Wed Workout - Ellen Barrett - Burn & Firm/Pick Your Level

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I felt like something gentler today so I went with

Crunch/Ellen Barrett's Burn & Firm Pilates for my

cardio & sculpt day. This one blends some standing

Pilates/ballet style exercises with weights - although

Collage rates this one as beginner, I'd say it is more

intermediate as you do need alot of core

control/balance to execute the moves with good form.

Light weights are used fo 3 out of the 4 " aerobic "

sections - Ellen recommends no higher than 3's and

that is about right for what you're doing in this

workout. It is sort of FIRM-ish in that you're doing

cardio along with light weight training. After the

standing portion there is a short matwork section that

uses weights for some of the exercises as well. This

is really one of my favorite " lighter day " recovery

type workouts - you feel like you got a good workout

in without pounding your body into submission. I also

always end up a little sore from this workout in my

core and inner thighs/thighs - lots of plies!

Afterwards I had some more time so I did Pick Your

Level Weight Loss Pilates with Ellen Barrett. This

one has 3 segments (each around 10 minutes)- standing

Pilates, lying side Pilates and mat work Pilates. 3

levels of modification are shown for each section. I

mostly stuck with Level 2 which Ellen demonstrates. I

probably could have done more level 3 moves, but this

week I haven't been very motivated and most of the

workouts I have tried this week have been annoying to

me so that is my cue, I think, to maybe take it down a

notch and be gentle on my body for a few days. I've

seen this workout at Ross - probably for $4.99-$5.99

and if you like Ellen I highly recommend it - it is

sort of a follow-up to her Crunch Pick Your Spot

Pilates.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be kickboxing but I may opt

out and do Ellen's Fat Burning Pilates workout

(standing Pilates/ballet exercises done at an aerobic

pace) and her Yoga/Pilates fusion workout (I can't

remember the name...it has a pink cover though...LOL!)

If I do kickboxing I may do the longer 's

Bootcamp DVD. We'll see how it goes!

Speaking of Ellen Barrett - she has a new workout out

- so far I've only seen it at Collage, but I'm pretty

tempted. And the price, as I recall is reasonable -

$14.95 - better than the new Callanetics DVDs for sure

(actually after viewing the clips, I'm not all that

tempted by them!) I like Ellen's workouts and her

style - they are perfect for when you want to workout

but don't want to kill yourself. i have a few of her

FitTV episodes taped...I should do them as well.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Donna

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