Workout Review: TurboFire Core 20 and Stretch 40

I am nearing the end of my second week of TurboFire, and there were several new workouts this week, so I am a bit behind on my workout reviews.  Tonight I will review Core 20 and Stretch 40, the last workout from Week 1.

Core 20 -- 

Dude! This workout works EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE of your core, plus some!  The first half of this workout is a standing ab routine.  You start with your basic standing crunches and oblique work and then Chalene introduces the resistance band to your workout.  This little bit of extra resistance makes a huge difference, my obliques and lower abs were burning by the 10 minute mark.  Then you transition to the floor.  This is where Chalene turns it up!  On the floor, you are using the resistance band around your feet and spend most of your time in a modified v-sit doing various exercises, including some killer bicycles.  This part only lasts for about 5 minutes, but that was more than enough for me!  Then the band gets put away and you continue with a few more sets of bicycles (not my favorite ab move, but it is effective).  You then move into modified oblique crunches where you are on one hip lifting both your shoulders and legs, allowing you to move within your full range of motion on your side.  Way more effective than your standard oblique crunch!  An ab workout wouldn't be complete without some planking and push-ups, which is exactly how this workout ends.

Overall, this workout kicked my butt!  I'm used to feeling the burn during ab routines, but that soreness quickly goes away for me.  With this workout, on the other hand, I felt like it took your typical ab routine and turned it up a notch.  I was feeling this workout the next day for sure!  I will say that the stretch at the end of Core 20 is really short, so you have got to also play one of the two stretch workouts included on the DVD.  Stretching is so important, don't skip it!

Stretch 40 -- 

If you are sore and in need of a good long stretch, this workout will do the trick!  It is scheduled for the end of the week, and I really needed a workout like this one to work all the kinks out of my body and start the new week fresh.  The stretch workout moves at a decent pace, not too fast, but not pain-stakingly slow like some stretch routines I have done.  It is a flow style workout with a natural progression of muscle groups.  Something new I encountered with this workout was the use of the lower body band during some of the stretches.  The band was used in many of the lower body stretches (hence the name).  I feel like the band helped get a deeper stretch and allowed my body to relax into each stretch better.

I love how Chalene is focused on form all throughout the workouts, regularly reminding us to lead with our chests and keep our tailbones up.  One of my pet-peeves when I was teaching group fitness was poor stretching technique.  I'm sure my students were sick of my constant reminders, but form really does matter!  I can see this workout being my go-to stretch workout when I'm feeling sore. I also did this workout right before bed, and I was so relaxed when I was done, that I think I had a better night sleep!  

TurboFire Week 1 Results

The results are in!  

After my first full week of TurboFire, I am down 1.6 pounds!  I'm having so much fun with these workouts!  This is my first experience with a cardio kickboxing type of program and my first experience with HIIT workouts, and all I can say is wow, it really works!  Even though I haven't lifted a single weight this week, I am feeling stronger.  It's Crazy!  I am following the 21 Day Fix meal plan with this program currently, because I love it so much.  TurboFire comes with it's own meal plan too, which I will be adopting during my second month of this program, so by the end of month #2, I will be able to give you guys a good comparison between the 2 eating plans.  I really like the the TurboFire schedule.  i feel like it is well thought out.  The HIIT workouts, are spread out throughout the week. The rest day comes at the perfect time, right when I needed it most.  There is a good balance between cardio, HIIT, and core/sculpting workouts and plenty of opportunities for stretching.  I enjoy the way music and some dancing is incorporated into the workouts. It's a lot of fun!

Last night, I participated in Beachbody's January Surge event.  It is live-streamed event in which Beachbody shares important information and incentives, recognizes top coaches, and builds excitement and momentum for the coming quarter.  I am so proud to be able to say that 4 out of the top 10 coaches are members of the Bombshell Dynasty.  Our team has some tremendous leaders to look up to and everyone is so kind and willing to help other coaches succeed.  In a couple of years, I hope to hear my name announced as one of the top 10 coaches in the organization!  

The yearly Success Club trip was also announced during the surge last night.  This trip is attainable for any coach in the organization.  This past year, my upline coach earned her trip in less than 6 months.  She is getting to go to Cancun FOR FREE in April! I started as a coach in October, and was not able to get in on Cancun, but this year, it is GAME ON.  I will be earning the 2016 success club trip, and you can too! Want to hear where we will be going together?  The 2016 Success Club Tip is...... A CRUISE.... to.... JAMAICA..... and.... the private island of Labadee!

Want to ride the high seas and kick back with me in Jamaica next Spring?  Fill out the form below and let's get you started with helping others on their fitness journeys and earn your own free trip in the process! 

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The December Challenge Group Results are in!

Happy Tuesday y'all!  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Can you believe it? This month has absolutely flown by.  I really feel like since I had my daughter, time passes so much more quickly than it did before.  Or maybe it's just a sign I'm getting older. Either way,  this month has gone crazy fast!  

My 21-Day Challenge Group finished up on Sunday, and my ladies did AMAZING!  Even with the craziness of the holidays, everyone lost pounds and inches and are going into the holiday healthier and stronger!  We had a great time and will be taking a super short break for Christmas and then the next Challenge group will start just after the first of the year!  I am having so much fun coaching my challengers.  Being a coach is such a rewarding job! I've gotten some great feedback from my challengers lately that has me smiling from ear to ear and totally jazzed up for the New Year!  We've got great things in store for January, February, and March so stay tuned!

Today was Day 2 of TurboFire. I am so sore!  Yesterday I completed Fire 30 and today was my first ever HIIT workout, HIIT 15.  Have you ever done a HIIT workout? HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  It's the type of workout where you go as hard as you can for a short period of time (in this case it was 30-45 seconds), take a short break, and then repeat.  It's a really effective way to workout, but should be used in moderation. You've got to make sure to allow enough time in between HIIT workouts to let your body recover, so you don't injure yourself.  A HIIT workout, when done correctly, creates, what Chalene Johnson calls, the afterburn effect.  What she means is that HIIT workouts significantly increase your metabolism in a short period of time and then your body maintains that higher metabolism for a longer time after your workout than in a normal cardio session.  An increased metabolism equals more calories burned every minute, and we all know we've got to burn more calories than we are consuming to lose weight.

My Polar heart rate monitor bit the dust yesterday, I've been looking for a new activity tracker for awhile -- one that I can wear 24/7 and tracks everything, including my sleep.  I was hoping to get one for Christmas, but I think I want to go with the new FitBit that's coming out after the first of the year, the Charge HR.  I've never fully understood how the activity trackers, including all the previous FitBits could be accurate without monitoring your heartrate, so I was really excited to see that the new FitBit was going to incorporate a heart rate monitor (using your wrist, so no annoying band around your chest!).  What activity tracker do you all use?  I'd be interested to hear what you like and don't like about the different options out there!

 

Unboxing TurboFire

I am so excited to be starting a new program on Monday, TurboFire.  I've been doing 21 Day Fix first on my own back in October, and then with a couple of challenge groups.  It's a highly effective program, easy to maintain, and I've gotten great results, but I'm a bit of a program hopper.  I like to do a program start to finish, and then move on to another program.  It helps keep my motivation up and keeps me focused.  I could tell my motivation was starting to decline the last couple weeks.  It could be the holidays, or it could be that I'm just ready for something new.  I'm ready to change my routine up, and I figure, since I start my day with a workout, the easiest way to mix things up would be for me to start a new program!  

I could have waited until the new year to start a new program, but I've got a couple of great challenge groups all starting at the end of December and beginning of January, so I wanted to have my new routine down before my groups start. That way I can devote much more focus to my challengers and help them get started towards their own fitness goals.  I also have a big Beachbody Coaching event coming up in 3 weeks called Super Saturday. This will be my first time going to a coach event, and I want to look my absolute best.  My goal is to lose the last 7 pounds I need to lose to get back to my pre-baby weight.

As far as my eating plan goes, TurboFire provides an eating guide, but I will be sticking to the 21 Day Fix eating plan.  It's so easy to follow, and the balance of macros is spot on for what my body needs. The TurboFire eating plan looks awesome, and I'm sure it would give me great results too, but I'm not going to change my whole eating plan just yet.  I will revisit the idea of switching eating plans after the holiday craziness dies down.  

Tonight, I unboxed my TurboFire and took a look at all the program goodies.  I love, love, LOVE getting into a new fitness program, and I wanted to share the experience with you!

So when you get your TurboFire program in the mail it looks like this:

Then you open it up and see a stack of program materials:

When you unwrap the stack of printed materials, you will see that you have been provided a workout schedule, a program overview that explains how the program is designed, the science behind HIIT, and how to maximize your results, the eating plan (with recipes!), and a special 5-day Inferno plan (a specialized 5-day strict eating plan designed to accelerate your results).  

Underneath the printed materials is your set of workout DVDs.  There are 11 DVD's in the base kit of this program.  There are also open sleeves for the 5 advanced workout DVD's should you choose to buy them as well.  I may just have to do that after I complete my first round!

You also receive some equipment. No need to go out and buy your own!  You get a measuring tape to track all the inches you will be losing, a resistance band and set of resistance band handles, and a sculpting band to use during leg and bun sculpting workouts.  I don't know if you have ever used one of these bands, but I have.  They look so innocent until you use them in a workout. Then it's like your buns are on FIYAH!

Tomorrow I will dig deeper into the program materials and get myself set up for Monday, Day 1 of TurboFire!  I will be documenting my weekly progress with this program on my blog.  I'm so ready!