And the Winner is . . .

Freddie Rodriguez!!! Congratulations to Freddie! He put in a lot of hard work and commitment to this challenge. He did this challenge knowing full well that it would take him out of his comfort zone, but he kept on charging. Everyday was a new challenge for him and he never backed down. He never missed a day. He most definitely deserved to win!

From Vicky and me: Not only do you deserve it, you earned it! Great Work Freddie and Congratulations on your win!

The Reveal is nigh!

Roman: Well, it looks like today was the official last day of our Anytime Fitness Media Challenge 2010. We were given the option of doing our timed two mile run or zoning on out cardio machines. Half of chose to run and the other half stayed and did their final weigh in. The two mile run wasn't that bad this time around. Due to all the conditioning we had done the previous five weeks or so. Managed to trim some time off the run, finished it 18 minutes and 15 seconds. I think I cut two minutes off which was nice. I still need a lot of work cause I know I can trim that time down even further. Well, it'll have to be without the help of Joanne and Jason. Well, we get back from the run and the group that decided to stay was going through some drills and we jumped right in, literally jumped right in. Started with some power jacks, sprinting in place (sounds odd, but it can be done), front kicks, tuck jumps, and lateral lunges. We made it through about three rounds of thirty seconds of each before moving on to TRX push ups and rows, 4o of each. Finished it all off with some crunches with medicine ball tosses. Not a bad way to end.

Tomorrow is an optional day or rather the final day to weigh in. I guess we just have to wait and see what the results will be. See you kids at The Reveal!

Vicky: My back! My back! The pain from the other day finally set in full-force and I could barely roll out of bed. I was feeling awful, so I decided to stay in and sleep a little longer. Besides, I had a lot to do in the morning, so I needed a little extra beauty sleep!

Since I missed this morning, I decided to go in the evening. Freddie had posted that Jason had invited us to his 6:30 workout group. So, after a quick stop at the Leadership Austin Emerge Kick-off party at Star Bar, Roman, who decided to come with, and I drove to Anytime Fitness. It was a good workout, although my back had a dull pain the whole time. We started by partnering up and tossing a weighted ball back and forth, then we did 3 rounds of lunges, kettle bell swings, and step-ups, 50 partner situps with ball toss, then 3 rounds of pushups, runners, and "around the clock"s. It was the perfect workout for me and my aching body. Not too intense, but not too easy.

Time to catch some zzzzzzzzzzz....we've got the weigh in tomorrow and we're taking pictures, so I don't want to look too zombie-like. Stay tuned to see who wins this thing...

Blast from the past!

Roman: We revisit an old friend.

Although it was still a rough workout, we managed to get through it with a little more ease, not much just a little. Even though we, or at least I was still very sore from the previous workout.

Vicky: Oh, I was in such pain for this one! We had worked most of the same muscle groups the day before with Jason, so my muscles were fatigued and fighting me the whole workout. Man, this last week seems to have left me dragging...

Made it

Roman: Made it to this workout, no alarm necessary. Warmed up with a nice “almost mile” loop. Once back inside Jason had us do ten rounds of ten reps of power cleans followed by ten squat jumps. This was not easy at all. Freddie and I switched off between a 50lb barbell and a 60lb barbell. It was rough. Then after we get done with that, Jason had us move to kettle bell dead lifts and split jump lunges for ten rounds of ten reps for both. Again Freddie and I switched off between 40lb kettle bell and a 50lb kettle bell. For whatever reason, we managed to charge through with relative ease. Maybe the last four weeks are starting to pay off?


Vicky: It's definitely easier to make it to the evening workouts. I'm sorry I made it to this one, though, because Jason did not take it easy on us AT ALL! The girls (Erin, Austin, and I) did the same thing that the boys did, but we alternated between 3 different weights, maxing out at 40lbs, if I remember correctly. I think I did more than I should have. I will definitely be sore from these!
By the way, the girls finished WAY before the boys, who were a bunch of chatty cathy's!

Alarm? What alarm? Doh!

Roman: Managed to sleep through my alarm and therefore missing the first workout of our last two-a-day.


Vicky: Ditto. Guess my body is forcing me to get some more meemees (sleep).

Did we or did we not?

Roman: Cannot for the life of me remember what we did on Monday or if we did anything at all. Hmmm . . . interesting. Wait! It's all coming back to me. Thanks to Freddie and Jason.

We started the day with some drills. Heismans, jumping jacks and/or power jacks, high knees, butt kicks, squat jumps, burpees, 3-6-9 prone hops, some lunges with weights, shoulder press, and reverse flys. This went on for about five rounds of 30 second intervals of each with some water breaks thrown in there somewhere. After the five rounds we all get a mat and go around the room for abs. Everyone gets to pick a different ab exercise they want to do and we all do ten reps until we get through everyone. Great way to end the day.

Relay Time

Roman: It’s time for our relay competition extravaganza. The relay competition is as follows:

Event 1: Relay - Egg Carton Run

Event 2: Waterball Run to Hemphill Park

Event 3: Teaser

Event 4: "Tied Up" final lap (.5 miles)

The egg carton run was split up between members of the team you were on (I was on the orange team). Unfortunately, some of our teammates woke up late and made it to the race after it had begun. Nonetheless, they made it before event 1 was over and we were still allowed to carry on.

Next up was the waterball run. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! The waterball in question was a big Swiss workout ball. Granted, it was not completely full of water, which was nice. It still made for a very awkward carrying of it.

Event 3 was our riddle, or brain teaser. The punishment for not solving the riddle was to do a grand total of 300 push ups. Fortunately for us, we figured out the riddle and went on to the final event.

Next up was the “Tied up” final lap. We started off good and slowed down a bit halfway, but we kept at it. Team Kitty was hot on our heels and they were not gonna give up without a fight, nor would I expect them too. I don’t know what happened or how it started, but near the end, I managed to keep my breakfast down. Again, that came from nowhere, no warning whatsoever. As soon as we cross the finish line, I untie myself from the group and make it to tree and I puked a little bit. I didn’t think I was pushing that hard, but I guess I was. We still managed to finish the relay in 1^st place. Woo hoo! We cheered everyone else on to the finish line and then back to Anytime Fitness for some breakfast courtesy of Glen.

Yoooogaaaaaa

Roman: Back to yoga! Nice! Definitely a good way to end the week, especially right before our team relay event tomorrow.

Vicky's Sick Day

Roman: Warmed up on the machines for a good 15 minutes then we broke off into some circuit work. I managed to do about 50 reps of squats (light weight) and some lat pull downs. Then after that. I moved on to some decline sit ups and dumbbell chest press. Today was high rep low weight day. Not too much work, but definitely not a walk in the park.

Vicky: I woke up this morning feeling dizzy. No, it wasn’t because I partied to hard last night, although now I wish I would have. I think it’s because I didn’t eat well and often enough yesterday. I had really been lagging in last night’s workout.

Since I missed the workout anyways, I am kicking myself for not having gone to the Predators movie premiere after-party. Instead, I left early during the after-movie Q&A because I was falling asleep. Pathetic, I know.

So, I ended up not working out at all today. Don’t think I’m going to do so good at the weigh-in tomorrow. Just found out that Freddie worked out twice. Guess I’m going to have to work out twice as hard tomorrow! 

Another two-a-day

Roman: No trainers for this two-a-day. Fortunately we were given a workout that we could follow. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Started out with a warm up jog around the “almost mile” loop. It was kind of warm, but Freddie and I managed to get through it. Once back inside is when the fun began. Some push ups and crunches with medicine ball toss to round out the warm up. Then onto three rounds of kettle bell swings, kettle bell lunges, and medicine ball chest pass. I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but we have done an insane amount of kettle bell swings. Just wanted to share that little tidbit of information. After we finish up the third round, we move on to three rounds of burpees and 3-6-9 prone hops. Then Freddie and I hope on the Expresso bikes to finish up our workout with a 15 minute bike ride, we actually stayed for about 20 minutes or so just to finish the course.

So close to the end

Roman: No Joann today, but Jason is there to run us through some drills. Start the morning off with a two mile jog down 34^th to Lamar up to 45^th and back down Guadalupe to Anytime Fitness. Not a bad time, under 20 minutes. I think that my time could definitely use some improving. Once everyone’s back from the run, we break up into groups of kettle bell swings and TRX rows. Then after one round of that we go into power cleans with the kettle bell and switch to TRX push ups. We switch back and forth until it’s time to go home. A few us decided to up the weights thanks to Norman Richards. He unknowingly (or was it?) told us about how he had gone up in weight and that it really wasn’t that bad. Well, Freddie, Kitty, and I decided to give it a shot. I knew the moment we ready to go home that I would be really sore and I was right. What’s that old saying, “Whatever doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger” or “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.” I’m sure either one of those would apply here.


Vicky: It was just seven of us and Jason this morning. He had us “warm-up” with a 2 mile run. I was fine at first, until the humidity finally hit me! I felt so weighed down with sweat that it was hard to run the last stretch down Guadalupe to get back to the gym. Roman said I finished in 21 minutes, which is about how long it took me last time, so I was a bit disappointed.

Once I got back to the gym, I ran to the restroom to attempt to cool down and rinse off the sweat with some cool water. Once most of the group got back, Jason split us up into 2 groups, one on TRX and the other on kettlebells. We did exercises at 30 second intervals and switched off from the TRX to the kettlebells. Things started getting competitive between the boys when Norm decided to increase the weight of this kettlebells. Then Freddie and Roman followed suit.

When I arrived for the afternoon workout, Kitty, Debbie, and Freddie were already there. Joanne had told us that we were on our own today and sent us the workout that we needed to complete. The warm up started with a run around the block. Debbie had already done the run and Freddie wanted me and Kitty to join him, but it was WAY too hot for us, so we just went in to the rest of the warm-up.

Monday off!

Roman: Monday was off on the calendar. It was nice to wake up later than 5:15 in the AM on Monday morning. We started Tuesday off with some circuit work. Three different stations total. Some of us were on treadmills, others on the TRX system, and the last tier was squats with medicine ball toss. Stay at each one for about a minute. I’ve never liked running on treadmills so this was not the most ideal situation for me, but I made the most of it. I just never got used to running on those things. I was ok with the squats and I have become a huge of the TRX system. I might not a pro at using that system, but I definitely like it and I can most definitely feel it working. I’m always sore after using it. It was a good day, even if I had to run on the treadmill.

Optional

Roman: Optional day for me, but I showed up anyway. Joanne had me doing my own thing since they were doing the same workout from last night this morning. I didn’t take it easy either. Did some kettle bell swings and cleans, bench press, pull ups, and a few other things I can’t remember. After all that, I got back with the group for some nice yoga stretching.

Two-a-Day Again Part II

Roman: Well, there it is. That’s what we did for our afternoon workout. Although, the 20 second drill time and amount of rounds are off. We did more than was requested of us, or rather, the workout was modified for our benefit. We officially have the day off tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure I’ll make it in.

Two-a-Day Again

Roman: Another circuit day for us. Could be something of lighter day for us considering our two-a-day yesterday. Broke off into two groups again, this time I was in Joann’s group. Freddie and I started off on the bench press and went through five rounds of ten, Freddie and I alternating between sets. We then both moved on to seated rows and dips. Same deal, alternating for five sets of ten and switching between exercises until we get done. Then Freddie did some lower back extensions and I did what Joann calls “pulling the dead body out of the water”, which is basically setting the weighted rope on the bottom setting and pulling up and across your body. Switched off with Freddie with those exercise. Finished it up with some ab work and then go home and get some rest before we have to come back later in the afternoon.

Wiped Out Wednesday Part II

Roman: Now back to the gym for another two-a-day. To my surprise there was only five of us, two warriors (Amy and Jenny) and three of us writer folk (Freddie, Vicky, and me). Joann wasn’t able to make it for the second round unfortunately. The warriors lead us through some yoga poses and push ups to start. Not a bad way to start the two-a-day considering how rough of a morning we had. Next up is a few rounds of mountain climbers, push ups, and sumo squats. Then a few rounds of wall sits, side lunges, and something else that I can’t remember at the moment. Then five rounds of TRX ab and core work. Not only were the abs sore, but so were the shoulders. That came from holding ourselves up during jack knives, pendulums, pikes, and prone runners. It turned out to be a rough afternoon as well, just not as bad the morning. By the way, no negotiating since there was only three of us there that had a say in our future workouts.

Wiped out Wednesday

Roman: Started the day off with our usual “almost” mile loop and then moved on to some more circuit work.  We had done this circuit before except this time we did everything but the run inside. It consisted of wall balls (50 reps), ladder drills (high knees and side steps), pushups (50 reps), and step ups (25 reps each leg). When done with that, head out the door for another “almost” mile loop. Come back in for another go at the circuit. Two rounds total, then on to some hill sprints for Freddie and me. Five rounds of hill sprints pretty much wiped me out. I wouldn’t even call what I did sprints, but I tried my best. Then wrap it all up with partner crunches with medicine ball toss. Another rough morning, but no time to moan, gotta rest up for our second two-a-day. Oh yeah (one more thing)! We also have some negotiations to get through. I’ve got a feeling that the negotiations will be rougher than the workouts.
Vicky: I beat Roman today in the second round of circuit work. I beat him at the wall balls, but probably because my ball was lighter, slowed down during push ups, but then kicked ass at the step ups, and then shot off to do the run. Seems like the girls got off easier today. While Roman and Freddie were sent to do sprints outside after the circuit training, we were put on the cardio machines. Joanne had us increase the intensity all the way up to 18, which made it feel like we were wading through mud. We only had 6 minutes of this though, then we did medicine ball partner crunches. As for the negotiations, but boys seem to want to do two-a-days Wed and Thurs so that they don't have to workout on Fri or Mon, whereas most of the girls want to only have one workout a day, but come in Fri and either Sat or Mon morning. I prefer one-a-days because I am so exhausted after doing two workouts in one day! Guess it'll be up to Joanne in the end.

Circuit training Tuesday

Roman: A lil’ circuit training for today. We broke off into two groups, one group with Joann and the other group with Jason. I was with Jason’s group. We had eight stations to go through. The circuit included squats, weight pulls with a rope, lat pull downs, lower back extensions, chest press, seated rows, dips, and tricep pull downs. We did ten reps each and didn’t stop until it was time go home. I think it was Joann’s and Jason’s way of taking it easy on us.

Vicky: Ditto. My tripceps were killing me today!

The first official second daily workout

Roman: Back for more! Our first official two-a-day. Wasn’t sure if I was physically ready for this, much less mentally, but I did my best to prepare myself. Managed to beat traffic, barely. Started our first two-a-day off with some jogging in place, then some high knees and butt kicks to round out our warm up. Then, on to some intense body weight exercises. High knees, jumping jacks, split lunge jumps, suicides, heisman’s, and squat jumps. We did this for about five rounds. Then we moved on to a review of renegade rows, so that we wouldn’t injure ourselves. Probably a good thing we reviewed. Then, Freddie and I moved on to a dynamic push up. We used a medicine ball under one hand and the other hand on the ground then we performed push up. Once back up to the starting position, roll the medicine ball to the other hand and repeat the process. Don’t really know what the rest of the group did, although I’m positive it was just as tough. After that we moved to crunches with medicine ball throws.  It was a rough first two-a-day but we all managed to get through it together. 

Vicky: So, after the renegade rows, the rest of the group did butt wiggles, where you lay on your back with your legs perpendicular to the ground and lift your butt off the floor. Then, you twist your legs and butt side-to-side. We did almost 200 of these! Then, the boys joined us to do crunches with medicine ball throws. I suck at these! Oh, I was so tired and hungry after this second workout today. Not looking forward to the rest of the two-a-days...