Blog Archives
Exercise DVD Review: Jillian Michael’s Shred It with Weights
If you’ve read any of my reviews before, you’ll know that I generally take a very light-hearted and whimsical approach to them. I hate dry and stuffy reviews, and I prefer to try to make them at least somewhat entertaining while providing you the reader with my impressions and opinions of the item or restaurant or book or movie in question. Unfortunately, this review is not light-hearted, but I don’t think it’s going to be dry either. Normally, when I write a review, I’m in a good genial mood. Right now, I’m not. Honestly, I’m a little angry. I am also disappointed, and in a way, I feel betrayed. Bear with me; there is honestly a review in here. Read the rest of this entry
Ramping It Up
I’ve been working hard the last few weeks, especially in the cardio department, and the work has been paying off. I’m leaner, I’m fitter, I am probably definitely in the best shape of my life. I reached my weight goal, I reached my 100 push-up goal, and I am currently between “goals” for the most part beyond working hard and getting better. One thing that had stagnated during this time, though, has been my strength regimen.
Goals
Goals are funny things. On the one hand, they provide motivation, an end to shape and target your means, the light at the end of the tunnel. They help you keep your eyes on the prize, to remember that it’s a marathon not a sprint, and every incremental step towards that goal becomes fuel for taking the next, harder step.
On the other hand, what happens when you reach your goal? There’s that feeling of exaltation – I did it! The feeling of pride, of joy, it’s amazing, and makes all that hard work worthwhile. Then you get up the next day. What then? Celebrate with an ice cream sundae? (Note: DO NOT celebrate with an ice cream sundae) Take the day off and bask in your own awesomeness? (See previous note) Read the rest of this entry
Muscle Memory is an Amazing Thing
This morning, I was given a strong lesson on the effects of muscle memory. Oh, sure, it’s one I’ve gotten a billion times over the course of my life, but today’s instruction was particularly protracted and painful. I should know better, and I understand the concept: the more you do a particular action, the more your body gets used to that particular action, and adapts itself to it, making it easier. It’s the premise that golfers use to perfect their swings and choose those ridiculously stupid outfits, and how athletes of every stripe perfect the movements they need to excel, from hurdles to throwing a ball. Muscle memory is great, usually. Read the rest of this entry
Ouch
I am sore. Hamstrings? Sore. Quads, calves? Yup. Pretty much everything on me is sore. I guess that’s what happens when you take three days off from exercise. Crazy.
Lady Aravan and I worked out Saturday (a double-shot of Jillian’s Biggest Winner Series – more on that later), then went to an event that ended with me drinking quite a bit (it’s fine, I logged my alcohol calories and took them into account, as did my fair Lady). So, when I awoke Sunday I was still a bit drunk and decided that exercise really wasn’t in the cards early, and then later we had friends visiting. Day off, no biggie. Then Monday came, and having a lazy day off was too nice, and exercise was pushed off until Tuesday, which of course was another lazy day off and I just said forget it. Wednesday, however, it was up at 4:30 and back at it. Read the rest of this entry
Draggin’ Ass
Still getting up at 4:30 am every morning to work out. Well, to be completely accurate, this week it’s been 4:40 am since Lady Aravan has been using the snooze button once every morning. She’s in charge of the alarm. At one time, it was my responsibility, but this last time that she said she wanted to get up in the mornings, I said, “Sure. But you have to deal with the alarm.”
I did that because Lady Aravan has two stages of waking up. The first is a half-conscious state, where she is aware that she is being awoken, but nothing else. Her vocabulary consists of, “Nooooo,” “I’m so comfy,” “but I’m warrrrrmm,” and little else. I found it very difficult to be in a groggy half-state of awareness myself and hear this without having to lay back down myself, because I too wanted to say no, be comfy, and remain warm. Her second state is the actual fully-aware state, in which she remembers nothing of her half-awake antics. Sometimes she would get mad at me for waking her up, but that was rare. Read the rest of this entry
Hi Again, Jillian!
When Lady Aravan and I started working out, we started with Jillian Michaels. She’d always been an inspiration to both of us, ever since we first saw the Biggest Loser, and we own all of her DVDs. We worked our way through the 30 Day Shred, then the Biggest Winner Series, and then Banish Fat & Boost Metabolism, No More Trouble Zones, and Yoga Meltdown (the only one of her DVDs that ever disappointed us, but maybe I’ll talk about that another time). We were alternating the last 3 as our workouts for a few weeks when we saw Bob Harper’s DVDs, which I’ve written about once or twice.
We loved Bob’s DVDs, and said that it was OK, we weren’t exactly “cheating” on Jillian since it was Bob, same show, you know. Then we did the workout plan, and loved it as well, and saw incredible gains across the board. Once we “completed” it, we wondered what to do. Keep going with Bob? Mix in other things? Go back to Jillian? Since Lady Aravan had tweaked her shoulder earlier and it was taking time to get better (especially since she never stopped pushing it, which is so like exactly what I do that I really couldn’t tell her not to, and it wouldn’t have mattered what I said anyway), we decided to do an all-cardio week. Yesterday we stuck with Bob. Today, we went back to Jillian after nearly three weeks.
Bob Harper’s Inside Out Method Workout Plan – Final Thoughts
Two weeks ago, my wife and I decided to attempt Bob Harper’s workout plan using his new Inside Out Method DVDs, as laid out on his website www.mytrainerbob.com. (NOTE: the link to the schedule no longer appears to work, so, thanks to a friend, my lovely wife, and a scanner, I have a copy of the Inside Out Method schedule here.) It’s a 4-week program (although you can do week 4’s workout ad infinitum if you like) that starts with working out a few days a week and builds into a full 7-days-a-week exercise regimen. Lady Aravan and I started with Week 3, since we’d already been working out 6 days a week and didn’t want to cut back and start from the beginning, nor did we want to mix in other exercises (except strength workouts) among Bob’s different workouts. All Bob, all the time. So how did it go?
Bob Harper’s Workout Plan, Day 14
This is it, the last day of the 4-week plan. This is the first Monday in quite some time that I had to work out, so I was a bit apprehensive about the morning. The alarm starts up at 4:30, but since today’s workout is only 30 minutes, the Magical Snooze Button makes its first appearance in a month. Thirty extra minutes of interrupted sleep never felt so good.
But, in the blink of an eye, it’s 5, and time to get up. I am nervous, knowing that today is the strength portion of Bob’s Workout, the one where Zach looks as if he is going to die halfway through it. I know it’s a tough exercise program, and I’m not sure I’m ready. Bob, however, doesn’t much care if I am ready or not.
Winter in Derenemyn 