Health and Fitness – Page 4 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

Focus T25 Complete!

Yesterday was a good day. After starting Beachbody’s and Shaun T’s Focus T25 program several months ago, I finally completed the last week of the Beta phase. To sum up: the program was awesome!

Looking back at my calendar, I began the program on July 15th, and ended on November 10th. The 10 week program took much longer than I had hoped, but I’m okay with this. Hiking was my priority activity throughout the summer, and with visitors and trips, I had to space out the Alpha workouts. Beta began on September 30th, and minus the one week of being sick that I took off, I had a very consistent Beta phase.

Twenty-five minutes a day. That’s all it really took. As the months went on, I noticed my cardio health improving. I was able to do more push-ups. I could stretch out my muscles more and more. And I never became bored. What I loved about the program was how enjoyable I found it (except for Rip’t Circuit, which did not keep me as engaged as some of the other workouts). My favourites: Speed 2.0 and Core Speed. These non-stop heart-pumping workouts always flew by, which makes sense when you’re moving and sweating like crazy for 25 minutes straight. I definitely feel healthier after the program, but admittedly, I don’t see as many physical results as I had hoped. With that said, I did manage to lose some of the post-Ireland pounds that I gained :).

I can’t say I was the best at keeping track of measurements, but I did manage to follow a decent nutrition schedule. My hopes for the next round of fitness: drink more water, get more sleep, increase my caloric intake, and learn to incorporate more variety into my meal preps.You know… same ol’ same ol’ :). And even though the program is over, I’ll continue with the Focus T25 workouts (Gamma phase is most likely next). When there’s a busy schedule, you just can’t beat 25 minutes a day!

Prepping for Focus T25 Beta Week 4

I just took the past week off of Focus T25. Nooooo! All my gains are now lost! Just kidding- I don’t get all flustered when I miss a few days here and there. The most important thing is to listen to your body, especially when cold and flu season is in full swing. That was the case this past Monday, when I awoke feeling a bit off. By the end of the day, body chills had hit me and I was dealing with quite the headache. Since I was going strong for quite some time, I realized that it was my body’s way of saying “slow down!”. It felt good to take a bit of a breather. I had a day and half off of work and basically slept.

But enough! Now that I’m all better, it’s time to get into the right mind set for the 4th week of T25’s Beta phase. And every successful fitness week begins with meal prep. I figured this week I would go simple: bake a bunch of chicken, steam some rice and mixed beans, have a few roasted potatoes, and of course, finish with some raw veggies. 5 lunch boxes; 5 days of the week. It’s time to bring it and get back on schedule :).

Focus T25: Beta Week 3

It’s not easy getting back into the swing of things after Thanksgiving, but it sure feels great. After eating two huge meals this weekend, I still managed to get Speed 2.0 in yesterday, and I just completed Upper Focus today. I’m really enjoying the program so far- it’s always a challenging 25 minutes. I think starting next week, I’m going to work in some of the gamma workouts. But as well as things are going, it’s a lot of cardio (maybe too much?), and I think I’ll switch focus to more weight training soon. Body Beast is just around the corner… as long as my right elbow holds up. Curse that tendonitis!

Run for the Cure 2013

It’s been several years since I’ve done the Run for the Cure. Actually, I believe the last time I did the run was before I left Ontario to head west! So it was great to be able to participate in the CIBC 5K Run for the Cure with my family this year. Ry decided to sign us up for the picturesque Mississauga location, which included a start at the UofT Mississauga campus. Despite the rain and gloomy clouds, the vibe was really positive and energetic. After all, this is a run to end breast cancer. So many supporters and participants came out for their sisters, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, friends, and colleagues. It’s also inspiring to see survivors and those tackling breast cancer each day. This year, over $27 million was raised nationally for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation- wow. It was also great to spend time with my brothers and mum. With me being in Calgary, quality face-to-face time is few and too far between…

Focus T25: Beta, Week 1

Today I finished week 1 of the beta phase of T25. I loved this week’s workouts. My favourite is by far Speed 2.0- the variety of moves and speed of their execution were fun to learn and by the end, it was awesome to put them all together for 8 counts each. Also, I enjoyed the introduction of weights to the workouts for Rip’t Circuit and Upper Focus. So far, this Focus T25 is turning out to be a great program. I’ve been experiencing a little bit of tightness in my right IT band, so it’s time to get back to the foam roller, as well as massages and physiotherapy. Those have done wonders in the past!