#dvdworkout

[bethanybusche]

MMA Speed – Learn It & Work It review!

Holy moly – I am back. Did you miss me?  What have I been up to you ask?  Stopping all medications, getting my digestion and hormones in order, lifting weights, cardio, work, and raising my 5 year old.  Not much.

Let’s cut to the chase – you are here for my review of Core De Force.  So here you go: MMA Speed – Learn It & Work It:

Total Time: 7 minutes

Equipment: none

There is no warm-up to this 7 minute video.  It is a tutorial to get you ready for the upcoming workout MMA Speed.  Or, you can look at it as time to listen to Joel and Jericho (your trainers in the video) welcome themselves and teach you a few of the stances and punches.  I say listen – I really mean – time to gawk at them and their accents.  Are they from Australia?  I am going to go with that for now.  Look how cute they are:

They want you ‘to get the most of the MMA workouts both safely and effectively so you get the best workout possible’.  I have some experience with the past workout programs that included this kind of stuff so it was not new to me but is a good refresher.

Here we go!

  Offensive movements:

Dominant Stance/Non-Dominant Stance

They teach you the proper fight stance which we will be using throughout the whole program.  Imagine a line between your feet and assume the position below.

Joel calls me a southpaw since I am left handed.  That’s fine Joel, I’ll be your left-handed girl.  This means – right leg forward, left leg back for me.  A little dancing around and I figured it out.

Guard

Hands up to your face - knuckles by your chin and elbows close to your rib cage.  Okay - got it.

Boxer’s Bounces

This is shifting your body weight back and forth – keeping on the balls of your feet.  Joel likes to point out ‘no hip wiggle’ excessively, and pulls Jericho into his (what he thinks) is an amusing piece of advice.

Jab

This the the most basic punch – use  your dominant arm and punch forward.  You pivot your front foot and ‘reach through the shoulder’.  Try not to lock out your elbow - that will cause some issues later.

Cross

The same as a jab but using your back hand.  Rotate, shoulders close to cheek, and punch.  This might be my favorite punch.  WACHOW!

Hook

‘Short, sharp, and very powerful’.  You bring your elbow to 90 degrees and think about punching your opponent in the jaw.  I do like this for the core work.

Front Uppercut

This is a vertical punch and they instruct you to use your whole body.  You are supposed to drop down, shift your weight to the front leg, and rotate, extend front arm up and away from your body.  Obviously, do not punch YOURSELF in the chin, aim towards someone else you are mad at.  The whole drop down thing took me awhile to figure out.  Use your whole body to punch someone - you are not just going to flail around lightly at them.

Rear Uppercut

Use the back arm, pivot on the ball of your foot, and do the vertical punch.  BAM.

Defensive movements:

Roll Forward/Roll Back

Bend your knees, shift your body weight to the front (roll forward), or shift your body weight to the back (roll back).  Joel wants you to draw a ‘U’ with your face.  He’s so clever – laugh at him.  This means to keep your eye and chest up.  I giggled to myself and thought – oh, here’s the squat.

Switch Knee

Step front leg back, step forward, arms reach up and ‘clench’, drive hips and knee forward and bring arms down.  I am not going to lie – it took me a minute to play do-si-do with my feet and figure out what the heck Jericho was talking about.  Eventually, I figured out you just have to switch your feet.

Rear Knee

Luckily, this is easier and I can stop laughing at myself.  There is no switching of the feet.  You just clench hands forward, bring the back leg in, drive the knee straight forward. Use your freaking core and pop your entire back like I did.

That is all.

You are versed now.

Carry on to the next workout.

I did not take photos of myself for this one - but prepare yourself for the next.

[aimeebellmua]

Its been one hell of a busy weekend! Finally in bed & probs wont last 2 minutes watching netflix before I fall asleep! 😴😴 Tying my hardest in this pictures to suck it in and look half decent after all the food ive eaten & no exercise im definitely feeling shitty now. Im losing my definition & I am currently as bloated as a baby whale! 🐋🐋Planning on getting up early in the morning to start over! Planned my outfit, brekkie & got my workout planned... going to do the #vickys7dayslim dvd in the morning & then im gunna start @resultswithlucy from scratch again as I only did it twice & gave up! 💪🏼💪🏼Sometimes life gets in the way & we lose shape feel awful you get those down days but its okay. We are only human! Just pick yourself back up and start again tomorrow 💪🏼🙌🏻❤#wecandothistogether but i need your help and motivation PLEASE!!! #feelingbleurgh #timetochange #startagain #fresh #workout #fitness #dvdworkout #resultswithlucynewbeginnings #rwl #lucymeck #vickypattisonworkout #fblogger #lblogger #motivationpost #motivateyourself

[mondawebb]

#winterwonderland #iwasntexpectingallthis #dvdworkout #timetolightafire #happynewyearfrommothernature (at Roots Market)

[bethanybusche]

MMA Speed review!

Okay lovely people - it is time to review the first workout in the Core De Force program!  It has been a couple years since I have done an at home cardio program so it may take me a little bit to get into the swing of things.

You will notice I am bigger than a few years ago thanks to hormones, lifting, and an altered way of life.  The added cardio should help me shed some weight - we shall see!

For the record - I am tracking my calories and macros using MyFitnessPal everyday, I weigh myself every morning, I take specific Douglas Labs supplements for my goals and body thanks to Eric, and I keep a spreadsheet of everything (including how I feel everyday).

Here it is - my MMA Speed review:

Total Time: 27 minutes

Equipment: none

Well the menu music is exciting.  The workout music not as exciting.

Aw, there are the cuties – Jericho and Joel.  The people behind them are cute too - Jessica as the modifier, a blonde Barbie chick in a pink sports bra, two skinny boys, and a quiet smiling girl in the back.

 Warm-Up:

This is 2:04 of jogging in place (or marching in place), pulsing side to side and opening up your chest (arms open and close), shoulder rolls forward and backward while pulsing, alternate toe tap, hip openers, and torso rotations.

Or, as I like to call it, throwing my daughter’s toys that are strewn all over the room into buckets to make room for myself and muttering things like ‘we have too many toys’.

And then there’s me in the front yard flailing around:

Okay – here we go.  The only thing to be nervous about is that you have never done this before.  So – listen, laugh, and wiggle.  I appreciate not knowing what is about to come!

There are six 3 minute rounds. 

Round 1/6:

Jab, Cross, Roll B, Roll F

Jericho will explain it to you and I found myself reading the screen the first few times.  Get in your stance and jab, cross, roll backward and then roll forward.  Rinse, repeat for 60 seconds.  Always come back to your guard.  Do not hyper extend (over extend) your elbows or you will wonder why your arm feels like it is hanging by a rubber band later.

High Knee Jump Rope

After a minute of the combination, you go into your first ‘spike’ as they like to call it.  This can be considered your heart rate riser and lasts 30 seconds.  Pretend to be jumping rope and bring your knees up as high as you can.  A couple of these guys sure jump rope interestingly… watch the guy in the green shirt. :) This only lasts 30 seconds – so give it some effort.

You do this combination followed by the spike one more time before you get about a 25 second break. You can add intensity as you get to know the moves and hit a little harder and bring your knees up a little higher.

Round 2/6:

Rear Knee, Switch Knee

This is a rear knee and then you step back, step forward, bring the other knee up.  Remember to lean back, clasp your hands overhead and up front and drive them together.  If you put some actual effort into it, the crunch in the core can be beneficial. Pull the heel under your butt and push through the knee.  Do this for 60 seconds.

Up/Down Jab, Cross

My first thought here was – holy hell how is Jericho rotating her feet so quickly?  Jabs up top and then you squat low and jab low.

Repeat the combination and the spike one more time.

Round 3/6:

Cross, Hook, R Knee, Switch Knee

This took some brain power. I laughed at myself for a while. I had to read the screen to do the combination or I would screw it up.  This is a cross (back arm), hook (front arm), rear knee, switch leg knee. I like this combination because you have to keep moving and, if you try hard enough, you work the core.  Joel is so tall it looks like he is going to fall over when he does the knees.  You should know the drill by now – 60 seconds of this.

Up/Down Hooks

Again with the rotating of Jericho’s heels.  This girl is Gumby.  You hook left right (or right left) up top and then squat down to hook left right down low.  ‘Bend your knees, use your legs’.  Think of this as sanding down a spot in the floor with your feet.  I am just kidding.  Aim for – ‘head, head, body body’.

Repeat combination and spike one more time and you get a break.

Round 4/6:

F Uppercut, R Uppercut, Hook, Roll F, Roll B

Joel sure is a fan of the uppercut.  They instruct you to ‘crunch down’ into the uppercut before raising the fist.  It took me a few fumbles to figure this out.  He visits ‘street fighter Sophie’ in the pink to emphasize the core control and power in her punches. ‘Good job street fighter SOPHIE’. Just in case you forgot.

Rotating Uppercuts

This can be fun – twist your core and uppercut left right.  He pretends to have a ‘pad’ near Jericho’s eye level and she hits his hands. Imagine punching as hard as you can.

The second time around, Jericho goes a little nuts with her speed.  

Notice my hair in action:

 Repeat combination and spike one more time and you get a break

Round 5/6:

Cross, Hook, R Knee, Double Jab Cross

Well this one is fun because you get to double jab and move forward.  I had to read the screen for a while until I figure it out.  Luckily, this goes slow enough to not get twisted up in a spider web.  If Shaun T were doing this, he would have added flying burpees and sped it up 5 times.

Roll, Jump, Roll, Jump

Then, we move to STREET FIGHTER SOPHIE to check out her abs.  Jericho also tells us that she is a new mom and is working on getting her abs back.  Interesting.  Luckily this strike is only 30 seconds long and it may be the hardest part of the workout so far – but very manageable.  Your legs should start feeling it.

Repeat both one more time. ‘CRUSH THIS COMBO’ and add more distance in the double jab and power in the punches.

Round 6/6:

R Uppercut, Hook, Cross, Switch Knee

This is your last round – so finish the dang thing with a vengeance.  As Joel says – ‘It’s your last skill guys – why would you coast through this?’  Start with the back arm and uppercut, hook the front arm, cross the back, and knee.

Ground to Fighter Stance

With 5 minutes left, Joel says they saved the best spike for last.  Oh great.  This is basically a burpee.  ‘Turn your body into a spring’.  Basically – hit the ground and get back up as fast as you can into a fight stance.  I was doing great – coasting along – until these burpees.  Since I am doing two-a-days (I lift at 5am) my body felt like lead and wanted to lay on the ground.  A short nap.

Joel continues to talk because he is talented, and finishes out the last strike (burpees) with everyone.

Cool down

There is about 2:40 of a cool down stretch including a standing calf stretch with a shoulder stretch, quad stretch, hamstring stretch, upper back stretch, and chest stretch.  Jericho gives you a pep talk about getting stronger and better as you continue the workouts.  Joel loses some balance.  They talk about how much fun it was and I wandered around the room drinking water and taking selfies.  The people in the video did some fancy high fives to the exit fade to black.

I am going to pick up this lady bug right here...

Final Thoughts:

I did this workout in the evening since I lift at 5am every morning (except some Saturdays and Sundays). I usually do not have energy after work but ate dinner beforehand and did pretty well.  At first I thought it was easy-peasy and then I started asking myself ‘why am I sweating so much’?  My watch time and calories includes the Learn It & Work It workout as well so I assume I would burn 200-300 calories with this workout.  This is a cute little workout that would be good for beginners or someone wanting to move around for 25-30 minutes!

See you for the next one!

[bethanybusche]

MMA Shred review!

I am not going in order according to the Core De Force workout calendar because my legs and chest were too sore from lifting on my own.  Therefore, this is my MMA Shred review! 

Time: 37 minutes

Equipment: none

Cheese and rice.  I feel like there are quite a few people in this workout video this time.  I do not know where to look.  Joel is wearing a green shirt and Jericho a blue – that is the first thing I noticed. Is that strange?  Judgmental.  Why is he wearing a shirt?

This workout has 9 three minute rounds with a 30 second break at the end of each round.  They refer to it as a muay thai workout.  But first…

Warm-up:

This is 2 minutes of jogging, bouncing side to side and opening up the chest, rolling the shoulders forward and backward, alternating toe taps, hip rolls and torso rotations. Sometimes I forget that their jogging is feet towards my butt, not just raising my knees up.  Try not to be lazy - got it.

Can you tell who the modifier is? :)

These are my hip openers (in case you were wondering):

And my torso rotations:

Round 1/9:

F Side Elbow, R Side Elbow, Roll B, Roll F

This is a side elbow with your dominant arm, the other arm, roll back and a roll front.  Try to remember to rotate your body with the side elbows and get up on the ball of your foot.  ‘Elbows are meant to slice and dice’.  Ah yeah, making some pizza people.

High Knee Jump Rope

You should know how to do this one by now – get your knees up as high as you can.  You do these ‘strike’ sessions for 30 seconds.

For the record – my 5 year old daughter was playing with her toys around me when I did this workout. When I looked at her once, she was sitting in her Dora chair, eating a cheese and nuts snack, and telling me ‘get your legs up mom’ and  ‘every time I look at you you are doing something new’.  Ahhhhhh – little did I know I had a little trainer.  She is so much like her mother... scowl.

Do this combination and strike one more time and take a 30 second break.

Round 2/9:

Jab, F Up Elbow, Cross, R Up Elbow

The jab is easy, the front up elbow is described by Jericho as pretending that you are slicking your hair back and your elbow goes straight up, the cross is easy, do the hair thing with the other arm.  We eventually get to see Jasper in the back who is a pro at this elbow hair styling situation.  ‘Think about lifting your opponent up off the ground as you slice them’.

Alternating Clinch Knee

Oh great, of course Jericho loves this one.  She is Gumby. ‘Reach, pull, reach, pull’.  This is ‘clinching’ your arms up front and pulling into your hip as you raise you knee.  You are supposed to lean back and lean forward doing this.  I am pretty sure I looked like a crazy noodle tripping over herself.  Once my daughter even laughed at me.

Round 3/9:

R Snap Kick, Switch Snap Kick

Well this is fun. Kick your back leg, reset, switch feet, and kick the other leg.  Bam Bam.  This is not so bad.  Just do not fall over in the switch.  Try not to over extend your kick and pop your knee out of place.

Be sure to make this face:

L Reverse Lunge, Clinch Knee

Well, cheese and rice. My legs were so sore from lifting the morning before and I laughed at the thought of getting into a lunge.  BUT I DID IT.  Step your leg back, lunge, bring the knee up and clinch.  You use your hands for counter balance to the side and then, with the knee raise, bring them into your hips.

Then, you go into your non-dominant stance and do the snap kicks.  After that, you do the lunge on the other leg.  I BET THAT SURPRISED YOU.  I’m kidding.  It should not surprise you.

Round 4/9:

Jab, Cross, F Slashing Elbow, R Slashing Elbow

This one made my daughter say ‘ooooh’.  Jab, cross, draw an ‘x’ with your elbows.  This one is fun – remember to think about rotating on the balls of your feet and crunching your core as your knees bend.  Or, think about actually hitting someone with your elbows.  You are going to have to put some effort in. It is not like you are dusting the fans with your elbows.  Get a swiffer for that.

Switch Jumps

Come on now Jericho. Wide legs, bend your knees, use your arms to twist and jump your legs left and right.  Keep your shoulders facing forward and try not to face plant.

Eventually, they visit the guy in the middle back and he twists like his life depends on it.  ‘That’s why he puts the core in Cory’.  OH Joel you are so funny.

Repeat each one more time. Put more emphasis in everything.  ‘Earn your break’.

Round 5/9

F Up Elbow, R Knee, Switch Snap Kick

Use your dominant arm for an elbow, rear knee, switch your feet and snap kick.  Look at you go – putting things together!

Oh good, here’s Jasper with his shirt off again:

Triple Lunge W/ Ginga

Oh yay, more lunges!  It took me a few times to figure this out. Three lunges before jumping laterally and your legs.  Use your arms to jump laterally and cover as much distance as you can.

I do my workouts in the grass usually... 

Round 6/9

Cross, F Side Elbow, R Snap Kick

Cross punch to the face, elbow to the jaw, and snap kick to the body.  ‘Back, front, back’.  I like this one. Keep your hands up by your face.

Guarded Squat, Squat Jump

Sit down into a squat, squat again and use your arms to propel your jump in the air.  Fall back into a squat and keep repeating.

 Round 7/9

R Push Kick, F Push Kick, Shuffle Back

Okay.  Lean back in these kicks and ‘push’.  I still have not figured it out but I tried.  Think about kicking open a door in front of you but being cautious of possible spider webs.  The trainers like to call it a circular motion with the leg.

Alternating Clinch Knees

You have done this before. Lean back, arms clinch up top, bring the knee and arms down to the hips.  ‘Those knees are relentless’ – thanks Jericho.

Repeat the complex but in a non-dominant stance.  Do the strike for 30 seconds, take a break.

Round 8/9

F Slashing Elbow, R Slashing Elbow, Double Jab Cross

Muhaha.  Okay – things are getting more exciting.  Draw the x with your elbows, double jab with your dominant arm, cross.  I decided to add sound effects to each of my punches because it makes me hit harder and my daughter thought it was amusing.

This was the time I had to describe to her why it looked like I was fighting.  I made it clear that she should not fight unless someone else starts it.  Haha.  Maybe I am just funny to myself.

Triple Lunge W/ Ginga

Oh yay, great – the 3 lunges.  Get lower, jump further, it is only 30 seconds.

Repeat these things again and rest.

 Round 9/9

F Up Elbow, R Knee, F Push Kick

Hallelujah, it is the last round.  You should be excited.  This is not too bad – front up elbow, rear knee kick and then a front push kick.  If you put some effort into it – you get a great workout.  Look how excited Joel is:

Guarded Squat, Squat Jump

If this were not the last combination, I would have slacked off.  However, you can do these squats for 30 seconds (twice) without looking like a noodle.  Finish it up.

Use your arms to propel yourself up...

Cool Down:

This is 3 minutes of bring your heart rate down by stretching your hip flexors with a shoulder stretch, a quad stretch, a hamstring stretch, upper back stretch, and chest stretch.

They do their cute little high fives of course:

Final Thoughts:

I burned around 300 calories doing this workout - not too bad.  Most were probably spent avoiding kicking my daughter or tripping over her toys.

This workout is much like MMA Speed.  I did not think it was hard, I broke a sweat, and I look forward to the next workouts.

If the rounds were any longer - it would be a more difficult workout.  However, that may defeat the quick at home cardio, would it not?

Oh, and look at the mess my daughter made while I did this work out.  It was apparently every stuffed animal’s nap time which required a sleeping bag each.

See you in the next review!