Body Revolution: Phase 2, Workout 5

I did Phase 2, Workout 5 just a little while ago. I’m gonna talk about it while it’s fresh on my mind. I gotta be honest: this one is probably one of my least favorite Jillian workouts. One word that comes to mind? Pain.

Your warmup consists of four sun salutations from yoga. Sometimes I feel like I’m not getting a good stretch from this but other times I do, so I guess it depends on just how loose my muscles are. You spend a lot of time in plank position for your first circuit! She has you do a pushup into side plank as your very first move, and I’ll be honest: that one bums me out! I can do military style pushups occasionally, but I often have to modify. It kills my ego! I’m not sure if I have the right form and that’s why my wrists, elbows, and arms don’t move that way, or of it’s simply because my wrists, elbows and arms don’t move that way! haha. I want to turn my wrists in or out, and not keep them straight. I’ve also experimented with having my legs wider or closer together. I’m worried that I might be making the workouts too easy though. That’s one of the downfalls of doing at home workouts and not having a personal trainer or someone knowledgeable watch my form and see if they can offer some insight on that. Mountain climbers are back, and I have mixed feelings with them. Jillian also favors crescent post in this workout, and she has you do tricep presses in crescent, and jump squats while holding weights if you want a little extra. 

I like circuit two is my favorite, but I can’t help but roll my eyes when Jillian tells you to get light weights (I’m assuming 3’s) and to do shoulder presses while in sumo squat. She talks about how you haven’t seen something like that before, but being familiar with her other programs, I’m pretty familiar with it, and definitely go heavier than she recommends. I find it a bit weird. Wood chops are back, which feel to me more like a baseball swing. Linking my favorite sport to this move has helped me like it better. Funny how that works! I enjoy scissor abs but I don’t stick my hands under my tailbone like Jillian suggests. High knees for cardio, which I admittedly sissy out of because high knees are what messed up my calf and I’m so afraid of messing it up again.

Circuit 3 is mean. It’s another ego killing circuit, haha. It makes my shoulders BURN. She has you use the resistance band. Mine is way different than Jillian’s. Hers has handles and seems to be like a tube, mine is about a 6ft long and 6in wide long piece of rubber. So it’s hard to do some of the moves in the way she wants it without the handles, but I do my best with what I have. In crescent pose with the resistance band, you do like a hug move. Open your arms out into a T and close them in front of your chest, and then on the floor in crab position to do tricep presses with one leg up. She has you do punches in crescent pose, also with the resistance band for cardio. Mean, mean woman. My poor arms, shoulders. I’ll love it when I put on a tank top, but doing it, I want to cry. :) 

Circuit 4 annoys me because I feel like it gets my heart rate way down and I don’t feel like I’m doing anything, although I know I am. Fitbit backs up the heart rate concern, but with that said, I know Fitbit’s aren’t 100% accurate. But I also do think I need to find ways to make this harder, and you may need to as well, depending on your level. She has you do single leg squats raising the weight up over your head, and then on the floor on your side, doing a tricep press. The up and down gets a bit frustrating too; every 30 seconds you’re dropping to the floor or popping up and for this one, it gets me a little dizzy, especially with it being towards the end.

Phew. This workout is one I will be happy that I only had to do four times! (Other workouts I love so much I’m bummed I only get to do them four times!) There are just some workouts that I am totally not fond of, and this is one of them. And that’s okay. In whole, I adore the program, and I’ll still do this workout for a random pick me up once I’m through with Body Rev! I might go back to this one once I complete the whole program again to see if I still find it as challenging as I do now, just to compare how strong I’ve gotten through the course of the program! 

Reviewing Body Rev and I re-do Body Rev.

Hey guys! Sorry about the delay on my Body Rev review for Phase 2 and 3. I started working on Phase 2 by memory and have the file saved, but I recently restarted Body Rev, and I start Phase 2 of the workouts tonight! So I'm thinking of trying something a little different and giving my opinion of the workouts as I do them. Hopefully within the next two weeks I'll have Phase 5 and 6 up. Since it'll be something I'm doing currently, it'll be fresh on my mind, and the reviews might even be better.

I should have done this with workouts 1-4 plus cardio, but I had my previous review up before I restarted Body Rev and I wasn't sure what to do. I finished that up on Friday. I keep Saturday as my scheduled Jillian rest day (although I tend to do Country Heat or some other super fun workout on those days, usually dance related!). I still have the same opinion of Phase 1 as I did before. I loved it, but I probably could have skipped Phase 1 all together. I didn't because I adore the Cardio 1 DVD and the first four weeks of lower intensity workouts helped me heal from yet another injury I sustained. Back in August, I was doing a Gymra workout, and while doing some high knees, my calf began to hurt (as if I had tore something). I iced it afterwards, and the next day it was sore as I ran, but then it went away with 1-2 days. I didn't think much of it until I was doing the same workout (AND high knees, too!) and I heard an audible pop and then immediate pain. Finishing the workout was a major challenge, and for the next several weeks I had on and off weird calf pain. It'd go away and I'd start walking, and then build up to running, and then the first day I pushed it with intensity, the pain would be back as if it were day one with the injury. Oh man, it was such a bummer. I couldn't run at all, and I took about a month off of running. I brought my ancient old elliptical down from the attic and used it. (It actually was a nice break from running and it's made me realize that I don't have to run, I can do other stuff!) Finally I got back to running five weeks ago. I ran with my "normal" intensity and gave it a week to make sure that I didn't mess my calf up again. Luckily it went well, so I started Body Rev again. I wanted to make sure I felt like I could push myself. I took measurements and before and after pictures. Hopefully I will be brave enough to share them when the program is over! ;)

How is Autumn going for everyone? :)