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!

The Missing Piece - 30 Day Yoga Sculpt Program

Last week I detailed my current training program, but did anybody happen to notice what was sorely missing from it? I have been keeping myself very busy cross training between weight lifting and cardio, but I have suspiciously been avoiding yoga. There's a reason for that. It's because yoga is truly the hardest on my body. I find it easier to do a 7 mile trail run on very challenging terrain than a power yoga session. Because of my chronic neck and shoulder problems I have just been afraid to add yoga back into my routine and that just plain makes me sad. My upper body strength is not coming back as quickly as my lower body strength is and it's time that I step it up a bit. When I discovered that Acacia will be releasing a new yoga DVD training program it was the perfect opportunity to jump back into yoga with both feet. On April 3rd, Acacia will release a 30-day workout plan from its best-selling fitness series with Exhale: Core Fusion 30 Day Sculpt. This DVD will feature 30 twenty-minute workouts from the top husband and wife team in fitness, Fred DeVito and Elisabeth Halfpapp (who just happen to be among my favorites.)

The kind folks at Acacia sent me a review copy of the DVD and I so far I've done two day's worth of workouts. Already I'm in love with it. It's set up similar to my familiar Beach Body workouts in that every day is something different. When you pop the DVD in you are presented with "Work-out Options." These options are categorized by weeks: Week 1, Week 2, etc. for each week of the 30 day challenge. Once you pick the week, you're presented with more choices and you pick the day of the week. Out of the 7 days, one of these days is scheduled as a rest day (just like P90X and all the other Beach Body programs). There is no doubt that there is a formula for success in good training programs and this program is following that formula.

Yesterday I tried my first routine. I should mention that each workout is only 20 minutes long, which I love! And you're probably thinking, "How much of a workout can you get in 20 minutes?" And the answer to that is "a lot." Fred and Elisabeth waste no time with idle chit chat. They get right down to business and they don't fool around. It's not easy. The first routine started with a nice refreshing warm up, followed by 15 minutes of very challenging upper body intensive yoga moves. You'll be happy it's only 15 minutes. Be prepared for some pushups!

Today's session was much more focused on the lower body. I thought I would sail through it since I've been concentrating much more on my legs this season. After all, I'm doing 7 mile trail runs with ease. How hard can this be? Well, I nearly cried! I'm not sure I want to admit that I couldn't even really do all the moves, to the T, as they did. I thought my legs would explode. Wow. All I got to say is, "I'm impressed." And super excited to give this entire 30 days a go.

I will continue to post some reviews as I follow this program. Please remember that this DVD won't be available for sale until April 3rd, but after that you can find it on the Acacia website here: http://acacialifestyle.com/shop-all-fitness-dvds-/c/340/

Fit in 5 DVD Review

I’ve been testing out a lot of new work out DVDs lately and unfortunately I’ve been finding more that I don’t like than those that I do. But at last I found a winner. I just love DVDs workouts that are broken into multiple shorter segments. It seems I never have time to spend an entire hour working out and these shorter segments are the perfect lunchtime office routine for me. Actually, they are the perfect anytime routine (morning, after work, hotel room sessions) and getting multiple sessions in one DVD always seems like a good value.

This particular video, Fit in 5: Total Body Tone, by Acacia is a very nice well-rounded workout. It includes five 20 minute workouts: Strength, Yoga, Pilates, Abs, and Cardio. No matter what you’re in the mood for, there’s something to suite you. Sometimes I only do one of the 5, but on days that I have more time I combine two. The only one of the five that I’m not terribly thrilled with is the Strength one and I feel compelled to mention why. The moves are all great, but the pace is very fast. Normally I love a fast paced video. Nothing annoys me more than feeling like I’m wasting time. But when it comes to lifting weights and doing squats, form is very important. I felt like this video just moved a little too quickly to allow you to get a good form. I tried it twice and two times it left me with a sore knee so I’m going to caution you on being careful when doing this segment. Just be careful of your form. My tip would be to do all the moves (they are great), but don’t worry so much about keeping up with the reps. Just concentrate on your form and don’t worry about how many reps you did.

The Yoga session is done by Shiva Rea and it is one of the best combinations of relaxing and challenging yoga that I’ve encountered. Seems like most every yoga DVD is either very challenging (and not relaxing at all) or very relaxing, with not much challenge. This routine is my favorite “after work” one. The music and flowing movement just relaxes me, but yet the moves are just the right amount of challenge so my legs can burn while I’m feeling the stress melt away. I don’t know how she does it, but Shiva found the perfect combination.

The couple that leads the Abs session, Fred DeVito and Elisabeth Halfpapp, have become my favorite duo. I reviewed and raved about another one of their DVD workouts and they continue their style with this Ab workout. Some of the things I love about this couple is their no frills approach. They get right down to business. I like the fact that they are not 20 years old. They impress the heck out of me with their strength. I guess this is just the living proof that yoga works and that is always motivation to push harder. And push harder you must do. I have yet to find an Ab workout that I can’t do. I sailed through P90X Ab Ripper X, but this one . . . this one got me. Holy cow it’s challenging and I love the fact that I need to keep at it to get better each time. Totally motivates me to want to do more.

The Cardio session is just plain fun. I always loved cardio kickboxing and this routine is nice and easy to follow. Overly complicated routines just serve to discourage. I don’t want my brain having to work overtime when I’m trying to work out my muscles. Violet Zaki makes this one so much fun that the time feels too short. This is a great one to use a warm up for the others.

The Pilates session is a pure pleasure. I don’t have much experience with Pilates and was pleasantly surprised by how gentle and calming the entire experience was. Kristin McGee has such a soothing and pleasant voice. I could see that it’s a sneaky way of working out your entire core, but yet you feel so relaxed that you don’t even realize your working. This is a perfect session to couple with any of the others. I like to use it as my ending.

I think this DVD would make a perfect gift for somebody wanting to get back into shape for the New Year. I know I’m thrilled to have my copy. I will surely put it to good use throughout the year. You can find more info on the workout and purchase a copy for yourself here.

Free Hip Hop Dance Workout Today

I just stumbled across the free daily workout on the Acacia web site. Today looks like a fun 20 minute hip hop routine. I can't wait to get home to try this! Check it out here.

Acacia Rocks

I just love Acacia . . . everything about them. I love their beautiful catalogs and I find that I covet them like my favorite (yoga) magazines. I can't bring myself to throw them away. I keep them nearby and look at them over and over. Just looking at all their lovely products makes me happy.

But now I have a new reason to love them. Their web site just rocks. They recently started (or maybe it hasn't been recently, but I recently discovered) their daily work-outs. They put a new work out on their site every day and they are absolutely free to anyone that visits the site. These workouts are professional, diverse, and a surprise as to what you're going to get on any given day. These guys are just top notch. Thanks Acacia for offering such wonderful things to the fitness community.

Check out the workouts here.