FIRM Check In Week 12

[toystoryduo]

Good morning FIRMies!
Today was Cardio Sculpt Blaster with Lisa. I have been thinking about switching off weeks where one week I do tapes from BSS1 and the next week I do tapes from BSS2. Should keep it interesting.::yes::

Have a great week everyone!

Tracy:wave2:

[MelanieC]

Hey FIRMies........

I got 2 new DVD's this weekend. They just realeased them on DVD at Collagevideo last week.

FIRM Cardio Split & FIRM Super Sculpting

I did FIRM Cardio Split this morning. Its actually a cardio & Sculpt tape. WOW this is probably one of my new favorites. It was actually fun. Its one of the ones that looks like it was taped in the 90's. It has Jen, Allie, Dale Nancy & Carissa in it. I believe that is all. It had the upper and lower body separated. Lower Body first. There were some really tiring leg presses where you bounced up and down fast and then did slower ones. I really felt them. My favorite was the curtsey dips and cross lunges (as well as some lunges). I am not a fan of lunges, but the curtsey dips were not bad at all. There was even some standing abduction/abductor exercises. Upper body was last, and you did abs first. I added my own lat rows because there were none, and I love doing lat rows. There were these exercises called good mornings where you bent over with a barbell. I just used two 12 pound dumbells. They were similiar to hoover squats as in you felt them in your butt, but you didn't send down you completely bent over with slightly bent knees and stood up. There were great cardio intensifiers mixed in that really got my heart rate up.

Tracy- Thanks for starting the thread this week. I like to mix up my workouts too. Anything to keep you bored, or make them more interesting.

[Octoberbride03]

Hi there Firmies:jester:

Another week of working out. I just finished my CS and BS-Upper Body for today, and I'm amazed at how well I'm doing. My right knee is just a little more flexible today and the UB workout goes really well except for the light weight part, that's still the hardest part of the workout for me. And those last shoulder raises with the light weights always kill me after 3 or 4 times.

Was looking at some wedding showr pics of me over the weekend, and I'm absolutely amazed at how much I've changed since then. Even though I really haven't lost much weight, you can really see how The FIRM tapes have been sculpting my body. I do have them on disk and hopefully soon I'll post some here to show my progress. Does anybody know of a good FREE pic hosting site I can use? TYIA

Hope everybody has a great week.

:wave:

[CrzyforPiglet]

This may seem silly but does the Firm really work? I can't use workout tapes in my apartment (issues with neighbor) but we're moving into a home soon and have always wanted to get these tapes but wasn't sure if they worked or if I could carve an hour out of my day to use them. Do you guys really love it?

Thanks for any info - Laurie :sunny:

[MelanieC]

Hi Laurie,

They work wonderfully. I swear by them. I have never been so toned and so fit in my life. I have never found anything where I actually enjoy working out. I now own close to 40 FIRM DVD workouts and I have never found anything I like as much. I have been consistantly doing them since 1/27/04 and my muscles in my arms are so strong and hard. My legs are really musclar and getting really lean. My hips, butt, abs and thighs have never looked better. I still have fat there, but I can definately see the fat melting away with hard work and time.

They aren't easy at first, and the moves are hard to learn. They can even be a bit tough on the knees. My knees have never been so strong before.

[toystoryduo]

Hi Laurie!
I love the FIRM! If you are consistent with your exercise and diet, you will see amazing results. I was an athlete in high school (11 years ago) and I am in better shape with more muscle definition now even though I weigh more. It really is a great program and you will get results if you stick to it. If you buy the videos, please join us here on the weekly check-in. We'd love to have you become a FIRMie too!::yes:: :wave:

Mel~ Wow girl! You got two more DVDs? That is awesome!:Pinkbounc I really appreciate the reviews that you give us as well because that helps me to decide what videos to get next. Thanks Mel and keep up the good work!

Octoberbride03~ Great job on getting your workouts in! Isn't it great when you can see results?! Keep up the good work!::yes::

Today was Maximum Cardio Burn w/ Allie. I am really loving the kickboxing section of this video.::yes::

Have a great day!

Tracy:wave2:

[s&k'smom]

Good morning my friends, thanks Toystoryduo for starting the thread.

Welcome Laurie, I also swear by the tapes. I am now actually able to do a few pushups on my toes and not my knees. I did that this am and I was amazed. Could'nt do them all but it's a start. I feel so strong and confident.

Melanie your a big show off getting two more tapes;) I'm so jealous, I'm waiting for two more in the mail I think that brings me up to 12 maybe.

You guys would be proud I actually worked out on Sunday body scult with oh for goodness sakes I can't remember her name. Today was cardio scult with Allie. She is one of my favorites. But I wonder how it couldn't have hurt like heck to get those tattoo's on her wrist. Ouch! Have a great day everyone.

[Octoberbride03]

Hi All:jester:

Tuesday is such a nice day. Later tonight I'll do AS with Lisa, I like to do that right b4 i head for bed. Its always a great mind clearer. as for the rest of the week, I'm gonna shake things up just a little and skip the Lower Body part of Body Sculpt with Jen. Instead I'll keep doing the CS with Allie(the parts i can do anyhow) and then move into the Upper Body part of BS. I can do a couple of mopre minutes with CS now, and i like Allie better anyway.

Laurie: I highly reccomend the FIRM tapes. I only have BSS1 right now. And they are great. I swear my metabolism is back from the point of death because of these tapes. And they don't all take an hour to do. Some of them take less than that. But when you're just starting you may only be able to do 10-15 minutes, and that's fine. One thing i reccomend is using a chair for balance with you start out with tapes till you get used to things like the Leg Presses and can handle the Lunges. I've been doing the tapes about 2 months now, and i still use the chair for Lunges, but that's fine. I like the balance there until i can get my legs to really pull it off by themselves, and i make sure to concentrate the movements to my legs with just a light touch on the chair. it really helps. Your knees will slowly learn to get into them. Mine are.

Tracy: TY for the encouragement. Its really nice to able to look in the mirror or at pics and see the difference. I really wasn't sure I'd see it this soon. And amazingly enough, I'm about ready to claim my 15lb clippie. Gotta get rid of Aunt Flo first though b4 i find out how much i've really lost. But there should be a new clippie for me by the weekend i think.

Have fun y'all:wave:

[MelanieC]

Howdy everyone,

Today I did Super Cardio Sculpt. For a cardio I really love this tape. The music is so much fun. I had a good little sweat going. There are no abs on that tape so I will add something tonight. Maybe Hips, Buns & Thighs.

Tracy- The kickboxing is fun isn't it!!

S&K's mom- congrats for working out on Sunday!!

Octoberbride- It sounds like you are really improving on your tapes. Keep up the great work.

We all rock!!

[s&k'smom]

Oh I'm feeling sorry for myself. Despite Aunt flo and can you believe fighting the sniffles in May I hauled my butt out of bed and did body sculpt blaster with Nancy. Since adding a nightly walk with the kids I think I gave myself a boost. I feel really good lately. I may even put on a bathing suit this summer. Tomorrow is cardio with Allie as I think we are gonna be very bad on Sat. It's supposed to be very hot here and mom is not cooking on a day over 85!

[MelanieC]

Hey FIRMies........

Today was Cardio Sculpt. Boy has it been a while since I did that tape. I really like that tape too. I think you forget sometimes when its been so long.

I did Hips, Butt and Thighs last night. I just love that tape for the killer Ab work. It should be called ABS with some hips butt and thighs. It ended up being too late to do the TM last night. Hopefully I can do that tonight.

S&K's mom- Glad to hear you did Body Sculpt Blaster even though you weren't feeling well. I am so glad the extra walk is giving you a boost. Doesn't it feel so great to get into shape. Who would think exercise could make you feel so good. I am always amazed at how good I feel when I get up in the morning and exercise. I don't like getting up, but once I am done I feel spectacular and my day is so much better. Keep up the great work, and if you are bad this weekend, its ok. This is our new way of life and you will have days and weekends like this. Its what you do over the average of time that counts.

Have a happy hump day everyone.

[toystoryduo]

Good morning FIRMies!
I did Total Sculpt + Abs w/Jen this morning. I like this workout because it focuses a bit more on the weight training than cardio. Those hover squats still get me though!:crazy2: Lots to do today... Gotta run!

Tracy:wave2:

[s&k'smom]

I think in he** all you do is hover squats.

This am was cardio burn with Allie. I really like the ab part of this tape as it doesn't have a lot of complicated moves but you really feel the moves.

Feeling better but poor DD now has the cold. Nothing like sharing things with all the family. Have a great day everyone.

[MelanieC]

Good morning everyone,

I had a hard time getting up this morning and got up later than usual, so I decided to do one of the shorter workouts. I did Calorie Killer this morning, but I don't feel like I got a great workout because my body was having a hard time moving fast. I seemed to be going in slow motion and couldn't keep up.

I am still wondering if it has something to do with the fact that I ran and walked 2.5 miles last night and I felt dizzy afterwards when I would get up out of the chair. I was fine otherwise. Maybe I needed to eat something, but I don't usually eat after I eat dinner. I try to finish by 7pm. Whatever it was though, caused me to not give the workout my all. I still sweated buckets though, even though I couldn't do it all and I couldn't keep up.

S&K's mom- I hope your daughter gets better. I like Maximum Cardio burn too and I REALLY feel those abs. They are probably my favorite ab workout. I love the hiccup and change, but its a killer!! My abs always burn afterwards.

Tracy- Call me crazy, but I love hover squats. Maybe I am crazy, lol!! I tend to agree with you too, that I much prefer a good heavy lifting tape than a bunch of cardio. I hate that the cardio tapes are every other day. Darn it all, why can't I lift every other day!! Actually, I really love the combination ones. Its a little bit of both to keep from getting bored.

Have a good day everyone!

[ZerasPride]

Good afternoon Firmies!

I just read through the entire Week 12 thread and I must say you all are doing awesome!!!!!

I haven't skipped a work out this week but I haven't been able to post to our thread either and I've missed you all!

Today was BSS1 ab sculpt because it should be a rest day so I just follow Libby with the beginner routine and don't feel like I've overworked any muscle groups. Yesterday was cardio sculpt blaster which is my favorite. Tomorrow morning it will be BSS1 body sculpt (upper body).

Laurie - I know I'm late but I wanted to comment on how much I enjoy the FIRM work outs and the progress I have experienced in the past five months. I have gone from a size 26 pants to a size 16, I can do 6-10 manly man push ups on my toes, I am using the entire 14 inch fanny lifter and I'm only 5' 1". I have lost almost 60 pounds and feel in the best shape of my life and I'm still over 200 pounds. I do not take a rest day because I absolutely love how powerful and alive I feel after a FIRM work out. Please let us know if you will be joining us. The FIRM is awesome and so is everyoen on this thread! :)

[s&k'smom]

Good morning, well today was an unexpected rest day. I had just start the tape when DD woke up. So I'll do it tomorrow. But what I did was some housecleaning so at least I kept moving. I think we'll be able to do a walk around the neighborhood tonight as the sun is expected to make an appearance later today. Have a great weekend everyone.

[MelanieC]

Hey Firmies.............

Guess what..........I went to WI last night and I made GOAL! I still can't believe I did it!! Thanks to everyone for keeping me motivated to keep working out! You guys are terrific! I still would like to loose 5 more pounds so that I can maintain with Weight Watchers without worrying about being 2 lbs over my goal if I eat a big meal or go on vacation. I figure a 8lb leeway should give me a nice comfort zone. I am not going to stress over this last 5 pounds though. If it takes a year it takes a year. I am going to even try increasing my points by 2 to see if I can loose weight and still push my points higher. I really want to get used to maintaining at the highest points possible.

This morning was Volume 4 Time Crunch. I don't think I liked this one, but I also felt like I didn't have much energy again. More than yesterday, but I still felt like I couldn't give it my all. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Sleeping in on Saturday should help.

S&k's mom- Sorry to hear your workout got interrupted. One of these days they will be old enough that you can continue even if they wake up.

Lisa- I sure did miss your posts. I know what you mean about being so busy you don't get to post. Some days its all I can do to just come in and post my workouts. I don't get to read many of the other threads. You sound like you are doing fantastic with your workouts. Keep up the great work.


Have a great Friday and Weekend everyone.

[Octoberbride03]

Happy Friday Firmies.

Been an unusual exercise week for me thus far. The last 2 days have been unplanned rest days. Weds. I went to a job fair at my local Target and wound up being offered a position, so that took awhile, also had a new fridge delivered by our landlord since ours was dying. TG the fridge is included in the lease.
Yesterday, landlord sent the guys back to install a new screen door which DH has only been asking for the past year to get. And while they were here they decided to fix some loose bricks on our front steps. Talk about earning a pacheck this week. To top that off, Aunt Flo was still visiting and decided to turn day 3 into how i usually feel on day 1, in fact worse. I was basically dead tired and sick all day. Just could not bring myself into putting in a tape and working out.
Finally crawled into bed last night at 10:30 which is waaaaaaaaaay early for me and slept till 9am this morning. Fortunately, I'm feeling much better this morning and just to see where I'm at i stepped onto my scale. I knew when AF arrived that she hadn't bloated me much. But i also NEVER have a visit from her without gaining anything. So I knew when the scale read 276 at the start, that i was actually probably 1or 2lbs below that. And sure enough, she's on her way out and left me with just 174.5lbs:earseek:

I'm so thrilled to have gotten another clippie, and half a lb. on my way to the next 1. I hope i get there soon. But its gonna be a race, cause Dh and I are gonna start trying for a baby this month. So we'll see what happens first.

Melanie: Congrats on making GOAL:cheer2: :cheer2: i still have so far to go to make mine. Its so nice to see you get there. So I know that if i just keep working i will get there 2:teeth:


:wave:

[ZerasPride]

Hi guys!

Just checking in. As I said yesterday, I don't have as much time to post these days because I'm in full blown trip planning mode. I still have some details I'm trying to work out and finalize my itinerary.

This morning I did BSS1 body sculpt (upper body). A friend of mine gave me her Super Cardio Sculpt and Super Body Sculpt DVD's to try. I'm so excited. I'll be using them this weekend and will let you guys know what I think. I just love my FIRM work outs!

Melanie - Congratulations on reaching goal! Yipppee!!!!! You must be so excited and we are so proud of you. I intend to make my goal and then get 5-8 pounds below it so I can have a cushion just like you said. You are a true inspiration to us all!!!! :)

will try to check back later.

[toystoryduo]

Good morning FIRMies!
Today was the Body Sculpt tape from BSS1. I'm going to be switching off every other week so this week I am doing the tapes from BSS1 and next week, I'll do tapes from BSS2. Hopefully, that will help me get over this exercise plateau I seem to be at.

Melanie~ Congratulations on meeting your goal!:cheer2: Way to go!!!:bounce:

Have a great Sunday!

Tracy:wave2:

[MelanieC]

Hey FIRMies.......

Yesterday was a rest day. It was so hot and humid and I put in Super Sculpting to view prior to doing it and fell asleep. I don't know why I have been so tired the past few days, but I haven't been able to give my workouts my all and its frustrating. I decided to just rest the rest of the day and workout on Sunday.

Today I did Super Sculpting for the first time. The rest day yesterday did me good because I had so much more energy today. This is one of the 1990's productions that they did. Its actually the cross trainer for Super Cardio (or Super Cardio Mix on DVD). I think its a riot when some of the video's from the 90's show alternatives to dumbells etc. They have a someone using laundry detergent, water and bleach bottles. A broom for a dowel and a book for a piece of 4x4. The back of the tape said optional weighted ball too, but they never used it. Not sure what that was. They also said optional barbell, but they used the barbell the entire time. I just used dumbells and my 8lb sculpting stick during different exercises. I guess someday I will look into a barbell, because I think this tape would be benificial to have a barbell because they use an overhand grip or different ways to hold it to get a different angle on the muscle. I can see that being beneficial, but not 100% necessary. So we will see. As for the tape, I did like it. When I previewed it I thought it looked like a lot of upper body. I was a bit worried there wouldn't be enough lower body. Well when I did it, that put that to rest. I actually had to stop after the first leg press portion. I was so out of breath. They used the same kind of leg presses that they used in lower body split that I did for the first time last week. Its where they bounce at the bottom of the move and then do a few normal leg presses. That REALLY brings my heart rate up and I had to go get water and slow my heart rate down. There was absolutely no cardio in this routine. Just the warm-up, abs and cool down plus alternating upper and lower body. My heart rate also got up there during the one lunge section. Again I had to sit down for a minute before switching legs. They moved very fast from one exercise to another in this one, so I had to rewind it often. This 52 minute video took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to do, lol! All in all I did like it, it just kicked my butt!! My arms felt very fatigued after doing it, which is a good thing. This video gets great raves on the YaYa boards.

Oh, and the 12lb weights are getting much easier to use. I struggle using them on bicep work, but even thats improving and 10lbs seems easy on biceps if I pyramid down. Keep pushing yourselves to move up on weights when you can complete your sets with good form and the reps are easy. Your muscles really respond to being pushed.

Tracy- Let us know how switching the tapes from BSS1 & BSS2 works. Hopefully that will help.

Lisa- Are you planning a trip to Disney or somewhere else?? I have to get busy and plan our meals for our November trip because July will be here before I know it. Good luck! Let us know how you like Super Cardio Sculpt & Super Body Sculpt. Super Cardio is my FAVORITE CARDIO besides Maximum Cardio BURN!! I love the music on that video. Super Body Sculpt is great too. That video is really tough and its a grreat workout!!

Octoberbride- Congrats on the new job!! Good job on the new clippie and your loss!! Woo hoo! Just keep at it, and when you do get pregant, you will be in a much better position. Talk to your doctor too about what kinds of exercises you can do while you are pregnant. I would find out from him what kind of weight lifting you can do. Its definately possible to lift light weights safetly, but you need to find out and get some guidance from your doctor.

This afternoon, DS6 has a birthday party at the skating rink. DD12 and I are going to, incase DS6 needs help skating. They are friends of ours, so they invited us to come along too. I think it will be great to get out there and do some skating this afternoon. Great exercise.

[ZerasPride]

Good evening FIRMies!

I tried Super Cardio Sculpt on Saturday and Super Body Sculpt on Sunday. Guess what? I love them both! OMG they are wonderful! I thought Nancy Tucker was a bit stiff in the beginning of Super Cardio but after I got used to her style, I really like her as an instructor.

I think Stephanie Corley is a good instructor for the Super body sculpt. I did the upper and lower body portions because I only had 30 minutes.

Today was weigh in day for me and I'm down 1.5 pounds. I've now lost 58.5 pounds and feel great. Onderland here I come!!

Melanie - I always appreciate your reviews. I bet some of those olders tapes are hysterical to watch. I notice in Super Cardio Sculpt that Lisa Kay looks a bit "thick" compared to how she looks in some of the newer videos. She is my role model for how I want my body to look when I reach goal. I think she just has the best shape. My sister and I are going to Disney (stayng at the Grand Floridian) on 20 days. Yippee!!! I've all my ps's made and my itinerary is pretty much finalized. This is my sister's (she's 12) first trip. I hope she has a good time.

Have a good Sunday night everyone!