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My Trainer Bob Workout Review: Day 4
The ongoing saga of love, tears, and the vindication of the human spirit (actually, just the daily journal of my wife and I and our attempt to complete Bob Harper’s Inside Out Method workout from www.mytrainerbob.com).
Rough night. Weird dreams. Went to bed stiff and sore, then dreamt a long, rambling, and vividly-colored dream that culminated in me being mistakenly taken as a Hairdresser and Facial Expert to the Stars, or at least to Jennifer Love Hewitt. No, I am not making that up, and no, I don’t know what that means. The fact that we were at a strange wedding pre-party for a co-worker of mine didn’t help it make any more sense.
Anyway, I was awoken from this dream, not by the sounds of electronic waves crashing from my alarm clock (I will never be able to use a BEEP BEEP BEEP alarm clock again), but instead by our trio of mutts who decide, for no good reason, to leap up and run outside barking. Perhaps one had dreamt about being a Poodle to the Stars. I’ll never know, but I do know it’s not 4:30, it’s just after 4. Fannnnnnnn-tastic. The soreness in my right shoulderblade (“Yep, I’m still here!” it says joyously as I squint at the clock) keeps me awake. I try to go back to sleep anyway, even if it means washing Jennifer Love Hewitt’s hair (I mean, I’ve never even watched any of her shows – why her? Anyone?). No luck. Alarm sounds, here we go again.
My Trainer Bob Workout Review, Day 3
The chronicle of my wife and me and our attempts to do Bob Harper’s Inside Out Method workout plan from www.mytrainerbob.com.
Day 3. Cardio again. I slowly get out of bed today. I’m sore, legs, arms, and glutes – big time – but the worst is the rusty steakknife still jammed into my back next to my shoulderblade from Tuesday’s mishap. Deep breath, shrug it off, time to go.
Hi, Bob. It’s now the fifth or so time I’ve been through this exercise routine, but Bob still gets me motivated. “ToDAY is the DAY you make a difference. Right now.” I’m ready to make a difference. Warm-up, then the punches that mark the blending between the warm-up and the intensity to follow. As always, I admire Roxie’s stance as she goes through the punches, then uppercuts. She’s tiny, but you can tell from the way she holds her hands and hunches into her stance that she isn’t a stranger to boxing. I try to mimic her casually perfect form and can’t, but that’s OK, since it’s something to strive for.
My Trainer Bob Workout, Day 2
The ongoing chronicle of my wife and I and our attempts to do Bob Harper’s Workout Plan from mytrainerbob.com.
It’s Day 2, and you know what that means, and it ain’t French Toast. Day 2 is strength day. Even at 4 stinkin’ 30 I’m apprehensive. My neck and upper back are sore, because I am stupid. Yesterday at lunch, I did my strength workout (back and biceps) and, straining to increase my reps, I tweaked a muscle in my upper back/neck, making it hard to turn my head. Lady Aravan makes me promise to be smart with it, so I need to keep a rein on my own stupidity. At 4 freaking 30 in the morning. Protein shake, feed dogs, water filled, skip heart rate monitor because I don’t want to be distracted, DVD in.
Bob ties his shoe. He looks at me, and I can see that he is determined. “Let’s do this,” he says, firmly but quietly. He walks onto the set, where Helen, Stephanie, and Francisco await him. He slaps their hand one by one. My wife and I aren’t terrorists, but we fist-bump anyway. Let’s do this.
Me, My Shovel, and My Trainer Bob: Attempting Bob’s Workout Plan
After reviewing Bob Harper’s new DVD collection, I found on his website (free to join) his 4-week exercise plan. Well, technically, my wife found it, and she talked me into trying it in that roundabout way she has (“I was thinking about trying this” – when Lady Aravan is thinking about something, that generally means it’s what she wants, but she doesn’t like asserting herself all the time). I agreed. After looking at it, we decided to start on Week 3, since we currently work out 6 days a week, and that mirrors the Week 3 plan. Full on vinegar and bravado, we decided that we’d start Tuesday – which is today.
This is the background paragraph: If you don’t care, click the Read More button and skip it, but I think it’s helpful info. My wife and I are not young 20-somethings, marathon runners, or fitness nuts (or, at least, we weren’t, but we seem to be becoming that). I’m 38, she’s 39. I smoked over a pack a day for 10 years or so, from 18 to 28, and still occasionally do when I’mma gettin’ ma drink on. I only run when my life is in peril, and since I live in the suburbs, my life hasn’t ever really been on the line. I started lifting weights regularly a couple of years ago, but hated cardio so much that I avoided it like brussels sprouts. In April of this year, Lady Aravan and I were at our heaviest weights ever and not happy. We decided to do something about it, since I came to the painful realization that the government is not currently working on a top-secret cyborg that my brain will be implanted into, thereby gaining me eternal life, so I’d have to increase my lifespan the hard way. We started with Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred, built some endurance, mixed in some of her The Biggest Winner exercise DVDs, and moved to her latest (Banish Fat and Boost Metabolism, No More Trouble Zones, and Yoga Something Or Other) DVD collection. Over the last 4 months, we’ve dropped weight, gained strength and endurance, and were ready for a new challenge. Bob Harper’s DVD set looked interesting, so we decided to give it a whirl. Enough background: this is the story of Day 1 of Bob’s workout plan.
Exercise DVD Review: Bob Harper’s Inside Out Method Yoga for the Warrior
For prior reviews of Bob Harper’s new series, see here for cardio and here for strength. When I finish filling out my last will and testament, I will perform and review the Bob’s Workout DVD, which nearly gave me a coronary when I watched it on the couch.
Ahh, yoga. For me, the name does not conjure images of forgotten temples nestled deep in Indian jungles, where ancient limber wise men teach the ways of breathing life-giving force in a special manner while contorting into impossible positions. Instead, it makes me think about the 1990’s soccer mom and the (to me) mystifying popularity of what looked like an extended period of stretching. And let me tell you, I hate stretching. Always have, since pee-wee football. I have always been incredibly inflexible. At some point, though, my wife talked me into trying a yoga class, and I honestly enjoyed it. I started going regularly, then stopped when I got lazy. That was 10 years ago.
Wow, Thanks Bob!
It’s very surreal to wake up, notice that you have a blog comment to approve (which happens, umm, relatively neverish for me), check your blog stats to see why, and get this:
Exercise Video Review: Bob Harper’s Inside Out Method Pure Burn
For background material and a review of Bob’s cardio video, see my previous blog entry.
Bob Harper’s Pure Burn (the strength workout) is the first of his new workout DVDs that I tried. On the surface, it doesn’t appear too bad: your heavy weights are in the 8 to 12 pound range. Now, I lift weights often, usually 5 days a week, regularly curling 50s (because they are the heaviest weights my office’s gym has), benching 200 (again, the maximum), and stuff like that. So, on the surface, doing a strength workout with a 10-pound weight should be a piece of cake, right?
Cue Bob’s evil laugh. Read the rest of this entry
Exercise DVD Review: Bob Harper’s Inside Out Method: Body Rev
I’ve been a big Jillian Michaels fan ever since I first The Biggest Loser. Bob, on the other hand, was the nice guy, the granola crunching yoga zen dude. I loved Jillian’s in-your-face mentality, and bought every exercise DVD she made. I started on the 30-Day Shred, moved to The Biggest Winner, and went to the big time with her latest ones. I love Jillian, and spend every weekday morning with her.
When I saw Bob’s new DVDs, I figured, what the heck, I’ll give it a try. I liked how they looked, and thought a change of pace on weekends would be good. So we got them, Body Rev (cardio), Super Strength (umm, strength), Yoga for the Warrior, and Bob’s Workout (one cardio workout, one strength workout). I’ll review each of them in turn, starting here with the cardio DVD. Read the rest of this entry
Why Am I Doing This to Myself?
I think most people ask themselves that while they are exercising at some point. For me, it’s usually when it’s 4:30 am and I am tying my shoes, getting ready to do an hour or so of cardio before work, or when I realize that I need to do 53 consecutive pushups to finish my pushup workout. Those moments are the hardest, when it is so easy to just walk away, or lie back down, and say: Tomorrow. I can do it tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry
Winter in Derenemyn 