Chalean Extreme

Chalean Extreme is great for toning, and gaining strength. I really enjoyed the fact that you can use resistance bands or hand weights and you can lift as heavy or not as you want. Chalene Johnson is a great trainer and I think that Chalean Extreme is a great follow up to TurboFire as it will tighten and tone your body after TF helped you lean out.

Where did you get your adjustable dumbbells and for how much?

These are the ones we have: PowerBlock SportBlock 5.0

Unfortunately, they are around $300 depending on where you get them. We were lucky and have a friend that works at a sporting goods store and was able to get the weights with a good discount. It's an investment, but I like working out at home, so the investment was worth it.

I just bought cheap spin lock ones. Places like Gumtree and Craigslist will have cheap used ones

Investing in a set of Powerblock adjustable dumbbells that start out at 50 lbs and are expandable beyond that is a good investment. The thing is, eventually you will advance beyond the point of these "body transformation" DVD sets being able to continue to get results and will want to take your quest for fitness to the next level, and you will be faced with a choice of making a large investment in home equipment or joining a gym. If you want to keep from having to join a gym, making this initial investment in Powerblocks out of the way right now (if you can swing the cost) is a big part of that already out of the way.

Remember most of these at home DVD sets are only about changing the way you look. They'll lose weight, build visible muscle, and get you toned, but they won't go as far as more conventional/traditional workout regimens (which aren't available on DVD) when it comes to building functional fitness gains that translate into a living a more athletic or active lifestyle. They are more or less "vanity" workouts. You will eventually progress beyond the necessity for vanity workouts so this is an important point to understand. Popping in one DVD after another and calling it a day is no way to live the rest of your life fitness-wise, especially when it's so inefficient.

I would be interested in this too. In currently doing turbo fire and just finished week 6 of the prep schedule, so not very far in. Thinking of getting insanity or Charlean extreme after I finish turbo fire. What's swaying it for me is that I won't have to buy weights for insanity. What weight dumbbells do people buy for Charlean extreme, I already own some and the heaviest dumbbell I have is 2.5 kg (5kg pair).

I did the weight lifting portion of ChaLEAN Extreme (kept my own cardio) last winter and lost over 9" (all over but majority of that on waist, hips, and thighs) even though I didn't lose a single pound (okay w/that cuz I had been below my goal weight for almost 1 year).. I was pretty impressed by the results cuz I felt that I was in good shape and had good strength when I started.

The guide book says up to 30llbs for advanced female, 22 for intermediate and 15 for beginner. Selectech are great but I bought the much cheaper spin lock plates and bars.

I'd say the guidebook is pretty close for a starting point, however if you are already pretty strong, you may outgrow those 15 pounders pretty quickly. I started with just a few at 8, 10 and 15 pounds, but bought adjustable weights very soon after. You can get ones with smaller increments - 5 to 25 pounds fairly reasonably. I bought a set for my daughter from Overstock.com about a year ago and they were about $120 for a set of 2.

As for me, I watched for online coupons for SelectTechs and just love them! I stopped lifting :grumble: for about 5 months (family and work issues got in the way) and had been using 35 lbs. in each hand for squats, but I've lost some strength, so am working my way back up from 25 lb'ers. I should also state that I've done several rounds of CLX and sub in different cardio workouts to keep it fresh - however it's my go-to workout for strength training!

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

My recommendation would be to start the lean phase again. Don't torture yourself though. If you don't enjoy it, find something you like better.
The best workout for you is the one you will do.

Ordered ChaLean Extreme yesterday... Plan on incorporating my Turbo in there. psyched baby!

Ordered ChaLean Extreme yesterday... Plan on incorporating my Turbo in there. psyched baby!

Starting out with a hybrid your first time through is not a good idea because a big part of going through the program comes from not just going through the motions but in actually learning. One of your goals should be to one day get to the point where you can start putting your own programs together from scratch and building up a knowledgebase of how all this stuff works. The truth is the CLX/TF hybrid is no more effective than CLX alone. The sole reason people do the program is because many people don't feel like they are working as hard as they should be when they have only 2 days a week of lighter intensity cardio, which is what CLX subscribes. But the truth is that when supplementing a weight training regimen, that's what works best.

Ordered ChaLean Extreme yesterday... Plan on incorporating my Turbo in there. psyched baby!

Starting out with a hybrid your first time through is not a good idea because a big part of going through the program comes from not just going through the motions but in actually learning. One of your goals should be to one day get to the point where you can start putting your own programs together from scratch and building up a knowledgebase of how all this stuff works. The truth is the CLX/TF hybrid is no more effective than CLX alone. The sole reason people do the program is because many people don't feel like they are working as hard as they should be when they have only 2 days a week of lighter intensity cardio, which is what CLX subscribes. But the truth is that when supplementing a weight training regimen, that's what works best.

There actually is a trainer-recommended schedule for the CLX/TF hybrid. It was put together by Chalene (or whoever makes this stuff with her and beachbody's brand name on them). Maybe some people just get bored? I am doing Turbo Fire on my own right now, not following a specific schedule because I got bored after 1 time through. It's still working for me. Maybe your goal is to be able to put together your own program, but I've never really subscribed to "shoulds" from other people. You do your thing, and set your own goals, and let others do likewise.

What I meant was this: Getting fit should come with learning about getting fit. Everything you do, everything you've ever done, and everything you ever will do should have a degree of learning associated with going about it correctly. And if you feel otherwise, if you feel like "I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO LEARN WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN, I JUST WANT TO GET MY FITNESS ON." Then frankly you don't deserve it. Educate yourself. Educate yourself about everything you endeavor to do in life. Your drive to learn, to better yourself not only with your body, but in knowledge, is what determines whether or not you're just taking up space. So yeah, I do feel you should have to learn about the how and why behind what you do every time you push play. Everyone should have to learn about everything they do. You have a brain. Use it. Better it.