After a month of dance cardio, it's been really nice to go back to weights with No More Trouble Zones these past two weeks. It's tough, it really is, and the first circuit is just...disgusting, but I've always hated conventional cardio and prefer compound weight moves instead. I feel strong, I feel powerful, and I'm burning calories both during and after my workout, rather than just during like you do with cardio.
The circuits are as I'd hoped: different enough to one another that you can pick and choose if you're looking for a shorter workout, and so that you can avoid boredom if you use the full 45 minute workout.
Each circuit focuses on a specific area of the upper and lower body and uses super-sets to max out the chosen muscle groups in compound moves. This means that you're working for 6 minutes straight on just two parts of the body - so when I tell you that the first circuit is shoulders (and quads and glutes), you'll understand what I mean when I say 'disgusting' - and then generally don't go back to it again, at least not so intensely. As an example, it's shoulders first, and it hurts, but the second circuit is chest (and abs), and while that does still tap into the shoulders, it's subtle enough that you're not going to notice. Or that biceps (and glutes) are circuit 3, and they do get little involved in triceps (and quads) which are circuit 4.
Fortunately, though the idea of 7 6-minute circuits is brutal, the final three are actually quite bearable as they take place on the mat. That does mean hollow mans, supermans, leg raises and planks, but they're far tamer and get your heart rate down a little.
The circuits are as I'd hoped: different enough to one another that you can pick and choose if you're looking for a shorter workout, and so that you can avoid boredom if you use the full 45 minute workout.
Each circuit focuses on a specific area of the upper and lower body and uses super-sets to max out the chosen muscle groups in compound moves. This means that you're working for 6 minutes straight on just two parts of the body - so when I tell you that the first circuit is shoulders (and quads and glutes), you'll understand what I mean when I say 'disgusting' - and then generally don't go back to it again, at least not so intensely. As an example, it's shoulders first, and it hurts, but the second circuit is chest (and abs), and while that does still tap into the shoulders, it's subtle enough that you're not going to notice. Or that biceps (and glutes) are circuit 3, and they do get little involved in triceps (and quads) which are circuit 4.
Fortunately, though the idea of 7 6-minute circuits is brutal, the final three are actually quite bearable as they take place on the mat. That does mean hollow mans, supermans, leg raises and planks, but they're far tamer and get your heart rate down a little.
I used the DVD all the way through on Saturdays, when I have the time for a longer workout, while on Monday and Wednesday, I arranged the circuits into two groups of four, and generally used the seventh circuit as a voluntary bonus, bringing me to about 25 minutes a day.
Monday I used circuits 3, 2, 4 and 6, and Wednesday I used circuits 1, 3, 5, and 4, and Saturday I used either the lot, or the first four circuits and then swapped the last three on the mat for three from Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism for some cardio. Which I hate, but I opted for one calisthenics circuit and two kickboxing, so it wasn't so bad.
Resistance workouts never fill me with dread - I love it, be it hand weights, kettle bells or my own body weight - but that doesn't mean they aren't tough. But that has left me feeling stronger these past two weeks, and I'm walking taller for it.
And, yes, I've been eating carbs and regaining my energy. My strength has been flagging this year, and the weights I've used have dropped because I just can't do it. With fresh eating habits, I'm attempting to regain that strength that I found so hard for, and lost because I prioritised an obsession with fat-loss over a desire for health and strength. It's not much fun drifting through life, counting calories and worrying over every gram of carbs all while pushing yourself through stupidly intense workouts every other day. If you don't fuel, you don't gain. Food doesn't make you fat, excessive consumption and laziness does!
I'll report back in three weeks!
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