Youtube is a great place to find how-to videos, workout videos, cooking videos, and random cat videos. I am not actively subscribed to many people on YouTube, but there are a select few that I enjoy following. Most of the videos I watch are Buzzfeed and associated/similar types of videos - I’m a major “Try Guys” fan. A lot of the individuals I follow are Youtubers that were originally known for their work with Buzzfeed; specifically Safiya Nygard and Michelle Khare.
I was recently watching a Michelle Khare video about her trying out the Kendall Jenner ab workout. Khare is known for her extreme fitness and activities that she attempts in her videos. I’ll link to her Youtube channel so you can check her out.
https://www.youtube.com/user/lilogirl2000
So, if you know me well, then you know that I’m not a very active person. Actually even if you don’t know me you can probably tell from my not-so-slender physique. I’ve gone from 130lbs to … many more lbs in the past 5 years. I like to blame Blake because he likes to keep me well fed, but really I just love food and I am not too keen on exercise. Recently, I was actively working out at my local Fit4Less and I felt great. Then, life caught up with me and it has been about 2 months since I last set foot in a gym. So when this 11 minute ab workout video presented itself, I figured I could do more than just try it out once - I’d try to do it every day for 7 days. This is my daily journey towards better (yet still hidden) abs! I am also going to link to the Cosmopolitan article regarding the ab workout:
(http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a9201910/kendall-jenner-abs-workout/)
Day 1: Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Ok, that’s not true, but I’d like to think that in the end I will be very slightly more fit than I am starting off today. I couldn’t find my yoga mat, so I just performed the workout routine on my living room rug. It was a major mistake. Rug burn! Overall, the workout itself was difficult, but manageable. I’ve never been a planker so my form was definitely off with all the planks in the routine. Put your bum up in the air and shake it like you’d rather be doing anything but planking! Yay! I made it throughout the whole routine though. Did every move as best as I could for as long as the routine required plus a few extra seconds if I felt like I could. I’m going to go ahead and give myself an A+ for a first day’s effort. Success!
Day 2: Woke up this morning to a very tender elbow. Not sure if you can see the burn on my elbow from the picture, but I can definitely feel it! Maybe today I won’t do the planks on the living room carpet. Ouch! Rug burn! (By the way, this injury did leave a scar, so lesson learned).
So, I did the workout on the hardwood floors in the hallway. Really wish I could find my yoga mat. Today the workout was surprisingly a lot easier than the first day. I’m still working on my plank formation, but I’m doing my best! I’m not sure if the workout is actually working my muscles or not yet because I haven’t felt any soreness. Granted the routine is only 15 minutes, but it’s a hard 15 minutes. Fingers crossed I see and/or feel some results by the end of the 7 days.
Day 3: I obviously jinxed myself because I woke up this morning with sore abs and shoulders. I guess I’m putting a lot of strain on my shoulders with my poor planks, but I did my best to apply most of the pressure through my palms. The routine seems almost impossible today. I could barely get through the 30 second intervals and I had to take numerous breaks. I couldn’t even push myself up into the side planks today. Definitely a 60% effort rating with equal results. No matter how much I pushed I couldn’t do it! Frustrating because yesterday went so well.
Day 4: My arms had no strength. Zero. Nada. This is impossible.
Day 5/6: I’m going to be honest. I didn’t do the workout these days. I had a Bachelorette Party to go to and, literally, didn’t have 15 minutes to spare for this. It was a very hectic and crazy day, but it was so much fun. Which brings me to the reason that I skipped Day 6...I could not function (totally hungover). If I had worked out on Day 6 it would have been like a snake trying to do this workout. If you didn’t know, snakes don’t have arms, so you imagine that it would have not gone too well.
Day 7: I’m back at it! This time with a companion. Blake came up this weekend and agreed to complete the routine with me. I guess the 2 day break was much needed because it was a very successful workout. Probably the best set I’ve done of this routine. I was able to hit every position, except for the hand plank positions - my body just won’t do those ones. It was a lot easier for me, but still a good workout. Sweat = Success. I do have to say that, because we don’t have A/C in our home, it was a Hot-Yoga kind of environment; which probably contributed to the sweating.
Day 8: Decided to add on 2 extra days to make up for the days that I missed. I actually went to the gym this morning (at 5am - see below for proof of sunrise) AND did the ab workout later in the day. Still going strong after the break. I guess it is actually important to have rest days. Tomorrow is the final day! Yay!
Day 9: Today was the final day. I was happy that it was the last day for this workout. Although it was only 15 minutes, the routine was definitely a workout. I'm happy that I was able to complete what I set out to do this week (+ 2 days) and actually tried to do the workout every day. I saw improvements in my strength over the week and gained hope that maybe, just maybe, there are abs under that belly!
Overall, this week was very interesting. I was able to learn what my body can and cannot do. As well, I was able to pinpoint aspects of the routine that I needed to improve on and was happy with the movements that I was able to accomplish from the beginning. I did notice a difference from day 1 to day 9 with regards to my strength and ability. As for body changes, I don’t think one week is enough time for the workout to make any noticeable changes to your body. I also only did one 15 minute set each day and it is recommended that, if you want to see changes, that you repeat the sets multiple times. I was overall very happy with the routine and think that it is a good starting point for people just beginning their workout regime and for those to discover specific ab workouts that they can incorporate into their routines. Also, if you want to practice lots of planks, this is the way to do it. So many planks!!!
I’m still new to this whole “workout at home” idea as I currently don’t have a gym buddy, but I think this week was definitely a good start. If you have any tips or workout routines that you want me to try, please let me know!