T25 Wrap Up

Saturday, I finished the Gamma round of T25 for the second time around. Can I just be the first to say the past four weeks has FLOWN by? I feel like I just decided to repeat the cycle, and BAM! It’s over.

I’ve owed you all a Beta and Gamma wrap up for quite some time now. Due to my procrastination, and likely traumatization from Gamma, over the past few weeks, I have literally forgotten everything about Beta. I don’t remember the workouts, I don’t remember how I felt doing it. I just remember being bummed when it was over and really wanting, nigh needing, to keep going on the T25 track. Enter Gamma.

Gamma I can tell you about. Because the pain and torture is still fresh. Yes, pain and torture. It was seriously such an ass-kicking, I actually thought I was knocking on death’s door a few times.

This round was no joke. The workout calendar for Gamma is only four weeks, down from the five-week Alpha and Beta cycles, but it definitely makes you work just as hard. Unlike Alpha and Beta, which are aimed at increasing your overall fitness, burning fat and replacing with lean muscle, and basically beating you into a coordinated gazelle, Gamma is about strength and building muscle. As such, every workout requires free weights. And also ends in you feeling like your every extremity is going to fall off.

There are only four videos in Gamma, and each requires both agility and power. In my opinion, the hardest of these was Speed 3.0. Essentially, it’s balls-to-the-walls speed AND strength movements. Yeah, both. At. The. Same. Time. Imagine being asked to do Jack Pushups as fast as you can. Like, “Excuse me, Mr. Shaun T. I can barely do one Jack Pushup, and it takes me a century to complete. And you want me to beast mode through, like, a million in 30 seconds?!  Please tell my family that I love them and that I died miserable.”

Despite the difficulty and the inordinate amount of curse words I directed at my iPod during this phase, Gamma was by far my favorite cycle of the program. I loved that I got to use weights for every workout. For some reason, I felt so much more productive. I guess I just like lifting things up and putting them down. Not that Alpha and Beta were lame, rather, they were representative of a progression of fitness and ability. Each phase built on the previous one. So by the end of Gamma, you were using that Plank you learned in Alpha and that Side Pulse Plank you learned in Beta to inform Gamma’s Walking Ski Abs. I really appreciated that evolution. It was like watching my coordination and ability morph from that of a narcoleptic kitten’s to a cheetah’s. (Note: no hard feelings, narcoleptic kittens. You sure are cute, but you’re like a loose cannon, and ain’t nobody want that on their team during a battle royale for dinner.)  Now that I’m looking back, I feel really accomplished when revisiting the Alpha and Beta moves, knowing that the moves that used to kill me are now slightly more tolerable.

Gamma phase definitely did what it says it does—increases strength and endurance. The most marked achievement of this, for me, was being able to do all sorts of cool pushups now. At the start of Alpha, I could barely do 10 regular pushups. Now, I’m doing jack pushups, oblique knee pushups, in-and-out arm pushups, leg-up pushups…Total win. Also, a major victory was when I was able to get through Speed 3.0 without stopping. I wasn’t able to keep up with Shaun’s pace the whole time, but I also didn’t need a break or find myself gasping for oxygen. And I have some cut lines on my arms and legs for all the trouble. Not too shabby.

But in case you were curious, I don’t look like a ripped model from the T25 infomercial. I didn’t have a complete body transformation or an astounding weight loss because, honestly, my love for cake is invincible. But I did keep track of my body metrics and measurements along the way, and figured I would share some of the benchmark readings with you all.

The poor formatting of this chart really triggers my OCD tendencies.

So after 18 weeks of Alpha, Beta, and 2 rounds of Gamma, I came out the other end alive, and with a few less inches on my body. And there’s no better victory dance than survival, y'all.

Now on to new adventures!

What's What Wednesday

Happy Hump Day to the world! We’re halfway through the week, which means my brain has already turned to mush. As such, I am having a hard time thinking of random things to share. Lucky for me, a friend recently had a “taking stock” post to give you a snapshot of her life at that given moment. So, I’m totally going to steal her idea—just not her thunder.  Check her out here.

Currently I am…

Making: Oxygen turn into carbon dioxide. I’m something of a wizard.

Cooking: CAKES!!! I also have a lot of leftover ricotta from the cake I made last week, and I’m contemplating turning it into cannoli filling, then just shoveling it into my face. No shells required. I’m also not sure if this qualifies as “cooking” so much as “stirring.”

Drinking: Coffee, coffee, coffee.

Wanting: A new heartrate monitor. And some kick-butt gym shirts.

Looking: For direction. Just in life in general.

Reading: Unfortunately, no books. But I do get in a lot of online news sources.

Wasting: Water. I leave the faucet running while I brush my teeth. It’s very wasteful.

Trusting: That Hatch isn’t knocking over all my plants at home as we speak.

Wishing: I had a vacation coming up.

Enjoying: This cup of coffee and moment of silence.

Waiting: To be interrupted.

Liking: The research I’ve been doing on gardening. Who knew the Farmer’s Almanac could be so helpful?!?! (Answer: everyone who grows things).

Wondering: If I’ll be able to complete today’s crossword puzzle. Wednesdays are significantly harder than Mondays.

Loving: This tidbit of time during the year when you can drive with your windows down out of sheer enjoyment, and not because you’re baking in your car.

Hoping: That How To Train Your Dragon 2 is freaking amazeballs. Because it has big shoes to fill after the first iteration.

Needing: To get a haircut. I look like a damn yeti.

Anticipating: All of the weekend trips I have coming up from May through June. Wedding season is here, y’all.

Contemplating: Becoming a real-life version of The Pretender (as in the TV show), and just do a little of everything for a job. Day one: baker. Day two: ninja. Day three: librarian. Day four: professional knitter. Sounds like a dream.

Smelling: Nothing. Because I showered today. Victory on many counts.

Wearing: The same ol’ clothes. I basically cycle through the same 5 outfits. It’s sad.

Following: The T25 program. 2^nd cycle of Gamma ends next week!

Noticing: That all the leaves came on the trees really quickly over the past two days. Seriously, this past weekend, bare trees. This morning, FULL ON SPRING.

Thinking: Philosophically about math. I mean, math is crazy. Did math always exist around us and we just took the time to tap into it and figure it out? Or did we construct math and did so well with it that it happens to—more times than not—perfectly fit/describe/explain the natural world?

Exploring: Gardening. I have lots of seeds in the mail as we speak! I’ve never been able to keep plants alive, so this is also going to be quite the gauntlet.

Bookmarking: Natural self-care products. Like shampoo, soap, deodorant, etc. I am slowly making the transition over to chemical-free, if I can help it.

Opening: A strawberry greek yogurt. ‘Sup breakfast?

Giggling: At this joke I heard on the radio this morning. It involved bionic cats.

Feeling: Tired. I worked 27 hours in the past two days and came in early to work today. Coffee with a straw, please!

Here’s to your Wednesday! May it be random and awesome!

Hatch wanted to come with me to Boston this past weekend.

CAKE!!!

The other day, there was a meeting at work. And at this meeting, I crossed paths with what I’m pretty sure is the love of my life—a game-changing, ridiculously amazing grain-free cake that was brought in by one of my coworkers. It was so divine. Lemony. Almondy. Smooth. Moist. And could it be? Flourless to boot?!

Too bad she left before I had the chance to ask her both what this demigod was called and where I could buy it. But good thing she left all of the extra cake behind for the taking. Mwahaha.

Anyway, because I fell head-over-heels for this cake, I did a LOT of asking around. Like, an embarrassing amount. Like, I emailed my coworker who brought the thing and polled my other colleagues about if they’ve ever had a cake like this one before. Never let it be said that I don’t relentlessly chase down fight for the things I want.

And while I’m sure these people think I’m crazy, I was quite successful in my tracking endeavors. Survey said, it’s called a Lemon Ricotta Cake.  And apparently it’s big both around Eastertime and in Italy. Who knew?

Now, I’m a frugal DIY-er. So while my matchmaker coworker gave me the name of the bakery she bought it from, I decided to scour the interwebs in search of a replica recipe that I could keep in my arsenal FOR ALL TIME.

Well, I found one.  And then I rushed to the grocery store for the ingredients, and got to baking. Here’s how I did.

Cake.

Cake!

CAKE!

If you are interested in the recipe, the one I used was here: Delicious Cake Recipe.

All in all, it was pretty delicious. Just not AS delicious as my one true love. But, I’m not one to go down without a fight, so next time, I’ll be making some modifications. Like using almond flour instead of meal to get a smoother consistency. And not baking it as long as I did to retain moisture. And more lemon. Because EVERYTHING can profit from more lemon.  Nonetheless, it’s hard to complain when you have a cake on your hands.  So I’ll count this one as mission accomplished, just not aced.

I haven’t forgotten that I owe you all a T25 wrap-up! I’m hoping to get on that this weekend!

Until then, cake for everyone!!! Happy weekend!

Hatch's weekend plans: napping on all the humans.