Chalean Extreme

I have a dozen posts in my head that I want to write about, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Ugh! Someday I'll catch up! Or not! Haha!

But I do want to talk about the strength-training program I'm doing. It's called Chalean Extreme. It's a Beachbody program, which means it's from the same company that puts out P90X and Insanity. Those are the ones everybody's heard about, but there are a ton more! Erika (remember, the fitness coach I told you about?) is a Beachbody coach and can help you pick a program that is right for you.

Anyway, she recommended this one for me, and I'm almost 4 weeks in and I am really liking it. I tried P90X before and I didn't love it. I like some of the workouts, but overall I wasn't a big fan of it. But this is different. The workouts are pretty short and go by quickly.

Each week, you are supposed to do the following:

-3 weight-lifting workouts
-2 cardio workouts (I don't really like the cardio videos so I replace these with my own cardio...running, biking, gym class, whatever).
-1 ab workout
-1 yoga workout (I don't do this video either because I go to a weekly yoga class at church)

Every 30 days, you get a new phase of weight-lifting workouts. I'm nearing the end of Phase 1, so I'll be moving to Phase 2 next week. I haven't taken any official measurements yet (I will on Day 30) but I can fit into all my pre-children pants now!

The idea behind this program is to develop more muscle, and when you have more muscle, it burns more fat and you get leaner. I'm not even 1/3 of the way through it, but I'm noticing some changes (like my pants fitting).

Normally, I am not a big fan of doing workout videos, but I am actually really enjoying these for the most part (except I'm really bored of the warmup...it's the same in all the videos.) You only do the same video once a week for a month and then you get a new set, so it hasn't gotten boring yet.

Here's my normal schedule as of the past 4 weeks:

Monday: Weight-lifting video 1
Tuesday: Cardio (usually a run or kick-boxing class at the gym)
Wednesday: Weight-lifting video 2 + abs
Thursday: Cardio (usually a run or eliptical) + Yoga class at church
Friday: Weight-lifting video 3
Saturday: Make up day (for anything I missed M-F) and sometimes a Zumba class or spin class
Sunday: Rest

I'll be posting progress pics next week!