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November. November . This month I originally intended to do a dance/pilates rotation. I kept the dance but I have subbed out much of the pilates for the new Cathe LIS workouts, some barre workouts and kickboxing workouts. I have quite a few new workouts scheduled for November, compared to October when I think I only had two new workouts. Overall, October has been a good month. Considering that I started the month off with a cold and then injured my low back, I kept a good focus on my eating, so I still managed to loose 7lbs. I didn't do this following Weight Watchers though. I just could not get with their new plan. So I went to monitoring my calories. I feel pretty good and my back is feeling much better. I thought after running 6.2 miles on hard pavement, that I might be feeling some tightness but no and that is a good thing. So November. Morning/Evening Sunday - Barre type workouts / Evening Rest Monday - Kickboxing / Yoga Tuesday - Workouts from Cathe LIS series / Zumba Short

MCM10K Cold, the Bridges were icy, and there were a ton of people. Well yesterday we had snow, which is a bit unusual for us in October. As a result of yesterday's snow, a lot of roads iced over. In fact, while driving in to the race, the radio station had a laundry list of accidents they were reporting. Part of the course run took us over a couple of bridges and the bridges were icy. Every one immediately starting slowing down and "babying" their steps until they got beyond the bridge. Along with the bridges being very slippery, so were the traffic lines that are painted on the road. After stepping on one of those once, I tried to avoid stepping on any more of them. I should have thought to bring Kleenex. My nose kept running. It was cold but I really didn't feel the cold until the race was over and all the runners were slowly and I do mean very slowly making their way to get their medals and to the finishers area. According to the results page, there were 6867 fi

Total Body Trisets consist of two workout one DVD. The DVD is part of Cathe's Low Impact Series . There are a total of ten DVDs that are part of this series. Total Body Triset s is broken up into Lower Body Split - 39 minutes in length and Upper Body Split - 56 minutes in length. Both workouts share the same warm up and stretch both of which are just over 4 minutes long. The thing that caught my attention about the warm up was that there was no marching until the last 10 seconds and then you were just transitioning into the next segment. I guess I am so use to marching in a warm up, that I kept trying to add it in there. Both workout follow the same pattern. You are doing three Trisets for each muscle grouping. Within each Triset, you are doing three exercises rotating through for two sets. For the Upper Body Split workout, the first muscle grouping is Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps. The second is Back, Biceps, and Core. For the Lower Body Split workout, you just have one

Cathe's STS Mesocycle 3 Strength is as its name implies about Strength. It is a 4 week program and it consist of two upper body workouts and one lower body workout per week for a total of 12 workouts. All 12 workouts come together in a DVD case that in my opinion isn't very durable. Inside the case are clear plastic holders and more than half of the plastic is cracked. However the DVD themselves are just fine. I do like the case better than some of the other workout system cases that come with multiple DVDs. The suggested rotation has you doing 3 workouts per week. The 12 workouts break down as follows. Disc 25, 28, 31, & 34 are Chest & Back workouts Disc 26, 29, 32, & 35 are Plyo Legs workouts Disc 27, 30, 33, & 36 are Shoulders, Biceps, & Triceps workouts With the exception of the Plyo Leg workouts, the exercises are the same for each week and only the rep count changes. In the Plyo workouts you are alternating plyometrics (lots of jumping) with

Cathe's Stretch Max is a DVD that contains three separate total body stretch workouts. The three workouts are : No equipment basic stretching - approximately 22 minutes On the ball stretching (Stability Ball) - approximately 19 minutes Band-Based Stretching (Resistance Band) - approximately 18 minutes Each segment also uses a floor mat. Cathe and crew are barefoot. The music is very mellow in each of the segments. It has a relaxing quiet tone to it. Nothing is rushed in any of the workouts. Most stretches are held for 15 to 20 seconds and the stretches are static. There is not any dynamic or ballistic stretching in this workout. Also there is no warm up to the stretches. Cathe starts the workout and you start stretching. On the back of the DVD cover, it does state that "You should be completely warmed up before participating in the segments." For me this is fine as anytime I do these Stretch workouts I am tacking them on to the end of a run. All three workouts g

Teeter Hang Ups - Inversion Table I have owned my inversion table for 3, maybe 4 years now. I don't use it a lot. In fact there will be long stretches in between use. At one point, I thought about getting rid of it because it does require space. You can go the route of storing it in a closet, but then it's a hassle to move it in and out. Over the past couple of weeks, however, I have used it a lot. Why? Because I did something not so kind to my lower back. And this is where this table is worth its weight in gold. It is worth every bit of the $300.00 I spent on it. I actually injured (or perhaps re-injured is a better term) my lower back October 3rd. I spent the rest of that day and the next day, massaging, heating and cooling the area. And that got me to where I could move, but I could still feel the pain and tightness. It severely limited my workout schedule to where I either modified the workout a lot of just completely skipped it. To be honest, I forgot all about my

The Pro-Form 600 LT Treadmill is HSN and Pro-Form 2011 model treadmill. Each year HSN brings out a new Pro-Form model to sale. On the HSN website the treadmill is called Pro-Form Step Up Personal Trainer Treadmill. The price of this treadmill is $699.95 and the Shipping & Handling is free. I have had this treadmill since May. Assembly is required. It took me and another about an hour, maybe a little less to put it together. The instructions are fairly detail and everything went together as it should. I had the 2007 model of this treadmill, but I like the advertised upgrades so much I decided to get this one. Pre-Program Work outs The 2011 model comes with 16 Pre-program workouts. Of the 16, 4 are distance, 5 are timed, and 7 are calorie burned workouts. The distance workouts are 1 mile, 5K, 10K, and 1/2 Marathon. The time workouts are 20 min, 25 min, 30 min, 45 min The calorie workouts that are broken down by time are 20 min, 25 min, 30 min, 40 min, 45 min, and two 60 min

Breyers Smooth and Dreamy Ice Cream Bars & Sandwiches According to Breyers, their "Bars and Sandwiches are so delicious and indulgent, you'll be amazed that they have less fat and calories than regular ice cream bars and sandwiches." Well I have tried several of them and I agree they are delicious. The flavors are: Triple Chocolate Chip Bars (130 calories and 6 fat grams) Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bars (120 Calories and 4.5 fat grams) Vanilla Fudge Brownie Sandwiches (160 calories and 4 fat grams) Chocolate Caramel Brownie Sandwiches (160 calories and 4 fat grams) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Sandwiches (160 calories and 4 fat grams). The only flavor I haven't tried is the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bars. Of those that I have tried, my favorites are Triple Chocolate Chip Bars and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Sandwiches. Both of these taste absolutely yummy. Most of the time I buy them at Target. They cost $2.99 and you get six in the box. If you like choc

Rockin' Body Cardio Jam is a 50 minute cardio workout that is a part of Michelle's Your Body Breakthru Series. It features a warm up, six cardio section and a cool down. I am fast becoming a real fan of Michelle's cardio workouts. This workout is pure cardio. There are some old school aerobic, dance, kickboxing, and athletic moves. There are no burpees or squat thrust. The only time the hands touch the floor was during a front kick touch down. There is a modifier that keeps the moves low impact but even the impact stuff isn't very high impact. The workout moves from one section to the next with a simple video transition. So there is no real down time. Michelle starts each combo with a march and that is your time to grab a drink of water. You cycle through each combination twice. Within each combo Michelle teaches the combo on the right and then on the left. The first time through is the break down. The second time through Michelle tightens up the combo so th