The FIRM Cardio Split 1

[Guest guest]

Woo hoo! I'm back to FIRMing! Ahhhhh. I missed my FIRMs soooo much. Today, I did a virgin for me that I got from someone off the VF Share the Wealth Thread, Cardio Split 1. This is an AWT "parts" video with cardio intervals from Super Cardio and sculpting intervals from Super Sculpting. I've done Super Cardio a few times and grew to really like it but haven't done Super Sculpting yet and now I can't wait to do it sometime soon (I do have it too)! This was a really fun workout! The music is great and I have really grown to love the FIRM instructors and workout style (I hated everything about them at first!). There are actually two parts to the workout with a warmup and stretch for each so they can be broken up but they also flow great together for a longer workout. I did both. First is a lower body emphasis that is 24 minutes, then there's an upper body emphasis for 27 minutes so 51 total. I went pretty light on weights and did beginner modifications for pushups and triceps dips because I haven't FIRMed in so long and have been inconsistent with my workouts the last couple of months but I could have gone heavier and done more advanced work so I will next time. It does use a lot of equipment, short & tall boxes, dumbbells, dowel, ankle weights and barbell but you mostly have enough time for equipment changes and they aren't too abrupt. There's also quite a bit of abs at the beginning of the upper body section, which seemed like a weird place, and they were pretty good. I haven't done floor abs in quite a while and it actually felt good to torture myself a bit. Some of the Dale Brabham cardio intervals in Super Cardio that always make me crazy flowed really well for me today but there's a segment that Jen Carmen does that I still had to pretty much do my own thing but I kept my heart rate up so that was good. Dale does at least one really nice strength interval in this too, that is in Super Sculpting, and I'm starting to like her (she bugged me for a while for some reason). I'm thinking about planning a FIRM rotation. Next week is a totally bizarre week for me, with appointments or work in the mornings most days, work in the late morning/early afternoon most days and then time for lunch, kids coming home from school, dinner prep and then back to work or another commitment in the evenings so I'm going to have to get very creative about my workouts but I feel so great today that I really want to figure it out.

I might also add on a 2nd workout some days, maybe not next week (getting 1 in will be hard enough) but soon. DH is having terrible problems with his colitis and knows that exercise can be helpful but so far he's staying still and making excuses about time (which I know well how to do myself). He's thinking about starting to exercise again but he's also low on energy due to that and anemia so he has to start very low intensity. He felt great when he was exercising a few years ago and we both know he'd feel better, even if his problems didn't do away entirely, he'd at least have something (plus the psychological/emotional lift). I'm thinking that I can help him get moving if I help him plan a time and, especially, if I do it with him. So... I've got some 1 & 2 mile workouts that are pretty low intensity (but any can so easily be modified up or down) that maybe we can do some 15 minute ones at least a couple of evenings a week to start. I even have a 1 mile Austin walk that I might try out on him (very low intensity) but I'm afraid she might scare him away! ;-) Maybe we'll try to get the kids involved too (I do have 's Family Walk, which is still a virgin and I've had it for at least a year or two). Wish me luck with this!