FBB: First impression

Хотела подождать с впечатлениями о программе, пока не попробую оба workouts, A & B, и не отойду малек.
В общем и целом эта фаза неплохая. Да, базовая, по ней и видно. Но продумана весьма неплохо, и действительно акцент ставится на glutes, плюс спина/плечи, которыми я специально не занималась уже давно.

Сами впечатления я сначала написала в дневнике на СС, потмо думала сюда опубликовать по-русски, но что-то не срослось. Сейчас ну тааааак лень переводить. Так что копирую так.

Today was the second workout A of Base Phase. I wanted to hold off my first comments until I tried both A and B and had time to recover.

At the first glance it looked boring and not really hard. I was not very enthusiastic about it, even considered skipping the Base Phase and moving on to Define Yourself Phase right away. I'm actually glad I didn't do this. After 4-5 months of training in the Strength regime with low reps I completely forgot what doing 12 reps feels like! I'm sure I'll adjust quickly enough, I'm not really new to this. What IS new is the core work at the very beginning of the workout. That is strange, but I think I actually like it. If you do the full warmup (about 10 minutes!) with all the jumps properly, the opportunity to get down for core work is actually welcome :)

I substituted Superman for Bird Dog in workout A, for which I curse myself through the whole thing, but I'm not going back. It's the same idea as Bird Dog, only you're not on your knees, but in a full plank on toes and hands, and lift opposite arm and leg from that position. I'm shaking like crazy and keep losing balance. 10 on each side = 20, which takes well over a minute.

The Forward Ball Roll seems a bit awkward, I'm probably doing something wrong. Haven't been able to figure out what exactly yet...

The second alternating set is StepUp/Three-Point Dumbbell Row. Nothing fancy. I started easy on weights for stepups (15 and 17.5), but set the platform to higher than knee height. Using 20 lbs for rows for now, I want to get the form right first.

The third combo is bodyweight only - Partial Co-contraction Lunge/ Pushup. The pushups are OK, I do the narrow variety, targeting triceps more than chest. As for the lunge, I already complained about it - hate the thing. Well, OK, I hate doing it, it's so excruciatingly slow, but I am actually enjoying the feel of muscles contracting under my fingers. I love my legs. I love lifting. I'm so grateful to free weight for this freedom. I HATED my wobbly legs with no definition, I never wore shorts/skirts that would reveal the knees. And it's not like I had body image problems - those really were shapeless soft legs with this blob of fat on the inside of the knee. Now they are strong, tight, and you can actually see vastus medialis, there's no need to feel for it under a layer of fat.

Ok, enough of that, back to the program. The last pair is Hip-Thigh Extension (bodyweight) and Bent-Over Reverse Fly. Both are more difficult than they looked on the pictures. My glutes are cramping by the end of the set, and I can only use 5 lb dumbbells for the fly. I tried 7.5, and couldn't do the full range of motion after I got halfway through.

Workout B is actually harder than A, and doesn't have bodyweight exercises apart from the Prone Cobra.

The Core section is Russian Twist and Cobra. I've never done twists with a medicine ball, and it felt awkward. I hope I'll get the hang of it soon.

The second combo is Overhead Squat/Lateral Raise with External Rotation. The squat is a killer, flexibility being the limiting factor. I could only do it with a 30 lbs barbell, but I did go all the way down, glutes touching the calves. It's not much weight, but at least I didn't need to put plates under the heels, I turned out to be flexible enough. This experience makes me appreciate this video even more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHC6JOB0Ne0

Used 7.5 lbs for Lateral Raise with External Rotation. It's actually embarrassing, but I don't think I'll be able to use 10 next time. Maybe if I cut reps down to 10..?

Next combo - Single-Leg, Single-Arm Romanian Deadlift/Split-Stance Cable Single-Arm Lat pullover. Used 25 lbs for this ridiculous variation of a deadlift. Seriously, what kind of a deadlift is it when you're balancing on one leg? It's not that much about strength but rather coordination. Lat pullover is new to me, and I have mixed feelings about it. I think I'll hold off my opinion until after second workout B.

The last alternating set is... yes, the dreaded and most hated Bulgarian Split Squat with an innocent (by comparison) Split-Stance Cable Row. I only did 2 sets instead of 3. I H_A_T_E this exercise. Period.