Posts filed under 'Workin' It'
Yup. So, I started working out again a couple of weeks ago after a 6 month hiatus. I am just working out at home again though, since I am so not ready to hit the gym yet.
I thought I would take it slow, so I finally opened up these Leslie Sansone DVD’s I picked up from QVC a few months ago. They have a special on her newest system- “Walk Slim” - at a pretty reasonable price. I am starting out with her 2 mile walk and while the “choreography” isn’t all that special, she does use intervals, which makes it a little more interesting.
What I also found highly amusing was that one of the background exercisers totally looks like either a biker dude or a retired professional wrestler.
I don’t know if this was intentional, but the camera guy was visible in quite a few shots throughout the DVD. Also, a personal gripe, if you are going to use a black background, the people in the video should not be wearing all black or black pants.
Woot! 80’s high impact! (aka boosted walking aka Leslie’s version of interval training)
Sweaty Moobs.
Since most of the walking videos I use are only about 30 minutes in length, I’ve been adding on various strength training and yoga videos as well. I haven’t done screen caps of all of them because I am lazy and because I wish my captures were a little clearer than they turn out to be.
I am really loving the kundalini yoga videos from Ravi and Ana. As I think I mentioned before, I suppose it was about time that I actually tried a kundalini video - especially since it’s been my freaking net handle for something like 10 years now. Go me!
I did most of the Kundalini Yoga For Beginners and Beyond this past week and I must say, I do feel so much better after it’s over. I don’t know what it is, but it really is a great mood lifter. One really nice feature of this DVD and I believe all of the other Ravi and Ana DVD’s, is that they now include a “matrix” menu. What does that mean? It means you can design your own work out and make it as long or as short as you want! YAY!
Here’s a screen shot of the “matrix” menu.
A lot of times Ana looks like she’s about to crack up - which I find hilarious.
Some Spinal Series movements.
The washing machine.
Um, this is from the 5 Tibetans, which I have not done yet, because I am just not that flexible yet.
I also whipped out my 3T:Totally Tubular Turbo this past week too. I think I’ve reviewed it in the past, but here are some screen shots from it. It’s a “strength” training DVD that came out with Chalene’s last Turbo Jam set a couple of years ago. I like it mostly because it uses a resistance tube and there just aren’t that many DVD’s that use them. Plus, the tube came with the set when I ordered it. Yeeehaw!
As a side note, there are rumors on the internets that Chalene is going to be coming out with a series of strength training DVD’s later this year called “Chalean Extreme.” From what I have read, I believe it’s going to be a series of about 12 DVD’s - kind of like P90X - but made with Chalene’s brand of funkiness. I don’t think there has been any word on the price point yet, but from what I’ve read, it sounds like you will need some pretty heavy weights to get the most benefit. While it sounds pretty neat and all, I still don’t understand why Beachbody wanted her to make a strength series instead of more Turbo Jam videos, since cardio really is her strong point.
Anyways, on to the screen shots!
Chalene doing her introduction. As you can see on the bottom, the workout is a little over 30 minutes long.
This set looks really, really familiar. I think it has been used a couple of different workout videos I own, but I am not sure which ones yet. I think it has been used in a least 1 Kathy Smith video and a couple of Crunch fitness videos.
This is Mindy. Mindy likes to ham it up for the camera, but at least she was a little more reserved in this one. It’s kind of annoying actually.
You might have recognized Holly from the original Turbo Jam videos - except she’s dyed her hair platinum blonde. I like her better with darker hair.
Hurray for Anna Rita! She’s my favorite!
One thing that’s nice about this video is that they do give you variations in case you don’t have the tubing.
Ugggh, killer (for me) planks at the end of the video. I can do planks okay, but add in the knee and I am dying.
Wow, this post is turning out a lot longer than I expected it to be. Anyways, I am trying to be consistent with my workouts and am striving for an hour a day, 5 days a week. I am hoping to focus more on cardio than weights for a few weeks and then start kicking butt!
May 28th, 2008
My cousin downstairs has been cooking like a mofo tonight. The smells - they torture me. What has been cooking? I have no freaking clue, but I do know that it includes copious amounts of BACON!!!!!!! OMFG. The smell of bacon - it’s like heaven. Shoot me now!
I have been feeling a bit better this week - emotionally. I was so down this weekend, but then on Monday I finally decided to try one of the kundalini yoga videos that I got over a month ago. Doh. I picked up a copy of Kundalini Yoga For Beginners and Beyond by Ana Brett and Ravi Singh. I don’t know what else to say, other WOW! This DVD in particular isn’t terribly taxing on the body and modifications are given if you can’t do some of the moves. It’s really hard to describe this video, but it made such a difference in my attitude, it’s amazing.
This video includes their “matrix method” as well. What does that mean? It means that it has a section where you can build your own workout by choosing which chapters you want to do and it plays them back in that order. It’s a nice touch actually and I wish more DVD’s included this feature.
I didn’t do the whole thing through since it was late, I was tired and just wanted to get a feel for what this was about. it starts off with some chanting and then you go into some breathing exercises. It seems like a lot of this type of yoga focuses more on the breath than other types I have tried - which is really nice actually. I was originally just going to do the introduction, warm up and then a couple of meditations, but I ended up adding in one of the main “workout” sections as well since I just felt so good after the intro.
I don’t know what happened, but I certainly felt a lot better emotionally the next day. It’s like something clicks when you do this and you just become more serene or something. I am even treating my nemesis at work better since all of the negativity was really getting to me, but this put me more at peace. Either that or I am subconsciously the need to treat her better because what if my previous emotional state was due to karmic retribution? Egads!
I wanted to try something a little different the next day, so I tried some of the practices in another Ravi and Ana DVD, Yoga Quick Fixes. This DVD features practices which are supposed to help with some common ailments like headaches, depression, PMS, sciatica, etc. Again, I was only going to do the warm up, introduction and ending meditations, but I ended up practicing for over an hour. The warm up/intro is pretty similar to the one included on the beginners workout. What really got to me though were the ending meditations. I thought they were going to be short, but nope. I think the first one was something like 20 minutes long, the second one was about 15 minutes long and the third was about 8 minutes long or something. Whoops. It was nice and relaxing though. This video does not include their “matrix method,” but it does include some premixes for shorter workouts.
Ana is a really interesting instructor - she constantly looks like she is about to crack up or something. So, I would try to sometimes figure out what it was she was going to laugh about. I think most of the time, I have a feeling that she was probably just very smiley because of the inner joy/peace she felt. At other times, I would wonder if it was because she just let out a major fart or something. Yea. I’m a freak. Whatever.
They are also Amazon resellers under the user name Chakra44 and they are having a sale this week. I am thinking about picking up another couple of their DVD’s. I just wish I had more time during the day so I could actually use these DVD’s more.
March 6th, 2008
Okay, so the word got out that another new Firm workout will be released on May 20, 2008. Which workout? It’s the cardio jump rope one with Annie called Firm Cardio To Go. Both Amazon and Overstock are taking preorders on it, but the Overstock.com price is cheaper than Amazon - for now. It looks like the kit is going to contain a jump rope and a DVD and will come in a pink drawstring bag. It’s kind of hard to tell if it comes with anything else since the picture at Overstock is soooo tiny.
I think it is going to definitely be a must miss workout for me. Annie just doesn’t seem like she would be a very good instructor and well, I don’t like high impact stuff right now anyways.
Although, I am curious to see a preview of this thing mostly because it finally looks like the Firm is trying to take some “different” approaches workout wise - except for the gadgets thing. Grrr. Gadgets!
Oh yea, and I don’t write about Cathe Friedrich that much - mostly because I am in no shape to do her workouts - well not like I am in shape to do some of these Firm workouts either, but I digress…..
Well, Cathe has been talking about it for awhile now, but she is coming out with a whole new series pretty soon too. She’s calling it STS, which I think stands for shock training system. I think she is trying to come out with a version of P90X, but she is going absolutely Cathe crazy with making this series. What am I talking about? The series itself is going to be compromised of 37 - yes 37 - DVD’s! OMFG! She already started her presale and this is the time to really jump on it actually. Why is this good time to jump on it? Okay, I admit the presale price is really high, (it’s $200 plus shipping I think), but if you think about it, it comes out to about $5 a DVD! Saweeet!
Also each DVD is going to be about 45 minutes to an hour long. Not bad at all. She is already in rehearsals and has posted a ton of pictures on her blog. Dang! Those people got some muscles on them!
If I was in better shape, I think I would probably cave on this one - just because the price per DVD is so darn good!
February 25th, 2008
Personally, I have never ordered anything from Total Fitness DVDs, but I have read nothing but positive reviews about them from the various video fitness boards I go to.
I am mentioning them today because they have a few new Firms available for preorder right now. The Firms available for preorder are the ones that are set to be released on March 4, 2008. There is a possibility that they might have them sooner than that, but don’t quote me on it.
They are currently showing these new Firms available for preorder -
Tight Buns and Killer Legs was part of the initial add on pack for the Transfirmation system and one I am looking forward to, even though I haven’t worked out in ages. Ha!
I am also looking forward to the Balance Trainer one. I have seen those types of discs at the gym, but never tried them. It looks interesting though. I should probably try it at the gym though - to see if my wonky knee gets affected by it - that should make or break my purchase of it.
The prices at Total Fitness DVDs actually are quite reasonable - more reasonable than Collage actually, and I have heard that their shipping is pretty fast too. I am surprised, but a few of those new ones aren’t even available for preorder at Amazon yet.
In other workout news, Cardio Coach is running a pretty awesome sale until February 1, 2008 right now. What’s Cardio Coach? Okay, again, I have never done one myself, but they are audio workouts designed to help your cardio fitness. The people at the video fitness boards swear by them and I can’t wait to get them actually, even though I have no idea when I am going to use them - again HA!
You can use them on any type of fitness machine, but most people use them for running on a treadmill, I think. I will probably start off with walking on the treadmill and see how that goes.
They are offering a New Year Special, which is just incredible. You get 6 CD’s, 1 mp3 download and a $20 gift certificate - for $30!!!!!!!!!!!! Each workout is normally between $15 and $19 dollars, so you can see why this is such a bargain. I ordered them really early Friday morning and they should be here tomorrow actually. I would have gotten them on Monday, but there was no mail on Monday because of the holiday.
I would highly recommend picking this up now - just because the price is so good.
One thing that is really bad about getting the Cardio Coach’s though, is that it is making me want to get one of those ultra mini mp3 players for the gym. I just got a new one which I don’t want to talk about yet, just because I am weird like that, but I am now thinking about getting a Creative Zen Stone Plus. It’s like an iPod shuffle, but costs a bit less. The Zen Stone Plus holds 2 GB’s and also includes a display, a radio, a stopwatch, clock, timer, voice recorder and can be used as a storage device - for around $50. Those new fangled shuffles only have 1GB of storage, no display and costs around $80!
Yea, I know what I would rather spend my money on. I really like the Creative products, I just don’t understand why their market share is so low. I mean, heck, there is even a freaking keychain case for the Zen Stone Plus, so you can use it as a keychain! How cool is that?
Oh, but if you like the sound of the Zen Stone Plus, Creative is actually coming out with a newer version soon which is going to include a built in speaker! ZOMG! I don’t need a built in speaker though, so I think I will pass, but the price shown at the Creative site is still really reasonable - I think it is going to pretty much be the same price as it is now.
January 21st, 2008
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