Click here to read my update for days 1-3 of this challenge.
Click here to read my update for days 4-6 of this challenge.
Ugh. It has been a week! My allergies have been flaring up quite badly and today is one of those days where I’m kind of exhausted, so this post is coming to you at the end of day 9. The past few days have been filled with junk food, sugar crashes and headaches lol. I wonder if there could be a connection there. Since I’m typing this at the end of Day 9, I’m essentially starting with my summary, and you can read my daily breakdowns below if you like.
These last few days were more workout days where having a team saved me from laziness because I next level did not feel like working out. You may notice from the late workout completion times… yep, that happened. If I were following my usual schedule, the workouts would have been completed before lunch.
My teammate was feeling unwell this week so she actually took a couple of extra rest days, gasp. This also meant that I had more time to get Day 9 completed without getting disqualified for being 5 days behind, which, I managed to do, woohoo!
If it hadn’t been for the extra day, I probably would have been disqualified without passing 50% with my team. I was feeling unwell yesterday so ended up resting as well. What can I say? It’s been a week. But the good thing is, thanks to us being on this team challenge, I still did the workouts even though I really didn’t feel like it, and I’m glad I did.
I’ve also officially signed up for wushu 2x/week, so I’ll still be able to do my Chloe Ting Challenge on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat (one of which will be a rest day). I’ve calculated the days left on this challenge, and it looks like I’ll be able to complete the challenge by the end of next week or something.
My teammate will be completing the challenge by the end of this week. I’ll for sure be disqualified this week, but the goal for this team challenge was always just to pass 25% together though, so the fact that we managed to get 50% together is fantastic. I’m still glad to be having the motivation to continue.
Oooh, we’re half way there~!
Days 7–9
7/29 – Day 8: Completed 17:51.
Videos completed: 5min Warm Up, Intense HIIT, Sexy Abs, Intense Abs Workout.
Day 7 was a rest day but that just meant a wushu day for me. My body was pretty tired before starting today’s workout, and to be honest, I didn’t want to do it. But I also didn’t have much leeway to skip days without getting disqualified, so I did the workout in the end.
The new HIIT wasn’t bad, though I wasn’t really in the mood to do a HIIT workout. I took the opportunity to practice some wushu foundational moves in lieu of some of the HIIT exercises I really didn’t want to do. I did follow most of the HIIT video though!
I’m very pleased to see improvement in my wushu movements as well as my lunge form. They aren’t perfect by any means, but at least there’s less arm flailing lol. That said, I was also listening to Emily D Baker, which was both distracting and motivating.
Distracting in that I would burst out in laughter sometimes (not helpful lol), but motivating in the sense that it helped me get through the workout that I didn’t want to do. I think it’s mostly just my own mental state. the hardest part was getting started, but it wasn’t bad after I got started, and the HIIT especially passed quite quickly.
I did my best to keep my core engaged throughout the entire workout, and keep my head straight with my shoulders down for the planking movements. Gotta admit, I’m pretty impressed with my form for the most part. I wasn’t able to do many reps, but the reps that I did, my form looked a 6.8/10 (verses the 4.3/10 I’d previously have given myself before.)
For the most part, it wasn’t a bad workout. Difficulty probably 7.5/10, enjoyability probably 6/10 because I am really not in love with planking movements, and I do not want to keep working my obliques – I feel like my obliques are worked enough. I did a few of my own cooldown stretches after the workout.
7/31 – Day 9: Completed 19:11.
Videos completed: Booty & Legs, Legs & Booty.
Equipment used: 1-2 8lb dumbbells.
Sundays are usually my rest days but I really did not feel well yesterday so decided to rest. I really didn’t want to do my workout today either, but it was the last day I had to complete 50% without getting disqualified, so I did it. And I decided to just go hard for it. Even though I didn’t bother doing a proper warm up, I did do some light stretches, and starting off on the floor allowed me to take it fairly easy.
The starting exercises were pretty good for glute activation, and by the time we stood up I was ready. I decided I wanted to just try using 8lb dumbbells and seeing how it goes, and honestly, it went pretty darn well. I guess I wanted to just push myself because I was starting to miss using dumbbells, and I feel like I’ve graduated from 5lb ones.
Man, I really felt it today haha. I alternated between one and two dumbbells for the standing exercises (usually both dumbbells for squats, and one dumbbell for single leg exercises), and switched out some of the movements for single staggered RDLs because… I wanted to. I actually really like the amendments I made to my workout today, they made it much more enjoyable.
I took it at my own pace, ensuring I had enough rest when I needed it. This was especially important since I didn’t want to injure myself when using dumbbells.
I can actually feel my left leg/glute increasing in strength. I used to wobble so much doing single leg glute bridges, or feel it in my back, or just not be able to do them at all. I am now much more stable and feeling them in my glutes and hamstrings. Sometimes I didn’t feel like I was close enough to failure so I kept going for a few more reps, or held a hip thrust through the duration of the next exercise as well.
Because of my adjustments, this workout ended up being an 8/10 on difficulty, and 8.5/10 on enjoyability for me. I definitely felt it in my glutes, and it was incredibly encouraging to be able to do the squats with two 8lb dumbbells with relative ease, which I assure you would not have been possible a year ago.
I did a few stretches after the workout instead of a full cooldown. Look, I’m just glad a workout even happened, okay? And with that, 50% is complete! I’m kind of amazed we’re half way through a program. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue. You’ve seen how inconsistent I get without the team element of this challenge, so… we’ll see how it goes after I get disqualified from the team tomorrow haha.
Muchos love,
