Catherine Delannoy

Day Five – Abs Workout

If you think a minute goes by fast, you’ve never done a plank before.

Kris J Simpson

Yesterday, I took the day off from working out. My muscles were aching, and I realised that there was no way I would have a productive workout while they hurt so much. However, today is a new day, and it involved a new workout devised by 8fit – this time a nine-minute workout devised for my abs. I also got my husband to workout (and struggle) alongside me.

8fit made this workout seems easy – just a nine minute workout, with no traditional crunches or sit-ups. However, they’re a bit cheeky – no breaks were allowed.

So, if I didn’t do any crunches or sit-ups, what did I do? Well…

  • Forearm plank – 1 minute
  • Sidekicks – 15 seconds right, 15 seconds left
  • Isometric V-ups – 30 second hold
  • Plank hip dips – 30 seconds
  • Walking lunges – 30 seconds

For my first plank, I completed the minute completely on my toes. However, my abs were still aching from last week’s workout, so for my second and third I modified the plank and did them on my knees. Similarly, I switched between knees and toes for my plank hip dips.

I’m not sure about how much my abs will really be strengthened by a nine minute workout – last weeks workout seemed much more intense. However, it does feel great to be sticking to a workout routine (even if it’s just my 4th real workout since starting – not counting cycling).

On a slightly different note, one thing I have really liked with all the workouts I’ve used so far is the pictures and/or gifs that are provided alongside. They really help me to quickly figure out what I’m meant to be doing, which saves me from having to Google what an exercise is.

Till tomorrow – stay happy and healthy!

Catherine Delannoy

Day Three – Arm Workout

Biceps for show, triceps for go.

Adam Peaty

According to a study from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, women naturally have 80-90% of the lower body strength that men do, but just 50-60% of the upper body strength.

So what does that translate to? More pain for me during arm workouts! More seriously though, I don’t tend to look forward to arm workouts. However, this one, for whatever reason, felt different. I enjoyed today’s workout, although that may be down to something as simple as enjoying being in a new routine.

Today, I used 8fit’s workout for stronger, toned arms, and I did both their bodyweight and free weight exercises. They say to do the program 3-4 times so, as a minimalist, I did 3. However, the sets for each exercise varied, like so:

  • Inchworms – 5 reps
  • Plank to push-ups – 10 total reps, 5 each side
  • Tricep dips – 10 reps
  • Incline push-ups – 8 reps
  • Bicep curls – 12 reps
  • Overhead tricep extensions – 12 reps
  • Lateral raises – 8 reps
  • Bent over rows – 10 reps
  • Standing tricep kickbacks – 10 reps

The image for the standing tricep kickbacks was wrong, so I referred to the instructions, and did a quick Google image search before starting the kickbacks, to make sure I was doing the exercise correctly.

Today, I decided to do each three sets in a row for each exercise, so I wouldn’t have to go back to exercises I enjoy least (i.e. inchworms and plank to push-ups). The only exception was for the bicep curls and overhead tricep extensions, where I did a set of bicep curls, followed by a set of overhead tricep extensions and repeated the process three times.

I was really careful to take my time with the exercises, taking a break if my form started to suffer. I’ve learnt from experience that exercising with bad form isn’t worth the injuries it can cause.

If you care about the weights I used, feel free to read this part, otherwise feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph. For the bicep curls, I used both of my dumbells, which each had 2.5 kg worth of weights, along with the metal bars from the dumbells (which weigh about 2.3 kg), and I used just one of the dumbells for the overhead tricep extensions. For the lateral raises, I used just the metal bars, and for the bent over rows and standing tricep kickbacks I used the metal bars with just one 1.25 kg weight on each.

Despite my arms still being tense (and a little shaky) post-workout, today was really good, and I think this was my best workout so far. I noticed myself taking much shorter breaks between exercises, which I think was more due to having built some mental resilience than anything else.

So, how are my muscles feeling after my first three days of working out? Sore mainly. I must have been fairly out of shape, as my leg muscles still haven’t recovered from their workout two days ago, and my ab muscles tense every time I move position! I can only imagine my arm muscles are going to follow suit tomorrow. Good thing it’s my legs being worked tomorrow!

Weight today: 68.7 kg – 13.7 kilos left to goal weight!