Exercise 1/19 and 1/20

[Guest guest]

Okay since I'm trying to get through these old tapes as part of my goal for 2008 to do all of my exercise videos this year, I tackled two of the old compilation tapes I have from somewhere around 1996-1998. These were both taped from ESPN 2 when they had all of their early morning exercise shows. I did the first tape yesterday and it included Crunch Funk Factory taught by Janis Saffell. There was a lot of whooping and hollering by Janis and the whole crew. It was suppose to be a hip hop type workout, and the wardrobe of the crew was obviously street wear from the mid 90's. Anyone else remember the pants low with the top of the thong showing? Yeah, it was on this workout. As for the hip hop stuff, it only looked to be being done right by the 2 black guys. Everyone else looked like they were trying too hard to be cool when they really weren't. And several of the ladies on this workout looked anorexicly thin, including Janis. The workout itself was easy to follow, even though I didn't think the mambo cha cha's belonged with the hip hop moves. With commercials cut out, the workout was about 25 minutes. I forgot to wear my HRM for the warm up, but for what I did wear it, I was in my zone for 18 minutes with an average heart rate of 116, 90 calories burned, and 57% fat.

Next up was a Body By Jake Stretch Break. (Apparently, I recorded it and the next show over the ESPN stuff from FitTV.) It was 10 minutes of athletic type stretching with some moves I haven't seen in a while. Nice break but I wish it had been at the end of this tape. I guess I did what I could with the limited technology (no dvr so I could put it in the order I wanted) of the mid-1990's.

After that was another Crunch show, Define and Refine. It is a mix of cardio and weights taught by Sue Hitzmann. I had to modify and not do the lunges because my knee is bothering me from having to demonstrate the treadclimber at the gym this week. Overall a good workout, but not very cardio intense. In the 25 minutes, I was only in my zone for 7 minutes with an average heart rate of 106. I burned 79 calories and 56% fat.

Next up was where it went back to the ESPN 2 shows, the last half of Gotta Sweat with Cory Everson. Only 3 sections of this one, a back weight workout, boxing aerobics, and a hard target area for the butt. All total only 15 minutes, 5 in zone, avg HR 107, 48 calories, and 57% fat.

Finally was Fitness Beach Bottom Line Workout. Now those of you who don't know, Fitness Beach was a program put on by BodyShaping to showcase the Venus swimwear line. One of the ladies on the show was the winner of the Venus Swimwear Model Search and had absolutely no fitness knowledge whatsoever. She just kinda looked out of place as she tried to follow the certified instructors and usually failed miserably. Anyway, this one was geared toward working the rear end with lots of high impact aerobics and a few weight exercises. I modified the aerobics to lower impact just because of my knee. In this 25 minute workout, I was in my zone for 4 minutes (guess I modified too low or it wasn't a great workout, or both) with an average heart rate of 104, 61 calories, and 56% fat.

Then today, I did the second tape. It started out with Perfect Parts Abs. This was lead by and had Minna Lessig and Dan somebody who was an olympic medalist as background exercisers. It was split up well with a cardio warm-up, 3 ab segments (upper angle, lower angle, and obliques), and a final stretch. What I didn't like was that they were all basic ab exercises and didn't show much creativity. In a 30 minute ab program, you shouldn't have to repeat the same exercises in my opinion and this one did 2 sets of everything. It was 25 minutes, only 5 1/2 was in my zone, but I never get in my zone much on ab work. (I think it was the warm-up that got me in the zone.) Avg HR 102, 69 calories, 54% fat.

After this was Co-Ed Training Cardio Sculpt. I loved Co-Ed Training, even though it was another BodyShaping program, because of Perron. He is so YUMMY! He lead a couple of segments on this one, so I was happy. I also loved this workout, too. It basically alternated between drills of cardio and weights. An aerobic combo then a body bar weight exercise, then jumping jacks, then a dumbbell exercise, etc. In the 25 minutes, I was in my zone for 13 with an avg. HR of 113, 95 calories, 55% fat.

Next was Gotta Sweat (yeah, more Cory Everson!) Total Body. It started with 3 good weight segments and then it went downhill. LeMay lead an Island Aerobics segment that really sucked. I normally like , so I think Island Aerobics is just not for me. Anyway, it was 25 minutes with 9 being in my zone, avg. HR 108, 75 calories, 56% fat.

Finally another Fitness Beach, Total Toning. This was actually a good one with lots of weight exercises lead by the one muscular trainer they had. I loved the chest, back, shoulders, and triceps, but the lower body was just bascially step ups and aerobics and they totally skipped biceps. (Gee, can you tell what segments were lead by the trainer I liked?) This one was only 20 minutes because my tape cut off right before the final stretch. I was in my zone for 7 1/2 minutes, with an avg HR of 107, 67 calories, and 57% fat.

I have probably 6-8 more of these mixed tapes to go through, so you can expect to see these things every weekend for another month or 2. LOL What can I say, I couldn't afford the videos at the time, and didn't see the point in spending the money when I could make my own "mix tape" like we did in high school with music. Makes for some fun stuff to watch now. Some of the old commercials I just had to watch instead of fast forwarding because they were just so funny!

Tonya L. -www.smellabella.comwww.trainingwithtonya.com