Who Doesn't Want a Ballet Body?

A ballerina I am not. Not even close. I don't have much poise and grace, my balance hasn't been very good lately due to my lack of yoga, and my strength is at an all-time low. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from trying out this new Ballet Body Workout.

This new series is a set of three videos: Upper Body, Lower Body, and Core. It was hard to decide where to begin, but I finally settled on testing out the Lower Body one. I should have known right off the bat that a workout that includes what's referred to as the "barre technique" would be deadly. The muscle-sculpting moves are supposed to lengthen the thighs, lift the backside, and sculpt the backs of the legs for sleek definition and a slim figure. The amazing part is how little you actually move. If you just sat back and watched this video you would think it's very easy, but you would be amazed to find out how challenging those little movements are. The greatest words you'll hear are, "Time to put those heels down." There's a whole lot of burning muscles involved, but the good news is that I was able to do all of it, even with no ballet experience at all. The moves are all simply enough (as in  . . . not complicated) that any non-dancer can do it.

The video moved right along pretty quickly. Despite the fact that the entire video is about 55 minutes, the last 13 minutes is yoga-type stretching and believe me, you won't want to skip that part after what they put your legs through. You'll need every minute of it. I don't think I ever appreciated stretching so much.

I am very much looking forward to trying out the other two videos and will be posting my experiences soon.

If you are interested in checking out this Ballet Body™ series the DVDs will be available from Acacia on April 2, 2012 and will cost just $16.99 each.

Make a Fresh New Start for the New Year

New Years is really a great time to take advantage of the fresh clean start. It's your chance to reinvent yourself, make some new healthy habits, and/or start a new routine. It's the perfect time to forget about all the things that have held you back in the past or all the reasons why you've been putting off doing the things you want to do. There's no better time like the present to take action and there's no better time than now to start something new.

This year I am taking full advantage of this new start. It just so happens that it coincides nicely with my recovery. I haven't blogged about the details of my recent neck surgery, but at the end of October I had a couple of vertebrae in my neck fused and a metal plate inserted. Oh yes, that was a fun experience! But it was worth all the pain and discomfort because the terrible chronic neck, shoulder, and back pains that have been plaguing me and preventing me from practicing yoga and working out are now gone. I have rid myself of that torture, hopefully for good, and I'm so ready to get back on the yoga mat.

The bad news is that this whole surgery and recovery process has completely erased the great shape that I was in - that I have always been in. Now I'm in a foreign place. I'm weak and fragile and I don't know what to do with that. Where do I even begin to get back to my normal strong and healthy self? This will be a challenge to say the least, but I'm excited to take this journey. I am going to experience an unusual perspective of just how hard it is to "get into shape." Every winter I started my training program with P90X and I fell into it quite easily. I guess it's easy to get into better shape when you're already in good shape, but what is it going to be like to get back into good shape when I've been reduced to weak and fragile? This should be interesting.

I am going to share my journey via this blog. I will document my work-out program and all the steps I'm going to take to gain my strength and endurance back. I would imagine that this won't be overly easy at 44 years old, but I hope that my experience will inspire somebody out there.

Please stay tuned. With any luck I will be slipping off the neck brace and into some workout clothes next week for my maiden voyage. Wish me luck!

Great Deal on Shape Magazine

Yesterday we offered you a great deal on a magazine to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle and today we are offering you some fitness inspiration. If you would like to get yourself a one year subscription to Shape magazine for just $4.39, this is your lucky day. Shape magazine is for active contemporary women interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle with quality articles about fitness, nutrition, psychology, beauty, fashion, relationships, and inspiring success stories.

All you need to do to grab this deal is to CLICK HERE to be taken to the offer. You can purchase a brand new subscription or renew the one you already have, but here's the catch . . . the offer is only valid today – Wednesday, July 18th, so don't delay, click now to grab the deal.

Click here to grab the deal.

Keeping Fit After 40

I recently found the photo above on Pinterest with a caption that said, "She's 40!" It made me think that being in shape and keeping fit past 40 must be some sort of big accomplishment, especially after seeing some of the comments that women posted on the photo. There is no doubt that it made me feel proud to be over 40 and still be in good shape. So I am going to post the picture below on Pinterest with a caption that says, "She's 43, and she's me." I should also note that this picture was taken 2 months ago and that just happens to be 2 months before my 44th birthday.

So how do I do it? How did I keep fit in my 40s? Well, there really is no magically secret. It's all about self discipline, good nutrition, and working out. OK, maybe genes have something to do with it too, but I don't think that should be an excuse to give up and not try to strive for the best health you can achieve. Not everybody can be pencil thin, but many people can be strong and fit if they didn't use the crutch of having 'fat genes.'

I've spent most of my life trying to be as healthy as I can be. I'm always concerned about what I eat. This doesn't mean I sacrifice and never have sweets and fattening foods. In fact, I often do. But I'm always completely aware that 80% of what makes up my body composition is what I eat. Making good choices is key. And yes, I have a sweet tooth and love my dessert, but I've learned that a bite or two can be just as satisfying as eating the whole serving. When I do splurge on the dish of ice cream of chocolate bar it's often because I just competed a long bike ride or hike. I always feel the need to either earn the treat, or pay for it afterwards.

And it's not just avoiding sweets and fatty foods that is important. I think it's just as important, if not more important to strive to put as much good nutritional food into our bodies as possible. We are eating to fuel our bodies and just like at the gas pump, we have to decide upon the quality of that gas we are putting in. How our cars run and how are bodies run is a direct result of the fuel.

Avoiding candy and carbs is one thing, but going out of our way to eat the "super foods" is another. So much of the America diet is just empty calories, giving us no nutritional value. It is really a challenge in today's age to hunt down the foods that are actually good for us. It takes effort, and unfortunately it costs more, but it's a necessary step in keeping fit.

Eating right and routine exercise are essential in keeping fit. There is no doubt, it just keeps getting harder and harder to do as you get older and the trick is not to stop. It's all about priorities and habits. Build yourself some good ones and just don't quit.

Learning to Counting Calories

I have to admit counting calories is something that I've never done in my life. I have been very fortunate that I never had to diet or lose any weight. I have plenty of experience on the working out side of the equation, but I always ignored the nutrition part of keeping fit. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not eating Doritos and Twinkies. I eat as healthy as I possibly can, but I never tracked a calorie, a carbohydrate, or a gram of fat before. I decided that it's time I do, and boy was I surprised to learn what I did.

First off, the reason I decided to do this is because I'm finally to the point where I feel that I can lose a couple pounds. When I say this out loud it's usually met with rolling eyes and nasty remarks from whomever is in earshot. The truth is that I can still easily hide the extra pounds. It's easy to do when you're wearing clothes! But standing naked in front of a mirror is a different story. I've been training since the beginning of the year and I'm actually in great shape. I've slowly built nearly all my strength back. My upper body is defined, my abs are rock hard, and even my butt is much firmer (thanks to the Brazilian Butt Lift and 30 Day Yoga Sculpt). However, there is a pesky layer of fat on my thighs and tummy. Tummy fat is something I never had before and yes, it would be easy to just accept that this happens with age . . . but screw that. I'm not going down that easy. If I have to count some calories to make it go away then I'm willing to give it a shot.
It's been 5 days now that I'm tracking my food intake with a nifty smart phone app called The Daily Burn.

Every time I put something into my mouth I have to grab my phone and track it. This alone is motivation to NOT eat whatever snack I'm eying. Is it really worth the effort to track it? I can't tell you how many times I reached for "just a couple" M&Ms and realized that I have no easy way of tracking just 4 M&Ms so I go without. But the meals are pretty easy to track, especially with the purchase of the handy bar code scanner. All I need to do is scan the bar code of the product and it instantly adds all the nutrition information for me. This has proved very handy for my cocoa, bread, mayo, tuna fish, etc. Other foods may need to be manually entered (which can be cumbersome), but there is also a vast database of foods and you can always come pretty close to finding what you need.

It's been 5 days so far of food tracking and I can NOT believe how hard it is to stay within the limits. I didn't set these limits, but the app knows (based on your vital statistics and your weight goals) what they should be. So I'm supposed to stay within these daily limits:

Calories: 1491-1741
Carbs: 129-195
Fat: 31-53
Protein: 99-169

The calorie and fat limit is no problem to achieve. I normally don't eat too much and I certainly never have too much fat in my diet. But who knew that it's not the fat making us fat? It's the CARBS, which happens to be the staple of my diet. I was very foolish to think that I just needed to cut down on bread, pasta, and potatoes and all would be well. Little did I know that carbs are basically sugars and sugars are EVERYWHERE. Now I have to think twice before I reach for a piece of fruit, which still is not sitting well with me, but I'm willing to try this for a couple of weeks.

In addition to the impossible task of keeping my carbs down, I also realized that it's nearly impossible to get enough protein. I do not even want to know what my daily charts looked like before I started tracking. I'm sure I've been eating 6 times the amount of carbs I should and zero protein on a daily basis. Yesterday I ate tuna for lunch and cod for dinner and still didn't get enough protein. Today I had two eggs for breakfast, but I still have 45 grams of protein to reach my lowest limit and I only have one more meal left today. This is very challenging to say the least.

But I should add that after only 5 days of keeping somewhat within the limits listed above, my belly is much flatter and I really do feel like I made some quick progress. It sure is enough to make me want to do it again next week.

Consistency is Key

I'm now in the second month of my training with the goal of getting back into the shape I was in before my neck injury, and eventual fitness demise. I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the progress that I've already made. As I mentioned in a previous post, I never actually started off in such rough shape. I don't ever remember being as weak as I was before starting this program. I remember standing in my chiropractor's office as he was showing me how to do 'push-ups against the wall.' I remembering giving his this look like, "Really? THAT'S what you want me to do?" I was legitimately insulted. And then I tried my silly pathetic little standing, push-ups and realized that it was a challenge. I swear I wanted to put a gun to my head right then and there. What happened to me? Where did my strength go? I was never so disgusted in my life. That was last Fall.

After the holidays ended I decided that my neck had gotten to a point where I was ready to risk starting a training program. Nothing was worse than dragging myself to the gym for that slap of reality to see just how weak I had become. I used to start every morning with one continuous set of pushups. I did my age in pushups and my goal was to continue this routine, at least until I was 50. Well, here I was at 43 unable to do 2. I went from 43 pushups in July to 2 in January. Boy, was that a morale crusher.

I was determined to get out of this mess, no matter how long it was going to take. I did my measly 2 pushups the first few days. Then I started to increase my set by just one pushup a day. I quickly got up to 10 pushups and then I held myself back and increased my set by two pushups per week. Even though I had more in me, I stopped at my set goal every morning.

I tried the Brazilian Butt Lift for the first 3 weeks. In addition to this I supplemented with Zumba dancing, hiking, weight lifting, and a little bit of running. I didn't miss a day and most days I worked out twice. I just couldn't believe how quickly my body started to respond. It remembered what it was supposed to do and it gladly performed. My spirits were started to soar. Even in mid-life I was bouncing back quickly. Every week I added more pushups and more weights.

Two and half months into this I've made some modifications. I'm now doing yoga daily in place of the Brazilian Butt Lift. I have to say, the new 30 Day Yoga Sculpt is, hands down, the best yoga DVD I have ever owned. I simply love it. I love the fact that every day is different and I don't know what to expect. I love that it's always challenging. And I especially love that it's only 20 minutes a day. It will be available at the beginning of April on the Acacia website.

I find the yoga, weight lifting, hiking/running to be a perfectly balanced program and I'm achieving great results. The bottom line is consistency. Pick anything and do it consistently for one month and guaranteed you will improve greatly. No matter what it is, cooking, a musical interest, learning a language, just practice it every day and see what happens in one month's time. You won't be disappointed.

Graphic borrowed from http://claxonmarketing.com.

Strong is the New Skinny

Yesterday I noticed that not only are my skinny jeans too tight, but I also gained a couple extra pounds since the start of my new training program. I wasn't sure what to make of these new discoveries and I can't say that I was very pleased about them either. Granted, my intention was never to lose any weight, but I certainly wasn't planning on gaining any. After walking around in uncomfortable jeans all day yesterday, I actually had fleeting thoughts that maybe I needed to diet. I never dieted in my life, but I hated the feeling of my clothes being too tight.

This morning I felt the need to stand in front of the mirror and inspect what was going on with my legs. Why are my skinny jeans too tight? Well, the first reason is that the jeans were not made of stretchy denim and that was my #1 mistake. The second reason is simply because my inner thighs are getting bigger. After poking and prodding at them during my inspection I realized that, not only are they bigger, but they are firmer. I now have hard muscles on the inside of my thighs that didn't get there from biking. I didn't know I could get those muscles without riding, but apparently I did. That Brazilian Butt Lift must be doing something after all. Now that I know it's muscle making my jeans too tight I guess I lightened up a little. After all, I can always go buy new jeans, ones that stretch this time.

And then today I saw this picture that I posted at the top of this blog and it completely changed my attitude. I've been skinny my whole life, and you know what? Skinny is not all that impressive. Strong, on the other hand, is!

Now I have to go find a stool . . .

Day 3 of My 30-Day Yoga Challenge

I have some mixed emotions about yesterday's 30 Day Yoga Sculpt Challenge workout. The first half of it was all upper body yoga moves and although just 3 short days ago I was struggling with the upper body challenges, yesterday I felt like I really made some improvements. I was strong throughout the whole first series. I notice this often with yoga. Consistency is key. No matter how hard the routine, if you do it consistently (preferably every day – or even every other day) it's get so much easier, so much quicker. I was shocked at how different I felt in just a two day span of time.

But things changed quickly. The second half of yesterday's workout was ab work, which I am notoriously very strong at. I was eagerly looking forward to it . . . and it didn't take long to regret those feelings. I am just stunned at the moves these guys come up with. After years of consistent exercise and trying every workout video known to man, I have never run across anything like this. Where did they dream up these moves? I could barely do them and there's no doubt I did my fair share of cheating (which I NEVER do). I even sort of pulled a muscle in my thigh . . . doing ab work! Unreal. I am really eager and curious to have that workout come up again in the rotation, just to see if I am any better at it next time. Now I'm challenged. Bring it on!

A Lesson From My Dog

I think there's a wonderful lesson to be learned from my dog. And it's funny too that I can suggest that I can learn something from a notoriously "not-so-smart" dog. But today, the lesson was so clear to me that I had to stop and marvel at it. You see, one of our dogs is getting up in age. She's a 11.5 year old greyhound and as far as greyhounds go, that's pretty old. I'm just now starting to worry about her level of activity and I'm doing this despite her showing any real signs of slowing down. I can't help but to worry that maybe we shouldn't be taking her for 7 mile hikes/runs anymore. I mean there has got to come a time when she just shouldn't be doing it anymore. I always think there will come a day when she's smart enough to know (by what we are wearing) what is in store for her should she choose to get up and show signs of excitement to come along. I expect this day to come because our first greyhound did exactly that. We would take him for a big hike one day and then the next day he would just look at us and say, "Yah right, I'm not falling for that again. You humans go and knock yourselves out while I lay here on my comfy bed. See ya." But then again, he was always our 'smart' dog.

Given the fact that this dog is not as smart and will continue to want to come no matter what torture we put her through, it will be up to me to make the decision that she is no longer fit to play. But that decision will be a tough one. I already think that she shouldn't be able to do what she does. It's amazing to watch her bouncing happily along some seriously rugged terrain, tail wagging the entire time. Today is when the lesson hit me. You see, nothing has ever been introduced into my little dog's belief system that suggested to her that she shouldn't be able to handle this long trail run. She doesn't know that she's getting too old for it. There is no reason in the world that she would, or should, think that she can't do it . . . and therefore she happily trucks on. I'm sure she looks at our other, younger dog and thinks, "If he can do it I can do it." It's all about your intention and your belief. You can do anything if you truly believe you can do it. The moment doubt enters your mind you are compromising your ability, so perhaps we need to train our brains as hard as we train our bodies.

It's Like Brushing My Teeth

Today a friend asked me what I had planned for this weekend. Off the top of my head I couldn't think of a thing. I knew I would be busy with a lot of little things, but I didn't have any big 'real' plans. When I reported this fact to him his reaction was, "You mean you're not planning on taking a big hike or going for a run?" And that's when it hit me. I don't consider big hikes, runs, or long bike rides to be 'real' plans. Those things are just part of my every (weekend) day routine. Actually, they are also part of my every weekday routine. I just don't consider them "plans." That sort of exercise is part of my daily routine - kind of like bathing or brushing my teeth. It's just something I have to do, period. If you can get to this point in your training then you know you're gonna make it. It gets to the point where you're no longer making the decision to workout. You only real decision is which workout are you going to do on any given day. Strive for it!

Training Status

I'm struggling to decide if I should report that I'm experiencing some tough road blocks or smashing success. I guess it's a little bit of both. I've been extremely diligent (as I always am) about my workout schedule this Winter. Although I'm not following any one specific and rigid program, I am mixing it up and doing some great cross training. I find that this flexibility in my schedule and the freedom to make my own choices about what I will do each day really helps with the boredom and monotony associated with sticking to just one strict program. I have decided to commit to posing for photos on my birthday in July for no other reason but to compare them to the photos I had taken after my first completion of P90X. That will be four years ago so it will be tough to compare. Not only was I four years younger then, but that was the year that I followed P90X the most strictly. I guess I'm lightening up in my old age!

Some of my road blocks have included me overdoing it and getting hurt. It never fails. I can't seem to accept the fact that

1. I'm no spring chicken anymore, and 
2. I'm still somewhat injured with a neck problem. 

I may have gotten just a little too bit excited with just the fact that I was back in a gym and as a result I've hurt myself no less than 3 times. Two times I re-hurt my neck and once I hurt my notoriously bad knee. As if getting back into shape isn't challenging enough without having to deal with injuries. It may have slowed me down a bit, but it hasn't stopped me. I am continually getting stronger and having the doctor tell me that I have the "efficient heart of an athlete" just makes my day.

My normal weekly routine has been consisting of a minimum of 3 Brazilian Butt lift videos. Bum Bum, High & Tight, and Sculpt are absolute neccessities. I also try to squeeze in one session of the Ab routine. The Cardio Axe has already gotten a little boring and unchallenging so I've been substituting with my new favorite indoor work-out – Wii Zumba 2. What a hoot that is and I love that you can just "take a class" which automatically plays the songs continuously so you don't have to fiddle with the control after every dance. I'm also lifting 3 times a week (upper body only) and I'm doing a combination of hiking and/or running 2 - 3 times a week. During the week I keep the runs to 30 minutes and the hikes to 1 hour and on the weekends I extend the runs to one hour and the hikes to 2+ hours. I have to say, the hiking is making the running seem too easy so now I'm starting to do some trail running. I think that will be the best possible training for my dream of doing a half marathon this year. If I can just keep myself from getting injured over and over I think I'll be well on my way. Less than 5 months till my birthday photos . . . and counting.

Fitness Motivation Gadget

Just what I need . . . another gadget to fuel my obsessive and compulsive desire to work out. I've been searching for some sort of activity monitor for a while now. After extensive research I finally decided that I wanted a Jawbone Get Up band, and don't you know, I had to pick the one product that is not currently available. It seems like it's been months since I joined their mailing list and requested info on the next availability, but so far, nothing.

In the meantime I settled for a very simple and inexpensive pedometer. I like the fact that it's very light, it clips to the top of my pants, and slips right into my pants pocket. I never even realize it's there all day long. The gadget is smart enough to know when the days change and it automatically resets your steps to zero each morning. When you initially set it up you enter your height, weight and you can change your stride. There was some complicated math involved, but I cheated and just walked around my house while counting steps and I adjusted the stride number up or down until it most closely matched my actual number of steps. Once you set it up there's basically nothing to ever worry about or fiddle with again. Just clip it on in the morning and forget about it. Every once in a while I pull it out and take a look at my progress.

There are just a couple of buttons on the front of the device which let you cycle through some stats. It shows your recent history so you can look back and see how many steps you walked yesterday, and the day before, etc. The other button lets you cycle through today's stats: how many miles, how many calories, etc. Of course, I should mention a little footnote here. That calorie count is NOT how many calories you actually burnt in the day. It's not recording your heart rate so if you're doing yoga, or lifting weights, or doing anything other than taking steps, it's not being recorded. You must keep that in mind when seeing the low calorie count number.

Your daily goal is an ambitious 10,000 steps per day and once you reach that goal a little animated person cheers for you in the display. Silly, I know, but strangely motivating to have a goal. I've been wearing this thing for one week and so far it has motivated me to go for a hike when I normally wouldn't have . . . because I just wanted to increase my stats. It was certainly worth the tiny investment of $10.

One Painful Week

This past week has been one painful ordeal, but I have to admit . . . I loved every minute of it. There is no question that I'm addicted to exercising and the fact that I'm falling back into a work-out routine  just thrills me. The more sore I get, the happier I am and let me tell you, I was pretty happy this past week. I managed to get to the gym to lift weights 3 days out of the week. I'm starting off slow with much less weight and reps than I was doing a year ago, but that's OK. My trainer keeps telling me that my body will bounce back in just two weeks. I kept thinking he was nuts, but now I'm not so sure. It's only been a week and I can't believe how different I feel. After lifting on Monday I could barely raise my arms over my head by Tuesday night. By Wednesday night just shivering from the cold shot pain throughout my entire upper body. But I persisted. I did my Brazilian Butt Lift videos every evening and alternated between lifting weights and doing short sprints of abs + sculpting during the afternoons. I already could feel more strength coming back by Friday's lifting session and I woke up today (Saturday) completely pain free. In just one week my body is accepting the extra work load and is happily complying. I can't wait to see what next week brings.

The way I see it, I have 5 months to train for my birthday.  That will be the day that I pose for more photos (to compare to my inspiration pictures taken after P90S 3.5 years ago.) And my birthday will also be my push-up goal. I have always been able to do my age in consecutive pushups. I even attained this last year (one month after hurting my neck). But now it's a different story. I can barely do 10 pushups and that makes me want to cry. I'll have a long way to go to accomplish my goal by July, all the while making sure I don't re-injure my neck and shoulder. It will be a fine balance between being smart and being stubborn and hopefully I can pull it off. So at the end of this week I'll take the measly 10 count on the push-ups, and just hope that the number will increase with every week.

Starting From Scratch

Several months ago I got sucked into a blog called Fit2Fat2Fit.  It's the journey of a guy who let himself fall out of shape only to work to get back into shape. He is a professional personal trainer and would always have clients tell them, "You don't understand what it's like. You've been fit your whole life." These people felt that this buff and fit trainer just couldn't relate to their problems of being overweight and out of shape, and their struggle with trying to lose the weight. And there is some big validity to this. How could he really relate to their struggles? The only way to understand how something feels it to put yourself in those same exact shoes. And as a result this guy spent several months purposefully letting himself get, not only completely out of shape, but he also went out of his way to practice a terrible diet and gain tons of weight. Boy, that is work dedication!

This month it dawned on me that I'm sort of in the same position, not by choice mind you. I've blogged in the past about my misery of having a neck injury and how it's completely put me out of commission for the past 6 months. I haven't been able to ride a bike, lift weights, or worse yet, do any yoga and as a result I've fallen into the worse shape of the past 2 decades. Actually, aside from those 4 years in college I don't ever remember being out of shape and it's killing me that I totally lost all my strength.

But the good news is that I'm ready to start trying. This week marks my first attempts at working out again. Although P90X is out of the question for this year (for fear of blowing it and re-injuring myself) I am starting to lift weights again. I am trying really hard not to focus on the numbers. I look at the light weights that used to be my warm-up and now I struggle to do my regular sets with them. I have to put the numbers out of my head and just focus on the end result - getting my strength back. I'm in a gym and I now know what it feels like for folks that are trying to get into shape for the first time. I haven't attempted a yoga class yet, but when I do I will experience what my students must have felt going through my classes for the past couple of years. I found it so hard to build "beginner" classes. Everything felt so easy to me. How could I relate to what it felt like for the people attending my class that weren't at the same fitness level? Now I'm in those shoes and boy will I struggle. Maybe I should build some new classes now - real beginner ones.

I think all-in-all this is a good experience - to know what it feels like to start from scratch. I have to admit, it's no picnic, but it can be done. I WILL get back to where I was. It may take me twice as long, but I will get there. I have a picture of myself taken on my 40th birthday (after my first completion of P90X) and that picture will serve as my inspiration. I'm hoping to take more pictures on my next birthday (in July) and compare the pictures. The pressure is on!

Brazilian Butt Lift Review

I just completed my first week of the Brazilian Butt Lift. The week went by really fast and although I found some of the routines challenging, I haven't been all that sore. I should probably note that I've been soaking in a hot tub just about every night and I think that makes a big difference.

First I'm going to state the things that I don't like about the series.

• My biggest issue with it is that I bought it under the impression that the workouts were only 35 minutes each. And technically most of them are. What they didn't make very clear in the infomercial is that you are required to do two per day - except on the day that you do the Sculpt video, which is 50 minutes. My biggest problem with P90X was the time commitment. It was a minimum of an hour a day and that is just hard to squeeze in every day for 90 straight days. This seemed much more manageable, but when it comes right down to it, it's really not.
• I can't seem to get over the fact that the (slightly annoying) guy that leads the video constantly refers to your butt as your "boom boom." I don't know why, but it's driving me crazy. He also is stuck on one little phrase that, after only one week, is starting to grate on me. He says, "Don't settle for less" constantly. Uuuugh
• The audio in general is a bit challenging. The music is a little too loud for the voice over and the guy is hard to understand. When doing the floor work I'm not always looking at the screen and it almost feels like he's mumbling. I can't quite understand what he's saying in many areas.
•  So far I had two technical issues with one of the DVDs. I'm not sure if it's my player or not, but since all the issues are occurring with one disc I'm thinking it's the disc. Yesterday I couldn't get to one of the two exercises on the menu, and today I had to watch the one video that worked in Spanish. The good point on this is that I was able to follow the cardio routine without hearing the words. OK, I do know a few Spanish numbers and the word "rapido," but overall I was relying solely on the visuals. After doing the routine only once or twice before it was no problem so none of the steps are very complicated which is a big plus.

Now for the good points

• The customer service at Beach Body was superb. I chatted with them last night about my technical issue and they put a brand new disc in the mail right away.
• As stated above the moves are not complicated and after doing the routines once you catch right on. I should note that it's not totally easy (or even possible) to move like the Spanish girls on the video. You really need to have some Latin in your blood to get your hips and shoulders to move like that. Mine don't seem to be wired right and I can't even imagine how ridiculous I look. But it's fun. Period.
•  I thought all the videos would focus solely on the rear end, but they include a good mix of total body conditioning. Your arms, legs, and abs are working too. In fact there's a complete separate 20 minute ab workout, just like P90X.

Some other things worth mentioning

• Unlike P90X, the cardio routines are totally dependent on the amount of effort you exert. It's quite possible to get through them without doing all that much. That is not the case with P90X. Even if you only give it 50% of your all, just performing the required tasks is a big undertaking. These moves are all pretty easy and without really giving it some ummph, you're not going to get much out of them.
• The sculpting work that requires the bands or the weights, however, are very good. When I read the instructions that told me during the first week I was supposed to perform these work-outs "without equipment" I thought, "Why bother? What a waste of time." Well, I was wrong. Without the bands or the weights my muscles were burning and tears were welling up. I can honestly say I'm not looking forward to adding that 'equipment.' Yikes
• The hardest part of this series (for me) is that you are working muscles that you simply don't normally work. With P90X you work the typical muscles that get used in most athletics and every day activities. I've been training for the past decade with my husband . . . in a gym, on a bike, in a kayak . . . my major muscles are well equip to take on the challenges of the P90X exercises. But these exercises are a whole different story. I'm using butt muscles that I never knew existed and certainly never work out. No matter if I started in fairly good shape or not I don't think I would have had a prayer at breezing through this series of videos.

Bottom line is that my legs already feel firmer and more toned after just one week. Since I really don't have to make a huge difference in my overall physical dimensions I'm not sure that I will continue to follow the program to the T, by the book, and in the super neurotic, anal retentive, Type A personality way that I followed P90X. I have no doubt that if you do indeed follow the program, you will get the desired results.

The Year Without P90X

2012 should have been my fifth consecutive year completing the P90X program. It has become my Winter routine that always gets me excited about the New Year. I usually dive right in and within a month I feel great. I'm whipped into shape, I'm strong, and I'm "ready to go" as Tony Horton likes to say. But unfortunately, this will be the year without P90X and I wasn't sure how to cope. The terrible neck injury that caused me to lose an entire year of biking, lifting, and yoga is continuing to plaque me. I still can't do any real push-ups (my all-time favorite exercise) and there's simply no way I could get through a single P90X work-out in this pathetic condition.

I moped around and sulked for a good 5 months. I got weaker and weaker and more and more depressed until I thought I would lose my mind. What's a yogi to do? Even meditating over this dilemma proved difficult due to the uncomfortable sitting position. Finally my doc said that I can start doing some cardio - still no lifting or yoga, but I got the green light for cardio. Now I just needed to figure out where to start.

Enter Beach Body . . . yes, the same folks that offer P90X. This is a little bit embarrassing, but I got sucked into the infomercial advertising the "Brazilian Butt Lift." I can't believe I just admitted that. Normally I would fly by any such silly infomercial, but it was a weak moment and it looked like fun.

I was so excited to start it that I didn't wait for New Years. I'm 4 days into the program and so far I love it. As with P90X it encourages you to take Before and After photo, along with measurements, but I never bother. My before and afters are never very impressive because not much changes. I really don't know how I manage to 'look' like I'm in shape when I'm clearly not. Hey, I'm not complaining, but all my changes are in how my body feels not how it looks. I just want to get back to having nice hard muscles. The most important test they recommend you take is the "pencil test." My husband thought I needed to see if I could break the pencil with my butt cheeks, but fortunately all you need to do is place the pencil under one cheek and see if the pencil stays or falls down. If your rear end is too big there is likely a crease between the buttocks and the top of the leg in which the pencil would stay. The goal of the program is to get to the point where the pencil falls. I passed the test and my pencil did indeed fall. I'm getting off to a good start.

And for the first time in my life, I'm starting off at baseline. This is such a new experience for me. I am so accustomed to breezing through most fitness videos. I just never had a concept of how hard it can be to get into shape, when you're not already in shape. Does that make any sense? It reminds me of a personal trainer that allowed himself to go from totally ripped to 150 pounds overweight just so he could put himself into the shoes of his clients. He always heard, "You don't understand how hard it is to lose weight. You've never been fat. How could you relate?" Those are valid points and I too had no idea how challenging some simple workouts can be. When I used to teach my beginners yoga class I made the easiest classes I could dream up, but still they were too challenging for the class. How could I know what folks could or couldn't do if it all felt too easy for me? Well, now I know! My super simple yoga routines would just about kill me know. I'm weeping as I type . . .

So I'll be reviewing these Brazilian Butt Lifts videos from an entirely new perspective. I am now representing the average woman. I am sadly no longer the super fit guru that I once was. I'm not entirely giving up hope on getting back there some day and I gotta start somewhere, so let's see how my butt progresses. Please stay tuned to some reviews of this program.

I Learned the Secret To Running

I can't believe it's taken me (an undisclosed amount of) years to finally learn how to run. I mean how difficult should it be really? It's something that tiny toddlers master right after walking. I always marveled at the fact that book (with lots of pages) can be written on the subject. I remember picking up "Running for Dummies" one day and flipping through it just to see what it could say for over 200 pages.

I know that there are several documents printed on how to train for long distance runs and that I always understood. There has to be a formula by which you follow in order to achieve marathon distances. But who knew that the very basics of how to put one foot in front of the other needed to be learned?

It wasn't until I had a nice dinner-time, small-talk chat with some friends that are runners that I came to the shocking conclusion that I never knew how to run. One of these friends is the kind of guy that regularly bikes 150 miles per day. So needless to say, talking to him never really inspires me. The man is just not human. And if he his, he certainly isn't wired like the rest of us. But it was talking to the woman who is my age and training for her first ever marathon that gave me inspiration. I had all sorts of questions for her, the biggest being, "When you first started running how long did you run?" The answer shocked me. She said she could only run for 5 minutes at a time last year. This peaked my interest.

I am a great two miler. With no training at all, at any time of the year I manage to maintain my fitness level to the point where I can easily throw on my sneakers and run two miles. However, I seem to have a mental block at that distance, my body shuts down, and I can't seem to break it. Why is it that I can bike non-stop all day without it phasing me, but I can't run more than 20 minutes? I always thought it was because I have a bad knee and know that anything more will just cause me pain.

So I dug deeper into this conversation and learned this little trick about how you place your foot when jogging. You should be placing your foot flat, or maybe even a little bit toward the ball of your foot. Fascinating. I never really thought about how I placed my foot. And your stride should be short rather than long. Given the length of my legs (long) I always thought I was doing myself a favor by taking big strides. Wrong. My friends told me to think of running as simply just picking up your feet. Your upper body should be as still as possible and when your foot hits the ground just concentrate on picking it back up. They told me stories about people with bad knees and all sorts of injuries are running without any issues because they know how to run with the proper technique. It made me curious enough to test out the theory.

And guess what? I've been running 2 - 3 times per week, effortlessly and with no knee pain. I never thought this could be possible (the no pain part). Now granted I haven't conquered many more than 2 miles, but I'm increasing my distance by 1 or 2 telephone poles per run. The best and most fascinating part of this test is that when I finish running I feel as though as have so much more in me AND my knee doesn't hurt. I still can't believe this is possible, but it's true. I'm so excited to have finally learned how to run and almost motivated enough to sign up for an upcoming 5 mile race.

The Biggest Drawback to P90X

I've stated several times in the past that the biggest challenge to P90X is the time commitment and now I'm realizing the biggest drawback . . .

I am always starving! I mean seriously, since the day I started this routine nearly 3 months ago I am constantly hungry. And that is very unlike me. My body has a great self regulating ability. It somehow knows exactly what I need to maintain my weight and adjusts my hunger accordingly. When I'm loafing around and not working out for long stretches of time (yes, that happens at certain times of the year) I eat very little, I guess because of my very low appetite. But lately, my goodness, I'm consumed with thoughts of "How long before I get to eat again and what will I eat next?" I hate it. I feel like my husband, who is constantly complaining that he's hungry no matter how much I feed him.

There is still a little piece of me that wonders why I go through all of this. I can just do nothing to work out and my body will adjust to maintain my healthy weight. Seems like it would be a whole heck of a lot easier. BUT, I'm a psycho and I need the rush of working out and I need to feel good about myself for being strong . . . so I'm going to find more to eat now. I think there's a jar of almonds close by . . . and some leftover Easter candy too. I'm on it.

This Was a First

So I think I learned an important lesson about the order by which you perform the P90X workouts. For whatever reason (I truly can't remember) I decided to start this week backwards. Funny this seemed like the perfectly logical thing to do on Saturday. Then, since I already started the week screwed up, I further messed with it by doing only the Legs portion yesterday, saving the Back portion of Legs & Back for this afternoon's lunch time work out. Then I got home and realized more shuffling was going to be needed due to after work commitments throughout the week. I thought, "no problem, I'll just do another weight lifting session today." Well that was a mistake. I tried to tackle Chest, Shoulders & Triceps which is notoriously a difficult one for me and I bonked. This was the first workout ever that I quit before the end of the video. I just couldn't muster the energy to get through the final 3 moves. I am just amazed at how much lifting weights sucks the life out of me. Between yesterday, this afternoon, and this evening I am completely burnt out. As a matter of fact my wrists are almost too sore to type. Yikes. How many more days until my Recovery Friday?

Why Do I Do P90X?

This is a question I often get asked. When friends see my commitment to this work-out routine, in the midst of all my other obligations that make my life one big time crunch, they often wonder why on earth I do it. I manage to stay the exact same weight, and look fit, whether I really am or not. So why bother with all this work and effort?

And today I may even have questioned it myself. I was upstairs, alone . . . diligently working out with Tony while my husband was outside in the 70 degree Spring temps, playing with our dogs. I have to admit, it ain't easy. And sometimes I hate it. But I trudge on. And here's why . . .

As bikers, the first voyage of the season is always bittersweet, especially living in a cold climate. The Spring air brings both excitement and dread. On one hand we can't wait to dust off the bikes and jump back on. But on the other hand we dread the slap of reality when we realize just how cold and long the winter has been. The routes that we tackled with ease at the end of one riding season suddenly pose a much bigger challenge. The legs start off feeling like bricks, the lungs seem so much smaller, and the muscles that were once there have slipped into hibernation. The bike rides that we once knew and loved become a dreadful chore and no biker likes that.

So this weekend was our maiden voyage and it was great. I jumped on my bike and tackled the ride like there was no winter off. I hit the ground running–and running fast–and rode just about the whole route in my top ring. It felt wonderful and that, my friends, is why I do P90X.