Yesterday I tried the "Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout" DVD. I was surprised that Jillian Michaels was leading it instead of Bob Harper. The format is a 5-minute warm-up, 25 minutes of circuit training, 10 minutes of upper body, 10 minutes of lower body, and a 5-minute cool down. It had former contestants on it, and an interesting thing, I think it had two contestants who were currently on the show (when the DVD was made) on it too. It was amusing to see them all interact with Jillian so that was a nice diversion during the workout (some people may find it distracting though).
I think this workout was more difficult than the "Boot Camp" workout I did, but still a little easier than one of Jillian Michaels 40 minute circuit workouts on her DVDs. Most of the moves weren't too complicated, but there's still the issue that the former contestants are not professionals and sometimes they're not doing the workout exactly how it's supposed to be done. The nice thing was they had men and women of various fitness levels and you could tell this was difficult for some of them too.
This workout was very push-up intensive and it also had a lot of tricep work (which is my weak point). I was glad I started doing knee push-ups during this workout because there was no way I could have done full push-ups for the entire workout. One of my knees has been bothering me, so I had to be very conscious of how I was doing lunges and squats so I wouldn't hurt myself.
The 25 minutes of circuit training was definitely more difficult than Level 1 in the "Boot Camp" workout. The Boot Camp workout did get more difficult with Level 2, where in this workout the upper and lower body exercises weren't much more difficult than what I was already doing in circuit training.
Overall I thought the workout was good, but I can't see buying this for myself; it would probably just be a workout I would do once in a while.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Almond Milk Review
One of the recipes I plan on trying tonight calls for almond milk. I figured since I don't need that much for the recipe I would get enough so we could try it. I tried it and didn't like it. The funny thing is, the reason why I don't like it may be a reason why many people will like it. To me it tasted like leftover milk after you finish your cereal. I hate post-cereal milk and never drink it; but I know many people like (love?) that, so if you do, you may love almond milk. I did use it in my smoothie and that was fine, so I can use it for recipes. I will try unsweetened and the flavored versions eventually and see if I like those any better.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Review of "Biggest Loser" DVD
Yesterday I tried the "Biggest Loser Boot Camp" DVD (another one checked out from the library). I liked it, but I don't think I would use it enough to justify buying it. It think it'll be a DVD I'll check out from the library occasionally when I feel like doing the workout for a while.
The workout is run by Bob Harper from the Biggest Loser and the people working out with him on the DVD are previous contestants (two of them are past winners). The contestants are all in different kinds of shape so it was nice not seeing a bunch of perfectly fit people doing this workout. Some of the people were struggling so it made me not feel so bad for having a hard time too. =) It's also good because it has people doing modifications throughout the entire workout which is helpful.
This workout requires hand weights, a medicine ball, and a workout band. I don't have a workout band so I did the modifications (using weights instead) and it was fine. I'm not sure about doing the modifications for the medicine ball, but that was used for only about 5 minutes of the workout, so I think someone would be fine doing this DVD without it.
The workout has a 5 minute warm-up, then 20 minutes of Level 1, 15 minutes of Level 2, 10 minutes of Level 3, and a 5-minute cool down. If you're a beginner you're supposed to just do the warm-up, Level 1, then the cool down. I would say a true beginner could finish that workout. I did not have a problem completing Level 1, compared to doing the first 20 minutes of a Jillian Michaels workout. So I went on to Level 2 which is 15 minutes long. Level 2 was a lot harder, I was definitely struggling with Level 2. Though I was tired I decided to suck it up and do Level 3 since it was only 10 minutes. If you can finish Level 2, go ahead and do the last 10 minutes of Level 3, it wasn't that much harder and didn't kill me like Level 2 did.
One interesting thing, Bob did most of the workout during Level 2, but during Levels 1 and 3 he spent most of the time instructing. Also, you can tell Bob has a lot of experience working with classes, he was very good with giving counts so the people at home can tell when the next change is. Another interesting thing, since these aren't professionals doing the video with him, sometimes they weren't in sync and weren't right on count. It was a little distracting since sometimes I was watching them and then realized I was off-count, but I'm sure if you did this DVD a few times you would figure it out.
My recommendation, if you're a beginner, you should feel comfortable getting this DVD, it will definitely be an asset to your workout. If you're more advanced, I'd recommend a Jillian Michaels DVD for more of a challenge.
The workout is run by Bob Harper from the Biggest Loser and the people working out with him on the DVD are previous contestants (two of them are past winners). The contestants are all in different kinds of shape so it was nice not seeing a bunch of perfectly fit people doing this workout. Some of the people were struggling so it made me not feel so bad for having a hard time too. =) It's also good because it has people doing modifications throughout the entire workout which is helpful.
This workout requires hand weights, a medicine ball, and a workout band. I don't have a workout band so I did the modifications (using weights instead) and it was fine. I'm not sure about doing the modifications for the medicine ball, but that was used for only about 5 minutes of the workout, so I think someone would be fine doing this DVD without it.
The workout has a 5 minute warm-up, then 20 minutes of Level 1, 15 minutes of Level 2, 10 minutes of Level 3, and a 5-minute cool down. If you're a beginner you're supposed to just do the warm-up, Level 1, then the cool down. I would say a true beginner could finish that workout. I did not have a problem completing Level 1, compared to doing the first 20 minutes of a Jillian Michaels workout. So I went on to Level 2 which is 15 minutes long. Level 2 was a lot harder, I was definitely struggling with Level 2. Though I was tired I decided to suck it up and do Level 3 since it was only 10 minutes. If you can finish Level 2, go ahead and do the last 10 minutes of Level 3, it wasn't that much harder and didn't kill me like Level 2 did.
One interesting thing, Bob did most of the workout during Level 2, but during Levels 1 and 3 he spent most of the time instructing. Also, you can tell Bob has a lot of experience working with classes, he was very good with giving counts so the people at home can tell when the next change is. Another interesting thing, since these aren't professionals doing the video with him, sometimes they weren't in sync and weren't right on count. It was a little distracting since sometimes I was watching them and then realized I was off-count, but I'm sure if you did this DVD a few times you would figure it out.
My recommendation, if you're a beginner, you should feel comfortable getting this DVD, it will definitely be an asset to your workout. If you're more advanced, I'd recommend a Jillian Michaels DVD for more of a challenge.
Monday, March 28, 2011
A Different Kind of Challenge
I have a lot to post this week so I'm going to break it up into one post a day. Today will be the pantry/freezer challenge. My better half and I realized that due to our large pantry and extra freezer we tend to stock up on a lot of food and never go through it all. Our current goal is to try and eat everything we have before we buy more food for the pantry or freezer. Obviously we'll still have to buy certain things like bread and milk, but no more replacing things we run out of in the freezer or pantry. We have to try and eat everything else that we have before we start buying more of our favorite things. We'll see how we do. =) This is our first week doing this and when I went to the grocery store today I spent about half the amount that we normally spend.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Review of Another Jillian Michaels DVD
So, in a fit of motivation earlier this week I decided to check out a bunch of workout DVDs and "healthy" cookbooks from the library to try them out and let y'all know what I think (for those who are interested). So I hope to post every couple days to either review a workout DVD, or a recipe in one of these new cookbooks. The past few days I have not been doing well on the eating side of things, but I have worked out the last three days in a row. I ran on the treadmill the first day, rode my bike with the kids the second day, and tried Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones" DVD that I checked out at the library yesterday. Today will be my review of that DVD.
The only thing you need to do this workout is a set of hand weights and a towel or mat. The kicker is, you need to use light hand weights. I started with 5 lb weights, didn't last 5 minutes into the workout before I switched to 3 lb weights. During the 3rd circuit, Jillian Michaels mentions that she's only using 3 lb weights because this is a high repetition, low weight workout. Now she tells me. :P
This workout follows the same format as her "Banish Fat Boost Metabolism" (BFBM) DVD. It starts with a 5 minute warm-up, then 42 minutes of strength training broken up into 7 circuits of 6 minutes each, and then a 5 minute stretch/cool down. You can also go into the menu and pick and select which circuits you want to do if you don't have time to do all of them, the same feature is in her "BFBM" workout DVD as well.
Like her BFBM DVD, this is not an easy workout to do the entire way through. There are some exercises that can be modified, but I would not recommend the entire thing the first time around for a true beginner. I would recommend either just doing two or three circuits to start and then add them on as you get better, or even doing two circuits one time, two another time, etc. It's also good to do it that way if you're short on time.
Something I really liked about this DVD, which is different from some of her other ones, is Jillian actually does most of the workout with you. In a lot of her other DVDs she's instructing how to do the moves properly while one of the other girls is demonstrating the workout. In this workout I think she did 4 or 5 out of 7 of the circuits in their entirety, and only stopped to instruct in 2 or 3 of them. Another bonus with a Jillian Michaels workout, while difficult, the moves aren't complicated like so many workout DVDs. The music isn't anything special, but that's not really important for me in a workout DVD; once I get the workout down, I prefer to listen to my own music anyways.
I have to try out a lot more DVDs before I make my decision, but right now I would definitely consider buying this DVD. If I didn't think I would get bored, I could easily see doing this DVD three times a week, and doing her BFBM DVD the other three days a week, and I would be surprised if that didn't produce really good results.
That's my review for today. I'm only going to post the link on Facebook on Sundays, but I hope to have a new post with another review by next Wednesday or Thursday. If anyone else has done this workout DVD and has any other comments that I forgot, please let me know! =)
The only thing you need to do this workout is a set of hand weights and a towel or mat. The kicker is, you need to use light hand weights. I started with 5 lb weights, didn't last 5 minutes into the workout before I switched to 3 lb weights. During the 3rd circuit, Jillian Michaels mentions that she's only using 3 lb weights because this is a high repetition, low weight workout. Now she tells me. :P
This workout follows the same format as her "Banish Fat Boost Metabolism" (BFBM) DVD. It starts with a 5 minute warm-up, then 42 minutes of strength training broken up into 7 circuits of 6 minutes each, and then a 5 minute stretch/cool down. You can also go into the menu and pick and select which circuits you want to do if you don't have time to do all of them, the same feature is in her "BFBM" workout DVD as well.
Like her BFBM DVD, this is not an easy workout to do the entire way through. There are some exercises that can be modified, but I would not recommend the entire thing the first time around for a true beginner. I would recommend either just doing two or three circuits to start and then add them on as you get better, or even doing two circuits one time, two another time, etc. It's also good to do it that way if you're short on time.
Something I really liked about this DVD, which is different from some of her other ones, is Jillian actually does most of the workout with you. In a lot of her other DVDs she's instructing how to do the moves properly while one of the other girls is demonstrating the workout. In this workout I think she did 4 or 5 out of 7 of the circuits in their entirety, and only stopped to instruct in 2 or 3 of them. Another bonus with a Jillian Michaels workout, while difficult, the moves aren't complicated like so many workout DVDs. The music isn't anything special, but that's not really important for me in a workout DVD; once I get the workout down, I prefer to listen to my own music anyways.
I have to try out a lot more DVDs before I make my decision, but right now I would definitely consider buying this DVD. If I didn't think I would get bored, I could easily see doing this DVD three times a week, and doing her BFBM DVD the other three days a week, and I would be surprised if that didn't produce really good results.
That's my review for today. I'm only going to post the link on Facebook on Sundays, but I hope to have a new post with another review by next Wednesday or Thursday. If anyone else has done this workout DVD and has any other comments that I forgot, please let me know! =)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Being Sick is Good for Losing Weight
Well life got in the way again of working out and eating better. It was *supposed* to start slowing down this week, and I was hoping to get into a routine by Thursday, when, of course, I got sick.
For me, the tell-tale sign that I'm sick is I'm not hungry. Even when I have a cold or allergies, there isn't much change in my appetite. So far today all I've had is coffee and tea... the thought of eating makes me sick to my stomach. Even the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies in our pantry aren't a temptation; hence the title of this post. It's easy to eat less when you're not hungry. I'm not moving much, but I'm eating so little I don't think it matters.
So, this gives me time for reflection since I don't feel up to doing much else.
I've been thinking about things I want out of life. There's the usual stuff, to grow old with my husband, for my children to be happy and successful, for my friends and family to live long and happy lives, but I realize those are things I don't have control over. I believe there is a God, and I know there's only so much I can do, so my goal is to do my part, and have faith that the rest is between Him and those individuals.
So what are my goals? My goals are to do the things that God has already given me the tools necessary to achieve; it's just up to me to do them. I do want to train for a Summer Tri, but I also don't want to let other things go to accomplish this training. So, the only way to do that is to be more organized with my time. As much as I loathe doing this; I think I'll have to write myself out a daily schedule so I can make sure I get my training done, but don't let other things fall to the wayside to do this.
Instead of feeling guilty that I’m not doing much this week and the house is a disaster, I’m going to take this time to organize my time better, so next week, I can start my new program without the guilt. I’ll let y’all know how I do. =)
For me, the tell-tale sign that I'm sick is I'm not hungry. Even when I have a cold or allergies, there isn't much change in my appetite. So far today all I've had is coffee and tea... the thought of eating makes me sick to my stomach. Even the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies in our pantry aren't a temptation; hence the title of this post. It's easy to eat less when you're not hungry. I'm not moving much, but I'm eating so little I don't think it matters.
So, this gives me time for reflection since I don't feel up to doing much else.
I've been thinking about things I want out of life. There's the usual stuff, to grow old with my husband, for my children to be happy and successful, for my friends and family to live long and happy lives, but I realize those are things I don't have control over. I believe there is a God, and I know there's only so much I can do, so my goal is to do my part, and have faith that the rest is between Him and those individuals.
So what are my goals? My goals are to do the things that God has already given me the tools necessary to achieve; it's just up to me to do them. I do want to train for a Summer Tri, but I also don't want to let other things go to accomplish this training. So, the only way to do that is to be more organized with my time. As much as I loathe doing this; I think I'll have to write myself out a daily schedule so I can make sure I get my training done, but don't let other things fall to the wayside to do this.
Instead of feeling guilty that I’m not doing much this week and the house is a disaster, I’m going to take this time to organize my time better, so next week, I can start my new program without the guilt. I’ll let y’all know how I do. =)
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