Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Feeling the Burn

The one thing I don't like about the Wii Fit is the fact that there's not an exercise to really work the upper body. There are the arm stands, etc, in the yoga section, and there's the advanced rhythm boxing, but I'm not strong enough for arm stands and I'm not coordinated enough for advanced rhythm boxing. Truly, nothing reduces me to frustration quicker than trying to keep up with, "left, right, block, right, right, left, left, right, left, block, left." I have to call my eleven-year-old son in to finish the round for me. It's pretty humiliating.

About a year ago, I picked up the Gold's Gym resistance tubing workout. It's got these cool rubber stretchy bands and comes with a DVD. I had never given it a try until today - and boy, lemme tell ya. I'm feeling the burn in my arms right now. I didn't make it all the way through the DVD workout - not even close - but I totally feel like I did what I went there to do. My upper body has been worked.

On the Body for Life plan, you alternate which days you exercise what. So my poor little arms will get a break while I do aerobics tomorrow and lower body the day after that. Another bout with aerobics, and then ... the arms come around again on the cycle. I plan to go a little further on the DVD each time until I can do the full workout. I want to get rid of the saggy, baggy bags of skin that dangle underneath and I want some actual definition to my arms. I don't know how long it will be before I'll start seeing some difference, but I'm game. I'm a little sore, but I'm game.

3 comments:

Cami Checketts said...

I'm so glad to hear you're strength training. That's the most effective way to burn fat and keep it off for life.
Those eleven-year old's loving helping us out. I say, let him feel useful!

Sabine Berlin said...

The Wii Active has a resistance band and offers a lot of upper arm and chest activities. I like it better than the wii fit because it gives you a customized workout everyday changing it so you don't have to think "What muscle group did I work out yesterday?" The only thing I use my wii fit for nowadays is for it to tell me I am still overweight! If you ever would want to come try it out you are welcome to.

Tristi Pinkston said...

Wii Active, huh? I'll have to go check it out. I haven't heard of it before, but I am very new to the world of Wii, so I shall go investigate.

Resistance training really is great for burning fat! I can feel a difference in my arms and shoulders already, even though I've just done the one workout session so far. I like the way I feel right now and I'm going to keep it up.