Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 18

Day 18 was shoulders in Lift 4 (which was an interval workout) and 645 cardio immediately followed by Lift 4's foam rolling. The shoulder workout was good. The microplates worked well to increase weight, but not so much that my form was compromised. Doing the foam rolling after the 645 cardio (which was the less intense version again) helped a lot, both to cooldown and to work out knots in my muscles.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 17

Day 17 was the rest day in Lift 4 and 645 cardio. I decided that I am going to do one of the Lift 4 recovery workouts every day, alternating between the roll and recover routine and the stretching routine. I will do it after the 645 cardio as a cooldown. Then, on Sunday, I will do both of the recovery routines. So today, I did the 645 cardio routine with exercises that are harder for me and then did the Lift 4 stretch routine immediately after. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 16

Day 16 was the back and biceps circuit workout from Lift 4 and 645 cardio. Again, I mostly used the microplates to add 2.5 lbs to most of the exercises, which was a good way to increase weight while maintaining proper form. In the 645 workout, I chose more intense exercises since there was no HIIT in the Lift 4 workout. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 15

Day 15 was the start of week 3, which means increasing the amount of weight on the Lift 4 exercises. This was the chest and triceps workout, which is a 50/50 workout in week 3. I used the microplate magnets to add weight to my metal dumbbells, which was all I needed for most of the exercises to make them more challenging. I chose very low-impact exercises in the 645 cardio workout since the Lift 4 workout had the HIIT component.  That worked out well.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 14

On Day 14, I did the two Lift 4 recovery workouts in the morning and then the 645 cardio workout in the evening. There are no major details to discuss about either of them. I did include more intense exercises in the 645 workout since there was no Lift 4 cardio today.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 13

For Day 13, I just did the 645 cardio routine. It went fine, and I added back in the squat jacks to make it a bit more challenging since today is an off day in Lift 4. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 12

Day 12 was legs in Lift 4 and then the 15-minute cardio workout from 645. Since Lift 4 was the HIIT workout (with high-knee runs, triple bear, catcher's jumps, and jump lunges), I again kept the 645 workout less intense with moves that had less impact. That worked well for the second day in a row so I am going to keep doing that for now.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 11

Day 11 was the shoulders workout (an interval workout) in Lift 4 and the 15-minute cardio workout from 645. The shoulder workout went well but was challenging, mostly because of the pace. I decided that on the days Lift 4 has cardio, I will do less intense exercises in the 645 workouts just to give my knees and back a break. So, today, I mixed in high-knee runs, speed skaters, soccer runs, and heismans. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 10

Day 10 was the rest day in Lift 4, so I did the 645 cardio workout in the morning and the Lift 4 recovery routines in the evening. Both went fine. I was again switching up the HIIT moves in the 645 workout, this time incorporating the Heisman and squat jacks from Insanity and mountain climbers and soccer runs. That keeps me from getting bored in the workouts. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 9

Day 9 was Back and Biceps 50/50 in Lift 4 and the cardio workout from 645. I again did the 645 workout in the morning and the Lift 4 workout in the evening. The lifting portion of the Lift 4 workout was good, but I was tired during the HIIT portion and had to modify the exercises more than I wanted. But I was able to make it through and am looking forward to tomorrow's recovery workouts. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 8

Day 8 was the start of week 2 in Lift 4. That meant doing the chest and triceps workout, which, this week, was a circuit-style workout with four exercises in each block done back-to-back. Then there is a burnout block of wide push-ups followed by triceps push-ups. I did the 645 cardio workout in the morning since I was running a bit behind schedule. The Lift 4 workout was challenging but good. I used the same weight as last week, which was a little tougher in the circuit workout than in the 50/50 workout, but I was able to do all of the reps in each block (even though I did have to pause a couple of times to take a mid-set break). 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 7

For day 7, I just did the 645 cardio. I did ease back a little bit by removing the bear plank for today and going back to speed skaters. That worked well. I did not do the foam rolling or stretching but did use my trigger point handheld roller on my hamstrings, IT band, and calves.  

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 6

Day 6 was basically a repeat of Day 3. I did the 645 cardio workout, followed immediately by the two Lift 4 recovery workouts.  Adding in the bear plank hold as the 5th exercise in the 645 cardio is helpful as I can hold myself in that position for most of the 30 seconds. Once that becomes easy, I will probably start doing triple bear off as opposed to just holding bear plank.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 5

Day 5 was the leg workout in Lift 4 and 645 cardio in the evening. The leg workout was a 50-50 workout, and I could make all of the moves unmodified (albeit a bit slower than the people in the workout) during the HIIT portion, except for the triple bear. I have started to add the bear plank hold to the 645 workouts, so I can hopefully get to the point where I can do triple bear modified or unmodified (they are both equally as bad) by the end of the eight weeks.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 4

Day 4 was shoulders in Lift 4 (which is an interval workout) and cardio from 645. Both workouts went pretty well. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the cardio exercises in the Lift 4 workouts went, as I did not have to modify much at all.  

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 3

For day 3, I did all of the workouts in the morning (since it was the rest day in Lift 4). So I did the 645 cardio, followed immediately by the two Lift 4 recovery workouts. Foam rolling was interesting since it was really the first time I had done it in a few weeks. I had knots in pretty much every muscle, so it felt good to get back to doing the foam rolling.

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 2

Day 2 was the back and biceps workout from Lift 4 and the 645 cardio workout in the evening. My strategy in Lift 4 was the same as yesterday. Use the heaviest weight I could use and maintain perfect form (and pace) for all 10 reps of the resistance exercises, even if that meant using very light weights for some exercises. This one does not have a HIIT component, but in the evening workout, I could definitely tell my cardio fitness was improving as I did not have to modify any of the exercises I did. 

Workout Update: 645 Cardio/Lift 4 Day 1

For the next workout, I decided to go back to Lift 4 but continue the 645 cardio routine with cardio exercises from Lift 4 swapped into the workout. So, on day 1, I did the Lift 4 chest and triceps workout in the morning and the 645 cardio workout in the evening. In the Lift 4 workout I dropped the amount of weight down so I can focus on form (and get me room to increase the amount of weight over the course of the program). I also got some of those magnetic microplates that you can add to the end of non-coated dumbbells to get another 2.5 lbs. That should help me increase the weights on some exercises where a 5lb jump will be too much. In the 645 workout, I added mountain climbers to the mix of exercises so I can get better at them and, hopefully, by the end of the 8 weeks of Lift 4, be able to actually run for the entire 30 or 45 seconds. 

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 54

This was the final day of the Hybrid workout. I did Speed 1.0 from T25 in the morning and full body HIIT in Lift 4 in the evening. Both of the workouts were tough (the double cardio days tended to be the hardest), but I got through them. For my next workout combination, I am going to continue to do the modified 645 cardio workout in the mornings, and then in the evening, I am going to do the three-week Muscle Burns Fat workout. Over the weekend, I am just going to do the 645 cardio workout and possibly do some stretching, but I want to recover a bit before starting up the new workout on Monday. 

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 53

Day 53 was shoulders and arms in Lift 4 and Cardio 1.0 in T25. As was the case in week 7, the shoulders and arms workout is a circuit workout with two quad sets and a three-exercise burnout. You do all of the same exercises that you did in week 7 just with the order of the exercises switched up. The  T25 workout went well. I was again able to do more unmodified exercises for longer.