Air Alert III update

So because every single person in my office has left and I'm the only one here, I will take a few moments to give an update on Air Alert III.

It is hard. Really really hard. I started week 12 yesterday, and for the first time, could not actually complete a set for an exercise without stopping for a few seconds. Four sets of 75 leapups is killer, even coming off of six sets of 50 from the previous week. My feeling is this: if, by the end of the week, I still cannot complete the leapups without pausing in the middle of a set, I am going to repeat week 12 until I can (week 13 is a rest week, so I figure it can only help me prepare for the W15D (Week 15 of Death, which has 4 sets of 100 leapups. yeah.)

A couple of things I've learned from doing this program:

1. Do the program EXACTLY as prescribed
2. Early on, do the exercises as hard as you can (ie, for the burnouts, really do get as high on your toes as you possibly can and really go as fast as you can) because you need this foundation for later on
3. Actually time yourself between sets, because if you just guess your rest, you're either guessing too high or too low most of the time. If no clock is available, I've found that my cellphone comes in handy
4. DO NOT CHEAT. You really are just cheating yourself. No pain really does equal no gain
5. Be active on Air Alert days (usually following the workout) and be even more active on the off days. Really do jump your highest and test your range.
6. Always cool down and stretch afterwards
7. Always massage the muscle you are working on during your rest
8. DO NOT eat Mexican food on the day of or the day prior to performing these exercises, especially in the later weeks.

This program starts somewhat easy. With some of my Emory kids starting out when I'm on week 10 or 11, they are done with the whole routine before I'm even done with the first exercise. However, it takes a lot longer the further in you get. Yesterday took me 45 mins, but the week before took me 1 hr and 15 min (week 11 = fewer reps, more sets, week 12 = more reps, fewer sets). Week 15, which you're supposed to do four days that week, will probably take about an hour and a half or more, and none of these numbers have included warm-up and stretch and cool-down and stretch.

I applaud those of you that make it to week 12, and who can do it without having to rest in the middle of the 3rd and 4th sets of leapups, at least on the first day. I will give a week 15 report, but I'm sure it will go something like, "Wah wah wah my legs hurt wah wah I'll sky you, bitch."