blacKandi Fitness

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…

Lactic Acid and Performance -
Live Healthier Tips for Busy Parents
Homemade Mojo Criollo Marinade
Normal Weight Obesity
What Fruits & Vegetables are in Season?
Egg Yolk Vs. Egg White:  Which is Really Healthier?
Rocky’s Run (Philadelphia MapMyRun.com)
Obesity is a World Problem (came out on Feb 1. 2010)

My Favorite Home Workouts for January 2010!

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 January 2010!

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 January 2010!

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.