Exercise Sucks! (Review #1)

I hate to exercise. I hate it, HATE it, HATE IT! It's a form of torture invented by masochists who enjoy other peoples pain. I never get a sense of pleasure (the 'endorphin' rush) and the only thing I feel when I'm done is relief that it's finally over. When I am really grooving exercise-wise, I do start to feel a sense of accomplishment, not because of enjoyment but because I am able to conquer something that I hate doing but need to do. (Which is also how I endure gynecologist visits and taking my car to the mechanic.)

I usually do an in-home walking program. I like it because it doesn't require a lot of equipment or special shoes and I can do it every day, no excuses. I highly recommend it to anyone who is out of shape and wants to start moving. it isn't hard but you can progressively challenge yourself to do more, walk further, etc. The one's I use are by Leslie Sansone and are called "Walk Away The Pounds". They really did help me lose weight the first time. They are great for gradually building up your strength and endurance and she has lots of tapes out there. I try to do two miles every day, although if I'm just not feeling it I'll do the one mile walk and if I'm really kicking butt I'll do the three mile walk or her interval workouts like "Walk and Box". I have about six of her DVDs so I can rotate through and not get too bored.

One day I wandered through the fitness section of Target and checked out their selection of workout DVDs. I saw several titles that grabbed my attention but with prices in the twenty dollar range I was hesitant to buy any. I'm really leery of workouts that might be too challenging for my overweight, out of shape, exercise hating self. I decided to check on Amazon to see if the prices were any better and to read some of the customer reviews. On one review I saw that someone said they had checked out the DVD at their local library. I decided to check my library to see if they had exercise DVDs and sure enough they did. What a great way to check out the workouts for free and see which ones might be worth the investment.



The first one I tried was "The Biggest Loser: Cardio Max" which says it is "a six week program for maximum weight loss." Plus it had real fat people (or former fat people at least) doing the workout. Which gave me hope that maybe I could do the workout too. You can customize your workout or follow their 'maximize your results' program. You start out in week one doing a warm up, a twenty minute boot camp cardio workout (with Biggest Loser trainer Bob) and a cool down. In week three you add a ten minute "super cardio drill" (with trainer Jillian) and in week five you add yet another ten minute cardio kickbox routine (with trainer Kim). So yesterday instead of my walking workout I decided to do Level One.

Let me start out by saying that the warm up is hard. Not what I would generally call a warm up as you start with jumping rope immediately. I'm used to a more gradual warm up so I was a bit surprised at the intensity of this one. I also wasn't wearing proper workout shoes (I don't have to with my walking DVDs, another bonus for them) so the jumping up and down on my concrete floor was painful so I modified the movements just a bit to cut down on joint damage.

Then the workout begins and I do mean work out. It's hard and I definitely knew I was doing cardio. There are a LOT of lunges, squats, etc. I'm not going to lie, there was a lot of effort involved. There is one girl on the video who does a modified workout so you can follow her when it's too intense. I followed her when I just couldn't take it anymore. I also didn't do the push up segment, because again, I have a concrete floor and I like my knees. I need to get an exercise mat for that segment. I just ran in place during that part. Even with modified movements and missing the push ups, it was a really intense workout. Just in level one! I was huffing and puffing and today I am sooo sore. But I still liked it. It was intense enough for me to really feel it but I didn't feel bad about the modifications and I felt like this was a workout I could slowly work up to doing more of. It was more lower body than upper body (as evidenced by my truly sore and tired butt and thighs) but since that's where most of my weight is, I think that's okay.

The verdict? I'm going to get this DVD. It's $8.99 on Amazon and I'll need to get a workout mat to do the floor exercises but I think doing it a couple of times a week (not the 4-5 they recommend, I would die before the end of week one!) will help me improve my strength and endurance. Don't try this workout if you have bad knees or ankles as it's pretty high impact. It also has a nice 'music only option' for once you get the routine down and don't want to listen to the same banter over and over again. (I wish that was a feature on my Leslie Sansone tapes, I do get tired of the babble.) The people on this tape, even if they aren't super fat, still look like normal people and they are really sweating as they exercise which made me feel better about myself. Overall, a good workout for most beginner and intermediate exercisers. I'll have to check out levels two and three after I get better at level one.

For the next review I'll be doing "The Bollywood Dance Workout with Hemalayaa". That is, once I can move my legs again.