Day 5 (Legs and Back)...something is better than nothing

This morning I woke up and the thought of doing a bunch of pull ups was not that excited.  I was just not feeling it.  In my mind, there was a child screaming, "No!  I'm not going to do it!  You can't make me!"  But I turned on the DVD player and started going through the motions.

The legs and back workout is mainly lunges, stuff up on your toes, squatting stuff and pull ups for the back.  I will admit, I didn't push myself on the pull ups as much as I should have.  But as I put in the title of this blog, I am assuming that something is better than nothing and I'm glad I got through the workout.

Another thing I am learning...this first week is really more about figuring out what your are supposed to do (and how to do it) rather than really making tons of progress.  Many of the lunge exercises I simply couldn't do well because I didn't have the balance I needed.

A second thing I learned today was to wear solid footwear.  In previous workouts (except for Yoga), I had been wearing loose fitting wrestling shoes.  For today's workout, I really needed tight fitting tennis shoes and a solid surface to stand on.  Without that, you are falling all over the place when you are trying to balance.  Another thing that affects balance is trying to watch the TV.  Hopefully as I progress, I will remember more of the moves and not have to watch.

One thing that went better than expected was my right knee.  I've learned that I avoid pain if I keep the right form.  I really need to make sure my knee movement is aligned with my toe.  If I do that, the pain rarely comes.  I only had to stop doing one of the last exercises...the 80/20 split lunges.  But I might not have had my form correct for that one.  I actually think these exercises will help my knee.

Anyhow, I got through it and I'm looking forward to trying it again.  I've saved the Ab ripper for tonight.  I'll look over my notes for it and be more mentally prepared for each exercise.