Day 86: Ripped Conditioning

Happy Saturday afternoon. I hope your weekend is off to a great start.

It's Day 86... and the first of five days where I'm choosing my own workouts, having completed the TapouT calendar yesterday. I chose Ripped Conditioning as my first pick. I love this workout.

<--- "Your body's like a piece of dynamite. You can tap it with a pencil all day, but you'll never make it explode. You hit is once with a hammer, bang! Get serious, do 40 hard minutes, not an hour and a half of nonsense. It's so much more rewarding." Jason Statham

One of my favorite things about TapouT is that you work HARD from the moment you press play. Every single minute counts and you're pushed to your limits, sometimes even in the warm-up. I love the intensity - and my body loves it too. As for Jason Statham, well, mad respect and all kinds of crushing.

To the headlines below.


Headlines

1.  Ripped Conditioning is one of my favorites because it's old school. Classic moves, amped up a notch.
2.  The upper body workout you get here is solid. You're not pushing cardio on this workout. You're just building muscle.
3.  In case there's any doubt, the resistance bands do the job. Sometimes you have to make it harder on yourself. When you do, they work!
4.  This is one of the few workouts I enjoy doing first thing in the morning. Hitting it early on a Saturday and being done is extra awesome.
5.  When Mike says, "Who doesn't feel that?!?" The answer is: No one. No one doesn't feel that.

Memorable Move

Today's memorable move is tribute to the old school nature of this workout:  Hammer Curls. I had never done upper body workouts with resistance bands before, relying instead on free weights. These bands work. I love doing Hammer Curls with them, along with all the other classic upper body moves.

I learned a big lesson with Ripped Conditioning. Resistance bands really work. But you have to make them work. You can cheat your way through a workout with them if you don't hold yourself accountable. It's easy to tap your muscles with a pencil, rather than hit them with a hammer. My lesson: Go for the hammer.

I didn't "up" my resistance early enough in the 90 day window and I regret that now. I know I'd be further along had I pushed it a bit. I let myself off the hook with this workout the first few times. I was so relieved to be doing moves I could actually do, that I didn't make them hard enough. (Plyo comes to mind as a point of contrast. *&^%$#@) I'm not sure if anyone else is guilty of this, but I thought I'd share it as one of my big lessons. Taking it easy at any point in a workout is so dumb. Who loses? Oh yeah. Me.

The last few times I hit Ripped Conditioning hard and I really love it. This will definitely make the play list post-90 days. And no cheating myself by keeping the resistance in the comfort zone. Hammer, not pencil.

Favorite Mike Quote Of The Day

One of my all-time favorite Mike quotes has to do with how TapouT challenges the mind and body. Today he says, "That's how this works. Not only will Ripped Conditioning get you ripped. It will exploit your weaknesses. But it will make your weaknesses stronger."

I feel like this is true of every TapouT workout. TapouT delivers the goods by making you even stronger where you're already strong... and forcing you to power through your weaknesses. I am SO much stronger all around after doing TapouT. Mike has pushed me squarely out of my comfort zone, much to my benefit. I'm still weak in certain areas, but I'm far less weak today than 86 days ago in every area.

How cool is that?

More tomorrow,
 Lisa
"Bandit"

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My "real" life beyond TapouT XT:

    Executive Consultant: www.laiventures.com

    Author and Coach: www.soulforbreakfast.com