Total Sculpt Plus Abs

[Guest guest]

This was my first time doing this FIRM workout with Jen Carmen leading. It makes heavy use of the sculpting stick, which made me even more glad I picked one up this summer (from the YaYa's swap forum). I had fun doing this one. It is cardio + sculpt/Tortoise, which is my preferred AWT style (the more sculpting and the less cardio the better, especially for a FIRM video). Jen does a great job with it and includes some very creative and interesting moves with the stick. There were a couple of times it felt gadgety and other times it seemed really useful. The only thing I find it totally worthless for was ribcage pullovers/chest press combo move. It is waaaay too light for that. In fact, a lot of times during this workout I felt like I should really go heavier and finally did somewhere in the middle, using 6s for light weights and 8s for medium. I used 2 8s in one hand for the ribcage pullovers/chest press combo which might have been too heavy because my lower back is bothering me tonight although it didn't during the workout. I still can't go heavier than 8s for leg presses because my heart rate goes so high but probably can go to 10s for some other things. I'm getting more confident about what my shoulder/chest can do so I think I'll try heavier weights on the next sculpt-based workout. The music in this was weird but interesting and worked for the workout. The stretch was yoga-based and felt good. It reminded me I need to do more than run around like a crazy person on my rest days during this rotation since there isn't enough stretching in any of the workouts. I want to put in yoga or athletic stretching on at least some of those rest days, when I don't need them for errands, like I did Wednesday. It is nice that they are every 3 or 4 days too, very good timing for a mid week stretch.

Tomorrow, however, is cardio... Super Cardio Mix, I have the DVD version... I've had this one for quite a while and have desperately avoided it both because I avoid cardio anyway and I avoid FIRM cardio especially. But, no more. I actually have an hour where I can do it tomorrow, first thing after the kids leave for school. I'm very, very scared but I can do it... or I can at least fake my way through it. Will post a report, assuming I live to tell the tale, tomorrow.