Day 9 – 2nd July – Tools of the Trade

I was very excited yesterday – and not because I got my schedule wrong and found out that last night was Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs (my favourite!) but also because I could to try out my new tools of the trade.

Some of you may recall I posted earlier about getting serious pains in my legs during training and afterwards as well in the bones of my calves. The more observant of you will also note that my black workout mats in the front room were letting me down, often splitting apart. This really limited me more than I realised, especially during intense floor workouts like Ski Abs, In-Outs, Level 2 drills etc. …. Until Last Night.

Last night I donned by brand spanking new ankle supports to protect me from my incorrect foot-landings during high knee exercises AND I had in place my new workout mats. The funny part is that the previous exercise mat was meant for workouts and it slid and broke constantly. My new mats are (I’m not ashamed to say) actually designed for little kids to play on, so it’s firm, has lots of grip but also lots of give. As a result I had the BEST workout ever last night. I could push as hard as I wanted and the mats didn’t split, slide or move. The grip was perfect even for my sweaty palms. I would say that I did Shaun T proud!

This morning I did my mini-Tactfit workout which was totally chest focussed. Basically you do pushups in 5 different hand positions. Then you do it 3 more times with legs in different positions (first is on knees, second is normal plank, third is with your ass in the air to work the shoulders, final is the do it keeping ass lower than shoulders for lower chest). I was expecting it to be harder so I might ramp up the numbers.

Tonight I will not be doing Insanity but will be going to the gym to work on building some size in my chest and arms. Insanity does an awesome job of toning, ripping the body and shedding fat but even the best trainers have been saying that for size, you really should be going beyond the body-weight stuff and hitting the weights. Angry Trainer Fitness actually did recommend a combination of Insanity and weights for those who want a truly ripped figure. Hopefully the combination of the two will help make me a little bit bigger but a lot more ripped.

As a final note before I plug the picture of my awesome kiddy-workout mats: I watched some interviews with Shaun T on YouTube and he is just the nicest guy! Not arrogant or cocky at all but just a really genuine kind of guy.

My New Mats! (Kitty Not Included)