Task 85 - Workout 2x a Week for 2 Months

Since last fall I have been participating in a group ‘crossfit’ like routine at work during lunch. It’s called Bravo Ignite. Ignite is the entry level fitness program in the Bravo Energy Burn Series. It’s designed to burn calories and build strength though specific strength movement patterns and cardio blasts.

The Cardio blasts are designed to burn high amounts of calories while the targeted strength movements build muscle fast. The idea is to achieve a total body workout in just one quick 40 minute session. These workouts can be pretty intense and you definitely feel the burn during and the results the next day. Our pattern has been to workout in these group sessions every Tuesday and Thursday at lunch time.

There are more advanced routines that follow the Ignite series but Ignite seems to work well for our mixed group sessions. With people of all levels each person adjusts the weight to make the challenge just right for them. After all you get out of it what you put into it.

These workouts haven’t made me lose much weight but I have noticed that I have far more energy and that my pants are considerably looser then they have been in a long time. This became clear to me when I went out to get a new pair of dress pants and the 33 I usually wear was falling off me. I ended up picking up a size 32 which also was loose. I have also noticed a definite increase in strength and more toned areas of my body. My biggest challenge is diet and it’s likely the biggest culprit in my not shedding more weight. It's something I definitely need to work on.

The exercises themselves vary from following list (There are more I couldn't remember).

Overhead press	Step ups	Lat pull down
Burpees	Deadlift	Arc trainer
Standing crunch	Rear delt	Reverse step lunge
Chest fly	Back row	Wall squats
Air squats	Torso Rotation	Arc
Planks	Bike	Row
Box Jumps	Ab Crunch	UBE
Jumping Jacks	Bicep Curls	SitUps
Leg Press	Single arm d-bl curls	Trap Pull
Decline Row	Cross Row Delt	Scissor Kicks
Trunk Flexion	Decline Chest Press	Calf Machine
Lateral box step	Tricep Dips	Overhead D-Bl Press
Battle rope	High rows	Incline Chest Press
Decline chest press	Broomstick forearm curls	Chest press
L & R side planks	Shoulder press (db)	Pushups
Hip swing	Shoulder roll	Fireman carry
Kettle bell squat high pull	Tricep push downs	Seated press

Generally there are 12 stations per session. Each station is a single exercise. There are two sets per station per cycle. We complete 2 cycles. To help keep us on time and on track we began using an app called Tabatas Pro on the Apple App Store. It cost an inexpensive $2.99 and has been an invaluable tool. The app and its audio alerts keep us all focused but organized.

Sometimes we don’t use the app and follow a more crossfit style workout as was the case yesterday when we did the Filthy Fifty. It was a 50 rep challenge where we had to do 50 reps of a series of different exercises such as box jumps, lat pull downs, kettlebell swings, walking lunges, situps overhead press, back extension, wall balls, burpees and the arc for a sustained 5 minutes. If this were a true crossfit workout I’d have only had 21 minutes to complete it. I managed to finish in 34:20.

Each session is run and administered by a small group of us and we do our best to make them balanced or focused depending on our goal. We are also always adding new things based on suggestions and user imput and whenever possible we have the certified trainers who come in give us pointers or guest lead the sessions.  Those are the most fun because they really push us to our limits.