New Workout

I started a new workout today that I want to do on my off-karate days. Thanks to Momma Bear, I am now sore and have to squint when I get up off of the toilet because my quads are so tired.

Momma Bear emailed me the link to a workout that Jillian Michaels designed for Self. It's a good one. I dripped sweat onto my living room floor, and that makes me happy.

I subscribe to Women's Health magazine, and I read it from cover to cover every month. They have some killer workouts, but many of the exercises require some kind of equipment that I don't have lying around the house. Gyms have all of the equipment that their routines ask for, but I don't keep my house equipped with a kettle ball and a weight bar and varying dumbells....etc. I also like exercises that use my own body weight and require me to balance with my core. This workout does all of that.

It does require a bench and a stability ball and a set of dumbells. I used my Bowflex bench, asked my dad for one of his stability balls (when it comes to working out, my dad can never tell me 'no'--where do you think the dumbells and the Bowflex came from?), and I have a set of three pound dumbells that I used even though the workout calls for 5 to 12 pound weights.

So, I'm going to be sore. I can feel it in several places. I do a really good job of working out on my own. I could have used a little help with the exercises on the stability ball since they were HARD (and my version looked more like a twitch than a full badonkadonk raise), but I motivate myself really well.

I really believe in finding what kind of exercise works well for you. Jenn likes the bike, Michelle is friends with the treadmill--I'm not a machine person. I like my bowflex, but that's the only 'machine' I've ever used consistently. I'm short, and I've found that most of the time the machines don't fit me very well because they are designed, most often, for the average man of 5'8" or taller, and I'm more than just a few inches shy. I also have really small hands and I have a hard time with the grips, too. If I wasn't so in to karate, I'd probably still prefer some sort of class, like the total body class at Kody's.

The workout I started is at www.self.com/fitness/workouts/2009/01-the-great-one-month-slimdown-slideshow I don't know if this link will work, but you can find it through self.com if nothing else. You might even find something else you like. I'm going to find something new to mix in there in a month or so to keep it fresh.

Good luck!