Hey friends! Happy Power Monday. How was the weekend? I am ready to tackle this week! I rested and got prepared so I am ready to go and get it over with. I finally finished the book (The Innocent) I had been reading for over a month (so sad) and I picked up another from the library (probably not a good idea). I applied to another college, another check in the box 🙂 I also studied, “homeworked”, prepped some meals, grocery shopped, did yoga, caught up on the Walking Dead (now I am behind one more episode again though, as it always will be). And I can’t forget to tell you about my awesome dinner on both Friday and Saturday night! The re-creation of the Pizza! Just as good (maybe better) as last time. I also received the nutritional yeast I ordered form iHerb last week (and I ordered more Chia bars! I love them so much!). I had never tried nutritional yeast before (except I think once, but only a tiny amount) and was siked to put some on my pizza. It was awesome and I love that it is so chock-full of B vitamins! Sunday dinner was also spectacular. I made CandyFit’s Salmon Nori wraps and had a very cinnamony micro-baked sweet potato, yum!
When I was out driving to various stores and places this weekend I just couldn’t help notice how beautiful the trees are right this moment. But it is always so sad as well. When the leaves change color it is because they are losing their pigment and dieing. So the color change means death for the leaves and hibernation for the trees 🙁 All for that cold cold winter to come. But we can still appreciate the beauty while it’s there.
For Power Monday this week I just want to do my review of the new October release of Group Power! I wish they had the trailer up on YouTube, but they don’t yet so you will have to just go off of my crappy descriptions of some of the moves haha! They are tons of new things in this release and they are kind of hard to explain, but I did my best!
Here is a quick run down of the tracks and the weights I have been using. I believe the bar is 5lbs so I added that into the plate pounds I add to each side to get the total weight.
Warm-Up: Finally Found You // Weight Factor: Normal // My Weight: 30lbs
+ This is a good warm-up track. Nothing special, but it does the job. When I saw we were going to do dead squats in the warm-up, I knew I would be very happy come the Back and Legs track! (Dead-Squats are the bomb!)
Legs: Suave (Kiss Me) // Weight Factor: Normal // My Weight: 60lbs
+ This…was…KILLER! I absolutely loved this one. It is tons of over-lapping levels (ie: top, middle bottom, and up) and then these scorcher 16 full singles! And when you think your done, no, there are more singles! This was an awesome track!
Chest: Urgent // Weight Factor: Increase to Normal // My Weight: 35lbs
+ This was another killer! You start with an increase on the bar and keep it for most of the track, then switch to normal, but I just kept my increase the whole time. It is tons of traditional chest presses. You have full, top halves, bottom halves, etc. And then at the end you finish it off with a “zillion” bottom pulses! It burns so good!
Back and Legs: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye // Weight Factor: Normal // My Weight: 30lbs
+ This is a pretty repetitive track, but the Back and Legs usually are. it consists of my love, the Dead-Squat, wide are dumbbell back-flies which are kind of cool since I don’t think they were ever used in a track before. They are kind of like the back-flies we did in last release’s shoulder track. Then we have tons of double clean and presses which I hate. You have to do 2 in a row with out a row in between and it can get a little stressful for the back.
Triceps: Don’t Stop The Party // Weight Factor: Increase + Dumbbells // My Weight: 25lb Bar and 8lb Dumbbells
+ My triceps have been sore the next day after I do Group Power, so I am guessing this is an effective track! I actually don’t mind that had mostly bar work. We just do Tri-Presses with the bar so it doesn’t hurt my wrists and grip like the over head extensions usually do. After the bar work you stand up and do the dumbbell/plate work which is over head extensions. I love these and we also so a pull down in front of the face which I have always loved, but they have not been incorporating them in the last few releases. Glad to see they brought it back. O and to finish, just like the chest track, we do DB OH extension bottom pulses until the song ends, killer!
Biceps: The Stroke // Weight Factor: Normal // My Weight: 25lbs
+ This was definitely different. We do unilateral work with the bar. You start with wide grip curls and then bring one hand in which will be the arm doing all the work. The other had is just balancing the bar. Then you switch sides and do the same sequence of curls. Then you go back to wide and then normal. It is over pretty quick, but I definitely won’t be increasing my weight for this one just yet, it is very challenging!
More Legs: Don’t You Worry Child // Weight Factor: N/A // My Weight: N/A
+ Okay. I am pretty sure this is one of the most dangerous tracks they have come up with! It is crazy weird. It is 4 short rounds and you start with a round for each leg doing step ups with a knee raise using the step. You progressively get faster and so on. Then you do a few lunges, then transition to kicking you back leg back and then the danger comes. You do these weird lunge jumps from the step. Now I am find doing them although I am scared my foot won’t land right back on the step and I will twist my ankle and fall. but for the older women in the class I am really concerned some one will hurt themselves. We then do the same sequence except we have one foot up on the side of the step and do squats. But then we eventually transition to those crazy one leg on the step jumps from the squat position. Again, if your foot don’t land back down on the step correctly, you could twist and ankle. I like the track don’t get me wrong and I am definitely fatigued and challenged, but it just seems a little iffy for some. But that is what modifications are for! You don’t have to jump, and you don;t even have to use the step if you don’t want! This is definitely a track where you need to listen to your body and ability.
Shoulders: Work // Weight Factor: Increase // My Weight: 25lbs (DBs: 16lbs)
+ You have 3 rounds in this track. you do some short bar work which consists of upright rows and over heads, then a rest while you pick up your dumbbells. For the first dumbbell round you do this weird “monkey” arm move, but with out swinging your arms or torso. Then you repeat the bar sequence and transition to the dumbbells, this time doing bent lateral raises which I adore. Bar for the last time then dumbbells doing under hand front raises which are absolutely killer at this point. And just like chest and triceps your do extra pulses at the end for that solidifying power finisher! I always like the shoulder tracks. Shoulder are my favorite part of the arm to train because of all of the options and I see the most results there!
Core: Soul Man // Weight Factor: Normal // My Weight: 15lb plate
+ I thought I would be in all my glory with this track when the instructor announced we would be using plates. Well I was wrong! This track is weak! I was so disappointed because it had so much potential. I love using plates to train the core, but the moves we do with the plates which are lying on your back and bring one leg out and the arms back and switching. Then place the plates on your chest for normal crunches, then some roll-ups and repeat 4 times. My core is just to strong for this track i guess 😉 At least we end with some planks but the first plank we do is a weird bend the knees and bring the hips back then pop up to push-up position. Then we finally go down to an elbow plank and end it there. Not my favorite.
Stretch: Diamonds // Weight Factor: N/A // My Weight: N/A
+ My class always gets a late start since the Group Kick class before us always runs over, plus all BTS stretch tracks and pretty lame, just really easy stretches. So we usually do some moves from the track, but then do some other basic essential stretches to loosen up before we head off. We never follow the whole song and usually cut it short due to time. (Not a problem for me since I stretch everyday at home). I hated the song this release too, Rhianna sucks, haha! But the good thing about this stretch track was that it was all standing stretches, nothing weird with the bench, a total plus.
So all in all I liked this release. It was really different and incorporated new moves and sequences. It is nice to have a total switch up and confuse the body so we can continue to grow, build, and strengthen. And guess what? I was so surprised that there were no push-ups of any kind in this release! Man, one of my faves was not included, but some of my over faves came back so I will allow it 😉 I can’t wait to see what the bonus chest and bicep tracks are like eventually. Chest is to Blinded By The Light and the Bicep is to Rock And Roll. The chest is increase while the bicep is just normal. I wonder what they entail…I definitely am sore the next day from this release so I know it will be a good one and hopefully I can increase eventually on some tracks. I am thinking shoulders definitely. I have only done the release twice so far (today will be my third time). My favorite tracks were Squats, Chest, Triceps, and Shoulders!
Have a happy and strong Power Monday guys! See you on the blog tomorrow!
So tell me:
Have you done the new release? Do you like it?
Do you feel intimidated/embarrassed to modify moves when you are in a group fitness class? Please don’t. You need to be safe and everyone is at a different level. I know in my class if someone needs to modify to make it easier or harder, they do it and my instructor encourages modifications so that helps.
