Tuesday (1/26/10) Day off – Well, seems I’ve been pushing a little too hard.  I didn’t get any sleep last night as every time I moved the pain in my elbow would wake me up.  Looks like I’m going to have to lay off the weights for a bit and stick to cardio.  I can try some of the Insanity or RevAbs workouts while I rest my arm.  When I  get back to the P90X program I’m going to go for less weight and more reps, I’m not sure how to do that with push-ups and pull-ups though.  Typing with a wrist brace on isn’t the most comfortable thing to do….

Wednesday (1/27/10) Cardio X – I thought I’d give this workout a try as I wanted to take it easy on my arms for a few days and I hadn’t done this one yet.  It was easy compared to the other workouts in P90X and was more like a Master Series one.  It was only 45 minutes with elements of Yoga, Kenpo,  Plyo and Core.  I was easily able to do the whole thing which was nice, it showed me just how far I’d come.  Sometimes it isn’t that obvious when your struggling to do some of the P90X stuff you forgot how you struggled with the original Power 90 workouts in the beginning that are now a cakewalk. A nice moral booster.

Thursday (1/28/10) Cardio X – Yup, Cardio X twice in a row.  My wife didn’t go to the gym after work so we did this one together.  It’s always more fun to work out with someone else!  I still wanted to do something without weights and thought this one would give her a little taste of what the other workouts have.  She has done Plyo with me before, but not Kenpo yet.  She has also does Yoga classes at the gym but I think she’s in for a surprise when she does Yoga X with me.  Maybe I’ll suggest it over the weekend.

Friday (1/29/10) RevAbs  Abcentrics™ and How to Capoeira – Just to try something different I did the introductory disk to RevAbs in which Brett teaches the basic moves (and how to pronounce them) along with a little history of this form a martial arts.  He then puts them all together into a short routine.

Saturday (1/30/10) Yoga X -  My wife joined me for another workout today.  It’s always more fun to work out with someone else.  Except when they make you laugh when your already on the edge of falling over doing Yoga X…  She has done a few Yoga classes at a local gym but always says she doesn’t see how they are much of a workout.  Anyway, I made it through another one, still trying a few of the harder positions before hanging out in child pose.  Even though I didn’t think I stressed my elbow much I had to ice it down when I was done, it seems to be getting worse.  I hate to stop working out entirely but might not have much of a choice.  I really don’t want to go through another surgery for this.

Sunday (1/31/10)  Rest Day – Kathy did comment that her upper arms were a little sore after yesterdays Yoga session even though she didn’t think she was working that hard at the time.  Just shows how some of the workouts can sneak up on you.

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Workout Routines for 1-25-10 to 1-31-10

I’ve completed one round of Power 90 and one round of Power 90 Master Series and am on my second week of P90X (but I started the first week about a month ago).

Saturday (1/16/10) Chest and Back – After a little break it was harder getting through the entire routine with the same weights and reps I had been up to, got about 3/4 of the way through before hitting a wall. Hope next week I can push through and be back on track.

Sunday (1/17/10) Plyometrics (Plyo X) – I had recorded the new P90X infomercial and sat down to watch it with my wife who blew off the gym today. A little more than half way through she said “Let’s go work out”. The workout room has the baseboard radiators closed off so it’s usually cold with the sub 30 degree (F) New England temps and she thought it was freezing and too cold to work out. Once the warm-up was done I asked if I should open the window as it felt pretty hot and we were starting to sweat… She made it about half way through before getting nauseous and calling it a night. I wasn’t far behind her.

Monday (1/18/10) Shoulders and Arms – I made it a little more than half way through (to the first round of Two-Angle Shoulder Flyes) when my elbow started to hurt. I’ve had surgery for persistent Lateral Epicondylitis, or tennis elbow and still get pain when I push it. I don’t want to go through another surgery and months of recovery so I tend to be more cautions now.

Tuesday (1/19/10) Yoga X – This goes way beyond the Power 90 yoga that was mixed in with the workout routines! This is the first time I’ve made it through the whole hour and a half yoga workout. More or less. I didn’t do the Crane or Wheel pose and had some trouble with some of the others but definitely saw an improvement.

Wednesday (1/20/10) Well, what was supposed to be Legs and Back day turned into a day off. What started out as a mild headache in the morning turned into a full on migraine by the end of the work day. Took a Treximet (sumatriptan and naproxen sodium) when I got home and was asleep by 6:00pm.

Thursday (1/21/10) Legs and Back – My legs were still a little sore from doing Yoga X two days ago but nothing too bad. I didn’t finish the whole thing but made it further than last time. I track everything with an OpenOffice.org spreadsheet (I’m a big fan of open source software) and made it up to the Sneaky Lunges.

Friday (1/22/10) Kenpo X – Glutes are really sore from the previous few days. Pushed through it anyway and finished Kenpo X without a problem.  This is one of the easier workouts for me.

Saturday (1/23/10)  Day off – Well if you consider a day off to be tearing a dishwasher apart, re-assembling, re-installing to find it still doesn’t work, remove, disassemble, trouble shoot (found the broken magnet in  the motor time) search for (discontinued) parts on line……..

Sunday (1/24/10) Day off – Target shooting (airgun field target) in 35 degree weather.

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Workout Routines for 1-16-10 to 1-24-10

You are given a coach office website that is full of everything you need to run your own business, marketing tools, product training videos, the works! If you sign up under me as part of my team I’m also there to help you, either on the phone or through email. Since your part of my team it’s in my best interest to help you succeed. That involves following a proven method and repeating what I have done, and my upline has done, and all the other coaches, and so on….
Just like buying into a major franchise chain. They don’t make all that money because they sell the best food, its a system you buy into. Follow it and you can get the same success as all the other franchise owners.

It all starts with contacting me and letting me know your interested. I’ll answer your questions (or get you the answers if I don’t have them) and we can discuss this great opportunity.

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Financial Fitness Begins Here

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* A proven business system
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We Set You Up for Success from Day 1

* Supportive upline team to guarantee success right out of the gate
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You are invited to be a fitness coach!

Total Cholesterol went from 197 down to 143

LDL (low-density lipoprotein or ‘bad’ cholesterol) dropped from 124.6 to 89.2

HDL (high-density lipoprotein or ‘good’ cholesterol) is up from 38 to 41.   I’d like to see this go a little higher, below 40 is considered a risk factor for heart disease while above 60 is considered protective against it.

Triglyceride (blood fats) was 172 and now is down to 64.

My blood pressure also dropped from 140/80 to 110/70

He said this was a great example of what can be done with exercise and a change in diet.  Too many times we turn to drugs to accomplish what we are to lazy to do on our own.

Post from: Build a New You

The Results Are In!

8-31-09 This week starts my recovery week of Power 90 Master Series. Today was Core Cardio. I’ve been having some issues with my abs which I need to have checked out so I wasn’t able to finish the feet to fingers crunch. The Dreya roll push-up was also a killer as I just can’t get the transition from standing to the backwards roll down, and the forward roll to standing is just as hard. I need to work on these some more.

9-1-09 My thighs were a just a little sore this morning, probably from the lateral lunge touch routine.   For today’s workout we have Cardio Intervals.  I made it through most of it doing all three levels with the exception of Horton Head Hammer where I only did a few plyo ones then went back to the medium level and the Planks where I stayed with the medium intensity run instead of going down in Chaturanga.

9-2-09 I got a real late start on Plyo Legs today, almost the time I’m usualy going to bed.  I was beat and only did about half of each exercise in order to complete the entire workout.

9-3-09  More of the Core Cardio with the same issues.  Gymnastics is not something I’m even remotely good at.  I’ll have to look into something a little thicker than the thin Yoga mat I’ve been using, and of course more practice…

9-4-09  Day off. I went to the gym with my wife to show her how to use the LifeFitness weight machines they have.  She likes the classes they have there like spin and rowing and goes with some of the girls she works with but now she wants to incorporate more resistance training into her routine after seeing the results I’m getting with Power 90.  We did 2 sets on each machine they had but with breaks in between and waiting to take turns I was not as tired as going through the Power 90 Master Series Sculpt 5 – 6 circuit DVD.  Friday is weigh in day and this was a good week, another 2 lbs down so I’m at 155.  That’s a total of 25lbs of fat lost since starting Power 90 in Late May.

9-5-09  Day off.  Usually beachcat sailing takes the place of workouts on the weekends as we leave early in the morning and after getting back we  are too beat to do anything but today was spent sitting on the beach waiting for the wind to fill in….   It never did….

9-6-09  Day off.  We found the wind, too much actually.  It was blowing a solid 30mph which is a little much for us.  Time to pull out the stunt kites and get a workout while being dragged around the beach.

Post from: Build a New You

Workout review for 8-31-09 to 9-6-09

As the title of the DVD suggests this workout uses interval training, bursts of high intensity work mixed with rest or lower intensity effort.  During the high intensity periods your body works in an anaerobic state, using glycogen stores for short bursts of energy and producing lactic acid giving you that  ‘burn’ that lets you know your really working.  During the low intensity periods your back in an aerobic state, converting stored fat into energy, getting oxygen back to the muscles and breaking down the lactic acid.  With both aerobic and anaerobic systems getting a workout it’s the best of both worlds.

Each of the calisthenic type  exercise is done for one minute.  The first 20 seconds are low effort and allows your heart rate to come down a little from the previous exercise.  The next 20 seconds you ramp up the effort a little, either by bigger movements, faster execution, getting plyo, or a combination of these.  For the last 20 seconds you can give it all you’ve got!  Go ahead, push yourself and go for the burn, you’ll get to back it down after just 20 seconds.

Like most of the Master Series workouts you start with a low intensity warmup followed by a series of stretches.  Then you start with the intervals.  Are you wearing your wearing your heart monitor?

First up is your basic running in place, nice and easy for the first 20 seconds, then pick up the pace and lift you legs a little higher for the next 20 seconds, and finally get those knees up for all out running for the last 20 seconds.

Next up are the Mary Katherine Lunges (superstar…) and you progress from reverse stepping lunges to plyo reverse lunges over the course of a minute.  This is when I learned to not stand under the ceiling fan while doing plyo exercises (duh).

The same progressing for Squat Kicks, easy at first, not going too low or kicking too high while you recover a little, then get lower and kick higher, then the last 20 seconds go low and kick high while the heart rate climbs, breathing gets heavier and legs start burning.

How about some nice easy Tires, lightly hopping from one to the next.  Heart rate is down a few points so pick it up a little more for the next 20 seconds.  Now get them knees up there for the last 20 seconds, it’s Tires On Fire!

Squat Run time, get in a fighters stance, not to low to start off with and do the upper body running motion (think of dancing the twist).  If you have light weighs feel free to swing them as well to give you a more intense workout on this one.  The insert weights from my PowerBlock Sport 9.0 set are 2.5lbs each and fit nicely in my hands for this.  After 20 seconds, switch legs, get a little lower and pick up the pace.  For the last 20 seconds switch legs again, get real low and really crank the arms.

Short water break!  Finally….

Now do them all again!

Now for a different set.  Start out with Tony Horton’s own Wacky Jacks.  Start out slow and steady then for the second 20 seconds you do a larger, exaggerated motion but still at a slow pace.  To ramp up the intensity you do the larger movements at a faster pace.

Plank walks sound easy enough, get in a plank position and bring each leg up to your chest in a walking motion.   Next up is a faster run instead of a walk.  If you can, for the intense part, get low in the bottom of a push up (Chaturanga) and do the run motion.  I had to pass on that and just kept up with the run in plank for the last 20 seconds.   Sure it’s cardio but after holding plank like this for a minute you might feel it in your abs as well.

With the Run Stance Squats you do just that, get in a run stance and squat down.  First touch your ankle for the easy one, then your toe, then to get low touch the floor in front of your foot.

Eagan Brothers puts your on the ski slopes doing a slalom type movement, first with a step-touch and progressing up to hopping back and forth.

Horton Head Hammer is another of those great Tony moves.  First from an easy wide legged squat you jump and pivot around to face the rear, then back again to the front.  Keep repeating this for 20 seconds then add a reach to the ceiling, touch the floor then the pivot.  For the last 20 seconds get plyo and jump for the reach, touch the floor and pivot.

Whew, another water break.  Repeat them again if you can.

As always, Tony gives you ways to modify each move so you can adapt it to your level.  He even suggests that for the first time through you might want to skip the second round of each series.

If your looking for more information on this or any other Beachbody program you can sign up for a free Team Beachbody account here and check out the forums for other peoples experiences and success stories.

Cardio Intervals can be purchased as a single workout DVD here for $19.95

Power 90 Master Series – Cardio Intervals DVD

or as part of the complete Power 90 Master Series program here for $59.85

Power 90 Master Series

As always if you sign up for the Team Beachbody Club you would save 10% of the cost of any Beachbody products.

For the best deal you could sign up to be a Team Beachbody Coach and save 25% on all Beachbody purchases and 50% on all shipping, all while potentially earning money just for getting fit!

If you have any questions I can answer about any Beachbody programs like Power 90 Master Series, Tony Horton One on One, Ten Minute Trainer, Slim in 6, Hip Hop Abs, Rockin’ Body,  any of the supplements or their Club or Coaching programs please email me with the form on the ‘Contact‘ page on the top menu bar.

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Power 90 Master Series Cardio Intervals DVD Review

Insanity isn’t really meant to be a beginners weight loss program. It’s an advanced cardio workout where you spend a lot of time in the 85% and over heart rate range. While it might be possible to modify all the moves you would probably get much better results with one of the other Beachbody programs designed to be a beginner program for less fit people like I did.

I chose Power 90 (reviewed here) with Tony Horton (of P90X fame) to start with but there are other good choices as well depending on the type of workout you enjoy. There is Slim in 6 with Debbie Siebers which combines cardio with light resistance moves to burn fat and reshape your body. If you like a kickboxing type of body sculpting workout to burn more calories than a lot of other exercises look into Turbo Jam with Chalene Johnson. Shaun T (the trainer who created Insanity) has Rockin’ Body which will have you partying off the pounds as you dance and sweat to some hot music. And of course there is Yoga Booty Ballet with Gillian Marloth and Teigh McDonough which combines yoga, dance and body sculpting. There are many other great Beachbody programs but these are some of the more popular beginner ones.

You should also be using this time to change your diet (not “go on a diet”) and get in the habit of eating to fuel you body, not just for the sake of eating.

Use the free Team Beachbody website or join the Club to connect with other people working on the same issues as you, losing weight and getting fit to take on the more advanced programs like Insanity or P90X. Take advantage of the meal plans and advice of the fitness advisers and coaches (like myself) on the forums.  Contact your coach (me if you sign up with the links on this page) after you sign up through the Team Beachbody message center or email and let them know what your goals are. Let them walk you through using the web site and taking advantage of all the help available to you (don’t forget the Million Dollar Body contest with a daily giveaway of up to $1000 just for working out).

Contact me anytime with the “contact” page above with your questions and I’ll do my best to get you the answers you need to get started on the path to a fitter lifestyle.

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Is Insanity good for obese people?

Well, I am happy to say I met my 20lb goal well before summer is over, even with a few weeks with skipped and/or half hearted workouts.  I evaluated where I wanted to go with my future fitness goals and decided to do a round of Power 90 Master Series with a goal of losing another 10lbs or so before doing P90X where I would be working on changing my body composition by dropping my body fat percentage and building more muscle.  I ran this by my Team Beachbody coach and he agreed this was a good plan.  Your coach is a great resource, contact them and put their experience with Beachbody programs to good use.

Power 90 Master Series was developed after both Power 90 and P90X and is meant to make for a smooth transition between the 2 programs.   It uses the ‘Muscle Confusion’ technique from P90X along with the 3 weeks of  intense workouts followed by one recovery week schedule.

There are 2 suggested Master Series schedules, Standard and Lean much like P90X has 3 workout schedules you can follow, depending on your desired results.  This week starts my Power 90 Master Series Lean program.  With the lean program you actually use the disks from Power 90 (during the recovery weeks) along with the 6 new Master Series disks.  There is more variety of workouts than you had with Power 90.

Monday’s workout was Core Cardio.  Just like the title suggests it mixes cardio with core (abs) exercises and incorporates some of the P90X moves or a modified version of them.  The workout starts with a warm up routine to follow along with in contrast to the Power 90 workouts that just had a text message before the workout that you should perform a warm up before exercising.

You start out with Prison Cell Push-ups, as many as you can do in 1 minute, then go on to Side Kicks, alternating 5 on each side.  The next move, the Abranome, is the fist time since starting Power 90 that I could have used more room to work out in as, while on your back, you swing your legs from straight up in the air to all the way to the left side then the right side.  I could not go all the way to the floor due to space limitations.  You end the set with Crescent Quick Switch reverse lunges.

After a short water break you move right into Cockeyed Sphinx Push-ups (ouch, need to work on these).  Run Jacks are up next, think of mixing running in place while your arms do jumping jacks then switching with your legs doing the jacks and your arms running.  It’s the cardio version of rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time.  Then it time for more ab work with Kayak Bike (double ouch), ’cause the normal bicycle wasn’t hard enough for me…..  We end out this set with 30 reps of Lateral Lunge Touch, a side lunge where you reach overhead and touch your hand to the floor on the opposite side.  I fell short of the 30 reps on this one too.   Since these are so much fun you get to repeat them again!

The last set has you starting out with the Dreya Roll Push-up.  You roll backwards on the floor and extend your legs straight up, then roll forward move into plank and do a push-up, stand up and do it again.  Ok,  I’m having a really hard time with the roll thing.  I need to work on coordination and flexibility I guess to be able to do this smoothly and not land hard on my butt when I start the roll.  At least the next move is easy, the Defensive Back Scoot, sort of a side shuffle moving forward and backward.  After that is on your back again for Feet to Fingers Crouch and it’s just like it sounds, bring your legs and arms straight up  and touch your toes.  Time to get your heart rate back up with the Boxer Switch, quickly switching from a right to left to right fighting stance for 30 reps.  But wait, there’s more!  You get to repeat this set again as well.

After a nice cool down you go into a stretching session that adds different stretches than you were using in Power 90.  I still need to work on my hamstrings the most, very tight…

The day after doing this workout my inner thighs are very sore.  I guess the lateral moves are hitting muscles that weren’t getting a lot of work in the Power 90 series.  It’s a good feeling, at least I know I’m moving forward and working more of my body and adapting the new workout.  The muscle confusion at work!

If your looking for more information on this or any other Beachbody program you can sign up for a free Team Beachbody account here and check out the forums for other peoples experiences and success stories.

Core Cardio can be purchased as a single workout DVD here for $19.95

Power 90 Master Series - Core Cardio DVD

or as part of the complete Power 90 Master Series program here for $59.85

Power 90 Master Series

As always if you sign up for the Team Beachbody Club you would save 10% of the cost of any Beachbody products.

For the best deal you could sign up to be a Team Beachbody Coach and save 25% on all Beachbody purchases and 50% on all shipping, all while potentially earning money just for getting fit!

If you have any questions I can answer about any Beachbody programs like Power 90 Master Series, Tony Horton One on One, Ten Minute Trainer, Slim in 6, Hip Hop Abs, Rockin’ Body,  any of the supplements or their Club or Coaching programs please email me with the form on the ‘Contact‘ page on the top menu bar.

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Power 90 Master Series Core Cardio Revew

The program is broken down into two alternating routines, the ‘Sculpt’ which is a resistance based circuit training workout and the ‘Sweat’, which is a cardio/aerobic/abs workout.  All the exercises are designed to be done at home with a minimum of equipment such as the included resistance bands.  Through the entire program you are reminded to go at your own pace and hit pause when necessary.  You will be better off going slow and completing each workout than pushing yourself too hard and burning out half way through and not finishing all the exercises.

Level 1-2 Sculpt is about 29 minutes.  You start with a stretch based warm up followed by three sets of various resistance based exercises.  These range from several different types of push-ups, upper body resistance band sets of overhead presses, curls, triceps extensions, etc. and lower body workouts such as lunges and squats.

Level 1-2 Sweat lasts around 36 minutes.  After your warm up stretching it’s right into power yoga moves such as upward and downward dog, plank, warrior, etc.  Then you start with 2 rounds of low impact aerobics followed by 2 rounds of higher intensity aerobics then some lateral X, boxing type foot work..  Now that your really starting to sweat its into a few rounds of Kenpo style kicking then a few rounds of punches.  After a few minutes to cool down get comfortable on your back for 10 sets of 10 different crunches.

Halfway through the program or when your comfortable with the workouts you switch to the level 3-4 which ramps things up.  Even though your still told to go at your own pace your subtly reminded that it’s level 3-4 and you should try to “Bring It”. The workouts are a little longer and you are either adding sets, doing harder variations of the exercises or just adding new exercises to target different muscle groups.

Also included are:

• Program Guide
• 90-day calendar
• New Fat Burning Express DVD
• Fat Burner Meal Plan
• 6-Day Fat Burning Express Plan
• Success measurement card and tape measure
• And a Power Sculpting Band FREE!

The program does not use any sort of fad diet or magic pill, just tried and true methods that work such as calorie deficit and resistance training.  If you read the Beachbody web site you will notice it says “Fat Burning” and not “Weight loss”.  There is an important difference, while you want to lose fat you don’t want to lose lean muscle along with it.  That is just what will happen if you only diet without resistance training at least 3 times a week.  It’s not just a DVD exercise program, it’s a way to start a new, healthier lifestyle.

If you have any questions about this or any other Beachbody workout PLEASE use the contact page on the top menu bar to email me, I really do want to help you on your journey.  Beachbody has other DVD workout programs that might be a better fit for you depending on your goals, the style of workout you enjoy  and how fit you are now.  As a Beachbody coach I’m here to help you get the most out of your workout time.  You can pay it forward when its time, there is nothing quite like the feeling you will get when you help someone reach their fitness goals.

You can read more on the Beachbody forums where people post their stories and before & after photos.  Sign up for a free account here.

The cost is $59.85 and it can be purchased here.

If you want to save %10 you can join the Beachbody Club.

If you would rather buy Beachbody products such as Power 90 for 25% off, help others get fit, and even possibly make money while getting fit you can sign up to be a Team Beachbody Coach like I did.

Post from: Build a New You

Review of Power 90 In-Home Boot Camp DVD Workout Program

Monday morning I got up at 4:30am and did a full workout of the sculpt 3 – 4 DVD.  It was decent, I pushed most things up a notch. 58 total push-ups, a new personal record, 6 of those being triceps push-ups which I have a hard time with. 118 squats, another personal best.  Monday night was a late night out being the final classroom night and written test of the MSF rider class my wife and I were taking that I talked about in my last workout review.

Tuesday morning it was not easy to get out of bed after 5 hours sleep. The Sweat 3 – 4 workout was slower than usual with more pauses…  It was an even later night being the final riding range and evaluation for the MSF class.

Wednesday I over slept.I was only able to complete a little over half the workout before running out of steam and figured I’d get the rest of the workout in after work.  Wrong.  We had company coming over to join us for an outdoor concert as part of our towns 4th of July celebration.  Another late night…

I was beat Tursday and give it a pass, felt like I had let myself down on this one.

Friday was the same, we left for a weekend of sailing so that was the end of the week as far as Power 90 went.

This weekend I’m on vacation so I will be getting back on track!

A full review of the Beachbody Power 90 In Home Bootcamp DVD workout set can be found Here.

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Power 90 Workout Review for 6-29-09 To 7-5-09