Using the Blogilates Calendars

demoiselle2014

For the last three weeks+, I've been following Cassey Ho's beginner calendar for Blogilates. I've seen some real improvements, especially in core strength (one of my priorities to correct right now)--not surprising, since I haven't done pilates style moves for a long time.

As I reach the end of the beginner calendar, though, I have to decide whether and how I'm going to use Blogilates going forward. I really appreciate having the neatly laid out exercise calendar (I'm trying to design my own, now, in fact). However, I don't necessarily feel like following everything. For example, if I'm coming in from a run, it seems silly to do her cardio warmups, and I like my gentle yoga better than her stretching videos. Moreover, as I begin to add time to my runs I'm not sure that blogilates+yoga will be enough to protect me from injury.

Who here uses Cassey Ho's workouts regularly? Do you follow her calendars? Or do you modify them? How? What is your experience with doing pop pilates long term?

rosestring

Just searched "Blogilates" and found this thread. Cool!

As someone who has always wanted to really get into Pilates, I think this could be an excellent program for me. I have only done one day of it so far, but I like the layouts. I'm sorry that I don't have long-term experience with them, but they at least look promising.

Anyone tried these? Any improvements? Do you recommend more cardio with these?

Thanks!

demoiselle2014

Hello, rosestring! I just finished doing the beginner calendar today. I definitely got what I was looking for in doing Cassey's beginner calendar, though I am not sure that my results will impress anyone as to the transformative properties of Blogilates. Here's my response:

ME STARTING: 5'4", around 116, 27" waist, 37" hips, *not* on a diet, *not* wanting or trying to lose weight. I have a weak core, and pilates is good for core strength, and I wanted a calendar to follow where I could check off what I did each day and see my progress.

WHAT I DID: I followed the beginner's calendar exactly, until the last three days when a foot injury has meant that I had to do alternatives to the cardio/high impact warmup videos. I substituted hula hooping to get my heart rate up. Before that, I was doing C25K concurrently, getting up to half hour runs 3x per week. Plus I was doing hatha yoga.

ME ENDING: Same weight, same measurements. My core is much stronger, I can do roll ups and ab exercises with greater ease, and my arms are stronger (I can do push ups better and hold plank longer). When I run, my core engages better. I feel proud of myself for sticking to an exercise regime.

Those aren't very "sexy" results if you're looking to lose weight, but I think that someone who wasn't already pretty active and trying to maintain might get more results than me. The strength gains are real, and I'm satisfied.

MY REACTION TO EXERCISING WITH CASSEY: It's wonderful that she puts together these calendars, and it's a good way to start out if you want a cheap way to exercise at home with a hodge-podge of activities. She's not really doing pure pilates--she usually offers some pilates moves surrounded by some cardio, some stretching, and some yoga-based moves. Her cuing can be good--she knows when to say something encouraging, just when I am about to give up. The videos are certainly challenging enough.

But the sound quality is inconsistent, and there are issues with volume control. I also don't like that I have to sit through the introductory chatter and closing chatter on her videos three or four times each day to get through the workout. It makes my workout less efficient. Plus, I find the names of her videos kind of undermining. Muffin Top Massacure, Fat Blaster, Sexy Butt this and that . . . even though I am happy with my body and don't want to lose weight, I find it a bit depressing typing that stuff into the search bar every day. And she does kind of imply--without outright saying it--that by doing this or that exercise you can spot reduce. I mean, there are videos where she says to "eat clean" etc etc, but she really does imply that by doing these leg lifts, you'll get lean thighs, or by working your obliques, you'll get ride of your muffintop (ugh).

MY PLAN: I have decided that though I appreciate the gains I got from a month with Blogilates, it is not the workout for me going forward. I am going to do a month or two with Jillian Michaels, who has more chill personality and calming voice and seems (in what I've seen) not to play so much off her viewers' body insecurities. Plus, I am sure that I'll get more from one 20 minute workout that is designed to be done right through than three or four videos where I have to listen to advertisements at the beginning and end (which is fine for Cassey to do, since she does provide these videos for free!).

If I want to do pilates-oriented work for my core, I think I will either just do her ab days and videos, or seek a pure pilates DVD or class (which I've done in the past, and which did not resemble the majority of Blogilates much at all).

I hope this is helpful.

rosestring

Sorry for the delay. I have been lazy in logging into MFP. Bad, I know.

I don't know where to begin. Firstly, thank you SO much for the detailed reply! Unfortunately, I am your height but at 160 pounds. Do you think doing at least four days a week of 45 minutes of the elliptical could help with this? I know it is a lot, so maybe I will have to gradually work up to that time on the elliptical. Still, even if it is only one pound per week, I need to lose weight.

I know what you mean about her kind of falsely advertising the spot reduction and whatnot. That does make me cringe.

Thank you again! I will probably ask more later once I get a chance to use my computer instead of the phone.

demoiselle2014

Rosestring, I hesitate to give any kind of diet or fitness advice since I am not an expert. As I understand it, as long as you are eating at a deficit (fewer calories than you consume), you should lose weight. I'm sure that burning additional calories on the elliptical (or any other cardio) would help, too--as long as you don't eat back all the calories you burn and more (easy to do if you are not careful).

Part of why I didn't get much "result" in terms of weight from the Blogilates is that I don't have a lot of weight to lose, and I am already fairly active. Before I started jogging and walking, I was already walking between 10 and 20k steps per day, since I live in the city. Depending on how sedentary you are, you could make progress from something as simple as tracking your steps and gradually trying to increase them.

Also, pilates (like hatha yoga) is not a great calorie burner, though it can be very challenging. That's probably why Cassey adds in the cardio, etc. Pilates can be great for certain things, such as building core strength, improving posture, etc. I do recommend it, but in conjunction with other fitness activities.

Also, if you are interested in pilates, it is a good idea to sign up for an in person class for a bit, just to make sure you know how to activate your core and position your body so you don't hurt your lower back, neck, etc. I did benefit from the pilates classes I took in person a few years ago.

Good luck! And if you have any more questions about Blogilates, I'm happy to answer.

rosestring

Great, thank you! One more: I bought her book, but honestly it doesn't look *that* much better than her website. Her website pretty much has everything you need and then some, right? I'm thinking about returning the book, honestly.

demoiselle2014

I haven't used her book at all . . . so I wouldn't know how to answer that!