Septermber 27-Resistance Bands 2

Today was another day of resistance bands. I really liked today because although it wasn't extremely hard or fast pace I could feel my muscles working really hard in each exercise. The crunches and ab workouts with the resistance band added extra work on my abs so I could really feel them working. I liked that a lot! The arm lifts were definitely more effective for me than last class. On Tuesday I didn't really feel them and I'm not sure why...maybe because the resistance band was so small and I was afraid to break it the first time. The one thing I don't like to much is walking back and forth with the resistance band just because it feels a little awkward. We finished with push ups like usual which was easier today because we started at 8. Even though we made it easier it still felt good that I could get through the whole thing at a good pace now. I'm going to the AFC later today with my roommate and I think it would be cool to show her some of the resistance workouts and push up routine!

September 25-Resistance Bands

So today's class felt a little more relaxed because we were using the resistance bands. Jenna explained this is because we were focusing on control more than anything. I actually kinda liked this because it's the beginning of the week and I'm tired so it was a good way to ease into working out. I really felt my lower abs working when we did the crunch and then tied the resistance band around our legs. The glute exercise was also cool(even though it caused me to break a resistance band). I think it would have been easier or more comfortable if the the resistance band was a little longer. I didn't really feel that much when I was doing the arm lifts but maybe if I had done more repetitions I would have. The hardest part about today was definitely the end! We did planks continuously from the left side to center to right side. And each side we did raises and in the center we did forwards/backwards. It was tiring! By the time I got to push ups I was super tired. On the bright side, it was a really good way to get my blood pumping and heart racing.

September 20- Medicine Balls

Today's class focused on doing exercises from last class and adding a medicine ball in. This made the workouts even more challenging! We started with side to side stretches and I could feel a deeper stretch with the addition of the medicine ball. It also felt like the ball was pulling me down so it helped with a balance challenge. We then moved on to squats and the added weight on my legs definitely made them burn. I was sore from last class so this will definitely add on to the feeling! We took a break here and then came back for ab exercises. The cherry pickers were the hardest part for me and burned a lot. The jack crunches were hard to get used to, I was a little clumsy with ball at first but after i got a good pace I liked it. We also did L ups which surprisingly didn't hurt too much. The hardest part for me was doing the arms. The planks and planks-touch out weren't that bad but the push-ups were super challenging for me. I could feel my arms getting tired. We ended like usual with our push up routine which I can feel is starting to get easier, and that's really encouraging!

September 18- Medicine Ball Preview

Today the exercises we did were what we are going to do with the medicine balls. We started without the medicine balls to get a feel for each exercise. We won't be able to do the exercises with the medicine ball if we are unable to do them without them first. 
After warming up, we used the exercise balls to stretch to left and right. Adding the ball added more resistance so I felt the stretch even more and it was more challenging. We did exercises like push out crunches and next time we will have the medicine ball between our legs. We also did things like planks and plank touches in which we will balance on the medicine ball. I know that the medicine ball will make these workouts even more challenging because they'll add extra weight and make balancing tougher. I really like the cherry pickers exercise because I can really feel my abs working and I know I will feel it even more when the medicine ball is added. I also am interested to see how the squats will feel with the medicine ball and where I will feel my muscles working. I know next class will definitely be challenging but I'm excited to see how much i can do.

9/13: Core Training Stations Day 2

Today was day two of stations and this time we incorporated exercise balls.This was the first station I started at and I really enjoyed it. I feel like it added a little more difficulty to the exercises because we had to use balance along with the workout. I enjoyed the push out crunches the most because I could really feel the burn in my lower abs doing that since the ball added a little more weight. The push ups were also a little more difficult because it was harder to keep my balance but I like that work out and hope we do it next class.

After the exercise balls we moved on to the superman station. For some reason today I really felt it in my glute and lower thigh region so I was glad to give that area of my body a rest when we moved on to lower abs. Abs are my favorite so I enjoyed that station the most.  Then we moved on to push ups which I was dreading. Push ups are still the hardest for me but I can kind of feel myself getting stronger because they get a little easier each time. I can't wait to see how I feel about them by the end of the semester. We then moved on to planks which definitely tests my endurance but I like that challenge a lot. It hurts but I really want to keep doing it so I can get stronger. We finished with arm circles and holds which I think was a good place to end. I enjoyed stations today; I feel like I got to go to more stations than last class and had a little more drive to keep doing the workouts on my own.

September 11- Core Training Station Day

Today's class was different from the usual routine. Instead of doing workouts as a class we split up into pairs and traveled to different stations that targeted different parts of the body. I started at station 8 which focused on lower abs. We started off with scissor legs and walking scissors which I thought were the hardest out of all the exercises. I feel my lower abs really working and I like that because I know I'm doing it correctly and I know I'll see results in the strength of my lower abs. We followed scissor legs with leg raises and flutters which were a little easier for me. Then we did push out crunches. That was hard because we had to do 10 sets of 20. After awhile it really started to burn but the good thing was that because we were doing it in smaller groups we could pace ourselves to a rhythm that was appropriate for us. We finished our lower ab work out with L ups. Then we moved onto station 9 which worked on the butt. This station was very hard because it consisted of lots of lunges and squats. My legs were definitely burning. I liked this station because fire hydrant leg lifts and kicks are some of my favorite exercises. I feel like you can really feel those muscles working when you do these work outs. The last station I got to was station 1: supermans. I like doing supermans because you feel it throughout your abs and legs so I feel like it's a good workout to target multiple parts of the body. Today was good because I had to force myself to keep doing the exercises without the help of a teacher. I liked the stations but I also really like doing things as a whole class and look forward to doing that next class.

September 6: Focus on Abs!

Today's class was all about working on our abs. A lot of the exercises we did targeted the lower portion of our abs. We did some common things such as scissor crunches and superman but there was also some variation. For example, we did scissor kicks but instead of holding our legs at one position we moved them up and down for 30 seconds (2 reps). I definitely felt the burn in my lower abs the the lower my legs got to the ground. We also did a pilates 100; I hadn't done this exercise in a really long time but it's one of my favorites. One of the hardest parts for me today was the backwards crunch. In this exercise instead of moving our head up and down, we moved our knees from a 90 degree angle to an extended position. We did A LOT of these and after awhile it really started to burn but I felt good afterwards! We also did some planks and leg rolls which i enjoyed a lot. The class ended with the usual push up routine. We do 10 push ups then raise our arms to ceiling 1 times. We keep doing this until we get down to 1 push up and raising our arms up 10 times. It's definitely an exercise that tests your endurance but I like the fact that we do it every class because I do always avoid working my arm muscles.

First Day. 9/4

Since I just transferred to the class today was my first experience with the class. We started off with a warm-up jog including high kicks and butt kicks. It was a good way to get my body ready for the upper arm exercises of the day. The workout started with push-ups and planks - a good, easy way to ease into the rest of the exercises. We built off of those common work outs by adding kicks. That definitely got my blood circulating! We led into arm circles and lifts using small weights. The weights offered good resistance and it definitely got harder along the way. After taking a break we focused on abs in order to give our upper body a rest. The ab workouts included crunches and variations of the superman. To end, we went back to planks and push ups incorporating both into one single work out. We held the plank for 10 seconds then alternated between putting our elbows up and down. It was a hard exercise and required a lot of stamina. To finish class off, we cooled down by stretching. It was a hard first day but I enjoyed it a lot and am super excited for Thursday!