Oh how time flies!!! I cannot believe that January is gone! I hope that all of you have your resolutions in order and keeping your promises to yourself. I am trying my hardest to keep my promises and although I may have broken a few so far, I’ve got eleven months to make it up to myself. I hope to do better and more this February and I’m wishing you all the best as well. *hugs*
Here were my fit favorites for January 2010…
My Favorite January 2010 Links
I found the information located within these links interesting…
January was circuit workout month for me. My main goal was to burn as much fat as possible in the month and January and I can say today that I have succeeded. I also threw some straight cardio workouts in there are well. Let’s see…I used the heck out of…
1. I am a stepper, but I can only step on my step platform minus risers because I am too hard on my knees when I step…I made this adjustment in January.
Speaking of step, Cathe’s Cardio Fusion was getting a lot of play in January because it’s fun. I love it. This DVD, the “no name” or “sash series” as the Vidiots call it, consists of segments from Cathe’s Drill Max, Low Impact Circuit and Body Max 2 workouts. It is a straight cardio workout which is nice for those days when you want to kick back and just burn calories without worrying about weight equipment. Love!
I also gave Cathe’s Athletic Step a whirl a few times and I really like it. I don’t like doing the combos so many times, but I like how many calories I burn with the workout so the trade off was worth it. I won’t say it’s a favorite of mine for the month of January, but I used it quite a bit.
2. Jackie Warner’s Power Circuit Training is gold. I really love this circuit. I wrote up a review about this workout previously so check it out.
My newest circuit workout is called Tonique and it is totally bad ass! I used this DVD three times the last week of January. The instructor is no joke and you can just tell you will get results from a workout like this - lots of leg work (squats and lunging). It is definitely me! Advanced and high intensity.
3. And I also threw in some oldies, but goodies like Jillian’s 30 Day Shred, No More Trouble Zones (love) and Jari Love’s Ripped 1000 in there.
4. Kickboxing was on the menu as well and I found myself using Cathe’s MMA Kickbox and Tracey Staehle’s Sweatfest a lot during the month.
5. I also mastered Cathe’s HIIT 40/40. I rock! My knees are A OK and that’s because I use Tracie Longs jumping modifications from her TLT series when it comes to plyo moves. I was still jumping as high as Cathe, but I came down at low impact instead of at high.
6. I made sure I was doing a lot of Plyo and in the workouts I did above there is a lot of plyo in most of them. I also reverted back to STS and pulled out my Plyo Legs workouts by Cathe and worked with those. I love Plyo Legs! When I’m done with plyo I feel like Super Woman, literally…strong and vibrant.
My Favorite Book(s) for December 2009
I’ve been carrying around my very first Clean Eating magazine in my purse for the entire month of January. I kid you not. I am in love with that magazine. I think I’ll be subscribing for a very long time. I can’t wait to get my February edition.
And as always, my Eat-Clean Diet Recharged book is always referred to when I need pertinent information about what I’m eating. It’s my go-to resource in regard to my diet.
My Favorite Foods for December 2009
I received my first issue of Clean Eating Magazine in January and I must say that I really love it. I’m not going to tell you why I love it because this is my food rave entry, but I will talk about this magazine some time this month so look out for it.
Because of Clean Eating magazine (I know, it’s a shame), I now like acorn squash or any squash. If they didn’t put in that six page article (which is awesome) about five ingredients, five recipes then I wouldn’t have given it a try. I gave all of the recipes a try because they are easy to make and cooking time is either none or very minimal and in my busy life this is the kind of meals I need in my life.
I also picked up a bag of Basmati brown rice and I like it better than regular brown rice and it’s easier to cook! Longer to cook, but easier.
NOTE: If you have the magazine or can still get it, see pages 42 - 47 and the article is called, “Turn 5 Ingredients into Four Great Meals”. I’m hoping you guys know me well enough to know that I am not a recipe person and that I don’t eat fancy because I just don’t have the time to be fancy with food just as long as what I choose to eat is the best and most clean to eat. I’d rather spend my time making myself look nice, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog that deals with that. Anyway, the five ingredients are SHRIMP, BASMATI RICE, NAVAL ORANGES, SPINACH and ACORN SQUASH! All I needed was a few staple to flavor the five dishes like black pepper, olive oil, sea salt, cloves of garlic, cumin, etc. Because there was minimal cooking involved…I ate all of the five dishes A LOT! I was happy to have healthy and fast to prepare meals!!! All of the dishes in the article are tasty and I will keep these recipes forever. If you don’t have this issue then you can still get it. I was just at Target last night and the magazine is still on the shelf.
New Purchases Made
Here is a list of my new workout DVDs and of course I purchased them from Mary at totalfitnessdvds.com.
1. Gaiam Strong Knees Workout DVD
- A total knee strengthening workout. I heard about this workout on the Cathe forums and it was said it is effective so I I thought I’d give it a try.
2. Kelly Coffey-Meyer 30 Minutes to Fitness Weights DVD
- This is a full body strength workout where you use moderately heavy weights doing mostly compound exercises.
3. Kimberly Fowler The No OM Zone Yoga Workouts DVD
- This is my very first Yoga DVD. I always thought Yoga was boring (probably still do), but I find that I need to work on my balance, posture and I find that I like to stretch my body (elongating my muscles).
4. LaloFit Lalo Fit Volume 2 Experience the Freeze Technique DVD
- This is a circuit workout. I never tried out the Freeze Technique before so of course a quick review is coming along shortly.
5. Spin Pilates Ring & Roller with Beth Cunningham DVD
- I bought this DVD because Mary had it on sale for 50% off so I jumped on it because I never did Pilates with a ring or roller before plus the workout looks really good. This should be an interesting workout at best. Now, I’m off to get a ring and roller!
6. Tonique Fitness DVD with Sylwia Wiesenberg DVD
- This is a circuit workout. The instructor and her moves remind me of Zuzana at bodyrock.tv a lot. When I previewed the workout I knew I had to have it. I would never pay over $15 for a workout, but an extra $3 for this workout couldn’t hurt.
7. Tracey Staehle Cardio Sweatfest DVD
- This is a cardio kickboxing workout. I had been looking for a Tracey Staehle workout that I could click with for a long time because all of the successful people who have lost weight and built bodies where I chat online all say that workout to Tracey Staehle. I have previewed workout after workout and couldn’t “relate” to any and I blame her locations for me not purchasing her workouts. I like clean and well lit locations. Anyway, I like the combos and the energy AND the location (ha!) in this workout so I put this in my cart really fast.
8. Your Body Breakthru The Ultimate Workout with Michelle Dozois DVD
- Another circuit! I’m a circuit baby! I really like Michelle Dozois’ workouts a lot so when I saw this one I had to have it. I was first introduced to her after doing a 10 Minute Solution workout with her which I thoroughly enjoyed. That 50 minutes of workout went by so fast because her workouts are just FUN to do. I previewed this workout and yep, I had to have it.
9. 10 Minute Solution DVD and Equipment Bundles
- I purchase all four of the bundles at Target for $14.99 each (get yours while they are still there!). A Pilates, Yoga, Kickboxing and Circuit workouts made up the four DVD workouts. I found this to be a great deal because each DVD costs about $14.95 or more online and in the stores alone. I have quite a few resistance bands, loads of weights and what not, but I wanted the stuff that came in the kits so I can show all of you. I’ve already done all of the workouts except for the Yoga and Circuit ones, but knowing 10 Minute Solution (my favorite series) they will be great. Reviews are coming very soon on workouts and the equipment they come with!
10. Magazines! I bought my first issue (blogged about this previously) of Muscle & Fitness because The Rock was on the cover. Great issue! I picked up my first Muscle & Fitness hers magazine which I’ll be reviewing along with other magazines I like like Oxygen, Fitness and Clean Eating.
Lastly, I picked up a Diabetic Living magazine (a special interest publication) from the people who produce Better Homes and Gardens. I’m especially excited about this because one because my husband has Diabetes and I’m looking for easy, diabetic meals I can just drop into zip loc bags - breakfast, lunch and dinner. He leaves for work early in the morning and he gets home late so I need to feed him well when he’s not at home to keep his sugar readings low. I will talk more about fitness and dieting media next month and how they can be helpful to us.
New Stuff to Try out in February 2010
I haven’t had the time, but I have downloaded a few Iphone apps that are related to diet and fitness and I want to use and test them out before I start calling out names and tell you all to download them. Most of you with Iphones probably already have the apps that I’ve downloaded, but I will talk about them anyway. I’m always on the look out for new Iphone apps that are related to health.
My newest DVDs will ALL get attention so I can do reviews on each. I like to do reviews two days after I’ve done a workout to log how I feel physically and to just think about what I like most about a specific workout and what I didn’t. I hope some of you will find these reviews helpful. I am a VIDIOT so I will always be buying workout DVDs…always. And if you don’t know what a VIDIOT is then click HERE to find out.
I’d also like to give Jeanette Jenkins a try as well, although I haven’t purchased any of her workouts yet. I love watching her workout clips on Exercise TV. She is so giddy and happy all of the time and she looks like she is tons of fun! We shall see!
And last but not least, Yoga! I’m giving Yoga some serious attention now. I want to add flexibility and balance workouts into my program so I chose Yoga. I could have chosen Pilates, but Pilates doesn’t teach patience. I need a little of that too.
I put my order in just before 4pm this past Monday at totalfitnessdvds.com and I received them all yesterday!!! Fast! Here is my workout DVD haul!
GAIAM STRONG KNEES WORKOUT DVD $16.99
KELLY COFFEY-MEYER 30 MINUTES TO FITNESS WEIGHTS DVD $16.98
KIMBERLY FOWLER THE NO OM ZONE YOGA WORKOUTS DVD $14.95
LALOFIT LALO FIT VOLUME 2 EXPERIENCE THE FREEZE TECHNIQUE DVD $14.95
SPIN PILATES RING AND ROLLER DVD BETH CUNNINGHAM $7.99
TONIQUE FITNESS DVD SYLWIA WIESENBERG $18.95
TRACEY STAEHLE CARDIO SWEATFEST DVD $16.99
YOUR BODY BREAKTHRU THE ULTIMATE WORKOUT DVD MICHELLE DOZOIS $17.99
And what a god send they are!!!! I am one step closer from doing workouts from my Iphone. No DVD player, no TV if I want and no discs to store!!!! I’m so excited. Can’t ya tell?!
My wonderful husband, you know that guy who spoils the hay out of me?? Yep, him! He got me a Iphone 3GS 32g about two weeks ago and I’ve been loving it ever since…yay yay yay…not sure what I was doing with a Blackberry, but OK. I don’t know and I’ll tell you guys one thing, I’m never going back! He suggested that I get the Iphone instead of carrying around a Blackberry AND an Ipod or Itouch since I have a habit of carrying around so much and then losing stuff. Anyway…
…the point…ha! Today Hubby got me one of those connectors that will allow me to watch my video downlods from my Iphone to my television and laptop if I take it away from the house. For example, if I want to do Yoga out at the park or out in my backyard I can take my Iphone and my laptop with me so I can do the workout. I can do the workout from my Iphone, but the screen is too small so the laptop is the best solution for outdoors. My home gym is located in my basement so I can just take my Iphone and the converter and hook it up to the TV and voila!
The whole reason why I switched over to Apple period is because Cathe came out with digital downloads of her workouts, which are for sale on her new website www.cathedownloads.com, and she specifically set them up be downloaded as MP4 files so they can be viewed through an Iphone or Ipod (as well as other devices). Yes, it’s true. I think these downloads are sweet because they cost less (Cathe DVDs are expensive), I don’t do premixes much (I do the entire workouts - they do not provide premixes in their downloads) and I don’t have to store DVDs (more room for equipment or just plain on empty space)! And that’s why Cathe won.
Whatever Kandi wants…Kandi gets! Pics of what the “Apple Composite AV Cable” looks like. $49.00 from Apple Store.
I wish I could have afforded to purchase her entire library when she had it listed for $599, but I couldn’t afford that price then and now it’s set at $999 and I really can’t afford it. I don’t want the entire library anyway so it’s fine. I am a circuit baby so I plan on downloading all of the circuit workouts I don’t have. I will also be downloading all of the stregnth workouts I don’t have either. And when I can I’ll go and download all of her step workouts. I can only step with Cathe and nobody else, unfortunately. Believe me, I tried to leave Cathe step for some others and I just don’t click with them.
Back on topic (sorry), the only thing left to do now is to buy another external portable hard drive with at least 500gb on it to store backups of my Cathe downloads because once you download Cathe’s workouts successfully once that’s the only copy you get. If the downloads are lost I will have to buy them all over again. I think I’d cry a river if something ever happened to me like that. I hope other instructors will catch onto this and start offering their workouts digitally. For one, we get the workouts a cheaper price and we get it right away!
Anyhooooooooo…to find out more about Cathe Downloads click HERE.
…and Leslie Sansone too, but I’m not going to talk about her ever on my blog (yeah I know I already said something about her). I’m not anti-Leslie, but I’m not beat for very low-impact workouts like hers. I did buy one of her bundles for my 65 year old grandmother since she is looking to get some exercise in during the day and I think this very low-impact workout is great for her.
What I do want to talk about are these 10 Minute Solution kits that Target is selling right now! Woot! I don’t know how long these will be around, but I noticed that they have been at Target for about 3 weeks now in the new ORANGE section so go check it out.
I decided to go ahead and purchase all four bundles since I didn’t have any of the workouts in my collection. One of these workouts without any equipment retails for $14.95 each so this was a good deal for me. Wal-Mart also carries this line of workouts too for about 10-12 and a lot of them are the dancy ones that come with no equipment. I had done two of the workouts previously, the Kickboxing and Pilates, from renting from Netflix and that was what got me into 10 Minute Solution workouts. When I go to do 10 Minute Solution workouts I do all five workouts because they are so much fun and plus anything less than 50 minutes of workouts, if not HIIT, is just not worth it for me re: calorie burning.
Yeah, yeah I know I don’t need anymore equipment, but it’ s nice to have a little extra come with a workout DVD some time. This makes me think about Cathe’s Travel Fit DVD and that new, special TPE band she uses in the workout that did NOT come with it. *sounds of crickets in the night*
Here is what I bought for $14.99 each…
1. 10 Minute Solution Yoga (pink box) - comes with the workout DVD and a 24″x72″ pink yoga mat (you can’t have enough mats).
2. 10 Minute Solution Pilates (purple box) - comes with the workout DVD and a pair of 2lb padded dumbbells..
3. 10 Minute Solution Kickbox Bootcamp (green box) - comes with the workout DVD and a pair of 2lb hand weights.
4. 10 Minute Solution Tone Trouble Zones (blue box) - come with the workout DVD featuring Amy Bento (woot!) and it comes with two resistance bands.
Like I said before, I’ve done the Pilates and Kickbox workouts but not with the equipment it comes with so I’m going to give them all a shot and report back. I think these kits are GREAT for beginners to fitness as well as advanced because these workouts are major calorie burners in my opinion. I use these workouts and up the amp by following the instructors the way they do the workout and sometimes I may go heavier with my weight load.
I am so excited to have these! I’ve done a short yoga circuit once recently, but I never got into Yoga as I wanted to so I’m happy to get getting into it now. I’m not sure if I’m going to love Yoga so I didn’t go by the Gaiam yoga socks or gloves yet (so cute), but I did pick up a cheap pair of yoga blocks (1.00 each) from the dollar section at Target along with a cheap caddy ($2.50) to hold my bands and tubings - get ‘em now while their still available!!! They feel a wee bit softer than the more expensive blocks, but that’s OK because they are stiff enough to hold me in my plank. They also have $1.00 yoga mats, but they are not worth it…too cheap! If I get into Yoga and hopefully Tai Chi, I will invest in better equipment.
Name of Workout: Personal Training with Jackie Warner
Instructor: Jackie Warner
Workout Type: Circuit (for burning fat / sculpting and toning the body) total body
Fitness Level: Advanced with some modifications mentioned
Time Length: About an hour
Equipment: moderate heavy weights (dumbbells) for lower body and 3-8lb weights for upper body or no weight at all; 10-12lb weights for upper body and 10-20lb weights for lower body if you are advanced and a mat
Purchased From: Sears for $10.00 (store) and $1 of it goes to Breast Cancer Research
bK’s First Time Around Review…
I did this workout for the first time yesterday evening (1/20/10) and yes, you guessed it…I love it! I do love a good circuit workout and this one is. I am not used to how the workout is setup and what I mean by that is that this workout is broken down by muscle group. Jackie works each muscle group in a certain order. For example, she starts with quads (calves worked in here), then moves on to hamstrings, back, shoulders, biceps, chest and well, you get the picture. The DVD is sectioned off like that and I understand why. In the menu of the DVD you have five choices. You can do shorter versions of upper and lower body workouts or you can do the whole thing and I really like that feature.
The exercises that Jackie uses are a mix of traditional ones and ones where she puts a twist as well as combo moves like the half static squat with the narrow hammer curls which I had never done before. I used 12lb dumbells for this move and I was on FIRE!!! I felt the burn in my entire back, my biceps, forearms, traps (yes traps), in my shoulders…all over boys and girls. I think this move is more effective than iron crosses. I like that she used more than the deadlift to get at the hamstrings because I feel ‘em today. After each circuit there is a “power burn” where you do all three of the exercises in a particular circuit all over again in shorter time span, but at that point you are burning baby. Burnin’! Non-stop action! All of the circuits in this workout burn and that’s not something I have experienced with my favorites like the 30 Day Shred and Circuit Blast by Cathe - these have breathing hard. This workout has you burning from circuit to circuit.
While you’re burning, you’re moving fast. Jackie moves fast. There is a short period where you change over from one muscle group to another (maybe 10 seconds), but that’s all the time you get to transition. She says in her workout that in circuit workouts you don’t stop moving and she had me moving. I found that I needed to stop to stretch after a few circuits and an especially after the chest and shoulder circuits because I was tight and burning. The only stretching that was done was after the workout was done.
I see how Jackie has that 6-pack that she’s rocking. She thoroughly has your working every ab muscle and she breaks it down by upper, lower and obliques so that’s three separate circuits and I really appreciated that. It makes me want to pop that DVD in every time I need to go at it with my abs because the exercises she elected are tough, effective and time efficient meaning it doesn’t take long at all.
There is no dread factor in this workout and it is far from boring. The warm up in the beginning could have been a little longer, but I usually do my own warming up especially for my knees anyway. There is a lot of squatting and static squatting in this workout even when the circuit has nothing to do with legs and Jackie will tell you “too bad!” There are some modifiers in the workout, but not many. Jackie does tell you how you can modify certain exercises if you need them, but she doesn’t entertain it. I think beginners can benefit from a workout like this since it is broken down in a special way and Jackie tells you by each exercise what muscles you are working and how they help to move the body.
Back to talking about the burning. Well, today I am sore all over and that’s no joke. All over. I can’t believe my traps are sore. My traps have never been sore before and I’m not sure which combo did that to me. I will have to pay attention next time. I feel the most soreness in my entire back and that’s never happened to me before with any circuit workout. I also feel soreness in my hamstrings like pow. I never felt so much pow in my hamstrings before and I kid you not. I can deadlift with an 80lb barbell and get soreness in my hamstrings the next day…I didn’t do that yesterday evening, but I have that same level of soreness is there. Pure love! I used 10-12lb weights for upper body and 12-20lb dumbbells for lower body. I felt like I had done a million reps after I was done.
Overall, I find Jackie Warner to be a very pleasant, motivating person and very knowledgeable at what she does. Her form is on point and just looking at her body says she knows what she’s doing. She did just the right amount of talking and checking form (walking around). I was amazed that there were no pushups in this circuit and I’ve always had to do pushups in a circuit, but the change was nice. Cardio is minimal in this workout, but your heart rate does go up high and it stays up there so no worries. I ended up doing kickboxing afterward because I needed the stretch and burning a some extra calories didn’t hurt either.
February 5, 2010 
Posted in Books, DVDs & Equip, Favorites, Food Praise, Foods, Motivation, Tips, Training 
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