Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Living Rooms and DVR's

One of my favorite things about having a DVR (or TiVo) is that you can get a two for one deal with your monthly bill - free classes at the gym without the membership fee or expelled time of actually GOING to the gym. Allow me to explain.

One type of exercise I usually love to do is anything that requires my attention and listening to do the routine; Enter fitness classes. But as I said, I don't want to pay the fee, so ever since we started having the Direct TV service in our home, I've found a way to take advantage of the DVR recorder to file away tv work-outs I might want to try. For us, Channel 261 is nothing by Fit TV 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It features all types of exercise routines in a "class style" format just as if you were at the gym watching an instructor. The classes range from belly dancing to kick boxing and I love the variety it provides. (A great bonus for my fellow Out-of-Shapers).

Some of my favorite 20 minute workouts include:
1. Namaste Yoga - includes a warm-up, full routine flow, and a meditation cool down.
2. Core Max - floor exercise to shape and strenghten the core.
3. Shimmy - belly-dancing routines (Hello, ABS!)

Another favorite (which is slightly longer at about 45 minutes) is All-Star Workouts. It rotates routinely from kick-boxing to yoga, abs, legs, butts, hip-hop dance, etc. and the instructors are pretty legit. Sometimes they can be on the annoying side, but that's the beauty of MUTE. You can still get the work-out in without the fake "You're Doing Great!" comments while your clearly heaving in your living room with your hands on your knees.

Now for the best part. Although these episodes air on a regular schedule...who really wants to get up at 6am to catch a Namaste routine. NO THANK YOU. Just hit record and save all your favorite episodes to create your own personal archive of classes to attend at your convenience whenever you want.

Don't have a DVR? Go the old school route and throw in a video cassette or DVD and record. Rather than buying DVD's in the store, start making your own series and get more out of that monthly cable bill! You should be able to get the Fit TV channel if you have service with Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, Dish Network, Cablevision, or Verizon.

Fit TV is also associated with the Discovery Channel and has a great website for you to use for free as well. Currently, there is a 2009 National Body Challenge going on that only requires you to submit a short profile about yourself and then gives you great access to healthy recipes, a progressive weight loss plan made just for you by experts, weight and fitness trackers, and a suggested daily menu. And the best part...no gym. However, if you absolutely must use a gym, you can download a free pass to any participating Bally Total Fitness Gym as part of the challenge.

I just joined the Body Challenge this week under the Maintenance program. I don't really need to lose weight, I just want to tone and stay at the size I am through healthier eating, and daily exercise. My personal profile tracks my progress and shows exactly how many calories I will burn if I follow the suggested work-out provided. For example, my suggested work-out for today is for a Core Workout and is said to burn 152 calories if done to completion. An instructional video is also provided with every workout, just in case you don't know the warrior hold already or need some clarifcation on how the moves should look. Every move uses your own body weight and can be done in a 6' x 6' space...perfect for the living room! After two sets, I promise you'll be burning.

Click now and join me in the Challenge! We're only a few months away from that bikini!

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