Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Showing posts with label Shaun-T. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shaun-T. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

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.

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 52

Day 52 was the rest day in Lift 4, and for a cardio workout, I just did the modified version of the 645 15-minute workout (using some moves from Lift 4 and some moves from T25 in place of a few exercises they are doing in the video). I managed to make it a good workout with all standing exercises.  Because there is no warmup, I go a little easier in the first round, and then go all out in the second and third rounds until I get tired.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 51

Day 51 was Legs in Lift 4 and Speed 1.0 in T25. I did have to modify more of the exercises in T25 than I wanted to, but when I did the HIIT portion of Lift 4, I was able to modify less. So, it was a bit of a wash today. Overall, however, they both went fairly well.  

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 50

Day 50 was the start of week 8 in Lift 4 which was the chest and back workout and Cardio 1.0 from T25. 

Chest and Back was a circuit workout, with four exercises in each block and, of course, three sets of each exercise. Even without cardio, my heart rate was elevated for most of the workout, and I did break a sweat toward the end. The T25 workout went well, and I could again do more unmodified exercises throughout the workout.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 49

For day 49. I just did the modified version of the 15-minute cardio workout from 645. It went well and I found that in the jumping pulse squats because of all the squats in Lift 4 and T45, I could do the 30 seconds in each of the three rounds without modifying.  

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 48

For Day 48, I just did the two recovery routines from Lift 4. They went exactly the same as they did on Wednesday. There was no increased flexibility or mobility, but neither had decreased either.

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 47

Day 47 was speed 1.0 and Full-Body HIIT. Each of them was hard, and I did have to modify each of them a lot. Full-body HIIT has a lot of push-ups (there are push-ups in each of the three blocks), and you have to switch between getting up and down very quickly. After the three regular blocks are finished, you do each of the 6 exercises back-to-back for 30 seconds with no break. So, by the end most people will be toast. 

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 46

Day 46 was shoulders and arms from Lift 4 and Cardio 1.0 from T25. The shoulders and arms workout was a tough circuit workout that went fast and was hard to get through, even with moderate weight. Again, I could do more of the speed 1.0 workout unmodified, but I cannot get through the entire thing without modifying yet.

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 45

Day 45 was the recovery day in Lift 4, meaning I did the two recovery workouts. Then, I did the 15-minute cardio workout from 645 but altered it a bit. I did not do any of the plank-based exercises or the kicktroughs. I swapped those three out for soccer sprints, speed skaters, and high-knee runs from Lift 4 since those get my heart rate up and don't work the chest.

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 44

Day 44 was the legs workout in Lift 4, which was a 50/50 workout, and Speed 1.0 in T25.

Both of the workouts went well, and I was able to do more of the unmodified moves in each of them. My cardio stamina is not where I want it, but it is getting better.

Monday, March 4, 2024

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 43

Day 43 was the start of week 7 (the first shred week) in Lift 4 and Cardio 1.0 from T25. That means the muscle groupings get mixed up in Lift 4, with today's workout being the chest and back circuit workout. Even though this one does not have a HIIT component, it has the three-exercise, three-round burnout, which wipes you out (at least it wipes me out) as much as doing HIIT does.  The T25 workout in the morning again got a little bit easier, especially in the lunges (which have been difficult for me).

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 42

Day 42 was upper and lower body foam rolling from 645. I did both routines back-to-back and definitely felt refreshed after doing them. These are the best foam rolling routines I have done since the P90X2 mobility and recovery routine. Between the two, you foam roll all of your major muscle groups, which is absolutely necessary when doing two-a-day workouts. 

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 41

Day 41 was just the two Lift 4 recovery routines. I don't have anything new to say about either of them. I have not progressed or regressed since I did them on Wednesday.

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 40

Day 40 was Speed 1.0 from T25 and Legs in Lift 4. Of course, because this was an even-numbered week in Lift 4, it means that the legs workout was a HIIT workout.  So, this day was a lot of cardio, which I actually liked. It was hard, and I still have to modify, but each workout gets a little bit easier.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 39

Day 39 was Cardio 1.0 in T25 and Shoulders (which was an interval workout) in Lift 4.

The T25 workout and the HIIT portion of the Lift 4 workout went pretty well. I could do more unmodified versions of the moves for a longer period of time. I was mostly able to stay with the increased weight in the lifting portion of the Lift 4 workout, but I did have to drop the weight I was using for swimmers after the first set.  

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 38

Day 38 was the recovery day for Lift 4, so I did the two recovery workouts followed immediately by the 645 15-minute cardio routine. The 645 routine has you do three rounds of 5 different moves (jump lunges, alternating side planks, walkout shoulder taps, pulse to jump squats, and side kickthroughs). It is similar to the Lift 4 interval HIIT in which you do each move for 30 seconds. You get 15 seconds to transition between moves and you get 30 seconds of rest between each round. So, it is a challenging workout, but it does go by quickly. There is no warm-up or cooldown so you have to do that on your own (if you want). Doing the Lift 4 foam rolling and stretching before this workout did help. 

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 37

Day 37 was Speed 1.0 in T25 and Back and Biceps 50/50 in Lift 4.

The T25 workout went very well as I was able to do a lot more of it unmodified. But, because of that, the HIIT during the Lift 4 workout was harder (it is the hardest HIIT workout in the program to that point), so I ended up modifying a lot of the HIIT moves in that one. The lifting portion of the Lift 4 workout went quickly, and I was able to use the increased amount of weight that I used last week.  

Monday, February 26, 2024

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 36

Day 36 is the start of week 6 in Lift 4, which was the Chest and Triceps circuit. That was a rough one, even without the HIIT component. My heart rate was up the entire time. I did not go onto the T25 beta round yet. Instead, I am going to do T25 cardio on Mon and Thurs, Speed 1.0 on Tues and Fri, and the 15-minute 645 bonus workout on Wednesday. That way, I can keep getting my cardio in, without the additional bodyweight strength training so I do not get as gassed in the evening Lift 4 workouts. 

Workout Update: T25/Lift-4/645 Corrective and Foam Rolling- Day 35

For day 35 I just did the lower body foam rolling routine from Lift 4. I did not do the T25 stretch. My legs definitely needed foam rolling because despite foam rolling yesterday, my hamstrings, IT band,  and hips were still tight.