I woke up around 7:00 a.m. with my music alarm to some crazy type of pop music. It get’s me up quickly because I find this type of music irritating (Country Music too).
I went to the Fort Bend YMCA here in Sugar Land to teach the 9:00 a.m. Water Fitness Class. Didn’t know how many people would show up, since it’s a rather chilly morning in the 50’s (this is cold for Houston). The heated pool was great with the water temperature at 80 degrees making it perfect for a class. The bright sun enhanced the class environment as well.
For the 5 people who attended, we had a great time. I played some old Talking Heads music during the brief warm up and then kicked it up a notch playing fast-beat aerobics music. A lot of cardio and lots of plyometic jumping was part of the routine. Since it was cold outside, my goal was to make it a little more intense than usual. We also added the foam dumbbells midway to incorporate some strength training. Again, more jumping and more jumping. Then, we finished off with light stretching/cool down and a few yoga-style deep breathing exercises.
After the class, I had a Twin Lab Choline Cocktail Drink. This is a high antioxidant/high energy drink with a lot of Vitamin C, Ginkgo, Choline, Guarana, and all of the Vitamin B’s. It gives me the lift I need before starting my own workout.
After a brief warm-up, my strength workout consisted of doing supersets for the chest/back muscle groups, and then doing some core work. A superset is two exercises performed consecutively, with no rest between them. Supersets increase workout intensity and, because of the limited rest intervals, heighten fat burning to an even greater degree. I followed a high repetition scheme, aiming for 15 – 20 reps per set. This heightens local muscular endurance and improves muscle tone without promoting significant gains in muscle mass. Rest between sets was 30 seconds, which helped to produce an aerobic effect on the workout. I did 3 sets of the following supersets:
- Dumbbell Incline Press and Machine Seated Row Machine Fly and Lat Pull-Down Machine Decline Dumbbell Press and One Arm Dummbell Row
And, the following 3 core exercises:
- Crunches on stability ball Oblique Crunches on stability ball Planks (3 @ 1 minute each)
The good thing about a superset workout is that it goes quickly. 20 minutes or so. Very practical. But, you really feel the “burn,” making this kind of workout “tough.”
For cardio, I did a 3-minute warm up on the treadmill and then every 2 minutes I did a 25 second sprint at either 7 or 8 on the Speed setting. The Recovery Interval was at the 3.5 Speed setting. And then, a 3-minute cooldown. Total cardio workout time was 16 minutes.