Day 2, Plyometric Cardio Circuit

My calves have that tightened feeling you get right before a leg cramp. My thighs are sore and protest at the smallest exertion. Climbing the stairs today is a test of will power and I think Tylenol is going to be my best friend this week. But guess what? I finished the DVD.

                Yes, I had to press pause every rest between sets to catch my breath… turning the 40 minute workout into close to a 60 minute one. But the point is I didn’t quit. I am keeping myself to what I have committed to: getting up at an obscene time in the morning in order to sweat buckets and push my body to the limits while the little monster sleeps in hopes of moving both of us to a healthier future. Okay, yes, it’s only day 2 but I still feel proud of me.

                I am experiencing my regular daytime fatigue but there’s an energy today that I didn’t have yesterday. I don’t know if it’s the exercise burning off all of that built up sugar in my system, the healthier food or just the little high I’m experiencing at finishing an exercise session. If I didn’t have such sore calves I’d go so far as to say there would be a bounce in my step.

               

TIP: STRETCH!Get ahead of it, stretch as often as you can throughout the day. You do not want to wake up in the morning and be too stiff to even roll out of bed.

Nutrition Bar:

                For today’s second meal I had the nutrition bar. In the Nutritional Guide it suggests getting a bar that has around 200 calories, less than 10 grams of sugar and 10 grams of protein. With the bar pairing a ½ Cup of 1% cottage cheese.

                Most nutritional/granola bars they sell in regular stores do not fall under these specifications. The P90X bar does, as well as PowerBar and a handful of other brands. They only sell the P90X bar in special nutrition stores and I can’t stand Powerbars… bad experience in the early 2000s. They tell me they’ve improved the taste since then but I haven’t been brave enough to actually see if they are correct. Because of this I spent a lot of time in the cereal aisle looking at the back of the boxes, trying to find something that I could eat that didn’t taste like chalk. I finally came across Nature Valley’s Protein Chewy Bar. Peanut butter and dark chocolate flavored, heck yes.

                Cottage cheese is packed with protein. Between the bar and the cottage cheese you give yourself around 280 calories, a grand total of 29 grams of protein. Nice little second breakfast.