Hello everyone.
If you enjoy the FIRM videos, may I ask you how you are planning your routine?
In the past, when I used the FIRM videos, I counted most of them as my "strength training" day routine regardless of what the content was because back then, they did not have any video that did not involve holding any weights (as oppose to today, the FIRM has since then released dance exercise videos. They did have the firm Power Yoga though. That was an exception.). I also used heavier weights (10 to 25 lbs) for those movements, because I thought they are meant to be just fast moving strength training.
It has been about a month or month and half since I started exercising again, and now that I am listening and reading more about the philosophy of the FIRM, I started thinking maybe the FIRM people meant for those half aerobic, half strength training videos (usually, they call it "low impact," or "four limb movement" in the videos) to be used on cardio training days, so that's what I did for the past month. I used lighter weights for those half strength/half aerobic movements, and I did strength training, then next day, I did the FIRM video that featured standing cardio and aerobic exercises with weights, and now that I am reviewing what I did last month, I definitely do not think I gave my body enough time to recover.
The FIRM videos where they do some aerobics without any weights, then they hold light weights and do some aerobics movements (what I am considering half cardio, half strength training) is very tricky for me to incorporated in a routine because I am not sure what exactly I should consider these videos to be. Do I do them on strength training day like I used to, or do I do them on cardio day like I did last month, or do I do I have to come up with a totally unique exercise routine?
May I ask you how you are incorporating them to your exercise routine?
I know there are some amazing exercise schedules for the FIRM believers out there, but will be really wonderful to understand how you ladies are incorporating them, so I will be better at creating my own schedule too.
I am also struggling with something else. Another thing I see where I can improve is that I should really give my body more time to recover. On some days, I did three videos, in which one of them was about 60 minutes long, so on that day, I did 2 hours of exercise. On most days, I was doing 70 minutes to 90 minutes of exercise, plus yoga. And I was barely giving myself 1 day/week of rest day. Looking at what I did last months, I really want to come up with a good routine that works the best for me, but being a perfectionist, I am not sure how to find what is best for me. (I know better, but I start thinking more the better.)