Remember my goal as I approach my mid-30?
A – for efforts to stick to the plan of strength training.
F – for actual execution of the plan.

Here’s what I tried, my experience and the one routine I’m going to stick with to move forward.


p90x

• Why should I do it? – Everyone raves about it, it has a wide variety of exercises, it really shows the results in 90 days, etc. 
• What’s stopping me from doing it? – Way too tough for my fitness level. I got the DVDs and excitedly popped the day 1 (Shoulders and Arms) in. What a colossal failure! 7 minutes is all I lasted of this 53 min DVD, of which 5 mi was warmup. 
• What now? – I will revisit this one day when I can do 10 pushups well. Until then I’ll use the Kenpo X and the Yoga/Stretch X.

Body Sculpt classes at the Y

• Why should I do it? – I love the group exercise setting, hardcore workouts for 1 hr, great instructors.
• What’s stopping me from doing it? – I am always super sore for 2-3 days which would give me lead legs while running.The time schedule gets messed up with the husband’s work and then my running days. 
• What now? – I will have to shelve this for a while, until Chicago atleast. 

My own thing at the Y

• Why should I do it? – My time, my plan (researched and with help from trainers), lots of eye candy at the weights area at the gym 
• What’s stopping me from doing it? – Ha! Who am I kidding? I am a lazy chicken and sadly, I don’t have that kind of commitment or discipline. I’ve been meaning to for the past 7 weeks when I rejoined the Y and is has been great achievement if  I’ve done weights ONE day a week.
• What now? –  I hate to admit that this might not be the best way to go as an only strength training routine. Once a week is still good, if I can pair it up with other things.

Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred

• Why should I do it? – @AshleyJoy80 highly recommends it. 30 minutes for 30 days, definitely a winner in terms of time needed.
• What’s stopping me from doing it? – Jillian Michael’s is not exactly my favorite TV trainer. 30 days straight? Hmm… what about muscles tearing, needing time to rebuild, etc etc.
• What now? – I had tried it out one day in the past and while I could feel the workout, I wasn’t dead the next day. So I will give this a go. I can learn to tolerate Jillian for 30 min for a month.

Apart from my overall goal of moving a size down, what I want to get out of the 30 Day Shred Challenge is

• To add strength training back into my routine. The challenge of a 30 day shred seems mild yet disciplined enough for me.
• To stick with something that I don’t really like. It has been 1yr 6months since I stepped out of my comfort zone doing something I didn’t like then – running. And we all know how beneficial its been to me!