Gym vs. Home Workout

This past week I had the opportunity to try a 7 day trial membership to a very prestigious athletic club in the Lansing area. I have to admit I was very impressed with the establishment and all that it offers it members. I took advantage of the trial membership and tried many of the options that they have to offer. But, it only took me a couple of days to realize that the membership to a gym is not for me. A 40 minute workout quickly turned into a hour an a half commitment. How could I resist taking advantage of the hot tub and sauna's before taking a shower? I would get done with work at 5:00 but not get home until after 7:00 or 7:30 PM after working out. That is craziness! I have been using Beachbody home workout programs for the past two years. It is so easy to pop in a 40 minute workout DVD, complete the workout, jump in the shower and be done in less than an hour. When you are working 40 hours a week, it is hard enough to find an hour each day to fit a good workout in. So finding time to workout at a gym and take advantage of the amenities that they offer to justify the monthly price of membership is out of the question for me. I have paid $15 - $120 for the varies Beachbody programs that I have purchased. But, it is a one time purchase price and I own them. I can use and reuse the programs over and over for the rest of my life. Most of the DVD workout programs are a 30, 60 or 90 day programs. Once I complete one I try another. What I like about them is not every day is the same workout. Most of the programs come with several DVD's because there are so many workouts. I use my free WOWY membership to log the programs. Each day before I get ready to workout I go into WOWY and find out what workout I am scheduled to do today. And all from the convenience of my own home. I know some people say they can't do home workout programs because they are not motivated enough to keep doing it every day. My suggestion for that is to find a workout buddy. That buddy doesn't have to be committed to the same program as you, they just need to commit to working out like you. Then keep each other accountable. My workout buddy lives half way around the world. We continue to keep each other accountable simply by asking each other each day about our workouts. If you need a workout buddy I would be glad to help you. Find me on Facebook or leave a comment here.

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM™

This week I started a new 30 day workout program called INSANITY: THE ASYLUM. This program is recommended for people that have completed THE INSANITY program. I completed INSANITY several months ago and have since been doing ChaLEAN Extreme. So when my daughter, Alicia purchased INSANITY: THE ASYLUM and asked if I wanted to start it with her after we returned for the Beachbody Summit I said sure. We both started on Sunday by doing the Fit Test. The Fit Test is about 25 minutes of Agility Heisman's, In and Outs, Pull ups/Push ups, Mountain Climbers, Agility should taps, X jumps, moving pushups, agility lateral shuffle and agility bear crawl. The program comes with a plastic/strapped ladder that you lay on the floor and use to jump and crawl between the rungs of the ladder. We completed the fit test and I thought if this is a preview of what's to come, I'm in trouble.

DAY 1 - Speed and Agility. I thought I was going to die! I have not worked up a sweat like that in a very long time. I have this love/hate relationship with Shaun T. He pushes you to dig deeper and not give up. I gave the workout 100% although I was not able to keep up. But being 52 years old, I felt very proud of myself when the workout was over.

DAY 2 - Strength. I liked this workout because it involved weights and strength training. I was able to keep up with most of the workout until the end where the pushups started to get the best of me. I ended up doing pushups on my knees but again stuck with it and did my very best.

DAY 3 - Back to Core. I was so sore in the morning that I could hardly move. I put the workout off until later in the day when my body had time to loosen up some. My shoulders were so sore from all of the pushups in Day 2. This workout works your back and would not be bad if my shoulders weren't already so sore.

DAY 4 - Vertical Plyo. OMG! Another hard workout. I'm going to be honest, I could not keep up with this workout. There is a lot of jumping moves and my heart was beating hard. I again worked up a sweat like never before.

So far I would have to say this is the hardest workout I have ever done.The program is advertised as, "With INSANITY you focused on improving your cardiovascular endurance and on total body conditioning. So, what's left? How about improving your balance, agility, power, strength, and coordination? Jump higher. Run faster. If you want to become an elite athlete or just improve your game, THE ASYLUM is your winning strategy." It definitely stands up to its advertisements. I haven't given up yet, it's only a 30 day program so I will stick with it and give it my best.

Accountability

Accountability

–noun

1.

the state of being accountable,  liable, or answerable.

I have found that one of the things that keeps me working toward my weight loss goal is accountability. I have an accountability partner, my daughter, Alicia. Together we have been working out and changing our eating habits for the past year. We often workout together and when we are not working out together, we are watching to make sure the other person is getting their daily workout in. Facebook is also another great source for accountability. I started posting over a year ago that I was working out and losing weight. If one day I stopped working out and started to gain back my weight, I would feel like I had failed in front of all of my family and friends.

Another thing that I do to stay accountable is to use my Bodybugg. I first heard of Bodybugg on The Biggest Loser show. All of the contestants wear them on  their upper left arm. Bodybugg is a calorie management system that uses specialized sensors to track calories burned. It also has a built in pedometer for tracking your steps. It keeps accurate daily records of calories consumed vs. burned. At least once a day I use an USB cord to upload the data to a web based program. It shows me how many calories I have burned minute by minute. I then have to input everything that I eat. The web based program already has information about many foods including restaurant foods. If you can't find it in the program you can input the information from food labels.  The trick is to be HONEST about food consumed. To lose weight you need to have a calorie deficit. The program allows you to set up weight loss goals. My first goal was to lose 20 pounds by my wedding. I told the program my target date, starting weight and goal weight. It then told me that I needed to have a 550 calorie deficit each day to reach my goal. This helped me to figure out how many calories I could eat in a day and how much physical activity I needed each day in order to create the deficit. It was funny when I first started to use the Bodybugg, I would upload the data and input my calorie intake, if I hadn't reached my 550 calorie deficit for the day, I would do another workout or go for a walk. With the help of my Bodybugg I was able to reach my goal weight for my wedding. Now I have set a new goal for bikini season!

If you do not have an accountability buddy, I would love to be one for you. Send me an email, sally@homefitness4u.com. Start your journey to better health and fitness today.

Setting Goals

One thing that has always motivated me in life is setting personal goals. A year ago I decided that I was getting married on January 1, 2011 and I was not going to have wedding pictures of me being fat. I mentioned in my previous post that my daughter, Alicia made me feel guilty about not working out with her. I had a whole barrel of excuses, she wasn't buying any of them. I finally decided to get serious and set goals.

One thing I really love about the Beachbody workout programs is that they help you establish the goals. Slim in 6 is a 6 week program, Insanity is a 60 day program, P90X is a 90 day program and ChaLEAN Extreme is a 120 day program. You decide what your goal is and when you would like to accomplish it by and then select a program that fits your goals. You can automatically schedule your complete Beachbody® workout program in WOWY SuperGym. Each day when you log in to WOWY it will tell you which workout to complete within your selected program.It doesn't get much easier than that.

When I finally decided to get serious about losing weight, one of the first things I did was to take pictures and measurements. After months of dabbling with the many different workout programs I finally decided to do P90X with my daughter. We took our before pictures and committed to working out daily. After the first 30 days I have to admit I was ready to give up. I was not losing any weight, I was gaining. Everyone kept saying I was building muscle and muscle weighed more than fat. I wanted to believe that, but it wasn't until I took my next set of pictures and measurements that I believed it. My measurements were changing and I was seeing visible results. This encouraged me to stick with it and to keep "pushing play". Tony Horton became my next best friend. I found myself picking up on his catchy phrases like "do you best and forget the rest". When I say I completed the P90X program, I have to clarify that I did my best and forgot the rest. It is an extremely hard workout regiment, but I did the best I could each day and just kept pushing forward. I am so glad that I stuck with it and reached one of my goals.

I got married on January 1, 2011 and lost the 20 pounds that I had set out to lose. I had gone from a size 14 to a size 8. When I purchased my wedding dress and tried it on for the first time they told me it could be let out in size if necessary. There was no way that was happening, I was going to lose the 20 pounds so I could fit in the dress and I did it.

What goals have you set in your personal life? What motivates you to reach your goals?