Followers of my blog will know I went to visit the world-renowned Kripalu Yoga and Health Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts last August. I am lucky enough to have another visit booked in a few weeks. I have been excited to go back ever since I left last year.
I will blog about it after my visit for sure.
One of the first sneak peaks we had was Autumn’s Total Body Chisel and now on Beachbody OnDemand we got to taste Sagi’s Total Body Hammer. This is a nice simple set up of basic lifting exercises done in a pyramid format that packs a bit of a punch.
You will need a couple of sets of dumbbells tailored to your needs, a pullup bar or a band if you don’t have one, a bench or a ball if you don’t have a bench. You can also do the chest exercises on the floor.
The warm up is the same warm up that Sagi does in most of his other Hammer workouts.
There are three rounds total with three separate exercises. Each round is completed two times. Each exercise is completed in a pyramid format of 10 reps, 8 reps and then 6 reps. You complete all 3 pyramids before going on to the next exercise. The second set really allows you to go up in weight if you didn’t get it right the first time (perhaps go down too).
Round One
Bench Press (10/8/6 reps)
Squat (10/8/6 reps)
Reverse Grip Row (10/8/6 reps)
(remember I said you do this again)
Round Two
Incline Flys (10/8/6 reps)
Reverse Lunge (you do one leg and get the opposite leg on set two) (10/8/6 reps)
Wide pullups or wide band pulls (10/8/6 reps)
Repeat
Round Three
Seated Military Press
Split Squat (you do one leg and get the opposite leg on set two) (10/8/6 reps)
Posterior Delt Fly (one arm at a time, getting the other arm on set 2) (10/8/6 reps)
Repeat
I felt that Sagi’s cool down while still only 3 minutes long, was a bit more thorough than most of Autumn’s which sometimes aren’t even 2 minutes long.
When you get your correct weights, I really feel that this workout can get you winded and by the end you will feel like you got a great workout. One thing I didn’t like was Sagi picking on the gentleman in the video because of his weight selection. We all can’t press 70 pounds like Sagi. I know that’s his Beast persona but I worry someone may go too heavy and rip their shoulder. So keep that in mind. We aren’t all professional bodybuilders.
Solid 4 out of 5 stars.
Cathe’s latest workout series is ICE. This stands for Intermediate Conditioning Extreme. This series is targeted towards the intermediate level exerciser but from what I’ve seen of it, I think that someone at an advanced level would be satisfied as well.
My first review from the series is with the Metabolic Total Body workout. As with most other Cathe workouts you get a lot of bang for your buck. You get a thorough warm up and cool down, the “regular” workout and a few bonuses as well. Cathe also gives us many premix choices and even mishmosh mixes.
The Regular Workout – definitely have a few sets of dumbbells here. Cathe uses everything from 5s to 15s. I tried to be a hero the first time out and go heavy but Cathe does high repetitions and moves quickly so I suggest trying the weight level she uses until you find what works for you (maybe you go lighter or maybe you go heavier). Cathe does mostly compound moves and your heart rate will go up without jumping.
Warm Up – 6:36
Workout – 36:58
Cool Down – 4:19
Total – 47:53
The moves:
Crossback Lunge with Overhead Press
Squat Press
Plie Squat/Upright Row
Front Lunge/Back Row/Fly
Front Swing with Abduction
Lunge Curl and Press
Front Swing with Abduction
Deadlift to Squat
Single Leg Deadlift with Front Raises
Deadrows/Upright Rows/Shrugs
Back Lunge with Rows
Side Lunge Abductions (no weights)
Front Lunge with Figure 8 Row Arms and Elbow to Knee (no weights)
Pushups
Squat, Curl, Press with Tricep Extension
Squat Curl
Lunge Kick Lunge Stand (you do this in the warm up but this time with light weights)
Static Lunge with Tricep Extension
Sumo Squat with Bicep Curl
Dynamic Front Lunge Raises
Rear Lunge, Curl to Press
Front Raise with Rear Delt Pull to Lateral Raise
Squat Twists
Squat Jab
Controlled Slow Elbow to Knee (like a yoga prayer twist)
Stretch
As you can see, this is a lot of great compound movements. Your butt is going to get a great workout in this one.
The Bonus workouts are:
MUSCLE MELTDOWN – CHEST
Total Workout – 15:29
Cathe does three sets of pushups, flat chest presses, flat chest flys and then incline presses and flys. Again, the first time I tried to be a hero and go super heavy but when Cathe said we had 2 more sets of this I just about cried. My chest was spent on the first set when I went super heavy. I wondered why she was only using 12 pound dumbbells.
BLIZZARD BLAST
Total Workout – 12:21
Dynamic blast exercises (jumping) mixed with Compound weight movements
This is a nice little HiiT type workout weighted and unweighted. You better be prepared to do a LOT of air jacks.
ICY CORE 1
Total Workout – 11:00
Cathe is the Queen of Core. With moves like: Lying up and overs; Leg chasers; Slow bike maneuvers and Full body breast strokes. Cathe sure can pack a lot of punch in a short time and your abs/core burns in no time.
I like to use the bonuses as one total workout added together. They are also great for add-ons or for short workouts if you are pressed for time.
Even though this series is targeted towards the intermediate level, I felt challenged just by upping the weight when I needed to. You really can cater to your own needs. Probably not great for a beginner, however.
I love Cathe, I love this workout and I surely will come back to it time and time again. I hope to review others in this series soon.
5 out of 5 stars.
It’s hard to believe that today MisTransformation celebrates its 5th Anniversary! This blog was only supposed to last a few months during a challenge that the Strong is the New Skinny movement started. Well they aren’t around much anymore but MisTransformation lives on. I am very proud of my little blog.
To celebrate this milestone, I am going to send one lucky person a DVD that I have carefully selected. I have chosen Ashley Turner’s Yoga for Stress and Flexibility. This is one of my own personal favorites and Ashley Turner is a phenomenal yoga leader. I’ve attended webinars of Ashley’s and also done yoga and meditation with her on DVDs and a few of my yoga internet subscriptions. There are two separate programs on the DVD. One is for stress relief (we can all use that right?) and the other is for flexibility. Both are great programs but I have to admit that I use the stress relief one a tad bit more than the flexibility program only because I’m a super stressed person.
So if you would like to be entered to receive the DVD (pictured below), please leave a comment below about how you found my blog and I’ll pick a winner on March 6th.
My last review was on Sagi’s 15 Min Leg Hammer and keeping with the same format my review today is Autumn’s 15 Min Glute Chisel. If you have done any of Autumn’s other workout systems like 21 Day Fix or 21 Day Fix Extreme, you know that Autumn loves to work the lower body. Today was no exception.
For this workout you will need a medicine ball or a dumbbell.
Description from Beachbody: Quickly sculpt a round, firm backside and hard-to-tone inner thighs for a lower body that makes jaws drop.
This workout has 6 different exercises but some of them work on the right and left leg separately. Each exercise is done for 25 reps. There are modifications offered.
The movements:
Sumo jumping jacks while lifting the ball over your head or holding it stationary.
Split squat with ball of the foot or toes on the ball. This one really burned my glute. Have to balance with your toes or ball of foot on the ball really made me dig in the heal of my stabilizing leg. This got the butt burning by the end. (right/left)
Jumping curtsy lunges
Warrior 3 lunges w/ a ball raise (right/left). This is pretty much what it sounds like if you are familiar with the yoga pose warrior 3 except you are holding a medicine ball and raising it up.
Side lunge with ball pull (right/left). You keep your foot on the ball and slide it out into a side lunge and to stand back up you drag the ball back in with your foot. Autumn says this is to work the inner thigh.
Bridge on the ball (right/left). One foot is on the ball and the other leg straight up in the air. You lift your pelvis off of the floor. I found this really challenging because my ball is a lot smaller than theirs is and I didn’t have a great base of support to dig in.
There is a very short less than 2 minute cool down/stretch after completing the movements.
This didn’t have the tempo change excitement that Sagi’s did but the techniques that Autumn offered in this workout really did get my glutes burning. I like these 15 minute workouts as add-ons to other workouts. If this workout was longer and offered the same kind of techniques, I’d probably give it five stars but since it’s only 15 minutes, I’m going to give it 3 3/4 stars out of 5.
This workout is approximately 20 minutes in length when you factor in the warm up and cool down (which are really short).
You will need a medicine ball or dumbbell for this workout.
Description of workout from Beachbody: 15 minutes is all you need to fire up your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves for maximum strength and power.
Warm up moves:
Squat ball drop/pick up
Alternating front lunge with ball push out
Side to side lunge squat
Burpee w/ ball
For the workout there are 6 moves (some are done right and left). Each move is done for a minute at different tempos: Slow (4 count), medium (2 count) and fast (as fast as you can). You switch tempos at the 20 second mark of each minute interval.
The workout moves:
Squat press
Side lunge (right/left)
Reverse lunge (right/left)
Sumo twist -this is done in an isolation hold moving the ball from left to right knee.
Deadlift crunch – this is a one-legged deadlift and the “crunch” is coming up on one leg with a knee lift. I found it difficult to go fast in this move and maintain good balance. (right/left)
Step up press – this is a backwards lunge coming up to the knee raise while also lifting the ball over your head. You don’t need a step or bench for this. Again, I found this move hard to maintain good balance while doing the move as fast as you can. (right/left)
Short 2 minute cool down.
I love the tempo changes for this workout. It really got my heart rate up. I really liked this workout and wished it was about another 15 minutes in length. I was just getting into the groove and then it was over. Great add-on to other workouts though. I’d give this workout 3 3/4 stars out of 5 because of the length, because of the short stretch at the end and because the really fast movements were awkward with some of the movements even though the tempo changes are what I love about this workout.
My last review – Hammer Build Up was Sagi’s workout with Autumn and Chisel Power is Autumn’s workout with Sagi.
Chisel Power is approximately 30 minutes long. You will need dumbbells, a medicine ball, a bench, chin up bar and bands. You can modify if you don’t have these items (except I think dumbbells are really crucial but if you’re doing this workout I’m sure you have at least those).
WORKOUT DESCRIPTION from Beachbody OnDemand: Get ripped from head to toe with hardcore resistance training, isometric holds, and explosive plyometrics.
The pattern for this workout is two related movements with the first being more dynamic with a fast 4 rep count and then a 4 second isometric hold repeating 4 times (I’m going to call these 4x4s). Then you go into the similar movement but with heavy weights for 10 reps. Core movements are done for 16 reps and there is no 4 rep count with the isometric hold for these.
The moves:
Ball squat jumps – 4×4
Heavy squat – 10 reps
Lunging Rows – 4×4
Pull-ups or band pulls -10 reps
Hanging knee raises – 16 reps (can modify on the floor)
Ball plyo lunges – right – 4×4
Heavy lunge – right – 10 reps
Ball ply lunges – left – 4×4
Heavy lunge – left – 10 reps
Plyo push-up – 4×4
Heavy bench press – 10 reps (can modify on floor)
Half spider man – 16 reps
This is the halfway point and you get a 60 second break for water, etc.
Ball sumo squat plyos – 4×4
Heavy sumo squat – 10 reps (can use 1 dumbbell or 2)
Ball push press – 4×4
Heavy military press – 10 reps
Seated ball toe taps – 16 reps (more like ball leg raises – seated you hold the ball between your feet and raise and lower)
Ball knee drivers on step – left – 4×4
Heavy step up – left – 10 reps
Ball knee drivers on step – right – 4×4
Heavy step up – right – 10 reps
Bicep curls – 4×4 – (use lighter weights – isolation hold is in the middle)
Heavy bicep curls – 10 reps
Triceps kickbacks – 4×4 – (use lighter weight)
Heavy triceps kickbacks – 10 reps
Very short cool down stretch once again – less than two minutes. You’ll definitely want to do some additional stretching on your own.
I liked the 4×4 pattern with the isolation hold. That is sort of the kick I look for in workouts. The workout was short though I would have liked about an additional 10 minutes.
I’d give this workout 4 1/4 stars out of 5.
This is the first workout from Hammer & Chisel that I have done that has both Sagi and Autumn in it. This is Sagi’s workout; however, Autumn is the one visually demonstrating the moves while Sagi also demonstrates and gives vocal cues. There are no other back up people in this one.
The description from Beachbody: Five exercises work five muscle groups to hammer muscular definition, strength, and stamina.
Equipment: Bench, dumbbells, medicine ball, resistance band, chin-up bar. Most of these have modifications of you do not have them.
Hammer Build Up is a total body workout with 5 movements for each body part (some of them count left and right as one movement). Most of the moves are done for 30 seconds each (+/-) but on some moves where there is a left and right side you do the move 15 seconds each (there are exceptions to this, however). The total time for the workout is a little over 30 minutes in length.
Sagi’s typical warm up starts us off which seemed a bit shorter this go round.
Round One: Legs/Butt
Squat with medicine ball (or dumbbells)
Lunge R/L with medicine ball (or dumbbells)
Step up R/L with dumbbells (bench or modification on the floor is shown)
Round Two: Back
Chin up (or use bands for modification)
Reverse grip row
Pullover
Reverse fly
Round Three: Chest
Push up w/ ball R/L
Bench Fly
Feet on med ball with push up (this was only 24 seconds probably because it is hard)
Incline press (or modify on floor if you don’t have a bench)
Round Four: Shoulders
Military press with med ball (or dumbbells)
Lateral raise
Upright row
Anterior raise with med ball (or weight)
Round Five: Biceps
Standing curls
Hammer curls
Concentration curls R/L
Rotation curl sitting on bench or modifying standing
Round Six: Triceps
Dips off of bench or on floor to modify
Kick backs R/L (30 seconds each side)
Skull crushers
Round Seven: Abs
Ball plank hold (hands on ball)
Ball mountain climbers (can go slow – your hands are on the ball)
Windshield wipers holding ball R/L 30 seconds each side *I chose not to hold the ball w/ my feet
There is a short cool down/stretch at less than two minutes long which of course if you read my reviews never makes me happy but I did some additional stretching on my own.
I liked that this workout had both Sagi and Autumn in it and you could see how they relate to each other rather than having them in separate workouts. I also liked that this was a full body workout that hit on every muscle group. It was also great that it got me to bring my med ball back into commission. I did, however, feel like this was similar to a lot of other strength workouts on the market and nothing really popped out at me with it. I understand though that this is part of a package and one of the pieces of the puzzle that makes up The Master’s Hammer & Chisel.
That being said, I will give this workout 3 3/4 stars out of 5.
While Beachbody aficionados have known that Tony Horton’s latest program will be released in March 2016 since about fall of 2015 (some probably earlier), we didn’t know until about a week ago that there would be a Challenge du Jour sneak peak of the program offered on the day of the “Big Game” on Beachbody OnDemand. (We can’t publicly mention the S.B. publicly because we’d have to pay.) As soon as it was announced, I knew what my workout was going to be Sunday morning.
A Description of the 22 Minute Hard Corp program from Beachbody: “22 MINUTE HARD CORPS is a no-nonsense, boot camp style workout program designed to get you epic results in 8 weeks. Created by legendary trainer Tony Horton, 22 MINUTE HARD CORPS works your whole body with moves that are tough enough to challenge you, but are straightforward enough for you to do on Day 1. #GETSOME and GET DONE!”
If you would like to see more on this program visit: https://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/22-minute-hard-corps-workout.do?code=SOCIAL_22HC_FB
Note: I am not a Beachbody “coach” so I’m not trying to sell you anything. I just like the Beachbody workouts and really dig Tony Horton.
Today’s sneak peak workout was Cardio 1 from the program. This workout is 22 minutes in length (hence the 22 Minute Hard Corps name). It has no warm up (I am going to assume Tony offers some kind of warm up with the complete program since he mentioned doing the “cold start warm up.” He offered one in his P90x3 program). You do not need any equipment except a towel, a drink and a jump mat if you prefer.
This workout is 3 rounds of the same moves. In each round the reps for the movement will either go up or go down and I’m not really sure of Tony’s rhyme or reason for choosing the amount of reps he did so I cannot explain that to you. You get a 22 second rest between each round.
The workout is done outside and with military vets working out and demonstrating the movements in the background. Who doesn’t love military vets?
The movements: (I will put reps for each round 1. 2. and 3.)
T-Jacks – like jumping jacks but with arms in a T for Tony – 1. 50 2. 40 3. 30
Bear Crawls – you know this move – each hand/foot movement is 1 rep. 1. 20 2. 25 3. 30
Lateral Shuffle – another familiar movement w/ 2 hops in between – 1. 30 2. 25 3. 20
Forward Lunge Twist – Lunge with arms in opposite direction of knee – 1. 10 2. 16 3. 20
Basic Burpee – no pushup and half-time modification offered – 1. 25 2. 20 3. 15
A-Skips-Skipping in place. Tony is big on the opposite elbow going back- 1. 30 2. 40 3. 50
Run Lunge Squat-This is a lunge to a squat with run arms in the lunge – 1. 30 2. 40 3. 50
After the break, there is time left so Tony adds in the Bear Crawl/Burpee Burnout. This is 22 Bear Crawls and 22 Burpees done w/ no rest in between. I think ending with the burpees is killer for the ending. My blood was pumping.
There is a 2 minute cool down/stretch at the end to keep it within the 22 minute time frame. Although I like a longer cool down/stretch it felt sufficient for this particular workout with the 22 minute time frame.
I really liked this workout. I felt I got a good workout in a short amount of time. Since this was only Cardio 1, I’m a little afraid of what Cardio 2 may have in store. This wasn’t the toughest cardio workout ever BUT it packed a lot of punch and I’m looking forward to the release of the program and more sneak peaks OnDemand.
I will give this workout 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
Everything Tony Horton touches turns to gold.
I had been sitting on 25#s for a long time and decided it was time to move up.
mistransformation 