Round 7: Day 52: Mason's Choice

Every time I do this workout, I end up feeling gassed by the end. It starts slowly, then builds up in intensity over the course of the workout. By the time it's over, I'm done. I've only done this workout three times, but it's really growing on me.

In keeping with my promise to myself this week, I selected this workout as a way of kicking myself in the duff to get moving and to shake up the status quo. As I write this, my legs are feeling a bit sore, so I'm looking forward to a bit of stretching through yoga tomorrow. In the meantime, I think my schedule revision is starting to have some effect, as I'm feeling a bit more energetic and less sluggish. A decent night's sleep would help, too. I'll have to start paying closer attention to my bedtime.

Bring It!

Round 7: Day 48: Mason's Choice

I'm still here; I've just been somewhat delinquent in posting over the past few days. Today I picked up Mason's Choice again for the second time, and really enjoyed it. It takes me awhile to work up a sweat, but there are times in the latter portion of the workout where I sweat freely and am a bit short of breath. Tony is in good humour, and it's an engaging workout.

I'm still battling motivation issues, and I'd say that this Round hasn't been particularly successful so far, even though I'm heading into my second Recovery Week. Time is passing, results aren't being achieved, improvements aren't being seen, boredom is setting in, weight is up, definition is down, and some muscle has been lost. Not a good situation, I'd say.

Since I haven't been particularly intense, I'm not going to make this an official Recovery Week, but rather a rachet-up-the-intensity-with-cardio week. I'd like to spend one week really pushing myself to increase my energy level and to drop some weight (even if it's water weight). I just want to see if I can jump back onto the fitness bandwagon with a really tough week.

I've got a notion in my mind that I'll finish up this Round, take off a couple of weeks, then do a session of pure Insanity. It will be a change of pace, to say the least, and will shake up my fitness regimen. I'm also interested in seeing whether it will help me melt off some stubborn fat.

On to Week 8.

Round 7: Day 33: Mason's Choice

I dug into my DVD collection today to come up with a cardio routine, and out popped Mason's Choice, also known as Cardio Confusion, from Tony Horton's One on One series.

The workout consists of a series of cardio moves picked at random out of a hat by director Mason Bendewald, then such move is performed by Tony Horton. I wouldn't exactly say that hilarity ensues, but there are light moments, typical of a One on One workout. It's rough, it's raw, it's personal (in a good way).

The moves come from a variety of sources: Power90, P90X, Master Series, and One on One. There were some moves I've never seen before and some I had done previously. Some moves felt awkward, like the Kenpo exercises, but that's probably because my body has never really taken well to kicks and punches. I recall it took weeks before I started feeling comfortable with some of the Kenpo kick and punch combinations and, if I don't do the DVD on a regular basis, it still feels strange when I finally get back to it. Kenpo is just not a particularly natural thing for me. On the other hand, many of the individual exercises were great and overall, this is a workout which, if you put in a strong effort, will bring reward.

One thing I liked about this routine is that there is no equipment involved. At one point, Tony steps outside on the deck to jump some rope, but I substituted jumping jacks for skipping, which successfully maintained an elevated heart rate. At another time, Tony used a medicine ball for press jacks, but I think that exercise can still be effective without carrying an additional 4 lb weight.

Overall, a very pleasant workout experience.