Chaos in my workout world

If it's not one thing it's another. You know? Last week I couldn't work out because of my skin infection so I was beyond ready to get back to working out this week! Well, I got a good workout in on Monday night (Drop 10 strength moves and my new tranversus ab routine). Then, my grandfather passed away on Tuesday morning :[  I was at work when I got the (hysterical) call from my poor Mom, she was a wreck. Fortunately, I have a wonderful job and boss who allowed me to leave then and there. So, Jacob and I packed our bags, straightened up our messy apartment and were on the road to Massachusetts within a couple hours. I know my Mom was very happy to have us come up right away. We were able to cheer her up and comfort her. I've been staying busy with her since I got here- trying to distract her but mostly just trying to be there for her. It's been rough. Needless to say, that has thrown a bit of a wrench into my exercise routines, yet again. I can still workout here (especially with all the workout DVDs my brothers have!) but it's tough to make time for it when I just want to be there for my Mom. I have managed to sneak in a couple great workouts, though!

Tuesday night, after getting up at 6:30am, working a few hours and making the 5 1/2 hour drive here, my brothers wanted me to workout with them. I had just eaten some lightened up seafood chowder (yum) and was in the middle of watching the Bruins with my Daddy but I figured I'd give it a shot. They're on the last phase of P90X2 right now so I knew the workout would be rough and awesome. I was right. On Tuesday, I joined them for P.A.P. Upper workout. P.A.P. stands for "Post Activation Potentiation". Apparently it's like the hottest thing in sports science today. It's all about combining strength moves with plyo-style moves or explosive moves. It's pretty intense! The workouts consist of two movements or blocks (I forgot what they actually call them) comprised of four moves. You repeat each circuit of four moves four times and that is one block. There are two blocks in each of the P.A.P. workouts. So, you do four moves back to back then repeat three times. And these moves are no joke! In Upper, we were doing push ups with rows in-between, plyo-push ups (you might know them as clap push ups), pull ups, planks balancing your feet on a medicine ball (okay, I didn't tackle it on the medicine ball but I did elevate my feet to make it a decline plank which killed to hold for 60 seconds four times!). It was nasty! I felt really good when I was done with it, though! So good, in fact, that I decided to try P.A.P. Lower with them on Friday night! I liked that workout a little more. I prefer lower body work since that's what I'm good at. I know I should focus more on my upper body in order to make it stronger, but I'll always love leg work. Mmhmm. Anyways, P.A.P. Lower was just as nasty as upper although I think it was easier than Legs & Back from P90X. Either way, it was still a great workout! We did this cool step up on a block, lift knee, step back down and go into lunge move that I liked a lot. We also did this miserable side plank, lift one leg and hold for 30 seconds move. Yep, couldn't do that one! I think I held it for like 10 seconds before I had to go back down to a regular side plank. That move was brutal! I want to get better at it now. I think overall the workout wasn't quite as strenuous as I imagined but it was still really good. It almost reminded me of Core Synergistics from P90X. But with a focus on lower or upper body strength, depending on the routine.

I'm glad that I was able to get a couple really good new routines in this week! I might try another P90X2 workout tonight just for fun. Maybe some Plyocide. Doesn't that just sounds torturous? I bet it sucks but is an incredible workout. Here's to hoping that I can get back into a more solid workout routine next week!