Thursday, September 26, 2013

Focus T25: The Pyramid

Today, Seth did workout four from Gamma, The Pyramid, a (naturally) pyramid style workout. Again, weights or bands were needed for this workout. Andy had bands, Tanya had some lighter weights, and Scott had heavier weights.
Shaun T sharted with Slow Control Jog. This was followed by Jack Feet, then Double Jack Feet, then Front Raise Jacks, which got everyone warmed up. Next up were Push Jump Off Knees, similar to half tuck jumps, to warm up the triceps and get the heart rate up. After three minutes, the "warm up" section was over.
Now it was time to pick up the weights for Hammer Curl + Squat. Shaun T had you increasing the number of hammer curls before each squat for the pyramid on this move. The move increased up to eight curls. Next up was Dead Lift + Upright Row. Here the both the number of dead lifts and the number of upright rows increased up to six reps.
Drop weights. The next move was Front Kick + Side Lunge; again both the number of kicks and the number of lunges increased with each set up to six reps. Shaun T had everyone do this move on the left side and then the right. This exercise had you moving quite quickly and definitely got the heart rate up -- it was a cardio move. The cardio continued with Up + Over, a move familiar from the Speed workouts. This seemed to be a recovery move. At this point, Seth was about 10 minutes into the workout.
Again, it was time to get back into another pyramid. Down Dog + Pike-up. There was one Down Dog each time through, and just the number of Pike-ups increased up to eleven reps. Tanya modified this move with knee taps in plank. This was definitely the most challenging move of the workout. Seth struggles with pike-ups and had some difficulties with this move the first time through the workout. This is definitely something he wants to work on outside of when he's doing T25.
Clean Press + Walk Up + Back was the next move. This was more of a bicep curl with a shoulder press in my mind and only the Clean Press increased pyramid style up to seven reps.
After that it was back to cardio. Left Arm Hook + Squat. The squats were hop/jack squats (modified by Tanya) and both the number of squats and number of hooks increased up to seven of each. Naturally, this was followed by Right Arm Hook + Squat. The next move was more cardio, Jack + Speed + Agility, which was not done as a pyramid.
Back to strength moves. Child's Pose + Push-up, with the push-ups increasing in number to nine. They did the push-ups fairly quickly. "Oh, shiznizzy!" said Shaun T at some point. Seriously, that was a ton of push-ups. I would say this was the second hardest move of the workout. Following this was Same Arm + Same Leg on the right then left. This move looked like it works the abs very nicely, making it up to eight reps on each side.
Back to the dumbbells. Tricep Press + Release to 90 Degrees, which worked the triceps and biceps. Shaun T had everyone doing seven presses. Only the number of presses increased.
Cardio time with Shuffle + Knee Heisman, familiar from other workouts in Beta and Gamma. The cardio "rest" was short lived, but at this point there was less than a minute left. Shaun T ended with 5-count Butterfly to work the abs. He began to cound more and more slowly, having people extend the ab work on each side. Time!
The Pyramid is a great total body workout with a good blend of cardio and strength training, incorporating both body-weight moves and hand weights. Pyramid workouts are always killer, and Shaun T does a great job putting together a dynamic, challenging, engaging pyramid-style program. While the focus, as it is through all of Gamma Cycle, is more on strength-building here, there is definitely enough cardio to mix things up and make you feel "cross trained".
At certain times during the workout, Shaun T had everyone moving more quickly through the moves with the dumbells. Since this was his first time through, Seth said he was worries that he wasn't maintaining form as he tried to keep up with the workout. This is definitely something I think that he will feel more comfortable with as he gets more accustomed to the moves, but it's something to keep in mind your first few times through the DVD.
Overall, Seth felt the workout was fun because it was the only one of the kind in the program. It felt more like "traditional weight lifting" to him because you're trying hard to do more reps. He liked the uniqueness and feels when he gets more familiar with the moves he'll have even more fun with it. He wants to focus the most on getting better with push-ups and pike-ups.
This is the last Gamma workout Seth had to try, so for the next few weeks, he'll be moving through these four workouts. I'll catch-up with him doing Rip'T Up early next week, and let you know how it goes!

No comments: