Exercise | One Fab Fit Mom – Weight Loss Success!

The secret to round house kicks – balance and center of gravity

Howdy all,

If there’s one thing my surgery and subsequent recovery has taught me, it’s that even if things are quite difficult, you can always find a way around the problem and begin to master your goal.

Take round-house kicks. I’m somewhat decent with them on my right side, but my left side…because my left ankle is missing that 1/2″ of bone, balance is, well, kinda sorta non-existent. So I kept falling over when trying to round-house kick that way.

Needless to say, that just pissed me off. I refuse to accept the fact I’m lousy at it…so while my kids were taking nunchaku during the following hour, I spent that time simply practicing pivoting on my left ankle. And guess what I discovered!

If you don’t throw yourself outside your center of gravity, you don’t fall over. Wowsa!

Okay, true, this is kinda sorta common sense….but I never really realized that until today! I have to train myself to recognize when my body is in the optimal position during the technique, and not push it so far that I begin to fall.

Round house kick after round house kick, I did them again and again and again and let me tell you, my left ankle is currently whimpering at me this moment. But! I think (emphasis on the word THINK) I have the concept down…now all I need to do is practice.

Like everything else lately that’s been happening in my life, this experience reinforced the fact that while life happens, it doesn’t mean you have to accept the status quo! Just because the rest of the world might think you’re a tad insane for trying something that logic would decree is impossible for you…doesn’t mean you should listen.

I still can’t get over how much I am enjoying leg techniques and kicks now, even with a bum ankle (you can read about that relavation here) 3 months ago, you’d never have convinced me I’d have progressed to this point.

Dare yourself to break past your own preconceived boundaries! You might be surprised at what you can achieve.

Time to sleep,

Barbara

ps – some great karate kicking resources!

P90x Classic Routine – Description of program, days, etc.

Hi all,

I’ve been asked now several times for a complete description of the P90x routine rotation…so I decided to blog about it. Side note – I got my P90x at a discount from eBay, like so:

I’m currently doing P90x Classic – it focuses upon strength training while still giving you some good cardio times. It’s broken down into 3 Phases like so.

Before Phase 1: Take Day 1 pictures of your body – front view, back view, bicep view, side view, 3/4 view. You’ll be using these pictures as a benchmark for your future successes.

Phase 1:

This is for weeks 1-3:

Day 1 – Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Pylometrics (Jump Training)
Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X Karate
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

I personally always choose to do X Stretch – it’s such a treat to give to your thoroughly whimpering body.

The 4th week is considered a recovery and a focus week and looks like:

Day 1 – Yoga X
Day 2 – Core Synergistics
Day 3 – Kenpo K Karate
Day 4 – X Stretch
Day 5 – Core Synergistics
Day 6 – Yoga X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

Don’t let “recovery week” fool you – you’re still doing some major work on your body, but the weight lifting focus has halted for a week. Personally speaking, I find Yoga X (fondly known by me as Yoga Death) to be incredibly challenging – it really helps build your muscles in my opinion.

That’s Phase 1. Two days after you’re done with that, you take your Day 30 pictures to see what changes happened to your body, and then continue to Phase 2.

Phase 2 is dedicated to adding size to your muscles like so:

Weeks 5-7:

Day 1 – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Pylometrics (Jump Training)
Day 3 – Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X Karate
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

Notice how there’s two new workouts there? You don’t do the same workout every week; during this particular phase, you do Chest/Shoulders/Triceps instead of Chest/Back, and Back/Biceps instead of Shoulders/Arms. It’s a smart move.

The 8th week is a ‘recovery and ab focus’ week again and looks just like Week 4:

Day 1 – Yoga X
Day 2 – Core Synergistics
Day 3 – Kenpo K Karate
Day 4 – X Stretch
Day 5 – Core Synergistics
Day 6 – Yoga X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

That takes care of Phase 2 – at the end here, you’ve completed 56 days and 4 days after that, you take your Day 60 pictures…and then go into:

Phase 3:

This phase uses all the DVDs and really puts your body to work! Here’s the schedule:

Week 9:

Day 1 – Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Pylometrics (Jump Training)
Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X Karate
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

Week 10:

Day 1 – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Pylometrics (Jump Training)
Day 3 – Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X Karate
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

Week 11:

Day 1 – Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Pylometrics (Jump Training)
Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X Karate
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

Week 12:

Day 1 – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Pylometrics (Jump Training)
Day 3 – Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – Yoga X
Day 5 – Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Kenpo X Karate
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

and finally on your last week, Week 13, you do the entire recovery week once again:

Day 1 – Yoga X
Day 2 – Core Synergistics
Day 3 – Kenpo K Karate
Day 4 – X Stretch
Day 5 – Core Synergistics
Day 6 – Yoga X
Day 7 – Rest or X Stretch

That will take you 91 days….and on the last day, you can finally take your Day 90 pictures. By this time, you should really notice one heck of a difference from Day 1, Day 30, Day 60 and Day 90.

And that’s the P90 Classic Routine!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – some more P90x Goodies:

P90x Review, X Stretch – Week 4, Day 4, Total Days – 24

Morning everyone,

Joy of joys, it seems that my sleeping patterns are returning to normal – I got up at 5:15am and did my X Stretch at around 9am.

Have I mentioned how much I truly enjoy this DVD? Stretching has imparted such flexibility to my body that I’m able to move far more freer and easily than before. I can hardly believe the “me” of today is so superior, physical-wise, to the “Me” of last year!

I’m not able to do the inverse wrist stretches, mind you, and “camel” hah! is not even really an option. Be that as it may, however, I did make certain to substitute in my karate stretches whenever possible – standing side leg, split leg, etc. The good news there – I can virtually (almost!) attain a 170 degree angle and sit on the floor when I try to stretch out the right leg (yay!). It’s been 2 months now that I’ve been practicing splits on and off…it’s really coming together.

And that’s day 24,

Barbara

ps – some nice P90x goodies include:

Karate kicks, Kendo hits, and bruised elbows oh my!

Howdy all,

Before I give myself permission to collapse in a heap from this evening’s workout, I have to post about:

I can actually do vaguely decent karate kicks now.

Not only that, but I actually like them. Hand techniques were my favorites before…but now that I can actually (gasp!) move! and kick! and almost balance! and … you get the idea…I really like doing kicks now.

This is an unbelievable shock to me, let me tell you. I’ve always been timid about using my legs and always felt like I didn’t have the ability to really use control. But today, I found myself asking for kicks as part of the practice and then mentally slammed myself – is this me? Me, asking to do something I never did well before….and now, actually really like doing today?

I really cannot wrap my mind around this. I honestly cannot. Decades of being totally incompetent with my legs, and now, it’s coming together. Wow.

And in Kendo today, it was the first time in 1.5 months that I did sparring…..and my oh my, you could tell. I’ve gained more confidence but lost whatever skill I might have had…I now have a delightful 3 inch bruise on my right elbow. Ouch! But it was still great fun (so I went a second time!).

I honestly wish I could package the wisdom I’ve been accumulating since July (when I found out about my doorknob on my femur) up until now….and instill it into my kids. But I think it’s something you have to experience and live yourself before you can fully internalize all the gifts it gives to your inner self.

Just had my coffee, and it’s time for sleep. Night night everyone!

Best wishes,

Barbara

ps – great karate stuff!

Turbo Jam Fitness reviews, discounts and more – finding coupons online

Howdy everyone,

One of the best cardio DVDs out there is TurboJam. And did you know you can get great discounts like:

From where did I get these goodies? Why, eBay of course!

Generally there are two types of Turbo Jam sellers on eBay – your typical merchants, and then those folks who bought it and have moved onto a different workout program. And if you’re lucky, you can even find great lots of Turbo Jam fitness DVDs and videos; those turn out to be quite the money-saver.

So! Turbo Jam fitness is neat because the workouts involve all parts of your body – upper, lower, core, etc. And the instructor, Charlene, is just one happy enthusiastic individuals – the time whooses on by during all the workouts.

Here are some of the great Turbo Jam Fitness DVDs available:

As you can see, there are lots of Turbo Jam fitness goodies and discounts online. Want to find some reviews? Consider:

As you can see, you can find lots of reviews and great discounts alike. Enjoy your exploration!

Barbara

ps – more Turbo Jam goodies include:

P90x Fitness – Does it really work? Reviews, resources, links and more

Morning,

Well! Today will be day 24 that I’ve been doing the P90x fitness package and let me tell you, if you’re wondering

Is this the REAL deal?

I can say without a doubt…..YES! And you can even get it at discounts like I did like below:

I started P90x a month or so after getting surgery to remove a bone tumor on my right femur. Since then, I have faithfully done it every day and have found the claims really are true. If you follow the workouts and eat clean (she said, stating common sense), your muscles grow and your body slims.

I think the best part about P90x fitness is it forces you to work out different muscle groups each day. True, anyone can do this themselves….but I’ll confess, I’m the kind of person who needs to follow a guideline for it. Left to myself, I’d do the same routine week after week. It does help build muscle, but I’m seeing far better gains by doing it this way.

And I really love the different types of workouts that are included. One day is YogaX, fondly known by me as Yoga Death. It’s 90 minutes long and is by far the most difficult DVD in the whole package. I have become far more flexible than I thought possible! I utterly hate and despise this DVD…but wow, it delivers results.

Another fun DVD is Plyometrics, or “Jump Training”. The heart rate really zooms up there when you do all sorts of creative jumping, explosive movements. My favorite one has to be “swing the right leg over a high chair followed by the left leg and repeat” – it’s just like a crescent kick! That brings me to another point of P90x fitness – it has really helped my karate moves. The moves I cannot do due to physical limitations, I can substitute with karate kicks/blocks/etc. I really like the fact that you can modify everything to your own best abilities.

What else. Let’s see…the XStretch (60 minutes of stretching) is simply heaven – prior to P90x fitness I never realized how useful and beneficial stretching really can be. I’ve noticed vast improvements in my overall flexibility because of this as well.

Weight-lifting wise, my favorite DVDs are P90x Chest and Back because of the pullups and pushups (exercises of kings and queens!). Shoulders/arms creates an awesome burn, and Legs/back involve lots and lots of magnificent squats.

Here are some more resources for P90X:

Hope you find this useful!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – some great P90x discounts:

P90x Review, KenpoX – Week 4, Day 4, Total Days – 24

Howdy!

It’s truly amazing what your mind, body and spirit can handle when you give yourself permission to blast past any barriers known to mankind.

This morning, I woke up wondering if anyone got the license plate of the semi that ran over me (at least, that’s what it felt like!). So I figured I’d hold off on any workouts, and instead a.) sleep until the afternoon (ie, 5:30am or so), and b.) doing my workout later. Started working online, fed myself my beef bone/chili pepper soup, and began the workout.
I just finished Kenpo X. Remember, this is my recovery week (ha ha ha, I just love that delusion, recovery, ho ho ho . Actually, it really is, as no weight lifting is done, but still). Astonishingly, I felt in top shape, was totally ready to bring it, and did myself proud in the workout. I can now even pivot rather decently in those lovely jab/cross/hook/uppercut! moves!

I modified the workout as usual, mind you – during the jumping jacks, I did sitting-to-standing front kicks and side kicks. And I started doing a static stretch a friend showed me – I stand with my left hip to the wall, move away 2 feet, put up my left leg as high as it will go, and stretcccccccch. My gosh, do I feel that. Then I repeat to the right. Then I do my split stretches (I can get to 2 inches off the ground) and my hamstring stretches etc. I do miss Plyo with the Crescent-kicks-over-the-high-chair, but hey, that will come next week.

And that’s Day 24,

Barbara

ps – more Tony Horton goodies!

Evening hot baths, morning coffee, listening to your body wrt fitness and more

Morning,

Well! It’s just after 5am and amazingly, I have NOT yet done my morning workouts!

My gosh why, I hear you ask?

Simple! On Monday, I did massive DDR with the kids, Tuesday was P90x Core plus Cardio GoGo plus two hours of advanced karate including 10 minutes of boot camp plus one hour of Kendo and let me tell you, boys and girls, I’m feeling it this morning.

Yes, it’s true – apparently the body at 43 ain’t the same thing as the body at 23! My gosh, how I wish I had valued this fact back then. Ah well.

So! It’s time for (drumroll please) modifications. I’ll still do my workouts, of course, but modify them to suit whatever my body says I should do. Today’s P90x workout is Kenpo, and I’ll make certain to use my Goju-ryu moves during the majority of it. Hey, might as well improve the form! Pivots will be lessened and I’m going to focus instead on balance today.

And that brings me to the important topic of the day. MODIFY WHEN NECESSARY! You never have to damage yourself when working out – go to the level of which you are capable and make it work THERE, not some idiotic level that will end up causing massive amounts of hurt to your body.

Let me explain the title of this post. Last night, I made myself a hot bath after returning from karate/kendo, and ended up relaxing for 15 minutes (without any kids bashing thru the door saying,
“Mom, I sensed you were relaxing so here I am!” Amazing, that). Upon staggering out, I slathered Tiger Balm on my ankles/thighs/lower back, and made my way whimpering to the bed where I collapsed. After 5 minutes, one of my kids came in and said, ‘Mom, are you okay? I heard you making weird noises!’ Apparently I was mewling to myself as I tried to get comfortable, and didn’t even realize that! Talk about hearing sensitivity.

This morning upon waking up, my body tactfully told me, coffee. Massive amounts of coffee. Bless thy system and imbibe the drink of the angels and that favors life. So here I am with my morning coffee, feeling energy starting to flow back into my zombie-like self.

So many people over 40 challenge themselves to surpass their own expectations. I’m highly in favor of that; heck, I’ve done it again and again. But there does come a point where your body says, woah! Slow down and modify and when you’re recovered, pounce at full force once again….and THAT is a good thing to which to listen.

You can take that to the bank.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – if you enjoy hot baths like I do, consider:

Karate is finally coming together, and the joys of boot camp

Quick post before I pass out – today I did two advanced classes and one Kendo class.

I’m utterly beyond amazingly wowized that…..it’s finally coming together. I can actually balance the majority of times, my increased flexibility has made my kicks/rechambering far better, and I (almost!) flow – I don’t have relay a message from my brain to my legs, it just seems to happen.

Oh that was nice. Exhausting, but nice. We also had 10 minutes of delectable boot camp at the end – I did it with my kids and as always, blasted past them in endurance. Mom rocks!

Mom’s actually pretty darned cool, I will admit.

Time for a hot bath,

Barbara

ps – Speaking of Boot Camp!

P90x Review, Core Synergistics – Week 4, Day 2, Total Days – 23

Morning everyone,

Today I pressed PLAY at 2:30am or so and began day 2 of my recovery week (recovery week, ha ha, what a joke!). It was ‘core synergistics’ and my oh my, does that work the abs, core, thighs etc.

When you’re doing the DVD, you don’t think how killer it really is (except for the iso planks-to-chatarungas)…but when you’re done, WOW. Burn burn burn, burn baby burn! Ooof. I really felt that.

I ended up taking off my shoes and socks during some of the workout, and then chose to do karate moves during the Plyo stuff. I can really feel how much more flexible I am these days – it’s quite nice.

And that’s day 23,

Barbara

ps – some neat P90x discounts: