Shaun T – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

Focus T25: Time for Gamma

So after a very successful Focus T25 round of Alpha and Beta, I decided to take a break. I initiated my yoga and stretch challenge, and all was great for a week! But then I thought- I need to do more. Not surprisingly, I got a bit antsy, and have now doubled up on my activity. Yoga and stretching are still important over the next few weeks as I head into day 10 of the challenge, but on Monday, I decided to start T25’s Gamma round!

Gamma is all about strength. Of course, the usual speed workout and high intensity cardio are still there, but now, many of the moves are done with weights- burpees and weights, balancing with weights, push ups with weights, and the list goes on. I may be tired these days, but I’m loving the amount of fitness activity this fall. Other than generally staying fit and healthy, there is a purpose to rebuilding my muscles, emphasizing stretching and yoga, and attending physiotherapy to get my arm all fixed up (I think I have a case of tennis elbow :S). It’s all in preparation for the new fitness regimen, starting January 2014. Oh there’s a plan… and I can’t wait!

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!

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!