Today I wasn’t at work. I was watching the BMX at the Olympic Park. Why am I mentioning this? Because I spent a fair amount of time today carrying my 45lb son around again. Two things: (1) it was much, much easier than last time. So much so that I managed to pick him up and carry him from the Stratford Gate to the Basketball Arena in about 10 minutes. (2) I was a bit worried about how the Shoulders & Arms workout would go after that. My arms FELT okay, but would they hold up to the full workout?

As it turned out, yes. The workout went okay. It felt more effective than last time, and I think I got the weights better. By the end, the muscles were really, really tired. Probably just about the right amount of tired, I think (hope). My biceps are still much stronger than the triceps or shoulders, but not so much in this workout as the Chest & Back one, because of all the variety of moves – whereas the Chest & Back is mainly straight pulls (easy), this one is trickier.

Anyway, I got some nice tough weights, struggled my way all the way through, and hit the end just about exhausted, feeling quite smug. And then, as I was just feeling happy about surviving it, the DVD said “Ab Ripper”. I’d forgotten. I swear I nearly cried.

Nevertheless, the Ab Ripper workout is getting much better, too. I can do more of it. (Although I’m not claiming to have mastered it. Or even half of it. Or even… well, you get the idea). It’s not that it’s easy, but I can now do just enough that I can feel it working my abs, whereas before it didn’t seem to be doing anything. I still find that it’s very leg-intense though – generally I’m getting burn in my thighs (holding legs in the air too long) or cramp/lock in my hips rather than actually wearing out my abs. I’m not too worried, though, as plenty of the other workouts use my abs for stabilisation, and I can see it’s all making a difference.

One thing I noticed today was that I was really flat at the start of the Ab Ripper, so I stopped and had a quick drink of apple juice. That seemed to help me get to the end. I keep thinking that because these are strength workouts rather than cardio, they won’t be burning many calories, but I seem to need plenty of fuel for them. Today, because of being out all day, was a light-eating day which was probably why I needed the top-up.

Anyway – I got to the end. I survived it. Now the next challenge is to still be awake at the end of tomorrow to do the yoga. I’m a bit worried about how long that will take. What with stopping, understanding how to do the move, finding the right weight, adjusting, retrying, the “hour” workouts take me nearly two hours. Since yoga is and hour and a half, it could take me all night. I think, just for the sake of sleeping occasionally, I’ll have to give up after an hour and a half no matter how much of it I’ve done.

So – on the subject of sleep – off I go. Night, all.