Level 2 Complete

YES!! You have no idea how glad I am to see the back of level 2, I don't care right now how hard level 3 is, I'll deal with that tonight.  When I finished yesterdays RI30 at the end of the last minute of abs I just lay on the mat and had the biggest smile on my face, no doubt that will be gone when I attempt L3 later!

I know I've complained about this part of the dvd alot over the last week but I have found it really tough, so I thought I'd let you all know just which bits really are the worst!

Strength: Renegade Rows/Pro Push Ups - ouch is all I can say, the pro push ups are from circuit 2, no weights obviously just a push up whilst raising the knee to your elbow, after doing 2 minutes of cardio in plank (i'll get on to that in a minute!) its really tough on your shoulders.  Its the same problem with the renegade rows, she makes you do those in 30DS level 3 I think where you also have to raise your legs alternately.  There is no leg raise just plank on the weights and a row to the chest but yikes they hurt and it's really hard not to turn your hips and keep really square when all you want to do is drop to your knees!

There are some strength moves I really loved though, my favourite was probably side lunges with leg raises.  No weights for this one just a deep low lunge, lean to the side you are lunging, put your fingertips on the floor and lift the straightened leg as high as you can. 

Cardio:  Probably the worst cardio move for me was the mountain climbers in plank.  They come right after the plank jacks and they just kill you!  I really didnt like the squat thrusts either.  I didn't manage to do the "badass" of either of those moves for the full minute on any day this week, I had to modify to plank on my elbows or follow Natalie doing the beginner moves, which made me feel like a bit of a failure.

My favourite cardio was probably the punching combos in circuit 3, although I did not enjoy my dad trying to give me punching advice last night, NOTE TO ALL DADS when your daughter is almost at the end of RI30 do not interrupt, you will not be thanked.

Abs:  At the risk of sounding like a total loser, there wasn't an ab move I didnt like, the most difficult is probably the last 30 seconds of the whole dvd, its a cruch whilst raising your legs up straight so that you are at a 90 degree angle - does that make sense?  Trust me, its really tough.  There are loads of great moves though, like going from an ab hold down into a hollowman (yeh I know, didn't I hate those a week ago?)  I'm doing those with weights now to add extra resistence, so my muscles are getting stronger, shame they are covered in a layer of fat hey?

So here are the pictures from day 14 (taken at mum and dads in case you thought we'd done a bit of redecoration)

 This one looks worse I think than it has the past few days, hoping its just a bit of bloat

The red marks are where my tights were digging in.... how embarassing.

Food yesterday was also pretty good, I'm surprised how organised I was seeing as I had to nip back to Wales on Monday night at short notice.  I took my porridge sachets and the last of the blueberries and had that for breakfast as usual.  Lunch was left over prawn curry - no I didn't get a picture, I was too hungry and totally forgot!  Dinner was a turkey, emmental and rocket pitta bread which I had with 10g of popcorn before I left to come home, I also had a protein shake for the journey.

Calories: 1457/1478
5 A Day? Blueberries, baby corn, brocolli, mange tout, rocket - just!!