Hi, everyone. So I just want to share with you a few little discoveries I've made. So one is that I have realized the power of really good instruction with workouts. So I just completed, I would say, a week or two at this point.
I've completed the Sydney Cummings PUMP program and it was excellent. It was progressive overload. And so even though I didn't have that much control over having heavier weights because just because of the selection of weights that I had on hand, she designed it so that you can still go up in terms of the way you overload the body in a progressive way, obviously. So like with rep counts and the speed, so tempo and reps in addition to weight. So that was really cool. And I realized that for the longest time, I had been doing certain things incorrectly like Rose, for example, last year I was doing rows using 20 pound weights, but I was using too much of my arms. And then Sydney talked about the cues behind, you know, how to have proper form for a row. And then I started using my upper back. And what she says is pull your shoulder to your spine, right to your rib cage in terms of like when you're holding the dumbbells.
And that really was so helpful for me to hear because it really got me thinking about proper form because, you know, proper form is a is the biggest thing with strength training. You have to be really careful about what you're doing because you're using heavy weights.
And even if you're not using heavy weights like the one time that I actually hurt myself, I was using the lightest weights I had, which was like five pound weights. And it's just because I was not thinking about what I was doing.
I was thinking about something else. And so really, having that constant presence of mind is so important. So I really had that discovery during PUMP, even though I've been working out for years and again, I didn't grow up working out in a formal sense like the gym.
So I'm still relatively new to strength training. My training is young what you've heard me talking about here on this channel, and I think that's great. Like, you should be proud of wherever you are and your strength or your health journey because we're all in different places and we all have different fields of experience.
And so it's important to recognize that and to honor that. And I really have so many great things to say about Sydney Cummings PUMP program. Now I'm doing her focus program. I also really, really enjoy that. And what's great is, you know that I'm a huge fan of Caroline.
She's one of my faves, but I also really love Citi Cummings, and I also love Heather Robertson. And I also really like Lori sit by Lori. She has a phenomenal channel, and she also gives some like verbal and non-verbal cues, which I really appreciate.
I think it's a great thing to have that instruction because sometimes even if we're a seasoned gym goer or season strength training person, like it's really nice to have that reminder there, because sometimes we, you know, we might our minds like wandering.
We might get sort of like distracted and a lot of ways with something else going on in our lives at the time or things that we still have to do, but really try to have that presence of mind makes a huge difference.
And then having the form being reminded of the form is really key. So right now, what I'm doing for the current month of December, I guess you could say things are busy during the holidays, right? I think we can all agree to that.
So instead of doing like everything that I would do in the morning, like set aside an hour and a half, let's say, or sometimes two hours, but not usually instead of doing that sometimes like I might feel pressured to do that.
But in the more recent few like days and weeks, what I've been doing is if I don't have time to do my whole thing that I want to do right in that first one or two hours of between, like when I wake up and when I start my day with my work and stuff, then I will do like 30 minutes and then often turn to another 30 minutes or less, like 40 minutes, another 20 minutes or 30 minutes. So I kind of break it up and that's been working really well because that way I stay well.
I even if I don't get to do that second half like I still did what I needed to do. So I'll do the harder one first, right? So let's say it might be like a light day with Caroline.
I'll do that one first, right? But honestly, like the Sydney ones I've done are hard. Heather also kicks my butt, so that's great. Like, they're all as hard as you make them. Ultimately, it's really like you have to think about what mindset you're in and how far you want to go and how much you want to push it on that day, given your readiness and your recovery and everything else that goes into training, right? Even something like hydration. So that's another big thing. But right now, what I'm doing is I'm doing a mix of Sydney, Caroline, Heather and Fit by Larie.
So I would really encourage you to check out what they have. They've been releasing all of them. Amazing. Great fun. No contacts, so if you're somebody who wants to follow the programs that they put out, so a lot of them have like a one month program or two week program.
So for example, Heather has put out recently she's in the middle of fierce 14. So that's a two week essentially program of full body strength training with some mobility as well in there. So that looks great. I've done I did a couple of her sessions from fierce 14.
Then we had Sydney doing focus, which I think is very aptly named. Given this time of year, right? We have a lot of things going on and there are certain things that we need to focus on still like our health and fitness because that doesn't fall to the wayside, even though our schedules might look different than they do from the other eleven months of the year. And then the other one is we have Caroline's advent calendar, really fun, also really awesome. And those are great because those are 20 minutes so you can tag them on.
In her program description, she even said that you could basically like, wait and do three of hers on one day. And so that will give you a full hour. If you're someone who likes to train for a full hour, I'm with you.
But what I've been doing is like, so I'll give myself a leg day, usually two days two of her body days and with a push and pull in there and then a full body and then some sort of like separately of strength training, like a mobility recovery kind of thing.
And so what I'll do is on my leg day, I'll do the Caroline and the Heather and the Sydney and or Heather in Sydney, right? So that will give me like about an hour, maybe a little bit more.
And then on my push day, I'll do some type of upper body and then the whole day you get the idea. And so what I'll do is I'll combine people and it's just great. So I highly encourage you to check people out, those people out.
And then also, if you have recommendations for people that you would like me to try as well, you think I would enjoy. Definitely send them my way. To be honest with you. I am looking for sort of like an aerobics because I love aerobics.
I think it's so fun. It's a lot of fun to do aerobics, but I haven't really found anything. Granted, I haven't really searched that deep into the YouTube space. So if you have any recommendations for some sort of like dance cardio, yes, I'm always game for that.
But also aerobics, that would be great. So let me know and I will see you in another ignite. Say, OK, bye everyone.
See you in the next IgnyteFit!
Thank you for reading!!
