Bodybuilding/Sculpting check-in;-)

I just finished Rockin' Body - Shaun T's Dance Party

It was going to be a rest day since I'm supposed to be resting my knee this week (it was especially sore last week) and I can't do upper body every day. I wanted to do something so I popped it in and moved with a groove. It's like a dancy walk workout.

SarBear, the park workout sounds like fun. I'm like you, though, I'd feel more comfortable exercising at home; I'd do it if one of my kids or husband wanted to go though. Let us know how it goes if you do go, and I think you should, 'coz I'd like to hear about it. :D
 
Today was Slo Mo Shoulders, Biceps & Triceps. Love this! Such different exercises and very effective. Jen, I found a review of it at videofitness.com which included the times. I should have clarified that the leg workout is not 15 minutes. It is its own workout so it's longer, about an hour. The back segment is also a little longer, about 25 minutes, but the rest are closer to 15.

SarBear, I think the park workout sounds fun, too! You should at least give it a try!
 
This morning was Great Glutes Extreme premix. No Doubles. Did JMBS Opus yesterday, finishing out BodyShred. Opus was a joke--every single exercise was so ultra-advanced I could only do a few of them as shown and had to modify the rest. I actually didn't get that great of a workout due to all my modifications! The other 10 workouts in the program gave me a much better workout because I didn't have to modify everything! Kind of funny really. It was insane and not something I am interested in ever mastering. I will probably never bother with Opus again. I did love the other 10 workouts tho!

I am super excited about Slo Mo! I was already but just hearing you ladies talk about it makes me excited for next week. I'm doing her Dropsets next week, too. KCM does that, too, btw--works your muscles really well and in different ways than other trainers.

Mary--I think that's great--it sounds like you still do cardio! Even if it isn't plyometrics. That's awesome. Have you tried any of the heavy bag bonuses on Cathe's workouts? You don't need a heavy bag to do them. I always do them with weighted gloves. No lower body necessary and you get cardio!

SarBear--that park workout does sound like a lot of fun and something worth trying! But I am like you--I like my home gym. Its fun to try things like that to mix things up, but I want my home workouts! My husband and I are going to make an effort to go hiking a lot more this summer and play more frisbee golf. Be more active on our weekends and get more fresh air and vitamin D! And congrats on finishing up STS! I am excited to go through it again.

As much as I love all my new workouts by different trainers (and I really do, no lie)--there is something so comforting about doing Cathe workouts the past few days. They really challenge me, I love her presence and they are such well rounded workouts. She really is the best of the best. When I do her workouts I don't want to do other trainers workouts anymore! Which is so silly--because I have lots of workouts I love by other trainers. But man Great Glutes blasted my bum this morning and makes me think I need to be doing it all the time! BodyShred is a really great workout program but I would never do that as my main workouts. I would feel like so many muscle groups are neglected. Even when the workouts kick my butt and challenge me, they still don't hit my muscles in the same way as Cathe does. I kind of find that across the board with other trainers. They are nice to spice things up and keep it interesting but no one does a thorough job of helping me take care of my body holistically like Cathe. KCM comes in a close second.
 
Today is my rest day.

It's pretty rare I get serious DOMS in my shoulders and biceps, but I've got it today. I can't wait to do Slo Mo again next week!

Jen, I totally get what you're saying about Cathe. During the warmup of To The Max last week, I found myself smiling the whole time because I found Cathe's positive attitude so comforting. Even though I knew she was about to kick my butt, I was so pumped for it. And she has changed the way I look at working out. I read your review of Bodyshred, and I'm excited to try it, but I don't want to follow the rotation included with it and make it my only workout because I want/need more focused weight work. Before discovering Cathe, I would have thought nothing of doing only those kind of MWT workouts. Heck, I did two full rotations of Body Revolution! Cathe has really opened my eyes to a more well-rounded way of getting and staying fit.
 
Absolutely. Cathe is the best! Whatever my rotations are I always need to have some Cathe in there. She's also my 'carrot at the end of a stick' right now. If I'm slow and steady about healing, I WILL get back to ALL my Cathe workouts. :D

Jen, Opus does sound insane! Yesss, Cathe heavy-bag bonuses is a great idea. I did KCM TLC #1 Boxing last month and got really sore from it. I usually use 1-lb dumbells. I need to pencil those in otherwise I forget. :rolleyes:

This morning I did
Essentrics Strength In Motion: Core and Legs
Cathe Ab Circuits: Weights and Plates
 
This morning was KCM's Slim Sculpting 1 & 2 (or the combined premix). Mixing those two together gave me one heck of a workout! I used primarily 25 and 20# kettlebell but I used 15# kettlebell for a few of the moves--cardio and core.

I previewed Slo Mo this morning. OMG. That looks challenging! I can't wait! And I am glad I previewed it! I already created a rough workout card and estimated what weights I will start with. Looks very challenging! I also previewed her Drop Sets which I am doing next Saturday. That one looks very challenging, too. I think I am really going to like her strength training workouts. Never a good idea for me to discover another trainer I really like. /o: Amy has a lot of workouts. But not a lot of strength training. Her kickboxing workouts have gotten mixed reviews so I have been leery of those. And she has bootcamp/MWT type workouts I am interested in but they look equipment heavy. I was waiting to see what I think of Slo Mo and Drop Sets before I sprang for one of those. Has anyone tried any of her other workouts? I am not interested in her step workouts. I have read the choreography is complex, which I don't like.
 
Today was treadmill with Sam and Brett again.

Jen, The only other workout I have from Amy Bento is the one total body strength workout, All Pump. It's fine, nothing extraordinary. I know she also has All Pump Extreme which is longer and has pretty good reviews. I'm definitely interested in Drop Sets so I'll be looking forward to your review of that.

Funny story..hubby asked me to help him use a 2-person post hole digger for some fence he's putting up. It's a tough machine to keep still as it drills into the ground but I did a pretty good job on the few holes we did. He said he would get his nephew to help him with the rest, I guess thinking a man would be better at holding the machine. They did it yesterday, and he told me his nephew was terrible at it! He said he had no upper body strength and I was much better at doing the job. Haha! He underestimated my muscles!
 
This morning was Body Beast Bulk Back + Stretch Max - Stability Ball.

Way to go Jodi, on helping your hubby! That's pretty funny, and a nice proud moment, eh?. :D

Jen, I've only tried Slo Mo and waiting on your review on Drop Sets too. I was given 2 of her step workouts but haven't taken the time to learn them yet.

Oh its a beautiful sunny 77 and I'm trying really hard not to get on my bike, still taking it easy with my knee. So I'm off to fill a big planter with Candy Pink geraniums for my deck ... the deck where I still have visions of spending a summer doing kettlebell workouts on. hehe

ETA Dang, I went for my bike before the shovel hit the dirt.
 
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Today I did Suzanne Bowen's Tighten, Tone and Torch. Great workout! It's like a barre workout, but not a strict barre workout. The only time you use a chair is in the stretch segment. There are segments for lower body, upper body and what she calls cardio and abs. The ab work is only a few minutes and is really uninspiring. You actually get more core work in the upper body section because you are in plank a lot. The cardio is more like another lower body workout just a bit faster pace. It's mostly low impact stuff but she does do some plie hops. Between that and the lower body section, my legs were fried! It's another long one, about 80 minutes, but I could cut out the upper body work and it would be about an hour. Definitely one to revisit!

Mary, hope you enjoyed your bike ride!
 
This morning was Slo-Mo Back & Shoulders + Core. Holy cow! That was intense! My shoulders are still burning. I really liked the creative twist on all the exercises. So far this is a winner.

Jodi--my husband starts RIPT90 this morning so we previewed most of the workouts this weekend (I am doing RIPT90 the end of the month). This look like some seriously tough workouts. They are short but packed with very challenging and advanced exercises. I have a few criticisms off the bat. First there is no cool down or stretch at the end of any of the workouts--this bothers me because some of them are pretty intense. I however created a list of several of my favorite Cathe stretches and cool downs I will just tack onto the ends of them. Second, there is a lot of repetition both in the workouts and between them. You will do a lot of pull ups and push ups. A lot. He is a little dorky, but no more dorky than Tony Horton I guess. Overall, I think they will be very challenging workouts.

In preparation for both RIPT90, P90X and STS I am working on pull ups. Right now I am doing pull ups with the pull up assist on Sundays. This weekend I did 4. And they are actually chin ups, so I guess I need to work on actual pull ups soon. I figure with these workouts that feature pull ups I will start with the pull up bar/pull up assist, then move to bands when I cannot eek anymore. And with STS I will also use the bench press/squat rack bar--so I'll use all 3 ways to work the back. I think that will be be nicely rounded.

And I STILL haven't gotten the replacement DVD from Mom's into Fitness! I emailed them this weekend. I think they forgot about me. It was hard to tell from the wording of their email, but either way, they said I should receive it soon. I hope so! I am doing PFLO and PFWL next week and the week after!

I love that you are stronger than your nephew Jodi! That's awesome when you can put all that hard work to good use!
 
I am so glad I decided to look at Cathe's newsletter on my lunch break! This upcoming weekend will be the worst of May for me: lunch out with co-workers on Friday, breakfast out with family on Saturday, Sunday I am taking my mom to a decadent brunch for mother's day and that same day my daughter is taking me to a late lunch. I can eat well at 3 of those and one will be a definite cheat meal. But even "eating well" at a restaurant is nothing like how I eat when I prepare my own food. Well, today Cathe had this article in her newsletter: http://cathe.com/why-you-should-do-high-intensity-interval-training-before-your-next-cheat-meal

Now all I have to do is choose my HIIT workout for Sunday morning! I am thinking Insanity's Max Interval Circuit--that hardest of the hardest cardio/HIIT workouts ever. At least I have a plan! This past weekend was my husband's birthday and I did so well! I had one piece of cake and structured my food that day to account for the cake calories and I also took him out to eat and I got a grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies. Finally, a week I am NOT doing damage control!
 
Hi Ladies,

I have not checked in for few days. I hear you Jen regarding May. For us here in West europe May is a month full of bank
holidays. We have just passed May day bank holiday the 01/05/2015 then we will have May 14 and monday 25th.
3 days off within a month LOL:oops::oops::oops: There is a habit here in France and Belgium which consist of taking long week
end. It cames from the french expression:"Faire le pont..." Literally it means make a bridge. This means we take an
extra day when the bank holiday fall close to weekend. For example for someone who does not work Saturday as per
contract, when the holiday fall thursday, the individual can take friday to do the bridgeo_Oo_O;)! This means being off from
thursday to Monday exclusif lol. Depending on the contract the extra day can be paid or not. We are allowed to have
an extra per month only.:p:p:p All this means, time for eating out:cool::p:eek::eek:. I personally can manage this as there is no
pushy partner around:):)

I had two days off training due to two parties: A friend forties party and a cousin wedding in Holland. I did not feel pushed into
eating extra. I mainly chose fried and grilled fish but still my digestive system did not like it. I was in pain today!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek:
It is incredible how a digestive system can accustom to a certain way of eating and react to tiny little weekend cheat!

I finally got my test done and got result within 24 hours from the doctor who is a very good friend. He rated my result
as very satisfactory. I am not diabetic and I am not pre-diabetic.:eek::eek::eek:. So why was i stressing myself thinking something
was wrong. Ironically, diabetis runs in familly. Both my mother and grand mother had it. My Aunty has just told me she has
been diagnosed and has it. BTW she is sedentary and does not eat healthy. So somehow what I have been doing the last 8 years has
worked! :):):)
So all this time I was feeling tired ,I was just sleep deprived and full of stress. I just needed to chill a little bit due to off topic personals;););)

My cholesterol level is very good, no excessive fat! The only issue is my blood is showing too much allergy.
I knew this already as I have skin rash on my neck. we have eczema running in familly. I have always had hayfever.:eek:
I am allergic to peanut, I am suspecting being allergic to sesame seed too. Iam booking a nutritionist and will have to
undergo further test for food allergy. There is way too much food allergy in familly too.:mad::mad:
Sorry for long post;);)

After two days off training, I resumed this morning with Imax3.
I want to regain a decent Vo2max before re-visiting STS.

Jen: I read your post about pull up. Good strategy. I am planning to do similar stuff. I still need to purchase an assisting band
to start executing pull ups. I will do assisted pull ups/chin ups and variation on my squat rack. I do found those pretty
challenging. I will also do some wide-grip barbell row hopping to gain extra strength to perform an un-assisted.

Mary: Hope you manage to do some biking without interferring with your knees.


Hope you are all well ladies,

Take care;)
 
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Today was Slo Mo Chest, Biceps and Triceps. Just awesome! Love the biceps bonfire move. I used a heavier band and really felt a big difference in the triceps pull down move. My arms were shaking!

Jen, that really stinks about no cool down on RIPT90. I will have to push myself to do something or else I'll get lazy and not do one which I know is not wise.

Nathalie, congratulations on the good health news! With a family history of a disease, I can certainly understand you being worried about having it yourself. Good for you for taking care of yourself and doing preventative maintenance.

Jen, that is a lot of eating out but sounds like you have a good plan in place so you don't overdo it. Good luck!
 
Happy Monday Ladies! Been a few days since I last checked in. Friday I did Cathe's Step, Jump, & Pump the premix w/ step and hi/lo only. Saturday I did Burn Sets chest, back and shoulders. It's been a long time since I have done any of the burn set workouts. It was a nice change! Yesterday, I did a Hiit workout on my treadmill that I found online and this morning I finished off the other burn sets workout (biceps and triceps). I went easy on the bicep exercises (only used 10 and 12 pound weights). I wanted to "test the water" to see how my forearms and wrists would feel. Thankfully, they didn't hurt! I'm still going to ease back into heavier bicep work so that I don't re-injure myself.

Jen and Jodi--you guys are making me want to pull out my copy of Slo Mo! I may have to add those workouts to this week's schedule. Wait until you get to the lower body workout. Her version of jefferson squats is a killer!!!

Nathalie-so glad to hear that your test results came back good!

Mary-hope you had a nice bike ride this past weekend. The weather here was gorgeous too!
 
This morning was RwH LIHI Legs + Abs #2. Planned doubles is Mark Lauren's BWT workout #2 Endurance. Yesterday's doubles was Max 30/Max Out Cardio.

I'm glad your tests turned out negative Nathalie, but it doesn't surprise me. I read medical records all day long. That is my job. Type 2 diabetes is something we basically give ourselves. Yes, some people are more susceptible to it, but that is the key word--susceptible. You have control through diet and by exercising. You do both. People who eat well, maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly and consistently rarely get type 2 diabetes. I know this from reading about health and fitness constantly but also from all of the medical records I review every single day. So I didn't think you were diabetic! You take care of yourself! Same goes for the heart, lungs and liver. I'm not saying NEVER, but rarely do people who take care of themselves have the chronic conditions that I see every day.

SarBear--yay for the wrists doing better! Take it slow and soon you'll be back to 100%. When I previewed Slo-Mo's lower body workout it definitely made me nervous! Amy was dripping sweat. It looks painful. That one is scheduled for Thursday.
 
jengollf said:
I'm glad your tests turned out negative Nathalie, but it doesn't surprise me. I read medical records all day long. That is my job. Type 2 diabetes is something we basically give ourselves. Yes, some people are more susceptible to it, but that is the key word--susceptible. You have control through diet and by exercising. You do both. People who eat well, maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly and consistently rarely get type 2 diabetes. I know this from reading about health and fitness constantly but also from all of the medical records I review every single day. So I didn't think you were diabetic! You take care of yourself! Same goes for the heart, lungs and liver. I'm not saying NEVER, but rarely do people who take care of themselves have the chronic conditions that I see every day.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jen. I agree with your quote above. I will just carry on do my best. It does not feel as depriving myself from anything.
It is just natural to look after ourselves:):). Next step is to attend my appointment with a nutritionist.

jengollf said:
I am so glad I decided to look at Cathe's newsletter on my lunch break! This upcoming weekend will be the worst of May for me: lunch out with co-workers on Friday, breakfast out with family on Saturday, Sunday I am taking my mom to a decadent brunch for mother's day and that same day my daughter is taking me to a late lunch. I can eat well at 3 of those and one will be a definite cheat meal. But even "eating well" at a restaurant is nothing like how I eat when I prepare my own food. Well, today Cathe had this article in her newsletter: http://cathe.com/why-you-should-do-high-intensity-interval-training-before-your-next-cheat-meal
Click to expand...

:D:D:DI think Cathe does read our mind! I love her blog but this one has just hit the nail on the head.
I loved the article you have posted above about Hiit being the best before cheat meal! I like it when cathe does not
bite around the bush.:):):)

I also loved the article about cluster training. That one is So for me:):):)
http://cathe.com/building-strength-through-cluster-training

Today workout was Upper body premix from HIGH reps before 4ds segment kickboxing.
weight before cardio meet my goal.
Here is an article about concurrent training.

http://www.fitnessrxwomen.com/fat-loss/cardio/cardio-or-strength-training/

Catwoman: hmmm 10-12 pound on biceps...you go girl;);) BTW what program is slo mo?
Sounds like you are having fun:)

Sarbear: Hiit interval on treadmill ...I like doing it when I workout in Gym
Long steady pace on treadmill feel like a punishment. It is truly a dreadmill:p:p:p

Kind Regards all;)
 
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Happy Cinco de Mayo ladies! Today was lower body so I did Lift Hit Hiit It Legs. Love love love this workout! Great combination of strength moves and hiit cardio. You really do get the best of both in this workout! I am having fun this week revisiting workouts that I haven't done in awhile since I was locked up for the last few months doing STS.
 
Yesterday I did a 1-mile walk. Today was Body Beast Bulk Shoulders.

Nathalie, I'm so glad your blood tests came back good. Thanks for the article links. I'll be reading them soon.
 
Today was Susan Chung's first Rapid Fire workout. Overall, I like the workout, but there were a couple of small dislikes. First, the camera seemed to like to do a lot of close up shots which really threw me off while I was trying to follow along. At one point during a kicking sequence I found myself just marching in place because the camera angles kept changing. It was a bit frustrating. Second, it's such a long workout, and I didn't even include the bonus heavy bag! I know there are premixes, but they are all shorter than an hour which is what I like to aim for. I guess I could just omit one of the ab workouts and that might make it closer to an hour. I did love that it was just lots of punching and kicking, no hard combos to learn!

Nathalie, Slo Mo is a split strength workout from Amy Bento. It's in the same style as Slow & Heavy but with very unique exercises. It's tough and fun at the same time.
 
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