Home workout enthusiasts- week of Nov 12

[Valerie226]

I'll start this off. I did 30 on the treadmill and muscle max yesterday. Our treadmill is dying and I shopped for a new one yesterday but didn't buy yet. the weekend was travel and social obligations no exercise at all. first time in a while I've taken two days in a row off. Did yoga this morning. will try to dosomething quick so I have time to get to a lunch date. this time of year the workout can get sidelined too easily!

Michelle, hope you worked out something that feels OK for you and your family. check back in with us & let us know how you're doing.

Will try to contribute more later this week, today the schedule is out of control.

[JoanneOR]

Valerie, I actually took off Friday-Sunday from working out. Partly because of things going on, but I figured it would be good to give myself a rest. I would love to get a treadmill, but it's not in the budget right now. Maybe after the holidays.

Yesterday I did Sharon Twombly's (sp?) All Body Attack. It's cardio and weights - I forgot how much I like that one. I'm trying to do some of my older DVDs once or twice a week. Last week I did Amazing Hot Stepping (I hate that name!) by Nekea Brown. Both of those are CIA videos. Today I did Amy Bento's new hi/lo. Not sure about tomorrow yet.

Michelle, hope you are doing well. If you decided to travel, safe travels and "see" you when you return. Stop in to chat even if you're not getting a workout in.

[cniles]

(((Michelle))) - hugs to you and Scott (and your mom) As you said, he is no longer suffering. Hang in there and know that your cyber friends are here for support.

I did nothing over the weekend. Yesterday was conferences. So I got up at 5:30am and did the FIRM's Cardio whatever with Allison (all of the names sound the same!) It felt great to get it over with and come home from school knowing it was done! I'm going to try it again tomorrow. I was wide awake so that wasn't an issue.

Valerie - I would like a treadmill but DH doesn't want one. He prefers to walk outside.:rolleyes: Which is fine except in Dec/Jan/Feb!! Oh well. I think I'm putting Coremax down for a Xmas idea. I know it has your 2 thumbs up!

Joanne - Rest is good. The Kelly Coffey-Myers stepboxing DVD is the one I'm thinking of getting. I see that there is a new one (new version) listed in the Collage Magazine.

Hope you all have a great rest of the day!

[Valerie226]

Ended up with a few spare minutes.
today is DH's birthday & I got him 2 new Cathe workouts. Drillmax and Kickmax. We will be getting a new treadmill too. We ran outside for years but the hours DH works now, it's too dark in the morning and the evening too much of the year. we live in a rural area, WAY too hazardous to be running in the dark. We've had this one for a good 10 years & it's gotten tons of use so there's a trade in at Precor this week. before we need another service call we are trading in. Darn things are expensive but we use it enough so it's worth it.

Charisse, if you get the FitTV channel on your TV Cathe's Coremax runs every monday. there are 3 sections & they run one each week. I watched it several times before deciding to get it. I like it because it's about 20 minutes & I can tack it onto any other exercise that doesn't have core. I also like the core segment that ends Muscle Max. the way Cathe's workouts are divided into chapters, you can easily jump right to the core segment and use it by itself. I think that's true of any of her recent workouts, think they all include an Ab section.

[JoanneOR]

Charisse, I have the new Kelly-Coffey Meyers stepboxing DVD and really like it. It's longer than the first. I like the first one, too, but it moves really fast. Yep, it's that time of year - school conferences! We have one Friday night, two Monday night and one Tuesday night. This year our kids are at three different schools :rolleyes: .

Valerie, nice gifts for your DH! :) Does he do the DVDs with you? I wish I could convince my DH to do that - well, maybe, he might not take it seriously and annoy or distract me!

This morning was Gin Miller's new Serious Strength. It was all weights, good, but long. Tomorrow will be stepboxing, maybe, or kickboxing. Oh, and playing Wii with the kids last night - does that count? ;)

Happy hump day all!

[cniles]

We just got our Wii last Friday!! There were 4 left at Target and I was #3!;) The boys saved their money for the past 4 months and soccer season is over - so we installed it Friday. I really enjoy the tennis!!:D

Thanks Joanne for the info on the DVD. I think I'll go for the second one also!

I got up at 5:15 this morning:cool: - couldn't sleep! And did BSS4 with Pam - weight work. So far I'm 2 for 2 mornings!! I'm really dragging this afternoon so it seems to be working out well.

Valerie - I attempted to get DH to work out with me these last 2 mornings but NO WAY was he getting up before 6:15!;) Evenings are tough around here so he's been only working out on the weekends. Not really working for him. And he won't do DVDs -

And I don't get FitTv - I so wish I did. We have Comcast which has it's own fitness channel but I don't like any of the workouts. I'll check out the couple of mins on Collagevideo but it seems like it would work well with my routine!! Thanks!

[Valerie226]

We tried hiking yesterday but didn't feel good and the weather was marginal so only went a mile or so & bagged it. after we got home I did 30 treadmill and 30 elliptical. somehow we've gotten too many 'things" going on plus I'm cooking for turkey day. we've got to get the camper off so we can use the truck to do the treadmill exchange, we sold our rental house & it's closing next Wed etc. etc. Plus DH's parents have some health & care problems ( that it's own 10 pager) that we're in the middle of.

Charisse, look at the www.cathe.com site for clips from her DVD's. they show much longer segments than Collage does. I FF'd Kickmax and Drill max yesterday and both look good. Drillmax looks particularly long and difficult but not dancy. It does use a long step ( that I don't have) but I think those moves can be modified to a high step. Lots of distance moves like walking lunges etc so I may be rearranging furniture.

DH and I exercise separately. he goes from 5am to around 6:30, I'm later in the morning. Our room is small for two people at once, especially for floor work. and floor work puts that person squarely in front of the TV we watch while on the treadmil or elliptical. He likes Cathe, she's only one he likes. I've tried to get him to look at clips from a couple other people just for variety. no luck. so I don't ignore your suggestions( I'll look at the Gin Miller and also the Coffey-Meyers one) but DH thinks no one is as good as Cathe so why bother. and I try to buy things we both will use.

I feel "uncoordinated" especially doing a new DVD so I'd rather do it alone until I start to get it down. If I look like a frog in a blender I don't need him snickering. and vice versa.

[cniles]

Frog in a blender - hee!!:D I'll check out Cathe's site - thanks Valerie!

I got up AGAIN at 5:30 and did FIRM's Yoga. I wasn't quite up to a true workout but I got a good strech and ab work in. However, I bought the school's turkey dinner (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy...) and now feel stuffed!!!:cool: We have one more conference tonight and I promised Sam I'd take him to Applebees. Not my favorite but it is his.

I'm fighting the drippiness down the throat - yuck!! sore throat and runny nose. GO AWAY!

One more day to go!!!

[Valerie226]

although it was late in the day, I did get in Muscle Max and 30 on the elliptical. I increased weight on a couple sections. I swear, the Ab section of Muscle Max is a killer. by the time she gets to the explosive crunches I'm wiped out and just barely get thru, not exactly "exploding" by any definition. I'm thinking of pausing for a minute after the jacknife crunches ( which I get thru pretty well) to rest to improve the quality of the explosive ones. Think that's reasonable ? or is it the endurance of not stopping.... should I keep going even if I'm losing form? Any opinions?

FWIW I'm going to try Drillmax today. It requires small dumbbells, 3 lbs, and I had to dig thru old equipment to locate them.

Charisse... tee hee, frog in a blender is an older expression but it perfectly fits how most men dance, and how I feel doing dancey step routines! Hope you get thru that headcold soon. when I get a cold I bail on all exercise. DH doesn't seem to be bothered and goes on as usual but I get so sick ( and always have) that exercise is flat impossible. I am usually over it in 3-4 days while he typically struggles with it for 7-10.

Joanne, you really have a variety of available workouts. Do you find working out with different people keeps it fresh? or just like different approaches? I like working one workout (muscle max) for weight work. I'm getting much more efficient because I remember what's coming next & can adjust my weights, or move things around faster. takes me much less time than the first couple times.

[JoanneOR]

Valerie, I think your form is the most important thing to consider. If you're losing your form, but keep going you'll probably not be targeting where your supposed to be, if that makes sense. So I think pausing for a minute in between is definitely reasonable. Let us know how you like DrillMax. It has some fun cardio. Lots of shoulder work, too. Yes, I do have alot of workouts. :o I do like the variety, but I sometimes think sticking with one or two for awhile will give me better results, but I get bored doing the same workout.

Valerie, I thought you and your DH worked out at the same time. I just couldn't imagine me and mine doing that! I have no coordination and DH has less! I don't think we'd get a serious workout in between laughing at each other.

Charisse, my boys love the Wii! Congrats on snagging one! They go crazy with it - I don't feel bad about letting them play so long, since they're jumping all over the place - not like other video games. I found these attachments at Costco for it - I think there's a tennis racket, a baseball bat and something else. It was pretty reasonable - about $30 - so they're getting it for Christmas. Have fun with it!

Charisse, hope you are feeling better! I did the Step Boxing DVD yesterday. As I was doing it, I was thinking, oh, I hope Charisse likes this! It actually is pretty fast, too. And some of it is a bit hard to catch on to.

This morning I wanted something fun so I did the first part of Christi Taylor's Step Heaven. Great music and I felt like I was dancing instead of working out! Then I tried Amy Bento's new Advanced Step Challenge. I knew it was complex, so I figured I'll just try to get one or two combos at a time. I did the warm-up, which was tricky and the first combo three times. I did finally get it. I think it'll be really fun once I learn it.

School conference tonight, my son's birthday party tomorrow and then recovery from the birthday party Sunday :p . It's not at our house, but I think about 20 kids are coming.

Happy weekend all!

[Valerie226]

I ordinarily don't do this but I had to stop in the middle of a workout to answer some phone calls...we're selling a house so I need to field this stuff. anyway, I'm about 2/3 of the way thru drillmax. it's tough but not impossible. I'll reserve final judgement til I'm done but I like it and it's not too dancey. there are pushups called dive bombers and core pushups that are preeettty tough but I think I'll be able to do them better with a couple trys. they're different & it's hard to see if I'm doing them correctly! not gracefully, but generally correct.

[Valerie226]

Drillmax is a blend of very tough moves and some that weren't hard at all. there are at least 4 push ups, dive bombers, core ones, on a stability ball, and one where you lift a small weight in a raised arm. :eek: these were all very tough. For the stability ballones I leaned it against the treadmill to be sure it didn't roll away. I'm sure part of the exercise is holding the stablity ball in place with core strength. I'll work toward that. It's weird doing a pushup in that position to begin with, and it seemed like a potential crash landing on face or elbows if the ball gets away.
she does plie squats with weight then little jumps like in Butts & Gutts. I find those horrific and did about 2/3 of them before tanking. I don't have a regular step and there's some traditional stepping moves which I modified on a high step. not enough surface to do correctly but keeping moving is close enough for that.

One section needs floor space. 3 jumps forward , turn, then 3 back, and another hopping maneuver. takes a long stretch of free floor space that I don't have. it wasn't hard but you need space clear of stuff to trip on.
So, yeah, I like this one, it's different from any other. I had dreams about those push ups last night. there is no separate AB section. It took me a long time, lots of interruptions. .

[cniles]

Drillmax is a blend of very tough moves and some that weren't hard at all. there are at least 4 push ups, dive bombers, core ones, on a stability ball, and one where you lift a small weight in a raised arm. :eek: these were all very tough. For the stability ballones I leaned it against the treadmill to be sure it didn't roll away. I'm sure part of the exercise is holding the stablity ball in place with core strength. I'll work toward that. It's weird doing a pushup in that position to begin with, and it seemed like a potential crash landing on face or elbows if the ball gets away.
.

OMG - I would definately crash!!!!! And lifting a weight WHILE in a push up?@! yeeks! I'm gonna start a new thread as the week starts on Sunday for me:D