My favorite Workouts

In college I was in a show choir and we had to make sure that we were in shape so we could sing and dance at the same time without sounding out of breath.  In addition to our 2 a day dance practices, we would do aerobics three times a week.  I noticed after about a month that I was losing weight and just feeling good.  I guess this is where I found a love for working out and I found the joy in getting really sweaty:)  I blame my Dad for giving me that lovely gene.  Before this time in my life it was really hard for me to work out, so I resorted to just not doing it at all.  I was on the volleyball team in high school, but that was only for part of the year, so for the most part I wasn't making an effort to work out.  I have never been one of those people that love to run on the treadmill, or take 50 laps around the track.  It just isn't great for me while I am doing it and I want to quit a lot, which in no good way to work out.  It seemed like dancing and aerobics was really working for me and I was enjoying it!

 I guess this is when I really started making sure that exercise was a part of my life.  I have tried a lot of different forms of exercise from dancing to the dreaded running, but I have found that certain workout videos have really done the trick for me.  Especially now that I am a mom I don't think I could realistically make it to the gym and give myself a good workout.  The gym is in my living room and I have my own personal trainers who push me more than I would push myself if I tried to make up my own workout at the gym.

The ones that I have tried that I really like so far are:

 1. P90x - I remember when I first started doing these videos and I remember struggling to get through them.  I would just modify the moves I for sure could not do, but as I kept doing them I gradually found myself not struggling anymore and I could do more reps.  At first I would just do this a few times a week and I would make friends do it with me, but then I got a little more confident and I started doing them everyday.  It was nice that this program works on different parts of your body so that you don't get bored and your body doesn't know what's coming next.  I have found with other workouts that my body will get used to something I am training it to do, but with these movies I was able to keep challenging my body in different ways and that created some great changes.  I lost about 20 pounds with these movies!  I am sure it helped that I was working at a candle shop and I was moving and packing boxes all day, plus I was involved in a musical theatre play at night, but I know those movies were the foundation for my success. I have to say that sometimes the guy leading the workouts can get annoying with his comments, but I just kind of laughed at him and went on with the work out.  They are not always easy and they are not the quickest workout choice, but if you have the time and you push yourself, I bet you can get results too:)

2. Hip Hop Abs-  This is a great cardio workout and I just feel like I am dancing when I am doing it, so that is a super plus!  I honestly didn't feel like it worked my abs like it says it is supposed to and maybe I was doing it wrong, but I liked to use it as a fun cardio workout.

3. Jillian Michaels 30 day shred- I did not think that I could get as sweaty as I do in my 60 minute workouts with this 30 minute workout, but I was proven wrong!  I really like this one if I need a quicker workout and I really feel like she focuses on all the parts of the body so that I can work everything in a short amount of time.  The only problem is that because it is so short there are not really any breaks, so sometimes I will take quick breaks, but then I have missed some of the workout and that kinda bums me out when it's over.  Other than that This is an awesome workout and I did this one a lot when I was pregnant.  I had to modify the moves for the bowling ball in my stomach, but I still feel like I got a good, quick workout.

4. Turbo Jam-  Some people are annoyed with how happy this lady is, but if I am being honest, I really like her and I feel like she keeps me motivated to keep going.  There are a few different dvds with turbo jam, so it is mainly cardio, but there is one video for sculpting the muscles that I like, but if I am going to work on my muscles I think I would just do P90x and get better results in that area.  I love that turbo jam is a lot of punching and kicking because you can burn a lot of calories, but it is really fun at the same time.

5. Zumba 2 on Wii-  I was really excited when my husband bought me this for my birthday because I had never really been to a Zumba class, but have always wanted to.  This is not just some regular fun dancing though, this is hard!  But in a good way:)  I had to really focus to pick up the dance moves and it was a litle frustrating at times, but this is a killer workout and now that I know the moves it is really fun.

6. Just Dance 2 on Wii-  I know some people might be laughing about this one, but if you just want to dance and burn some calories this is the way to go.  I don't feel like I am working out at all and yet I still get sweaty doing this for an hour:)  I wouldn't say you should make it your actual workout, but this is a fun way to burn calories on an off day.

7. Insanity-  I am actually in the process of trying this one out and so far the name says it all.  This workout is pretty insane.  It is a lot of cardio packed into a short amount of time, so that means less breaks and less oxygen in my lungs:)  If you are looking for a very sweaty intense workout then this is it.

If anyone has any great workouts I would love to try them!

What is your favorite form of exercise?