I have been interested in giving Kettlebells a try for a while now, but have been hesitant after hearing stories of injuries and inexperienced instructors. So, I was excited to find Kettlebell expert Lauren Brooks on Facebook, and even more excited to find out that she had her own DVD. I asked if I could review it and she kindly sent me a copy along with an extra for a giveaway.
This DVD is fun and super effective. It contains instructions, a warm-up, a short 12-minute workout, and a longer 40-minute workout. As a Kettlebell novice, I loved the introduction and demonstration segments. Lauren reviews the moves methodically so you can follow along and learn proper form. She also reviews recommended starting weights depending on your level of strength.
After practicing my form and reviewing all of the instructions, I decided to give the 40-minute workout a try. I rotated between a 10 pound or 15 pound bell depending on how challenging the exercise was for my personal strength. It was an excellent workout. In between high-intensity segments there are 60 second rest periods. You can use this time to either relax and get some water or do some light cardio like jumping jacks or running in place. By the middle of the workout, you’ll appreciate the rests!
In reviews I have read, some have complained about Lauren’s personality. She’s very matter-of-fact, but I prefer this approach versus some of those instructors who sound like “woo-hoo” cheerleaders.
I am thrilled to now have some Kettlebell experience and plan on making these workouts a part of my weekly routine. Thanks to Lauren for a great introduction to this fun and interesting strength/cardio combination.
PersonalFitCoach.com is hosting a giveaway of this great DVD. Feel free to stop by to enter.
Now all you have to do is send your email address to me at fig[at!]fitfig.com and I’ll email the gift certificate to you as soon as I can.
Everyone please come back later today for another giveaway announcement. For now I have to go put the baby down for a nap and do my own workout for the day!
I STILL have a broken toe and not much else to talk about, so we’re going to have another fun giveaway here. It’s well-known that I’m a big Cathe Friedrich fan and I like to spread the word about her great workouts, so let’s have a Cathe.com $25 gift certicate giveaway. If you’re interested, just comment below. Tell us if you already do Cathe’s workouts, if you’re interested in trying one, or if you’ve never heard of her before. Or maybe you just want to check out the cool equipment they now sell on her website.
On Friday I had the great opportunity to watch Amy Bento Ross film one of her new workouts. She was taping both Advanced Step Challenge 4 and Hi/Lo Dynamics. I will be pre-ordering both but of course I’m most excited about ASC4 so that is the one I watched. (Plus she was filming that one at a convenient time for me.) I put one kid on the bus to school, dropped the other two with the sitter, and drove to New Jersey to meet Amy. That was not a huge commitment as New Jersey is not all that far from here.
So I went and met Amy and her friends and background girls. I even met Tamilee Webb (Buns of Steel diva!!!) though I didn’t get to say more than two words to her — she was busy directing the workout and I was a little awed by her. The Buns of Steel workouts were the first workouts I did and I collected a ton of them before moving on to newer stuff. They really were what set me on the road to being a vidiot, though. Even though I didn’t get to talk to the famous Tamilee I did get to chat some with Amy and her girls. They are just as you’d expect from Amy’s workouts–energetic and fun-loving. Amy’s personality seems to exactly jibe with her on-screen persona. (more…)
Hi everyone! I’m Sara – a long time reader of FitFig and other fitness blogs, and I was excited to see her post asking for blog help! And even more excited that she accepted my offer to contribute to her blog, heh. In fact, I even won one of her Figaways once. I’m a 30-something, happily married, dog mom to three pups, who can’t resist a bargain. :mrgreen: I ramble on about my workouts over at My Basement Gym, and I have a variety of exercise interests – with body part splits with free weights being my first love. Though I do vary from that style often, since I also have a short exercise attention span.
I’m relatively new to the exercise video scene compared to many of the long time video workout devotees that I’ve meet on some of the internet forums. I bought my first workout video set in 2003, the original Core Secrets set. I had been weight training for about 4 years at that point (learning everything from books and magazines) and was looking for some more variety and got suckeredinterested by the infomercial for the Core Secrets workouts. I bought the rest of the workouts from that series as they were released, too. I’m still bummed that the series is discontinued. And while I haven’t reviewed any Core Secrets workouts on my blog yet, they remain some of my favorites and still make it into my rotation regularly. I slowly added more workouts to my collection over the next few years, starting with a few Jari Love and Amy Bento workouts – and even a few from Leslie Sansone, since I’m rather choreography challenged. I also saw Cathe’s workouts on FitTv, but it was a few more years before I actually purchased some of her videos. Can you say intimidated? (more…)
Yes, I’m back into the swing of things and ready to give something away. When I was heavily pregnant or busy with new baby, I received a couple of Denise Austin DVDs for free from Lionsgate and put them aside. This weekend I stumbled across them and thought, “Oh yeah! Need to give these away!” So I’m starting with one this week and will do another next week.
So this week it’s Denise’s Body Makeover Mix. You can see a full description and a clip here. I personally don’t enjoy Denise’s workouts, just because she sounds like a Kindergarten teacher. Nothing against Kindergarten teachers — I just would prefer a different voice from my fitness instructors. (more…)
In the interest of full disclosure and in compliance with a new FTC rule (seriously, can you believe the FTC cares what I write on this little blog?), I received this workout DVD free, compliments of Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Now that we’ve got that out of way, I decided my review this time would start off with just copying over the little notes I took between segments, so you can really get my fresh first impressions.
It’s been so long since I’ve had a giveaway on this blog, and I suddenly just had the urge to do another one. This one is for a $25 gift certificate for Cathe.com. The winner can use it for a Cathe Friedrich DVD or Fitness by Cathe workout gear or I guess anything on her shop. Cathe is my absolute favorite DVD workout instructor and her fitness products are pretty great, too. I’ve been thinking about her a lot since she just had her 2009 Road Trip last weekend (which I didn’t get to attend this time ).
To enter the giveaway, just comment below–do you do Cathe workouts? Do you even know who Cathe is? If you do her workouts, which are your favorites? I am not doing her stuff while super-pregnant and I miss it. I look forward to getting back to it postpartum.
If you tweet about this or mention it on your blog, you can get an extra entry to win–just come over here and comment again–and tell me your Twitter name or blog URL.
The giveaway will end Saturday night (the 15th) and I’ll post the winner next Sunday (the 16th).
Last week my 5-day plan worked out pretty well except for missing a couple of the planned yoga workouts. Friday I had a particularly fun workout as I pulled out my favorite step DVD, Amy Bento’s Advanced Step Challenge II. I did it on my MatStep and kept it lower impact, but I still had a fun workout. Here’s the very similar plan for this week:
Today for Fig’s Finds I have a workout DVD recommendation. It’s Kelly Coffey-Meyer’s 30-Minutes to Fitness series. I have the Weights DVD and the Kickboxing DVD. I don’t have the Bootcamp DVD (I just generally don’t like boot camp workouts so I didn’t order it).
It is so rare to find a short workout that’s also challenging and makes me feel like I’ve gotten a great workout when I’m done, but I find these workouts to be effective in a short time.
The Weights DVD is split into two different workouts, Back/Legs/Chest and Biceps/Triceps/Shoulders. You can choose active rest segments or core work rest segments. There are two active rest segments to choose from and one also works your core, but with standing moves. That’s my preferred workout because she really flows well between weights and active rests and your abs and obliques really feel the burn but without traditional crunches. The weights are less than what you’d typically use in a Cathe Friedrich workout, but higher than you would use for a Jari Love/Firm workout. She goes fairly quickly so you won’t be heaving very heavy weights, but you can definitely use more than Barbie pink dumbbells. Collage Video rates this as an intermediate level workout, and I’d agree with that. For me that’s great because I consider myself intermediate level. If you are more advanced, you could save this one for your lighter days and you’ll probably still enjoy it. If you’re a beginner, just go a little lighter to start.
As for the Kickboxing DVD it is fun and really fast-paced. She moves from combo to combo so quick your head will spin. So don’t do it on a sleepy day. The combos are not complex, but there’s not a long breakdown since she’s only doing 30 minutes (by the way, there are actually two 30-minute workouts on this DVD so you can do a longer workout if you prefer). One interesting feature is a little window in the bottom corner comes up at the beginning of a new combo showing you the moves. I liked it and found it helpful and not too distracting (unlike the pop-ups on the “For Dummies” workouts which I HATE). She also has a modifier for beginners or those who don’t like to go too high-impact. I thought it was an incredibly fun workout. She did get some negative reviews on Collage for her cueing, but personally I found the cueing to be fine. It was tough to follow my first time, but I didn’t expect to get it the first time. I know it will get easier with more practice.
So that’s my recommendation for this week–check out Kelly’s 30-Minutes to Fitness workouts. If you’ve got the Bootcamp workout, please come tell us what you think, either here in the comments or over on the Fit at Home discussion board.
I remembered today that there’s a good reason to go ahead and rest when you feel fatigued and heavy-legged. At the very least it’s a good time to choose an easier and more low-impact workout. I know that you should lift weights with good form, but you should also do your cardio with good form to avoid injury. Today was one of those days where my feet felt like lead as I attempted to do step aerobics. I was doing combos 3, 4, & 5 of Amy Bento’s Advanced Step Challenge II (my current favorite workout). Usually that workout energizes me but the Holiday Slug Syndrome was trying to drag me down (by the way, I wish I’d described a Holiday Sloth yesterday–much cuter than a Slug). I know the workout pretty well by now and was going through the motions and burning some calories, but I tripped twice during combo 5. After the second trip-up I stopped and skipped to the stretch. After all my ankle drama last year I didn’t want to push my luck. So that reminded me that sometimes there’s a darn good reason to rest when you feel like resting. Even if I hadn’t rested, I could have done some slower workout with less risk of injury. This time I was lucky and I didn’t really hurt myself, but it could have been a disaster that would have sidelined me for weeks (my ankles are wobbly and my knees are wonky so I’m easily sidelined).
So let that be a lesson to you as well. There is no shame in rest, if your body is crying out for it. There’s also no shame in changing your plans and doing an easier workout if you don’t need full rest. Be good to yourself, people, and I promise to be better to myself as well.
Yesterday I did Cathe Friedrich’s Low Impact Circuit. This is one of my favorite circuit workouts–and I’m very picky about circuits–I generally prefer just weights or just cardio. It’s also one of the earliest Cathe DVDs I bought, so it holds a special place in my heart for that reason. I love the music (mostly 80′s hits) and the moves. It’s not her most complex step choreography, but it’s still fun. I also like that it’s low impact since I have knee issues. Another plus is the limited weights I have to drag out of hiding (how I wish I had my own workout room!) She uses a barbell with 20 lb, two 5-lb dumbbells, and a resistance band. That’s it. Obviously it’s not a strength-building workout with the light weights, but more about endurance. It’s one of Cathe’s only intermediate workouts, so if you’re looking for a good starter to try Cathe but feel you’re beyond her Basic Step, try this one. I think it might also work for someone who likes The Firm workouts.
Today’s workout was Cardio Camp, a CIA-produced workout with Kimberly Spreen. I had not done this one in ages–probably because I have way too many workout DVDs. I don’t think I enjoyed it quite as much as I used to, but it was still a good workout. It would also qualify as intermediate level, I believe. The workout alternates kickboxing sections with hi/lo aerobics combos. Then she does all the hi/lo combos together followed by all the kickboxing combos together. There’s also a leg sculpting section (which I skipped today because I’m doing lower body work tomorrow). Finally she finishes with one of my favorite stretch sections–no mat needed as it’s all standing stretches. That’s another great thing about this workout: zero equipment. However, it is a bit of a space hog, though you can always adjust for it.
This week I’ll be giving away Tracey Staehle’s Walking Strong DVD, courtesy of Fit by Tracey! This DVD is opened but still like new (I just had to try it out and I’ll probably end up buying it for myself eventually). I love Tracey’s personality and her banter with the others. She and her sister are walking on treadmill and her friend Jill modifies on the floor, so you can use it even without a treadmill. She also does some upper body work with handweights and some lower body work right on the treadmill. It’s very creative and has great music, like so many Tracey workouts. Check out the many 5-star reviews on Collage Video.
I’ll also be including one of my Figgy T-shirts in this giveaway (your choice of size).
Since I’m a bit puppy-obsessed right now, we’re going to go slightly off-topic for our comments on this giveaway! Tell me about your pet, or about the pet you wished you had, or if you don’t have nor want one, tell me about your favorite person instead. If you are a misanthrope and an animal-hater, you’ll have to come up with your own comment idea.
OK, I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before (probably several times) but I do so love Amy Bento’s Advanced Step Challenge 2. I’m am also starting to love ASC3 though I’m still stumbling through most of that one. That girl does some fun step workouts. I dig the music, the moves, and her cueing. It’s all incredible. Yesterday I was having trouble getting started with a new step workout so I took it out and put in ASC2. Great idea. It motivated me immediately. I did a couple combos from that and then felt ready to tackle ASC3 and did a couple combos of that. So it wasn’t a super-long workout, but it was fun and I burned 500+ calories (but who’s counting?) If you like step and you don’t mind it complex, you’ve got to check these out.
Then today I didn’t get in a workout except for my pushups because I got busy doing so many other things. (Hey, it happens.) I’m plugging away at the pushup challenge, repeating week 5 with the hubby. Today I cranked out 62 for my max after all the regular sets. Ouch. That means my total number of pushups for tonight is 224. Yowza. (OK, yeah, on my knees–gotta mention that.) I haven’t decided if I’ll adjust tomorrow’s workout to make up for missing today’s or not. I’ll see how tomorrow goes.
We have a winner for the Amy Bento Hot Body Boot Camp DVD–it’s Gibbee! Congratulations, Gibbee. Please email me your address info and I’ll send you the DVD as soon as I can.
Come back soon because I plan to post another DVD giveaway tomorrow.
So, you want it? It’s ideal for those days you just don’t have time for a lengthy workout. You can pick and choose among five 10-minute segments for your workout–or just add segments on to another workout. And it features the fit and fun Amy Bento, one of my favorite instructors. To be in for a chance to win, just comment below–tell me what you’d do with a little bit of free time in your day.
Luckily the Mac Genius guys did not take away my baby. I get to keep her for the time being. They are ordering a part, though, and when it arrives I’ll have to go drop her off with them.
In other news, I really enjoyed my Kelly Coffey-Meyer 30-Minutes to Fitness workout today. I went as heavy as possible and felt I got a really great workout for it being only 30 minutes of my day. I was supposed to do some Pilates today as well but I confess I haven’t been able to squeeze that in (the day got busier than I thought it would) so I’ll postpone that for another day this week. I will do my pushups after the kids go to bed, though. For some reason I’ve been doing those after the kids go to bed—maybe so that I don’t get the extra weight of a 30-pound kid climbing on my back while I pushup.
I’m really happy that my hubby is joining me on the pushup challenge. It helps to do it together (even though some days we aren’t actually together because he’s traveling or something). Of course, he’s doing the tougher on-the-toes version and I’m on my knees, but I still feel good doing the same amount that he does.
Well, today is my birthday, and I’m surprisingly happy considering I’m a few years past 30 now. I think nowadays the 30′s are still pretty darn young, anyway.
To celebrate, I get to see The Dark Knight at Imax. Awesome.
Also today I chose my most favorite step workout to enjoy my special day. That would be Amy Bento’s Advanced Step Challenge 2. You might be surprised that’s my favorite considering how much I mention Cathe Friedrich, but currently I just adore ASC2. My other favorite step workouts do all happen to be Cathe stuff, of course (like her Rhythmic Step, Step Blast, and the step from her 4-Day Split). If you want to celebrate with me, pick your favorite workout (DVD or otherwise) and enjoy it this weekend!
Oh, and of course I preordered Amy’s ASC3 and it may even arrive later this week! Woo-hoo!
We don’t claim to be fitness experts. We don’t dispense medical advice and we're not qualified to do so. We are also neither nutritionists nor personal trainers. We are just women on the journey to better fitness and a richer life. Please consult a doctor if you are starting a new exercise routine.
I have been interested in giving Kettlebells a try for a while now, but have been hesitant after hearing stories of injuries and inexperienced instructors. So, I was excited to find Kettlebell expert Lauren Brooks on Facebook, and even more excited to find out that she had her own DVD. I asked if I could review it and she kindly sent me a copy along with an extra for a giveaway.
And while I haven’t reviewed any Core Secrets workouts on my blog yet, they remain some of my favorites and still make it into my rotation regularly. I slowly added more workouts to my collection over the next few years, starting with a few 
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