Tag: fitness routine

New Workouts Arrived

The new Cathe Strong and Sweaty workout set arrived a few days before Christmas – an early Christmas present to myself.  I pre-ordered this set back in September. Strong and Sweaty dvd set from Cathe Friedrich

I love Cathe’s workouts.  They are fun and challenging and have lots of variety.  This set has 5 different workout dvd’s – they are:

  • Boot Camp
  • Cardio Slam
  • PHA Training
  • Ramped Up Upper Body
  • Total Body Giant Sets

The workouts range in time from 40 minutes to 50 minutes.  There are lots of premixes on each dvd that allow you to do shorter versions of the workouts if you don’t have time for the entire workout.  I like that feature since some days I just want to do a 30 minute workout and not 45 minutes.  Back information on workout dvd's

So far I have tried the Boot Camp and the Cardio Slam – I used the shorter premix versions since this time of year is busy and I don’t always feel like doing the entire 40 or 50 minutes.  I liked both of these workouts and the Cardio Slam really kept my heart pumping and it was fun.

I am planning to do the PHA training on Wednesday of this week and Total Body Giant Sets on Friday.  The days between I will be doing yoga.

There is a one month workout schedule plan for this dvd set and I plan to use that in January – this will be my workout to begin the new year.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and has a Happy New Year!

-Kimberlee

EOM Fitness for May 2015

May 2015 has come to an end and June will be here in a couple of days.  I don’t know if it is because of all the end of school year stuff going on with my kids or what but this month flew by, in my opinion.  My workout schedule for the past month was down to four days per week instead of five or six.  I decided to dial it back a little and do like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday schedule this past month.  workout cat with band

 

yoga journal magazine with great yoga practices and other info

This past month I also decided to change things up by using my Core workout book along with a new Yoga Journal Magazine I bought back in April.  I did do a couple of my Cathe workouts from an older dvd set X-train.  I love my Cathe workouts and usually include at least a couple each month.

Core workout book

I think I bought the Core workout book many years ago either at Half Price Books or Sams.  I really like this book and how there are routines at the end to do like the one shown above, the Power Workout routine.  The book uses an exercise ball, medicine ball, some weights and an exercise band for some of the exercises.  I like that there is minimal equipment.  It was nice to do these routines and put on some good music to workout to while doing them.  As you can see by the top photo the cat likes the book and workouts in there as well.  He was usually sitting by the band or on the book when I had it opened up.

Core Strength Training book

The other book I used this month along with the Core book was the one above, Core Strength Training.  I checked this one out from my local library.  I like how this book is set up and explains the exercises and there are detailed color photos, too.  I was trying to do at least four of the exercises on the days I was using my Core book.  There are lots of great exercises to increase your mobility and strengthen your abs and back for everyday activities as well as sports like golf.  I pointed this out to my husband since he golfs a lot and he frequently gets out my weights or bands to do a few exercises the day before he goes golfing.

This past month I have also been using a couple of other new books I recently bought at Barnes and Noble.  The first book I bought a couple of months ago, it is called Raw Energy by Stephanie Tourles.  I just stumbled across this book while actually trying to find another book and loved all the recipes in there.  Everything is made with healthy and wholesome ingredients and most of them are pretty simple to make.  The concept is that everything is made with raw natural ingredients and nothing is cooked at a high temperature so the food retains the natural occurring enzymes.  There are a few recipes that use a food dehydrator but nothing is cooked over 175 degrees.  This interested me since my husband bought a dehydrator about eight months ago to dehydrate the hot peppers we grow every year.  I wanted to be able to use the dehydrator for more than that and apples which is about all we had tried.

Raw Energy book by Stephanie Tourles

This book contains recipes for cereals, dips, fruit and vegetable juices, nut milks, smoothies and a variety of snacks.  I have already made several recipes from this book and they were all good.  At the front of the book she explains the raw concept in detail and lists the equipment and ingredients you will need to make things in the book.  The author, Stephanie Tourles, has also written a few aromatherapy and body care books and I own two of those as well.  I knew when I saw this book it would be good and I have not been disappointed with it.

Power Hungry book

The other book I just bought a few weeks ago is called Power Hungry by Camilla V. Saulsbury.  Again this was a book I just stumbled upon at Barnes and Noble while searching for another book that I never found.  This book is all about making your own Cereal, Energy and Protein Bars with lots of variations within each recipe to create a different type of bar.  So far I have tried a few and liked them.  There are some recipes that require cooking some of the ingredients on the stove top or even baking some of them in the oven for a few minutes but there are also some raw recipes that do not require baking or cooking.  I also like how she classifies some of them as knock off recipes for things like Fiber One bars, Kind Bars and Larabars.  I know I have found, and even tried, some of these types of recipes from pinterest but they have not been as good as the ones in this book.  This book is worth the money if you are interested in making your own good quality bars with natural ingredients.  Also, there are tips in the book on storing the bars and how long they keep or can be frozen for, etc.

Well, so far it has been very rainy here so I have not been able to get out and ride my bike or swim like I normally do in May.  Maybe June will bring some sunshine so I can start biking to the store again and start swimming some for some exercise.  As far as my planned activities go I will probably stay with a 4 day a week schedule and plan to do weight training and yoga for this coming month.  What are your workout plans for June?

Have a good weekend!

-Kimberlee

 

Working Out Week 3 of 2014

5 Comments

This week is my second week of my P90X3 challenge with my facebook group.  The exercises this week were the same schedule as last week.  You can see this post on Working Out Week 2 of 2014 for the complete schedule list.  The first 3 weeks of the program you do the same schedule.  Each day you do a different workout for 30 minutes 6 days a week.  There is an option to workout on Sunday or take a rest.  I usually take the rest day.

I think CVX is still my favorite in this rotation so far.  I love how you use a dumbbell throughout most of the workout.  I use 5 pounds which sounds like nothing but when you are doing cardio with that in your hands it feels heavy.   There is also an option to not use any weight or just use a basketball.  Tony says you could even grab a cat but I don’t think my cat would like that.  Although my one cat was present for most of this workout – he sat on the ottoman supervising my form.  Tony is funny throughout this whole workout with his comments.  I enjoy having a laugh or two while I am working out.

P90X3   CVX  week 2  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

This week I switched Agility X and the Isometix workout days.  I did the Agility X on Friday and the Isometrix on Saturday.  I had a busy day Saturday with my one son and his schedule for Orchestra so I wanted a workout on Saturday morning that was not a hard cardio session where I get drenched in sweat.  Isometrix is not easy by any means but I do not tend to work up a huge sweat doing that one.

Agility X  P90X3  www.kimberleeskorner.com

Last week I did not care for Agility X but I liked it a little better this week.  You have to have tape on the floor to mark where you stand, step, jump, etc.  It is a hard workout in my opinion and takes some coordination with the footwork.  You also really get the heart rate up and sweat a lot.

My other favorite workout in this three week rotation is called Isometrix.  It is a yoga based workout where you hold each pose for 45 seconds.  The poses are challenging and to hold them for almost a minute is very hard.  It is a great total body workout that you can really feel in your core.

I was able to do one of the moves in Isometrix better this week called bound downdog split.  You have one hand on the mat and the other on your opposite ankle and the leg that doesn’t have a hand on the ankle in the air.  Last week my hand on the mat would sweat and slip a lot so this week I remembered that I had some yoga gloves that have grips on them.  The gloves were a gift last year from my husband – they go with my yoga grip socks that I use in the winter.  I had not ever used the gloves and decided today was the day to try them out.  They worked really well for the bound downdog split and for doing the crane pose.

Isometrix  P90X3  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and keeping up with their workouts.  I will post again next weekend on the results of week 3 of P90X3.  Also, just to let you know I am not affiliated with the workout I am just posting my thoughts and sharing my own opinions.

Kimberlee

Working Out Week 2 of 2014

2 Comments

This week was the start of my new workout challenge with my facebook challenge group for P90X3.  This a 90 day challenge using the P90X3 program from Beachbody.

I chose to do the Lean schedule for the program.  There are 4 different programs to choose from using the various 16 dvd’s that come in the set.  The programs are:  Classic, Lean, Mass, or Doubles.  Most of the people in my group are doing the Classic or the Lean schedule.

For the Lean schedule the workouts you will use for the first three weeks are:

  • Day 1 – Accelerator
  • Day 2 – The Warrior
  • Day 3 – X3 Yoga
  • Day 4 – CVX
  • Day 5 – Isometrix
  • Day 6 – Agility X
  • Day 7 – Rest or Dynamix

All of the workouts are 30 minutes long.  A very reasonable time that is easy to fit into your schedule.  The workouts are not easy, by any means.  I am glad they are challenging – that is why I like to do a variety and try new workouts – to give me more challenges.

I think that out of this weeks workouts I have two favorites – CVX and Isometrix.  CVX is a cardio workout done with a dumbbell – I used 5 pounds.  Isometrix is a yoga type of workout done in bare feet where you hold each pose for 45 seconds.  That may sound easy but trust me it is very challenging.  Especially one of the poses on one leg with your eyes closed.  Try that for 45 seconds – you are sure to wobble.  There is also a one hand downdog called “bound downward dog” I believe and it is hard – my hand sweats and that causes me to slip on the mat.

P90X3 Day 5 Isometrix

 

Below are some of the other photos from the workouts.  I didn’t take any from the CVX day as it was faster paced and I wanted to learn the moves.

P90X day 1 Accelerator  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

Accelerator is a fun cardio workout that had me sweating a lot.  The donkey kick thing at the end was pretty hard.

day 2 P90X3 Warrior  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

 

Warrior was the workout for day 2 and another good heart pumping cardio workout.

 

Day 6 Agility X P90X3 workout  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

 

Day 6 was Agility X and probably my least favorite.  This is a pure cardio workout that has you sweating a lot.  You have to have tape on the floor to mark where you jump, step, etc.   My cat really liked the tape on the floor.  He was either scratching at it or sitting in between the two pieces of it as seen in the one photo where I am doing the cooldown at the end.  This workout will be a challenge for me to learn the moves and get better at it.

I am thinking I am going to take the rest day tomorrow instead of doing the optional Dynamix.  I have already done the Dynamix workout about a week or two ago and I know I like it but Sunday is usually a rest day for me.

This information is my own opinion.  I am not affiliated with this program I am just sharing my weekly workout and my experience with it.

Have a great weekend!

Kimberlee

Working Out Week 1 of 2014

2 Comments

Happy New Year!  It is now the end of the first week of 2014.  My workouts this past week were a combination of my new P90X3 dvd’s and my Cathe Friedrich dvd’s.  Workout’s this week were as follows:

  • Monday 12-30-2013 – P90X3 Isometrix – 30 minutes
  • Tuesday 12-31-2013 – Cathe X10, premix 37, cardio blast & hi-lo – 37 minutes
  • Wednesday 1-1-2014 – P90X3 Dynamix – 30 minutes
  • Thursday 1-2-2014 – Cathe Flex Train, warm up, legs & shoulders, legs & biceps, disc lunges, core-abs, stretch – 40 minutes
  • Friday 1-3-2014 – P90X3 Pilates – 30 minutes
  • Saturday 1-4-2014 – Cathe Great Glutes, warm up, bonus chair-band, floorwork, stretch – 35 minutes

dvd's used to workout wk 1 2014  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

This is my 3rd week of alternating the cardio and the yoga or pilates and I really like this routine.  Starting next week I will be doing the P90X3 for the next 90 days.  I am starting the workout plan with my workout group on facebook.  The past couple of weeks since receiving the workouts I have just been trying a few of them out.  I didn’t want to start all of them yet since I will be using them for the next 3 months.

Below are some photos of the P90X3 workouts I did this past week.

P90X3 Isometrix workout www.kimberleesdkorner.com/blog

The Isometrix workout looks easy when you just watch it but it is a challenge.  You have to hold each pose for 45 seconds.  That may sound easy until you try it.  It was very different from any workout I have done or the type of yoga I normally do.  I really liked it.  As you can see from the photos my cat liked it too.  He is my little workout buddy every day.

P90X3 Dynamix workout  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

The Dynamix workout was another great dvd in the P90X3 series.  There were some exercises that were very different to me and some that I have done before, too.  This was another excellent workout, in my opinion, that I will really enjoy doing in my P90X3 rotation.  I told my husband he should do it to help him improve his flexibility for his golf game – not sure if he is going to try it or not though.

I have also decided to do a green smoothie challenge the month of January with my friend Joanna’s green smoothie group on facebook.  Here is the link if you are interested in joining:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/117834925060273/     The challenge is to have one green smoothie a day for the month.  I started doing this on the 31st of December and so far I have had one per day. This is a really great way to get back into a healthier diet for the new year.  There are recipes on the page and I have tried a couple of them as well as my own.

Green Smoothie  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

The smoothie I made in the photo above was my own concoction.  I am calling it Green Citrus Smoothie since it has a citrus flavor.    Here is what was in it:

  • half a grapefruit, peeled & seeded
  • juice of one lemon
  • half a banana
  • 2 dates soaked in 1/4 c. of water for 10 minutes (also add water to smoothie)
  • 2 pineapple ice cubes – made from pineapple juice
  • 1/4 c. plain greek yogurt
  • handful of spinach
  • 1/4 to 1/2 c. crushed ice
  • 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

Blend all the ingredients until smooth in a high speed blender.

This smoothie was pretty good but next time I think I will leave out the banana.  I was trying to add them in my smoothies this week thinking I would like them but I just do not care for bananas.  I will have to stick with other ingredients I like.

I am looking forward to the start of next week and my next fitness challenge of P90X3. Changing my workout routine and program is always a great way to keep me motivated and on track with my fitness goals.   What workouts are you planning to do this year?  Let me know by clicking on Leave a Reply.  I would love to hear about them. photo dbaf2cd4-dd2b-49d6-8838-f9aff3fe3cbb_zpsca4b926e.jpg

Workouts Week 52 of 2013

This is the final full week of 2013.  My workouts this year have been a variety of different activities and dvd’s.  I think that is what keeps me motivated to wake up and workout every day, well – at least five days a week.  Variety is the key.  I also think finding an awesome and friendly facebook fitness group has helped.  I really enjoy my little group on there.  Sometimes I just log onto facebook to see my group and their posts and skip my personal page of posts.  There are some really positive and dedicated fitness people in our Team Krazy Fit.

This past week I worked out most every day except Christmas day and on Sunday.  I usually take Sunday as a rest day.  My schedule this past week was:

  • Monday 12-23 – P90X3 Pilates – 30 minutes
  • Tuesday 12-24 – Cathe Party Rockin Step #2, premix 1 – 33 minutes
  • Wednesday 12-25 – off, rest day
  • Thursday 12-26 – Cathe X10, Cardio Blast – 25 minutes, also walked 1.5 miles
  • Friday 12-27 – P90X3 Yoga – 30 minutes
  • Saturday 12-28 – Exhale Core Fusion, Energy Flow Yoga – Energy Flow & Chi Gong + Hip Opener Stretches – 20 minutesWorkouts week 52 of 2013  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

Last week I got my new P90X3 in the mail.  I had to try out a couple of the dvd’s this week.  They were awesome – to put it in one word.  The Pilates was a challenging 30 minute workout that worked muscles in my glutes I didn’t know existed.  My back side was sore for two days afterwards.  I love that dvd!  The yoga dvd was really great too.  Not the same as I am used to with my Shiva Rea dvd’s but it was nice to do a different type of yoga workout.

P90X3 Pilates Workout  www.kimberleeskorner.com/blog

 

This past week I also did my Cathe dvd’s mixed in with the P90X3.  I can’t wait for my fitness challenge group to start on January 6, 2014 for the P90X3.  Right now I am just trying out a few of the workouts, there are 16 of them, before the challenge group starts.

I hope everyone has had a great week and a wonderful Christmas!  I am ready to get back into the normal routine of things but that will probably have to wait at least another week until my kids go back to school in 2014.

Have a great weekend and a Happy New Year! photo dbaf2cd4-dd2b-49d6-8838-f9aff3fe3cbb_zpsca4b926e.jpg