Workout for Saturday, December 31

Today's workout was Firm Total Body Shaping Mix.  This is a 66 minute total body workout which combines parts for various Firm workouts.  I always have to psych myself up for this one because of the length and the fact that it is TOUGH.  If you are usually challenging weights, you will be thoroughly worked out.  I love it because it hits everything, plus it has floorwork.  It's very much a classic Firm.

DH and I also took a one hour walk on the bike trail near our house to/from a local Italian restaurant.

Workout for Friday, December 30

Wow, this time off from work is FLYING!  I had lots of good intentions to clean out my walk-in closet, but it hasn't happened yet!  I still have Saturday, Sunday and Monday though.

Today I did The FIRM Bootcamp Maximum Calorie Burn with Alison Davis.  Overall, I thought this was a really good workout.  It's approximately 50 minutes and kept my heart rate up.  One thing I'll need to remember in the future is that I can go a little heavier on the weights.  The moves were (blessedly) basic, and I could see myself wanting to pull this one out more often.

Workout for Thursday, December 29

Today I did The FIRM BSS3 Express Cardio with Stephanie Huckabee.

This is not a favorite.  I really didn't care for the BSS3 workouts as a whole.  First, they sold them with the Death Box.  I gave mine away, and now use the Transfirmer to do these workouts.  But that whole venture left a bad taste in my mouth because it just seemed like The Firm was selling junk and not caring that people were injuring themselves.  Thank goodness they came out with the Transfirmer, which was a much better concept.  Also, it was in the BSS3 set where a couple of the instructors were SCARY skinny.  I usually don't care to comment or make judgments on others' weight since I'm not happy where mine is either.  However, instructors on workout videos are models for health and fitness.  These particular women looked like they had eating disorders and were almost painful to watch.

Also, I don't like how these are cued.  Any time the work is being done on an incline, they do it with the step to the side.  It's very hard to see what is going on if your box is to the side, and if you are doing it head-on so that you can watch the TV, you can't figure out which leg they are on.  Also, they don't film the beginner modifier (Libby) all that much.  Most of the time, she's cut from the picture.  The cuing itself isn't terrible (Stephanie generally is very good), but because the workout moved so fast from one thing to another, it was hard for me to keep up.  I think if I would do it a couple of times, I'd be fine.  I just don't like enough to want to bother!

Overall, the workout feels intense for me (cardio-wise).  I even made a 10" step for the 14" box climbs, and did a few of the beginner modifications (low jacks, etc.), but I was still panting.  Maybe it's all that fudge I've been consuming!  The workout is just over 30 minutes, so at least it's not endless.

Workout for Wednesday, December 28

Another day at home.  I could get used to this!

Today I did Firm Strength, which is was originally called Strong Body.  This is a 55 minute "Cross-trainer" lead by Pam Cauthen.  The workout was marketed with Firm Cardio (aka Strong Heart).  Both were filmed in a library setting, which seems a little weird, especially with the wallpaper printed with bookshelves.

That said, this is one of my favorite Firm workouts.  There are some kooky editing errors in it (i.e., "get ready for leg press" right after you did leg presses and are getting ready for dips), but it doesn't take away from the workout.  The only thing that would make this workout perfection is some lying side outer thigh work.  I love the fact that there is some cardio inter-spread between slow-moving strength work.  Nothing moves too fast, and it thoroughly works you out (given that you use challenging weights).  It utilizes a barbell, ankle weights, dumbbells, tall and short steps (short step only for the warm-up), and a towel.

Workout for Tuesday, December 27

Ahhh...so nice to be at home all day.  I did work from home as I'm able to access my company's network anywhere.  It snowed pretty much all day here, and it was beautiful to see.

Tonight I did The FIRM Calorie Killer with Nancy Tucker.  This workout is 39 minutes and was an add-on to the BSS2 series.  Overall, it's a decent workout.  I actually do some of the beginner modifications  (i.e., I use the 6" step for the step aerobics, and when they are doing tall box climbs, I create a 10" box ).  I'd consider this workout high intermediate/low advanced if done the way Nancy does it (with the 8" step and 14" box).  The choreography is fairly simple, yet it's fast-paced enough that it isn't boring.  I do think the gratuitous use of the Sculpting Stick is just plain silly.

Workout for Monday, December 26

Merry Christmas, everyone!  I was off for the last two days, and I really enjoyed the time with family/friends.

I'm back today and did The Firm Cardio Split 1.  This was a parts workout taken from Super Cardio and Super Sculpting.  I have to say, it kicked my butt.  My heart rate stayed up the entire 51 minutes.

I also walked for an hour with my DH to/from our local Panera.

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.