The Fit Test

In my previous post, I mentioned that I did a fit test yesterday, and I posted my results.  Tonight, I did it again.... and again.  So here are all three rounds in total with a break down on how I feel about the exercises in question.  And just as an aside, of course the 3rd numbers are going to be less than the other two, as I was quite tired by the time I started the second round.  

Squat Jumps - 30  -  31  -  18

So these little darlings involve you cruching down with your finger tips touching the ground, and your ass sticking out as though you were exaggerating sitting in a chair, then you explode into a jump bringing your body straight and long and your arms straight up above your head, then you drop back into the crouching position and do it again.  There is no resting between, you just keep doing them over and over until you are exhusted.  I did one better on the first round today, than I did yesterday, but all in all I expected to see similar numbers.  I actually don't find this excercise as difficult as some of the others as I have no problems with squats and do them quite frequently.


Pushups - 26 (knees)  -  28 knees  -  24 knees

So at this point, until I build up my arm muscles again, I'm going to stick to doing my pushups on my knees, at least for the first week.  It saddens me that I went from 35 military style pushup in a row, to 28 on my knees in a year and a half, but that's what happens unfortunately.  If you don't use it, you lose it!  I go to an aerobic class on Tuesday nights, called Pump and Groove, and there is always pushups at the end of the class, I usually start on my toes and then drop to my knees after 4 or 5 depending on how much the instructor worked my arms that night (and she Loves to work the arms!).  So far I'm feeling pretty good about my numbers, and I don't know how much more I could add to them with being on my knees, as I do the pushups straight through until the timer beeps, so I think the difficulty and improvement is going to come in once I start doing them on my toes.  But I love pushups, and I have no problems with this exercise.  It's an incredible full body workout, and I think more girls should do pushups on a regular basis. 

Burpees - 11  -  10  -  8

As for Burpees... these things were invented by a sadistic trainer who hated their clients.  I hate these things with a burning passion.  I am thick and stocky, and burpees were not designed with my body type in mind.  Hauling all of my weight to the ground, then springing about 110 pounds of lower body out into a plank position, and then back in again before jumping back on your feet and lifting all 208 pounds of mass into the air only to do it all over again gets really old really quick.  That being said, I know that the exercises that are hard for me, and that are the most difficult for me to perform, are probably the ones that I need, and that are going to do the most good.  Hell, I couldn't do a single push up 2 1/2 years ago, and I hated the very thought!  Now I love them, and I love how they make my body feel.   And that right there is probably the only reason I haven't subbed in a different exercise in place of the dreaded Burpees.  Chances are - because I hate them so much, they are the best thing for me. 

High Knees - 66  -  100  -  80

No problems with High Knees, and clearly it helps that I did todays workout without a bunch of potato in my tummy as I did a whole lot better in terms of endurance.  I will gladly continue to do these, and I feel they are both difficult, and fun.

Switch Lunges - 28 (16 jumping, 12 mod stepping out)  - 28 modified  -  19 mod

You start out standing with your feet shoulder width apart, then you step forward into a deep lunge, but instead of stepping back, you instead jump, and switch your leg positions, so you land (softly) in another lunge on the other leg.  I have never been good at these.  I always make a good attempt to complete the full jump switch, but my balance combined with my crappy knees and ankles usually causes me to lose my form really quickly, and I end up hurting something.  Yesterday I started off with every intention of doing all of the reps in jumping form, but after my ankles started wobbling I knew I had the choice to either hurt myself, or switch to stepping out rather than jumping.  Perhaps size 8 Heather will be able to jump these, until then, I'll stick to stepping until I feel a little stronger.  Today when I did my workout I just did the step outs.

Tuck Jumps - 13  -  18  -  13

Yup - not a fan of these although still better than Burpees.  If you think of doing high knees, that's basically what this is, but both, at the same time.  You jump, and then while in the air, pull your knees up as high as you can and then land softly and do it again.  Really if we break it down, I don't like the exercises where I need to lift my weight off the ground.  Which is totally a "fattie" mentality.  So I need to work on that.  Todays round seemed to go better than yesterday though, so perhaps I am getting better at them? 

Tricep Dips - 9  -  14  -  12

These are growing on me.  I'm not a stranger to Tricep Dips, and a couple years ago when I frequented the gym more than once a year I did them regularly with my legs on a large yoga ball (which not only increases the intensity in your triceps having your legs elevated, but in order to keep your legs still on the ball, you also had to hold your core in tight.  If I remember correctly, I was either doing 2 sets of 12, or 3 sets of 10.  So considering I haven't done much in way of triceps short of tricep push ups (which suck by the way) I feel pretty good with going from 9 to 14 in 24 hours.  Even my tired round two score was higher than my initial one.  Perhaps some body parts are starting to remember? 

Sit Ups - 16  -  14  -  11

These aren't crunches, these are full on sit ups - you pull your body from lying down on the floor to a seated position, and back again, maintaining full control the whole time.  I actually like these, I like ab work (to a point - there are only so many bicycle crunches I can do before I start cursing to anyone within earshot).  The only thing I can say for my numbers going down, is that I'm still feeling the sit ups from yesterday, so my abs weren't working at full strength.  Still, I'm pretty happy with those numbers.

So there it is.  8 minutes of exhaustion and sweat, done twice.  It doesn't feel long enough - not that I want the cycle to be longer - oh hell no, by that 6 minute mark I'm pretty ready to be done, I just mean that looking back after completing the cycle 8 minutes sounds like a short amount of time for how tired and exhausted I am.  I feel like this is a 15 minute cycle.  But that being said, telling myself "go workout - it's only 8 minutes" has been working in my favour thus far.


Here's a little motivation for you (I am going to put these at the end of every blog post.  I know I'm motivated now, but there will come a day when I'm going to have to spend some time re-reading this blog to find my inspiration again, so including a few words of wisdom at the end of a post is not such a bad thing!)

this one makes me laugh

I will have definition like her

Keep pushing!!  It'll be worth it in the end!  I promise!!