Riptoberfest- Week Four Day 4!

Blogdate: 10/21

Workout: Cardio Party 3 + Yoga

I'm dividing my workouts up again today- CP3 in the morning, yoga when I get home from work.

CP3 was tough this morning- and I didn't even use the gloves! I think working out in the am takes some getting used to for your body. I can really bring it at night after an entire day's calories, but it is tougher in the morning with a cold body and no calories (I get sick if I eat immediately before cardio).

2 more days!

Riptoberfest- Week 3 Day Five!

Blogdate: 10/16

Workout: Cardio Party 3 + Yoga

Cardio Party 3 really is the best workout of the bunch. Every song is motivating, every combination is fun to do. I paired it with 30 minutes of Ten Minute Solution Yoga off Netflix streaming. There are tons of workouts on there!

Rip You Up Rotation Week 4: Day Five!

Blogdate: 9/25

Workout: Cardio Party 3, Yoga

I took a rest day yesterday, so I need to double up tonight. Luckily, CP3 is my favorite Cardio Party. While exercising, my right knee gave a loud 'pop'! I thought something very, very bad had happened. But so far, I seem fine. No swelling or anything, even.

Tonight I noticed a definite difference in my hamstring flexibility- I could go noticeably further in my yoga poses. I am very, very happy about this because increased hamstring flexibility has been a goal of mine for awhile now.

Rip You Up Week 4: Workout 1!

Blogdate: 9/20

Workout: Cardio Party 2 + Yoga

Because I only did 20 minutes of yoga last night I threw in another 20 tonight, since 40 minutes of cardio tonight just felt so short (how crazy is that?).

A bit of an NSV tonight- I am on my 6th 3 month Weight Watchers Food Journal (although, these have all not been used consecutively).

Week 9 Down!

Blogdate: 9/19

Workout: Fat Blaster + Lower Body Jam + Yoga

... and you thought I wasn't going to do it!

I did do one of the shorter yoga workouts- a Yoga Zone for flexibility.

Next week, I am going to double up my workouts early on so I can take a day off and play video games all evening. I am also going to save up my WPA and eat a whole freaking jug of red vines. Awesome.

NSV tonight- the pants I am wearing (my current favorite) keep slipping down! They've never done that before.

ALSO The Biggest Loser starts this week! Hooray!

Week 10 Schedule (Week 4 Rip You Up):
Cardio Party 2
Fat Blaster + 3T
20 Minute Workout
Cardio Party 1 + Turbo Sculpt
Cardio Party 3
Punch, Kick & Jam + Lower Body Jam
Yoga

Wow- this week is brutal (with the exception of just the 20 minute workout on Wednesday- which will practically be a rest day after three weeks of Rip You Up). I gotta dig deep! After this week I am going back to 5 days Turbo and 1 day Yoga- I had better balance in my life then.

8 Weeks Down!

Blogdate: 9/12

Workout: Ten Minute Solution: Yoga

Ten Minute Solution Yoga is included in the Instant Cue on Netflix so I thought I would give it a try. I have nothing but good things to say about it! Well cued, challenging (but not intimidatingly so for an experienced beginner like me) and low on the spirituality (less spiritual than Sara Ivanhoe, and she really isn't) but still uses the English names (and a lot of the sanskrit). It is broken into 5 ten minute segments so you can customize it or do the whole 50 minute thing like I did tonight. Loved it!

8 Weeks down! I weigh in tomorrow. I have to admit, I have peeked, like a week ago. I am pleased. Reasonably pleased, not Biggest Loser pleased.

Next Week's Schedule (Rip You Up Rotation Week 3):
Cardio Party Remix + Fat Blaster
Punch Kick and Jam + Booty Sculpt
Cardio Party 1
Turbo Sculpt + Ab Jam
Cardio Party 3
Fat Blaster + Lower Body Jam
Yoga

Week 7 Down!

Blogdate: 9/5

Workout: Yoga (Yoga Zone Evening Stress Relief for Beginners)

Yay! 7 Weeks down! I am so amazed at what I have been able to accomplish and I am half way to my 14 week goal!

After 6 straight days I did not feel like doing a full yoga class today. I'm sure I really needed it, though. I did one of my 20 minute Yoga Zone workouts instead and it felt really really great.

A few years ago, when I was just starting my yoga practice (such as it is), I bought a boxed set of yoga workouts off Overstock.com from Yoga Zone. This set contains 6 discs of 2 20 minute workouts each- all with a different focus: Power Yoga, Stress Relief, Flexibility, Core, Fat Burning & Total Body Conditioning. I was looking for something to supplement my cardio and strength multiple times a week that I wouldn't need to spend 40-60 minutes doing. This set fit the bill nicely.

These workouts- not quite the right word when discussing yoga- are so well done and non-intimidating. Even though they lean on the spiritual side if you are not careful they will make you a believer. They are beginner to beginner-intermediate in level, and modifications are shown to make them harder or easier. A solid introduction to yoga.

BTW- A lot of these are available streaming on Hulu! Hooray! Try them out...

Week 8 Schedule (week 2 Rip You Up Rotation):
Cardio Party 1 + Ab Jam Floor
Booty Sculpt + Cardio Party Remix
Punch, Kick & Jam + Standing Ab Jam
Fat Blaster + 3T
Lower Body Jam + 20 Minute
Cardio Party 2 or Kicken Core + Ab Jam (Maybe Total Body Blast instead?)
Yoga

BTW- Look at the cute colored dry-erase markers my husband bought me! Talk about support!

Six Weeks Down!

Blogdate: 8/29

Workout(s): Kickin' Core, The Firm Power Yoga

It is a testament to the human spirit that I got all my workouts in this week. My motivation is pretty much on fumes at this point. I'm just in a funk and tonight's workout didn't help...

Kickin' Core was great. I just wish it was more like a Cardio Party in length (from a cardio standpoint). There is a great moment after doing some really gruelling on-the-ball abs where Chalene says "this is my present to you" and has you drape backwards over the ball. Man- nirvana, right there.

My yoga workout though, grrr.

I did the Firm's Power Yoga. From what I've heard on the Weight Watcher's message boards The Firm is great! People gush about how great these workouts are. I thought it was a pretty safe bet.

From a purely physical standpoint it was a good yoga workout- felt a little short but I didn't mind because I was so IRRITATED!

I guess I like my yoga a certain way: I like it athletic with a little sprinkling of spirituality. I like it when the Sanskrit names are used with the English translations, please. It is respectful to the tradition and to the practice. After all, a ballet teacher would never instruct their students to "kick"- they would say "battlement".

I like the English translations because it gives me a good visual of the intent and the heart of the movement- things like "chair", "mountain", "warrior", "bow" and even "corpse".

It really irritated me that this workout did not use the Sanskrit OR the English names! Were they afraid of offending people- that their market would think it was devil worship to do the "chair pose"?????? Wow, way to low ball it!

So, in addition to feeling insulted it made the workout more difficult. I'm upside down, facing the other way, and they launch into some complicated description of the position I'm to move into when they could have just said "sit back into child's pose" and then describe it for beginners (who are going to need to turn and look anyway). These things have name for reasons!

Another problem I had with this workout was the music. I swear, it is all used as the cool-down music at the end of various Turbo Jam workouts which, in Pavlovian glory, tells my mind that the workout is almost over. So I was psychologically ready to be done the entire time.

Funny, Collage Video calls it a plus that this workout is so non-yoga. Well, this is what Netflix is for.

Five Weeks Down!

Blogdate: 8/22

Workout: Yoga

So irritated during my workout tonight. I did PiYo 8, off of one of the Fan V0lumes. Now, the fan volumes are the workouts created for the instructors to use in memorizing the choreography for their PiYo classes. I was warned that they would be advanced. I am cool with that- I can modify and I am mature enough to do so and not try to compete with people. What I wasn't cool with was how things weren't really cued- there was a voice over that mentioned things, but wasn't really cueing very closely.

So breathing isn't stressed- they just say, "be sure you are breathing". No inhale here, exhale here. And then when you are upside down, bending over or facing the opposite way from the screen (which happens occasionally in yoga) sometimes the cueing just goes away, or talks about things that are not the move you are doing right now. the form you need to have or what your breath should be doing.

This is the type of DVD that you would have to have memorized before you could feel successful attempting the workout- not really something for everyday exercisers, advanced or otherwise. I am just not sure how useful this whole thing is going to be.

By the time final relaxation came around I actually swore with excitement because I was just so tired of it. It reminded me a lot of the first Camp Turbo when someone taught a PiYo class. It was fast, loud, dark and I couldn't see the friggin' stage because I was upside down and there were tons of people everywhere who also had no clue what they were doing. Most people around me walked out well before it was over. You'd think then I would have been able to see the stage but it was still dark and I was still upside down.

ANYWAY...

By the end of my workout last night I had a headache and I was pissed. How's that for Final Relaxation?

Next week's schedule: (modified Advanced week 6)

Cardio Party 1
Total Body Blast
Kickin' Core
Turbo Sculpt + Ab Jam
Cardio Party 2

I just turn my brain off when I do Ab Jam now. I would love to get another Ab routine. Maybe one from Turbo Fire or Chalean Extreme. I am accepting donations.

Two-fer!

Blogdate: 8/14

Workout: Cardio Party 2/ Crunch Fat Burning Yoga

Today was a 'put up or shut up' day- I knew I need to get 2 workouts in so I could meet my goals. I opted for Cardio and Yoga.

Cardio Party 2 is a great workout- not as hard as Cardio Party 1, but a great workout.

Get Your Asana Outside

Blogdate: 8/7

Workout: Yoga

Today our local Lululemon showroom hosted Salutation Nation- about 50 people and myself met at the park downtown for some morning yoga (and many more around the country). It was a great way to start the day- I have felt pleasantly 'wrung out' all day. I was kinda distracted by all the cute Lululemon that people had on, though!

You can see me on the right there in my Angel Blue tank next to the girl in yellow!

So Stinking Tired...

Blogdate: 8/1

Workout: 20 Minute Workout + Ab Jam

I got my workout in last night- both Cardio Party 2 and Crunch Fat Burning Yoga. I really like that yoga workout! I am hoping that increasing my flexibility will help take stress off my knees. I have heard critiques that say there are too many Down Dogs in this yoga workout, but I don't mind- I am trying really hard to make Down Dog my friend!

But today- Oh, man! I was so stinking tired all day! It was fast Sunday, so I didn't eat breakfast or lunch and I was so cranky all afternoon! And then my 2 year old didn't nap and was keyed up all evening! Not my best day. Now I've got to go work out before we start rolling...

Blogdate: 7/31

Workout: Cardio Party 2

I am psyching myself up to go workout tonight. I need to do Cardio AND yoga tonight so I'd better get moving. I am not as sore today as I thought I would be- and I really pushed myself last night. This makes me think that I have really delayed onset soreness coming and I'll be lucky to walk tomorrow.

I feel like I look leaner today. Perhaps I do- or don't. But either way, I feel healthier and that is what is important.

Week One Down!

Blogdate: 7/25

Workout: Crunch Fat Burning Yoga

I heart Sara Ivanhoe's Yoga workouts. She cues well, has a soothing voice and strings the poses together nicely. She also has a good balance of touchy-feely with athletic style yoga.

I did it this afternoon while my 2 year old napped.