Insanity Review

Well, I have had a week of insanity! No, I'm not referring to my normal state of being - I'm referring to the Beachbody Workout series.  First things first: I think the name is ridiculous - clearly a marketing ploy to make us all think - "wow, this work out is gonna be INSANE and the biggest challenge of my life!". And it sort of reminds me of that song by Cypress Hill when I think about the work out - You know the one - Insane in the Membrane. yep. And I also wonder what the hell they would name the follow on..I can almost see the commercial now.... "Get your copy of the newly released follow on to the Insanity work out: Totally Bat Shit Crazy!! This work out will make you scream expletives and have a seizure. Warning: you may poop your pants."  Can't wait! and I only have to pay $250 bucks for that?! Like my dad says, might as well pay someone less to take me out back, kick me in the balls and call it day! (Love my dad!)

Uh, this move is not recommended for pregnant women. Shawn T is really really serious about being insane and if you didn't know that, just look at his face in this picture.

Okay, enough shenanigans (I heart shenanigans).. on to the review:

Pros - If you aren't fully conditioned - they give you a series of DVDs that you follow for the first month that are shorter/less intense so you can sort of build up to the maximum ultimate insanity later in the series.  Many of the workouts in both phases include plyometrics so if you aren't used to jumping drills, you will most likely find this the most challenging part (knee tucks, high knees, squat jumps,etc). It's mostly that and the body weight stuff, walking push-ups, plank jacks, etc. Most of the DVDs blend these types of body movements into shortish intervals - maybe like 4 minutes on and then 30 seconds break.  You will be fully winded for most of the workouts. He sort of repeats intervals going faster and faster each time - so, you can work out as hard or as easy as you need to. To get the full benefits you really have to push yourself, yourself. Shawn T is not going to come out of the screen and blow a whistle in your ear. Once you feel stronger and conditioned (or after 1 month) you move on to the like MAX series where you get an hour  instead of just 40 minutes for each workout. I like these much better. If you are going to put your tennis shoes on and do this thing - you might as well do it for an hour. There's a schedule you follow and I think it provides for one off day and one easier day of yoga type moves. For the most part, you do not need weights - just yourself and a towel (or a mop in my case). There is one or two dvds that use weights for an old fashion sculpting workout. Bottom line, you'll be doing a workout everyday so if you are also simultaneously watching what you eat, you will trim down. Working out is never a substitute for eating less - so you have to do both. If you are new to working out, it's probably a good idea to use a heart rate monitor. This workout is tough for even advanced home worker outers like myself.


Cons -  I dont understand the running timer on the screen - it's confusing. It seems to not correspond with what's going on. Shawn T is okay but I wish he would enunciate better.  The number one thing I do not like is they lead you through a 15-20 minute pretty strenuous warm up on each dvd and it is pretty much the SAME exact warm up on EACH work out. So, one third of the workout is the same every damn day.  That's the part i dont like the most.  And the moves are somewhat repetitive.  Oh and it's hard to do this workout and eat a burger at the same time - Too much jumping ;-) 

Okay that's it. I think if you can get it at a discount buy it. Otherwise, just do bodyrock.tv and pick maybe 3 of their workouts to do simultaneously for free. It's the same concept and much more variety.

Comments?? Agree?? Disagree?? Agree to Disagree??
                                                                                                                

DVD reviews for yous

Salutations!
So, I was supposed to be doing my work out DVD review each day but things got away from me when I went to the beach - but I'm back. Yesterday I did the work out of the day on Body Rock.tv and the Jackie Warner personal training DVD. 

• Body Rock, per their usual, kicks my arse. That 15 minutes is like a train wreck. 5 out of 5. Even if the instructor lady just got a boob job and new lips and hair regardless of how she tells us everyday on those videos to love yourself and work hard for your results.  She is now dating the camera man/guy who started the site  - he used to be married to the old body rock video girl who also had fake boobs so maybe it's a thing for him.  Why do I know so much about this workout website? I've been an avid follower for a solid 2.5 years and was there during the drama/divorce. It was tough on me. There was like 4 days without new workouts during the transition!!!

New Hair, Lips, Boobs, But She is still awesome. I feel a closeness. We have so many physical characteristics in common too - we both have a bellybutton and a couple of kneecaps.

• I also have to give the Jackie Warner DVD 4 out of 5 stars.  If you use heavy enough weights, it will kick your rump. I like that it's just weights - so there is no bouncing around and all the rest of the nonsense.  Her voice doesn't make me want to choke myself off and when she says you are "half way through", you really are.  It's really quick too - each body part gets like 5 minutes of attention and then you move on. Certain of your parts will be aching in the morning and other parts won't feel a thing. I think she could have been harder on the legs portion -she kills it on the arms and abs. 

  So, you're telling me that all I've been missing this whole time are a few "tips" from Jackie Warner? That's whats been keeping me from a hollywood body? Probably something as small as, "thumbs out when holding your hand weights".  It would have solved all my weight issues! FOILED AGAIN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shakin' it up

For a long time I was eating oatmeal for breakfast every single day. There are so many articles out there saying that oatmeal in the morning will keep you satisfied all day and it's good for you, etc. And everyone keeps saying that eating breakfast "kick starts" your metabolism (also known as thermogenesis)- which I also believed for a long time.  The truth is you have a basal metabolic rate that continues no matter what - sure, it speeds up when you eat something because of the process of thermogenesis, but you can get the same effect from having some ice cold water or lifting weights even.  And really, I'm not that hungry in the morning - not until around 10:30ish.  And the oatmeal, well it's still a carb and if you have the tendency to pack on pounds with carbs like I do, doing away with it for something else is probably a good thing.  So, I decided to go to a happy medium place and drink protein shakes for breakfast. It gets rid of the heavy carbs, gives me some protein and puts some padding in my belly to get me through to lunch. Nothing miraculous has happened to my weight but I am saving a few calories and a lot of carbs by ditching the oatmeal every day. Plus it tastes like dessert if you make it right  - not a bad way to start the day.


My favorite protein shake recipe
1 cup low fat milk
1 cup water
1 tbsp All natural peanut butter (or this amazing peanut butter powder I found on amazon - no oil, only the ground peanuts)
1 small banana
tsp ground flaxseed
packet of stevia or sweetener
ice

My mom gave me this awesome one serving blender thing where the blender cup has various attachments so you can use the blade attachment to blend in the machine and then another attachment to drink it up afterwards. Easy peasy.

Fitness on the Road

If you are like me, missing workouts while traveling can really effect your weight and bug you mentally.  I've been working out for so long it feels like a natural part of my life. In fact, I've been trying to lose weight through exercise for over 20 years now - since the days of....



I loved that dang ribbon baton thing - Wish my workouts these days still involved a ribbon baton.


Mostly when I travel I try to make sure I am booked at a hotel with a gym since running outside in African cities is usually not a pleasant option. However, it's not always easy to find a hotel with a gym in some cities. So, this blog is about what I do if I don't have a gym AND actually about my home workouts right now since I don't belong to a gym in Nairobi anymore. The best thing about working out in your room or at home is you can wear your ugly work out clothes and not worry about it ;-)

1) I have invested in a nice library of work out DVDs.  Many of them you do not even need equipment for. Here's a list of my favorites:

• Jilian Michaels 30 Day Shred
• P90X series (I don't do the full program, I just use the DVDs to enhance my workout since minimal equipment is needed).  The YogaX, Kenpo, and Cardio DVDs are really good for hotel room work outs.
• 20 Minute Windsor Pilates
• Personal Training with Jackie Warner (You need hand weights)

2)  If I know I'm going somewhere with no gym, I bring my resistance bands. They are easy to pack and carry with you and you can find suggestions online for various workouts using the bands.

The type of resistance bands I use

3) Use of the internet.  I use the internet a TON for my work outs. There are loads of youtube videos that are like mini workouts that you can do at home or in a hotel room. I also make use of an Online Interval Timer that I found. It helps for doing bootcamp interval workouts.
My newest obsession is this eastern european muscle naughty chick named Zuzana that posts work out routines almost every day. Her American husband, Freddy, films her doing an intense bootcamp style work out and then she takes you through each move and motivates you to keep "bodyrocking".  She actually has a ton of fans and I do make fun of her, but I actually truly love her and her slutty workout outfits because in sort of gives me something to work towards. Visit her site - BodyRock TV.  Best of all it's free, her workouts are usually less than 20 minutes, and they are so hard they will make you beg for your mommy and a diaper change. Serg and I laugh every time I play her workouts cause she starts every video by saying "Hi botyrokas!".  Or at least that's how it sounds with the Czech accent.

This is BodyRocker Queen Zuzanna

4) Improvise.  You can usually create work out equipment with stuff laying around your house or hotel room. For example, the bodyrock work outs often use a big sandbag weight.  So, I was in the middle of no where in Senegal trying to get my work out in. I filled up a few empty 2 liter water bottles that I had and stuffed my backpack with them and it worked out perfectly. It was like 20 pounds of weight. I put the back pack on and did lunges and I used it to do dead lifts and bent over rows. It worked pretty well. Some of her work outs also call for a bosu ball. I don't have one but at my house I have a semi deflated soccer ball that I was able to use for push ups and other exercises. Here is an example of using stuff you have laying around as work out equipment:

Homemade pull up bar and bosu ball

I did squats over the rump of Ellie the Elephant

Okay, so now you have no excuses! Enjoy your workout - The sooner you start the sooner it will be over!



Weight Loss Accountability Update

Today I actually have GOOD NEWS that I wanted to share! I dropped a few pounds while I was in Senegal! Senegal made it easy for me -  I did a lot of running since my hotel was on a great flattish beach side highway with awesome sidewalks and views of the ocean.

La Corniche offered a nice clean place to run in Dakar

It was also great for me that the city is big on physical fitness - EVERYONE jogs and does boot camp style drills along the beach in Dakar. It's mostly men out there trying to train for playing soccer on the beach. Literally hundreds of guys jogging all the time. You don't find that many places. In most African cities, like the one I'm in now, Kigali, if you go for a jog, people stare at you like you are an alien flying by in a UFO. Plus, as in Kigali..AND Nairobi, it's not so easy to find good running areas since places are often congested and full of cars and no sidewalks, etc. It's just not pleasant. Dakar was AWESOME for running.

So, between running around 25 miles per week, trying to eat a more primal style diet (low carb, no processed foods), and doing some body weight exercises in my room, I managed to lose around 6 pounds!  I was actually nervous to get back to Nairobi in fear that as soon as I fall back into my home routine and additional work travel, I would regain some of what I lost. Our gym membership expired and we are not renewing due to how expensive it it - AND like I said before, running outdoors is a challenge in Nairobi and the other countries I work in.  So far, I think I've done okay keeping it off..I may have gained back like 1 pound. I think that's expected considering I went from running a lot consistently to working out at home and very short runs in Nairobi. Here in Kigali, I have a great gym at the hotel I'm staying at - It's been great.  I even did a spinning class with like 6 Germans, a Nordic instructor and African music playing. Good stuff!

In case you are interested - the "diet" I'm trying to stick to more or less is called Primal Blueprint Diet.  It's more of a lifestyle (annoying I know). But it's good and it makes sense.

Short Legs

Three more days till the run! This week I'm supposed to be doing short runs only. I did 4 miles this morning, I'll do 3 tomorrow and then 3 or 4 on Thursday. I'm trying to do the short runs a little faster than my long runs.  I'm still surprised at what a slow runner I am...i mean, I know I have short legs - anyone that knows my dad and mom can see where I got them from.  We're a long torso/short leg gene pool. But I don't think I can blame my 10 minute mile on that. I used to do solid 9 minute miles....maybe that will be my goal.

As for my commitment to eating whatever fits in my palm - I'm not doing too well on that.  I'm hoping that by writing about it, it will instantaneously fix itself.  We'll see tomorrow. 

I went to dinner with Mr. Byu (serg) after work.  We got all the way home after he picked me up from the office and I started getting depressed thinking about cooking something out of nothing. So, we went to a place called Art Cafe and had pizza and salad.  Why is it that before I eat pizza I find a way to think that it's actually diet food and then after I'm finished eating, I'm so clear about the fact that it's not..at all diet food. Dang it! The mental battle is killing me! I need some motivational thoughts or something here! At least at home there was always young cute chicks that I would see going to work or shopping, or at the gym, that would give you that female competitive motivation - here I dont feel it. It's just me and how I feel about myself - which is usually okay until I try on something that is tighter than I ever remember it being..and we don't have a dryer so i cannot blame it on shrinkage.

Tomorrow is another day.