February 8, 2010

What The Heck Is a Work Out DVD?

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What the heck is a work out DVD in the first place?

Here I go diving right into my review of a work out DVD, all their nutrition supplemental material, and whatchamacalits without even explaining to the rest of you folks at home what it even is. Forgive me!

So, what exactly is a work out DVD and what does it do for you?

Well, if you are old enough like me to know about those sometimes bubbly and silly broadcasts on the TV featuring a pair of folks in leotards, headbands and wristbands, then you know what an exercise show is. You pretty much show up to the TV with your own leotards, leggings (complete with whatever disco style print you fancied) at the same time every day (or week), and you follow every aerobic move the perky and optimistic fitness instructors on the screen were making.

These shows had tons of jingles and flashy basic-looking graphics to encourage you to engage in all sorts of aerobic activity and stretching moves. While you were breaking tons of sweat, you often wondered why the instructors still had smiles plastered on their faces with no drop of sweat to show for the entire half an hour.

I myself always admired the gym attire these ladies and gents were wearing, and wondered where I could pick up a neon pink bodysuit myself!

Now, you know you remember those shows! No one will judge you if you admit to sweating to the oldies with Richard Simmons, or if you were body buddies on KDOC. You had to get your work out on somehow, and at that time it was whenever the show was on.

Well, eventually the advent of the VCR came about, and people realized the power of recording a fitness exercise routines. They could mass produce this and mass distribute the work outs to people all over the country (and all over the world), so people like you and me could tone our muscles in the comfort of our own home at any time we wanted to.

For as long as we owned a TV and a VCR, we could simply rewind the work out video tape, press play, and follow the overly bubbly instructors' every step.

It was a lovely convenience of an exercise product to have in the home, and I am sure that it was a high reflection of one's financial status as VCRs were quite expensive at the time.

But, fast forward to the advent of the laserdisc player, where those discs were at least 35% larger than a vinyl record. Home of many karaoke sing-alongs, those discs held a lot more information and video content than a VHS tape.

Then, they brought on the advent of DVD players, where DVDs were so much more smaller (the same size as CDs) and could hold twice as much information on each side.

What an even greater way to be able to work out at home. Not only did these work out DVDs take up far less space than work out videos, they had space on the top side for some neat little graphics or pictures of a swimsuit model, or an extremely muscular bodybuilder. Surely, seeing images of that were a bigger incentive to keep lifting those weights and doing those jumping jacks a little bit harder.

Work out DVDs are just like work out videos. They consist of 20 minutes to over an hour-long worth of recorded exercises for you (and/or your friends) to follow along in the comfort of your own home. They can be very different from each other, and can come from very different bodybuilding companies (with very different ethics, morales, beliefs, philosophies, etc. on fitness and achieving that beach body).

There are both female and male instructors, with a variety of personalities on-screen. Whether it is a gentle female instructor making complimentary references to your "gorgeous appearance", or a strict and rigid male instructor who literally yells at you through the TV screen to push yourself as though you are at a boot camp for fitness, you will have your run-of-the-mill of all sorts of work out DVD programs.

If you are lucky and have gotten your hands on a decent work out DVD, you will feel either at ease, or pushed to your limits. The instructor on the screen will be in a staged area that will appear to be a dance studio, an industrial-like gym, or a beach on some island.

Most likely, there will be a group of other men and women alongside and behind the fitness instructor following the work out moves. This is to show you that you are not alone as you exercise in your home fitness center.

This is also to provide you with the opportunity to relate to at least one or more of the people moving to the instructor's commands. There will be some exercisers trying an easy version of a movement, while there will be others trying a rather difficult version.

While some work out DVD programs will show that none of these folks are sweating, others will show that the folks are clearly struggling and gasping for a water break. It is all up to the director whose beliefs can go either way about what is best for you, the consumer, should and would see as you are busting your own bum for an hour.

The beauty of purchasing a work out DVD (or two, or three!) is that the return of investment is far greater than purchasing a gym membership. The more you use the DVD, the cheaper it will have cost you to use it! This is different than the cost of a gym, where you have put down a far larger payment and continue to make monthly payments afterwards.

You can interchange the work outs at home if you become bored with the entire program. Or, you can reuse them once you are done with program. Some folks will have enjoyed an entire exercise routine so much that they will go back and use the work out DVDs again to achieve even better results.

February 3, 2010

Insanity Work Out DVD Results

At the end of each week that I had done the Insanity work out DVD, I had measured the circumference around my calves, thighs, hips, waist and arms.

I wanted to measure every factor, to see if I was losing any weight and fat. And, if I was, I wanted to know at what rate the fat and pounds were shedding. I also took before and after pictures so I could compare and visually see if this work out DVD was living up to its claims.

It makes a world of a difference to see visually with numbers throughout the work out, but you have to make sure you are not getting too neurotic and checking every day. Progress that is realistic is steady and consistent, and it does not happen overnight with any work out program.

I found that after three weeks, I began to shrink in numbers. The shrinkage was small but consistent every week, and as each week added up with each work out I did with each DVD every day, the loss was more obvious.

My clothes were feeling looser by this time, and my hunger was increasing throughout the day. My body became a cardio machine in and of itself, burning the entire day and craving fuel and energy. Every two to three hours my stomach would be growling and demanding something for me to feed it.

To compliment the set of cardio work out DVDs, the Insanity exercise program included a nutrition book. Complete with menus, recipes, and multiple substitution options I could choose for my 5-6 meals of the day.

Unlike many other work out DVD programs, this was one of the few that emphasized nutrition and actually supplemented a visual guide to make it even less stressful on the brain.

The nutrition guide actually encouraged eating carbs (as long as they were whole grain wheat carbs). The emphasis was on a balanced meal of carbs, proteins and fats because of the aggressive cardio and energy-burning. The body actually needs the carbs to fuel the fat burning since the exercise is that intense.

I was able to eat egg white omelettes with veggies, almond butter and jelly sandwiches, deli meats and cheeses with multigrain crackers. Yum!

February 2, 2010

Why I Love The Insanity Work Out DVD Program

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So, why do I like the Insanity work out DVD so much? Why do I say that there is no other exercise program like this one?

What I love about this cardio exercise is that I don't have to use any equipment at all. None. Nada. Zilch! Just my cross-training shoes to work out in and me, myself, and I.

No dumb bells, no pull-up bars, no resistance bands, no bench press, nothing!

I can show up to my TV with my gym work out clothes on and a water bottle eagerly waiting at my coffee table for me, and I am good to do Insanity.

But, I didn't know if this was a good thing at first. I never found that jogging as a cardio exercise lost any weight for me. So, I did have some natural doubts about doing nothing but cardio in one room to achieve any results.

Either way, I popped in the first work out DVD: Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Also known as "jump training", where you jump and jump and jump and do more cardio before you jump some more.

For the first fifteen minutes, I was doing something I couldn't believe was just the "warm-up". I thought I was doing the heart of the cardio program already.

This is exactly how I felt for the first three weeks. There hadn't been a day where I found myself on the floor, crawling for my water bottle.

That is, until the warm-up was finally over. Then, we were able to stop and take a break. A stretch, it was called. They were pretty much yoga poses to help stretch. Along with deep breathing.

Whenever I took my own breaks, I always felt as though I couldn't keep up with the guys and girls in the work out DVD. But, neither could they! Throughout the hour, there are at least 2 people needing to stop and take a break. And, visibly seeing that made me feel very humble. These were normal people just like me who needed to give their muscles and lungs a break. Because the cardio drills were that hard, and we were that crazy to push ourselves that hard.

At the end of each cardio exercise, I would take a rewarding hot shower. And before (and after) each shower, I would see the same thing in the mirror. A deep shade all over my face and neck.

It was something I had never seen before. Never with any of the other work out DVD programs, and never with any other type of cardio exercise. This Insanity exercise was rightfully called Insanity. And it was rightfully the best program I have ever taken on.

Every time I have showed up to the work out, and popped in the next DVD, I have been challenged from beginning until end. I have broken the biggest sweat I ever have, and turned the deepest red I ever have turned. It has taken me to the depths of my fitness.

February 1, 2010

A Work Out DVD Called Insanity

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In all of my years of testing and trying out work out DVDs, never had I been pushed to my fitness limits until this one. I never saw such steady and consistent measurable fat loss every week thus far. I thought I had a great work out using DVDs involving pilates, aerobics, yoga, and weight-lifting (like P90X), but since I stumbled upon the Insanity cardio program I have thought otherwise.

Now, I will not discount the value of doing pilates and aerobics, as I have gained a lot of stamina and energy from doing such exercise routines. I usually always break somewhat of a sweat and always take water breaks.

And, I always honor and respect the philosophy of yoga and all that it does beyond any work out program, as it has touched me spiritually inside and out. There is nothing more empowering than to touch every muscle of my body within the confines of my yoga mat that I have put the day-to-day stresses on (including doing these intense work out exercises in front of my TV).

But, in the world of fitness and the world of desiring muscle definition and fat loss within a short period of time, I myself have fallen victim to believing that I could magically achieve just that within a matter of weeks. Who hasn't thought or wished that they could shed their muffin top of body fat before the upcoming beach party?

Reality must kick in for us all, because it is not possible to shed even 2 inches of fat from any work out program in that short amount of time. However, it is a different story if you are aiming for 2-3 months. That's 8-12 weeks. And this work out DVD that I have tried for over 4 weeks has proven to me that the fat is going to go!

So, what is this "Insanity" work out DVD that I mentioned earlier in this post? If you have seen all of those P90X work out DVD infomercials on the TV, or Hip Hop Abs, or any other cardio and weight-lifting program from Beachbody, then Insanity would be one of the recent additions.

I had heard about the Insanity work out program by perusing some message board forums on the internet while reading up on P90X post-workout tips. I had just finished P90X a few months prior to and wanted to find a cardio type of program where I did not need any dumb bells, resistance bands, or pull-up bars. I just didn't want to keep lugging equipment into my living room, but I wanted results I hadn't really been seeing for a long time.

When I saw the preview, I had never seen pools of sweat on the floor before. I never even saw so many people in the DVD taking so many breaks. I was so accustomed to seeing everyone in the DVD gym with smiles permanently plastered on their faces. I was so used to seeing people on the screen somehow finishing the entire work out without crapping out.

The title of the Insanity work out DVD program is pretty self-explanatory!! It is genuinely insane, or requires you to be that crazy to finish the program. It isn't for everyone, really. But, the program is only 60 days long. The creator, Shaun T, declares that your body will reach a level of health, shape and fitness that would take you one entire year in the gym to get.

The work out DVD program consists of a set of 10 DVDs, with 10 different cardio exercises. The Insanity program incorporates a type of cardio training called "Max Interval Training", and each work out lasts from 50 to 80 minutes.