blacKandi Fitness

**The images in this post do not belong to me and are the property of BeachBody.com.

ChaLean Extreme Burn Phase Week 1 Review

ChaLean Extreme DVD / Promo Images

I was ready to get my burn on so nothing shocked me about this workout at all. I had viewed Burn Circuits 1, 2 and 3 before I did them so I knew what I was getting into already.

I seemed to start comparing CLX to The 30 Day Shred and No More Trouble Zones (Jillian Michaels workout) right away and I found that CLX is tougher, but not by much. The exercises that Chalene came up with are more creative, are setup in a way where you can burn more calories and really feel that burn. The exercise combos really get the heart rate up. I know that with me, that whenever I do any squat or lunge work, my heart rate shoots right up and quick. My heart rate really shoots up when I do static squats and lunges – so this program looks like it’s going to be A+ for me. Once I start to feel the burn I just have to hop out of the stance or I’ll fall over. I have pushed myself to stick it out and in doing so I’ve awaken some muscles I’ve never felt before.

During my first week of Burn Phase I felt soreness on the sides of my hips, a lot in my forearms, in my spinae, in my knees and all in the muscles along my biceps and triceps. Wait a minute! I know what you’re saying. No soreness in those places must mean I am not be lifting much at all. This isn’t the case. I do experience soreness when I lift weights, but only in the common parts. With CLX I felt soreness in all of my major muscles and then some. For example, after working biceps, doing bicep curls, I usually only get sores in my mid-bicep and not in my entire bicep muscle. The same goes for my tricep. I experienced soreness in my quads, but not in my hammies which I thought was weird. I still feel that I am not working my calves enough because I’m getting no soreness there either.

ChaLean Extreme DVD / Promo Images

What I love about CLX is that the workout is short, but effective. I like that 90% (probably more) of the exercises in the program includes either squats, lunges, static squats or static lunges. So, I’m working my legs three times per week versus the one I was doing on my previous program.

I absolutely love the cardio intervals called Burn Intervals. It totally kicked my butt. I didn’t view them before I did it so I guess that’s why that happened. Overall, I feel like Burn Intervals, Burn it Off and Recharge are enough, in terms of the amount of cardio is needed, in Burn Phase. I do not feel I need to add in an extras.

As for abs and core, I feel like the Ab Burner program is a wee bit too easy. I had to pop in my Cathe Friedrich CoreMax DVD to get in my ab work or the ab work that I’m used to.

ChaLean Extreme DVD / Promo Images

Chalene is a great motivator and she is fun to watch and work out with although she walks around a lot to check on her team. It’s funny because I really don’t like it when Jillian does it for some reason. I feel left out or like I’m doing the workout alone. With Chalene, this isn’t the case at all. I love it when Chalene gets hyped up and kicks up off the floor. Reminds me of Turbo Jam a lot. I love that.

So in saying all of this, Chalene Johnson has been added to “my trainers list” because she’s good and I have accepted her into my mini fitness club in my head! Ha! Let’s see if Tony Horton and Shaun T makes it on my list too. P90x and Insanity here I come!