My Workout DVD Collection

This consequence of getting bored easily + wanting to lose weight =

THIS!

Zumba, hip hop, salsacise, pilates, toning, pumping, Davina - I have it all covered! Technically I should look EXACTLY like Kate Moss now. I demand my money back.

My love/hate affair with exercise DVDs (or videos as it was back in the day) started at the tender age of ten when me and my cousin would stick on my mum and auntie's aerobic videos. The one we favoured was a horrendous 1980s VHS which had you shimmying to tracks from the 1950s and 1960s. Thinking on, I even recall there being video footage of me and my friends at my 10th birthday party dancing to this video (oh the SHAME!!)

I graduated from the 80s leotard VHS phase to...a 90s leotard VHS phase! Another aerobic video by some mega annoying woman whose claim to fame was being Princess Diana's trainer.

Over the years I've been given some cast offs from my sister and bought my own - scouring Amazon for the a cheap DVD that will end up being THE ONE. One DVD to solve all my fat problems. I know that a DVD is not the answer, but it doesn't hurt to keep checking does it? ;)

At the moment I'm being wooed by the lure of the 90 day programmes - P90X, Insanity and that one from Tracey Anderson (True Story: I actually watched the full 30 min infomercial online for her new programme. I. Just. Want. It) My sensible self tells me if I put together all DVDs in my collection I could do a completely new routine every day for 90 days. But my impulsive/stubborn/idealistic/hopeful self just believes in the other programmes - I mean LOOK at the results (go on, Google P90X results - uh-may-zing!)

I think I may be able to fend off the urge to purchase the above DVDs, mainly because they look far too intense and they are way too expensive (hitting me where it hurts on both counts!) However, I am still thinking about the Kettlebell DVD set I have seen. Kettlebells is something I've been contemplating for a long time after I saw them being used on the Biggest Loser years ago. I saw in a fitness magazine a couple of weeks ago that using them really helped an already fairly fit women get over her plateau as they act as strength training whilst also raising your heart rate - so a great source of cardio. Reading many, many articles I know that I need to start proper strength training to see some serious results, my bit of cardio and toning is just keeping me on an even keel. There is no point in me toning when I have a wodge of fat covering the area I'm trying to tighten up. The fat has to go first.

Kettlebells may be my new 'thing'. The kick starter to my new plan of attack. Until then I'm off to watch the Tracey Anderson infomercial again, haha! (No really...)*

*Just joking! :)

I like to Move it, Move it

I'm doing as Madonna once requested and getting into the groove. The old adage of "doing little and often" has been the theme of this week. I have kept telling myself "just do some exercise tonight." It doesn't matter if I'm tired, feeling a bit full from my tea, I'm in a bad mood - just do something. Even if it is ten minutes of a DVD, just something, anything.

So I have. Each night this week I've picked out a DVD from my extensive fitness DVD library (I will post a pic of it one day!), popped on my HRM and got to it.

I'm trying to make a point of always wearing my HRM when exercising but sometimes, when I'm in a hurry to get started before I change my mind, it does get left behind. Anyway, from the two times I wore it this week these were the figures:

Exercise: Zumba Cardio
Duration: 45mins 34sec
Calorie Burn: 448
Average HR: 146
Max HR: 168

Exercise: 30 Day Shred - Level 1
Duration: 26mins 56sec
Calorie Burn: 244
Average HR: 141
Max HR: 171

I do love some cold, hard facts!

Fudubahdah's

I am an exercise DVD-buying addict. That is all.

...I lie, that isn't all. After falling in love with my most recent exercise DVD purchase (10 minute solution Target Toning) I realised that I have a helluva lotta exercise DVDs. I almost took a picture of them all then backed out as it would have taken half an hour to dig them all out!

There are plenty that I don't like and will probably never use again but I now have a decent collection of effective and almost enjoyable DVDs. Feeling slightly guilty that I've ignored these, I dusted off my Zumba DVDs and did that one this afternoon. I really must aim to do home exercise at least four times a week.

Anyways the real point I wanted to make was about the certain areas I concentrate on when exercising. For me, my huge arms remain my constant focus. I never wear short sleeves and it is so annoying buying a beautiful dress then having to cover it up for the sake of hiding my fudubahah's (as Kath Day-Knight would say).

My recent 10 min solution DVD has a great arm workout with a resistance band and I want to do this short routine at least twice a week - these arms are going to be toned!! I almost begrudge exercising any other muscles as nothing annoys me as much as my flabby arms (although my belly and legs need totally need focusing on too!)

Now, that really is all. :)

Sharon and her sis don't care about their fudubahdah's!

Sunday Strolling

My Sunday morning started off with a 80 min walk around our local woods (I am so lucky to live close to such a pretty area). Usually my Sunday morning consists of lounging around in bed until lunchtime, but not today. Me and my dad braced the cold - which is perfect weather for walking - and got strolling. Set me up nicely for the week.

I weighed in this morning and have lost 1lb which I'm happy with. I started tracking again last week and was doing well until the weekend where a few lunches/dinners out with friends racked up the points. So I want to really push this week to prevent a STS result.

This week I really want to have a couple of sessions down the gym, do my Zumba DVDs and also mix it up with a few of my other DVDs (shred, pilates). Basically this week I want to move more!

I mentioned in my last post that I was trying to change one habit a week - as found on this blog. I am continuing with the first week habit of drinking more water so am moving onto the next habit - moving more! My exercise habits have been a little sporadic of late (due to illness, dark mornings and general lazy arseness!) so am just trying to get into a regular habit.

Here's hoping for a successful week ahead.

Two Left Feet

After coming to the realisation I liked dance-type exercise I decided to purchase a couple of really cheap dancey dvd's.  To my complete delight, Mr Postman delivered them yesterday morning. I bought:


Amazon


Amazon

In my excitement I popped in the 10 Minute solution dvd straight away and did the first routine - Hip Hop Basics. I absoulutely LOVED it! It was really fun but fairly easy to follow (i'm sure it will get harder!) but it kept building and adding on moves so by the end of the ten mins you have two full dance routines completed. Love it. Love the format as well. You can pick and choose which of the five routines to do, and also in which order. I haven't tried any of the other routines yet but they will soon delved into!

Feeling pretty energetic I attempted the first of the double Strictly DVD package - the one with Karen and Erin. The warm up was fine and then it moved onto Erin explaining the Cha Cha Cha. OMG. The bit before the routine where she explains all the moves took about 10 minutes and I couldn't even get the steps right then. By the time she was ready for the routine I'd forgotten what a "New York" was, or any of the other millions of dance steps! I got slightly disheartened as it seemed pretty impossible but I continued on with Karen's Salsa, and even though I messed up quite a bit, the steps were much easier and it was a much more fun routine. It then moved onto Erin with the Quickstep - which looked so AMAZING! I sat and watched the routine in full before I attempted it. After going wrong in the first 20 seconds I went right back to the start of the routine to try and improve! I managed a little better but it still looked a mess! Karen's jive was too much for me so I just went straight to the Samba, which is a nice routine.

This dvd is quite a challenge as the dance steps are PROPER dance steps, not some aerobic cop-out, so in a way i'm glad about that as at least I will be learning a new skill (sort of...) So i'm going to persevere with the routines - it is my new challenge! There are a lot of reviews on Amazon complaing about the complexity of the routines, but my thoughts are if it was easy to pick up in the first go you would get really bored with it in no time.

I haven't tried the other one with Kelly Brook and Flavia, but I watched a few of the routines and they look quite fun, so I may have a try of them later today.

In other news...I am now back in the 14s! Wohoo! I'm really pleased to have lost 1lb this week and feel really motivated to push on.

As it is less than 12 weeks to my Birthday I have set myself a new (almost) 12-week Challenge, whereby I want to lost 1 stone, which in turn would mean I have cracked the next stone barrier and would be in the 13s. It will be hard with Christmas in between but I've already started plannin WW-type food for the Christmas period and am determined not to put weight on, as I can remember how crap I felt at nearly 18stone on my birthday last year.

As always, I shall report back on my 12 week, and also my two-left feet progress!