This workout is getting a lot of buzz everywhere. It was originally printed in the ACSM Journal, and the NY Times has picked it up as well. I just tried it and broke a sweat very quickly:
You do each exercise in the routine for 30 seconds with 10 seconds rest in between each exercise. Great, I think, for those days when you know you have very little time.
I really like Prevention Magazine. I always find something in each issue that is practical & immediately usable in my life. The March issue outlines the latest research on losing weight or why your current diet may not be working as well as you’d like:
1) You aren’t eating enough. When you dip below 1200 calories per day, your body slows metabolism in order to hold on to its reserves.
2) You reward yourself with food after exercise. Are you overestimating how many calories you burned in your workout and underestimating how many calories were in your post-workout meal?
3) You slurp diet drinks – In a 2011 study, diet-soda drinkers had a 178% greater increase in waist circumference over 10 years, compared with non-soda drinkers. Artificial sweeterners can actually raise your insulin levels and lower your blood sugar and move existing calories into storage in your fat cells.
4) Your friends are fat – Your chances of being overweight increase 1/2 % for every friend you have who is overweight. Two reasons: your perception of what’s overweight may change and/or the other person’s lifestyle and behaviors may rub off on you.
5) You’ve eliminated wine – New research found that peopel who drank one or two glasses of wine daily gained less weight over 13 years, compared with those who do not drink alcohol.
6) Your diet isn’t digitally enhanced. New research shows that people who monitored their diet and exercise with a digital device that provides daily feedback lost more weight and stuck with their diet longer than those who used paper & pen.
7) You’ve gone carb-free or fat-free. The trick is to have a varied diet that includes healthy fats and good carbs such as fruits. The vast majority of people can’t pass on birthday cake and pasta dinners for a lifetime. It’s just not sustainable.
Number five is my favorite!
Once a year, Fitness Magazine publishes their choices for the top new workout DVDs that have been released. They use about 100 people to test the tapes and publish their top choices. Their choices represent a wide range of types of fitness (cardio, weights, yoga), and I am never disappointed when I buy one of the ones they recommend. I’ve highlighted some of the ones below that I am likely to try, since I have used other workouts from these instructors. The complete list is also included at the end:
Bob Harper: Totally Ripped Core, $15
What you’ll need: a pair of 3- to 5-pound dumbbells
Calories burned: 380 during a 48-minute routine, 65 during an 11-minute bonus*
The skinny: Testers loved the “fun mix of fast-paced coreexercises,” like weighted side crunches, and muffin-top-melting plyometric bursts from The Biggest Loser‘s master motivator. They also gave a thumbs-up to the on-screen countdown clock; it helped them push through the full routine, which made one reader “‘good’ sore every time I completed it.” Finish with the stretchy bonus session, which includes trunk rotations and windmills.
Personal Training with Jackie: 30 Day Fast Start, $15, amazon.com
What you’ll need: a pair of 3-pound dumbbells, a pair of 5-pound dumbbells, a yoga mat
Calories burned: 132 to 137 per 24-minute routine
The skinny: Nonstop supersets of sculpting moves “definitely make you feel the burn.” Start with one rep of abiceps curl and then do one push-up. Keep adding another rep, alternating sets, until you’ve reached 10 reps of each. The two routines are split into an upper-body session and a lower-body and core combo. Celebrity trainer Jackie Warner’s “encouraging” style will make you want to “do it over and over.”
Jillian Michaels: Ripped in 30 $15, amazon.com
What you’ll need: a pair of 3- to 8-pound dumbbells
Calories burned: 222 to 250 calories per 24-minuteworkout
The skinny: Jillian Michaels’ winning formula? Strength-and-cardio sessions built on three minutes of toning (like alternating lunges with biceps curls), two minutes of cardio (speed skaters), and one minute of ab moves (elbow-to-knee planks). Follow one of four half-hour workouts each week from the “motivating,” no-excuses former Biggest Loser trainer for a “sweat-tastic” routine. One new-mom tester found that “the quick workout options are perfect for burning calories during naptime or before work.”
Billy Blanks: PT 24/7 $90, billyblankspt247.com
What you’ll need: fingerless boxing gloves, resistance tubing (both included in DVD set)
Calories burned: 269 to 309 per 30-minute disc
The skinny: “Charismatic” martial arts phenom Billy Blanks is back with Tae Bo 2.0. You’ll feel as if you “really accomplish something in 30 minutes.” Besides the “inventive” bands and gloves that add resistance to eachworkout, the kit comes with a nutrition guide and a calendar suggesting which of the seven workout discs to pop in so you “don’t have to think about which to do next.”
Shiva Rea: More Daily Energy $20, acacialifestyle.com
What you’ll need: a yoga mat
Calories burned: 173 during 65-minute “lunar” routine, 227 during 85-minute “solar” routine
The skinny: Expect a gentle mat session from the longtime yogi and rock star of asanas, Shiva Rea. Broken down into mix-and match 7- to 20-minute segments, this “meditational” yoga workout is “perfect for days off from cardio” and “helped me feel less sore after my other workouts.” The sequences “get the kinks out of your neck and back” after a long day at the office.
Other winners:
The complete slideshow, which includes clips from each DVD, is located on the Fitness magazine website.
Enjoy!
life as it should be 