ChaLEAN Extreme

Ok... working out this morning didn't work out, as my son woke up a little earlier than expected lol. But I'm planning on working out in the afternoon instead. No excuses, just gotta get a move on!

Hi Extremers!
Last night I went for a nice jog for about 45 minutes and then later I was able to start my 2nd week on the LEAN phase. I love it. It is a littler longer (45 minutes), but I love that the workouts are focusing on my arms, legs, AND core. I hope I will see more results in my mid-section as that is always my problem area. I love Chalene and her motivation (even though her outfits are a little out there..haha! But, I love that she's not afraid to be crazy). I love the soreness that follows a good workout. It really gives me a sense of accomplishment, and motivates me to keep going because I know that my body is getting stronger.

My husband has gotten the "running bug" recently, so now I think we'll be running more. Last night he suggested we train to run a 10K this summer, so that got me excited. We are currently running 5+ miles right now, so I think we can definitely make this goal. We set up a schedule last night to keep us motivated and improving. We will try to get running in 3 times a week, and add one other type of cardio in the week. As well as our 3 days of ChaLean. And one rest day! My body loves my rest day! At first I always felt guilty, but as time has gone on and I have "listened" to my body I can feel that my body needs it and loves me for that rest.

Hope you all have a great day!!

Good Morning Extremers! How is everyone?? I am feeling fantastic this week. I've really "upped" my workouts, not necessarily the duration, but the intensity. Last night the hubby & I went for a run at the gym. I am so glad I live so very close to the gym (less than a block) and so its just a little walk there in the cold and then on the treadmill I go. I can't wait to be running outdoors. Although I do enjoy that I can pace myself well on the treadmill and push myself. For you runners out there: When you were training (I'm training for a 10K...gotta start small and work up) did you do 1 long run during the week and 2 smaller runs? I'm averaging about 4 miles on my "short days" and on my long days I've gotten up to about 6 miles.

Tonight is LEAN! yeahhh! I am so excited. I am still feeling the effects of Tuesday's lean circuit! I'm also going to do some cardio before the CE workout, I gotta have my cardio!


Jenna- I know what you mean about your arms getting tired from holding onto the heavy weights. I use 20 pounds for my lower body, and I've tried to focus on not really gripping those weights. Because it tires out my forearms & wrists when I grip them too hard. I try to keep a light grip and then I try to relax my arms. If you need to drop down the weights because its too much pressure on your arms...that is okay too. Then you can just focus on really working the muscles. Kind of like Chalene says "make the weights 50 pounds heavier". I loooooved the Burn phase! Definitely keep track in your guidebook/workout sheet because you will be amazed at how much stronger you'll get throughout the program!

Hi all!

I got my workout in today in the evening whilst my son was being babysat by my husband. :laugh: He's only 10 months, so he can be a bit distracting if he moans for attention, lol.

I did the Burn Interval (week 1), and like a total dunce I forgot to do the Ab Burner! :sad: Maybe I can fit it in on my next rest day, or after Burn Circuit 3 on Saturday. *sighs guiltily*

I am proud of myself that I completed it, and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected. I expected to pass out after 15 minutes. :laugh: And it was actually fun! I was really getting in to it. But I have to admit that I only gave 70% of my effort, and took two breaks. I'm hoping to be able to REALLY push myself in those cardio bits next week. Those plyometric bowler lunges were a bit tricky, I almost lost my balance a few times lol. And I don't know if this is normal, but I've got some light pain in my lower stomach. I don't know if I would call it a cramp, or even after-soreness. Maybe my form was bad for one of the exercises, or I over-worked a muscle? I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Thanks for all the support everyone. It's been so very helpful. :flowerforyou: And it's encouraging to see some people on the Lean phase... hopefully that will be me in 2-3 months. :bigsmile:

Happy Friday All!

Finishing up with week 2 of the Push - and I'm loving the Push - really seeing more strength and definition.

Jenna - I'm definitely in the same boat as you although I have pretty bad tendinitis is one of my wrists and I'm noticing a lot more pain and swelling during th Push phase. I ran over to the beach body site and low and behold there is an entire thread for tendinitis and CX. I guess we should just be glad that our lower bodies are so strong. Right now I'm wrapping my wrist and that seems to be helping a lot. Plus I'm using my husbands sled machine to add hack squats and leg presses to really Push my lower body. Don't tell Chalene

Strong Resolve - I don't ever do Abs with the Intervals - For me my mid section is my biggest trouble spot so I do Abs every day that I do a Circuit (so three times a week) Ab Burner is a little rough on my neck so I only do it once a week and the other 2 days I do Ab Ripper 100 from Power 90. Next week I have to bump up to Ab Extreme (I must say I'm a little nervous).

Brangwen: I say if you were squatting or lunging while shoveling you'd have a great workout:laugh:

Thank Goodness its Friday!!! yaye!!!
Last night I completed my custom round of Turbo Kick, and then did my LEAN circuit 2. Great workout, I was dying by the end. My husband does it with me---he loves it, he's already buff, but this program has given him some major muscle definition, and six pack abs! holla! And toward the end I was grunting and breathing heavy and he's behind me encouraging me as he's out of breath that I only have "2 more reps baby, you can do it"..haha.. he's cute. I love that he's encouraging, but not a drill sargent. My goal was to get up early this morning and get my run on...but after last night's power night I was out like a light. My body was not getting up at 5am...it wanted to rest. So, of course, I let it. Right after work I'm going to do some Turbo Kick! Have a great Friday ladies!


gmreber- thanks a lot for the advice! right now my pace is definitely not very speedy, especially on my 6 miles. I finish in about an hour. so, yeah i'm not very fast...but like you said right now I'm just trying to get the miles in. now that I'm up to about 6 miles I am going to work from now until July on gradually increasing my speed on that day. thanks for the suggestions on my weekday runs too! I am going to keep those lighter runs, and I'm definitely going to incorporate some interval/hill running. that sounds fun! definitely helps the time go by!

StrongResolve- way to go on the Burn Interval! That workout is by far, my hardest workout. Its even harder than my Saturday 6 mile run. Seriously, it is intense! It burns mega calories and gives me some great endurance so I love it! Don't sweat about not getting the Ab Burner in...I usually don't do that after the Burn Interval as I'm about ready to die.

brangwen- way to go on the shoveling girl! That is definltey a good cardio workout, especially 22 inches! holy smokes! I woke up this morning and saw some snow, and I was kind of hoping I would get snowed in today so I could just do some workouts and home and not have to come into work. But, no such luck.

duffyzmom- way to go on the push month girl!! I loved the PUSH month so much...I miss it dearly, haha. I am on the Lean phase, and as much as I love it...I miss the pure focus on just one muscle and really giving it your all. Keep it up!

Hi everyone! I just got done with some stressful school events this past week! I had my 1st out of 3 observations as a student teacher. BUT... I did not let that get in the way of my exercise schedule! I am just starting week 3 of the CE and I am so in love with a workout program! I do need to either get more weights or higher resistance on my bands tho! I looked at my body this morning (I am not going to weigh or measure myself until I reach the 30 day mark) and I could start to see a little definition in the upper ab area! I was so stunned! I do not really follow her eating plan, but I do stay within the calories she suggests and follow WW for eating. I just wanted to drop in and give a progress update since I never get a chance to during the week. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Hey everyone! I am starting week 3 of the Burn circuit. I did miss some cardio last week :embarassed: but hopefully I can get it back on track this week. I've really been pushing myself with the weights, and somehow I ended up with one leg really sore and the other not so much... :noway: Hm.... lol. I got myself up to 25 pounds with the leg exercises and 10 pounds with the upper body. So I guess at least I know I'm getting stronger! :happy:

I also seem to lack on the Abs workout after pushing myself on the other workouts but usually I just think its only 10 minutes, and I'm laying on the floor, just do it! And then I do it... lol..... I have to admit that I get discouraged by the ab workout because its hard while I'm doing it but my abs are never sore?! What is that about!? :grumble:

And one more thing, you ladies who are adding all this cardio and running to CE, you are AMAZING to me! I have trouble getting myself to do the cardio that is included in the CE schedule, let alone adding all that running! Your truly an inspiration, especially since I could probably only run for oh say max 10 minutes before I'd pass out!

Thanks for all the motivation! :flowerforyou:

Yoga: We must have similar goals this year. I'm really hoping to increase my speed as well. Although remember long runs should be done at a slow pace, I'd add a speed workout to your training schedule instead of trying to speed up your long runs too much. I do think CX Burn Intervals and Burn It Off will help with running especially all the plyometrics.

Hey all... been MIA for a few days... apparently fighting some stomach bug. :frown: Was down for the count Sat and Sun and now DH is home sick today. :ohwell:

Brangwen: Welcome back. Stomach bugs are no fun!

No... they are most certainly not. I thought it was food poisoning, but when DH came down with it last night..... :noway:

I've probably lost some weight this week, but not exactly how I'd planned. LOL Still trying to build my daily calories back up at this point.

Happy Friday All! Finishing up Week 3 of the Push. Did my first Ab Extreme this week and wow that is extreme plus it seems to be really hard on my neck not sure if it is because I have weaker abs or if it is really just all the support you need for the ab work. Have a great weekend one and all.

Hi ladies! Sorry to hear about all the bugs going around... don't pass it off to me! haha!

I don't really follow the ChaLean Extreme "Plan", other than I do the phases 3 times a week..but I like to add my own cardio inbetween lifting days. But, last night I tried the "Burn it Off", and holy cow! I loved it! I love that it just really gets your heart rate up there, and I pushed myself like I was in a Bootcamp or something. It was awesome! I secretly wish it was a little longer than 30 minutes. So, I did a good 20 minute warm up of a Turbo Kick routine I am working on to start teaching next month.

The only beef I have with the LEAN phase right now is that Chalene is talking too much..haha! I love that woman to death...but when I am about ready to die she just keeps gabbing away as I'm huffing and puffing. Haha. Oh well, I still love her.

hope you all have a fabulous Friday!!

duffyzmom: I loved it! It's probably my favourite workout, but then again my attitude to CLX had improved greatly by that point. I actually look forward to my exercises now, both cardio and resistance! I still have to work on my mentality DURING the workout though, lol, as I find it hard to really push myself when certain muscles are screaming in pain lol (not the injury type, just the 'bruning' sensation).

Ok, type to 'fess up. I was staying away from home on the weekend - and hence was still in a lazy mood on Monday, so I missed Burn It Off & Recharge, and Burn Circuit 3. At first, I wanted to start over, but then I figured I'd never get through the programme if I started over everytime something happened. So on Tuesday I carried on from where I left off, and I plan to skip one rest day every week until I catch up (the Sunday one). I don't mind missing both rest days, but I think my muscles need time to recover between Burn Circuit 1 and 2.

I'm in week 2 of the programme now, only 3 more weeks of this and I'm moving on to the Push phase, whoohoo!

Hey everyone! Just checking in before I go do Burn Circuit 3 and some cardio... I think I'll do some Turbo Jam today. I did Burn it off on Wednesday along with Burn 2, holy crap! That was insane! Still struggling with holding onto the heavy weights for the lower body stuff but I can definitely tell that I'm getting stronger! :happy:

Hope all is well with everyone and good luck with continuing on!

Now its time to sweat. :sad: :grumble: (Mixed emotions.. lol)