ChaLean Extreme Ab Burner & Recharge
I had a slower workout tonight. I needed it following the brutal leg routines I did yesterday. I started with ChaLean Extreme’s Ab Burner and followed up with the Recharge routine.
I expected Chalene Johnson, also know as Chalene the Machine at my house, to be a little more challenging in her ab routine. Maybe…just maybe, my abdominal muscles are getting stronger in my quest for flatter abs. I have not tried any of her more advanced ab workouts, yet.
Prior to Beachbody, I tried just about every ab exerciser, machine and piece of equipment I could find in the gym. I have found that the variety of ab exercises in Beachbody workouts simply amazes me and I don’t need to go to the gym or buy any extra home gym stuff.
I think I would probabaly compare Ab Burner to either Ab Ripper 100 or Ab Ripper 200 in Power 90. It is not in the same burn level as the P90X Ab Ripper X. This a beginner level ab routine that lasts just over ten minutes. The next time I do abs, I think I will switch to Extreme Abs or I’ve Got Abs. Maybe I will alternate these two workouts with Extreme Core. I think Chalene has some challenging moves coming up in these workouts. I guess I should be happy that it is time for me to move on to a harder ab program.
Recharge was a short (less than 21 minutes) stretching and yoga combination. How could you not love that? This workout gave a lot of attention to stretching your back and hamstrings. I really enjoyed the stretch. It reminded me somewhat of P90X X Stretch. You know, that day when it just feels so good to work out? (I am not referencing the 92 minute P90X Yoga X. Now, that’s torture! A true love/hate relationship.)
The next time I do a stretching routine with ChaLean Extreme, I may try the Dynamic Flow Yoga. I can see myself staying with this one for a while though. It felt so good to have a nice slow full body stretch. The short duration of the workout also allowed me to fit in abs tonight.
The Recharge workout could be done by any fitness level, including beginner. Chalene does a great job demonstrating how to modify different moves and positions to make the stretch either more challenging or less intensive to fit your current capabilities. I enjoyed the stretch. I think you will, too!
Mountain Hike to Crabtree Falls
Yesterday was a chilly day. It was raining as we started our three mile trip to the mountains for fresh apples. We wondered if we should’ve chosen another weekend for this annual event, but it’s hard enough to get a few friends together on the same day.
By the time we got to the orchards, the rain had stoppped and the sun was trying to come out. The ground was wet, but we were happy that the rain had stopped. The brisk air promised a great fall adventure.
We loaded up some apples from a favorite orchard. (The smell of apples in season is simply heavenly.) Then, we headed for Crabtree Falls to do some hiking.
I’m not sure how long we hiked, but we did see the falls. I appreciated the morning rain as we passed creeks, brooks, rivers and falls. The water was rushing because of the morning rain which created a magical sound that took me back to my childhood when our family took day trips. We laughed and hiked and had a wonderful time.
I’m a little sore this morning as I write this entry. I’m not used to walking up and down steep mountain trails. It feels good in a way though. It reminds me of how good it feels to incorporate fitness with friends and family. It also reminds me of how mixing up your routine keeps your muscles challenged.
I think that’s why you see people who work out regularly but don’t get the results they desire. It’s not because they’re not trying. It’s because our bodies adapt to the stresses we put on it. If we don’t mix up our exercise routines, we don’t ask our muscles to do anything different. If you want the same results, keep doing the same things you’re doing now. If you want different results, mix it up.
Tony Horton’s P90X Extreme Home Fitness and One on One series for P90X grads follows this philosophy. You’ll never get bored working out with Tony. He mixes in strength training, cardio, core, stretching, and yoga. You’ll learn how to work out with simple things like a chin up bar and bands or a few dumbbells as well as how to use your own body weight as resistence. As a matter of fact, the best tricep exercise I’ve ever done I learned from Tony.
This tricep exercise doesn’t use a machine, band, or weights. It doesn’t use a chair or bench if you were thinking about chair dips. It just uses your own body weight by lying on your side and lifting your body by extending your arm from a bent to straight arm position. It was difficult for me to get the right form in the beginning because I hadn’t seen this exercise, but now I love it. I played the dvd until I got the form right. It was like having Tony as a personal trainer right here in my living room.
Well, whether you work out with a Beachbody workout video today or take a hike up to Crabtree Falls, I hope you do something to get and stay fit today. Play some ball with your kids, walk around the block with a friend, go to your gym, dust off your yoga matt…get your fitness on!
Core Ball Sandwich Sure to Flatten Abs!
I finished Tony Horton’s One on One Core Ball Sandwich feeling like I’d accomplished a great challenge yet missed the mark on athletic ability. My core muscles received a muscle twitching trembling workout, but I had to practice Tony’s mantra to “do your best and forget the rest.”
I struggled primarily with the pull ups. I’ve worked my way up to one chin up, and I’m quite proud of that. I don’t plan on ever being able to keep up with Tony on the pull ups. He’s a machine when it comes to pulling himself above that bar!
Core Ball Sandwich is a series of ten exercises that are done in two rounds. In keeping with this trainer’s style, three exercises are done in super set style and then, the next set of three, followed by another set of three. Ok, so that adds up to nine…he throws in an extra ball exercise.
A set of pull ups starts each super set of three exercises. The pull ups are not standard pull ups like you’d see in a beginner’s course. Remember, One on One workouts were designed for P90X graduates who wanted to continue using extreme fitness training routines. These pull ups are for extreme workouts. If you’re like me and can’t do them, you just do what you can.
After a set of pull ups, you’ll move on to a set of balance ball exercises. These are challenging because you have to use tiny little muscle to stabilize your body. For example, one of the balance ball exercises requires you to do push ups with your hands on the ball and your feet on a bench. I modified here by placing my feet on the floor. Modifying exercises allows you to build up strength and endurance over time while preventing injuries from overexertion or improper form.
The final set of exercises is performed with a basketball. I didn’t have a basketball, so I used a four pound medicine ball. I really liked using a smaller ball in this workout. I thought the added weight worked well to intensify the V-up crunches. It was also easier for my hand to palm during the push up exercises than a basketball would have been for me.
Core Ball Sandwich is an extreme fitness workout that brings both challenge and variety to any Beachbody program. It takes advantage of interval training to get your heart rate up which means your metabolism is charged. When your metabolism is burning so is fat! This workout brought plenty of sweat and as I write this, my abs are still on fire.
Raising the Intensity of Slim in 6 & Other Beachbody Workouts
After doing 90 days of Tony Horton’s P90X Extreme Home Training System, you’d think that I’d be ready to take a break. The fact of the matter is that once you start seeing your own results, you get hooked on Beachbody workouts. I’m in the middle of Debbie Sieber’s Slim in 6 slim training workout program for weight loss at the time of this writing.
Each new workout in the Slim in 6 program challenged me in the beginning, but I knew that if I wanted to continue seeing the results I wanted that I had to raise my intensity level. It’s important to keep your heart rate in a working zone throughout your workout. That’s where you burn fat and calories. So what did I do? I put on some kickboxing type of hand weights. You can get a pair right from the Beachbody store. Chalene Johnsons’s Turbo Jam workout comes with a pair of these weighted gloves. You’ve probably seen her use them in the Turbo Jam infomercial. The gloves help increase the intensity and increase the burn.
Other things you can do to increase the intensity of a workout if you have extra energy on a particular day or if you don’t feel like you’re working hard enough to get the results you want include adding movements that raise your legs or knees higher, going deeper into lunges and squats, and/or raising your arms above your head. You can also do more reps than they are doing on the video. For example, I can do far more push ups from my P90X experience than the number Debbie’s team does in Slim in 6.
What’s my point? Every workout program has to be personalized. And, you’re the only one who can do that. If you’ve read any of my articles on P90X, you’ll notice that I often had to modify the other way. Heck, I still can’t do even on pull up, but I’m still working on it. I did what I could with each P90X workout and kept it as intense as I could. I often had to modify until I got stronger or had more endurance. As I look back, it must’ve been a pitiful sight to watch me do my first couple of rounds with P90X Yoga X!
I like the intensity of the P90X training program and the personality of Mr. Tony Horton who is the fitness expert, trainer, and author of the program. To stay in touch with that energy, I subscribed to Tony Horton’s One on One program which allows me to get a new P90X level training program every month. Each workout focuses on one area such as cardio or abs or delts. The workouts are shorter (20-40 minutes on average) than they were in P90X. The P90X workouts were about an hour long….unless you did the Yoga X…a grueling 92 minutes!
If you’re a graduate of P90X, here are a few options for keeping your workouts new and challenging. Try the One on One automatic shipment or try P90X+ which was developed for P90X grads who just couldn’t get enough of the X. You can also try Tony’s 10 Minute Trainers which are intense short workouts that you can fit into those tight schedules. But, if you want to try an intense workout, and you’re up for a 60 day cardio challenge, you might be ready for Shaun T’s Insanity.
I’m not ready for a cardio program that intense, yet. My personal coach is doing this program and loving it though. I’m ok with not being right there at the starting line as Insanity takes its hold on the world. It was just released this month, so extreme fitness fanatics everywhere are ordering this program. Shaun T’s program has a unique offer with the program if you’re one of the few, the proud…oh, wait a minute – that’s the Marines…if you’re one of the insane, crazy people who think they can do this heart pumping, sweat pouring 60 day program. If you graduate the program, you’ll get a cool Insanity T-shirt if you send in your before and after pictures. How cool is that?
You know what’s really cool about Beachbody workouts? You’ve heard me say this before. There is a Beachbody workout that is right for everyone, every body, every fitness level. Beachbody’s philosophy is to get you moving and help you live a healthy and fit life. So, what are you waiting for? “Change your body. Change your life.”
Burn It Up Exercise List
Phase III of Debbie Sieber’s slim training workout, Burn It Up, is about 59 minutes in length. After you’ve done this routine several times, you can anticipate what exercise is coming up. I think this program is lacking in one area. It doesn’t have a list of the exercises in writing, so you can follow along, and it doesn’t put the names of the upcoming exercise on the screen.
I guess I was kind of spoiled with the P90X Extreme Training Fitness Guide. Each workout had it’s own section where each exercise was not only listed but a brief description was included. When you had a DVD playing, the bottom of the screen would tell you what exercise to expect next. As you learned the names of the exercises, it was easier to develop a comfortable routine as a member of the class.
I was thinking about this because I did Tony Horton’s July One on One: Cardio Intervals DVD last week. I didn’t have a list of exercises, but Tony had one taped to the mirror in his gym. That kept him on track. He would announce the exercise that we were doing next, but I didn’t have a list anywhere and the screen didn’t provide that information either…read more
One on One: Cardio Intervals
I’m really hooked on Tony Horton and the P90X Extreme Training System. After going through this grueling 90 day program, I decided to take a break from building muscle and focus on losing a little weight. To accomplish this task, I turned to Debbie Siebers and her Slim in 6 workouts to burn fat.
I still have the P90X bug though, so when Beachbody offered the July DVD of Tony Horton’s One on One: Cardio Intervals for one penny, I had to get it! I figured that it was a cardio program so it would support my current fitness goal of dropping 15 pounds. I knew it would be good because it was Tony’s workout…read more
When Desire Becomes Commitment
Beachbody says it in three words. Decide. Commit. Succeed. I often substitute the word decide with the word desire. I think this is because I’ve decided many things in my life, but I haven’t followed through. I think about how desire turns to commitment and ultimately success.
I’ve been thinking about different events in my life this week and what happened when desire turned into commitment. Like many 18 year olds leaving home for college, I felt stranded without the family car that had taken me through my high school days. I decided that I would get my own car. Not a big deal, right?
I was working three part-time jobs and getting the hang of my full-time “job” as a freshman. My aunt had a Datson 210B that she wanted to sell for $2500. Perfect! What a steal! Without much research beyond my emotion, I applied for a used car loan and bought the car. Yippeee! (By the way, when would I have time to drive a car?)…read more
Ramping It Up: Slim in 6 vs. P90X
I attacked Debbie Siebers Slim in 6 Ramp It Up workout yesterday for the first time. It was longer than the first workout, Start It Up and built upon the basic moves demonstrated in the first workout. 
I was amazed at the muscle soreness I was feeling during the workout in my triceps, glutes, and abs. These are three areas most women want to tone up, myself included. Debbie Siebers does a good job going right to the trouble areas, but she hits all the muscle groups systematically with the goal of getting slim in 6 weeks.
Hitting all the muscle groups everyday is a major change for me. Tony Horton’s P90X Extreme Training System is based on classic weight training principles…lift the maximum amount of weight that you can for 8-10 reps to gain muscle size or a weight you can lift for 10-12 reps if you’re wanting to tone without increased muscle size. Whether you choose to work in the shorter or longer rep range, you’re trying to use a heavy enough weight to challenge you during the last couple of reps. P90X works through two to three muscle groups during a typical workout and allows for rest days before working that muscle group again…read more
My Weight Loss Turning Point
I’m not an expert on the science of losing weight. Like most Americans, my experience with weight loss is up and down with my most successful weight loss episodes coming during hard times when I found myself depressed and just didn’t eat. I tried the South Beach Diet, the Peanut Butter Diet, Bill Phillip’s “Fit for Life,” and every new thing published by popular magazines like Prevention and Woman’s Day.
I was envious of the metabolism and muscle building capability of the male anatomy. It seemed like women had to work twice as hard and eat half as much to strengthen, tone, and lose weight. Like many women, I struggled with weight gain in my hips, thighs, and waist.
In my first post, I talked about how the P90X Extreme Training System helped me find what was missing in my fitness routine, namely consistency. As my 90 day program comes to an end, I find I’ve learned something else through this program. Weight loss is about consistency in both exercise and diet.
Maintaining a healthy weight and living a fit lifestyle requires desire and commitment. If you’re experiencing problems with weight, chances are your relationship with food may be part of the problem. I love the commercial that shows the happy Leave It to Beaver type family sitting down to dinner. Mom brings out a baked potato for Dad that has a whole stick of butter sticking straight up out of it. Of course I cringe every time I see that commercial, but that’s only because of what I know about nutrition now.
When I was growing up, everyone ate butter on all their vegetables. We ate a lot of carbohydrates (once called starches), flavored things with lard, and loved red meat. Our idea of having a bowl of ice-cream was to scoop out about a fourth of a half gallon container, add chocolate, whip cream, and nuts! Mmmm.
We’ve learned so much about nutrition as a nation over the last twenty-five years and yet, our nation is plagued with obesity and weight related disease. Here’s what I want to share about nutrition:
1. You can change your eating habits one small change at a time.
2. You must actively seek out information on nutrition – become a student of nutrition. Think of food as
fuel for your body.
3. No matter what you eat, you must know and only eat a nutritionally acceptable portion size.
Ok. So if nutrition is so important, why don’t diets work? The other half of the equation is moving your body. Yes, you’ve got to get some type of exercise to burn off the calories you’re taking in. Even if you ate the perfect amount of calories to sustain your current weight, exercise is a necessary component of a healthy and fit lifestyle. Did you know that if you took in just an extra 90 calories per day (the amount in one cup of skim milk) that you will gain over nine pounds in a year?
You’ve probably heard that muscle burns fat and that muscle weighs more than fat and thus takes up less space. Your metabolism goes up when your muscle mass goes up. This means you will burn more calories during the course of a day doing nothing other than your normal body functions. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you’ve got to replace fat with muscle.
Our caloric intake and expenditure requires a delicate balance. During the first 60 days of P90X, I was losing inches and building muscle. I was eating about 600 calories a day more than was required for my basic metabolic processes. I learned that it was critical for me to workout when I was taking in these extra 600 calories or I could actually gain weight.
After feeling better about the intense workouts I was doing, I wanted to lose a few pounds. What could I do? I really couldn’t increase the frequency or intensity of my exercise routine. After all, Tony Horton was already kicking my butt!
I went to the Beachbody Club website to learn what I could about weight loss. I found a cool calculator that takes into consideration three things: gender, current weight, and my activity level. I entered my gender and weight. Then, I selected the P90X program. I learned that I needed to trim my eating plan by 800 calories per day to start seeing weight loss. I did that and the pounds started to melt away.
Girls, not all charts are made the same. The gender variance made a big difference for me. I’m so glad that I found this tool. It’s one of the weight loss tools available to you as a club member. It was a turning point for me. I was so excited about it that I wanted to share this turning point with my readers…another little nugget from Just Get Me Fit.
P90X Yoga X – Storm & Calm
What is it that keeps me coming back to Yoga X, a grueling 92 minutes of P90X extreme training? Is it the sweat that pours from my forehead and drips from my chin? Is it the challenge of completing a push up before going into each downward facing dog? Maybe it’s the thrill of making it through the first 45 minutes of the routine which seems more like cardio than any yoga I’ve ever done.
Yoga X is based on hatha yoga. If you think yoga is easy, you better be prepared to sweat! The first time I did this routine, I was wiped out after about the first 20 minutes. I followed the mantra of trainer Tony Horton who reminds us in each session of P90X to do our best and forget the rest.
This is one of the love/hate routines of P90X. As you focus on each breath and try to work through the discomfort of the pose, you’re secretly trying to watch the timer to see how much time is left in the strenuous pose. When you’ve completed the full routine, however, your whole body is transformed into a relaxed, fully stretched and peaceful state. Oh, it feels so good.
I look forward to Yoga X the day after I do a weight lifting routine because I know I’ll get a good stretch on the muscle tears I formed doing strength training exercised. It’s better than a hot tub for relieving back aches or a massage chair for relaxing the body.
I still struggle with pull ups, and I still struggle with a couple of the poses in Yoga X. That’s ok – I do my best, forget the rest. Over time, I get stronger, more flexible and better able to hold difficult yoga poses.
As with all the P90X workouts, the basic form is demonstrated and then, variations of the exercise are introduced so you can modify to better fit your fitness level. I like the fact that I can always relate to someone in the video. It’s nice to see a super athletic fitness professional float through the moves like there’s no struggle at all, but I relate more to the guy in the gray shorts who shakes in almost every move. He’s my hero. If he can do, I can keep on trying.
So what yoga moves are difficult for me? I’d have to say that the hardest two moves for me are the half moon and crane. I keep trying the half moon sequence. I can feel the stretch in my hamstrings, back, and glutes. I stumble. I fall. I try again. As for the crane, I’m not ashamed to say I do child’s pose in place of crane. I take a mini break rather than fighting against gravity to hold my body up on my elbows.
My favorite part of this Beachbody workout is the “Yoga Belly Seven”. It comes at the end of the routine right before the cool down series. Maybe knowing that the end is near is what keeps me looking forward to reaching this point? It’s not because it feels exhilarating while you’re doing these seven yoga exercises for the abs. My abs burn more during and after doing yoga abs exercises than working them at the gym on abdominal machines, using an ab roller, ab rocker, medicine ball or just doing crunches.
Like most people, I’ve tried a lot of ab exercise machines. I’d take Yoga Belly Seven over those machines any day. And if you really want to work your abs, try the P90X Ab Ripper X. It takes your abs to a new level. Of course you wouldn’t want to do Ab Ripper on the same day you’re doing Yoga X. Once you do P90X Yoga X, I don’t think you’ll want to try Ab Ripper in the same day anyway.
You’ll want to sit back and enjoy the accomplishment of making it through this challenge extreme training routine. You’ll be doing a cardiovascular, strength training, muscle toning, lean gaining, flexibility, core and ab burning, calming exercise routine. You’ll come to love those 92 minutes even if you don’t make it through the workout the first time you push play. Yoga X is definitely one of those routines you’ll want to rant and rave about on the community message boards.
Oh by the way, you can join our Beachbody community and use the message forums for free. It’s a great way to meet people who are doing the same routines as you. We encourage each other and listen to each other as we’re having a hard time. The message boards help you have accountability to stick with your program even when “life” tries to get in the way.
I found a forum that was starting for P90X at about the same time I was starting. This was set up for women in particular. I personally enjoy the understanding and support that comes from other women. We sure talked about Yoga X. We complained about the length of the routine and that it was too hard. Slowly, we worked through our rants and started posting raves…made it through Yoga X, it’s getting better. I truly believe that the message boards set Beachbody workouts apart from any other program available.
If you’re ready to start the P90X Extreme Training System and challenge yourself with Yoga X, I’m ready to help you define and meet your fitness goals as your personal coach. You can get your 13 DVD set here, but if you want to save 10% on your purchase, join the club. And, if you have an interest in helping other achieve their fitness goals, you might be interested in becoming a Beachbody coach yourself and saving 25% on all Beachbody products. Namaste.
