How to come up with the best routine, and about the FIRM videos

[Ricka]

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.)

[bzar]

Hi there - thank you for your question. it's an interesting one.

20 or so years ago when i started with the firm, i never questioned the Firm 90 Day rotation, which featured lots of back to back Firm workouts. the most i ever worked out while on that rotation was probably 1 hour and 20 min. those occurred on the days they had 2 workouts scheduled, and i'd usually skip the warm up on the second workout.

i also didn't go over certain poundages when doing the AWT (aerobic weight training) moves. for example, in Fat Blaster, i didn't go over 5# per dumbbell since when doing high reps, it felt logical to use low weights.

for leg press, the heaviest poundage was 10# in each hand.

now that i am older, i don't need to really heavy up when i do high rep/low weight. on leg press, i think i go up to 8# in each hand. and i also really focus on form and contracting the muscle being worked.

i also do my yoga at night, right before bed, and it's usually around 30 min. it's the restorative yoga too, not power yoga.

you can also check yourself if you're overtraining - in the morning before you climb out of bed, check your pulse (resting heart rate). set a baseline by averaging the pulse of 3 mornings. thereafter, upon waking, if you feel burned out on a particular morning, compare your pulse (again before climbing out of bed) to that baseline.

if your pulse is higher than the baseline, take a break that day.

you get better at assessing your energy when you focus on it, and won't need to do the pulse thing.

hope this helps.

[LuceLu]

Hi, I can see why you may have some confusion. I loved the Firm for many years and would do it exclusively using their rotations they would post on the old Firm Believers and then the Firm Ya-Yas board. Then I fell off my routines and other life events carried me to where I am now, probably not fit enough to do Firms except for their Basics...


There are the Classics which are whole body, pretty much a global 50:50 workout. Then there are the splits-- sculpt workouts that cover the upper body or lower body and of course there are the 5-Day Abs that are an add-on and 5 day Stretch. There are the Tortoise workouts which incorporate heavier slower paced lifting 75% weight and 25% aerobic and the Hare which work more the 25% weight (lighter weight) and 75% aerobic. And there is Cardio/Aerobic workouts as well as the Total Body Weight workouts that are considered Sculpt. There are also Floor Work ones that target the hips, abs and thighs. They used to have little icons on each video to assist you to plug and play on their rotations with the videos you had on hand.

Have you seen the 90 day rotation? There is a facebook group for Original Firm-lovers who are starting it today. I think it generally calls for one Firm workout a day with some add-ons for abs and a rest day in each week. It builds in intensity and workouts during the rotation so at some point there is more than one but I think people modify it.

[Garrie A.]

I'm getting back into Firming and I hope I can help. (I'm a guy who enjoys The Firm) Whenever I do Firm rotations, I always plan my workouts a week in advance to make sure I don't overtrain. This is my template for the month, keeping in mind that I count mowing as a workout. Tortoise workouts are also called Slow and Heavy (slow tempo, heavier weights, more strength emphasis), while Hare workouts are called Fast and Light (faster moves, lighter weights, more cardio emphasis):

Week 1: Sculpt (total body), Cardio, Tortoise, Hare (or Cardio), Classic, Mowing, Rest
Week 2: Tortoise, Hare (or Cardio), Classic, Cardio, Classic, Mowing, Rest
Week 3: Sculpt (or Tortoise), Cardio, Sculpt (or Tortoise), Cardio, Sculpt (or Tortoise), Mowing, Rest
Week 4: Classic, Cardio, Sculpt (or Tortoise), Cardio (or Hare), Sculpt (or Tortoise), Mowing, Rest

I also do an extra stretch workout on my mowing days.

For their cardio workouts, I use no more than 3 pounds so I don't overstress my muscles.

Regarding your question about the workout lengths, I personally think that 2 hours of exercise is overkill and dangerous. If you must do two workouts a day, do one in the morning, one in the evening, and keep each workout 40 minutes or less. Take at least one day off to rest.

Hope this helps!

[Garrie A.]

In my opinion the 90 day rotation is borderline overtraining during some weeks (especially weeks 9 and 11).

[Ricka]

Thank you everyone.

I see, from what I am gathering, and taking a look at some of the rotations from the past, it seems the FIRM and Firm believers usually do not have any problem doing heavy/slow strength training one day, then Aerobics Weight Training the next day back to back with no problem. So I suppose that those aerobics weight trainings are designed to be mixed into routine as cardio day, is this right?

If that is the case, I might be just doing too many hours/week and that's how I am overdoing it.

Also, if above is correct, how does a Firm Believe give muscle enough time to recover after the Slow/Heavy workout?

Oh and I'd love to find out where the Facebook group is, but I do not know which one to find. There seem to be multiple Facebook groups for the Firm believers.

[little bird]

Originally Posted by Garrie A.

In my opinion the 90 day rotation is borderline overtraining during some weeks (especially weeks 9 and 11).

It was definitely overtraining for me. I need to add in more cardio. I don't do Firms back to back. I do a day of cardio and yoga in between.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by Ricka

So I suppose that those aerobics weight trainings are designed to be mixed into routine as cardio day, is this right?

regardless of what mix of workouts you choose, limiting your workout time to 1 hour/day should be plenty.

[FirmDancer]

I started doing FIRMs almost exclusively, mainly the pink ones, because I love them so much. What I'm doing is going "light" on cardio days. For example, if I'm doing an exercise that normally I would use 8# for, instead I use 3 or 4#. For leg exercises, even though I may use 8-10# on "strength" days, I won't use any weight on "cardio" days. That way I don't fatigue my muscles in the same way that strength training does. I hope that gives you an idea.

[Garrie A.]

I also enjoy using Tracie Long's post-Firm workouts into a Firm rotation, as they work the smaller muscles and have a functional fitness emphasis. I only have the Longevities and TLTs.