ve had my MIL here pretty much every night, which is….um, nice, but also, a lot. But she was gone last night.). Ivan and I binge watched 3 Emily in Paris episodes before bed and it.was.so.great. 🤩
GRATEFUL KAE 
The number of toys that Doggo has destroyed at first sight is ridiculous. We’ve found a few favorites that have stood up against her teeth, and then there are others that she has ripped up that I’ve been able to sew up afterwards that she can play with if we’re watching her. And then there are the ones that have to go right in the garbage because they’re ripped up so badly that I can’t fix them. Petsmart has a section called “Toys for Destroyers” and boy oh boy, that is Doggo’s style of play.
I’m still running – but only 2 miles and my strength work is minimal. It just doesn’t work to do long workouts right now, and I’m good with that.
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I’ll have to check out Petsmart! I don’t get over there too often- Mounds is closer to me. It’s come to the point that I basically can’t really give him toys anymore because he eats them….
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Well done on finding a cardio option that works and getting into it- that’s great it will all work so well with your schedule. Impressive you’ll be doing something every day. I need to get back into exercise (I only walk at the moment, which helps my mental health but not my strength etc). Maybe I’ll give beach body a try! 🙂
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Well, I know that historically I don’t always hit all my workouts every week. Haha. So, I figure if I at least PLAN for exercise every day, when I inevitably miss some days, I’ll still be doing pretty well. Whereas if I planned for only 4 days, maybe I’d end up still missing some and then would end up at a much lower overall number!
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That sounds like a great plan! Years ago I did “core de force” through Beach body so you could check out their cardio workouts when you finish this program. I can’t remember how many weeks the program was, though. But it’s a kickboxing kind of workout w/ the women from Morning Meltdown.
I’m still having issues with my hand/wrist so still haven’t been able to bring strength training back into my workouts. I could do lower body stuff, but since I’m training for this 10 mile, I don’t really want sore legs to contend with. But the 10 mile race is 3 weeks away and after that, I will shift my workouts around and bring back some strength training.
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Oh I think I was eyeing the core de force plan! I do like those instructors. I hope your wrist gets better soon so you can get back into strength training eventually! I suppose there could be some adaptations but I agree, it’s pretty tricky to train upper body without aggravating your wrist/hand (or even lower body, assuming you need to be able to grip weights, etc). Excited for your race! You have been doing so awesome!
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Yes it’s kind of painful to lift a cup of coffee… so I am super limited right now which really sucks!! I just can’t catch a break with my RA lately but my doctor is changing the dose and increasing the frequency so hopefully that helps.
I remember the core de force workouts being very fun! I hope you like them if you give them a try!
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I love your outfit!!! so soccer mom and yes I get what you mean by playing more mature. I feel the same when I watch the girls swim, like they are not just splashing water but swimming like an athlete, on a sport that I don’t/can’t do. I love the feeling of proud and amazing.
hope your new cardio plan works well! It’s good to try new things when feel stuck.
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Thanks! Yes, when I put it on, I was like, ooh wait! I have a hat that matches this too! hahahaah!!
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Your cardio is like my strength- I keep trying different things but none of them really sticks. Your current plan sounds great. I like how you made it reasonable and sustainable. And, even if something happens and you miss a day, you’ll still have worked out 6 days of the week, which is amazing.
Congrats to Ethan! I’m afraid to ask what these “loooong” weeknight evenings are going to be… but glad he’s happy!
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Exactly- I know some people (you, SHU…) are SO dedicated and literally never miss a day of workouts, but history has told me that that is not always the case for me, lol. So, even though it sounds like a lot to schedule workouts for 7 days a week, I figure inevitably I’ll end up missing some here and there, so then in the long run, I’ll still have a good average!
And re: Ethan’s schedule, well, typically for a weeknight game the JV teams play at like 5:00, and Varsity not til 7:00. So he’ll have to go straight from school at 3:30 to the field for warmups etc, play JV game at 5, and then instead of heading home by 7, he’ll have to stay for the Varsity game! So he probably won’t be done until ~9 pm those days! After leaving for school at 7 a.m. and going to class all day. I told him he is going to REALLY have to plan ahead for homework/ test studying etc this fall!
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Congrats on varsity!!! Isn’t it wonderful that he has these opportunities. But holy cow those are long days… He would be tired, and hungry. Unless he packs snacks, a granola bar or two.
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I personally do best when I have a training plan to stick to, so I support your planning out a weekly schedule. I am currently following two plans that I ‘smash’ together (I am taking the strength sessions from a different plan).
Good luck – I hope this will stick. Are you doing all this on top of the hour of walking? Then you’re really set!
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Love it, thanks for sharing your outdoor experience.
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