Sweet Shoppe Designs

Hi Sweet Shoppers! Today I am going to being you a topic I love to hate. Working out. I hate working out. I dread it. Deep down I wish (well, really not that deep) I wish I had the body type that didn’t have to work out. Working out is hard. It’s not particularity fun. I end up sweaty and stinky.

But when it is all over I feel pretty darn good.

I started working out again 4 weeks ago. I had an epiphany. I mean – it was knowledge that I have known all along, but I had that “A-HA!” moment. In order to lose weight, I need to work out.

Mind blowing, right?

Although I would love to join a gym, with having 2 girls and a husband with an equally important schedule – finding the perfect time to go to the gym was impossible.  And I like group exercises.  I tried my city’s rec department’s activities and I was not impressed.  So I turned to my local library.  I borrowed a few Firm DVDs and found 2 that I really love.

I love The Firm: Ultimate Fat-Burning Collection. 4 workouts. 1 DVD. Enough variety to keep me focused and interested. There is little jumping (I hate to jump), very little dancing and a lot of weights. I really like all 4 workouts for a variety of reasons. The toughest ones for me is Cardio Overdrive and Pump, Jump & Jab.  I am swearing at the instructor by the end of my workout and sweating buckets. But I feel good afterwards.  I will have to say – that is took me at least 2-3 times to really get the moves down.  They move fast, but once I got it, I was able to keep up.  And for under $6 at Amazon – totally worth it for me.

Next up is this hellish workout  – The Firm: Get Chisel’d. I did not borrow this one, but it looked like what I wanted. Weights and cardio = awesome.  What I did not realize, this kicks my butt 10 different ways. The instructor is awesome, but again, she moves fast. She’ll tell you what is coming next, but unless you know what she is talking about – you may be lost. The cycle is weights, cardio, weights.  No breaks. Lots of stretching. Some ab work.

And then we have Jillian.  Oh Jillian. I love to hate you. I love to hate how you make me feel like an empowered loser. I hate how you don’t actually DO any part of the workout but you have your super-fit lackeys do the workout for you.  This bad boy – Ripped in 30 – is HARD. It’s a lot of jumping. It is a lot of weights. But it is the easiest out of my bunch to follow.  Put it this way – in 4 weeks, I have done this one twice. TWICE.  Out of exercising 6 days and doing a video 5 out of those 6 days.  I’m not saying it wasn’t a good buy, it’s not my favorite. I also have her 30 Day Shred. Again, it’s good, but not my fav.

I haven’t lost much weight (just over 5 pounds), but I am more toned. The number one place I notice it is in my thighs. Then my arms.  In a few months, I’ll pick up a few more videos and am looking for suggestions. Please post with your recommendations and why you like the video or even what you do to get your workout on.