When I first decided to do this workout program, my first thought was, how will I find the time for this? My work hours can be crazy at times (I work in TV production), and I go out after work a few days a week. I'm absolutely NOT a morning person, but -- surprise, surprise! -- I discovered that if I put my mind to it, I can indeed wake up an hour earlier each day to do this. AND it's getting easier -- one day I even shocked myself by waking up before my alarm.
Days 1 and 3 were with weights -- or in my case, the workout bands that came with the program. (I bought the "deluxe" version) I've never worked out with bands before -- I'm going to try to give it more time, but I'm not loving them so far. It feels like there's just too much room for error (eg, it's too easy to have too much slack on the bands, which means you're getting a too-easy workout). My wonderful friend Debra gave me a pair of 5 lbs weights, and I'm going to look into buying others -- maybe make an investment into some cool adjustable weights. Any suggestions are most welcome!
Day 2 was supposed to be a rest day (already??) -- but I was raring to go, so I did a hip-hop cardio workout that I had DVRd from Fit TV -- the TV show All Star Workouts. Holy cow! I've taken dance classes in the past, but this was some seriously intricate choreography! You'd have to be a former Fly Girl to keep up with the steps -- but it was fun, and I still broke a sweat.
Today -- day 4 -- hard-core cardio with some light weights in the Burn Intervals workout (followed by 10 minutes of abs in Ab Burner). WOW! This was some challenging cardio! Towards the end, I had to stay on the lower impact side -- but I stuck to it.
This was an interesting eye-opener: the program comes with a fitness test to help you estimate your level of aerobic fitness, strength, flexibility and endurance -- it's a good way to track your improvement over time. I did it with my friend Debra last night -- she's very slim, and is very much into weights and boxing classes. It was interesting to see that we had very different strengths and weaknesses: I was able to do more pushups, but she was able to do the seated wall squat for quite a bit longer than I could. I'm more flexible, but she could do more arm curls.
This was most humbling -- Debra took some "before" pictures from me. Looking at these pics, I realize I have almost NO muscle tone. I'm pretty active in biking and rollerblading, but I haven't been consistent lately -- and it doesn't help that I'm carrying about 10 - 15 extra pounds.
Can't wait to see how these pics will change in the coming months!
STATS:Age: 39 (not for much longer!)
Height: 5'4"
Weight: this week -- fluctuating between 140 - 142
Waist: 33"
Hips: 38"
Abductors (just below the butt -- saddlebags): 37.25
Chest: 35.5
Right arm: 11"
Left arm: 10.75
Right thigh: 20.5
Left thigh: 20
Body fat percentage: 22.2*
* using the calipers for the first time -- no idea if I was doing this correctly.
If you're doing ChaLean Extreme (or have done it in the past), would love to hear your stories, tips, etc!
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