I'm okay with a "yellow" day

Yesterday ended up being a "yellow" day.  Though I strive for "green" everyday, I'm okay with yesterday's "yellow," and I'll explain why in a moment.  First, the stats:

Steps: 11,115 (short by 885)
Calories: 1153
UP food score: 8.7/10
Workout: I did this workout from Jenna Wolfe with a few modifications.

I didn't know who Jenna Wolfe was until a few months ago when I came across one of her workouts posted on NBC's website.  I can't explain why, but she instantly became a new fitness hero for me... right up there with Jillian Michaels and Jari Love. If you watched the trailer from The Biggest Loser show, you'll notice she was pregnant when the show was taped.  I know I never looked like that when I was pregnant, but I digress.

I've been receiving Jenna's weekly workout tips in my inbox for awhile, but yesterday was actually the first time I tried one of her workouts all the way through.  At this point in my challenge to eat right and work out, her workouts seemed a little hard for me... three years ago, they wouldn't have seemed so hard.  I approached yesterday's attempt as sort of bench mark for me. I wanted to see how well I could do and how long it would take me to get through the whole thing. Jenna's post suggested it would take about an hour.

I think I did pretty well, which is why I'm okay with my yellow score.  I worked really hard, but it didn't show up in my UP step count. I did have to make a few modifications, and I want to document them here so I can refer to them when I try the same workout in a week or so.

The warm up

100 jog in place* = no modification (*  one repetition is complete when both legs have done the move)
90 jumping jacks with light weight = half way through I had to modify the jumping jacks, in retrospect I should have just dropped the weights.  I can easily do 90 jumping jacks...
80 butt kickers* = no modification
70 mountain climbers = I did them the "easy" way, I'm still building up to true mountain climbers
60 high knees = no modification (I struggled to keep my knees up, but I did it)
50 pikes = (I skipped this one by mistake, initially, and once I realized it, I didn't go back... my bad)
40 push ups = I did them in 4 sets of 10
30 toy soldiers =  I didn't do the squat part
20 squat jumps = no modifications (I'm sure Jenna would have been yelling at me to do them faster and more fluidly)
10 burpees = again, no modification, but I'm sure Jenna would have insisted on better quality burpees



The workout

Set 1:
50 runs left, low step
20 run left, high step
20 crab kicks
20 crab dips
50 runs right, low step
20 runs right, high step
20 crab kicks
20 crab dips

Admittedly, I had to modify the entire set listed above.  My mom has my step.  I tried to do the runs with a child's chair, but it did not feel stable enough, and  the last thing I wanted to do was get hurt. So, instead, I modified the runs listed above with some moves Sean T does in his T25 cardio workout, specifically the "up down explosion runs" and the low, jogging front kicks.  Next time I do this workout, I'll be sure to get my step back from my mom. Or, I will use the bottom basement step... don't know why that just occurred to me now. The crab kicks were hard, I don't think I did them quite right.  The crab dips were also hard from the floor, so I did them using the couch.

Set 2: Jump squat/push up taps

The combination is a pyramid scheme.  You start with 1 jump squat and then do 10 push up taps, then do 2 jump squats, and 9 push up taps, and so on.  I liked this combination a lot.  I really focused on doing good jump squats even when I had to do 10 in row.

Set 3: 15 kick drops followed by 2 minutes of upper cuts with light weights, repeat 3 times.

The kick drops were a little advanced for me, so I made the biggest modification to this set, but I think I made a good choice.  I did 15 side kicks on each leg and 15 standing front round kicks followed by the upper cuts.  I had to lose the weights half way through the second set of upper cuts.

Set 4:
30 sea turtles  = I ended up doing plain old "supermans"
30 mountain climbers = easy

Set 5: Bear crawls

Despite the description given, I wasn't sure I was doing the Bear crawls correctly, so I did 20 walk out push ups instead.

Set 6:
High knees/plank jacks

As with the jump squat/push up taps from set 2, this set is also designed to be a pyramid.  I started with 10 high knees followed by 1 plank jack. Then 9 high knees, 2 plank jacks and so on.

It took me 53 minutes to complete this workout.  Even though I made some modifications, I really tried to push myself.  I tried my best not rest between sets which made it even harder.  I'm looking forward to trying a few more of Jenna's workouts.  In a few weeks, I'll give this one another go, and see how much better I can do.