Turbofire: Week 1
I have jumped from exercise plan to exercise plan without ever finishing the program. So with this, I am determined to stick till the end. The whole program is 20 weeks long.
Their website says that it will burn 9x more fat than a regular cardio workout. When I read that, I was sold. This program is marginally easier than Insanity (I tried it last year and it was literally insane) but still, I can see how it is be effective. When I say it is easier than Insanity, it still means that it is still pretty hard. It makes use of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and is very cardio focused. Think lots of punching, kicking and jumping. Now, I don’t understand much of the science and stuff behind why cardio and HIIT is effective for fat burning and improving overall fitness. But these are my two ultimate goals and since cardio heavy workouts have always worked well for me, I shall stick to it.
There is a nutrition guide that goes with the program but I am lazy and I love food. Sue me. Maybe I will slowly ease into it. I believe if you follow the nutrition guide they provide closely, you will lose more weight. However, after a week of portion cutting and making healthier food choices (sometimes)…. I can say that I have lost a whole 1/2 kilo! Quite an achievement for me and I think it is decent for 1 week’s worth of effort. I shall chronicle how the last week went for me.
Day 1
I was incredibly enthusiastic. I even exercised before breakfast. The music was good and the instructor (Chalene Johnson) was not annoying. It was the Fire3o class followed by a Stretch10 class. At the end of it I thought, man….I must be pretty fit. I don’t feel bad at all. The only thing is, I am incredibly uncoordinated. So with the varying punches and kicking going on, I may have made some moves up along the way.
Day 2
HIIT15 today but my arms were feeling like jelly. I was pretty happy it would only last 15 minutes but I was so so wrong. It did not go well. Pretty sure I looked like a jellyfish with my arms weakly punching outwards plus my lack of coordination – and everything was to be done at max speed too. Oh well, it can only get better right? Stretch10 after and felt a whole lot better.
Day 3
I remember waking up and dreading it. So I walked over to check out the schedule. Suddenly, I saw a shining light from the heavens opening up because….it was REST DAY!!! But I thought I would be extra hardworking and go find one of those Barre exercise videos to do. Found a Youtube channel by Jessica Smith (great channel by the way! check it out) and got to work. Pretty sure I was no graceful swan.
Day 4
Legs were jelly from all the plie-ing from barre exercise. But back to Fire30 and Stretch10 after. Not bad….I think after the HIIT class, this is gonna be a piece of cake.
Day 5
Woke up, checked the schedule after breakfast. Fire55EZ it said. Oh no! It does say EZ at least. So I told myself, just hold out as long as you can. Started the video and went along with it. At 36 minutes, I saw stars and decided that was probably a sign to stop. Hopefully I will make it to 55minutes next time.
Day 6
Back to Fire30 and Stretch10. I was ecstatic. I could do more of this to be honest. In fact, can I only do this combo? Realized I still do not know what a uppercut is supposed to be opposed to a cross.
Day 7
Core20 and Stretch40. Ho ho ho….core ae? Let me exercise that tyre then. Out came the resistance band and Chalene (yes we are on first name basis even thought I have never met her) said our core is gonna remember this 20 minutes tomorrow. While doing it I remember thinking, I can’t even feel it, maybe its cause the tyre is so big it’s not even hitting the muscle. That or this exercise is easy. Rebelled and didn’t finish the Stretch40 cause, I got no patience for Yoga styled things for that amount of time.
So that concludes exercise week 1. How is my core? Well lets just say Chalene is right and 2 days later, it still hurts. But no pain, no gain