Fitness programs

[Parrothead]

Is there a fitness program that isn't extreme? I look at things like Jillian Michaels insane yoga DVD or P90X and just think it is crazy to start off at a level which makes one just want to quit before beginning. It looks/feels more like torture than exercise.

 

Does something like that exist?

[Hoggirl]

I am a faithful exerciser now, but I was not always! I don't do P90X or anything similar, though I do use some Jillian MIchael's DVDs. My suggestion is to start with her 30-Day Shred. The workouts are only around 20 - 25 minutes. I started with this because I had the mindset that I could do *anything* for 30 days! I could barely walk after the first day, but I stuck with it (it took me about 33 or 34 days 'cause we went away for a long weekend) doing it every day. Sticking with it works the soreness out. There are three levels and you are supposed to do each level for ten days. Even though I could barely walk after day one, I couldn't wait until day 11 to start the second level so I started on day 10! In just nine days, my body adjusted and got much stronger! Amazing! You can decide where to go after the 30-Day Shred, but just start with that. ;)

 

You need the DVD, a mat, and two 3-lb dumbbells. That was another plus - if it had been an epic fail, I would have only been out about $30.

[jen3kids]

I've been doing a Couch To 5k program. If I don't write down what I did, then I won't do it. I do it every other day (I'm still on the week 1 rotation, but into the 2nd week) I'm starting slowly because my knees often bother me. So far so good.

 

I think I'll look into the 30 day shred too. I need more than the C25K, but not running.

[Parrothead]

I am a faithful exerciser now, but I was not always! I don't do P90X or anything similar, though I do use some Jillian MIchael's DVDs. My suggestion is to start with her 30-Day Shred. The workouts are only around 20 - 25 minutes. I started with this because I had the mindset that I could do *anything* for 30 days! I could barely walk after the first day, but I stuck with it (it took me about 33 or 34 days 'cause we went away for a long weekend) doing it every day. Sticking with it works the soreness out. There are three levels and you are supposed to do each level for ten days. Even though I could barely walk after day one, I couldn't wait until day 11 to start the second level so I started on day 10! In just nine days, my body adjusted and got much stronger! Amazing! You can decide where to go after the 30-Day Shred, but just start with that. ;)

 

You need the DVD, a mat, and two 3-lb dumbbells. That was another plus - if it had been an epic fail, I would have only been out about $30.

But iI'm not looking for something that makes it hurt to walk the next day. I have enough pain with my arthritis that I don't want extreme exercise.

 

I have some yoga that I do and the tai chi. I also run a couple times a week. I just want something to add or use in place of periodically.

 

I don't subscribe to the "No pain, no gain" theory.

[Kim in Appalachia]

Are you looking for cardio? I was going to recommend yoga as a good routine. I think Shiva Rae's DVDs are a good workout. I also have a love for Astanga Yoga, which is good too. There are not many video's for that (there is one, called Power Yoga by Beryl Birch), but there are some online options (to stream).

 

If you want cardio, maybe the old walk at home type videos? I can't remember who did those. But they were low impact. I believe Gaiam also produced some low impact areobic DVDs. You may want to check out their web site.

[SerenityNow]

I tried to do the 30 day shred for about a week, but my knees just wouldn't take it. Plus I had started fearing the whole thing because I always felt like I was on the edge of injuring myself. Not really the positive experience I was looking for. lol. The last few days I have been doing an Ellen Barrett workout that I found on YouTube. She has quite a few dvds out, too. What I've seen so far seems to have a yoga/pilates/dance feel, mixed with gentle cardio. I am really, really enjoying it because I think that strength, balance, and stretching are the critical components of aging well.

 

If you're interested you can type her name into YouTube. I think the workout I'm doing is called Zen Sculpt. It's about 45 min long.

 

Good luck! :001_smile:

[speedmom4]

I recommend C25k. It gently introduces running. I love it that you can repeat workouts if you need/want to. You can run/walk as fast or slow as you need to. Plus the app is free and all you need is a pair of running shoes.

 

Good luck!

Elise in NC

[whitestavern]

Have you tried any of the Leslie Sansone videos? If you're somewhat in shape, you will need to do one of the 3, 4, or 5 mile workouts to get your heart rate up, but they're easy to follow, don't cause any pain, and do work if you workout regularly. There are a lot of them; you could check your library to try a few out.

[MIch elle]

I have J.M 30 Day Shred and couldn't do it either. Too hard on the knees! I like Bob Harper's BIggest Loser The Workout It's easy esp. if you don't use any weights to start and add them in once you have the routine. The strength and tone workout is my favorite on the dvd and it has NO aerobics or jumping.

[Parrothead]

I have J.M 30 Day Shred and couldn't do it either. Too hard on the knees! I like Bob Harper's BIggest Loser The Workout It's easy esp. if you don't use any weights to start and add them in once you have the routine. The strength and tone workout is my favorite on the dvd and it has NO aerobics or jumping.

thanks. It sounds like what I'm looking for.

[Parrothead]

I recommend C25k. It gently introduces running. I love it that you can repeat workouts if you need/want to. You can run/walk as fast or slow as you need to. Plus the app is free and all you need is a pair of running shoes.

 

Good luck!

Elise in NC

Thanks. I did that 2 springs ago. I now run a couple times a week.

 

[Parrothead]

Have you tried any of the Leslie Sansone videos? If you're somewhat in shape, you will need to do one of the 3, 4, or 5 mile workouts to get your heart rate up, but they're easy to follow, don't cause any pain, and do work if you workout regularly. There are a lot of them; you could check your library to try a few out.

 

I think I'm looking for sculpting rather than cardio.

[Parrothead]

Are you looking for cardio? I was going to recommend yoga as a good routine. I think Shiva Rae's DVDs are a good workout. I also have a love for Astanga Yoga, which is good too. There are not many video's for that (there is one, called Power Yoga by Beryl Birch), but there are some online options (to stream).

 

If you want cardio, maybe the old walk at home type videos? I can't remember who did those. But they were low impact. I believe Gaiam also produced some low impact areobic DVDs. You may want to check out their web site.

No, not cardio. I get that running.

 

I suppose I'm looking for something that will build muscle or tone or sculpt.

[TrixieB]

For a not-that-intense workout, I rather like Sparkpeople's Fit Firm & Fired Up DVD. It's a 10 minute per day commitment, and there's a workout for every day of the week. It's strength training -- you choose whatever dumbbell size you want -- plus some balance and flexibility work. The DVD also includes a cardio workout which I've done once -- BUT I have done the 10 minutes per day workout every single day (except one) since before Thanksgiving because... 10 minutes out of my day, I have no excuses to not do it. I can't say I am a whole lot stronger, but my balance and flexibility have improved.

[whitestavern]

I think I'm looking for sculpting rather than cardio.

 

 

 

If you are looking for sculpting I can heartily recommend Tracy Anderson's 30 day method. You don't need to follow the diet or the cardio exercises, just the sculpting ones. It will totally sculpt your body. Amazing. I'm sure you can find this at your library too, although I ended up purchasing my own copy because I loved it so much.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Tracy-Andersons-30-Day-Method-Weight-Loss/dp/044656205X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358295856&sr=8-1&keywords=tracy+anderson+30+day+method

[Parrothead]

For a not-that-intense workout, I rather like Sparkpeople's Fit Firm & Fired Up DVD. It's a 10 minute per day commitment, and there's a workout for every day of the week. It's strength training -- you choose whatever dumbbell size you want -- plus some balance and flexibility work. The DVD also includes a cardio workout which I've done once -- BUT I have done the 10 minutes per day workout every single day (except one) since before Thanksgiving because... 10 minutes out of my day, I have no excuses to not do it. I can't say I am a whole lot stronger, but my balance and flexibility have improved.

Thank you.

[Parrothead]

 

 

 

If you are looking for sculpting I can heartily recommend Tracy Anderson's 30 day method. You don't need to follow the diet or the cardio exercises, just the sculpting ones. It will totally sculpt your body. Amazing. I'm sure you can find this at your library too, although I ended up purchasing my own copy because I loved it so much.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Tracy-Andersons-30-Day-Method-Weight-Loss/dp/044656205X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358295856&sr=8-1&keywords=tracy+anderson+30+day+method

Thank you.

[OH_Homeschooler]

I love Ellen Barrett! I second that recommendation. You get to do the workouts in bare feet and as mentioned above, she focuses a lot on yoga and pilates (which I generally do not like) with sneaky cardio. It is great toning but gentle on the joints.

[Garga]

I hate, hate, hate programs that kill you on the first day. I'm in week 8 of couch to 5k and it's been downright eeeeaaasy. I mean, I sweat and breathe somewhat hard at the end, but I am allowed to go as slow or fast as I want. And that's the key for me.

 

You can choose either distance (run for 1/4 a mile) or time (jog for 8 minutes.) I choose to "jog for 8 minutes." I do it slowly.

 

Once I am done my 9 weeks, I'll start to push myself to go slightly faster during my jogs.

 

When you start in week one, you only jog for like 30 seconds at a time, between walking sessions. I remember having trouble jogging for the whole minute and a half a couple of weeks in, but just yesterday I jogged for 28 minutes without stopping. It was slowly, but it was 28 minutes!!! And I wasn't unduly exhausted when I was done.

[LG Gone Wild]

There is Brazil Butt Lift (from the makers of P90X). The name is misleading because you actually get the whole body exercised. You will be sore because you will have worked muscles that you hadn't before but it won't kill you. Plus, the workouts are short.

[Katy]

Tracy Anderson is great for toning if you want a petite, feminine, small muscle shape. It does take a ton of time and very low calories though. I haven't managed to stick with it for more than a couple of weeks.

 

If you want to LOOK like you've done something like Insanity but with far less work (that fitness model/Jessica Biel body type) you can get it in very short very intense workouts (6-8 minute warm up and cool down, 8-20 minute workouts) with Zuzka Light. It's intense, but short intense- the sort of exercise that leaves me feeling tired but also energized and happy at the end of it instead of wiped out.

 

You can do some workouts for free with her website/youtube http://zuzkalight.com/, or she does have a new 90 day program on dvd for less than $20 on Amazon and her site. Her workouts are a little like crossfit (functional strength, mostly bodyweight at first, more like military training- burpees, squat jumps, etc). If you can stand to work out as hard as you possibly can for a minute or two at a time, and to repeat it a few times you WILL get AMAZING results. Your goal is to be gasping for air. Gasping is a sign you've upped your metabolism for the next 36 hours. All recent exercise science is behind her.

 

I personally dropped about 80 pounds doing mostly her exercises and by following the diet advice in the early days of her first site (www.bodyrock.tv; she and her ex partner broke up, I prefer her). The food advice was this: 1) Eat a little bit of food when you're a little bit hungry. If you get more energy after eating, you ate the right portion. If you get sleepy after eating you ate too much. For most people this means eating about a fist-sized portion of food every 2-3 hours when awake. For me this typically translates to about 2/3 of a salad plate of whatever homemade food I wanted, whenever I was hungry, but focusing on NOT eating too much or emotionally eating. Intense exercise also seems to stop the urge for emotional eating and to make me crave healthy food. 2) Try to eat real food most of the time (nothing processed), or at least make the junk food yourself at home, because it takes so much work you'll eat it less often. 3) Include protein and veggies in every meal.

 

Her diet advice has gotten more and less complicated at various times as she tried different things and went for personal trainer certification, but those are the tips that worked for me.

[Shelsi]

Well I LOVE the Insanity, Asylum, etc type videos but I sure didn't used to.

 

Initially I started off with Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and I did it every other day for almost 6 mos. I wanted to get into the habit of exercise and that video really did the trick for me. Then of course I started to get bored, tried different things (tried p90x but found it ridiculously boring), and eventually landed on Insanity which I did for about 1.5 yrs on & off with other things. I just love plyometrics & Insanity is about the only thing out there that's all plyo. I'm doing The Asylum right now just because I couldn't stand to see the same Insanity video one more time without actually going insane lol.

 

JM 30 Day Shred was like my gateway drug to fitness. Before that I had always hated working out - I actually failed gym class in high school and I always did the bare minimum to pass PT tests when I was in the Air Force. Now I'm totally addicted!

 

Initially I did the 30 Day Shred just to get some fitness in my life - I was feeling a bit "blah" about my body & just needed some time that was "me time." I did lose weight, but not sizes, but I felt good about it. Then when I switched to Insanity I started losing sizes and feeling really good in general: lots of energy, sleeping better, and just in a better mood overall.

[Catwoman]

Katy, have you gotten Zuzana's DVD set yet? I ordered mine from Amazon, but they aren't here yet. I couldn't resist the bargain price -- what a deal! Before anyone orders, they might want to check out a few clips from Zuzana's workouts, though, because her outfits tend to be on the skimpy side. (By that, I mean that her tops are about three sizes too small and her implants aren't exactly teeny-tiny, so some people may have an issue with that!)

 

I agree with you about Tracy Anderson, and I think her diet is just plain ridiculous. I've found that her workouts are effective even without following her eating plan, so I don't even bother trying to eat the way she advises.

[NavyMommy]

If you're already doing yoga, I really liked Bob Harper's Fat Burning Yoga DVD. It's intense in that you will be building muscles since you're holding poses for so long, but not hard, and I wasn't ever sore. Plus he always shows lots of modifications if you're not quite flexible enough for the full position. You could probably find clips on youtube to check out.

[Mom-ninja.]

Thanks for the Zuzka site. I'll check into it. I have ADD when it comes to exercise and I always want to try new trainers. I watched Zuzka on BodyRock once and was impressed with her workout.

 

Tracy Anderson is what got me started with my toning. I also don't follow the diet plan.

 

I also agree about Ellen Barrett. I think she's what you are looking for.

 

Also, consider ballet based workouts. I'm dieing to try Ballet Beautiful. I like Ballet Body but they are *tough* so it doesn't sound like that's what you want.

 

Don't forget about Denise Austin. She has great yoga/pilates dvds. Her "Daily Dozen" dvd might be just up your alley.

 

Oh, and Yoga Journal has a chanel on youtube with some good videos.

 

 

I wanted to add that I just discovered Lindsay Birn last night. I now also want her stuff. She's had 3 kids (c-sections to boot) and looks amazing. Check out some of her dvds on Amazon and maybe you'll see something you want to try.

[lovemykids]

Is there a fitness program that isn't extreme? I look at things like Jillian Michaels insane yoga DVD or P90X and just think it is crazy to start off at a level which makes one just want to quit before beginning. It looks/feels more like torture than exercise.

 

 

 

I hear you, I am sick of being sore all of the time!

 

There is Brazil Butt Lift (from the makers of P90X). The name is misleading because you actually get the whole body exercised. You will be sore because you will have worked muscles that you hadn't before but it won't kill you. Plus, the workouts are short.

 

 

I would like to try this one..

 

Thanks for the Zuzka site. I'll check into it. I have ADD when it comes to exercise and I always want to try new trainers. I watched Zuzka on BodyRock once and was impressed with her workout.

 

Also, consider ballet based workouts. I'm dieing to try Ballet Beautiful. I like Ballet Body but they are *tough* so it doesn't sound like that's what you want.

 

Don't forget about Denise Austin. She has great yoga/pilates dvds. Her "Daily Dozen" dvd might be just up your alley.

 

Oh, and Yoga Journal has a chanel on youtube with some good videos.

 

 

I will vouch for Denise Austin; her workouts are effective when it comes to weight loss and or light toning.

 

Another one to look into is Joyce Vedral..she has some excellent weight lifting videos that really provide results. :thumbup:

[MicheleinMN]

http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Conditioning-Weight-Suzanne-Deason/dp/B00004TKIC/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_text_y

 

I'm not really what I call a yoga girl, but my step-daughter had this dvd, and I REALLY liked it. It's a great place to start and yet still challenging enough for non-beginners (like my step-daughter).

 

HTH

[Katy]

Katy, have you gotten Zuzana's DVD set yet? I ordered mine from Amazon, but they aren't here yet. I couldn't resist the bargain price -- what a deal! Before anyone orders, they might want to check out a few clips from Zuzana's workouts, though, because her outfits tend to be on the skimpy side. (By that, I mean that her tops are about three sizes too small and her implants aren't exactly teeny-tiny, so some people may have an issue with that!)

 

I agree with you about Tracy Anderson, and I think her diet is just plain ridiculous. I've found that her workouts are effective even without following her eating plan, so I don't even bother trying to eat the way she advises.

 

 

No, I hadn't worked out or watched youtube since the week before Christmas so I didn't find out about them until today! I really like the changes in her since she left bodyrock - much more professional camera angles, etc.

 

I guess the book from Tracy wasn't that bad actually, I got so excited about it I ordered that 90 day program of hers and THAT is what I just can't bring myself to do. I'd rather eat real food and look more like Zuzana than a model anyway. I read somewhere (a gossip site?) that Tracy is such a junk food - sugar junkie that some of her friends got together and held some sort of intervention - apparently she eats a ton of junk, gains a few pounds and goes on a cleanse, back and forth nonstop. Not much real nutrition ever, and borderline disordered if that's true. Something about Tracy's videos bugs me, it's hard to put my finger on. Maybe it's the sad way I feel when I'm doing her workout, and sad afterward, especially for the matt portion. It seems endless and defeating, and I'm not happy during or after the way I am with Zuzka. I can always talk myself into doing just 8 minutes, and when I'm done I feel so much happier I can often talk myself into doing it twice a day. Tracy's just not the same, even if you can see results with Tracy in just 3 days, it's too hard. Like dragging your feet in the mud. Maybe I should go back & do the 30 day program again.

 

Edited to add: I just figured it out- Tracy's workout program is like doing that thing you don't want to do but know you must do - teaching the whiny child math, or cleaning the hair out of the shower drain. It has it's own rewards but the process is unpleasant. Zuzka (Zuzanna was an old Americanized stage name, for those who never worked out with her when she was at Bodyrock) is more like playing tag with laughing, happy children. Exhausting but fun and oh so worth it on many levels. I think I'm too busy to add the extra drudgery of an un-fun workout to my life right now, even if the drudgery is effective. Life's too short.

[Parrothead]

Well I LOVE the Insanity, Asylum, etc type videos but I sure didn't used to.

 

Initially I started off with Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and I did it every other day for almost 6 mos. I wanted to get into the habit of exercise and that video really did the trick for me. Then of course I started to get bored, tried different things (tried p90x but found it ridiculously boring), and eventually landed on Insanity which I did for about 1.5 yrs on & off with other things. I just love plyometrics & Insanity is about the only thing out there that's all plyo. I'm doing The Asylum right now just because I couldn't stand to see the same Insanity video one more time without actually going insane lol.

 

JM 30 Day Shred was like my gateway drug to fitness. Before that I had always hated working out - I actually failed gym class in high school and I always did the bare minimum to pass PT tests when I was in the Air Force. Now I'm totally addicted!

 

Initially I did the 30 Day Shred just to get some fitness in my life - I was feeling a bit "blah" about my body & just needed some time that was "me time." I did lose weight, but not sizes, but I felt good about it. Then when I switched to Insanity I started losing sizes and feeling really good in general: lots of energy, sleeping better, and just in a better mood overall.

 

 

I'm glad it worked out for you.

[Parrothead]

Thanks for all the recommendations.

[readinmom]

Keep us posted! I tried the 30 day shred. I felt like my insides were going to fall out. Literally. Kind of the feeling you get after you give birth. I did not go past the 3rd day. I started C25K, but the weather became unbearably hot, impossible to exercise. I really need to get back into that, plus swimming.

[mommymilkies]

But iI'm not looking for something that makes it hurt to walk the next day. I have enough pain with my arthritis that I don't want extreme exercise.

I have some yoga that I do and the tai chi. I also run a couple times a week. I just want something to add or use in place of periodically.

I don't subscribe to the "No pain, no gain" theory.

 

 

I agree. I used to be a workout junkie. Then I pulled a muscle in my back that laid me up in pain for over a year and my knees got very bad. I did 30DS for months and nothing has ever angered my arthritic knees so much. The Envy Girls workout is really cheesy but it is short-20 minutes and actually effective. I thought it was stupid until I tried it. I will have to check out some of the suggestions here. I'm too decrepit right now for painful punishing exercise.

I wanted to add that I just discovered Lindsay Birn last night. I now also want her stuff. She's had 3 kids (c-sections to boot) and looks amazing. Check out some of her dvds on Amazon and maybe you'll see something you want to try.

 

 

I used to own a few of her DVDs and then I remember reading her blog and she gave really really terrible, if not harmful advice. I sold them as fast as I could, but I don't remember what the advice was. So do your research first and use common sense.

 

I've been walking a lot and doing a lot of Restorative Exercise videos & exercises. Sometimes I do a Janet Stone yoga DVD or the Envy Girls one if I'm super motivated.

[mommymilkies]

Keep us posted! I tried the 30 day shred. I felt like my insides were going to fall out. Literally. Kind of the feeling you get after you give birth. I did not go past the 3rd day. I started C25K, but the weather became unbearably hot, impossible to exercise. I really need to get back into that, plus swimming.

 

 

It might have been making your diastasis worse (or creating one) and weakening your pelvic floor. I have heard this a lot from people doing 30ds, including myself.

[Soror]

 

I used to own a few of her DVDs and then I remember reading her blog and she gave really really terrible, if not harmful advice. I sold them as fast as I could, but I don't remember what the advice was. So do your research first and use common sense.

 

I have a Lindsey Brin dvd= postnal bootcamp. The ab portion is where she gives bad advice. She makes mention of diastasis but then does exercises that make this condition worse. I would not follow the ab portion at all unless you've checked for it and then I'd make sure to build up slow. However, I don't think that is what the OP is looking for as it is not low impact.

 

Personally I'm going back to yoga, it is low impact but you can use it to build strength(chaturanga is killer on those arms and back for example), endurance(going through multiple rounds of sun salutations can certainly do this), flexibility and more. I tried my postnatal workout but it is too high impact for me right now. I did yoga previously(about 5-6 yrs or so) and really enjoyed it but just stopped after kid #2. I started with a book and then bought a few dvds and just did them as I could and as I built up strength, flexibility, and endurance I could do more and more. There are videos out there for every level and with different focuses as well. As I said as well you can always modify as needed or come out of poses if needed also.

[Mom-ninja.]

What excercises does she do that are bad? I watched her short 5 min video. She does pelvic tilts and head lifts while binding in the abs with a towel. How is this wrong? This is what the Tupler (something like that) technique suggests. Then when you get stronger at those and feel the gap closing you move on to adding leg lifts with pelvic tilts. Also she emphasizes keeping your lower back in the floor using a pelvic tilt while keeping your stomach muscles pulled in.

 

Again, how is this incorrect?

[msjones]

How about some pilates? It's mellow, and easy to adapt to beginner level.

[mommymilkies]

What excercises does she do that are bad? I watched her short 5 min video. She does pelvic tilts and head lifts while binding in the abs with a towel. How is this wrong? This is what the Tupler (something like that) technique suggests. Then when you get stronger at those and feel the gap closing you move on to adding leg lifts with pelvic tilts. Also she emphasizes keeping your lower back in the floor using a pelvic tilt while keeping your stomach muscles pulled in.

 

Again, how is this incorrect?

 

First of all, it increases intra-abdominal pressure doing those moves. Especially after birth, this can put too much pressure on your organs and cause pelvic organ prolapse. BAD IDEA. unless you like peeing yourself and having your organs fall out. http://www.alignedandwell.com/katysays/?s=diastasis

 

I can't remember the rest now. It's been 2 years since I watched it. But that's a brief assessment of the head lifts. A better idea is to look for an article on Sahrmann exercises. Here are a couple good articles on proper transverse activation.

 

http://www.alignintegrationandmovement.com/1/post/2012/04/how-to-contract-your-deep-abdominal-muscle-the-transversus-abdominis.html

 

http://www.alignintegrationandmovement.com/1/post/2012/07/engage-your-core-lower-body-progression.html

 

Honestly, I tried looking at her site again and I forget what my original problem was, but I do try to avoid people and sites that encourage neuroses about food in *me*, like ones that tell you to quit breastfeeding your infant to lose those last 5 lbs. (hers), etc. who knows, her new videos might be great and she may have made mistakes in the past. But they certainly are not low impact and will leave you hurting, which is what the OP seemed to want to avoid.

[Mom-ninja.]

First of all, it increases intra-abdominal pressure doing those moves. Especially after birth, this can put too much pressure on your organs and cause pelvic organ prolapse. BAD IDEA. unless you like peeing yourself and having your organs fall out. http://www.alignedan...ys/?s=diastasis

 

I can't remember the rest now. It's been 2 years since I watched it. But that's a brief assessment of the head lifts. A better idea is to look for an article on Sahrmann exercises. Here are a couple good articles on proper transverse activation.

 

http://www.aligninte...-abdominis.html

 

http://www.aligninte...rogression.html

 

Honestly, I tried looking at her site again and I forget what my original problem was, but I do try to avoid people and sites that encourage neuroses about food in *me*, like ones that tell you to quit breastfeeding your infant to lose those last 5 lbs. (hers), etc. who knows, her new videos might be great and she may have made mistakes in the past. But they certainly are not low impact and will leave you hurting, which is what the OP seemed to want to avoid.

 

 

Thanks for the links. They are explained very nicely. Unfortunately contracting correctly does nothing for the saggy stretched out skin I have. :tongue_smilie:

 

I ignored her food section. I never pay attention to the diet recommendations.

 

I did read her breastfeeding section and rolled my eyes. How does she know that she hangs onto "those last 5 lbs" when breastfeeding? She never breastfed long enough to find out. Sorry, but 6 weeks is not going to let you know if breastfeeding will have your body hanging onto weight.

[mommymilkies]

I agree. Giving advice to postpartum women to stop and the obsessive way she catalogs every ounce lost really rubs me wrong. We already have a weight obsessed society. What about health?

[Mom-ninja.]

I agree. Giving advice to postpartum women to stop and the obsessive way she catalogs every ounce lost really rubs me wrong. We already have a weight obsessed society. What about health?

 

I find it ironic that a fitness expert looks past the health benefit of breastfeeding and weans in order to lose weight.....which she probably would have lost anyway.

 

I don't want to get into why women choose to wean and so forth, but it is ironic when someone giving advice on women's health and fitness puts her weight loss on a higher priority than health for her and baby.

 

 

Back to the OP.....I just picked up this yoga dvd from the library for my dh. Looks like there is a 3 DVD set for $18.