Round 4: Day 30: Cardio Intervals

Yesterday officially kicked off Phase 2 of Round 4, and I had my son take the traditional 30 day photos. These weren't as impressive to me as those taken 30 days ago; perhaps the difference is that the official photographer was standing farther away from his impressive subject, making the subject appear smaller and less developed than in true life. No matter. The next photo shoot will take subject distance into account which will, no doubt, lead to more pleasing results.

I've now done Cardio Intervals three times, and I think you get out of it what you put into it. It's not a bad workout, but it doesn't really kick my butt. It's certainly not Plyometrics nor Intervals X Plus. It's just a decent, fairly light cardio routine. I tried really hard to be extra intense today, but still managed to work up only a mild sweat and never really found myself huffing and puffing. Perhaps I should be pairing this routine with Medicine Ball Core Cardio, to find that little extra burn. On the other hand, I wasn't particularly in the mood for exercising this morning, as it is Monday morning, and my body was asking for a bit of extra sleep. However, as it is the start of Phase 2, I think it's time for a serious program review, and, judging from my posts over the last 30 days, some revisions are in order. This week, I'll make the necessary adjustments and try to push myself a little bit harder and see whether I can obtain some improved results.

Yesterday, I took the plunge and purchased a set of PowerBlocks, model Sport 5.0. They range from 5-50 lbs in 5 lb increments. I've seen them in stores before, but had forgotten how large the full 50 lb set is. They're really rather sizeable. However, per the ads, when I placed the 10 lb stack beside my 10 lb dumbbell, the solid dumbbell was, in fact, larger than the PowerBlock stack. That was impressive. I'm looking forward to using the new dumbbells in the appropriate exercises. There will be a bit of a learning curve, because I'm not sure which weights are the equivalents of the resistance bands I've been using to date, but that will likely occur only once; after that, I'll be using the new weights as a revised benchmark for future reference.