New Shake for my Chalean Extreme Workout
I just received a new nutritional shake that I am going to start taking one meal a day. It is a meal replacement shake. It is called Shakeology and it is serious stuff, I do not think there is anything quite like it. I already made an 8oz. glass out of it and it tasted pretty good. I have the Chocolate kind, but there is also a Greenberry Flavor. I am going to start taking it regularly, to help me stay energized and focus throughout my Chalene Extreme workout and all of my other workouts. Why is it supposed to be so good, well, let me tell you.
Shakeology contains:
- Protein and Essential Amino Acids
- Prebiotics and Digestive Enzymes
- Antioxidants and Phytonutrients
- 23 Vitamins and Minerals
It also contains some very unique ingredients like Acai and Goji Berries, Camu-Camu, Quinoa, Wheat Grass, Maca Root, and Sacha Inchi. Crazy huh?
This shake will help you maintain a healthy body weight, boost your immune system, and protect your long term health by providing you with healthy energy. Shakeology also has Digestive Enzymes that will help you with staying regular. You will lose weight, feel full, lower your cholesterol and absorb more nutrients.
Shakeology is Gluten free and caffeine free, has NO refined sugars or artificial sweeteners, and provides health-supporting chlorophylls, polyphenols, prebotics, and proanthocyanins.
So….There are a lot of big words that I do not understand, but I will be trying this out and telling you how it makes me feel, and any results that I do or do not get from it. Hopefully it helps me with my Abs Diet and my Chalean extreme workout.
Starting ChaLean Extreme Soon…again
So if you have been following my blog posts, than you have read that I was doing the Chalean extreme workout and then was interrupted when my television stopped working. But there is good news, I ordered a new replacement bulb today, so hopefully by next week Ben and I can get back into the workout. The Chalean Extreme workout was going well, until the TV breakage. I have been pretty busy the last few days, so I have not been able to workout like I normally do, but last night I got a little workout in before I went to bed. I did a series of abdominal workouts, where I focused on my upper abs, lower abs and obliques. I also did 70 push ups, and no, I did not do them all at once, I did a set of 30…20…20. I got the Abs Diet book yesterday in the mail, so I started doing the workouts that it shows in the book. I also started reading the book and so far I really enjoy his style of writing. It is very motivating and it is nice to know the importance on why I need to lose the weight around my midsection. Did you know? That the average American has over 30 billion fat cells, and each cell can expand up to 1000 times it’s size, and once it reaches its physical limit it can split into two. So you get more fat cells, and they don’t ever go away!! So it makes it even harder to get into shape. I also found out what I was doing wrong in my diet, I thought it would be okay to give myself one day a week where I can splurge, the Abs Diet book calls that cheating. So for the next six weeks I will be 100% dedicated to my diet.
ChaLean Extreme: In Waiting
So I finally got a hold of the television repair people and faxed in all the proper paper work for them to come out or send me a new bulb for my LCD rear projection television. This whole process has been annoying, but it has not been the end of the world. I still get a lot of workouts in, although it is not ChaLean Extreme. My whole purpose to doing ChaLean Extreme is so I can write reviews and tell people about my progress or lack there of. Soon I will get the problem resolved and everything will be back to normal, but until then, I am gonna keep on doing workouts at the gym and hikes. Besides, I have to do some type of workout or else I will go crazy!! If I go to long without working out then I lose my edge, my motivation, and it is harder for me to start back up. So remaining active is not an option for me.
As far as the diet is going, this is my fifth day on the Men’s health Abs diet. I think I am doing it right, that is why I ordered the book, to make sure that I am doing this diet correctly. But I feel great, my body feels healthy, and I feel energized. I am excited to see some of the results I get in the first week. It is the weekend so I will not be posting until Monday, I am going on a four mile hike this afternoon with a friend, and tomorrow I am probably just going to take it easy. I have a friends birthday and we are going to this extremely nice italian restaurant. In my diet I do allow myself to splurge a little one day a week. I hope that is okay with the Abs Diet book.
ChaLean Extreme: Day 8 – Getting Extreme!!
Well we had to rest days over the weekend from our ChaLean extreme workout, so our bodies are all healed up and ready to go. Over the weekend I did not workout , I did not even go to LA Fitness to do any running, and I ate terrible. It was my sister’s birthday so I went out a few times for lunch and dinner and had cake and ice cream. I am the type of person that if I screw up in a day with my eating then I eat bad the rest of the day. But today marks the day that I start eating healthier again, so I can maximize my results from this workout. I decided not to follow the ChaLean Extreme nutrition guide that they provided for me, instead I will be doing The Abs Diet from Men’s Health. This diet includes 12 power foods. 1. Almonds and other nuts 2. Beans and other Legumes 3. Spinach, greens 4. Dairy, fat-free milk, yogurt and cheese 5. Instant oatmeal – unflavored and unsweetened 6. Eggs 7. Turkey and other lean meats – lean beef, chicken and fish 8. Peanut Butter, all natural and sugar free 9. olive oil 10. Whole grain breads 11. Extra protein powder 12. Raspberries and other berries. So wish me luck, this is probably going to be the hardest diet I have ever had to stick with. I get one day a week to splurge, I am actually more nervous about this than I am about the workout.
Today we did the Chalean Extreme Burn Circuit 1 disc again for the second time. If you remember in my first post about this workout I mentioned that I felt like the workout was to easy because I did not have heavy enough weights. Well, this time I had heavier weights and the workout went a lot better, but I do feel like this is the easier workout of the three Burn Circuits. What I do love about this ChaLean Extreme Workout, is that they have some great Ab workouts with dumbbells. You really get to focus on your obliques and if you do the exercise correctly than you can really feel your obliques getting a good workout. I really do like how you usually work out multiple body parts at a time. So if you are doing deltoid workouts then at the same time you are in a lounge working out your legs, or if you are doing a bench press, they have you working out your lower abs at the same time. That was one thing the P90x workout was great with too, was working out more than one section at a time.
Tonight I am going to LA Fitness to workout with Jeff, we are going to do a Chest workout and then run for a couple miles. But I will writing more about that tomorrow. And remember to check out Ben’s Chalean Extreme workout blog.
ChaLean Extreme: Day 5 – Burn and Recharge
So today is the last workout of the week with ChaLean extreme, and it has been a great workout so far. Ben and I will do the same routine next week and for the rest of the month, before we switch it up into the push phase. Today, we did the ChaLean Extreme Burn it off and recharge disc, where you are trying to get your heart rate up as much as possible. Ben and I do not have to much room to maneuver so it was kind of difficult at first to get really into this workout, but by the end we were sweating and Ben felt light headed because he worked out so hard. The workout involved a lot of movement dips, lunges, jumps and football drills. Yes, I said football drills! I thought that was pretty cool, I always love it when workouts incorporate sporting drills in to the exercises. My P90x Workout did that with the plyometrics disc. It adds an element of fun to the whole thing, although it is pretty challenging.
After the ChaLean Extreme Burn it off disc, I got to do the Recharge exercise. The first workout today was a little under 30 minutes long and the recharge disc was about 20 minutes long, so all together you will workout for about 50 minutes. But the recharge disc was nice, it was all stretching, and boy did my muscles need it, in fact my muscles need the two rest days coming up too. There were a lot of Yoga poses in this workout, it had upward dog, downward dog, warrior poses and some other yoga exercises. I kind of struggled with Yoga routine in P90x, but the ChaLean extreme workout is not meant to be a full on Yoga workout, so it was not as difficult, it did feel great though. I am glad they have put stretching into these workouts, because they really do help your flexibility and your muscles to develop.
I have a big day tomorrow, it is my sister’s birthday and we are going to Mizu. It is a Japanese restaurant where the chef is at your table and he cooks and does all sorts of cool things right in front of you. It’s pretty sweet, I think I am going to get the Steak and Lobster.
ChaLean Extreme: Day 4 – Burn 3
So it is Thursday today, so that means it is the fourth day of my ChaLean Extreme Workout. Today was not so good, not because of the workout, but we had a few unexpected guests in the middle of the workout, so we had to pause a few times. I am sure if we were able to go through the whole thing without stopping then it would have felt like more of a challenge. The ChaLean Extreme Burn Circuit 3 disc was the shortest workout so far. It was just a little bit above 30 minutes, which is fine because after yesterday’s workout we needed a shorter workout. I do not really mind the workout pushing me to much today, because that means I will feel more up to going to the gym to run a few miles. I do not think I am going to lift at the gym, because I need to give my muscles some time to recover from all the workouts I did with ChaLean and the gym. There were a lot of squats and shoulder workouts in the Burn circuit 3 workout, your shoulders will get a great workout in this session.
So far both Ben and I have agreed that the workouts have been really great, even our buddy Derek has worked out with us the last couple days. Derek used the resistance bands that I bought for my P90x workout routine. I think he had a hard time using them, not because of difficulty but because he was just not used to them. They can be kind of a pain if you do not use them correctly. I think Dumbbells are difinitely the way to go with the ChaLean extreme workout, and if you can get the same kind Chalene Johnson is using than that is even better.
If there is one thing I can start doing better, is eating more healthy. Last night a bunch of my friends got together, and I sort of pigged out on doughnut holes. I have not even opened the nutrition guide yet, maybe I should take a look at it and try to follow some type of plan.
ChaLean Extreme: Day 2 – Burn Circuit 2
Today was the second day of my Chalean Extreme body workout, if you remember anything about my first post on how day #1 went…throw it all out the window. I found heavier weights and ChaLean Extreme Day #2 was way more difficult. I pretty much used 25 lbs. the whole time, I know that does not sound like a lot, but you have got to understand something, I also go workout at the gym with my friends, so the night before my friend and I did chest, triceps and abs. Since my muscles were already fatigued it made the workout hard to get through. It felt really great though to get back into a tough routine. I am more excited now about ChaLean Extreme because I no know that it is actually going to be a challenge for me, like how the P90x workout was. Some of the exercises are still taking a little time to get used to and I will probably be going through that awkwardness for the first week, but after that it should be smooth sailing. I also do not really like the warm up section, I feel like we are being rushed through the whole thing, but what do I know…I have never made a successful workout video. My buddy Ben did pretty good today, although later on I found out that he almost threw up, but he hid it well. You can also read up on his ChaLean Extreme Blog to see his progress and his opinion of the whole workout. Personally, I really enjoyed this workout.
So later on today, Ben, Jeff and I have decided that we are going to skip the gym and get outside to do a hike. We are hiking up a place called Poo Poo Point (I know…what a terrible name). It is about 2 miles up and two miles back down, so all together it is around 4 miles. It will be a lot of fun, hopefully it is clear when we get to the top so we can see over Issaquah and Bellevue. The spot is famous around Washington for hang gliding and para sailing. This is the beginning step for getting back into hiking shape for The Enchantments 09′!! Check out my Enchantment 08′ pictures, they are sweet.
ChaLean Extreme: Day 1 – Only 119 days left
So today was the big day!! It was the first day of my new 120 day workout called Chalean Extreme. It is one of the newest home workout DVD systems on the market that is promising great results. I recently just finished the P90x Workout which was a 90 day workout, and that absolutely kicked my butt, so if Chalean Extreme is like P90x in any way I will be happy with it. I am doing this workout with my friend Ben, so it should be pretty fun, he hasn’t worked out in like 10 years, but if you read Ben’s blog he will say like 6 months, don’t believe the lies!!!.
Before I tell you about my workout today, let me tell you how ChaLean Extreme works. There are four phases, the Burn Phase, Push Phase, Lean Phase and Lean For Life Phase. Each phase is 30 days long and there are 2 rest days a week. The ChaLean Fitness Guide tells us to have our rest days on Tuesdays and Sundays, buuuutttt we are going to have our rest days on Saturdays and Sundays, because Ben and I won’t meet on the weekends. The First phase, which we started today is the Burn Phase. In this phase we are supposed to push our muscles to failure in 10 – 12 reps with each exercise. We both will probably do the Intermediate range which are weights any where between 20 – 30 pounds, if that is too easy than we will bump up the weight. Chalean Extreme’s philosophy is all about muscle burning fat. I still have some fat to burn so lets get it gone.
Today’s workout was kind of a test workout for us both, we really have no idea what we were getting into, so we kind of took it easy. But we really did not have a choice because the only weights I had were 15 and 10 pounds, so we really could not get the full affect of the workout. I used the 15′s and Ben used the 10′s, we definitely felt like wusses because Chalean was doing some of the same weight we were. So if we do not get heavier weights we will probably start using resistance bands. The workout was only around 35 minutes long, so length wise it was not to bad. The exercises were very different than anything I have ever done, so it was a little awkward at first making sure that we were doing the workouts properly. In my opinion, the workout was pretty easy, but…we needed heavier weights!! I am sure with heavier weights it would have been a great workout. So I can not really make a good evaluation of the workouts until we get heavier weights. Tomorrow we are going to do the Burn Circuit 2 disc, we will see how it goes.
Starting ChaLean Extreme!!
So Monday is the BIG DAY, my friend and I are starting the Chalean Extreme workout program and we hope it is everything it says it is. I just recently finished the P90x workout and loved it, but the workouts were almost all an hour long, some longer, which is fine. But I am glad to hear that most of the workouts for Chalean Extreme are only around a half an hour. I do not know how well you can workout in a half an hour but we will see. I will be blogging every day about the progress I am making, so hopefully it helps anyone who is reading these lame blog posts. I hope I do not bore you. I am excited and a little nervous about starting this workout. I love working out, but another 90 day commitment freaks me out a little bit, so wish me luck! I feel like if I can stick this out, I can really get in the shape that I want to be in. P90x did great, but I still have a long ways to go. I also will be going to to the gym regularly, so I can get more cardio in, I have to keep on running, no matter how much I want to not run, I have to continue to press on.
And the Pinky and the Brain picture really has nothing to do with anything, I just like that TV show…I wish it was still on.
P90x Push up stands
Today I am going to write about the use of push up stands. My first week in the P90x workout routine I did not use the push up stands, after that week I decided to go for it and get the P90x Push up stands and I am really glad I did. Did I do fewer push ups? Yes. But that is because there is a deeper motion when you are using the stands. Not only was I getting a better workout with the push ups stands but I was also saving my wrists. I do not know about you but when I start doing push ups, after awhile my wrists start to ache. With the Push up stands I did not have any more problems with my wrists hurting. There are two types of push up stands that P90x offers, there is the regular push ups stands or you can get the Powerstands push up bars. Ultimately they will both get the job done, but the Powerstands are a lot more heavy duty and will definantley last longer. In my opinion if you want to get the best results out of your P90x workout, then you need to get some push ups stands. oh yeah, the Powerstands also are more expensive than the regular push up stands, so if you cannot afford the nice pair the regular ones work just fine.
