No results w/ Cathe but yes w/ FIRM?

[LoveVA]

Candiceena,

What are your favorite FIRM workouts?

[Candiceena]

Honestly I love pretty much all of them.

If I had to pick a few favorites I would say...

1) Body Sculpt & Cardio Sculpt from BSS1 (didn't like Ab Sculpt though)
2) Hi-Def Sculpt
3) Sculpt-ilates (I'm noticing a pattern here... )

I mean, that is just what I can think of off the top of my head. I honestly have a hard time picking a favorite - I can tell you though that the ones I don't like as much (just as much, not saying I don't like them at all) are the "dancier" ones, The Firm Express (probably just because the bursts are really freakin' hard! to me at least!) and then there is one that has a move that Allison does and I feel like I can't get it down pat, it's one of her cardio-dance ones.

[Cowgirl32]

Originally Posted by susan p

HAHA, isn't it funny how we recount our fitness history in these threads and talk about what worked best and then think "why am I not still doing that?"

(except I know that for me mixing it up is important. After all, I am an experiment of one and if I hadn't TRIED NROL4W, I would never have known and would always have wondered.... now I know! I have definitive data! So we do gain from our fitness experiments. However, yeah, maybe I'm due for a Firm rotation. I'm doing Jessica Smith's Summer Shape Up Challenge right now and she's very AWT-esque, so I could segue easily right into a Firmish rotation.)

Susan, I know! My body responded very well to that. But if I try to recreate that rotation again, I get a dread factor. Just because I have done it before. I need variety!!

[Taramisu]

I didn't have great results with Cathe either, but my diet wasn't great either so that was the main problem. I probably could say the same with the Firm also.

I like Cathe, I think she is a great instructor and used her stuff for quite a while but was just over it eventually. I only have 2 of her DVDs now, Pyramids and Low Impact Circuit which are my very favorites and have shorter options, not into really long workouts anymore (an hour would be my absolute max and once in awhile), and really not into spending a half hour on one muscle group.

To be fair though, my Firms have dwindled too. I still like the Firm but I have introduced myself to so many other instructors where back in the day I did just primarily the Firm. I have whittled them down to 10, though I am looking at Hi Def Sculpt now. I do have a handful of Tracie Long's which have replaced some of my Firms, plus PowerFit which I call my Firm Basics....

I have found that no matter what exercise you do, diet is very important and if I don't watch that I am not going to see much of a result anyway.

[Terry]

Originally Posted by susan p

The worst thing ever for me so far in my 20 years of working out was NROL4W. While I loved DOING the workouts and loved lifting more and more weight and loved how powerful it felt, I GAINED weight --and it wasn't just muscle, and it wasn't just water; it was FAT . . . I was logging my food and NOT eating more,

I have an idea of what might have happened here. Suppose:

• The workout and its afterburn raised your Calorie needs, especially for muscle repair.
• You didn't eat more.
• Your body said, "OOPS!"
• Your body played with your BioEnergetic Equation of Consumption = Activity + Body Heat Production + Food Processing + Growth (especially muscle growth here) + Reproduction + Whatever Else by dropping stuff on the right side of the equation seeing as the left side couldn't support it. This is a metabolic slow down, popularly known as "Starvation Effect".

Maybe others who gain fat on heavy strength programs and do eat more have appetites that go haywire due to the need to repair muscle, thus they eat more than needed for the repair.

Maybe some types of workouts work great with your appetite guidance on what to eat, and some don't. Maybe this is the one of the secrets of TA????

[summer breeze]

I have really enjoyed reading this thread also. I'm not one to stick exclusively to anything for very long, but I did notice some nice results when I did the TransFirmation set several years back. Nothing dramatic, a few inches and lbs which was great. But I also saw similar results when I stuck with Jillian's 30 DS for a few weeks and also when I did the older Shape Transforming/Redefining several years ago. So I guess my pattern is light/moderate weights and circuit/AWT workouts to get quick results. But I stray like others have said, for variety, I suppose.

Anyway, I'm wondering if Cathe's LIS, which I believe is mostly more moderate weights and more metabolic/circuit type workouts would work the same as the Pink Firms and Jillians I mentioned above. Any thoughts from anyone?

[Candiceena]

I had Cathe's LIS system - I just sold it yesterday. I think I did 1 premix from 1 of the DVDs.

However, on her forum, a lot of the girls mentioned having great success with leaning out the butt & legs & hips from using that rotation. I thought about taking it down from Ebay but after I reviewed what each of the workouts actually were, I realized that they still weren't the same type of workouts as The FIRM which is what I want to stick with for a while.

I think they are definitely lighter weights and more cardio mixed in but as someone mentioned above, for the most part, you are still doing one thing (cardio) then moving to another thing (biceps) then another thing (triceps) then another thing (shoulders) then another thing (back)....instead of working multple stuff at once. And I'm starting to believe that the key is working multpile stuff at once.

But yes - some people have mentioned having great success with her LIS that they didn't have previously with her other systems (Ie; Body Blast, STS).

One thing that turned me off of her LIS was all the SH** that I needed - plates, cups, balls, barbells, steps, barres, chairs, you name it, I needed it for the workouts. I started to realize that all that equipment changes/requirements was kind of getting on my nerves, personally.

[summer breeze]

Thanks, Candice, for your thoughts. Yes, I know what you mean about the multiple moves at once. I've always enjoyed that and gotten results with it too. And I agree, Cathe is definitely equipment intensive, to put it mildly.

[Candiceena]

Originally Posted by Terry

I have an idea of what might have happened here. Suppose:

• The workout and its afterburn raised your Calorie needs, especially for muscle repair.
• You didn't eat more.
• Your body said, "OOPS!"
• Your body played with your BioEnergetic Equation of Consumption = Activity + Body Heat Production + Food Processing + Growth (especially muscle growth here) + Reproduction + Whatever Else by dropping stuff on the right side of the equation seeing as the left side couldn't support it. This is a metabolic slow down, popularly known as "Starvation Effect".

Maybe others who gain fat on heavy strength programs and do eat more have appetites that go haywire due to the need to repair muscle, thus they eat more than needed for the repair.

Maybe some types of workouts work great with your appetite guidance on what to eat, and some don't. Maybe this is the one of the secrets of TA????

Although it wasn't me you quoted - I will venture out and comment on this...

I think it's possible. But I also think it's unlikely (at least for me). I have read quite a bit about metabolic slowdown and I think a lot of people misinterpret what it is, although that is a discussion for another board probably.

There are just too many women who I have heard of or seen experiencing these results, where lifting super-heavy does not get them the grand results that they are promised...and these are women who I've done "what'd you eat today" check-ins with, so I know their diets are pretty spot-on.

Plus, in the gym, when I have gone to one, which has been on and off through the last 7 or 8 years, every time I see a fit woman who has a body type like what I would be after, I see her in classes that are cardio/sculpt in nature, or I see her lifting weights in the 5-15 lb range. I hate to say this, because I feel like it makes me sound uneducated (lol) but every woman I've seen in the gym who is lifting heavy, well, she's bulky. Her muscles are bigger than I would want mine to be...and a lot of times she looks a little "fluffy" as well, lol.

And I'm sorry if this offends anyone - it's not my intention. But I want to feel and look like a woman - I want to be lean, toned, slim, and have that "pilates body" or "dancers body" - I know those are all poor choices of words but I think they do a good job of conveying the image of what I *personally* want to achieve from my workouts. (diet aside). Examples of bodies *I* like, from FIRM instructors, are Allison, Emily, Rebekah ... Jennifer Ray and Annie Lee and Kelsie have more muscle definition than I would care to have. Same goes with Cathe in a lot of her recent workouts. But that is just my personal opinion

[Candiceena]

Originally Posted by summer breeze

Cathe is definitely equipment intensive, to put it mildly.

This made me go "LOLOLOLOLOL"