Turbulence Training 5th Transformation Challenge – end of week 5

This week was week 5 of the 12-week Turbulence Training 5th Transformation Challenge. It’s been a great week for nutrition and exercise but not so good (again) on my lifestyle goals. Here’s what I’ve been up to.

Exercise:

I actually did four TT workouts this week, although this is not recommended. I finished up the last one from phase 1 and did three from phase 2 of the TT Strength for Women programme. I only managed this because I was a workout down and started my workouts this week on Wednesday. So I did Wed, Fri, Sun and Tuesday. Only did intervals three times though. If I had felt I needed more time to recover I wouldn’t have done the four, but since this was the first week of a new programme, I was working out what weights I could lift, so wasn’t lifting overly heavy, and some exercises were body-weight only. Because of this I figured one recovery day was OK, but I won’t make a habit of this. Check out this post to find out why recovery is so important.

Least favourite exercises from phase 2: spiderman lunge and plank on ball.
Most favourite exercises: None really yet. Eccentric chin ups, maybe, but I can only control my descent for around two seconds. Will work on getting that up to a count of five.

Didn’t do yoga this week. I’ve been having a bit of back pain since trying that DVD, even doing the beginner workout, and it gets worse each time I try the DVD. I guess yoga is like pilates in that you probably shouldn’t do it without a live teacher there to correct you until you have a better idea of what you’re doing. I have only been doing the standing portion and there is a lot of bending. If someone with good proprioception and good posture and back knowledge like me can hurt themselves, it probably isn’t ideal for most people. I may come back to it in the future and try the lying portion of the DVD, but for now I am going to shelf yoga. I will return to doing some pilates – since it is supposed to be my speciality, and I could do with improving my own practice.

Also this week played badminton with hubby after work yesterday. It was hot. We were tired. Neither of us wanted to go. But we did and, of course, felt much better for it. And did extra walking on two days, so managed my ‘bonus cardio’ three times this week. I will aim for three times again this week but try to increase the duration. The walks were post-intervals and were only 15 minutes each.

Hubby still can’t workout properly because he can’t put/take any weight on the wrist he injured. So just body-weight exercises for lower body and some ab work.

Nutrition:

Did much better on micronutrients this week. Also, I managed to get 5 servings of fibrous veg four times this week, as per last week’s goals. But I’m still not drinking enough water during the day. Managed four glasses at work just three times this week.

Av cals: 1689
Av deficit: 660 (range ~0 to ~1100)
31% Fat, 19% Protein, 50% carbs
Nutrients: >100% RDA on everything except vit E but did manage 89%, on average, my highest yet, and well over 100% on some days.

Lifestyle

Only managed to get to bed by midnight once this week. Aim for three times in week 6.
Despite having meditation on my Joe’s Goals list, I have only done it twice in the last couple of months. Need to work on this too.

Body:

This week I crossed a minor milestone. My BMI fell below 35! I am no longer in the Obese II category, but merely a skinny Obese I. Obviously this is a huge improvement, but I have some way to go (another 25 pounds) until I cross out of the Obese category altogether.

Nevertheless, here is the good news:

• Weight: 15 stone 2.2 (202.2 lbs, 91.9kg). Down 3.2 lbs
• Body fat: 44.5%. Up 1% (but it’s TTOM – yes, again! One week early )
• Waist: 109 cm. Down 1 cm
• Hips: 127.5 cm. Down 1.5 cm
• Thigh: 65 cm. Down 1 cm
• Knee: 44.5 cm. Down 0.5 cm
• Calf: 40.5 cm. Down 0.5 cm
• Bicep: 40 cm. No change

Pretty happy with that lot!!

Specific goals for week 6:

1. Go to bed earlier – aim for no later than midnight at least 3 days this week
2. Get 100% RDA vit E and iron from food
3. Drink a litre of water every day at work
4. Do bonus cardio on three days
5. Use my WiiFit for exercise on one of my ‘off’ days
6. Get 5 servings of fibrous veg at least four days
7. Do 20 mins Transcendental Meditation twice this week