Beachbody Les Mills Combat Day 5 Review

What I did and why

Today was Day 5 for me in Les Mills Combat. I took the day off from work and really didn't want to workout. This one was called Shock Plyo and Plyo is insane! I have not looked forward to this workout at all. Had I Googled Plymetrics prior to buying this DVD set, I might not have bought the DVD set! I'm not really sore, but I'm feeling a bit weak still. I knew this DVD was going to be a challenge for me.

Shock Plyo

This is a 30 minute workout. There is one section where they use a single dumbbell. I used a 5 pound one, but you don't need it. They have a person doing modifications in this workout, but she's at the end and I can't always find her. I ended up modifying some things on my own.

The warm up starts off with bouncing side to side like you see boxers do. The warmup is five and a half minutes. There is a timer showing how much time is left in the segment and how much is left in the DVD. We went to running in place and high knees. We then went to running forward and doing squats then back and doing squats. FUN! Then we shuffled left and tapped the ground and then right and tapped the ground. Back to running! Then we finally get to the lunges. These are forward lunges and our hands were up over our heads. My hands didn't stay there for long. I don't do well with forward lunges either. I just can't seem to get my feet in the right place. Here come the plyo lunges! Dan does them super fast, but he didn't go low in them. Back to running in place and then running with the squats! They all do it at their own pace so it looks like a train wreck. Back to the shuffling and floor tapping, but this time it's on the other side. More running in place. I'm totally loving this DVD so far. NOT! More of those forward lunges oh joy. Running in place again! Burpees! We started out doing them slowly and then bounced around. Then we did them fast. They were just the down and kick the legs back then go up kind. They weren't like the ones with the push ups and squats. Back to high knees and running in place. Push ups that turned into side planks. Oh the fun just keeps going. These weren't really that bad, but I suck at push ups. Then it's just push ups. Warm up is over! That felt like a work out not a warm up.

The next segment was more high knees and running in place. Back to burpees! They started slow and then went fast. More running in place and then running with the squats. Now we add drop squats to the burpees. There was some running in place between each of them. Then she added a jump coming out of the squat. This segment lasted four minutes, but it was mainly the same stuff with the burpees. 

The next segment was 5-1/2 minutes and started with double alternating lunges. They were going forward again. I just hate the ones going forward. Then we moved into plyometric lunges. Running in place. More lunges. Then we did Power Climbers. I think it's the same as a mountain climber. You're on the floor in a push up position and you bring one foot forward and then alternate those. They are killer on the hamdstrings. I had to get on my knees for some of them. Back to double alternating lunges which turned into plyo lunges. There was some running in place between sets of plyo lunges. Back down for power climbers. More ply lunges with running. More mountain climbers (or power climbers if you want to call them that).

The next segment was just under 2 minutes. We grabbed a dumbbell and did a squat. As we came out of the squat, we lifted the weight over our heads. Then we shifted to the right and started again. Then we put the weight down and bounces from left to right. Sumo squats! They jumped into the squat and then out of the squat by bringing the legs together. I just stepped into it. Then more of the squats with the dumbbell. 

The next segment was 3 minutes 45 seconds. We did ski jump squats. The arms went up over the head as we came out of the squat and we jumped to the side for another squat. Then we did what I call skaters. Then running in place. They call skaters drop taps. We alternated between these and running in place. More ski jump squats. This wasn't that bad, but it did get my heart rate up! More of the weight shifting left and right and then running in place. We alternated these for a bit. More skaters or drop taps. More ski jump squats. Oh I did the modified version of these. Maybe that's why it wasn't so bad. 

Next segment was 4 minutes and 20ish seconds. We did more push ups that turned into side planks. Then we just hovered with one foot up off the ground. They call it a hover, but the rest of the world calls it a plank. Then we did cobra push ups. I can't describe these and I didn't do them right. More planking with the leg raised up. Then just regular planks. Side planks! 

Time for the cool down! Oh yay! We stretched out the legs pretty well. There were a couple different ones. This was mainly on the floor until we got up for a quad stretch. Then we stretched our shoulders and we were done!

Overall Thoughts on the Workout

This was HARD even with the modifications. I'm 288 pounds. I'm not designed to do this stuff. I'm starting to wish that I hadn't gotten this DVD set. I really want to stick with it for the 60 days, but my body is weak right now, and the one day of rest yesterday didn't really reduce the weakness I'm feeling. I'm not very sore, but I just don't have the strength that I had before starting this program. I feel like I need a week off from this thing. When I had a trainer, she set me up to not work the same body part twice in one week, but this system is like having a leg day every day for three days and then taking one day off. I might cave on this 60 day thing, but I will finish at least the first week before I decide what to do. 

BodyMedia Screen Shots

Here are my BodyMedia screen shots. I only got 3 minutes of vigorous activity doing this. I find that a bit messed up. I got 8 minutes of vigorous activity while doing my 20 minute step routine last night. Something seems hinky! I know that BodyMedia was rated as the most accurate activity tracker, but some of my results just don't make much sense to me. I really want my heart rate monitor.