MOTIVATION!!!

What's up everyone? Its been two weeks since I last updated this blog. I had a lot of assignments, quizzes and exams to study for last week. Didn't have as much free time to update the blog like I used to. But I got it done. Its nice to stop and breathe for a little bit but have new course work to get started on so I can't relax for too long. Two things that I have to update, one is I took the Insanity - Fitness Test again. Have to stick with the program of a two week retest. The retest felt good. I started off really strong. Was

able to go full throttle for the first three exercises. Power jumps are just killer because they require you to use your entire body. And also because it is considered a power move, you are trying to be as explosive and quick as possible. It really causes your heartrate to rise very rapidly. I was only able to go full force for the first 30 seconds of the movement. I had to catch my breath for the second 30 seconds that I was supposed to be doing the power jumps. Considering that last time it took my the full 60 seconds to get 30 jumps and it took me 30 seconds to get 30 jumps I would still consider that number an improvement even though it doesn't show as a direct stat.

The second thing that I have to update is my weigh in. Weighed in at 197.6. Finally consistently weighing in under 200 lbs. That makes for a grand total of 14.2 total lbs in two whole months. Progress has slowed down slightly due to having a slightly busier schedule for the month of February. I checked back from the beginning of last month's weigh in and it was 203.8. So that was still a 6.4 lb weight loss for the month. More studying in accounting had to be done to take care of business. March will be busy as well but I should still be able to keep up the high intensity workouts. Its starting to warm up a little bit more so hopefully I'll be able to start going for a morning swim again and then also get in an Insanity workout in as well. When we get to April it going to be on like crazy. No school to worry about during April and then back to another class in May. So that means plenty of workout time and I can run slightly lower calorie intake to increase the weight loss and not suffer in the studies. You should have seen me some days during the month of January. Low calories and low carbs made me feel really slow sometimes mentally. Carbs are the primary brain fuel so got to eat enough to keep the brain working at an optimum level for studying. Good times.

TIP OF THE DAY/EXERCISE OF THE DAY:


How many people have been working on glute isolation exercises? The exercise that I'm going to be talking about today is a new and improved version of the one that most people know already.

First off, I'm going to talk about the standard glute isolation exercise that most people do already. As you can see in the picture that Shaun T is demonstrating, the standard glute isolation starts on all fours and then extends one leg out so you are now on three points of balance. Two options can then be done from this position. One, you can pulse the leg with it extended to activate the glute muscle. Or option two, you can contract and extend one leg back and forth from this position to one almost back to on all fours. I personally was never very fond of these exercise. It provided little resistance and an extremely high number of repetitions had to be done in order to get any type of substantial burn going. I find Shaun T's adaption much more challenging as it challenge more body parts besides the glute muscles.

So for Shaun T's version, start on all fours.

Next, raise your knees off the floor while keeping your toes and hands still on the ground. The nice thing about changing the stance to this way is that it causes you to use your shoulders and core a lot more to stabilize your upper body. With your knees off the ground, it activates the quads on both legs and you also use your butt to stabilize your body in this controlled position. By forcing yourself to stabilize more, you activate even more core muscles, as well as your hips.

Now, extend your leg out like in the standard glute isolation exercise. You really start to feel the burn in the front of your quad that is still on the ground. Your shoulders activate even more to keep yourself balance and in proper form. Again, you have both options to either pulse or contract and extend your leg back and forth. With this version of this standard exercise, you get more muscle group activation and makes for a much more challenging workout.


When I did this exercise, my leg that was bend supporting my body weight was on fire. I highly recommend doing this modification of this exercise as it works the body out a lot harder ultimately burning more calories which is what we all want in the long run anyway.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. Time to sign off. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel