Slim in 6 - Week 3

Week 2 I started the "Ramp it Up" video. Your after-workout soreness should be almost completely gone between workouts before you move on to the next level., and mine was 100% gone, so I felt confident moving up to the "Ramp it Up" video. I also transitioned to my Black Mountain bands. I think the band that I moved to "green" is labeled 10-12 lbs, but it is slightly shorter than the provided Slim in 6 band, so it was more work for me. I then transitioned down to the "blue" band, which was still hard, but at least I was able to do all of the resistence work without serious strain. I'll probably try the "green" band again soon.

First Workout Thoughts

First 30 minutes was good. Many of the same moves as the "Start it Up" video, but added intensity and a few additional variations (eg instead of just lunges, there were lunges followed by a knee up)....up to this point, I could do about 99% of all the reps at their pace. Then, we got into some lower body moves which KILLED me! This surprised me as my lower body has always been so strong. Then, with the resistance bands, some of the alternating moves wore me down (but I did move up to the 10-12 lb band, so I'm sure this will be fine in a few days). The segment ended with stretching and yoga, and I was glad it was over. 13 more days of this video...phew!

Last Workout Thoughts

I was able to do all of the exercises. The parts that were really hard in the beginning were the tricep extension with squat (pretty early in the video), which just killed my arms since it followed so many other arm exercises. I was able to finally do that fully. The other problem area was the leg lifts/leg extensions segment. This includes several different leg exercises, which were same leg with 5 exercises all back-to-back...then it transitioned to the other leg. This was HARD. I think if I just had to do one and then switch to the other leg and then the second exercises, etc etc it would have been fine. So, first week I saw improvement here.

At the end of the week, I was able to do all of the exercises, but I was not able to do it at their pace. For example, I could do 4 crunches in a row faster than they were, but there is no way I could do 8 in a row at their pace....so I was able to do 4 faster and then pause and then do the other 4, so I finished with them. I simply need to work on my stamina for these two areas.

Its work, for sure...and its a serious time commitment, as the "Ramp it Up" is 55 minutes of exercise...you will sweat! But, I know there is a difference....if nothing else, I could feel it in my running race yesterday. I know its absolutely due to this video in the last 2 weeks, as I actually slowed down on my elliptical/running during this time.

Video Critique
Sound was a bit better than the first video. Only a few times did I think it was noticeably strange, and only then for a few minutes. The trainers....There were, as with the last video, two additional trainees. Both were young, mid 20s or so, and both were very lean. However, one was female and one was male. They hadn't perfected the workout (the man really), which was nice to see because they seriously reacted to some of the moves in a realistic way, which made it a bit easier to feel at east with the effort demanded.

The overall balance was great. There was the warm-up, the lower cardio segment (which worked both upper and lower body), the abs, the lower body, the resistance bands (which worked the upper body), and then the cool-down/yoga segments.