Tag: exercising

Fitness for September 2015

September 30, 2015 kimberlee

For the past month I took a break from my normal routine of using fitness videos and used some of my book and fitness magazine routines. I have a collection of workout and yoga books and lots of fitness routines from magazines that I have clipped out and saved. So, the first couple of weeks of September I used the magazine routines alternating in some yoga. It was fun to put on some good workout music and do those sets of exercises for 20 to 30 minutes.

The second half of the month I chose to use some of my workout books and alternate those with yoga from my yoga magazine. I also got a new Pilates book from Sams at the end of August so I mixed that in this month as well.

pilates book

I really like this Pilates book. It is a full color book with step by step photos of the exercises. At the end of the book there are several different Pilates routines that you can do – like one is classic Pilates, another called spinal call and working the leg-core connection. There are twelve total routines at the back of the book.

As you can see my other cat likes the Pilates book, too. She has been out more lately since I have started this new routine. She is usually more shy and quiet than my other cat who loves to join me for my daily workouts. I guess she is a Pilates fan.

Some of the other books I used for my workouts this month were some that I have had for a while. They are books that use an exercise ball and some of the exercises use weights. So a lot of these workout are more for toning and strength training.

As you can see I own a few fitness books that are about working out on the ball. The exercise ball is probably one of my favorite fitness tools. I know it is not exactly convenient for storing but there are so many things you can do on the ball and so many areas you can tone up much better than just doing traditional exercises. I think working out with weights on the ball is a lot of fun as well as some of the abdominal work.

So, for this past month I enjoyed creating my own routines or using some from the books. Most of them were about 20 to 30 minutes long. On my yoga days I usually did about a 20 or 25 minute yoga sequence from my Yoga Journal magazine that I bought several months ago. It is a great magazine and I never get tired of the routines in there.

yoga journal magazine with great yoga practices and other info — Yoga Journal Magazine with lots of great workouts

For the coming month of October I have decided to go back to using my Cathe workout dvd’s and alternating yoga or the Pilates book in between video days. I find I do best with variety which is why I am constantly changing my workouts each month. I also think it helps your body stay in shape to do different things.

What kinds of workouts have you done lately? Let me know by leaving a reply.

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: exercise ball, exercise books, exercise routine, exercising, exercising at home, fitness, monthly workout, working out, yoga

Working Out Week 52 of 2014

December 27, 2014 kimberlee

This was the final week of 2014. I cannot believe another year has gone by already! Time seems to go faster and faster the older I get. For this last week of the year my workouts were mainly my new Cathe Ripped With Hiit workouts and then yoga at the end of the week.

Sunday 12-21 – off
Monday 12-22 – RWH Circuit Upper Body premix 4 timesaver – 34 min.
Tuesday 12-23 – RWH Circuit Lower Body premix 2 scrambled express – 32 min.
Wednesday 12-24 – RWH Low Impact Hiit One + Abs Two – 41 min.
Thursday 12-25 Christmas Day – off
Friday 12-26 – RWH Circuit Upper Body – 46 min.
Saturday 12-27 – Yoga – Light Up sequence from Yoga Journal magazine – 20 min.

I think I have done all nine of the workout dvd’s on the Ripped With Hiit series now. Some of them were the shorter premixes since this was a busy time of year and I just didn’t have the time to do a full 45 or 50 minute workout every day. I will say I truly love this new series from Cathe Friedrich. The workouts are fun and challenging and you will sweat a lot and feel like you got a great workout in – even if you only do a 30 minute premix version. I like how some of the dvd’s are cardio based, some are cardio with weights and then there are a few that are just weight training. All of the dvd’s offer the two ab workouts so you can always add that at the end of your workout.

Persian cat ready for workout — My persian cat waiting to do the Ripped With Hiit Lower Body Circuit

The above photos are some of the Hiit Circuit Lower Body dvd. This one is a combination of cardio and weights and uses the step for a lot of the exercises. The cardio exercises are done in between weight exercises and your arms also get in a workout since some of them use heavier weights. I really like this workout.

The middle of the week I did Low Impact Hiit One plus Abs two. This workout is all pretty much body weight exercises and uses some dixie cups for some lunges. For part of the workout you use your mat as a workout prop to jump around, over or straddle for various exercises that are fun and get your heart rate up. There was a ton of sweat after this workout. As you can see my faithful workout cat was present for most of these exercises – sitting on the corner of the rug. The rest of the workout he sat under the Christmas tree after finding his present under there – he sat right on the present.

The Ripped With Hiit Circuit Upper Body dvd is another fun and challenging total body workout. I used this dvd twice this week – the first time I did a shorter premix version but I did the entire workout on Friday. This workout focuses on upper body strength training with the weights but there are cardio exercises in between the weights and those are total body exercises. This is another workout I really like and will be using a lot.

I chose to end this week with yoga. I was planning to do the Lower Body Circuit again but decided some yoga would be better for my early Saturday morning. I love (I think I have mentioned this before) doing yoga on Saturday mornings.

Weekly Fitness Tip: Try doing some workouts at home before joining an expensive gym

– This is the time of year when people decide they are going to get fit and join a gym – personally I have never belonged to one and probably never will. I choose to workout at home on my own time and with my own schedule – I have been doing this for about 10+ years now. Once you develop a schedule (meaning write down your weekly workout plans and stick to them) it becomes a habit and you will soon make it part of your day. Also, you won’t have to worry about driving anywhere and won’t have that excuse as the reason you can’t workout -no time to drive to the gym.

– For the amount of money you are going to spend on a gym membership contract for a year you can buy some weights and bands to use at home. You could also invest in a good workout program and still have money left to buy the weights for what you would spend on a membership. Beachbody offers great workout programs – a few of which I own and have completed in the past couple of years. Also, Cathe Friedrich dvd’s are awesome – a lot of her older dvd’s (which are still good and I still use) are probably on sale right now, too. They may seem expensive at first but when you calculate the cost of the gym, gas money and your time for going there they are a bargain. The highlighted text are links to the site – I am not affiliated with either of them just wanted to share where to get the information I mentioned.

– Look into some of the fitness websites and YouTube channels like PopSugar Fitness that offer lots of free workout videos and some are only 15 to 20 minutes for those who are short on time.

– There are lots of ways to get in some exercise without joining a gym – check into some of them before signing that membership contract.

I mentioned last week in the fitness tips to think about some goals for the upcoming year. Well, for one of my goals I have decided to focus on some other topics for my blog this coming year. I will still be working out regularly but I will probably only do a monthly update and not a weekly one. I will be trying to focus a little more on my crochet, knitting and sewing for the year 2015 – which are things I truly love to do – there will be projects and I will also share some free patterns and tutorials.

I hope everyone has had a great year. Mine was filled with blogging, cleaning, cooking, crocheting, exercising, knitting, sewing; also keeping our home managed and raising our kids. I am looking forward to a great year for 2015!

Take care and Happy New Year!

– Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Health

Tags: exercise, exercising, fit tips, fitness, weekly workout, working out, yoga

Working Out Week 42 of 2014

October 18, 2014 kimberlee 9 Comments

Well, another week has flown by. I can’t believe we are more than halfway through the month of October. This week my workouts were:

Monday – Cathe Friedrich – Rockout Knockout – 38 min.
Tuesday – off
Wednesday – Cathe – Greatest Hits Step bonus circuit workout – 45 min.
Thursday – Cathe – Lean Legs & Abs – 37 min.
Friday – Cathe – Great Glutes – premix 4 – 46 min.
Saturday – Shiva Rea Yoga – AM Energy Vira Flow + Shavasana – 26 min.

All of the workouts this past week were with my Cathe Friedrich dvd’s that were part of a series I bought last fall. The exception was my Saturday workout which was a yoga workout using one of my Shiva Rea dvd’s. I love doing yoga on Saturday mornings.

The Greatest Hits Step workout is a combination of several different Cathe step workouts and compiled together on the one dvd. The premix I did on Wednesday also used some weights mixed in with step cardio – the cat joined me for most of the workout. He was either on or next to the step.

Lean Legs and Abs dvd is one of my favorites. Even though most of the emphasis is working out the legs and core you still work the upper body a little with having to use the 8 pound dumbbells and doing a lot of compound moves.

The day after Lean Legs and Abs I did the Great Glutes workout. This really works your back side and the hamstrings. I was definitely feeling it by the end of Friday and into Saturday morning (and into the day Saturday). The workout uses minimal equipment and is a combination of light cardio and toning moves that use the 8 pound dumbbells. The cat of course was around to supervise my form. I think he is scared of the new rug I bought for the room though as he won’t walk on it.

I bought this new Juicing book a couple of weeks ago at Barnes and Noble in the sale section. I think it was $10.00. There are lots of great recipes in this book and I have made at least a dozen of them in the past week. I like how the book is set up – it is alphabetized by the name of the fruit or vegetable and gives at least two recipes per one fruit or vegetable. There are also color photos – not of every recipe but at least one or two per page. I have been trying to make up about three or four recipes every other day and store them in mason jars in the refrigerator so I only have to get the juicer out once a day or once every other day. This is a real time saver. It is also helpful to label the juices and put the name and page number of the recipe so you can remember what it was and note if you like it or not.

The above recipe was from the book and called Peach Spice Pie. It was just a peach and 3 carrots juiced and then you sprinkle a little cinnamon on the top. I LOVE this recipe. It is very good! I always feel so healthy and energized after drinking a juice each morning, too.

The other recipe I just made this morning from the Juicing book was called Orange Beet. It is made with the ingredients of the title – 2 oranges and 1 beet. In the one I made my beets were sort of small so I used 2 oranges, 2 small red beets and 1 small golden beet. I love how you can add or take away something from the recipes to create something a little different. This juice here had an earthy flavor to it because of the beets in it. I also felt so great after drinking this juice. Fresh juices are really the way to better health, I think.

I also finally tried a juice with some red cabbage in it. The verdict is still out on that one. It is okay but not one of my favorites. I think I will have to try it again in a different combination of ingredients to determine if I like the red cabbage. The juice was a really pretty color though.

I have fallen of the green smoothie challenge I was doing. I think I had a few at the beginning of the week but I am really into juicing lately and not so much the smoothies. I did try to drink at least one “green” juice a day for an afternoon snack to make up for not having the green smoothie – so I am thinking I didn’t completely drop out of the challenge. I am just having a green juice instead of a smoothie.

Fit Tip of the Week – Eat Well for Better Health

– try out some new healthy recipes

– go to the library for some healthy cookbooks or magazines – or look up some recipes on pinterest

– make it a goal to eat only whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein and limit sugar, caffeine and avoid alcohol for at least 5 days and notice how much better you feel

– try out juicing to see all the health benefits

– try out green smoothies to increase your daily intake of greens and fruits

I hope everyone is enjoying the nice fall weather in their area. It is finally cooling down here and the past few days have been beautiful.

Have a great weekend!

-Kimberlee

Categories: Books Exercise Health

Tags: exercise, exercising, fit tip, fitness, fitness tips, juice recipe, juicing, juicing book, step workout, weekly fitness tips, working out, workout with weights, workouts

Working Out Week 30 of 2014

July 26, 2014 kimberlee

The last full week of July has past – week 30 of the year. It has gotten really hot here in Texas in the past week or two. My workouts this week are below:

Monday – Cathe LIS – Total Body Trisets – Chest, Shoulders and Tri’s – 31 min.
Tuesday – Ride Bike + Yoga – 40 min.
Wednesday – Cathe LIS – Turbo Barre – 40 min.
Thursday – Ride Bike + Yoga – 35 min.
Friday – Cathe LIS – Total Body Trisets – Back, Bi’s and Core – 34 min.
Saturday – Ride Bike + Yoga – 33 min.

This past week instead of doing cardio dvd’s I decided to do some weights for the upper body and also my Turbo Barre workout on Wednesday.

The weight training workout I used this week was the same one, from the Cathe Low Impact Series called Total Body Trisets. The workout is actually a total body workout but I chose to just do the upper body portion of this workout on Monday and again on Friday. This workout uses some heavier weights like 10 and 15 pound dumbbells and the exercise ball with some of the sets. The workout consists of 3 exercises per grouping that you repeat two times before moving on to the next set. It felt good to do some heavier weights this past week.

The cat joined me again on Wednesday for the Turbo Barre workout. (see him on the chair) This is our third Wednesday in a row of doing this workout. I did the muscle conditioning portion with the lighter 5 pound dumbbells and then on to the floorwork and then the ab work. I love the fun and challenging ab moves in this workout. You can see some of them in the photos above.

On the days I was not using my dvd’s I rode my bike through the neighborhood. I got bored with my old route so I changed it up a bit this week. I would then come back home and do my yoga outside on the patio – it feels good to do the yoga after a bike ride.

The ball exchange move is one of my favorite ab-core exercises and I did plenty of them on Friday with the Total Body Trisets dvd. This move is where you place the ball between your lower legs, lower them down while lowering your upper body with the arms stretched overhead, then raise both your legs (while holding the ball) and your arms back up and grab the ball with your hands and lower your legs and your hands (now holding the ball) back toward the floor – you don’t actually touch the floor with your legs and arms though. When you do about 25 or 30 of these for two rounds you really feel it.

What is one of your favorite exercise moves that you did this past week or recently – or maybe a favorite new workout? Click on Leave a Reply to tell me about it.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: barre workout, exercising, fitness, weight training workout, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga

Working Out Week 25 of 2014

June 21, 2014 kimberlee 2 Comments

This past week my workouts were a mixture of biking, cardio and yoga. It seems like every summer I tend to do more outdoor activities like biking and swimming as it gets warmer and I also like to alternate with some yoga.

Schedule this past week:

Monday – Ride Bike + exercise ball routine – 33 minutes
Tuesday – Yoga – Yoga Life Magazine Core Curriculum routine – 20 minutes
Wednesday – Cathe To The Max dvd, Less Impact Premix – 39 minutes
Thursday – P90X3 – Isometrix – 30 minutes
Friday – Ride Bike + exercise ball routine – 33 minutes
Saturday – Yoga Life + Yoga Journal Magazine routines – 25 minutes

Every other day was yoga this past week. The yoga routines were a mixture of magazine routines and my P90X3 Isometrix dvd, which is one of my favorite dvd’s in the X3 series. I had not used this dvd in about three months and forgot how challenging it is – you hold each pose for 45 seconds.

The other yoga routines I did were from a Prevention magazine called Yoga Life that I bought back in 2010 from Sams, I believe. There are some really good yoga routines in this magazine so I have kept it and pull it out from time to time to use it. I also used a Yoga Journal magazine this past week that I checked out from the library. I took my kids there earlier in the week to check out books for their summer reading and I also checked out a couple of Yoga Journal magazines.

My cardio dvd this week was Cathe Friedrich’s To The Max. I did a 39 minute premix that was a little less impact but still very challenging and gave me a great workout. This workout uses the step for parts of the workout and it seems my cat loves to hang out on the step when I am not using it as seen in the photo below. The core with upper body weights session of this workout is tough and one of my favorite parts of this dvd.

I also rode my bike again a couple of mornings this past week on my neighborhood route. I really like being out early and riding in the fresh morning air. After my riding I usually come in and do some light stretching and some core work with my stability ball.

This coming week I will only be working out for a few days of the week and not my usual six days. We are having some work done to our house and will have people here working for a few days. There is also a possibility that I will not be able to do my post next week if they are still here finishing the work on Saturday – we’ll see.

I hope everyone had a great week and you are enjoying warmer weather and some outdoor activities and workouts.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: Cathe workouts, exercise, exercise schedule, exercising, fitness, isometrix, working out, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga, yoga routines

Working Out Week 24 of 2014

June 14, 2014 kimberlee 4 Comments

This past week I decided to follow my same workout routine as the previous week doing cardio, biking and yoga. I did cardio on Monday and Thursday, biking on Tuesday and Friday and yoga on Wednesday and Saturday. To change things up from the previous week I used a different workout dvd, different magazine routines and my Flat Belly Yoga book – my schedule was as follows:

Monday 6-9 – Cathe Cross Fire dvd, Circuit Blast premix – 36 minutes
Tuesday 6-10 – Ride Bike + Foam Roller Stretch routine – 30 minutes
Wednesday 6-11 – Flat Belly Yoga Book – 20 minutes
Thursday 6-12 – Cathe Cross Fire dvd, Fitness Blast/Plyo Tabata/Core premix – 33 minutes
Friday 6-13 – Ride Bike + exercise ball abs routine from magazine – 33 minutes
Saturday 6-14 – Flat Belly Yoga Book – 15 minutes

I kind of took it a little easier this week and didn’t do any really long workouts. I am really enjoying getting outside more and riding my bike early in the morning and I also rode my bike to the store on Wednesday for a few groceries, so I got a little extra workout in that day.

I really like the Cathe Friedrich Cross Fire dvd. I did a couple of the different premixes on the workout this past week and even though they are only a little over 30 minutes you get a great workout and sweat a lot. The core workout on this dvd was really good and had some new moves to work your abs. The speed skater with weights is part of the cardio in this workout and challenging since you are adding 3 pound weights to the move.

Cathe Cross Fire - Speed Skater with weights Kimberlees Korner — Speed Skater with weights – Cathe Cross Fire workout

For my yoga days this past week I chose to go back to using my Flat Belly Yoga Book by Kimberly Fowler. I really like the exercise routines in this book and how the use of light weights are incorporated into the yoga moves. The exercises are well explained and all the photos are in color. When I did the 20 minute session on Wednesday I decided to take it outside again and do my yoga on the back patio. I am really enjoying being able to workout outside on some days of the week.

This past week was the first week of summer break for my kids. It was nice to have a less hectic week and not worry about getting kids off to school, packing lunches and picking them up at a set time every afternoon. My oldest son is working this summer and has a lifeguard job at a local pool so that is keeping him busy.

I hope everyone had a great week and you have some workouts planned for the upcoming week. I was planning my schedule for next week this morning and will share them again next Saturday.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: Cathe workouts, exercise routine, exercise schedule, exercising, fitness, flat belly yoga, working out

Working Out Week 23 of 2014

June 7, 2014 kimberlee

Wow – the first week of June has already gone by. This past week was also the last week of school for my kids and now they are on their summer vacation. I am looking forward to having a less hectic schedule with them being out of school for a while. I also try and do a little more variety in my summer workout schedule, more outdoor activities like biking and swimming. This past week I began my outdoor workout activities by adding in some biking and outdoor yoga.

Monday 6-2 – Amy Bento Ross Body Box dvd Short & Sweaty premix – 50 min
Tuesday 6-3 – Ride Bike – 22 min + Exercise-Medicine ball magazine routine – 15 min
Wednesday 6-4 – 21 Day Yoga Challenge Magazine routine – Go With the Flow – 20 min
Thursday 6-5 – Amy Bento Ross – Body Box dvd All Cardio premix – 52 min
Friday 6-6 – Ride Bike – 22 min + magazine routine – 15 min
Saturday 6-7 – 21 Day Yoga Challenge Magazine routine – Sitting Pretty routine – 20 min

This past week I did a routine of cardio, biking + toning exercises, and yoga. I really liked this schedule as it was a change from my normal dvd routine or doing an exercise book. I also took it outdoors with the biking and I even did my two days of yoga out on my back patio at 6:45 am. It was nice and peaceful outside in the early morning and a great way to begin my day.

I did use one dvd this week. It is actually a new dvd that I bought about six weeks ago and had not done it yet. It got pushed aside when I decided to do the Betty Rocker Spring Challenge in May. The dvd is called Body Box by Amy Bento Ross. I have a couple of her older kickboxing and weight training dvd’s and thought I would enjoy this one, too. So far after using it twice this week I am not sure if I like it as well as I like her older Kickbox Xtreme dvd. It is a good overall cardio workout but some of the routines are kind of hard to keep up with for me. There are intervals that can be done between kickboxing combos and I really like those intervals – they are body weight type of exercises. Overall it is a good workout but I think you need to have kickboxing experience to keep up – I do but it is still not easy to get all the combos down the first time. I guess that is true for a lot of new advanced type of workout dvd’s though. I usually have to do them a few times to figure out all the moves.

I really enjoyed riding my bike a couple of times this past week on my neighborhood route that I do. I wore my sport watch and set the stopwatch and it takes me about 22 to 23 minutes to do the route – I am not sure how far it is. I try and ride at least half of it in my hardest gear which is 3 since I have a 3 speed bike. When I got home from the ride I would do a routine from my binder of fitness routines I have ripped out of magazines I have subscribed to over the last 10 years. I have them organized in a 3-ring binder and divided with tabs as to the type of workouts. I have not used them in a while and got a couple of them out this past week. One of them was with an exercise ball, a medicine ball plus weights and the other was total body toning with 8 and 5 pound weights.

As you can see my workout buddy was present for the exercise ball routine. When not exercising he likes to sit on the exercise mat bag as seen in the other photo.

I also made a couple of more salads this week with some green leaf and romaine lettuce I grew in our little garden out back. This is only the second time I have tried to grow lettuce and the first time at actually being successful at it. The first time a lot of bugs got to it before we did so we didn’t get very much. It is really nice to be able to go out back and pick some lettuce for a salad to go with dinner.

This past week I also preordered the new Cathe Friedrich dvd’s that are to be released in the fall. The new series is called Ripped with Hiit. All of the workouts are high intensity interval training and if you preorder you get free shipping, too. You can read more about it on her site Cathe.com if you are interested. I have used her workouts for years and they are all great and worth the money.

I hope everyone had a great week! Let me know what your workout plans are for the week coming up by clicking on Leave a Reply.

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Food

Tags: exercising, fitness, kickboxing, outdoor workout, workout cat, workout routine, workout schedule, yoga

Working Out Week 21 of 2014

May 24, 2014 kimberlee 6 Comments

Another week has come and gone. The past two weeks have gone by really fast for me for some reason. Maybe it is all the end of the year activities with my kids and their schools or something. This week was week 3 and the beginning of week 4 of the Betty Rocker Spring Challenge and I also decided to use another one of my exercise books on the days I was not doing the Betty Rocker workouts.

Monday 5-19 – Betty Rocker week 3 workout + foam roller stretches – 40 minutes
Tuesday 5-20 – CORE book – Global Workout – 30 minutes
Wednesday 5-21 – Betty Rocker week 3 workout + foam roller stretches – 40 minutes
Thursday 5-22 – CORE book – Warrior Workout – 30 minutes
Friday 5-23 – Betty Rocker week 4 workout + foam roller stretches – 40 minutes
Saturday 5-24 – CORE book – Lower Ab workout – 20 minutes

The Betty Rocker workouts were tough body weight workouts this past week. I actually thought week 3 was a little easier than week 2 – but not much. I really liked the Hindu Push Ups – (top left photo) and the Grasshoppers (lower right photo). As you can see I had my personal trainer monitoring my moves once again. He has a new scarf on for the Memorial Day holiday – it is red with baseballs on the fabric. My kids thought he needed a new scarf. He has now learned how to remove it so he is constantly taking it off and we find it various places around the house.

This past week I choose once again to use one of my workout books that I own instead of my dvd’s. The one I used this time was CORE by Hollis Lance Liebman. I got this book last summer from Half Price Books. I used it quite a bit last summer and really like the routines in the book. The photos in the book are all color and each exercise is explained in detail along with photos. The back of the book contains various routines that are anywhere from 8 to 20 exercises per routine. You can see the book and one of the routines in the above photos. All of the exercises concentrate on the core and use either no equipment, an exercise ball, medicine ball and some dumbbells for a few exercises. I also really like how each of the exercises lists the areas of your body it benefits and what areas it is working and it gives you a skill level like beginner, intermediate or advanced. Once again my cat is present to make sure I am doing everything correctly.

I also decided to start drinking my green drinks and smoothies again. The one I made this week and drank a few times for lunch was a recipe I found in my Ninja blender book. I actually changed a few things in the recipe like the ginger and the amount of agave or honey. They said to use fresh ginger and I only had some crystallized and I added less agave than what it called for. I think their recipe said 1 to 2 tablespoons of agave or honey and I only use 1 or 2 teaspoons to cut back on the sugar as the crystallized ginger also has sugar in it.

I did a green smoothie challenge back in January of 2014 where I drank one per day for the whole month. I think I have only made a few since then. I think one of the reasons is it was cold out (winter time) and I don’t care for really cold drinks in the winter. I forgot how great drinking these juices or smoothies can make you feel and look. I will say they are kind of an acquired taste but once you get past the look of it and realize the health benefits it is worth the effort to make it and drink it regularly. I plan to make it a goal to have at least three per week.

Next week I will be finishing up the Betty Rocker Challenge with week 4. I have not decide yet if I will be using another workout book or go back to some yoga dvd’s in between the BR workouts. What workouts are you currently doing? I would love to hear about them – click on Leave a Reply to let me know.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise Recipes

Tags: Betty Rocker Challenge, betty rocker spring challenge, CORE book, Core workout, exercise, exercise books, exercising, fitness, green drink, green drink recipe, green smoothie, weekly workouts, working out, workout routine

Working Out Week 15 of 2014

April 12, 2014 kimberlee

This week my workouts were all Cathe Friedrich workouts using her various dvd’s that I own. I have decide to follow her April rotation of workouts for the rest of this month since I am all done with P90X3. I really enjoyed and toned up so much using P90X3 but I have missed my Cathe workouts.

I began this week with the second week in the April rotation since I missed the first week. I did have to substitute a workout or two for the month with a different one since I didn’t have a few of them. I did end up ordering a couple more of her dvd’s at the beginning of the week and got them by Thursday so I was able to use one of those for Friday – Cross Fire. Below was my schedule this past week:

Monday – Flex Train – 57 minutes
Tuesday – Hard Strikes (Xtrain series) – 47 minutes
Wednesday – Party Rockin Step – 46 min premix
Thursday – Afterburn (Low Impact Series) – 54 minutes
Friday – Cross Fire – 55 minutes
Saturday – Yoga & Foam Roller stretching – 15 minutes

I did not do the workout on the schedule for Saturday which was Supercuts. I decided after this hard schedule this past week I needed a little break and my oldest son had to be at a band tryout for school at 7 am.

My goal for this week was to try and do all of the workouts in their entirety which is something I don’t always do with the Cathe workouts since there are so many premixes that offer shorter versions of the workouts. The premixes are still tough but just shorter – like 25 to 40 minutes versus 45 to 60 minutes. I am so pleased that I was able to do all of the workouts in their entirety except for the Party Rockin Step – I did a version that was 10 minutes shorter that day.

Cross Fire was a new workout for me that I had not done yet. It was HARD! Lots of cardio circuits and tabatas with and without weights. You even had to do speed skaters with 3 pound dumbbells – that was a lot hard than doing them without the weights. I enjoyed this workout a lot and look forward to doing it again – maybe not the entire 55 minutes, though.

My cat loves Cathe workouts, too. He especially loves those slide and glide discs – whenever I have them out he sits by them.

Below is a photo of the front and back of my shirt after the Cross Fire workout. I have not sweat that much in a while – maybe since T-25 or a Cathe workout I did back in the fall.

I also decided to get a foam roller this week. A few people in my facebook fitness group have them and really like them. I came across a workout in an older Shape magazine I had and that reminded me that I still hadn’t gotten one yet. I was recycling some magazines and before I get rid of them I like to go through and rip out the articles, or workouts, I want to save and then I store them in 3 ring binder.

I used the foam roller and the workout a couple of evenings this past week and on Saturday morning. I have been walking in the evenings a few times a week with my husband in our neighborhood and this foam roller routine is great after walking. It really stretches your muscles.

I will be continuing on with my Cathe workouts using week 3 of the April rotation next week. If you are not familiar with her workouts they are lots of fun and always very challenging. I also really like that you can see 5 to 10 minute clips of the dvd on her website so you know what you are getting. I have been using her workouts since 2006 after my sister-in-law told me about them.

I hope everyone had a great week.

Kimberlee

Categories: Exercise

Tags: Cathe workouts, exercise, exercising, fitness, foam roller, working out, workout routine

Working Out Week 9 of 2014

March 1, 2014 kimberlee 4 Comments

This last week of February has gone by so fast! I can not believe it is now March. This past week I completed week 8 of P90X3 and I also did a few extra workouts after my 30 minutes of P90X3 using one of my Exhale Core Fusion dvd’s. I like those workouts because they are pilates-yoga based and are divided into 10 minute segments. I did one segment each day this week after P90X3. I really like how the Exhale Core Fusion tone your whole body – especially your abs and they give you a great stretch, too.

This week was transition week again for P90X3 so the workouts were as follows:

Monday – Isometrix
Tuesday – Dynamix
Wednesday – Accelerator
Thursday – Pilates X
Friday – Agility X
Saturday – Yoga

Isometrix and the Pilates are probably still my favorites for this week. Below are the photos from those workouts:

The Exhale Core Fusion dvd I used this past week was the Lean and Toned. I did the following sessions: Pretzel & Core – did this twice, Upper Body, Flat-Round Back (very hard ab and thigh workout) and Gluteal toner. I have decided to try and start incorporating my Exhale Core Fusion workouts – since I have all of them – into my daily workout just for a 10 minute session. These workouts really help tone your whole body. Below are photos from the upper body session which is done with light weights. Try doing the push ups with your hands forming a triangle underneath you – it is hard.

This past week was also the start of another fitness challenge for me called Power of Vitality. This challenge is through my husbands work and spouses are allowed to participate. You receive points for your daily workouts and at the end of the challenge, which I forgot to check the specific date on, you get to go shopping with your points and possibly get something really nice depending on how many points you have. I think it is great that his company is encouraging their employees and their families to get fit and lead a healthy life style. The Power of Vitality website also has a lot of great health information and even healthy recipes. I tried one this past week. It was a rice dish made with brown rice, turmeric, coriander and sundried tomatoes. I had it for lunch two different days and it was really good.

Brown Rice with Sundried Tomatoes — Brown Rice with turmeric, coriander and sundried tomatoes

I am also reading the new Tony Horton book The Big Picture – 11 Laws That Will Change Your Life. I am now on Law 5 – I guess that would be chapter 5. So far I really like the book and it has a lot of great advice.

I hope everyone had a great February and are looking forward to an even better March. I am going to continue on with the P90X3 program and also try to do my Exhale Core Fusion dvd’s as a bonus workout.

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Books Exercise Health

Tags: books, exercise program, exercising, Exhale Core Fusion, fitness, health, P90X3, reading, working out, workouts