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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Twelve Days of Fitness Blog Challenge: Day Four


Day Four of my Fit Armadillo Twelve Days of Fitness Blog Challenge is here! I have a great group rocking the challenge with me, but there's always room for more. If you're interested in joining the challenge, request to be added to our group on Facebook by clicking HERE>>

My Day Four Workout:

Today is my last full day in Connecticut visiting family for the holidays so I wanted to get my workout out of the way ASAP.  I dragged my hubby and dad along to the LA Fitness in town with a plan to get in a quick swim and to try out one more fitness class during my time off.  I whipped up a quick breakfast and had everyone out the door by 7:33 AM.  We rolled up to the gym at 7:45 AM as planned, but when we got to the parking lot there was no one in sight.  My dad was ready to leave, but I figured that there had to be someone there soon since the class was starting at 8:30 AM.

Sure enough, at 8 AM one of the employees showed up and let us into the gym. I was pretty surprised that LA Fitness opens this late, but apparently they do! I made a beeline to the pool so I wouldn't have to share a lane and ended up swimming laps for 25 minutes. I had my own lane for all of 5 minutes, but a nice lady joined me for the remainder of my swim so it wasn't too bad.

After the pool I showered off quickly and was ready for the Boot Camp Conditioning class. Class started with a 10 minute warm-up, which consisted of some marching, jumping jacks, and side steps. A few dynamic stretching moves finished off the initial 15 minutes of class.  Next, our instructor, Gary, had us march in place while he demonstrated 7 stations that he had setup.  The circuit stations we were to complete were the following:

1. Push-ups with a leg up twice and then push-ups with a knee tuck
2. Bicycle crunches
3. Four jabs and an overhead press with 5 lb weights, weights to the floor
4. Cone run: Jog forward, backwards, forwards, backwards
5. Side lunge with a weight drop right, side lunge with a weight drop left, pick up weight right, pick up
    weight left
6. Heavy bag punch: Jab, Jab, Uppercut, Uppercut
7.  On a step: Step up, bicep curl, Step down, step up, overhead press

We completed each station for 2 minutes before switching stations.  After this 14 minute circuit, we did a five minute cardio routine which was similar to our warm-up, but a little more fast paced and included some jump roping in place.  Once this cardio segment was complete, we were marching in place again while our second 7 station circuit was described:

1. Push-up with a twist (side plank)
2. Leg lowers x 10, Bicycle crunch x 10
3.  Overhead press to squat to put weights on floor
4.  Cone run: side shuffles
5. Forward lunge to curl to overhead press
6.  Heavy bag punch: "knockout round" (constant punching)
7.  Right foot on bench, step up and tap left foot and repeat until fatigued and repeat with left foot on bench.

Gary had us stay at these stations for 1.5 minutes.  Then, we wrapped up class with some abs: arms up to the ceiling with a crunch, arms between legs with a crunch, toes taps left and right ("shimmy"), and a flutter kick for the lower abs. For the low back we did "swimmers" keeping the booty tight and lifting up our legs and arms while face down.  Finally, we stretched things out and packed up all our supplies.

I enjoyed this class a lot more than the Body Works Plus Abs one I took on Tuesday and am glad I was able to check it out.  I feel great now that I'm done with my workout early and am excited to spend some time with my family before heading back to Texas tomorrow.

How about you? What's your workout today? 



For some fitness inspiration read some of the posts from other blog challenge members here: 

Diatta shares her Day 4 workout HERE>>
Dyson just joined us! Read her story and cheer her on HERE>>
Tonya checks in for her second day HERE>>
LaShandra didn't allow her gym's daycare closing early to keep her from her Day 4 workout! Check out her post HERE>>
Nadya does some Qigong and showcases one of her talents HERE>>
Christy checks in from snowy Wyoming HERE>>