This past Fall and Winter I was determined to, literally, walk my buns off. My daughter got married this past March and I wanted to feel and look fit at the wedding. I made a concerted effort to walk at least 10,000 steps a day, to balance that with weight training workouts and to include stretches too. I also watched every morsel that I put into my mouth. For months. Well, now the wedding is over, I’ve returned to my evil ways of lethargy and carb consumption. Sad to say that if it contains sugar, I’ll eat it. I don’t even care what it is. And, no surprise here, I have little energy, my summer clothing is tighter than it was last year and I feel like crap. By the way, this is why experts say dieting doesn’t work. It has to be a lifestyle, an everyday exercise that challenges your body to move more and that challenges your mouth to consume less of unhealthy foods and more of healthy ones. I know this. I write about this. I’ve lived this. Why did I allow myself to fall off the health and fitness wagon? But, I’m not going to beat myself up. Instead, I’m going to hop back on that wagon and, starting with baby steps, get myself back in shape. (My other daughter is getting married and – no! – I must not use that as a goal.) The goal is everyday health and fitness. Choosing my daughter’s wedding as a goal is a recipe for failure. I’ll only resort to my bad habits when the wedding is over. I am not doing that again. I am going to take it slow and not beat myself up if I eat a cookie or miss a day of exercise. I have to look at this as an overall health and fitness program and one that lasts a lifetime, not just until I take off the dress I wear to my daughter’s wedding.
So to that effort/lifestyle, I watch what I eat but don’t kill myself if I have dessert every now and then. (It’s a matter of balance for me now, not strict abstinence which, I have found, results in my craving sugar and unhealthy carbs. And, I was of the mindset that if I’d blown the diet with ice cream after lunch, I’d blown it for the day and pig out like crazy. Why did I think that? If I have ice cream, the day isn’t blown. I don’t have to eat my way through an entire shelf at Dunkin’ Donuts until I can begin my diet anew the following day. I can just stop with the ice cream, right? That’s my new way of thinking. I’ve renewed my walking program – why did I ever stop? I love it! It energizes me, helps me sleep and tones my body. And I’m incorporating stretching, weight training and calisthenics into my exercise routine. Which brings me to a new DVD that I just love to work out to. It’s Patricia Friberg’s Bottom Line & A Core Defined; Maximum Booty Lifting & Core Motivation Workout – and it is good in so many ways.
Patricia Friberg, a health and fitness expert who’s been teaching group and private classes in Pilates, yoga, kickboxing and more, has devised an exercise program that works to strengthen the core and lower body and that is actually fun. I love working my lower body. It feels good; I see results and it’s a lot easier for me than working my upper body, which I often find torturous. (Most women can relate to this, I know.) But squats and lunges, the gold standard of lower body workouts, get boring and I don’t always have time to get to the gym to work on the machines. Enter Patricia Friberg’s Bottom Line & A Core Defined; Maximum Booty Lifting & Core Motivation Workout. The moves are challenging yet none is difficult to do. Friberg explains the way to do each move in great detail – I love that. One of my pet peeves about workout DVDs is that you are left to your own devices with little instruction from the leader who expects you to instinctively know how to execute the exercises with good form without explaining what that is. And, by the way, not using proper form not only defeats the purpose of the exercise, it may result in injury too. Friberg constantly reminds you to check your form, to breathe and to not feel defeated if you can’t get through the entire program. She explains that it’s ok to take baby steps, to work out at your own level. You’ll gain strength, she assures you as she cajoles you to keep at it. And she makes me want to keep at it. She performs the entire program with you, accompanied by two companions, one of whom works without exercise bands that are recommended but not included in the DVD. I worked out without the bands and felt my body challenging itself right away.
Friberg’s DVD is divided into several sections including an Introduction where she explains the importance of a strong core. (And, contrary to popular belief, the core encompasses so much more than the abs. It’s the entire torso.) Friberg explains that having a strong core is good for balance, strength, endurance and also helps prevent injury. Bring it! Another section, Bottom Activation One, encompasses floor exercises such as leg lifts but with a twist. Friberg encourages you to hold the moves. For 45 seconds. Sounds easy, but it’s not. I was shaking, concentrating on my breathing to make the static exercise easier and counting down the seconds. And I loved every moment of it. Bottom Activation Two takes you to a standing position for a more challenging workout and, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t complete it. I got close – and I’ll get closer the next time. And here’s the best possible thing I can say about Patricia Friberg’s Bottom Line & A Core Defined; Maximum Booty Lifting & Core Motivation Workout, there will be a next time. And a time after that.
I know it’s going to seem ridiculous when I say that I felt the benefits from Friberg’s Booty Lifting Workout after the very first time. My muscles were fired up; I felt energized.
Patricia Friberg’s Bottom Line & A Core Defined; Maximum Booty Lifting & Core Motivation Workout is the real deal for me. I am going to check out her other DVDs too because I like her method. She explains the reasons for doing the work out, delineates each exercise so you can complete it with good form and she encourages you to do what you can, telling you all along that you’ll gain strength and fitness each time you do it. That’s the perfect trifecta.
I received a complimentary copy of Patricia Friberg’s Bottom Line & A Core Defined; Maximum Booty Lifting & Core Motivation Workout but that fact did not influence my opinion of it in any way. It’s really good! Want to try it for yourself? Get it here.
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