And, Program Two!
I was home in time to start my new program this Thursday, so I have the right schedule from the get go. It looks like I was right about Javier Mendez teaching the Build Strength program, though the first few routines are pretty much the same as what started off the Endurance one. It looks like they try to start you off easy, regardless of program.
A bonus to that is being able to turn off the tutorials. I can skip through them with voice commands (the novelty of which has yet to wear off), but it seems to respond best to a “just work damn it” tone, which is somewhat frustrating. At least the frustration helps to get the tone right 
Anyway, 30 days, take two!
Light Week
So, it looks like in order to get the schedule I want, I’ll have to start my next program on a Thursday. This week, unfortunately, I was booked solid on Thursday and couldn’t get it started. (I work up early to do hit the mitts to keep my streak going 
)
Anyway, I’ve been doing the quick workouts, which really feels like slacking after the program, since they’re about a third shorter. I did discover that apparently Greg Jackson just leads all the quick workouts, at least the first time through, which means I have no idea who’ll be leading the other two programs.
I also decided that I am not ready for a cut weight program. Even the quick workout left me tired, and the sensor seems to have a specific idea of what constitutes a hop, which I don’t feel like figuring out. So, build strength it is. On Thursday Until then, I’ll play with the other workouts.
Achievement Unlocked: Motivated
I finished my first 30-Day program today, whoot! And it was primarily core stuff, figures
I think I have the sensor figured out, although my final conclusion is that I have to get used to moving it between exercises. If I have it high enough to get the far ones, it loses any of the ground work that requires me to face the sensor. If I set it up to get the ground work, it wants me to stand in a wall on the farthest exercise. So for now I’m keeping it set for the ground work, and I’ll try moving it up for the far exercise.
But I’m feeling pretty good about having finished my first program I also got the general 30 days of working out achievement. Since there’s another general one at 100, and I don’t want to start that count over, I have a pretty good reason to keep logging in.
My original plan was to do the Cut Weight 30-Day workout next. For some reason, though, I expect the main trainer on that one to be Greg Jackson (endurance was Mark DellaGrotte). Greg showed up a few times in the endurance program, too, and seems to do a lot of ground and core stuff. I am still really weak on those. Not to mention I’m holding a grudge against Get Ups for being the first exercise the sensor crapped out on, and it seems to be one of his staples.
So at the moment I’m considering doing the Build Strength one next. If I have a little time to work with (since I want to set up the Sundays and Wednesdays off schedule again), I’ll run the quick work outs on those two and see if the trainers and focus are what I think. If not, I suspect I’ll be going with strength. But I’ll get to the Cut Weight one eventually.
There’s an achievement for doing all three, after all
30 Day Endurance, Week Three
This was a better week. Although after then end of last week, that wouldn’t be hard
I left the sensor in its new position, which seems to have helped on some of the exercises. I finally have a successful count on leg wipers, yay! I’ve also changed what I wear during the workout. I have a very light carpet, and was wearing very light pants. A comment on the forums seemed to indicate that contrast might help the sensor. We’ll see when I get to next Thursday and have pretty much a longer version of last Saturday’s routine.
Unfortunately, it’s stated losing me on both types of push ups. Since those rank high on my list of least favourite exercises, it’s annoying. I need to look into what actually causes that error.
But, I came back on Monday even after getting so pissed off. I also got in late on Friday, and still did my workout. I did the one tonight, too, even though I felt like crap (at least it was a short one), so I’m feeling pretty good about my determination this week
As a fun note to end the week on: I was given my first “medium” level hit the mitts routine. It’s pretty much like the easy level three (I think), but when I finished I got my first silver medal, whoot! Up until now all I’ve been getting are bronze, and I expected that to continue until I managed to run the fitness test and get a higher result.
A Rage-Inducing End to a Frustrating Week
There are not enough swears in the world to describe my attempt at a workout tonight. And not in the good, “Fuck that was a hard workout” exercise way. No, this is entirely “I want to take my Kinect and break it over the fucking designer’s head”. And maybe throw the Xbox at whoever designed the eject button while I’m at it.
Anyway, this week the routines started moving more toward leg and ground work, and it turns out it’s not just the irritating leg wipes that were dodgy on responding. I’ve had at least one or two tetchy exercises each week. As far as I can tell, I never managed to solve my sensor problems when I moved it after all. I just haven’t hit the exercises it appeared on, and the ones that were similar were not close enough.
Unfortunately, I didn’t discover this until I hit an exercise that wanted me to stand ten feet back, and inside a bookshelf. (Placement during tuning recommended 6 – 8 feet.) Given the luck I’d had with the first six exercises, I wasn’t willing to trust it to work if I was a bit off, so I decided to go to the Kinect tuner, and play with the placement. I’ve wound up with it almost back to where I started, on the shelf next to the Xbox.
30 Day Endurance, Week One
I have completed my first week on the 30 Day program, yay! I’d have to look back, but I think my drop-out point is typically two weeks in. That means I still can’t say for certain, but so far this seems to be a routine that works for me. Even when I’m swearing at the sensor on one exercise, I’m having fun with the next. I’m also frequently surprised when the cool down starts, which means I’m not paying attention to how far into the workout I am. That’s a new one for me
It turns out I get two days off of the program per week (Mondays and Thursdays). Since I was really stiff on Monday, I decided to rotate Intu-Flow in on those days. I felt a lot better on Tuesday. Still, I logged into the game to do speed bag (because I don’t get it) and hit the mitts (because I love it), so I got my Gym Rat achievement for working out every day for a week after all.
The sensor is an irritation, but no longer enough of one to want to shut the game off in frustration. In fact, I’m starting to wonder if it’s not so much the sensor, but limited instructions. The trainers give you a lot of information about how to do the move, and they demonstrate, but the game doesn’t give quite as much for where it needs you to be and whether you’re doing it right.
I got an F on the leg wipes exercise tonight, because I couldn’t figure out how high or how far to hit on the right side. Since it was the first time doing the exercise, an indication of what I was doing wrong, rather than the complete lack of response until OOPS TOO LATE noise and error going red would be nice.
New Toy
I have a new toy! Therefore, a rare post. We’ll see if this becomes a habit again
Anyway, being completely unsusceptible to advertising I totally didn’t decide I needed UFC Personal Trainer after seeing it during the UFC for the last Ultimate Fighter. Okay, maybe I did. But look!
The Kinect system motion sensor doesn’t need any peripherals: no remote, no balance board, no leg straps. The game is available on the Wii and the PSP, too, but the idea of ditching all that won out. It takes a little getting used to, but you move your hand to control the cursor and select items on the screen, or you can use voice commands when they’re available.
Slight Progress
I can now make it to the second round of push-ups before feeling like I’m dying. I’m counting that as progress. Still cycling through the jumping, though
Off Game: 30 Day Shred, Level 1 & Recumbent Bike
I tried running it without the instructions, but the music only setting doesn’t give any indication that the exercise is changing. Personally, I find that poorly thought-out, but I suppose you’re supposed to like hearing the person talk. I generally get sick of them as soon as I can say the entire routine along with them, if not before.
Well, It’s Something
I’ve decided to ride my bike through the cardio minutes in the shred. I know it decreases the difficulty, and likely the speed of the results, but I’d rather do something than try the jumping until I can’t, and do nothing. Anyway, this is my plan, until I can get through the warm-up jumping jacks without it hurting by the end.
Off Game: 30 Day Shred, Level 1 & Recumbent Bike
As expected, it seems the board mis-weighed me yesterday, but there was still a minor change for the first time in awhile, which is promising. Assuming it doesn’t go away tomorrow, that is
Well, There Went That Plan
So, I didn’t wind up doing Intu-Flow or Yoga today. Largely because at about the time I had planned to do so, my string of early mornings caught up with me and I fell asleep on my couch
When I woke up, my back felt fine, so I thought I’d be good, until I started jumping. I think I need to find something to replace most of the cardio exercises, for at least until I can stretch out or otherwise recover from whatever got tweaked. Replacing them is better than not doing them, which is where I finally landed today. I got through about haf each circuit, and that was it. But I did an extra punches round at the end.
Off Game: 30 Day Shred, Level 1
I think my Balance Board mis-weighed in my favour today. Which is kinda nice, because there’s a drop on the graph, but I expect it to go back up tomorrow