Sunday, January 30, 2011
It's all part of the process...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
What's the deal with Recovery Formula?
When you exercise anaerobically (weight training, the high end of intervals, etc.), you burn blood sugar and glycogen. If you give it your all for about an hour, you'll probably deplete both of those resources. The carbs in Recovery Formula rush in to replenish that blood sugar and glycogen. Meanwhile, the protein piggybacks in, getting to muscles for a head start on resynthesis.
P90X Recovery Formula |
Monday, January 24, 2011
Product Review - BODYLASTICS RESISTANCE BANDS
Our first product review is by my husband, Josh, who is giving his personal review of Bodylastics Resistance Bands, which he used during his last round of P90X.
*Please note: there is no financial opportunity for us in reviewing this product. We are not reps for this company and do not have a personal relationship with this company. This review is soley from personal use. Enjoy!*
Bodylastics Resistance Bands - Mega Resistance Family Edition
The Bodylastics Resistance Bands are incredible. I think they created an excellent idea that makes using resistance bands for working out so much easier and more convenient. The typical retailer, online or in store, offer single bands to which a handle would somewhat permanently attach at each end. In order to increase your weight resistance you would need to go up a band size. If you needed incremental weight or if you have surpassed the largest band, more for the men or hardcore women, they you had to start using multiple bands. As you could imagine, that doesn’t work very well in your hands while working out. You would have to hold on to multiple handles to accomplish this. There are some newer systems that are offering a set of bands that connect to they handles. However, those only come with 3 or 4 bands and they are a general weight resistance. On top of this headache, you had to wrap the bands around something in order to anchor them down to use them. That can be very inconvenient as well. Not to mention you pay quite a bit in order to get a decent line up of bands to do the job.
Bodylastics offers several levels of packages. My favorite, which I believe is an incredible value, includes a pair of each size band. It also includes 4 handles and more. The more is where Bodylastics really separates themselves, I think, from everyone else. They have door anchors, ankle straps, and anywhere anchors (not included). This set comes with 4 of the ankle straps and two of the door anchors. The uniqueness about the handles and bands from Bodylastics is that they clip together. With clipping the bands to the handles you can now create your own weight increments to increase as needed. This is an incredible idea and works beautifully. The door anchors just go into your door frame and you shut your door on them and you now can adjust your height as needed, depending on what exercise you are doing and also it’s not forcing you tie bands around door knobs or banisters anymore. This now gives you more freedom to workout anywhere indoors.
The fitness fanatic ate well and exercised—and made it his mission to make sure everyone did the same—right up to the end at age 96, friends and family said.
LaLanne died Sunday at his home in Morro Bay on California’s central coast, longtime agent Rick Hersh said. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.
“I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for,” Elaine LaLanne, LaLanne’s wife of 51 years and a frequent partner in his television appearances, said in a written statement.
Lalanne, who had heart valve surgery two years ago, maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that “I can’t afford to die. It would wreck my image.”
“He was amazing,” said 87-year-old former “Price is Right” host Bob Barker, who credited LaLanne’s encouragement with helping him to start exercising often.
“He never lost enthusiasm for life and physical fitness,” Barker told The Associated Press on Sunday. “I saw him in about 2007 and he still looked remarkably good. He still looked like the same enthusiastic guy that he always was.”
LaLanne credited a sudden interest in fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and he worked tirelessly over the next eight decades to transform others’ lives, too.
“The only way you can hurt the body is not use it,” LaLanne said. “Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it’s never too late.”
60-year-old Jack LaLanne is helped out of the water on Oct. 3, 1974, after swimming from Alcatraz Island with his hands and legs shackled. He completed the 2-mile distance in an hour and 26 minutes, while towing a 1,000 pound boat.
His workout show was a television staple from the 1950s to the ’70s. LaLanne and his dog Happy encouraged kids to wake their mothers and drag them in front of the television set. He developed exercises that used no special equipment, just a chair and a towel.
He also founded a chain of fitness studios that bore his name and in recent years touted the value of raw fruit and vegetables as he helped market a machine called Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer.
When he turned 43 in 1957, he performed more than 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes on the “You Asked For It” television show. At 60, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco—handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat. Ten years later, he performed a similar feat in Long Beach harbor.
“I never think of my age, never,” LaLanne said in 1990. “I could be 20 or 100. I never think about it, I’m just me. Look at Bob Hope, George Burns. They’re more productive than they’ve ever been in their whole lives right now.”
Fellow bodybuilder and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger credited LaLanne with taking exercise out of the gymnasium and into living rooms.
“He laid the groundwork for others to have exercise programs, and now it has bloomed from that black and white program into a very colorful enterprise,” Schwarzenegger said in 1990.
In 1936 in his native Oakland, LaLanne opened a health studio that included weight-training for women and athletes. Those were revolutionary notions at the time, because of the theory that weight training made an athlete slow and “muscle bound” and made a woman look masculine.
In this Sept. 20, 1990 file photo, physical fitness buff Jack LaLanne demonstrates at age 75 her still has the strength and body of someone 20 years his junior as his wife, Elaine, looks on.
“You have to understand that it was absolutely forbidden in those days for athletes to use weights,” he once said. “It just wasn’t done. We had athletes who used to sneak into the studio to work out.
“It was the same with women. Back then, women weren’t supposed to use weights. I guess I was a pioneer,” LaLanne said.
The son of poor French immigrants, he was born in 1914 and grew up to become a sugar addict, he said.
The turning point occurred one night when he heard a lecture by pioneering nutritionist Paul Bragg, who advocated the benefits of brown rice, whole wheat and a vegetarian diet.
“He got me so enthused,” LaLanne said. “After the lecture I went to his dressing room and spent an hour and a half with him. He said, ‘Jack, you’re a walking garbage can.”’
Soon after, LaLanne constructed a makeshift gym in his back yard. “I had all these firemen and police working out there and I kind of used them as guinea pigs,” he said.
He said his own daily routine usually consisted of two hours of weightlifting and an hour in the swimming pool.
“It’s a lifestyle, it’s something you do the rest of your life,” LaLanne said. “How long are you going to keep breathing? How long do you keep eating? You just do it.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Dan and Jon, and a daughter, Yvonne.
Associated Press writer Polly Anderson contributed to this report.
Online:
www.jacklalanne.com/blog
Friday, January 21, 2011
Tough...
*On a side note: during this pregnancy I had morning sickness ALL. THE. TIME. I noticed that on the days I worked out I felt GREAT! No morning sickness, my body didn’t ache, etc. I just felt great overall. Do I endorse exercising during pregnancy? YES! With Dr’s approval first, of course!*
Last night was the first time I had done Burn Intervals, and my very first ab workout, since my pregnancy. WOW. It was a tough one to get through, but I did it - and was spent.
First – Chalene always says, “If you’re not in the mood to workout, give me 5 mins, and that’ll change”. Yes and No. No, I wasn’t in the mood to workout. Yes, 5 mins into the workout my attitude did change. But I’m not going to lie and say it was a breeze. It was a challenge for me to finish the workout. Many times I was thinking, “I’m done.” But I pushed through and I’m quite proud of myself for doing so! Part of the reason why I felt so good after the workout was because I was proud of myself for pushing along.
Second – there’s no sugar coating it, working out as a new mom is tough! You are mentally and physically tired from multiple night wakings and feedings. Your body is still recovering from pregnancy and delivery, especially if you’ve had a C-Section. If you’re nursing, you’ve got the added engorgement to take into consideration. BUT, I’m here to tell you that there truly is a natural high after working out! Yes, I was SPENT last night, but I felt soooooo good afterwards too. And, the little sleep I’m getting (Blake is waking once a night now, nice!) is a much deeper, restful sleep than what I was getting before I started my fitness program. 2 thumbs up!
Stay Tuned!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Save $30 on ChaLEAN Extreme through 1/31/11
Resolution deals don't get much sweeter than this. When you order ChaLEAN Extreme between now and the end of January, you'll save at least THIRTY bucks (*Ask me how you can get ChaLEAN Extreme at the ultra low rate of $67.39)! Press play for details!
Hey Laaaaaddddddyyyyy! Exercise can help relieve your PMS symptoms!
(2) Exercise promotes weight loss, which in turn may reduce symptoms. (Excess body fat is associated with PMS.)
(3) Exercise seems to diminish PMS-related depression and anxiety. This could be due to the release of endorphins and other mood-raising chemicals.
(4) Exercise also reduces stress, another factor that triggers or exacerbates PMS in many women.
According to CVS Heath Resources:
"Moderate aerobic activities like walking, jogging, biking, and swimming for about 30 minutes five times a week may be your best bet. One three-month study of 23 women found that those who participated in an aerobic exercise program saw more improvement in their premenstrual symptoms, particularly depression, than those who did strength training. Yoga can also be helpful. Its combination of gentle stretching, breathing techniques, and meditation can help ease muscle tension, focus your mind, and decrease moodiness."
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
ChaLEAN Extreme
Yesterday I started ChaLEAN Extreme - Day 1, Burn Circuit 1! Woo Hoo!
I'm working on getting my body back after having my son in October, 2010 and I went back and forth on what program I was going to commit to to lose the baby weight. I decided on ChaLEAN Extreme as my main program with Turbo Fire on my Cardio days.
So, yesterday was day 1. Since I've done this program in the past, I pulled out my old tracking sheets to give me an idea of where I was with my fitness level the last time I did this program. At that time I was teaching Group Fitness classes so I was wwwwaaaayyy more fit than I am now. I didn't push myself as hard as I have in the past because I wanted to make sure that I had a good idea of where my starting point was. I was pleasently surprised to find out I hadn't lost all of my strength during my pregnancy. Some exercises were hard, other's weren't and now I have a starting point on where I can push myself.
After the workout I felt GREAT! I had a ton of energy, I slept great and I feel fantastic this morning (besides the head cold I've been fighting). Oh, how I've forgotten how much I love to challenge my body! My body thrives on a healthy combination of strength training and cardio so this is right up my alley.
As a new Mom, time is precious. Finding time to workout every day is a challenge, a daily challenge. For me, I've always been more successful at my workouts when I workout late at night. Some people thrive on getting up before the rest of the world does to get their workout in. And, while I'd love to be one of those people, I'm not a morning person - I hate mornings! So for me, working out at night has always been best. Being a busy mom and wife means that I need to workout when possible, so for me, that's usually after both kids have been fed, bathed and are in bed. That also means that my TV time with hubby is cut short, but that's what the DVR is for!
Today is Day 2 of ChaLEAN Extreme and is a Rest day...WHAT!?!? Right when 'Stella gets her groove back' you give me a rest day? Really? That's fine, I need to go grocery shopping anyways. I'll use this rest day and maybe take the family to the park for some play time. After all, my family is my WHY!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Beachbody!
The ultimate introduction to Team Beachbody, the people behind it, it's products and the Coach Compensation Plan. This video will revolutionize your life!