Beachbody thread 4 (P90X, Insanity, T25 etc)

[RoastieToastieReastie]

I hope you can find me! I went to post in the old thread but it had reached its limit.

Here's to an energetic, fit, healthy, and strong summer ahead.

OK, not sure what else to say about the secret site as the combat videos are definitely there when I search

Purple wow, you must be mega fit as I can't imagine beating Tanya on anything (apart from an eating competition )

Boobz well done on the chin ups, not something that I will be doing in a hurry!

I think I did experience the whoosh effect this week (hence the constant weeing). There has been a definite change in my body seemingly overnight and my non-work clothes (which I only wear at weekends) are noticeably looser than last weekend - amazing!! The whoosh effect rocks

Purple I am amazed you can beat tania at anything, I can barely equal her let alone beat her.

Boobz yay to the pull ups

Only it's weird because the combat videos are definitely not there when I look! It's the site with I think 720 videos on the page?

Well, I did p90x shoulders, triceps one this morning and it was rubbish. Not the workout but me. My stupid arm problem flared up and got painful and some exercises I couldn't even attempt as it hurt so much and most others were vastly modified. Felt very dispondant (have had this injury for well over a year and spent hundreds on a physio to try and sort it out) but hopefully the scan results will help. Did ab X and that went rubbishly too. Tomorrow I've got cardio and thinking of doing gamma speed 3 as I loved it so much last time (although it was hard but in a good way).

Have pm'd you te the secret site, Roastie.

No T25 for me today but I went on a 7 mile walk with DP. Tomorrow I'm planning either a T25 or a run but have more decorating to do first so will see how that goes.

A bit of a NSV - for the last few years I've wanted to be under 8.5 stone again, as that was the weight I was for most of my 20s (and felt fat). There's a thread in AIBU at the moment where someone is asking if 8 stone at 5'4" is skinny - I'm about that height and weighed that at one point, and I dug out a photo of me around that time to have another look. On the one I found I'm actually wearing the same jeans as I am today and they're not stretchy ones either! Even though I'm a stone heavier - and I actually think I look better in them now.

I did NO exercise at all back then, so I must just be more muscular! It's made me feel a lot better about not getting back to the elusive 8.5 stone again! :)

I don't think I'll ever be able to do a chin-up though.

As for beating Tania - she was my nemesis in all the insanity fit tests, I actually DID beat her on some things but no way can I ever out-switchkick her........

If this works here's the photos - I've cropped my friend out of the first one and my head out of both Same jeans, and I couldn't find the same top but found a similar one that I bought around the same time - darker photo is tonight, and the other one is from 2005/2006 when I was 8 stone.

That is a victory! Well done.

I would love to get into jeans from 2008! Not sure I still have any though. My barometer is a pair of trousers I bought in Kenya in 2012 which are a size 8 which have a big stripe that goes down both legs (I'm not selling them here - they're not that bad...) and I can tell when I'm getting thin when the stripe goes straight down and doesn't cling... vs being distorted and not being straight as my (bigger) thighs are distorting the line... IFKWIM.

Weighed in and have lost 3kg so far on 2 weeks of the 800Kcals Michael Moslet diet. Whoop! Another 4 weeks to go until my festival I am dieting/exercising for, would love to lose about 4kg or so.

About to do Max Insanity Circuits and Ab Ripper X and then it's an embassy pool day today (32 degrees) - not many pool days left before I return to London!

House on the market... hoping people looked at it yesterday - I want to buy the house in Vauxhall!

BRING IT

Roastie, sorry about your recurring injury. I really hope you can get it sorted and be pain free again. It's crap not being able to move properly.

Eleanor you look even better now! Great work.

Eleanor yep, definitely look better in those jeans now I guess that is the different between 'skinny fat' and 'slim muscle' (if that makes sense?)

Boobz well done on the weight loss!

I have a pair of trousers in my cupboard which I last wore in about 2004 (I think they are size 12). They are slim black smart trousers - my aim is to get in those again. I also have a pair of levi's from around the same era which I would love to wear again. It will be at least another 3 stone down though

Roastie sorry about your shoulder playing up again - so frustrating as I am sure it feels like one step forward and two steps backwards However, if you feel pain, you can't ignore it. Maybe try other workouts that don't require arms for a while?

Jackster have you tried any of the 21-day fix workouts yet?

Was supposed to be rest/T25 stretch day today but DH wanted me to do Core Speed with him so I did. That means I have a nice easy morning stretch tomorrow instead which I think will be quite lovely

Purple how did your fit test go? Are you starting the asylum tomorrow?

Lots of brilliant SVs and NSVs on here today.

Roastie - poor you re the injury. It's so horribly frustrating when you really want to work out but you're injured and even worse that it's been going on so long. I presume you know what work outs you can do without inflaming it so I won't annoyingly suggest any. But for you.

Did the fit test and have officially finished insanity mth 2.

I managed to beat Tania on everything but power knees (however is it possible to do 125 in 1min???) and jack push ups (she beat me by 1 - argh). But improved a lot so am pleased. Also lost half an inch from waist and thighs. Not sure about weight as forgot to weigh today - am definitely leaner - can see muscles in my thighs and some glimmer of abs. Insanity definitely worked for me! But am not sorry to go back to shorter work outs for a while. Will do a couple of weeks of random workouts to give myself a bit of a break and then will start asylum I think.

That must feel brilliant, Jackster! Well done! :) do you feel at the peak of your fitness? Are you worried about losing it?

Purple you need to post your scores for the Fit Test - I am doing it in 4 weeks' time and I don't want to beat Tania - I want to beat you!

Did Max Cardio Conditioning today - was going to do Ab Ripper but wasn't feeling it (so hot here in Rome) so will try to do before bedtime instead.

I'm chugging on with Les Mills Body Pump atm. The time flies and the fun factor is high... as long as I keep upping the weights, I think it's going to stay hard. I carried my big five-year-old up a hill yesterday without much difficulty so yay to JNL, Les Mills et al for the muscle endurance.

Very grumpy at the weather. Didn't bring Insanity Max 30 on hols as assumed I'd be able to go running.

Hello all,

No great progress today. Did t25 gamma speed 3 yesterday but puffed through it. Super busy week end with a family thing meant I was dashing the whole week end and was so exhausted this morning I was all shaky and weird but enforced rest day today. Means back and biceps p90x will have to be tomorrow and the plan is a bit out of plan for this week, but hey ho. I've also been super hungry today, but I think it's just exhaustion hunger after such a stressful week end.

Jack thanks for the pm, I have managed to find a couple of combat workouts on the site but I still think I'm not looking e right place somehow. I've ordered today a cable to link my iPad to the tv so I can try the les mills on demand free month and also the secret site workouts on a decent screen.

Katie glad you're enjoying pump, I did it for several months three times a week and then a couple of cardio on other days and I was the strongest I've ever been.

Better news to report, I forced myself to do back and biceps after picking up DD from school. Didn't manage ab ripper but better than nothing.

Well done on keeping to schedule Roastie, esp if you feel better for it. I have had early morning workouts like that before, I used to be fine doing dvds on an empty tummy but I tend to exercise in the afternoon now even though the morning is good from a getting it done point of view. Maybe the weekend has upset your blood sugar a bit?

I did chalean burn 1 today, only 36 minutes start to finish which was a nice surprise, and pace is quite slow but time went quickly think I will need some heavier weights or to try with my bands as 6kg wasn't quite enough for some. I managed 12 reps for nearly everything, I find flys pretty hard though and feel like my arms don't go high enough even with a light weight. planning to cut some weeks off the different phases of chalean extreme so I can have a couple of weeks at the lean stage before next CP trip in school hols.

Hope you're feeling a bit better roastie. My DH has already gone to bed tired. He says it's the humidity.

Boobz - to motivate you here are my fit test scores for you to beat. I've put my first and second scores

Switch kicks - 150/163
Squats - 47/75
Power knee - 100/110
Power jump - 65/75
Globe jump - 11/13
Suicides - 24/25
Push up jack - 18/31
Low plank oblique - 61/83

So - did dirty thirty from 21 day fix extreme tonight. I smugly thought that it would be so easy as it was only 30mins. Well, that served me right - was bloody hard - I picked up my 8kg weight and had to put it straight down as it was so heavy! My shoulders got a hammering - prob won't be brushing my hair tomorrow

I'm interested by the level of weights you all use. The biggest weights I have are a pair of 5kg and I always feel hard core when I use those but this talk of 6 and 8 kg is making me feel like a light weight! My average weight atm on p90x is 4 kg but last time I did it a few years ago it was more like 2-3kg so I am making progress.

I am not ripped or a weightlifter (in fact a weakling) but keep slowly adding 1kg every month or two to my dumbbells. Most programmes advise going much heavier but it's hard for me. I also do lots of cardio which does affect your "gainz" but don't calorie count right now.

Re weights, the biggest mistake I made for ages was using the same weight for every exercise in a session (following the Shred). I did that for an embarrassingly long time (years? ), which meant I was always limited by my weakest muscles.

And it does depend on the exercise. So if doing a standard bicep curl 3 sets till failure, I can currently use 9kgs and get about eight out with excellent form (at least on the first set). But on hammer curls I can go slightly heavier, whilst on angled-out bicep curls I have to drop the weight.

And for Body Pump, I am struggling with biceps to keep up with 6kg weights, thanks to those $&*$/! bottom halves.

Rule of thumb though- bum and legs should be able to handle several multiples of what your triceps can.

It's hard to keep upping your weights in a calorie deficit though IME.

Purple, those scores are phenomenal!!!

Roastie I use 3kg weights if it's cardio weights, 4kg if it's a hard move (like tricep kick backs) and 8kg if it's a large muscle group like squats or something. I will usually do biceps with 8kg too, but have to do flys with 4kg etc.

Yum - sorry I missed it - what is Chalean Burn 1?

Katie has it brightened up yet for you to go for a run? I haven't really run since the marathon - I need to sign up to a new one so it gets me training again...

Only how is the weight loss coming?

Purple I am so taking that challenge! I still have a few more weeks before the festival (but do have a 10 day eating holiday to France in the middle, hmmm) so have some time to get my scores up! They look pretty impressive...

So, has anyone else noticed there are THREE Ariels in Insanity? The long legged blonde one, the dark red-ish hair one, and then today, I did an old Month 1 for fun (cardio Interval circuits I think) as I did MAB (that crazy Goliaz ab work out) as well which 22 mins so needed a short Insanity, and he only goes and speaks to the blonde bird at the back and calls her Ariel too! Can there really be 3 - it's not that common a name! Or do you reckon he calls everyone Ariel when he forgets their name??

Anyway, MAB + Cardio Interval Circuits for just over an hour work out. My abs are in bits.

Boobz 3 ariels's does seem pretty unlikely unless they are whippersnappers and were born the year the little mermaid came out? burn 1 is from Chalean extreme (3/4 phased weights focused program - burn, push, lean, maintainance through a mix) was under £20 in amazon sale (sold out now), it was pretty good value for everything in it (chalean does turbofire and piyo). Supposed to be a rest day but I am working from home and only slightly achey so going to do the burn cardio abs workout today instead of later in the week.

Roastie for flys yest my weights were less than 3kg prob 2.25., your shoulder injury would also have a big impact I think. It is also pos I wasn't doing good enough form/ range of motion (prob better performing better movements with a ligter weight) I have a sim prob to the one Katie describes when she used to do shred in that I need more weight variation. At the mo I have 2 x round adjustable reebok weights (small metal plates) which I could make heavier to approx 3kg, but for some things lighter would also be good I then have 4, 6 and 8 kg kettlebells (dont use the 8 but think I could for 2 handed sumo squat type things with one weight) and lastly I have 2 big mama 6kg hexagon weights. Oh and I also have a set of non BB bands as the free ones are rubbish Pos 2 more 9kg hexagons for the big muscle moves purple described should be my next purchase - or some heavy adjustables if anyone can reccommend?

Sorry I didnt name check yest Only you are doing really amazingly with weightloss {high five} and well done for staying focused without scales and believing in yourself, think your hairdresser is right about the 3 month thing, not sure if I said this before but I dropped a lot of lbs (close to 30) before people started to notice.

Purple enjoy your weeks of freestyle before asylum! I will try and fit some in with you after my hol so late august. Well done on fit test too.

Really useful to hear about your weights Katie well done on increasing.

Hi Jackster, eleanor and Caitlin and everyone else!

Weights - I switch between 2.3kg dumbbells and 4.5 kg dumbbells in T25 and 21-day fix as these are the only ones I have and 4.5kg is heavy enough at the moment. I am using the 4.5kg ones more and more but my shoulders are so pathetically weak, I have to use 2.3kg for shoulder presses etc.

In Body Pump, on the rare occasion I go to a class, I do the following:

Warm-up - 3kg on either side
Squats - 6kg on either side
Chest - 4kg on either side
Back - 6kg on either side
Triceps - 2kg on either side
Biceps - 3kg on either side

I know they are pathetically light but I only do 1 pump class a month (if that) so can't build them up. When I was regularly doing 2 classes a week, I had increased them all up by at least 2 kg. I use 4.5 kg for bicep curls in the Beachbody workouts but I just can't use them for 'endurance' workouts such as Pump

purple wow, those statistics are amazing You must be so fit!! I just had a quick look at Dirty 30 extreme to see if I should switch up from the basic Dirty 30. However, as the modifier is not actually modifying and is doing exactly the same exercises as the others but with slightly lighter weights, I don't think I am ready! I did giggle when they were doing the plank rows which are bloody hard and the modifier is still doing plank rows (I expected her to be on her knees or something) - how is that modifying??

I didn't get to do T25 yesterday - DP normally plays badminton on a Monday and I was going to do it then, but there was football on and he wanted to hog the TV instead. I DID get my step goal walking around B&Q getting decorating stuff though!

Today I was going to do Rip't Circuit - I've been looking forward to the weights and was expecting a bit of a challenge after the last two Beta workouts. I was disappointed and had to keep upping the weights. And then I had to do Dynamic Core afterwards just so it felt like I'd actually done a workout!
I couldn't do the side planks as I whacked my elbow yesterday and now have a big painful bruise there so I just did switch kicks and high knee jogs instead to get my heart rate up a bit.

I might have to do Insanity again so I can count Ariels - I just assumed they were all the same one!

As for weights - it depends what I'm doing - in NMTZ there are a lot of fast repetitive moves so I only use 2kg or 3kg dumbbells (sometimes 4kg for the back stuff)

When I was doing the body coach I was squatting with 30kg when it was the lower reps (one big dumbbell made up with DP's weights)

My triceps are a bit crap so I only use 2kg or 3kg dumbbells for tricep stuff. 3kg for shoulders unless it's Jillian Michaels - then I have to use 2kg!

Thanks for weights feedback. The only exercise where I feel I'm not challenged is law mowers where I feel I could do more than 5kg, but atm everything else feels a challenge at between 3-5 kg.

DD home ill from school today so only managed turbo fire hiit 25. May have to cancel yoga class tomorrow is DD is still unwell but think I may try les mills combat core workout as found it on the secret site and like that one (but don't have it on DVD).

In exciting news my cable has arrived to connect my iPad to the tv so I can now watch videos from the secret site on my tv and I'm far too excited .

I have just been googling ariel and insanity . So, it turns out there are two ariel's, a blonde one and a dark one. The woman at the back (the one who is in her 40s and has twins) is Alisha which sounds a bit like ariel. I've been looking on insanity discussion boards and they are all so rude about Tanya and Akeel (no idea if that's how you spell it).

Yumy how are you finding the Charlene workouts? I got them on deal from Amazon too. If there's a good cardio one let me know and I might try it on a cardio day.