80 Day Obsession, Uncategorized

80 Day Obsession Diary – Day 76 – Peak Week Cardio Flow

sophiemunday

I can’t believe it’s already Peak Week, aka the final days of 80 Day Obsession. Two big differences this week: firstly, there’s a selection of the best workouts from each phase of the programme, plus this one, which is slightly different to anything that’s come before. Secondly, you have deplete days, where you more or less eliminate the yellow carb and purple fruit boxes and significantly up the red protein, green vegetable, and teaspoons of oil.

Cardio Flow has been a funny one for me. Depending on my mood, I can love it or hate it, though in the last few weeks, it’s been a bit of a favourite. Knowing the moves so well (it’s the only workout where the moves remain consistent in every week of every phase) I’ve got to a point where I can stop thinking and really lose myself in the exertion.

spider squat.JPG

Today’s workout was actually really fun, and much more straightforward than this workout usually is. Normally (as you probably know by now) it builds, move by move. This time around, your do all ten moves (inchworms, spider pushups, diamond jumps, flamingos, duck walks, gorillas, kick throughs, bear, crab, mule-to-frog) from the word go. And then you repeat and repeat and repeat, with the aim being to do as many rounds in 30 minutes as possible. Spoilers: if you follow Autumn and Co, you make it to ten. Tiring and sweaty, but less work overall than the Phase 3 version. I can see myself doing this one every so often inbetween programmes when I want a fun, challenging but not too torturous cardio-based workout with a bit of body work thrown in. I made it extra fun today by putting on an old Pop Punk playlist of Spotify, and jumping around like I was at a gig!

As for the special eating plan, if I’m honest, I was dreading it, to the extent of being in two minds whether to do it or not. But it’s actually not that bad. Having been perfect with my nutrition in early weeks, I’ve dropped to about 80% compliance on average. Having to go super strict has really focused my mind. I’ve heard people talk about headaches and irritability when cutting carbs back this drastically, but I’ve been fine so far, and surprisingly unhungry. That said, the normal 80 Day Obsession eating plan isn’t super compatable with my lifestyle, and this takes that to another level. It’s been tricky to get in the requisite numerous small meals throughout the working day (a bit of fruit is one thing, endless rounds of chicken and veg quite another) and I’ve had to do evening meals separately from my husband, which is a shame, as our dinners, though generally healthy, are a bit of a ritual. It’s just a few days though, and for that time period, it feels like the icing on the cake. I know it’s mostly just water weight, but it’s amazing how much more visible my new muscles are after just two days of this.

Just four more to go….

***

If you don’t currently have access to BOD, you can get a year’s subscription, a month’s supply of Shakeology, and all the accessories you need for 80 Day Obsession for just £180  here

If you’re already a Beachbody on Demand customer, you can get everything you need for 80 Day Obsession (workout calendar, resistance bands, strength sliders, portion fix containers) with Shakeology here, with performance supplements here, or with both here. 

There are a variety of different combinations of BOD access, 80 Day Obsession accessories, Shakeology and performance supplements available. Do drop me a line if you’re not sure which is right for you or if you’d like more information about this programme or anything else.

 

80 Day Obsession, Uncategorized

80 Day Obsession Diary – Day 66 – Total Body Core (including Phase 3 Total Body Core Review/move list)

sophiemunday

Okay, having now battled my way through it twice, I can categorically say that in a tough field, Phase 3 Total Body Core is the toughest of all the 80 Day Obsession workouts. And I say that as someone who is definitely better at strength workouts than cardio ones and who loves a good total body workout.

Throughout Phase 2 – and even more so in Phase 3 – Autumn has been really quite cunning in the way she’s created both full-blown compound moves and little add-ons to isolation exercises to really work you all over. As well as in the way all the strength workouts are structured to both keep your heart rate up and burn out your muscles. All of these things are taken to extreme here, and they meet their absolute high point in the glorious horror of, wait for it, Half Turkish Get-Ups to Push-Ups, either half of which would be enough to challenge me. Just that one move, repeated a few times, feels like it would give you a fairly solid full body workout. And then there are things like Triceps Push-Ups with Knee Tucks on Sliders or Surrenders to Shoulder Press. That’s before you get onto the core moves, which were also very challenging, particularly on top of the core getting hit quite hard in moves predominantly focused on another body part.

Honestly, on my first run-through, I was struggling to keep up with the choreography, never mind the physical challenge, and I got a bit frustrated. This time, I’d got the hang of it a bit more, so though I was still screaming at the screen at times, I could at least appreciate its cleverness. And it’s one of those workouts where, once you get through, you feel very pleased with yourself and like every inch of your body has been worked and you’ve burnt a million calories, so that’s nice!

Other than the ever more complex and compound moves, the structure is the same as in previous phases: 5 rounds, focused on the shoulders, back, chest, biceps, and triceps respectively. Each round involves two moves focused on the specified body part, then one core move. As with all the strength workouts, the rep pattern changes week to week: today involved 10 reps of each move, with each series completed 3 times back to back before moving onto the next.

MOVES LIST

Series 1: Shoulders

  • Surrender to Shoulder Press
  • Quad Ped Crawl
  • Burpee Sliders (actually a lot more fun than they sound!)

Series 2: Back

  • Bent Over Row Tap Back
  • Squat Tabletop Row (ie. holding a squat and with a band on the wrists, pulling the arms back to the chest)
  • Saw on Sliders (sliding back and forth on the sliders. Never did such a small movement cause so much core work!)

Series 3: Chest

  • Half Turkish Row to Push Up (I would attempt to explain this but I’m trying to block out the memory!)
  • Side Reach Push-Up
  • V crunch to Scissor Crunch

Series 4: Biceps

  • Runners Lunge Curl (using a band for the curl)
  • Static Sumo Hammer Curl
  • Slider Crawl Outs

Series 5: Triceps

  • Triceps Push-Up, Knee Tuck
  • Squat Hold Kick Backs
  • Weighted Windmills (one weight in each hand, one arm in the air, one by your side, bend to the side)

***

If you don’t currently have access to BOD, you can get a year’s subscription, a month’s supply of Shakeology, and all the accessories you need for 80 Day Obsession for just £180  here

If you’re already a Beachbody on Demand customer, you can get everything you need for 80 Day Obsession (workout calendar, resistance bands, strength sliders, portion fix containers) with Shakeology here, with performance supplements here, or with both here. 

There are a variety of different combinations of BOD access, 80 Day Obsession accessories, Shakeology and performance supplements available. Do drop me a line if you’re not sure which is right for you or if you’d like more information about this programme or anything else.

80 Day Obsession, Uncategorized

80 Day Obsession Diary – Day 65 – Legs (including Phase 3 Legs Review/Moves List)

sophiemunday

In Phase 1, Legs was a pretty straightforward (though physically challenging) weights-based workout. In Phase 2, it bought in more complex and compound movements. Phase 3 feels really quite different again, with lots of band and slider work, and most notably, enough weighted plyo to make it almost feel like a cardio workout at times.

The first time I did this, I was a little stunned, as both some of the more complicated moves and all the jumping caught me slightly off guard. Doing it for the third time today, I’ve got more used to it, and I increasingly love it.

The pattern is four sets, each of which involve a slider based move, a jumping/plyo based move, and a weight based move – though there’s a bit of overlap between these nominal categories, as they are all fairly complex moves. With the possible exception of the goblet squats, there are no simple strength moves here.

By the end, my legs were trembling and I was dripping with sweat, but I felt really good.

MOVES LIST

Set 1

  • Side to side squat (ie. on sliders, squat down, step to the right, close, step to the left, all without standing up at any point)
  • Weighted Squat Jump
  • Figure 4 Squat (ie. squatting with one leg bent across the other thigh, a bit like a tree pose in yoga)

Set 2

  • slider side lunge
  • half skater lung jump
  • low rocking side lunge (ie. lunge to one side, then lunge to the other, without rising inbetween)

Set 3

  • slide front diagonal lunge (so confusing!)
  • split squat lunge
  • Buddha squat (ah, our old friend from phase 1 is back, and never gets any easier!)

Set 4

  • sumo double slide in
  • sumo cross jump
  • goblet sumo squat

***

If you don’t currently have access to BOD, you can get a year’s subscription, a month’s supply of Shakeology, and all the accessories you need for 80 Day Obsession for just £160  here

If you’re already a Beachbody on Demand customer, you can get everything you need for 80 Day Obsession (workout calendar, resistance bands, strength sliders, portion fix containers) with Shakeology here, with performance supplements here, or with both here. 

There are a variety of different combinations of BOD access, 80 Day Obsession accessories, Shakeology and performance supplements available. Do drop me a line if you’re not sure which is right for you or if you’d like more information about this programme or anything else.

80 Day Obsession, Uncategorized

80 Day Obsession Diary – Day 64 – Cardio Flow (including Cardio Flow Phase 3 review/moves list)

sophiemunday

Slightly to my shame, today was the first day I dared to do a Phase 3 Cardio Flow. I continued with Phase 1 into Phase 2, and Phase 2 into Phase 3 – I’ve just always found it a challenge and genuinely felt that earlier version were challenging me enough. But today, my always-supportive husband threatened to email Autumn and tell her I was cheating! Not sure that would have been wildly viable, but it was enough to make me grit my teeth and give Phase 3 a whirl.

At first, the workout lulled me into a false sense of security. Based on something Autumn said back in Phase 1 Week 1, I thought the pattern was 4 rep in Phase 1, 6 reps in Phase 2, and 8 reps in Phase 3. So I was somewhere between relieved and disappointed when we seemed to be back to 4 reps per move. And then the stinger: once we’d built up to the full set of moves, we had to REPEAT THE WHOLE THING EIGHT TIMES. ARGH!

I honestly wasn’t sure I would be capable of making it through that. But somehow, something interesting happened. The combination of the intense physical challenge with the relatively simple and repetitive moves sent me almost into a trance, and I made it through all the rounds almost without realising it. It was actually slightly magical, like you always want yoga to be.

For the avoidance of doubt, the moves are the same as they have been every week: inchworms, spider push-ups, diamond jumps, flamingos, ducks, gorillas, kick-throughs, bears, crabs, mules/frogs. After lots of change, and some really complicated workouts, it’s nice to know exactly what you’re doing. But my goodness, this version, with this many reps in total, really puts you through your paces.

***

If you don’t currently have access to BOD, you can get a year’s subscription, a month’s supply of Shakeology, and all the accessories you need for 80 Day Obsession for just £180  here

If you’re already a Beachbody on Demand customer, you can get everything you need for 80 Day Obsession (workout calendar, resistance bands, strength sliders, portion fix containers) with Shakeology here, with performance supplements here, or with both here. 

There are a variety of different combinations of BOD access, 80 Day Obsession accessories, Shakeology and performance supplements available. Do drop me a line if you’re not sure which is right for you or if you’d like more information about this programme or anything else.

80 Day Obsession, Uncategorized

80 Day Obsession Diary – Day 63 – AAA (including Phase 3 Arms, Abs, and Ass review/moves list)

sophiemunday

I’m always quite a fan of the AAA workouts. They really zone in on the body parts I care the most about while also giving a good allover workout and getting the heart rate up. They also make great use of the full range of weights, bands, and sliders. This instalment was no different.

The Phase 2 version was insanely complicated, with tons of moves packed in. Here, the structure is back to the way it was in Phase 1 (albeit with more challenging exercises), which I prefer.  2 “arm” moves (which are really general upper body – they involve shoulders, back, chest etc, rather than just the triceps and biceps you’d usually associate with an arm workout), 1 abs move, and 1 booty move (which in many cases also gets the legs).

As before, the focus is on working the negative: so you get into the move for a single count, then come out of it for three counts, which really ups the agony – and presumably, the effectiveness! In Phase 3, the one difference is on the booty moves, where instead, you get into a move (for example, a side lunge, complete with both bands and weights) and hold it for a count of three. Ouch!

 

Moves List

Series 1

  • Czech Press
  • Arm Raise
  • Wind screen wipers (on the sliders, move one leg out to near-90 degrees and bend towards that side)
  • Side Lunge Hold

Series 2

  • Bridge Pullover
  • Camel bicep curl
  • Weighted twisting rolldown
  • Marching bridge

Series 3

  • Bridge Chest Press
  • Tricep Kickback in Lunge
  • Weighted Knee drops (weight held at chest and legs at 90 degrees, tip knees sideways towards the floor, one side then the other)
  • Curtsy Lunge Pulse (on sliders, do a curtsy, pull leg in and out three times, then stand)

***

If you don’t currently have access to BOD, you can get a year’s subscription, a month’s supply of Shakeology, and all the accessories you need for 80 Day Obsession for just £180  here

If you’re already a Beachbody on Demand customer, you can get everything you need for 80 Day Obsession (workout calendar, resistance bands, strength sliders, portion fix containers) with Shakeology here, with performance supplements here, or with both here. 

There are a variety of different combinations of BOD access, 80 Day Obsession accessories, Shakeology and performance supplements available. Do drop me a line if you’re not sure which is right for you or if you’d like more information about this programme or anything else.