Netflix Instant Workouts: 10 Minute Solution: Kickbox Bootcamp

Note: To fulfill my exercise resolutions, I am trying every single workout program that Netflix Instant Watch has to offer.  Join me each week as I try out a new program.

This week, I had hoped to revisit my childhood dream of being a Power Ranger by trying out Netflix's sole kickboxing offering.  Unfortunately, I got my butt kicked battling imaginary Putty Patrollers.



Kickbox Bootcamp offers five 10-minute workouts: Basic Training, Ultimate Buns and Thighs, Arm and Shoulder Sculpter, Fat Burning Blast, and Washboard Abs.  The intent of the program is to give the viewer flexibility - if pressed for time, one could do just one 10-minute workout, or customize it by mixing and matching workouts.  However, Netflix Instant Watch just streams the workouts back-to-back, making it one long, intense workout.  Which is fine.  I did the whole thing without dying.  Though there were parts towards the end where I wished I were dead.

Basic Training is basically Kickboxing 101.  While teaching basic punches and kicks, the instructor also incorporates a lot of cardio moves, like imaginary jump roping.

Ultimate Buns and Thighs involved about 50 trillion lunges and squats while holding hand weights, which pretty much turned my legs into jelly.

Arm and Shoulder Sculpter also involved some hand-weight exercises, but then turned into doing punches while holding hand weights, and I'm pretty sure more lunges and squats were involved, but I can't really be sure because at this point I lost all lucidity.

Fat Burning Blast is where the Bootcamp part comes in, and involved lots of agility exercises, as well as this thing where we ran in place, squatted, dropped into a plank, did some leg moves or whatever, jumped back into a squat, to a stand, back into running in place - over and over and over again.  At one point, the instructor asked, "Are you ready?" and I found myself moaning, "For the love of all that is holy, NO!"

Washboard Abs was by far my favorite section as I got to lie down.  Don't get me wrong, it was very difficult, but at this point, I was rejoicing whenever we did a move that did not involve bending my legs.

This was by far the most difficult video I have done yet.  For days after this, my legs would not function properly...which is why I only worked out once last week.  I knew that I was supposed to, but I just hurt all over.

So would I do this again?  I know that I probably should, but I'm not a masochist.  Maybe I will be more inclined to do this again when I'm more in shape.  I think that for the time being, I will stick to cheesy dancing and Pilates.

Week 5 Round-Up: How'd I Do?

Week five of 2012 has come and gone.  I realize this particular submission of "weekend round-up" is a little late, but nevertheless, let's see how I did.

Resolution 1: Take better care of myself

I flossed every day this week! 

I only exercised once this week.

I did not do a very good job of keeping a consistent bedtime.  I've been trying to squeeze in the rest of my resolutions into this week, which has made it difficult to keep this one.

Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family

I talked to my Mom twice this week.

I talked to my Dad once this week.

I talked to my sister once this week.

I did not send out my second monthly letter to my aunt or grandma, but I hope to send out another letter this week.

Resolution 3: Stay organized

I've started this month's home improvement project, but I have a bit of a ways to go.

I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists.

I swept and mopped this week.

Resolution 4: Save money

I made lunch for me and David every day this week.

I only made one vegetarian meal this week, but this is because chicken was on sale, and I made us a batch of BBQ chicken that lasted us several days.

No DIY project this week, but I have a fun one planned for this coming week.

The verdict?  I did not do very well this week.  I will say that this has been a bit of a crazy week, and I did get a lot of non-resolution-related tasks done.  However, health, family, and organization is very important, so I am definitely going to try harder this week.

Netflix Instant Workouts: Pick Your Level Weight Loss Pilates

Note: To fulfill my exercise resolutions, I am trying every single workout program that Netflix Instant Watch has to offer.  Join me each week as I try out a new program.

Pilates seems like a very popular form of exercise.  However, I have never tried it before.  I thought that this would be a good time to try it out.  I was surprised to find out that pilates is actually very similar to the warm-up exercises I did in ballet and gymnastics when I was growing up. 

This video has three different 10-minute segments: standing, side-lying, and mat Pilates.  The standing segment involved lots of lunges and  squats.  The side-lying segment involved a lot of leg exercises, as well as core-strengthening exercises.  The mat Pilates involved push-ups and crunches.

I chose this particular pilates video because it was the highest rated and because it it included a beginner level.  As you can probably tell by looking at the cover picture, the video offers three different levels of difficulty.  At first, I thought they would be separated into several programs.  However, it turns out that they are all in one video.  The video features three women showing the moves in different levels of difficulty.  Each move starts out at the beginner level, then advances to the intermediate level.  You have the choice of staying at the beginner level or following the intermediate instructor to do the move in the next level of difficulty.  It then becomes more difficult, and the video shows the third woman doing the move at the advanced level.  Then the video split-screens so that you have a good view of all three women and you can choose which one to follow. 

I'm realizing as I'm writing this that I'm making this sound a bit confusing and complicated, but it's actually very easy to follow.


The nice thing about having all three levels in one video is that you don't have to do the entire program at one level.  If you're feeling up to the challenge, you can move on to the next level, or if you're feeling tired by the end of the video, you can stay at the beginner level.

I actually thought the beginner level was too easy and mostly performed the exercises at the intermediate level.  The second time I did it, I tried a few moves in the Advanced level.  I probably could have done them all at advanced, but as I'm fairly out of shape, I wanted to stay a bit cautious, as I didn't want to hurt myself.

I loved this program.  This was probably the first one so far that I looked forward to doing a second time.  My body felt really good after doing the workout.  Well, maybe my body didn't feel good, as I definitely felt it the next couple of days, but my body ached in that way that makes you feel good because you know you just did something good for your body, you know what I mean?

I would absolutely do this again.  I'm actually thinking about incorporating it into weeks when I'm trying out a program that is mostly cardio.  The program is also nice for busy weeks, as it's only 30 minutes long.

Week 4 Round-up: How'd I Do?

Week four of 2012 has come and gone.  I realize this particular submission of "weekend round-up" is a little late, but nevertheless, let's see how I did.

Resolution 1: Take better care of myself

I flossed every day this week! 

I exercised twice this week!  I haven't written about it yet, but I'll post on it in the next few days.

I did not do a very good job of keeping a consistent bedtime.  I've been trying to squeeze in the rest of my resolutions into this week, which has made it difficult to keep this one.

Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family

I talked to my Mom twice this week.

I talked to my Dad twice this week.

I talked to my sister once this week.

I haven't written my second monthly letter to my aunt and grandma yet, but I hope to do it in the next couple of days.

Resolution 3: Stay organized

As I mentioned before, I completed this month's home improvement project!  I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.  I know I've said this the past couple of weeks, but I mean it this time.

I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists.

I swept, mopped, and vacuumed this week.

Resolution 4: Save money

I made lunch for me and David every day this week.

I made  several vegetarian meals this week: a baked veggie pasta that lasted for several days (recipe forthcoming), roasted vegetables and quinoa, and a homemade pizza topped with leftover roasted vegetables.

I finished knitting my first hat!  It's not perfect, but it's good for a first try.

The verdict?  I did pretty well this week.  It seems like the resolution that I keep falling short on is the 8-hours-of-sleep resolution.  I will hopefully do better in February.

Netflix Instant Workouts: Crunch - Cardio Salsa

Note: To fulfill my exercise resolutions, I am trying every single workout program that Netflix Instant Watch has to offer.  Join me each week as I try out a new program.

This week, I decided to try out the first of several "Crunch" dance workouts that Netflix has to offer.  Though Crunch Cardio-Salsa was released in 2003, it seems like it's at least a decade older.  The opening segment, in which the instructor excitedly invites you to dance with her while the camera zooms manically in and out of her face while her seven neon-clad back-up dancers gyrate in hyper-speed in the background, reminds me of early 90s MTV. 

The video was broken up into seven segments: 1) warm-up, 2) salsa combination, 3) merengue combination, 4) merengue salsa combination, 5) samba combination, 6) latin funk combination, and 7) cool-down.  I'm not sure if the instructor presented authentic moves, but if she did, boy, oh boy, do I suck at samba.  I'm not sure how all the dancers did it, but I felt like I was limping around the living room with a broken leg.  The video breezes through these segments fairly rapidly, so the workout went by quickly.

I appreciated that the workout was fairly heavy on the "cardio" half of the title.  It incorporated a lot more aerobics moves, like lunges and knee-lifts, than the previous dance workouts I had done.  I didn't really mind this, as I felt like I was getting a better work-out.  While the workout wasn't too intense, it was a lot faster-paced than the "Dance Off the Inches" workouts.  The dance moves were also a bit more complicated and involved than the other videos, and there were a couple of times when I got lost and fell out of sync with the video.  This got better the second time I did it, and I suppose that if I were to do it again, it would be easier to follow. 

One thing that was completely unnecessary and made things complicated was the live drummer in the background.  There were times when I was struggling to figure out what it was that I was supposed to be doing when the video would randomly cut to the dude, drumming away.  They also sometimes cut to the back-up dancers, some of which are doing the wrong moves and fumble in correcting themselves, which made me fumble as well.   

Would I do it again?  I would probably do this video before I did any of the previous two.  If anything, I would just do it again to see if I can get all the routines down without getting lost.  However, I'm not crazy about it, and I'm looking forward to trying the rest of the programs.

Week 3 Roundup: How'd I do?

Week two of 2012 has come and gone.  Let's see how I did!

Resolution 1: Take better care of myself

I flossed every day this week! 

I exercised twice this week!  I haven't written about it yet, but I'll post on it in the upcoming week.

I did not do a very good job of keeping a consistent bedtime.  One reason is that I had some friends staying over in the first part of the week, and I stayed up late to talk to them (it's not very often that I get to see them).  Another reason is that this week has been really busy - I had two evening meetings this week, which made it harder to get to bed by 9:00.

Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family

I talked to my Mom twice this week.

I talked to my Dad once this week.

I talked to my sister once this week.

I wrote and mailed letters to my grandma and aunt last week, and I plan to write them another letter by the end of the month. 

Resolution 3: Stay organized

As I mentioned before, I completed this month's home improvement project!  I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.  I know I've said this the past couple of weeks, but I mean it this time.

I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists.

I did not do any cleaning this week.

Resolution 4: Save money

I made lunch for me and David every day this week.

Sadly, I did not make any vegetarian meals this week. Since I had evening meetings, David made his specialty: tuna pot pie.  However, I did get free pizza at one of my meetings, so it could be said that we saved some money there.

No DIY projects this week - but I did start working on knitting a hat.

The verdict?  I did not do very well this week.  I did keep at least one sub-resolution for each resolution, so that's good, I guess.  I am disappointed that I did not keep my cleaning and vegetarian sub-resolutions, but I suppose I should cut myself some slack since this week was so crazy.  I'm glad that I have David to keep me motivated, or else I would not have done my second day of exercise.  Accountability - it helps!  Hopefully, this week will be better. 

My Motivation Plan

I think it's safe to say that my resolutions are a reflection of what I value.  I value my health, I value my family, and I value financial stability.  I value organization in that it helps me structure my time and space in a way that gives me more time and mental energy to focus on the things that are important to me.  However, there are some circumstances where it is hard to behave in a way that is consistent with the person I would like to be.  For example, I might come home from work exhausted and want to eat out instead of cook.  I might want to veg in front of the tv instead of exercise.  On these days, I need a little extra motivation beyond wanting to be a better person.

I have been using a calendar as a positive reinforcement behavior chart.  Each day, I keep track of whether I've been keeping my resolutions by writing it down.  At the end of the week, I stick a star sticker to the page if I've met my weekly resolutions.  If I floss every day, I get a star.  If I exercised twice, I get a star.  If I had two conversations each with my mom, dad, and sister, then I get one star (not one for each person).  If it is a monthly resolution, like writing a letter to my grandma twice a month or completing a home improvement project once a month, then I get a sticker at the end of the month.  Once I get to 50 stars, then I get a reward.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what a good reward would be.  I don't want my reward to conflict with my goal save money, so I don't think I necessarily want to reward with things that would cost a lot of money, like a mani-pedi or massage or new shoes or eating out at a nice restaurant.  I tend to feel really guilty when I spend money and I don't want guilt to contaminate my reward. 

When I was in college, I learned about something in one of my psychology classes called the Premack principle, which states that more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.  In other words, people are more likely to do things they don't necessarily like to do if they have to do it in order to get to the things they love to do.  For example, kids are more likely to do their chores in a timely manner if they can't play video games until their rooms are clean.  So I've been thinking lately - what is it that I love to do?  And can I do that without spending too much money?

I love to read.  I love to bake.  I love to eat out for breakfast.  I love to get coffee with friends.  I love to travel.  I love going out with my husband.  I love to go to the movies.  I love to play Settlers.  I love going to fairs and carnivals.  I love scavenger hunts.  I love to admire and eat elaborate and decadent desserts.

Maybe 50 stars can equal $10 to spend on whatever I want, be it a pizza or a fancy dessert or ice cream or a book.  If there's a new hardcover book I want that's more than $10, then maybe I'd need to earn 75 or 100 stars to be able to get it.

Does that sound reasonable?  What do you think?