Bodybuilding/Sculpting check-in;-)

Hi Everyone,

Tuesday: Low impact challenge
Wednesday: premix 40 of pedal power followed by superset Glute drill. I did not need any band work as my muscle were
warmed up and pre-activated from spinning.

  • Goblet squat with 10kg 4x10 Full squat
  • Seated outer thigh step out with Band 4x16
  • Reverse hyperextension on weight bench 4x16
  • Hip thrust 4x16
  • Curtesy lunge on disc with 5kgx2 4x16
  • One legged stiff deadlift 5kgx2 4x16
  • One leg lateral lunge on disc 5kx2 4x16
  • squat/curtesy lunge combo with barbell 11kg
100 plie squat 10kg.

@jengollf and @catwoman7631 Lean Legs and abs, intermediate level. I agree. Jen Please let me know when your review on
TA method is uploaded onto your blog.

Hope you are all well.:)
 
Today was BB Build Shoulders and Cardio Torch from LB. I did Build instead of Bulk today because I couldn't remember if I liked that one better than Bulk. I'd say they are about the same for me although I do love the shrug/scap trap combo in Build.

Since I really enjoyed LLA, I decided I also needed to have Great Glutes. (Don't know why I had put off getting either one of these DVDs). Of course, I can never order just one DVD ;) so I also ordered Kickbox Burn. It's been on my wish list since reading your review, Jen, and Total Fitness DVDs finally got it back in stock. Between the usual 10% off coupon and my Reward points, I got a great deal on the pair. And I ordered them this afternoon and they've already shipped! Just love Mary over there at Total Fitness!
 
catwoman7631 said:
Since I really enjoyed LLA, I decided I also needed to have Great Glutes. (Don't know why I had put off getting either one of these DVDs). Of course, I can never order just one DVD ;)
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I am surprised you do not own Great Glutes....This is a must have as far far glute mission is concerned LOL.
Barre is fine to do but for Glute we need to hit hard and from many angles and intensity:):) Not just glute, leg need to be
worked in various angles. Let me know how you get on with pizza press---It is a wild animal. No doubt you will tame it!
 
Today I did shoulders 20 sets 5 sets of dumbbell shoulder presses 4 sets of side laterals 4 sets of barbell front raises 3 sets of rear delt flys 2 sets of military press and 2 sets of barbell shrugs. I finished with 2 sets of in and outs (seated leg raises). Have a great Thursday everyone!
 
Hi fitness fanatics!

If you didn't read the Announcements page, here is something (probably) interesting. I suggested ICE DVDs to include premixes mixing parts from the Blizzard Blasts within the main workout for more advanced option. The answer was, the low impact workouts are tough enough so no need to add extra challenge.

Jodi - Great Glutes is equally as fun as Lean Legs & Abs but much more effective. Again, great choice :)
I've tried Physique 57, the hour long workout and the 30-minute workout. They are efficient but personally, I find the instructor too hyper for barre.
I'm planning to try Linda Wooldridge for barre but can't fit her into my budget yet. Too many KCM workouts to choose from. I want them all! I'm expecting Kelly's Body Shop DVD to be delivered by 13 November.I ordered it only 3 days after receiving Shape Up. Thankfully, the delivery time is long which restricts my DVD buying addiction!
Jen - Good luck with Tracy Anderson . May be your review will surprise us all. Long ago, I tried her dance workout once, and switched it off after 10 minutes. She posed at the screen and danced without saying a word.
Nathalie - Imax 2 is my favorite of the 3 Imax workouts. I love them all, but Imax 1 doesn't have such great music. And Imax 3 has wonderful music (Bon Jovi!), but it's too tough for me both impact - and choreography-wise :)
Enjoy your STS rotation!
Tom - you are not bragging, and we your blog buddies are proud of you ! You are on the right track!

My check in -
Sunday - KCM Shape Up (cardio premix), Michelle Dozois Pure Strength 2 (back segment), Gym Style BSB (back). Doubles - Amy Bento Hi Lo Xtreme (40 min of it)
Monday - Jari Love RTTM (1st half), Jari Love Bootcamp (2nd half) In the PM - part of Yoga Relax and the abs segment from Lean Legs &Abs
Tuesday - Turbo Jam Cardio Blast, KCM Trim Down (boxing) Doubles - RWH Circuit Upper Body (no blasts)
Yesterday - 4 tabata rounds from each of Amy Dixon's Breathless Body 1&2 . Between them - legs segments from Les Mills Revolution, Extreme, Shred. What a fun, great sweat! I have a DVD and a Xbox so until the beginning ads on 1 DVD roll, I use the other player.
Today - Cathe's Rockout Knockout Doubles - KCM Kickbox (w/o #1)

Warm regards to all,
 
Nathalie, I read Jen's review of GG again before purchasing and she also mentions how tough the pizza presses are. I'm looking forward to the challenge!

Svetlana, I have one barre workout from Linda Wooldridge, the one using a band and a firewalker. I didn't think it was that hard of a workout. Someone on this forum suggested adding ankle weights so I'll probably do that next time. Yes, the one instructor for P57 is very over the top, but I put up with her since the workouts are effective. But I do wish she would take it down a notch!

It's good to hear that the ICE cardio will be tough! I'm really getting excited about these new workouts!!

Today I did BB Bulk Back and workout 1 from the new Pure Barre 30-Minute Burn DVD. They really know how to pack a punch into those 30 minutes!
 
Morning all, today I did a bodyweight quickie. 75 pushups,30 ab wheels, 50 bw squats, and 100 calf raises. Will do arms tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Svetlana,good to hear from you again, keep it up!
 
Arm day today. Tri pushdowns 3x10 / barbell curls 3x10. Tri exts 3x12 /dumbbell curls 3x8. Tricep crossbody ext 3x8 / conc curls 3x8. Then did 20 diamond pushups and 20 bicep isos. Trying to do 20 sets/ part. I finished with 2 sets of in and outs x30x20. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!
 
Meso 2 is over! I cannot tell you how relieved I am. And it is not the STS workouts that I am thrilled to leave behind--it is Butt Bible and EBE2!!! They are excellent workouts (so no buyers or exercisers remorse!) but I am sick of them and they were wearing me the @#$%& out. I am so excited about my recovery week! My husband and I went to a different library this morning and I got even more barre workouts and a different Tracie Anderson workout. I am booked next week--almost all new-to-me workouts! I am oddly excited and I am expecting that it will continue to be working my glutes pretty hard--just in an entirely different way.

The last time I checked in was Wednseday so here is what I've done since then:
Thursday: STS #24 Back & Biceps + Muscle Max abs & stretch only; doubles: Butt Bible Level 3 Lower
Friday: TurboFire Fire 45 + Stretch 10
Today: EBE2 Plyo Glutes + Plyo Upper + STS Extended Stretch

Nathalie--that looks like a great lower body workout that probably fried you! Tslop--you workouts are looking brutal too! Keep it up!

As for the Tracy Anderson--I obviously haven't done any yet, but I have two queued up for next week. I popped one in, just to see how long it was for scheduling purposes and OH. MY. GOD. I cannot believe what she was wearing. It looks like.... a cross between lingerie and night club wear. WTC?!?! This should be interesting.
 
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Hi everyone! For those who celebrate, I hope you had a great Halloween. It was a washout here in Mississippi.

Friday was a rest day.
Saturday was the treadmill. I listened to Selena Gomez's new CD. I guess I should thank Justin Bieber for breaking her heart because she made some good music as a result.
Today was BB Bulk Arms and workout 2 from Pure Barre's 30-Minute Burn. At first, I thought it was going to be easier than workout 1, but then it showed me! I would say workout 1 is tougher in the thigh section and workout 2 is harder in the seat section. Both are good barre workouts when you are short on time or want an add-on.

One more week until vacation. I can't wait for a change of pace and scenery!
 
Greetings all,
Here is my rotation for the week.

Day 1 Turbo Fire 55 (only did 45 minutes) + 10 min stretch (529)
Day 2 Turbo Fire 30 + 10 min stretch
Day 3 Rest
Day 4 Cathe's Great Glutes
Day 5 Turbo Fire 40 min stretch
Day 6 Flex Train

Ok. This was an emotionally tough workout week. Just wasn't in the mood and it was reflected in my workouts. I did Great Glutes and honestly didn't like it. It may have been my mood, but it had a bit of a dread factor. However, by that evening I was so sore in my glutes and
legs. I didn't enjoy it, but it got the job done. Flex Train is one of my favorites, but my mood wouldn't allow me to enjoy it.

Jenn- Turbo Fire is so addicting for me. Plus it's great if you just want to have fun, sweat and burn some calories.

Nathalie, not sure about returning to STS right now. The first time I did STS I loved it. Love having a schedule routine. But right now, I would like to slim down a bit. I really did build muscle with that program, not a bad thing, just right now I need to lose a few pounds. I will review the STS dvds and consider it for this winter. My next rotation will probably be Low Impact Series, which I love. So many dvds, it's hard to decide.

Hopefully, my mood will be better this week and I'll enjoy my workouts. Have a great week everyone.
 
Does anyone know what is considered high intensity weight training? Any examples of Cathe's DVDs come to mind??? This is just an excerpt from one of Cathe's articles I was reading.


"We know that we lose muscle mass as we age and this reduces resting metabolic rate. One way to avoid this metabolic slow-down is to do resistance training to maximize metabolically-active lean body mass. In addition, some research shows heavy resistance training increases resting metabolic rate even after you finish doing it. Keep in mind this holds true for high-intensity weight training, not lighter muscle endurance workouts."
 
Good morning everyone!

Healing11, that is a good question and I would also like to hear opinions because that quote IMHO is kind of confusing. I thought workouts like Afterburn, Athletic Training, CF/TTM, etc. were all metabolic weight training which has an EPOC effect (afterburn)--but they certainly aren't heavy resistance training.

Yesterday was Element's AM & PM Yoga combined (so an hour of yoga). I didn't care for it. My husband and I also went for a long bike ride around the lake. That was wonderful.

This morning I did Tracy Anderson!!! The Perfect Design Series Level II Intermediate. It definitely has pluses and minuses, but overall it was an excellent workout and I will be buying it, plus I plan to try out her Level III Advanced (the library has that one, too). I'll post a link to my review when I finish it, but here are some highlights. First, it is tagged as a total body workout with no accurate description of what you are getting with the workout. However, it is primarily a lower body/glute workout with 7 minutes of core work and some very weird stuff at the end that is possibly upper body work? I have no clue. I have only done Cathe barre work so I cannot compare this to anyone else yet but if this is barre work, it is very, very different. And very, very challenging and effective. I actually loved it and I feel it in muscles I did not know existed. The core work is excellent, too. The warm up is weird, her cueing is horrible. It is a voice over and the cueing isn't a big deal with lower body work because it is high rep so you catch on quickly. The cueing is an issue with the warm up, sometimes with the abs and the weird arm thing at the end doesn't even have an attempt to cue (I don't think the warm up attempts to cue either). In the future when I do this workout, I will just do the lower body and core work and ignore everything else.

Planned doubles is Element Barre: Burn & Firm.
 
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Today I decided to work chest,legs and back. After a short warm-up I did bodyweight bench press 5x4x4x3x3x4x3x2 (28 reps) next I did squats + bodyweight (160#) x8x8x8x8x8 (40 reps) I left 160 on the bar and did 4 sets of calf raises x25x20x15x10. Next was chinups. I used a climber loop and short chain and added a 25# plate and did 4x3x3x3x3x2x2. I finished the weight work with deadlifts x5x5x5x5. I stayed at 160, but I never do deads and legs together, and now I see why!! They felt 50# heavier!!I thought 160 on those would be light but would stay with todays "theme" but I was WRONG on light!! I finished with ab wheels 20x20x10 Healing 11, know what you mean about tough weeks!! Sometimes it is a battle just to show up, but we always feel better when we do! Congrats on fighting thru it!! Have a great week everyone!
 
Just want to add my two cents about the quote....I think it's saying that when you train with heavy weights, your resting metabolic rate increases. However, if you train with lighter weights and higher reps, you won't get that kind of increase. I think of Cathe workouts like Muscle Endurance or High Reps for light weight/high rep workouts. One's like Afterburn I don't put in that category because to me it's more cardio with light weights added. Does that make sense?
 
Good morning. This morning was another Tracy Anderson workout: The Method Mat. I actually really liked this one for the most part. It is definitely different from anything I have ever done before and Tracy has some absurd ideas--but it is not an ineffective workout. I cannot ever see using her workouts like she recommends (her workouts only 5-6 days a week and no other training modalities) but I think incorporating her workouts 1-2 times a week is a great way to work your body in different ways. I particularly think her lower body work is very unique and effective. I'll be posting the review for the Mat workout tonight or tomorrow.

Here is the review for the TA workout I did yesterday: Perfect Design.

The Element Barre workout I did yesterday was excellent! The DVD contains two workouts and I only did one yesterday for my doubles workout but it was so painful! My leg muscles burned and stung for hours afterward. The trainer is Sadie Lincoln and she has a Barre3 studio and creates Barre3 workout DVDs. I'll have to check those out now too!

No doubles for today. We are going to a Stevie Wonder concert tonight and tomorrow I am taking the day off work!

Healing11--I hope you are feeling better. I have actually been having a lack of motivation and some dread to approaching my workouts lately--mostly EBE2 and Butt Bible, so I am glad that is over. Sometimes it's great to just radically shake things up. That's why I decided for my recovery week to just go into left field and do workouts totally different from what I normally do. It is actually motivating me and I am looking forward to working out again.

Jodi--I guess I agree, but I've done Cathe's high rep workouts before (and I love them) and I have a hard time imagining that after Muscle Endurance I have no afterburn going on. That workout always slays me.
 
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Jen, I just read your Perfect Design review, and it had me laughing! The arm section for her sounds like the one I tried in a Ballet Beautiful workout...just a lot of flailing and flapping of the arms. Just bizarre.

I'm glad you liked the barre workout! Again, it's just a different way to work your legs and keep your muscles guessing. Mary had posted on this thread awhile back about the Barre3 workouts. If I remember correctly, she only found one or two of them challenging.

And I totally agree with you about Cathe's high rep strength workouts. I can't imagine that they don't have that afterburn effect. Healing11, could you post a link to the entire article which has that quote? Maybe seeing it in context would help figure it out.
 
Jodi--the arm thing was so weird in Perfect Design! She did something similar to it in the Mat workout, but it was different. It was more controlled and it could easily be followed. I'm not saying I want to transition to using no weights, and when I do no more than 3 pounds, but I won't lie--8 minutes of her weightless upper body work seriously burned my arms and shoulders out. And she did move you through all range of motion with your upper body. My shoulders are still feeling it. Oh--it was immediately followed with another 8 minutes of upper body work with 3 pound weights, which again totally burned my arms out. She never dropped her arms but I had to a few times so I could continue. I honestly don't know what to think. It was clearly doing something because I felt it. But is that the way to go? I don't honestly know. She doesn't like muscle and makes several comments about how bulky arms and 6 pack abs are not attractive. I disagree! But to each their own, right? I gave blood this morning and I have to say, I couldn't help compare my arms with everyone else in the room--mostly women but men, too, and I was the only one in the entire room with some serious biceps. ;) I felt no shame. I actually admired my own arms! That doesn't happen very often btw! I'm usually picking myself apart.

As for barre--you would probably find some of the stuff I find challenging easy. It is new to me and WOW--it is clearly working my legs hard! I love it. And I really love the way I've decided to branch out. I personally am wanting to incorporate many modalities into my training. I am tired of being static and only doing hard lifting, HIIT and kickboxing. I still love all 3 but I want more. I think I need more.
 
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Hi Ladies,

I need to catch up with all your posts --- Will read each one of them as I have seen few interesting questions. Can't wait
to go through them. I am just quickly popping in to let you know I have re-started an STS round. Meso 1
I will check in properly in more details at the end of the week. Will reply to each one of your post tomorrow.

Today's was chest and shoulders --- I loved all push up, especially the bootcamp one. somehow It felt a little bit easier than other round.:p:p
I am pleased and excited about that. decline push up phew--- That always flame my chest LOL. Time for some sleep ladies and Tom;);).
Will report more tomorrow. I am looking forward to brutal leg day tomorrow.

Kind Regards:)
 
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