My Basement Gym

I’m getting to this a little late, but just wanted to post some final thoughts on Round 3 of Best Body Bootcamp, which ended officially this past Sunday. The last two weeks since I posted previously weren’t really much better than this first six, fitness-wise. And overall, this 8 weeks hasn’t been terribly productive in terms of strength or cardio gains, but participating in Bootcamp has certainly made me more mindful of things, and helped me figure out what my next step should be. While having a cold for 4-5 weeks certainly didn’t help with my motivation, it also isn’t an excuse and I certainly could have been more active than I was, doing some light workouts and more walking.

I did form some new habits, and hope to continue on with those. I’m flossing more, being more consistent with drinking water, and since my activity was low overall, I did pretty well keeping my food intake in check. I’ve also learned that a passive check-in for my workouts isn’t enough motivation for me push harder, though I’ve heard there is a lot of great support on the Best Body Bootcamp Facebook group. I’m not interested in checking in via Facebook, but perhaps I’ll look more closely at similar groups on Dailymile, or re-join a check-in at the always welcoming Video Fitness forum.

Other high points were getting in some late season bike rides during the mild fall weather we had, and finding some more fitness apps that I really enjoy. I really like both offerings from Zombies, Run! and have recently revisited Personal Running Trainer and paired it with RockMyRun music. Love, love, love RockMyRun! Personal Running Trainer is also available as an mp3 download, for anyone without a smart device. I first tried it as an mp3, and was excited to see the app option after I bought my iPod Touch.

Anyway, despite my lackluster performance in this round of Bootcamp, I still highly recommend it to anyone looking to change up, amp up, or just chat about their workout routine with other like-minded folks. It’s a heck of a deal for $25, with new workouts every two weeks from Tina – who is super responsive, friendly, and encouraging.  The next round starts on January 7th, and registration is open until December 31st, 2012.

Finally – I’m finally starting to feel almost normal and rid of this annoying cold! Week 6 of Best Body Bootcamp has been a pretty good one for me, especially when compared to the last several weeks. I got 4 solid workouts done this week, though there were all cardio.  That’s pretty unusual for me, considering I’m usually all about the weights. But I’m pleased to be feeling somewhat back on track.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the Zombies, Run! 5K Training app and did 3 walk-run drills with it, around 40 minutes each. The weather continues to be unusually warm at least a few days a week, so I also took another short bike ride, and listened to a new race mission from the original Zombies, Run! app.  Fun stuff! My mini challenges of keeping up with flossing and drinking plenty of water are starting to feel more like actual habits every day. Oddly enough, I suddenly decided that I wanted a glass water bottle which has been getting me to drink even more water than usual. Right or wrong, I’ve been drinking from plastic-ish sports bottles for years, and this summer also made good use of my 20 oz stainless Contigo Autoseal mug – which really does keep the water and ice super cold for hours, even in the hot car. Once the weather started to cool off, I went back to my plastic bottles that I’ve always used in the past, somehow the water didn’t taste as…fresh, or something? I dunno, whatever works.

I have some new workouts on hand from Kineticflix, so I hope to get in more strength training this week. Besides, the quicker I try the workouts, the sooner I can send them back for new ones. Only two more weeks of bootcamp left, and now that my cold is nearly gone, I need to get back at it.

Week 5 has arrived! I’m still sniffly, coughing, and far from 100% health-wise, but I’m also tired of hearing myself complain about it, so I’ll try to keep the whining short. I did manage to get out for another bike ride last weekend in the still warm weather, but today the temperature has fallen drastically and the wind is biting and cold. I don’t anticipate any bike rides this week! I’m still slacking on getting in five workouts for the week, but I think I’m on the mend now. I hope to get after it for the final three weeks of Best Body Bootcamp, either way!

I continue to do well on my mini challenges of getting more water in and flossing. The up side of this cold has been that I’ve been eating quite well, since nothing much sounds good, so I’ve been making choices based on nutrition more than taste, heh. I have some new workouts to try from Kineticflix, and they aren’t overly advanced, so they should be a good fit for me right as I ease back into activity next week.

Well, the cold I mentioned last week seems to be hanging on, and it’s getting pretty irritating. I’m not sick very often, and usually a few days of extra fluids and rest gets me back on track. This time it’s hanging around a lot longer than normal. So while week 3 started out pretty strong, by the end of the week I ended up with a lot of rest days. The highlight of the week was Saturday though, when I was able to get outside for a short bike ride. It was unseasonably warm, and while it was also incredibly windy, I still had a nice ride and enjoyed the feel of early fall in mid-November. I might have another shot at a bike ride tomorrow, as it looks like the weather is continuing it’s mild trend for a few more days.

Week 4 hasn’t been great for workouts, but I switched up one of my mini challenges to get more water in.  So this week I’m still getting the flossing done, but also drinking at least 64 ounces of water each day.  Not to mention all the soups and warm drinks that have been soothing my throat. So, at the halfway point of Round 3 of Best Body Bootcamp, my performance has been pretty poor so far.  But, I’m hoping this cold is on the way out, and I can finish the last half of Bootcamp strong.  Besides, there’s no where to go but up!