August 10, 2009 By april
Also, it was the end of Week 2 of ChaLEAN Extreme. Since first starting Chalean Extreme I realized that my posts could all sound the same, so, I’m just going to keep you updated here and there until I move into the next phase. Here we go with my confessions:
1. I finished Week 2 of Chalean Extreme today. I think that I am starting to see a little definition in my arms, but it could be too early to tell.
2. I drank way too much beer and stayed up way too late on Saturday.
3. Because I drank too much beer and stayed up way too late on Saturday, I didn’t work out yesterday.
4. I only feel a little bad about this because I had good time with the best of friends and it rocked.
5. Today, I did my Chalean work out AND worked out with EA Sports Active. Loved it!
6. Bowling is going to start again this week. Where did my summer off go? Seriously.
7. I’m going to try to be better at bowling and only have a couple of beers on Thursdays.
8. It’s really hard to say no to a free beer, though.
9. I totally took a shot of a guy’s nice ass on Saturday. Look for it later on my personal blog.
10. Random: I once told a guy that I had a black belt in karate when he tried to cut the beer line at a concert. I don’t have a black belt, but he must have believed me because he apologized and went to the back of the line.
11. Wow there’s a lot of beer talk in this post. Um, yeah. My bad.
That’s all I got this week. 
)
August 6, 2009 By april
I took yesterday as a Rest Day from Chalean Extreme. I did do a little bit of exercise; wanna know what it is??? I can’t tell you what it is yet. Stay tuned!!! ;o)
Today, was back to Burn Circuit 2. In case you’ve forgotten, this is the work out that focuses on biceps and triceps and I LOVE this work out. I know I said it last week. I don’t care. I love it. ;o)
I can already tell that I’m getting stronger, and I totally need to get my ass out and get some heavier weights. I’m using my 10′s for most of the exercises, and while I reach failure on some of them, I don’t on a lot of them. My body isn’t going to make the changes that I want it to unless I’m using the right equipment.
Since, I’m getting the hang of the routine now, I find that I concentrate on the exercise and have good form, but I can also allow myself to listen more to Chalene. I noticed today that she really wants to teach you about each exercise. To me, this is important. I like to know what the importance of an exercise is, what muscle groups I’m working (if I don’t already know), and the constant reminder of form. I find that now that I can listen to her instead of just watching the exercise and trying not to fall over. And by listening to her, I can concetrate more on doing the exercise correctly with good form.
One question I do have though: All of you exercise DVD people…why are you ALWAYS smiling during these work outs? I see you smiling on the TV and I think, what the hell is wrong with them? I’m in full concentration mode, breathing hard, and grunting. I look up and see you smiling like it’s a piece of cake.
Overall, I’m feeling really good. Stronger. And I THINK I can already see some changes in my arms!! I would love to have some really toned arms! *Fingers crossed!!*
August 3, 2009 By april
I just completed my first week of Chalean Extreme with two work outs. “Burn It Off” and “Recharge”
Burn It Off – Folks, it’s been a long time since a work out has made me want to puke. And not like a “I hated it” kind of puke. I’m mean literally as if I were out of shape puke. Which is insane for me because I’m in shape!! It seriously was like the first day of basketball practice all over again, and Coach said hit the track in 90 degree weather. After 27 continuous minutes of jumping, jumping, jumping-wait 26 minutes, you get a 1 minute break in the middle – I felt awesome!! Yeah, I know I said I wanted to puke and I did, but to me that’s awesome! Meant I challenged myself to the max!
Now if, you are thinking NO WAY am I going to try a work out that’s going to make me feel like that! Don’t. There are ways to modify the exercises. I just decided to go all out and push myself! I can’t wait to do it again!!
Recharge – Okay, I KNOW that working on your flexibility is important. And I will from time to try yoga type work outs (Chalene, you can call it Recharging, but I’m onto you. It’s yoga. ;o), and here’s my problem with yoga. While I’m suppose to be concentrating on relaxing and focusing on my breath while my head is between knees, all I can think is, wow, I really should have shaved my legs this morning. That’s just how my mind works. But I admit the stretches did feel good, and Chalene did keep it to only 20 minutes, so as long as I make sure I shave my legs before I do this work out, maybe I can try to focus more on my breathing and relaxing nex time.
Week 1 overall assesssment. AWESOME! I’m looking forward to Week 2 and seeing if the work outs get any easier or harder! I’m going to get some 12 lb weights this week, so that should challenge me more!
July 31, 2009 By april
Normally, Fridays are not work out days. It’s summer and there is lots of things to do in the summer. I thought about blowing off my work out more than once today to find someone to go to a Happy Hour with me. But I didn’t. I dragged my tired ass home and worked out.
Today, I experienced the hell most awesome work out that is Burn Intervals. I thought that this was going to be a straight cardio work out. Much like, um, Cardio Party from Turbo Jam. Yeah. Not so much.
If you’ve ever done any of the Turbo Jam work outs, you know that right in the middle there is this thing called Turbo. It’s around 90 seconds of pure hell extreme cardio enjoyment where you get your heart rate at maximum. So, imagine that times 500 with sets of 2 minute weight trainings in between each interval. Oh, and all of this is for 45 mins. It’s kind of like Cardio Party meets Jari Love. (Jari concentrates on light weights high reps.)
And while I sweated and I cussed and I sweated and I cussed, I loved every minute of it. It kind of worked out the soreness I was feeling from Burn Circuit 2 and after it was all done, I felt like I had climbed a mountain. It gave me a great sense of accomplishment!
Oh, but we weren’t done. On the schedule was Ab Burner. Now, I admit that when first seeing the title “Ab Burner”, I had to smirk a little bit. I mean, after all, I’ve done Ab Ripper X from P90X, so how hard could Ab Burner be right? Pretty hard. My abs are my weakness. I hate to work them and prefer to do total core work outs as opposed to just working on Abs, but it’s on the schedule, so I did it. It was a kick butt Ab work out! I know my abs are going to hate me tomorrow but love me in the end. I still have to admit, this was my least favorite work out so far. I’m sure I’ll hate Ab Extreme even more.
So, that’s Day 4. Any questions?
July 30, 2009 By april
OMG, I have found my new favorite work out!!! Sorry TJ Cardio Party 1. (You may hear this a couple of times throughout this program. I always have new favorite work outs, but Cardio Party held strong for months.) What you can read right now is my excitement, what you can’t see? My arms are SHAKING!! Shaking is GOOD, BTW.
Let me say, I love working biceps and triceps! And I knew from the very first exercise that this was going to be a great work out!
I mean, a sumo squat with a bicep curl? Come on! What’s not to love about that?! I loved this move so much, I was cheesing it up big time.
Move after move, I was loving. Lunge to tricep extension? LOVE! Sumo squat to overhead tricep extension? LOVE!
And then we get to the bowler’s lunge to a single arm row. SUCK. Let me explain this.
You’re to get into a position as if you just threw a bowling ball with all of your weight on your front foot. You’re just to use your back foot for balance. So, you squat down and while you’re down, you do a single arm row, then you come back up. (I think that’s basically how the move goes!) Okay, folks, we know that my balance sucks ass, so I’m sure this was a sight to behold. But I did it.
Next, bicep curl while you’re balancing on one foot sort of thingy. (You have to see it to get it.) But again, with the balance.
With me, it takes every single bit of concentration to hold my balance, and I know I fall out of it quite a bit, but instead of getting frustrated, I stick my tongue out, and I get right back to it. That’s the only way my balance will ever improve. So, if you have a move that isn’t so great for you, just keep working at it! You will get better! I promise!
The very last exercise was push-ups. Oh, and not just any old push-ups. No way. Chalene got creative here. One tricep push-up, one regular push-up, and one push-up with feet wide…and I did ALL TWELVE on my toes! Then Chalene said to do three more tricep push-ups. Suck. Those I had to do on my knees. I tried to do them on my toes, and I fell.
So, final notes for Day 3…I definitely need 12 lbs weights. I totally need to keep my focus on form, especially with the balance exercises. And I hate tricep push-ups. (Even though they’re really good for you!)