Tag: workout reviews

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.

 

80 Day Obsession, Uncategorized

80 Day Obsession Diary – Day 62 – Booty (including Booty Phase 3 Review and moves list)

sophiemunday

First things first – I really love this workout. Hand on heart, I’ve found that some of the Phase 3 Workouts border on being either a little too difficult or a little too complicated, but for me at least, this one was the perfect mix of challenging but achievable, and interesting but easy to follow.

It’s actually fairly similar to leg day. Don’t get me wrong – you definitely get a good bum workout – but your whole lower body gets blasted and there’s quite a cardio effect. It really throws everything at you: solid weight-based moves, band moves, slider moves, jumping moves – and several moves that combine two or more of this element.

I’ve done it twice so far, and both times, with the 15×15 pattern and the 10x10x10 pattern, it’s gone really fast.

MOVES LIST

Series 1

  • Side squat hop hold (ie. squat jumps from side to side)
  • Kneeling lateral crawl to half surrender (by far the most painful move of the day. it’d be a challenge just as a body weight exercise, with bands AND a weight, it really had me groaning)
  • Single-leg hamstring slide

Series 2

  • Single leg runners jump with weight
  • Single leg hinge (sort of like the flamingos/good mornings we’ve seen before, but pulling up and down on a band at the same time)
  • Slider reverse pulse lunge

Series 3

  • Narrow squat rock (squat, go up on tip-toes in the squat, come back up)
  • Front lunge, side lunge (fairly self-explanatory, but combining weights and bands makes this a challenge
  • Side lunge to curtsey (done on the sliders. it’s a classic example of a move that feels easy for the first few reps then quickly turns into torture)

***

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 61 – Cardio Core (including Phase 3 Cardio Core review and moves list)

sophiemunday

Much as I love this programme, I was honestly dreading this particular workout. As I’ve mentioned several times on this blog, I’m much more confident with strength-training than cardio. One of the great things about this programme is that it’s forced me to do more cardio, and I’ve definitely got better at it over the last few weeks. But I felt like Phase 2 Cardio Core pushed me close to my limits (which is great) and I was therefore scared that the Phase 3 version would push me past my limits (not so good).

I missed this workout last week (because I ran out of time, not because of the dread!) but this time, I felt the fear and did it anyway. And actually, it wasn’t that bad. With the notable exception of the last round, which I’ll come to in a minute, it didn’t feel notable harder than Phase 2, and arguably, almost felt easier. Or maybe I’ve genuinely just got fitter, who knows? For the avoidance of doubt though, I’m emphatically not saying it was easy. Phase 2 Cardio Core was a challenge and so was this. It’s just that it hadn’t shot into the realms of the impossible.

The format is the same as ever: 30 seconds of a relatively low-intensity move, 30 seconds of a high-intensity move, repeat both moves twice more, then do a core move. 6 rounds, then repeat all 6 core moves back to back. I really like this structure. It makes the workout go fast, it gives you a little space to catch your breath while still keeping your heartrate up, and it’s great to get some core work in there. And with lots of jumping, lunging and squating, you end up getting a solid lower body workout in too, not just burning fat and calories.

There are quite a lot of moves that reappear from various earlier workouts, which I actually quite appreciated. It’s not so bad in strength-based workouts, but with fast-paced ones like this, I sometimes struggle with learning new moves. Although that does bring me to the one exception to my general conclusion that this wasn’t as hard as I’d feared – mules. Hands up who struggles with the 4, 6, or 8 reps of mules that cardio flow requires you to do each week. If that’s you, you’re going to love 30 solid seconds of mules three times in succession. Not sure how many reps that is, because I was focused on trying not to fall over or pass out!

MOVES LIST

Round 1:

  • Butt kicks
  • Saddle jumps (really hit your inner thighs!)
  • Side plank foot slide

Round 2:

  • Side to side bounces
  • lunge jump
  • Knee pulls

Round 3:

  • Cross country skiers, double tap
  • squat jump twist
  • Plank arm slides

Round 4:

  • Tires
  • Pop-ups (burpees where you come up into a squat rather than all the way up)
  • Side Plank toe taps

Round 5:

  • Rocking horse (one day I’ll be coordinated enough to do these smoothly!)
  • Step-through
  • Teasers to pike

Round 6:

  • Out-Out, In-In
  • Mules (Kill. Me.)
  • V-ups and knee pulls

***

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.