I have a new toy, I did "THE GRINDER" and I survived to tell the tale

Yes, girls love toys too, especially in the form of Heart Rate Monitors! (Thanks RK!)

I have never had one of these, I have not seen them on sale in Kenya, I have no idea why, lots of women in one of the fitness groups I belong to ask for them....but you're not interested in this, you want to know what "THE GRINDER" is...if you haven't done Tapout.....Here's the infomercial on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBf_enrHSc

I am not advertising any video (but it IS free advertising mentioning it :-P) I am a believer in home fitness for those who cannot get themselves to a gym and this is a great program.

I have had the DVD's for a while and haven't touched them. This is because I had so much else to play with. However, one of my friends started it and I decided why not give it a try? So today, I wore my new toy, and did cross core combat.

As the name suggests, it works the core, and boy, does it do it well. I was already sore from Sunday's workout (yes, Sunday! I did some crazy circuit training at the gym and did yoga yesterday to recover but I was still sore before today's workout). Towards the end of the workout comes "The Grinder". I thought Shaun T's Max Plyo workout (part of month 2 Insanity Series) had many push ups but at least they are spaced out. The grinder is ladder style push ups starting with 10, followed by in and outs (jump feet in and out in plank) then 9 tricep push ups, 9 in and outs....until you get to one. Typing it out, and reading it, sounds easy right? It's not! I had to pause the DVD in order to finish it before getting to the stretches. And I'm sooo proud of myself!

Just as I was collapsing, thinking, why in the world do I put myself through this pain, I glance at my new toy...366 calories and I'm thinking WHAAAAT? After ALL THAT EFFORT?  Really?

I knew this workout had some cardio but it's more of conditioning than full on cardio. It uses body weighted moves to work the muscles in order to build muscle. So you're not out of breath all the time, but your muscles will be sore, and tired. Considering my own fitness level, after I calmed down, those are enough calories for that workout.

However, I was reminded once more how much perceived effort does not always equal work done. That we have to work harder than what we think is hard work to get the results we need. I get questions on workouts that will burn the maximum amount of calories. My answer usually is, it depends on your effort. I will add another thing, the after burn matters a lot more than you think. This is why we try to build and maintain muscle, because it keeps the calories burning long after the workout. It is the reason why sometimes HIIT training is better than normal cardio. It is the reason more and more women are lifting weights, pulling on resistance bands and carrying their babies more (yap, it's a workout too).

It's time to rest, recuperate, replenish.

Hope you're having an active day!