Cathe Fans Part 5
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Morning Ladies,
This morning was KCM's 30MTF Cardio Pump Workout 1, which is the cardio boxing workout. After work will be the Hammer Power workout, which is the one that uses olympic lifting moves. Only exciting thing happening this weekend is the football game, so I'm hoping we can get a lot of the decorations down.
Laurel, Great workouts, and good to know that the BB Total Body is so good. Tony's yoga is a huge motivational factor for getting that set, there is nothing like that in this series. I have the yoga workout from 21DFX, and I'm not a huge fan of that one. It just doesn't flow very well. Tony is like Bob Harper for getting in a good yoga workout. You can tell they practice what they preach so to speak.
Tami, Nice workouts! I really like hearing your take on the workouts, it makes me feel like I'm not wrong in my thinking or feelings about the workouts. No I have not tried that ab workout yet, and now I'm really looking forward to trying it. I think that you should be able to use that set up for all of the workouts from this point and going forward. The agility workout doesn't use any equipment, and I was really glad to see at least one workout that didn't have something in it. By the end of the first week you feel like your lower half has gone through enough torture. It does ease up a little bit in the second week.
Thelma, I hope that you are feeling better today after some rest. I know exactly what you are going though with those headaches. Glad to hear that you had gotten the required weight work done for you week, so you didn't have to be concerned.
Have a great weekend,
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. On Friday I did BB Build Back & Biceps with the XT Chest, Back, Shoulders warm up. It hasn't been a good weekend. I've basically worked most of the weekend. I didn't workout on Saturday because I was too mentally exhausted from working all day and worked till very late on Friday night. Today I did a little spinning.
I calculated the calories I should eat according to BB using my current weight and my body fat %. It wants me to eat over 400 calories more than I eat now. That is way too much. Not that I couldn't eat that much food but going from 1200 to almost 1900 is a huge increase and it's not like I'm lifting very heavy weights.
On Friday I still had the headache I developed on Thursday but I had a meeting with my boss and he scared the headache out of me because he didn't like an estimate I'd given on some work and wanted me to do it in a way that would take me weeks to accomplish and it was due on Friday at the end of the day. I nearly died. Needless to say I missed my deadline and now I'm not close to being done and this is needed by tomorrow. I think I'm in deep trouble. I'm so upset because my boss had reviewed the estimates with me before.
We're getting a little snow tonight maybe 2-4 inches.
Laurie, great job with the H&C program!! WTG! I was glad to have gotten my BB workouts in for last week. I'm doing legs tomorrow I think.
Good night ladies!
Thelma
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Morning Ladies,
Super cold her this morning with -10 without the wind chill. Suppose to warm up later tonight. I didn't workout on Friday after work, our oldest came to visit.
On Saturday I did H&C Hammer Power, I LOVED this workout! He goes through each section of the clean and press before you actually do one. So you start out with light then go to medium. Half way through the workout you progress from medium to heavy weights. I used 8lb for light, 12lb for medium and 20lb for heavy. I couldn't believe that I was actually doing 20lbs, but I knew that going to 15 would be to light. I like that he does the first 10 sets with the light weight, and then you do the same thing with less reps for the heavy. I didn't feel that I was in any danger of hurting my shoulders, because Sagi instructed very very well for this. I can see where someone who didn't follow his instructions might get hurt with this though. I then followed this up with Weider X-Factor ST Week 1, remembered that these workouts where all cardio, with no equipment. On Sunday I did H&C Chisel Balance, this was my second time around with this workout, and I used the same weight. I can really tell the difference doing this one again, I have way better balance and strength in my upper body. Kind of surprised. I followed that up with Rock'm Sock'm Kickbox Timesaver Premix #6 which is all the punching combos from the workout. This morning I again did the Weider X-Factor ST Week 1.
Thelma, Sorry to hear that you had to work this weekend, but good job on getting that BB workout in on Friday. The Fix container system has me eating between 1500-1799 calories, and I have been doing really well with it. I'm not going to check my weight until this whole 8 weeks is done, just to see how it works. So far I know something is happening to the good just by doing visual and clothes.
Laurel & Tami, hope you both had a great weekend.
Have a great day!
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies ~ Sorry I missed you on Friday. I ran some errands during lunch and then got busy as soon as I was back. Great weekend of workouts!! I am loving this program so far and recording my weights on all the workouts so I know what do next time or go heavier, etc… Saturday I did Total Body Hammer followed by Chisel Endurance and I really liked the combo of these 2 workouts. Yesterday was ISO Speed Hammer (only 25 min but good stuff) followed by Chisel Cardio and then in the afternoon we had our Volleyball league and we won all 6 games! It was a lot of fun.
This a.m. was Max Hammer Strength + Hammer Abs, again really liked the Hammer Strength; this was the one Laurie mentioned where you do fast reps and then 8 at max weight; so I really tried to go HEAVY in all of those and make it work for me. The abwork afterwards was perfect and again, the moves were not something I haven’t done before but all really good and more unique than just standard crunches. Always love that! I’m still using all of my risers (so the 4 plus my taller slanted risers) and they are working good. The heavy step ups this a.m. were more of a challenge forsure than what I have been used to with Cathe, but it’s all good! Tonight will be BootCamp after work.
Laurie: Fantastic job with all of your hard work this weekend! You are doing amazing with the H&C rotation I would say and really working hard; I saw those calorie burns! Yowsa. Again, I am looking forward to Hammer Power as well from your review, sounds like it is definitely a challenge in a new way. Sounds like he really explains well in that one, which is good. I do get quite a kick out of him and his love for “Beasty-ness” and being a big muscle guy. Funny! Kind of like Laurel, I just listen to more of the specifics of what he is saying and his comments about not being a beast with certain weight or whatever doesn’t bother me. LOL I absolutely love Autumn and her style, all of the Chisel workouts are great so far!
Sounds like you are pulling out some of those Weider XT workouts as add-ons to your program; I would think they would compliment well with this series. Nice job. Kudos to you for not weighing yourself until the end and see what happens; if you are already noticing the difference in your clothes that tells you something! Again, really thinking I may give the eating program/container portions a try on one of these rotations, really seems like a good way to go.
Thelma: Sorry to hear about the headache and stress + working on Saturday. I am sure the headache is work related. Hopefully today you are feeling better. I saw you got in your nice Sunday Spin yesterday and I am sure that felt great. To answer your question from the other day about my risers . . . yes, I have used all of them + the slanted top risers (that are either flat or used for an incline move) and everything except that one plyo move is working great. I may get it just right on round 2 of that workout, we will see. I definitely like the increased height for a challenge; thought about just ordering a couple new “regular” ones on Amazon but I have held off so far.
Hope you ladies are having a great Monday ~ we are open and working today but it is really quiet. I heard a rumor we may get to go home early, if so I may get in a workout at home instead of BootCamp! YAY Talk to you all tomorrow – Tami
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Hi Ladies, I worked 10 1/2 hours today and got home late. Normally I would be physically exhausted but not today I think I was energetic thanks to coffee and adrenaline. I was also determined to do my BB tonight so I did XT10 Warm Up, BB Build Legs, Treadmill, Stretching. It felt great and I'm so glad I had the energy to do it after my day today and the weekend. The X10 warm up was the perfect leg warm up.
My meeting with my boss today went very well. He realized that he misunderstood what I was doing and let me present my estimates. I was soooo relieved!
Laurie, awesome workouts lady!! Sagi does give really good instructions and he is doing the pyramid model on H&C where you start with light with high reps and the reduce the reps while increasing the weight. Do you know how many calories you were eating before you started doing the Fix container system? I'm just afraid that if I increase my calories I'm going to gain the weight I've lost. I know that muscle weighs more but I seriously doubt that I'm building a lot of muscle because I don't lift huge weights.
Tami, you did great this weekend with your workouts and VB! Congrats on the VB win!!! WTG! Sounds like buying additional risers may be something to consider when you need a bigger challenge!
I think the headaches are definitely stress related. I'm in a much better place today. Thank you! Guess what? I ordered a refurb Vitamix. They get great reviews so I decided to take the risk. Of course with refurb you don't know exactly what you're buying. You know that you're buying a blender from a series. They have S, G and C series I believe. The G is their new generation machines. C is the previous gen which is what you must have if purchased at Cosco. I got a C machine and I got an invoice and from the abbreviation I think I'm getting a Creations machine which is supposed to be very good. It comes with the 64 oz container so I ordered the 32 oz container for smaller smoothies. I've read these machines are very loud. I hope my cats don't freak out. They are used to the Ninja blender sounds and it can get loud when I add ice.
Laurel, thinking of you.
Good night ladies!
Thelma0 -
Morning Ladies,
After work yesterday I got in H&C Hammer Conditioning, another winner for me. This one got the whole body, and it was twelve reps per exercise. I was down to using 4lb weight for one exercise, because there was no way that I could do it with anything heavier. I figured that if Sagi was using 8lb, then I was going way down in weight. I loved the push-up move, which he did like a clock. That was much better than moving from side to side like I have done in previous workouts. This one used your core, and it was compound moves. I'm pretty sure that there is only one workout that I have not done yet, and that is the Total Body Chisel. It doesn't seem to appear until next week. This morning I did 30MTF Train Like a Contender Boxing.
Tami, Way to rock those workouts, and of course getting in the volleyball also. Congrats on the 6 game win! I'm impressed with this set, and really have loved all the workouts. So far none of them have a dread factor for me, I thought that I would with the Chisel Balance workout that I did on Sunday. I think that as my balance improves, the workouts are even better for me. I'm hoping that I can increase the weight that I'm using at some point. Last night Sagi told me that I'm a Hammer and a Beast after that workout! I like that at some point in every workout I get to laugh. My DH was in the basement yesterday when I had just popped the workout in. He said that Sagi looked like he was going to pop with all the muscle he had. That made me laugh also. I told him that I don't find Sagi's body type appealing, but he is a great instructor. If you like Autumn in this series, that I'm pretty sure that you would like her in 21 Day Fix Extreme. She is a little less intense in those workouts, but they are just as good as the ones she does in this series. Yep I decided that the Weider workouts would be good workouts to do, they don't require weights and they are just the right amount of time for my morning workouts. I will do week 1-8 for the next eight weeks. Doing them every other day. That will take me through this 60 days, and then I'm not sure if I will add on the additional 30 Days of Sagi or Autumn. Guess it depends on what results I get in the end.
Thelma, Great job on getting in your workout after that long of a day. I'm super glad to hear that you where able to present your argument to your boss, and that it was just misunderstood. I was getting around 1500 calories, and I think that I wasn't getting enough. I have been stuck at a certain weight for a very long time. Some of it is my own fault for eating badly on the weekends, but for the most part I tried very hard to stay within that calorie count. The one thing I really want to see is my stomach going away, and slowly it has been happening over the last few weeks. I just don't want to keep that 50's spread in the middle.
Have a great day!
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies! We are back home safely from Phoenix. The trip was actually really good. I didn't know what to expect seeing my mom, but she really is hanging In there. She is, clearly, not well, but she is still doing her thing, which was so good to see. We took her for lunch for her 86th birthday, watched football with her, picked oranges and grapefruit off her trees (so good!), etc. So it was a really good visit. I don't know how many more chances we will have to do that, but despite that.....this was a good trip.
I was also able to workout each day except the day we flew out of Florida (which I planned as my day off). The workouts were: Travel Fit and Cross Fire on Saturday; Lean Legs and Abs (standing work only), X10 Cardio Blast and Tabatacise on Sunday; and HiiT Pyramid and Rockout Knockout on Sunday. I managed to get at least 10,000 steps in every day (including Friday), and having taken my own breakfast foods and filling up on Mom's fruit, kept my diet relatively good. So I was happy about that too. Today I returned to my rotation. I started with the ICE Muscle Meltdown premixes (the ones with 4 rounds) for back and biceps, which made for a good 50+ minute workout, and added ICE Core 1 to that. For cardio, I did Rock'm Sock'm Kickbox with the blizzard blast. Boy, do I love that workout! With my Tapout XT gloves on, it doesn't feel intermediate at all! Love how she put this one together too with alternating punch segments with kicks and cardio. Good stuff.
Tami, glad to hear you are enjoying H&C! After reading both your and Laurie's posts from the past few days, I am a minute away from buying the series!! I may just do it and see if I can come up with a H&C/Body Beast rotation. Congratulations on the volleyball wins this weekend!! Sounds like so much fun.
Thelma, I am so sorry about the mess from work last week and through the weekend. But I am SO glad it was resolved and you are feeling better! Great job with getting workouts in where you could. Glad you are still enjoying BB. Regarding calories, if you are going to increase your calories, my recommendation to you is to do it slowly. I wouldn't increase by more than 100 per week and, better yet, more like 100 every two weeks. This will give your body a chance to adapt to the calories and use them properly. If you increase all at once, there is a better chance your body may just store it as excess since it is so used to surviving on fewer calories. But 100 calories a week.......your body just say 'thank you' and use them right up! This is how I came out of a calorie restricted diet when I lost my weight and I think it allowed me to transition to maintenance without any issues. You also have to remember that the BB recommendations (if I am not mistaken......and I might be!) are for building muscle. That means it is recommending calories in excess of what you would normally eat so your body can gain muscle weight (aka bulk). So keep that in mind when looking at that 1900 calories! Usually calorie partitioning (what this is) recommends a calorie increase of about 10% over what your would normally need, and that tells me that your daily calories for maintenance may be closer to 1700 (1900 minus 190) or so. Just some thoughts!
Laurie, I bet Sunday's game was heart breaking for you!! What a game! There were tons of Green Bay fans representing in Arizona, though. They did your team proud. It is your review of Hammer Power that has me convinced to buy H&C. I had read some really positive reviews of this, but I wanted your review!! When you said that your weren't concerned about your shoulders......well, that's what I needed to hear. From everything I have read, this is one unique home workout, and just like I want P90X3 for the yoga and Pilates, I want H&C for this one. So thank you!! Hope you warm up soon. To be honest, when we landed in Phoenix it was as cold as I have ever felt it there. I am definitely not used to that! It was about 50 degrees though! Of course, I am shivering going into a restaurant for lunch (because I have apparently made the complete transformation to being a Floridian where anything under 70 feels cold!). DH and I had opted to pop into a place right by the stadium for a sandwich and there was a full table of Packer fans sitting outside, drinking beer.......in shorts!! That would have been me coming from Alaska back when we lived there. They were thoroughly enjoying it. Gave me a wake up call to stop complaining about being cold!
See you all tomorrow!
Laurel0 -
Hi Ladies ~ So I did end up leaving just a little early yesterday from work so I headed home and didn’t have a lot of time for a workout with DH coming home shortly so I tried out the Masters Hammer Cardio workout. It was a good one, short and sweet. It was back-to-back moves (probably 10-12 of them) Autumn and Sagi were doing the workout together and/or calling out the exercise for one of them to demonstrate. This a.m. I did Chisel Agility which was very similar to last night’s workout except it was about 40 minutes and of course additional moves; some were similar to last night. Tonight I am headed to Insane X for Katy’s killer class! At least I know it won’t be the repeat of last week.
Laurel: Welcome back and way to go on getting in all your workouts while you were gone! The Muscle Meltdown pre-mix sounds like a great one! As I start doing a few more of those I will have to look into those; or even add them on to these shorter workouts in H&C. I just need to be organized in my time frame. Sounds like a very nice visit with your mom, I am so glad to hear that. I had a feeling between Laurie and myself constantly praising H&C you would be minutes away from ordering! I really think you will be happy with the program. It definitely works your muscles in different ways from what we are used to with Cathe. A good thing and definitely for balance work, core and legs your HR stays up throughout most of the workouts. You have probably already ordered it and if so YAHOO! I would love to see the rotation for BB + H&C! I have a feeling it would be fabulous.
Laurie: Great job with Hammer Conditioning!!!! Yay on it being another winner, and sounds like a great format with longer rep patterns. There really is some good conditioning in the way they put these workouts together (ie: shorter reps, higher reps, cardio conditioning, balance) Thanks on the kudos for Volleyball! Always fun when you win, but like I mentioned before, this is another great group of ladies so we are having a ton of fun and lots of laughter playing together.
If my DH peaks in and sees Sagi he will forsure be laughing and/or rolling his eyes. I have been waiting for it but he usually not up while I am working out. LOL Again, love that you are making those Weider workouts fit into this rotation. As I mentioned to Laurel, if I could get the correct time lines down with those ICE “Meltdown’s” I think those would be good as well?!?!? So happy to be in this program PERIOD!
Thelma: What a long day yesterday! Way to get that second wind and get your workout in! Kudos to you. I have been doing my own little warm-up (Cathe inspired of course) prior to the actual warm-up in these H&C workouts. A quick stretch and then right into something isn’t quite enough for me; that would be my only thing I would change so far on this program. Glad to hear your headache is gone and with that extra boost of energy, caffeine and adrenaline I am sure that helped too! LOL Congrats on the VitaMix purchase; that sounds like it will be perfect. Refurbished I am sure is a WAY better price. They are a little bit loud, especially with ice but its so quick you have it on and off in no time. It is truly one of the best gifts I have ever received. I have used it nearly every day since my MIL gave it to “us”. She gave it to us I think 5 years ago, so probably is the “C” series.
Hope you ladies have a great afternoon/evening ~ talk to you tomorrow! Tami
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Hi Ladies, I had a really, really good workout tonight.I started with the warm up from XT chest, Back and shoulders then BB Build Back & Tri's and I ended with the XT Chest Back Shoulders stretch. I am lifting heavier than I normally lift with Cathe. For my heavier set of bent over rows I used my 18lb dumbbells. That was a little too heavy but I did it. The pace of these workouts are key for me for sure.
It was COLD here this morning! OMG! More of the same tonight and tomorrow and we may be getting hit with our first real snow stor m over the weekend. Too early to tell for sure though.
Remember the first set of BB DVDs I got? The ones that didn't play? I let my co-worker have them last week to see if he could save them because it just looked like there was some kind of coating on them. He thinks he saved them all. He's 22 years old. I am hoping he really does the program because I would love to hear his thoughts on the program. He did tell me that he would do the bulk beast rotation and that he thought Sagi was going to make him puke with his workouts! LOL
Laurie, totally awesome job with the H&C workouts! Are there lots of push ups on the H&C workouts? I am also very tempted to get this workout but I better do BB first. I think it's been great to have done a total switch on my workouts going from Cathe to BB. My only concern in that I'm got getting as much cardio as I would with Cathe. I was so glad I was able to get my boss to understand my strategy! I've been stuck at the same weight for a long time but that is probably my fault for eating the wrong things. The green smoothies are helping with not eating bad for you things. Since I hate doing abs I definitely would love to see an improvement in that area.
Laurel, welcome back! I'm so glad your had a good visit with your mom! Good for you for working out and eating right while you were in AZ and for getting back into your rotation as soon as you got back! WTG!!
Thanks for your comments about my job mess over the weekend. I'm so relieved about having worked things out. What a great suggestion about increasing my calories gradually in small weekly increments! If I ate 1800 calories a day I would bulk up alright...in the wrong way.
Tami, outstanding work with the workouts! Sounds like the warm up from the H&C is not enough like in BB. I can't wait for my Vitamix to get here! I'm excited to try my first smoothie.
Good night ladies!
Thelma0 -
Morning Ladies,
After work yesterday I did H&C Total Body Hammer, and I was able to up my weights from the last time on certain exercises. Feeling the workout this morning though. Started my morning with Week 1 of Weider X-Factor ST, and had to dodge a puppy while doing it. Good thing this one doesn't have you running all over the place, he would have gotten stepped on or I would have tripped over him. He was in a playing mood, and went upstairs to get his ball. Good thing that tomorrow is his doggy daycare day.
Laurel, Good to hear that you had a good weekend with your Mom on her birthday. Sounds like she is a fighter. WTG on getting in those workouts while you where there also, I don't know if I would have been that dedicated. I really love the Rock'm Sock'm workout also for the very same reasons you gave. Yes that was a very big disappointment, but there is always next year. Oh yes 50 degrees is a heat wave around here, and I can just picture the beer drinkers! See that all the time around this area. This morning is was above zero, so it was really a very enjoyable walk this morning. I'm glad that I could help you with your decision, I have not found a workout that I have not enjoyed in this set. I am listening to Sagi and Autumn, and making sure that I'm not just going through the motions with weights that don't test me. I like that I can always go down in the weight if it gets to much. I can really feel the muscles in my traps this morning.
Tami, Great job on the workouts. I was going to do that Masters Cardio workout tonight, but now I will have to think about that. Might just do the Agility one that is on the rotation, I knew that it was only 18 min., but if the moves are similar.... I'm glad that you are having the same feelings about these workout, I really do enjoy them a lot. I like that I can really lift a lot more weight than when I do a Cathe workout, and I'm trying to understand why. Is it the pace, reps.. Or is is because my core is getting stronger, so I can lift that heavier weight? I'm like you happy PERIOD! One of the most positive things is my butt is looking so good, have to give Autumn credit for that I guess. Oh yes those Blizzard Blasts would be good, and of course inserting some HiiT workouts also.
Thelma, Great job on the workout! Now that I see what you wrote about the increased weight, I think that we are having the same experience that I'm having with the H&C workouts. I'm really glad that the co-worker was able to save the DVD's, and that he will be using them. I'm guessing that he doesn't workout, so that is why Sagi will have him puking? As far as push-ups in these, no there really isn't that many.
I would say there are more pull-up/chin-ups, but I do the band option and can still feel the muscles that they are targeting. I'm with you on the abs, I like having them included in the workout. Than I know that I will do them. You and Laurel make me want to do the BB workouts also, so it will just be a matter of time before I wonder when I should try those workouts.
Have a great day!
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies! I started today's with another split set upper body workout using the ICE Muscle Meltdowns. Today was chest, shoulders, and triceps and I did the four round premixes for all. It ended up being a little over an hour long. If I do this again, I may opt for three rounds only of shoulders and triceps......just to keep the workout a little shorter. I have now done all of the Muscle Meltdowns! I really like them and could definitely feel yesterday's back and biceps workout in those areas this morning. For cardio today, I did RWH Lower Body Circuit into RWH Low Impact HiiT Two. Felt great today.
Tami, I had myself convinced to hold off on H&C until I read your post!! The combination of mentioning how it works different muscles to Cathe and keeps the heart rate elevated throughout most parts had me on Amazon.com before I could finish the next sentence! Then I read Laurie's post, and that 'place order' button was promptly pushed. I should get it Friday.
I was trying to figure out (while working out this morning) how I am going to fit it into my current rotation, and I think I will just be plugging and playing workouts for awhile as I figure out both ICE and H&C. Should be interesting. 
But I am looking forward to it. Besides, I figure coming out of Body Beast may be the best time to do it, and then I will do BB again in two months.
Thelma, sounds like a great workout! Great job at increasing the weight!! I did the same thing during BB and found, like you, that sometimes that push higher was too much. So I did what Sagi said to do, and dropped the weight when I needed. But in doing that, I found that by the end of the program, I was often able to go heavier than my 'too heavy' early weights. Can you tell how much I loved this program?
It makes me so happy you are enjoying it. Happy to hear your coworker may get some use out of those BB DVD's.
Laurie, sounds like Rocket made for an interesting workout partner this morning! Glad both of you survived it!! Like I mentioned to Tami, your fantastic endorsement of H&C had me placing my order! I am really looking forward to giving them a try. I am finding that as much as I love Cathe, I am still in the mood for something a little different. No doubt I will seeing a lot of Cathe while doing H&C though!
See you all tomorrow!
Laurel0 -
Hi Ladies ~ Well I found out Katy was not going to be at class last night and with DH being gone for a couple of days of fishing with clients I decided to head home and do the Rock'm Sock'm workout! Thanks to Laurel mentioning she had done that one I had it on my brain, knowing I was going to love it the 2nd time around and did! So the dogs were happy to have someone home in our pouring down rain/snow mix last night and I didn't miss out on a good Katy class. Heading to Spinning tonight after work.
Laurel: Awesome workouts! The lower body circuit right into HiiT 2 sounds amazing! Great job getting through all the ICE MM's, from just the one I did so far I really liked it a lot. I am really laughing hard about your comment . . . right to the Amazon basket with my comment & "buy" with Laurie's! Isn't that how it goes. I couldn't order BB fast enough when you were giving such amazing reviews so I can totally relate. I already had H&C on my radar at that time and so just bought both of course but super happy I have both at this point! I will love to hear your take on these workouts as well once you get into them. Again, using my step bench as a higher riser for most all of the workouts has really challenged me as well; I have been surprised my lower half has not been screaming at me over just that! LOL After doing RS'm last night and the great warm-up I did think I may just leave something out that I know I like the warm-up in lieu of just stretching. Again, that is my only negative and it is so small and easy to accommodate myself with something else for those few minutes.
Laurie: Way to work and go heavier with Total Body Hammer! I think the way they have the workout(s) structured and rep patterns allows you to go heavier; kind of the method behind their madness! LOL I was lifting heavier than the guy in the workout the other day even .... kind of laughed when I picked up something heavier than him.
Yahoo on the butt looking better! Always a plus for anyone! I'm positive it is Autumn's unique step up's curtsy lunges and so on that are helping with that. Way to go and good confirmation for all of the above that the program is working. Can't wait to hear your results at the end.
Thelma: Sounds like you had another fantastic workout and I love that you are incorporating XT warm-ups, cool downs/stretch with your BB workouts! Love to hear that you are enjoying them so much as well. I am sure one of these days we will all do that BB rotation together Can't wait for you to get your VitaMix. You will be amazed at how they work. I was going to ask you how you are still liking your Polar A360, right? I am thinking about returning my SURGE and getting another Polar - the SURGE does not keep an accurate HR for any of my workouts at all. As I had mentioned in the beginning it can be somewhere around 50-60 and I just completed a set of burpees; then do anything else and it goes up. OR it stays at nothing, just lines across the screen and nothing registers while my HR is actually up. 
Wish I didn't love these trackers so much and feel the need to have to have something! But they are pretty awesome tools I think. When they work
Until tomorrow ladies ~ have a great evening!
Tami
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Hi Ladies, Ice Rock'm Sock'm Kickbox with Icy Core 1 for me tonight. This is an awesome workout for sure! It looks like we won't be getting all that snow. We are seriously overdue though. You ladies tempt me every day with those H&C workouts!!! I still think I'm going to wait because I am doing BB and I won't have time for another program.
Laurie, outstanding job with the workouts and your little workout partner this morning sounds so cute and funny! Doggy daycare will tire him out I'm sure! LOL.
You can lift heavier weights because of the pace for sure. Cathe's workouts are all about cardio so they go faster. If H&C is like BB then you're lifting like a body builder would do where you have to watch the pace to lift heavier and with proper form. That is what Laurel and I were discussing last week. Of course your core is getting stronger too with all those workouts! congrats on the butt improvement! Totally awesome!
We are definitely having the same experience with the heavier weights. It's totally about the pace. My co-worker says he worksout but never before with DVD's. He said Sagi would make him puke when he saw the giant weights those guys lift! LOL. He did chest & tri's and he kept saying all day how sore he was! LOL
I'm glad H&C doesn't have lots of pushups. I also do the bands for pull-up/chin-ups. You and I are on the same boat about wanting to get the program we dont'have! LOL
Laurel, as always amazing combo! Congrats on having done all those Muscle Meltdowns. I haven't tried those at all.
You are too funny about ordering H&C! I can't wait to read your workout reviews! I definitely try to do what Sagi says about dropping the weight or going for a lower weight. I end up with dumbbells all over the place! LOL
I know you love this program and I am so glad you lead the way because your reviews were awesome and helpful. I can feel that I'm standing straighter. My tummy feels different too but I think that is because I lost those 4 1/2 lbs. I do own a pair of jeggings that were a little tight and I tried them on tonight and they fit much better tonight! So excited about that! I'm happy my co-worker will be able to use the BB DVD's. I have serious doubt about him sticking with the program though.
Tami, awesome workouts! I also had in mind the Rock'm Sock'm Kickbox workout and it was my cardio day. I love that Icy Core workout too! BB doesn't have a good warm up/stretch and I have to really warm up in order to lift weights. Cathe's warm-ups are great. I think that the pace and the fact that you're only lifting allows you to save your energy for just lifting. With Cathe there's always cardio involved and things go much faster.
I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you get BB and I get H&C! LOL. I still totally love my Polar A300 Tami. At first I thought it was giving me lower cals too but nothing like what you're talking about. I also think I wasn't wearing the chest strap properly. Sometimes I notice that the HR goes up way high for a couple of seconds and then returns back to a normal rate. I think it does that when it's calculating. You do have to wet the sensors on the strap before you put it on and make sure it displays the heart rate before you start the workout. I find that sometimes it takes a while to give me a reading. Don't know why though. I can't live without it now. I sleep with it and everything. The only thing I don't do is shower with it even though it's waterproof. I do wash it once a week. I just checked my Vitamix order confirmation email and it says it will be shipped on 1/26! They are sloooow! I was hoping to have it by this weekend.
Good night ladies!
Thelma0 -
Morning Ladies,
I decided to do Chisel Agility last night, I had the time so doing only 18 min. of the Masters Cardio didn't seem right. Totally enjoyed the workout the second time around even more, probably because I knew all the moves. This morning was 30MTF Kickbox Punching Mix, that one is a fav of mine. Can't believe that it is Thursday already, time is just flying by.
Laurel, Sounds like some great workout you had! I have not tried any of the muscle meltdowns, but am planning on doing at least 4 weeks of those after I'm officially done with H&C. I think that you will really enjoy the H&C workouts even though you have done BB first. There are some people who have completed BB, and they love this set. It just really comes down to how you make the workout yours. I don't think that you will have a problem with incorporating the ICE workouts with the H&C.
Tami, This morning my phone told me that you had checked into MFP for 4 years, now that is a great accomplishment. What a great way to spend a rain/snow night, with your great workout and making the dogs happy you where there. I think at some point I will be lifting heavier than the one guy in these workouts, even Sagi is disappointed in the amount of weight the guy is using. They do love the Bulgarian split squats in this workout don't they, I'm thinking that my be one of the reasons why my butt is looking better.
Thelma, Everyone must have had R&S workout on there minds but me! I had a little of that one on Sunday, so I guess we all where able to do it this week at least. I think the other thing I really like about these workouts is using the dumbbells vs. the barbell like in STS. I think the next time I do STS I will use dumbbells instead of my barbell, it might make those workout a lot more interesting. A lot of people don't think that DVD's will give them a good workout, it is nice that your co-worker is willing to give it a try. LOL about him complaining that he is sore. If they guys in BB are lifting weights has heavy as Sagi does in H&C, then I can see why he would be intimidated. Sagi lifts 50lbs like they where 8lbs.
Have a great day!
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies! Had a great and fun workout today. I started with ICE Chiseled Lower Body and added on the Blizzard Blast, which I love! Then I took a break because my next workout was cardio......and that Blizzard Blast really gets my heart rate up. But my cardio, per the rotation, was one I didn't want to miss because it has been forever since I did it. That was Party Rockin Step 2, and I did the 60 minute premix. It ended up being an hour of pure fun! Love workouts like that every now and again!
Tami, sounds like a great way to spend a cold, wintry evening! I am really excited for H&C. The more I thought about it, the more I started thinking my body needs something now to kind of contrast with Body Beast. And this series sounds like a perfect mix of heavy weight and conditioning, whereas Body Beast was just heavy weight--and mostly upper body. So this will be a nice 'shock' for my body right now. My upper body is a bit tight from the Muscle Meltdowns which is a good reminder to me that change is good! I was wondering how you were liking the SURGE. I am sorry you are disappointed in it. I have been having some issues with my own FitBit (I just have the simple Flex) and was thinking of either upgrading to something that monitors heart rate (like the Surge)......or just going without anything again. I like the step counter because it does encourage me to move more, but I don't want anything with a chest strap. I guess I should do some research!
Thelma, great workout! I completely relate to the changes you are feeling in your body. My whole body just felt stronger after doing Body Beast a few weeks. I will never forget my first round of golf after starting the program and how far I was hitting the ball! It really made my core stronger!! The concern I had was that I might be losing some endurance doing the program, and having done the Muscle Meltdowns now, I believe BB is the perfect solution for strength and endurance......because I don't seem to have lost any endurance. Makes me . I hope you don't get hit with this storm! Looks like it is going to be a bad one!
Laurie, great workouts. I totally agree about how a program's effectiveness is determined by how each individual uses it to their advantage. I still find that the people most disappointed in it were expecting Body Beast 2. But this program has a totally different--and equally important--purpose! I am really looking forward to it and excited to try to incorporate some Cathe in with it. Should be fun!
Has anybody else seen the ABC show Shaun T. is hosting? It is called 'My Diet is Better Than Yours'. I like the premise of the show (not sure about the execution of the premise yet, though) because it is meant to illustrate that people need to find diet and workout programs that best suit them. There is not 'one size fits all', and I like that. Of course, my unwavering love of Shaun T. doesn't hurt when it comes to watching this program. I think there is only one person in this world who could talk me into something like a marathon, and that is Shaun T.! I don't know what it is, but the minute he starts encouraging the contestants when they are exercising, I want to start working out!! I suppose that's not a bad thing.
Until tomorrow!
Laurel0 -
Hi Ladies ~ Last night's Spin class was another great class. It was so packed (again) that she gave up her bike to one of the regulars. She will always do that, which is nice . . . . I guess the New Year’s Resolution peeps are still at it with the crowded gym, so that is good and bad for parking! LOL This a.m. was Hammer Power, which is the “power lifting” workout. 5 reps light, 10 reps medium for half the workout and then 10 reps light and 5 reps HEAVY for the 2nd half. As Laurie had mentioned, Sagi gives good demonstration for each move; you actually build on with a “clean”, then a “clean & press”, squat w/ clean & press, etc. You get the picture. I was surprised with this one and I did go heavy again when he told me too. LOL He gets pretty excited in this workout, coaching everyone on. I was trying not to giggle at him and concentrate on what I was doing. No workout tonight unless I am able to beat DH home and get in something ~ which would be great.
Laurel: Fantastic job with your combo this a.m.! Sounds like a lot of fun and of course one of your fav’s with the Party Rockin Step 2, way to go. I’m glad you are excited for H&C and I think it will be exactly what you are describing that you are looking for after doing BB. I’m anxious to see what kind of add-ons you do when you start going with H&C. I will have to take notes.
Huge bummer on my SURGE, I know.
It is fabulous for logging steps, sleep, time, etc. but to not get an actual HR during my workouts or such a low reading is a huge disappointment for the $$ I am leaning towards the A300 like the one Thelma has. It would give me all of the above and actually less expensive. Although you do have to wear a chest strap during a workout for an accurate HR; but I am used to that by now with all my other Polar’s I have had.
I did see that show one evening, just stumbled on it by accident and meant to record and watch sometime. I was so surprised when I saw him on the channel, and not an Infomercial. LOL You're exactly right, if anyone could talk me into running a marathon it would be ST. I will look for it again and record it. I always like those shows.
Laurie: Great work getting in Chisel Agility! The Masters Cardio is very short forsure so good choice! Thank you so much for my congrats message this a.m. I saw that and thought, WOW it is 4 years! It has actually been longer but when I went out of the country that time it stopped calculating for those days & I had to start over. I would agree 100% that they are in love with the Bulgarian Split Squats forsure in this program, you’re right. They are definitely effective and force me to do them and appreciate them even more with this program! You had mentioned to Thelma about using dumbbells the next time you do STS; I have always used just dumbbells and been happy with them.
Thelma: Way to go on Rock’m Sock’m --- yes, I would say we were all on the same wave length this week with that one! Really enjoy it. I actually do have the Body Beast program, I ordered it when I ordered H&C; which created part of my dilemma on which to do first! LOL Loving this one and looking forward to BB as well in the near future. I’m sure we will all be on a BB rotation sometime this year!
Thank you for your feedback on your Polar A300, as I mentioned to Laurel I think it would be the perfect swap for my SURGE. My only hesitation is that I have had 3-4 Polar’s and upgraded models each time, always ending up with the same problem. Battery runs out on transmitter or strap stops working and then even with both being replaced I have had problems. A guy at the gym has the exact one I am still using and he has had ZERO problems, only replacing his watch battery once. So we will see. I love all the features since it matches my SURGE but I think with the HR strap it will be an accurate read for my workouts. DH feels bad that the SURGE hasn’t worked out & encouraged me to return it. Darn it on the “slow boat from China” delivery with your VitaMix. But Tuesday will be here before you know it! You can start organizing some recipes to get ready and try once it arrives.
Talk to you ladies tomorrow ~ Tami
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Hi Ladies, XT Chest, Back & Shoulders warm up, BB Build Shoulders for me tonight. It looks like the storm will come our way. We may get a couple of inches but nothing like 2 feet!
Laurie, great workouts!!! This week flew by for for sure. I really like that BB they have a modifier who has limited equipment. I imagine they use the same format in H&C. When Sagi and one of the guys use a barbell the other guy uses dumbbells. Do they use an EZ barbell or the straight kind? Sagi sometimes uses the EZ one. My co-worker did back & bi's last night and told me that at the end he was struggling. I'm sure he's trying to lift the same weight Sagi is! Sagi sure makes lifting those giant dumbbells easy!
Laurel, another winning combo! Awesome job! So you had the same concern about losing endurance by doing BB. Some of the BB workouts do get the heart rate going. The slowest one is the shoulders workout.
Tami, great job with your workouts. I'm glad you liked your spinning class. Hammer Power sounds like a really good workout! Sagi is funny. Tonight I did shoulders and at the end he kept saying he was feeling "beasty" and he'd lift a super heavy weight.
Everything I've read about those new fitness trackers that track your HR without the chest strap say that the most accurate way is with the strap. Since I got my A300 I've had to change the battery once because I was getting a heart rate super high (as in death bed high!) before I started working out so DH changed the battery and I'm OK. OMG I remember now that you got both workouts at the same time. I hope you get a good A300 when you get yours Tami. I can imagine how bad your DH must feel but it's not his fault. He meant well. I've been making my not so smoothie smoothies. I like them slushy and I've been adding the protein too. Not sure if I told you this but I ordered the 32oz container too. I didn't tell DH how much that thing costs though! LOL
Good night ladies!
Thelma0 -
Morning Ladies,
After work I did H&C Max Hammer Strength, I really like this one for the format. What am I talking about, I really like all the workouts because they each use a different way to lift the weights and fatigue the muscles until you get to failure. I already will need to up my weights for this workout on the next round. I'm loving that part. Today is my rest day, so no workout this morning. Only my usual walk with the pups.
Laurel, Sounds like some solid workouts! Can tell that you really enjoyed all of it. I really understand not wanting to use a chest strap, I have never been really fond of them either. I guess I don't like having that tightness around my chest, kind of reminds me of a really uncomfortable bra. I'm getting excited for you to get your H&C workouts also! I'm putting this set at the top of my list for favorites, they are none dread, efficient, and effective. I didn't think that they could accomplish getting in a short workout, but still working the body. So I'm getting excited to try the BB workouts, because like you I'm probably going to need to do something different after I'm done with this rotation. I actually watched the first episode of that show last night On Demand, and it was interesting. I will probably watch the other shows when I have the time. I'm guessing that Shaun T. will get more air time as I watch more episodes? It is an interesting concept, that they are tying different diets to accomplish the end results. The one lady is way to focused on the amount of weight she lost vs. the fact that her blood pressure went down. I find her trainer a little annoying also.
Tami, Great job on the workouts! You make Katy sound like a person that I would like to meet one day, she just sounds like a very good person. Super glad that you had the same surprise that I had with the amount of weight that you where able to lift for the heavy. I think that I remember you used the dumbbells vs the bar in STS. I'm going to head in that direction in the future, I think it would make life easier when doing those workouts.
Thelma, WTG on the workout! Hope that you get some snow, it is nice to have that vs the dull brown that is around otherwise. Never know how much you will get, the storm may change. No matter how much special equipment these weather people have, they more often get it wrong. They don't use any bar in H&C, it is all body weight, bands or dumbbells. The modifier uses a ball instead of a bench for some exercises, and as we all know with Cathe, that can sometimes be harder than using the bench.
Have a great weekend!
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies! Another good workout today. I started with ICE Metabolic Total Body with the Blizzard Blast. I like this one. It does give the body an overall 'I did something' feeling, and my heart rate was slightly elevated throughout. I found the contrast between the original workout and the Blizzard Blast interesting because the first is much more focused on using weights and the latter alternates high intensity cardio drills with weight segments. I liked the contrast. I took a long break since my heart rate did get up for this workout and then dove into my cardio workout. I started with X10 Fat Burning (which was a great complement to Metabolic Total Body) and then Insanity Max 30 Tabata Power.
Tami, sounds like a good class. Good to see so many people sticking with New Year's resolutions!! Thanks for the info on the Surge. I had issues with my Polar chest strap when I wore my heart rate monitor because it was too large and stopped reading my heart rate when I was in push-ups or planks or anything where gravity would pull the strap away from my body. I found that very frustrating, so I understand your frustration with the Surge. Maybe Polar has changed their straps since then, but I had the smallest strap they had available at the time. But, then again, I probably shouldn't look into it because heart rate monitors seems to feed my well known fixation on numbers!!
I am actually surprised I have been able to live with my FitBit as long as I have! Thanks for the Hammer Power review. I am very anxious to give that one a try.
Thelma, great workout! Hope you don't get too much snow. Sounds like much of the east coast is going to be shut for the weekend!! We are getting rain and cold air......but that is all. I am okay with that.
Laurie, if I hadn't already bought H&C, you would have convinced with your comments this morning! I know you have done some great workout programs, so knowing this one is one of your favorites says a lot!! Regarding that Shaun T. show, yes he starts getting more air time. One of the reasons I like the concept is because it leaves people in their real lives. I find some of the trainers, like you, a little annoying. But it surprises me how different people are and how they react to different approaches, ideas, etc. I guess I feel lucky that I somehow stumbled on a way to lose weight (between this site, some Jillian Michael's podcasts and Cathe's workouts) that worked for me. I was thinking yesterday that it has been 7(!) years since I joined MFP, and I am still wearing my first pair of 'skinny' jeans that I bought after I lost the weight (they are a bit frayed, but comfy for around the house ). Hard to believe. So I like that this show is trying to help people find a way that works for them that may last for the long run.
Hope you all have a good weekend!
Laurel0 -
Hi Ladies ~ This a.m. was Chisel Balance (which was my 2nd time on this one) Again, loved it and tried again with the plyo/one legged move on my step bench; this time, thinking I was so smart I put a kettleball on top of the bench for more weight; didn't lower it however. Well it was working great and as I got to the end of my reps I think I pushed back a little instead of up with my foot that was on the bench and everything flipped off. Of course DH came out of the bedroom wondering what happened . . . LOL "oh nothing" It sounded like I knocked furniture down of course. So I have decided this move will need to be done with my bench lowered way down forsure or just on the floor. Either way I absolutely love this move, it is tough and so unique! The step bench topper is just too light, any kind of resistance knocks it off. I can see why a weighted bench is perfect, it won't be tippy. I went heavier in a couple exercises from last time, now that I know them and that was great! Tonight I am headed to Spinning before I head home.
Laurel: Way to end with week with a serious trifecta+ of workouts!! Nicely done. I thought about getting out a Max 30 workout this weekend. We will see. Yes, my Polar definitely has moments more often than not when I am in a plank position that it will not register and that is probably why?!?! I had problems with it again this a.m. Since I am borderline obsessed with these gadgets I want to find one that works accurately "sooner than later". The A300 may be the way to go. I can't believe it has been 7 years . . . although I joined probably 6 years ago; I had quite a streak going and then I went to Costa Rica for my dads passing and had to start over. I remember meeting up with you shortly after I started that long ago and to this day I am thankful for you being one of my "pals"
Laurie: Great job with Hammer Strength today! I have Hammer Conditioning on the schedule for tomorrow and since it is only 30 min I will probably add on some cardio to it as well. I loved the Chisel Balance this a.m. and doing that last move with the single leg squat, dbl arm row into pistol squat is so good!
Katy is one of those people you just want to meet or at least experience her class; it surprises me when people say they don't like her. It is her "toughness" they don't like really I think. My dumbbells are the SelectTech by BowFlex so it is perfect for just dialing in the weight; eventhough sometimes that takes a couple seconds longer for Cathe who has them all laid out. But it works great for me and they go up to 50 lbs.
Thelma: Great job with BB yesterday! So funny about your co-worker and trying to lift like Sagi. Those are monster weights he has going on. I have used the ball for a couple of the moves; this a.m. for example I used the ball again for a single arm chest press while you raise your opposite knee in the air; it is a balance challenge forsure! Love it though. So definitely the modifier is either on the ground with nothing or on the ball. Thank you again for your feedback on the A300; as I mentioned to Laurel my FT60 has been causing me problems again and AGAIN so that was my motivation for the SURGE; now going back to my Polar when it works I love it but when it doesn't it is very frustrating. What to do?! Polar has the worst customer support so not sure if I buy it through Amazon if they will take it back if something goes wrong.
OR maybe I will get one that has no issues like yours and my gym friend.
Have a fabulous weekend ladies! Talk to you on Monday Tami 0 -
Hi Ladies, I hope you had a great weekend! We got together with my BIL and his wife and it was a lot of fun. On Friday I did XT 10 warm up, BB Build Legs, walked on treadmill. On Saturday I did XT Chest Chest, Back & Shoulders warm up, BB Build Chest & Triceps, X10 Low Impact, stretch and actually lifted heavier than I did last time. I like how Sagi has paired the muscle groups because it is good for my shoulders. On Sunday I did my usual spinning. The blizzard didn't quite make it to MA. Where I live we got about 3 inches. It will warm up this coming week so we'll have plenty of melting going on.
I read that Laurie and Laurel, were talking about a HRM without the strap. While I was doing my research I found at least two that don't use a strap: the iwatch but you have to have an iphone. Then the latest is the Polar A360. I read a lot of the reviews on Amazon.com and a lot of people love it and others have issues with it. I didn't buy it because I'd bought my A300 and couldn't justify the expense.
http://www.polar.com/us-en/products/sport/A360
Laurie, awesome job with your H&C work. It really is exciting knowing that will up your weights next time you do the workout. The little snow we have won't be around too long. One day this week we'll be in the 40's and it doesn't look like there is any snow in our future. I like that the H&C program doesn't use a bar. I do love that both these programs have modifiers.
Laurel, awesome combo on Friday! Did you have a bluetooth chest strap? That is the kind Polar has now. I don't get a heart rate reading when I place the sensor too far to the right or exactly what happened to you and the thing gets away from my body. This is rare though. We lucked out with that huge blizzard! I was watching the forecast on Friday and saw the FL map and it looked like you were getting a lot of rain. Congrats on your 7th year since you joined MFP and for still wearing your skinny jeans you bought after you lost the weight! WOW!! So glad I found you, Laurie and Tami because you ladies inspire me and keep me going.
Tami, awesome job with the your workouts! OMG I can just imagine the noise your bench with the kettleball made when the hole thing tipped over! LOL. I'm glad you didn't get hurt. I think my co-worker is going to give up on BB right out of the gate. He's not following the program as prescribed. Doing some exercises on the ball can be quite a challenge and on one leg even harder! Do you wet the strap sensors before you put the strap on? Is it possible that it needs a new battery? I got my polar from Amazon but I haven't had a need to return it. when I used the Polar customer service I actually did it on the web via chat and it was great. I got an email from Vitamix notifying me that my blender had been shipped so hopefully I'll have it by the end of the week.
Good night ladies!
Thelma0 -
Morning Ladies,
On Saturday I did H&C Total Body Chisel, and 10 Min Ab Chisel. I seriously loved this workout, it reminded me of Cathe's Superset workut. There where three rounds, and in each round 3 exercises done for 3 sets of 10 reps. Hardly any rest in between the exercises. You are able to go as heavy as you can for these, and all are very familiar exercises. First time for doing the ab workout also, and I liked that one too. On Sunday I just couldn't workout, I was not feeling well. Friday evening Rocket must have eaten something that didn't agree with him, and I was really up all night dealing with that and of course worrying. He was back to his normal self by Saturday evening, and running around like a crazy boy yesterday. On Sunday I think I was exhausted, and had a good nap and an early night to bed. Feel much better this morning. This morning I got in a double workout, was up early enough that I did Hammer Plyometrics and 30MTF Trim Down Boxing Premix. It seems like the second time through these workouts make them even better, I was able to do the two moves that Sagi uses the bench for. I wasn't going as fast as everyone on the workout, but I was glad that I did so much better than the first time I tried this one.
Laurel, Great workouts, and can tell that you are having fun doing them. Yep you will not be disappointed in these workouts, all of them are great. DH and I watched the rest of the Shaun T. shows while cleaning on Saturday, and it was very good. I like that Shaun was able to change the one guys attitude, he really does get angry. I was surprised that DH enjoyed it, because he really didn't like the biggest loser. I think he was interested in how the different diets affected the participants, and my DD was happy that they don't kick anyone off. She said how can you make sure that someone sticks to their program if you start to help them, and then shove them aside. Overall not a bad show. Jillian has a show on cable, can't remember what it was called. It really does show a different side to her, this one is more about Jillian and her life than exercise.
Tami, Great job on the workouts. That last move in Chisel Balance always gets me, I do have to admit that I have to put my foot down towards the end of the exercise. Just don't have the endurance quite yet to get through them all without doing that. I have been contemplating those type of dumbbells for a while, just a matter of coughing up the money for them.
Thelma, Awesome workouts! To bad the snow will not stick around for a little longer, but they really did get hit pretty good in the DC area. Thanks for the information on the Polar A360, it looks like it would be an interesting HR monitor. I wonder if this is something that I would get at some point in the future, after they have worked all the bugs out of the band issue. Looks like all the complaints are about the tracker not staying in the band.
Have a great day!
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies! We had a busy weekend here. It was Florida-style cold (meaning spring-like temps in all your parts of the world!) and very windy on Saturday so DH and I figured it was a good day to do some good cleaning around the house. Yesterday I spent the day in the kitchen baking for a bake sale DH's students are holding today. So......busy. But not bad. I took Saturday off working out, as usual. And yesterday I started up with H&C!!
Actually, I didn't quite know what to expect from the H&C workouts, so I previewed the first workout (Chisel Balance) on Friday and finally understood some of the issues with the warm-up. It was pretty chilly in the house yesterday morning when I got up to workout (since we were near freezing and I refuse to turn on the heat), so I knew I needed more than stretching to warm-up. So I did my cardio first, and that was Cathe's Step Moves. Just enough to warm up my body but not too much to detract from Chisel Balance. So, after the step workout, I moved right into Chisel Balance. I liked it. Some of the moves are tough....especially for 15 reps. But I thought it was a very unique workout that really hit the lower body, especially the glutes. After that workout, I did the 24 minute upper body premix from STS Total Body.....just for a little upper body work.
Since I am still trying to stick to the rotation I started last week, today I started with LIS Lower Body Trisets, which helped ease those tight glutes I was feeling from Chisel Balance. Then I did Hammer Plyometrics. I really liked this workout too. I did alter it a bit when they do the burpee into a pull-up. I opted for bent over rows into burpee (keeping my hands on the weights through the burpee). I figured this might actually be more productive since I don't have the pull-up bar. I didn't know if this workout would be more cardio or strength so I put with strength today in my workout regime. But I think it could fit in as either, and I like that. But that also means I needed a break before doing cardio!! So I took about 45 minutes to do other things, the did RWH Plyo HiiT One into RWH Upper Body Circuit. Good stuff.
Tami, I can only imagine the noise your step and kettlebell made!! I am glad you mentioned that, though. Yesterday I did the floor option, which was good. I was concerned my step would slide, and I think you just proved it!! So I think I will probably end up staying on the floor. When I previewed this move, I thought I was going to hate it! But I really liked it. Actually, the only move I didn't like was the one legged sit and stands that start off the workout. But my dislike of sit and stands goes way back to STS! But I know they are good for my body, so I keep trying. Yes, I remember when we met of MFP in the 40+ thread!! Hard to believe I could now be part of a 50+ thread! Anyhow, I am so glad you invited me over here to join you in this conversation. Don't know where I would be without you all, that's for sure. Thanks for the info on your Polar HRM. I understand your dilemma right now because I am going through the same thing as it appears my FitBit is giving up on me. Sigh. What to do?????
Thelma, great workouts this weekend! I am glad the storm didn't hit you too hard. It looks like some areas got completely blasted. No fun. Thanks for the info on that new Polar monitor. I am going to keep my eye on that one because it looks like a good alternative to FitBit. My previous Polar didn't hook up to Bluetooth. I really like the Bluetooth option available now, though. Still trying to decide whether I want to stick with using a monitor or go back to my dark ages of last year when I just winged it!
Laurie, sorry to hear you weren't feeling well yesterday. Sounds like you needed some rest, especially after being up with a sick pup. Glad you were feeling better this morning and up for a double workout! When Sagi demonstrated that move in Hammer Plyo you were talking about, I was like 'hmmmmmm'. I started off slowly, but by the end, I was doing pretty good! It wasn't as tough as I thought it would be. Glad both you and DH like the Shaun T. show. Like your daughter, I like that nobody is eliminated. That never made much sense to me in The Biggest Loser. I think The Biggest Loser used to be so much better at sharing information on diet and such. Now it seems to be workouts, drama and product endorsement. That probably sounds kind of mean, but I guess I am disappointed that the show isn't more balanced in its approach than what it is. Is that new Jillian show the one on Spike TV? I saw a commercial for it and it was about developing new workout equipment or something like that. Sounded interesting, but I haven't seen anything about it beyond that one commercial.
Off to my hair appointment. Definitely need it! See you all tomorrow.
Laurel0 -
Hi Ladies ~ Happy Monday! Weekend was good, I was able to get in a couple good combos on Saturday and Sunday: Saturday was H&C Hammer Conditioning + Autumn’s Dirty 30 Xtreme, which I really enjoyed and was a nice add-on for some more strength, cardio factor kind of built in because you are going from move-to-move and then repeating. Yesterday was Hammer & Chisel Total Body Hammer followed by ICE Low Impact SWEAT #1 then off to Volleyball. This a.m. was Chisel Agility and tonight I am headed to BootCamp after work. Fingers crossed for this one.
Laurel: Fabulous job with the workouts and sounds like a very busy weekend with DH as well! I am glad I could help with a “heads up” on that move. It is a great one though, right!?!! Those sit and stands are really good; remind me of Cathe’s but again, different in the way the move is executed with Autumn. Another same but different in a good way. You can see why just a simple stretch and then right into that move might not be the most comfortable. I am glad you like what you have tried so far. As Laurie said, I think you will like all of them too. Chisel Agility (that I did this a.m.) feels like something that could easily include an add-on too. ST’s Insanity or Max 30 really came to mind. Thank you for mentioning the bent over rows w/ burpee in place of the pull-up, burpee in Hammer Plyometrics. I have Cathe’s tower to do my pull-ups but even so this was causing a lot of time in between getting down on the floor. I will definitely do your version next time!
Laurie: Sorry to hear about your yesterday and not feeling good. I can see why you probably weren’t 100% as well being up with Rocket the night before. Poor pup, hate it when stuff like that happens. I have been there now many a times between Emma and Bernie eating random things and then being sick. I wish they could talk to us sometimes and say what they ate and what the scale of sickness is for them. LOL Great job getting a double in yesterday ~ nicely done! Total Body Chisel sounds like it will be yet another great one. I was surprised at my calorie burn during Hammer Conditioning; and truly most all of these workouts keep your HR up forsure. I know what you mean on those weights; when I bought them 8+ years ago I was a little leary but knew I was going to be buying individual dumbbells and making a huge stock pile so this was way easier and in the long run, well worth my investment. I bought mine on Ebay brand new; saved a little bit that way.
Thelma: Great job with your workouts over the weekend as well! Nice work. I am glad you had fun with your BIL and his wife. Also happy to hear you guys didn’t get slammed with that snow storm. Phew.
Yes it was quite a loud bang when all of that came down. OF course when DH came around the corner I was picking it all up, acting like no big deal. LOL On my HR monitor: I do always make sure to moisten the strap with a little water prior to using, even tried the HR monitor gel that is sold sometimes with them. Clean the strip good with water each workout and put through the washing machine once a week as suggested. I have replaced my strap twice since owning this particular model and changed the battery twice as well. I feel like the trouble shooter of all trouble shooters with these HR monitors. My newest “solution” over the weekend since it was causing me problems still was to use my old transmitter from a couple HR monitors ago. It worked! I couldn’t believe it. So I decided for now, I would order a new transmitter and another new strap (I ordered the new Bluetooth model) and see if that solves my problem. Could have almost bought a brand new one but really feel it is the transmitter all along. Will have this old transmitter as a back up and if problems still arise, I will probably order the A300 or A360 and start over. I love the strapless idea, but from my SURGE and the reviews I read it seems to be kind of the same problem with not registering. Yahoo on the VitaMix. I am sure you are counting the days until it arrives!
Hope you ladies have a great evening! Until tomorrow . . . Tami
0 -
Hi Ladies, I started the 3rd week on the BB rotation. Next week I start training individual body parts each day and the rest day falls on the 7th day which is what I like to do. Tonight I did XT Chest Chest, Back & Shoulders warm up, BB Build Back & Bi's and it felt . It felt like a game changer for me because I felt great after the workout as opposed to automatic tightening of the upper back/shoulder blade area. I started to feel tightness on the shoulder blade 2 hours post workout which is good for me. I even lifted 23lbs for the 3rd set on the one arm row and could've done 25. I also used a heavier resistance band for the lat pull downs. For biceps I pretty much stayed the same as last time. Tomorrow is cardio day.
Tonight my Polar acted up. Somehow when I was on the last exercise which is a cobra my chest strap came unhooked and of course the I had no heart rate reading for the last part of the workout which was a couple of minutes. No matter what I did I had no HR reading. I paused the workout, restarted it and nothing. Finally I ended the the session on the A300. Then selected a workout and allowed the device to read my heart rate and it did. So this is a workaround for this problem. Since it was very distracting not to have a heart rate reading next time it happens I'll end the workout and right away I'll start a new one. Once I select a workout I don't select start till I get a reading.
Laurie, great workouts! I'm glad both you and Rocket feel better! Another negative review I read on the A360 was the fact that the screen is so big but you get small font for the calories, heart rate and a huge font for the time!
Laurel, awesome workouts and congrats on starting the H&C program! My Polar A300 has the bluetooth transmitter and today it failed to read the heart rate. I'm glad I have a workaround for this problem though. I've never heard of tShaun T. program you ladies are talking about. I'm going to have to look it up.
Tami, you were on FI-YA this past weekend! Awesome job! I'm so glad you've found a solution for your Polar! My transmitter is the bluetooth one and as you can read above it acted up tonight which was a total bummer. It happened though when it lost contact with my skin and it couldn't recover from it. I really wanted to get the A360 but like Laurie says it's best to wait till the next version comes out. I'm so excited about my Vitamix!
Good night ladies!
Thelma0 -
Morning Ladies,
After work I was able to get in another workout, so I am caught up on the rotation. I did H&C ISO Strength Chisel, and I was sweating buckets when I was finished. I really love this workout, it gets you good all over. This morning I did ICE Low Impact Sweat Premix #4 which is just the first workout.
Laurel, I love how you are incorporating the H&C workouts into your rotation. Hope that you continue to enjoy them. I think that you will really like the ISO Strength Chisel workout, it really gets your HR up there without having to move fast. Great way to modify the workout to work for you, he does a similar move in one of the other workouts. I can't remember which one, but you do a burpee and then an upright row. That one really gets you HR up there too. The Jillian show is a reality show on E. I thought it was going to be like the one on Spike, but this is about her personal life. I don't know how much I will be watching it, I just caught it while surfing through the channels. It had nothing to do with exercise at all.
Tami, Great job on the workouts! I really like the Dirty 30 workout also, you need to try the cardio one also. She does have similar moves to the cardio one in Chisel, but still really good. I also love the Plyo one, it has a lower body focus. There are a couple of companies that have similar weights, so I have some options to look at. I was looking at some the other day, and they where very nice. I know that I will have to make a decision soon, with these workouts I have been upping my weights, and will need something for the legs. I knew you had gone through something similar with Bernie not to long ago. It really is hard to know, and they really don't act like themselves, which makes me worry even more.
Thelma, Congrats on upping your weights! The phases in those BB workouts sound perfect, because I usually want to move on to something different around the three week mark. Well except for these H&C workouts, I am really enjoying them. I'm guessing that I will really like the BB workouts also. I love the concept of the A360, and I think that I will wait a while until they work all the bugs out of it.
Have a great day!
Laurie0 -
Hi Ladies! Today I started with H&C ISO Strength Chisel, and as Laurie thought, I loved it! This one is tough but also manageable because of the order of the moves. I followed it with Chisel Abs which I really enjoyed as well. And then, after a bit of a break, I moved into ICE Low Impact Sweat, adding on the Blizzard Blast and Muscle Meltdown-Back and also Chest. Good stuff!
Tami, sounds like you, Laurie and I were on the same page with Low Impact Sweat recently! Sounds like a good weekend of workouts. I agree about the moves being similar but different. I like the way Autumn does those one legged sit and stands a little better than Cathe......but they still hurt! I am definitely feeling this series in my lower body and core but not in a 'I can't move' way, and I like that.
Thelma, great job with the workouts and great news on the shoulders feeling good!! That's huge, especially since you are lifting some weight! Just a thought before you move into Phase 2 (which I loved)......don't expect to lift the same weight you are lifting right now at first. In the end, you may be lifting heavier than you are right now, but the sets are done differently and so the muscles exhaust a little differently as well. I will never forget my first try at Bulk Chest and thinking I could go as heavy as I did in the first phase, nearly killed myself! So.....just something to think about. But I loved the one body part a day part of this program. Hope you do too! Sorry to hear about your frustration with your HR Monitor. Seems like we all are having problems right now with our devices.
Laurie, great minds think alike!! Can't believe we did an identical workout today. And you are right about that ISO Strength Chisel workout......it is a really good one. It looks so simple......until you are actually in an ISO hold! Good stuff. I saw a commercial for that Jillian show you mentioned last night. I don't think it is something I will watch either. I like Jillian, but I just can't get into TV shows that show other people living their lives. I guess I am just not curious enough about other people for that.
See you all tomorrow.
Laurel0 -
Hi Ladies ~ Well last night's BC class was again the same ol format one of the guys that knows Jessica said he is going to talk to her. Attendance was pretty low and for it being the "New Year" and higher attendance it shouldn't be so low. No workout this a.m., we had an early office mtg + office pictures scheduled today so I had to spend a few extra minutes on the hair-do I am headed to Katy's Insane X class tonight though.
Laurel: So happy to hear you loved ISO Strength Chisel . . . I am looking forward to that one from your review as well as Laurie's I think it is coming right up on my rotation. Definitely a feeling of being worked in all of these workouts but not miserable, which is great. You know it's working forsure! Definitely on the same page with the Low Impact SWEAT workout; funny all 3 of us did that one.
Laurie: Great job catching up to your rotation last night and I am happy to hear you were feeling up to it. As I mentioned to Laurel, I can't wait to try that one out. It must be coming up very soon on my rotation as well. Along with Total Body Chisel. Glad that Rocket is feeling better
Thelma: Dang it on your HR monitor. I feel like I may have "jinxed" you. LOL I hope it straightens itself out and doesn't cause you more problems. I know what you mean (ALOT) on the distraction of them not working. You kind of want to get it fixed before you move on. I will definitely wait on them fixing the bugs before I order another brand new device forsure. Until then I am hoping my "fix" of a new transmitter & strap works for a while. Thank you for your kudos on my workouts; they are feeling great and enjoying the program! Always helps and bonus for me when I cannot wait to do my next workout.
Talk to you ladies tomorrow ~ Tami0 -
Hi Ladies, today was cardio day so I went with ICE Low Impact Sweat. My shoulder blade area did get very tight last night. It's been tight all day today so I've been taking Aleve. I have to do shoulders tomorrow so I hope things are better tomorrow. The temperature when I left my office was 51 degrees! Can you believe it?
Question on the H&C workouts. Since all of you keep talking about your heart rate staying elevated during these workouts it makes me think they are like Cathe's workouts which are fast paced. Is my perception correct?
Laurie, great workouts! You, Laurel and I did ICE Low Impact Sweat today. Tami didn't get the memo. LOL. I finally got a chance to watch a few H&C video clips in YouTube.com and I think it is a doable workout program for me. Definitely a great idea to wait on the A360.
Laurel, another winning combo! Great job. Thanks for letting me know what to expect on the 2nd BB block! It makes sense that a person can't lift as heavy as in block 1. Block two is focusing on the same body part for the entire workout. It was frustrating with the heart rate monitor.
Tami, great workouts! I can't believe the class attendance was low! Maybe they'll attend Katy's class. So that guy in the class is going to talk to Jessica about making the class more challenging? Dang on the HRM is right. It was acting up tonight by giving me a seriously high HR when I was just standing putting a DVD in the player! I was reading this sort of thing happens when the sensors are not wet, or the contact with the skin isn't enough or the sensor is not on the right spot. Suggestions were to move the sensors to the right or the left and see what kind of reading you're getting. Moving the strap around did help and eventually I got normal readings. So when it's not getting a good reading you have to move that strap around till you get a good reading. Luckily mine started acting up before I started working out so I was able to play with it. Once I got it in the right place it was fine. The other thing I read is that sometimes snapping the receiver upside down helps! I'm going to try that tomorrow. My Vitamix is due to arrive tomorrow. YAAY!
Good night ladies!
Thelma0 -
Morning Ladies,
After work I did Chisel Balance, and got those glute muscles really good. This is a tough workout, but I don't dread it when it comes up in the rotation. I think it is because like Autumn says, you do the exercise and then you will not see it again in the workout. This morning was 30MTF Cardio Pump Workout 1, which is the cardio boxing. I really do love this workout also.
Laurel, Great job on the workouts! I love that we all had that workout in our minds for the week. I'm glad that you liked that workout, you don't realize how it will exhaust your muscles just holding it for that 10 sec. I was surprised that the rotation had me do the ISO and Balance workouts back to back, but since you really can't use as heavy of a weight for the balance workout it really does work pretty well. My legs are feeling it this morning. Jillian is an interesting person, but I'm not into those reality shows.
Tami, That's to bad that the class was again the same format, good thing that Katy is able to give you a good workout though. You will love that workout also. I like the fact that you don't have to use super heavy weights, but you get doms at the end of the workout. By the last rep/10 sec. hold, you are really glad that you are at the end of that exercise. It just makes me sweat buckets.
Thelma, LOL on doing that workout also, must just have been the day to do it. I don't know if the H&C workouts would be considered fast paced, it is the fact that you are really using your large muscles in a way that makes your hr become elevated. It has a lot to do with the height of your bench/step that can make the exercise easy or hard when doing the legs. In the ISO Chisel Strength workout I was out of breath doing push-ups, and I think that it is because you do three sets of 10 reps (normal speed), then 10 sec hold in the down position. Your muscles are screaming by the end of that last set.
Have a great day!
Laurie0
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