SSE: Phase 1.

February 7, 2013 by betterwithsprinklesblog 28 Comments

Good morning from London, Ontario! Right now, I am eating a lovely (albeit early) breakfast at the Hilton Hotel in London, supporting a cause that is evidently near and dear to me.  I got in right around dinner last night, just in time to dig into my mom’s Beef Stroganoff.

If you’re not familiar, it’s a tomato and sour cream-based sauce with lots of garlic, onions, mushrooms and beef, in this case, served on whole wheat egg noodles. Seriously amazing…especially because I finished it off with two rather delicious cookies.

I thought I would take this morning to talk about the workout program I’m currently undertaking.

As you may remember, I was offered the chance to complete This Fit Chick’s Slim and Sculpt program in the fall. I had just finished Livefit and wasn’t quite sure where to go from there – I knew I didn’t have enough time to dedicate myself to over an hour workouts 6 times a week anymore (and frankly, really didn’t want to) so when Carrie offered me the chance to complete her workout, I went for it.

And I loved it! Exactly what I was looking for – an effective heavy lifting program with some high intensity cardio thrown in, that wouldn’t take me all day every day to complete. So when Carrie came out with her Slim and Sculpt Elite Program, I immediately purchased it.

I finished phase 1 last week (which was 4 weeks long. There are 3 phases in total), and so far…just as awesome as the original program.

It was set up with two upper body days, two lower body days (two of which ended with a quick cardio workout) and a fifth day with a short HIIT treadmill run.

The first week, I had some of the worst DOMS I’ve had in a looong time…which I will take as a sign that the workout was definitely switching some things up! I saw some improvement in my strength over the four weeks, which is always what I like to see.

I particularly loved the lower body workouts in this phase…but to be fair, I like the leg/lower body workouts in pretty much every workout I do. Most of my strength is in my lower body, so I’m always looking forward to working them out.

Especially deadlifts…deadlifts just make me feel badass.

But one workout move I learned that I particularly did not enjoy?

Alternating kettlebell hang cleans.

(source)

It is pretty much impossible for me to do those things without whacking myself in the shoulder or on the arm. Not the most pleasant feeling every, to say the least!

But overall, phase 1 was awesome (especially when I realized I could do a 195 lb deadlift…) and I’m looking forward to phase 2!

 

Have a good one!

<— What are your workouts of choice lately?

<— Any exercises you particularly dislike?