Workout for Friday, December 23, 2011

Last night I took the night off since we had a party to attend.  We have another party tonight, however I'm off from work today so I had time to get one in.  I will be off from workouts on Saturday and Sunday as DH and I will be in PA visiting our families.  We drive back on Monday, and I have all of my workouts planned for the next week.

As I mentioned before, my eating this last month has been TERRIBLE.  There have been too many parties, lunches and dinners out, and goodies laying all around.  Typically I journal every morsel of food and I've kept that up for over a year, which played a big part in me losing weight.  Once I get sloppy with that habit, I get sloppy with my eating.  We are planning a Biggest Loser-style contest at work, starting the first week of January and going through the last week in March.  This is perfect for me because DH and I are going on another cruise at the end of March...I plan to have dropped this recently gained weight by then (plus hopefully a few more pounds!).

Today I did The FIRM High Def Sculpt with Annie Lee.  This is part of the CardioWeights series.  I'm not sure what happened when The Firm put this workout together, but the cuing is way off on a lot of it, and Annie just seems so staged and awkward.  I felt bad for her.  She leads other workouts and does a great job.  I think maybe they just didn't rehearse this one enough.  The good thing is that the workout moves slowly, so if you miss a rep (which happens because it's poorly cued), you can catch up easily.  This is a strength-based workout and is 45 minutes.  There is a decent variety of exercises and most everything gets hit fairly well.  I'd suggest going a little heavier with most of the exercises because the moves are slow enough to accommodate that.

Workout for Wednesday, December 21

Tonight I did BSS2 Complete Aerobic and Weight Training.  This is a great AWT workout, and is just under an hour.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm not a big fan of Emily.  I just don't click with her.  However, she does do a great job leading this workout, and it truly is one of the best Firm workouts.  I wish they would make more just like this:  1 hour AWT that uses the leg press/tall step.  I'm not a fan of the Sculpting Stick though.  It was cheaply made and not heavy enough to do much of anything.

Workout for Tuesday, December 20

I can't believe how close we are to Christmas.  I'm glad I have pretty much everything done.  The parties, lunches, dinners, and get-togethers are really doing a number on me, though.  My eating has been completely out of control!  Thank goodness I'm at least exercising.

Today, I did three short workouts, for a total of one hour:

• The Firm Wave Rock Solid Cardio with Kelsie Daniels (approx. 30 minutes)
• The Firm Wave Express Abs with Emily Welsh (approx. 10 minutes)
• The Firm Express Ignite: Cardio with Emily Welsh (approx. 20 minutes)

I have to say that I'm still a little klutzy on the Wave.  You do have to do it a couple times before you feel confident.  I really enjoy it though, and it does add a big challenge.

As far as the Firm Express workouts go, I've only done a few, and the one I did tonight is my favorite so far.  I'm not a huge Emily fan, but she does pretty well in these. My favorite workout of hers is Complete Aerobic and Weight Training, which I'm scheduled to do tomorrow.  That's an excellent workout.

Workout for Monday, December 19, 2011

Tonight's workout was The FIRM Super Body Sculpt led by Stephanie Huckabee.  This is an add-on workout to the BSS1 Series.

There are three short workouts:  Upper, Lower, and Abs.  I really can't imagine just doing one of them since they are short.  The entire workout is 43 minutes.

I'd classify this workout as intermediate, but it's definitely adaptable.  I like Stephanie's straight-forward style, and I do feel worked-out afterward.

Workout for Sunday, December 18

I didn't get our mail from yesterday until today (it came late, and then we forgot about it).  So this morning, I received The FIRM's latest workout:  Time Crunch Cardio with Allie.  It is one DVD with three 20-minute cardio-based workouts:

• Cardio + Sculpt Combo
• Fat Blasting Bursts
• Calorie Burning Cardio

The first workout allows you to use heavier weight inter-spread with cardio.  When she says you can go heavy, you really can.  The sculpting moves don't get as frantic as they do in the Express workouts.

The second workout has light and heavy four-limb movements.

The third workout uses no weights and some of it has a Latin flair.

I did all three workouts today, and I definitely feel worked-out.  I think it will be a versatile DVD because you can add cardio to another workout or do two or three of them for a long cardio workout....or just do one 20-minute workout if that's all you have time for.

Workout for Saturday, December 17

Wow.  Today I dug into the BSS4 series and did The FIRM Ultimate Calorie Blaster with Stephanie Huckabee.  HOLY CRAP!  That workout is very difficult for me. I think it's because of all of the fast tall box climbs.  To help me modify a bit, I assembled my full-size club step with four risers under each side so I'd have a big 12" tall box.  This did help, but it would have been better at 10".

Also, because my goal is to do EVERY Firm workout, I did the 8-Minute Ab Workout with Alison at the end.  By that time, I was beat.

The main workout is 48 minutes, so including the ab workout add-on, the total time is 56 minutes.

Workout for Friday, December 16, 2011

Tonight I did The FIRM Tough Tape 2, which is a Parts workout.  This is one of my favorites because it combines parts from some of my the best (IMHO) Firm workouts:  Firm Cardio, Firm Strength, Maximum Body Shaping, and Better Body and Buns.  The parts blend seamlessly into each other, and the workout is well-designed with not a lot of scrambling for equipment.  It's 45 minutes and hits everything well, but there is no ab work in this one.