from Chalene re: ChaLEAN Extreme

[Guest guest]

This was on my Turbo Kick Fanatics board; thought I'd share it with you guys!***********It's surreal to me that ChaLEAN Extreme has finally launched. I really

thought this day would never get here. I worked on this program

forever. Six months of research, pitching my idea to BeachBody, over a

year and a half of testing, 70 local test group people from all walks

of fitness, from deconditioned to super fit. I was literally with them

every day for 4 months. I got deep into their lives and really attacked

this program from the whole person standpoint, exercise and retraining

the brain, changing habits, routines, even friends in some cases. It

was emotionally draining at times. When people lose a lot of weight and

change their lives from unhealthy to healthy, some pretty emotional

things come up! Whew!

Then months of photo shoots, testing routines, music, auditions... .

Next....shooting 18 videos, creating the manual, the guidebook, the

recipe book, recording a a motivational CD, a video for food prep and

kitchen re-organization. ...then.. .shooting the infomercial! Then

shooting all the promo stuff, the launch party videos, the webinars,

the training materials... .. Whew. I really thought this day would

never come.

I know there's been a lot of discussion about this program and Turbo

Sculpt. I just have to say that after doing all the research for this

program, my heart is no longer in the muscle training for endurance

mode. I really am a true believer in building muscle. This program

(ChaLEAN Extreme) isn't a traditional group fitness program. It's

really like personal training. I think what most of us as fitness

instructors in a sculpting class is not what we do as personal trainers

with the ability to use a variety of weights and heavier equipment.

That means that Turbo Sculpt is on hold at the moment....and that's

okay

What about the music?

This program isn't about rockin' music and swinging your weights to the

beat. This program is a 180 from Turbo Kick/Jam. This is pure, clean,

raw strength training. This is the real deal. It's very slow technique,

even slower on the eccentric portion of the rep, fewer reps, and

serious attention to perfect technique. Rather than keep up with a

song... you breath! You slow down, you look at the muscle, you sweat,

you concentrate, you focus! You lift as heavy as you can lift, but you

do it slowly, with great purpose and intensity. You contract the muscle

before you even begin the rep.

While no one is a bigger proponent of music for a dance program than

me, I did insist that the music be very much a background thing in

these programs. When music is dominate, you can't help but try to keep

up with the beat. I wanted people to feel like they were getting

personal training and lift at a speed dictated by their lever length

(arm length) rather than the beat of the music, with elicits momentum

and lessens the effectiveness of each rep.

So...could this program be taught in a group fitness setting? *YES*!

Yes, but only If clubs were willing to get the kind of equipment it

takes to accomplish it. I have hope for that day! Some clubs have made

that happen. The Golds Gym I teach at in Southern Cal has 40 sets of

Select Techs! And there's a waiting list for the classes! Why do weight

rooms get top of the line equipment, but the group fitness rooms have

to make due with broken bands and 3 pound weights? huh? I know it will

change...eventually . But it will take education. But we have to change

people's (women's) minds about lifting heavy, and that age old notion

that if you lift more than 5 pound weights you'll bulk up. Aint so.

As for the equipment you might need in your home....An assortment of

really great bands or an assortmentment of weights or the selectechs or

similar stacking product.

POWER BLOCKS.forgot about those. I used to use those with my personal

training clients. I have heard people have found the Select Techs as

low as $350, (no stand) The PowerBlocks would be great too!

The infomercial will air in a few weeks. Be on the look out...I think

it's a very moving show. The test group results are amazing. However,

you can also get the program from any TeamBeachBody coach and I think

if you become a coach you can get a huge discount and the ability to

sell it yourself. Of course I would always prefer a fitness

professional earn the commission versus some random in another country

answering the phones and talking to people as if they know something

about fitness. So my vote is to get it from a coach!