Okay, How Much Are You Getting Paid?

First of all, let’s make it clear that Yuri does not tell his contributors what to write, and we are not compensated for writing to these blogs.  The reason I want to make that clear is that I am going to sound like an infomercial here because I really love Yuri’s products and other invaluable information that he gives away freely.

To Gym or Not to Gym

So why is Fitter U Fitness better than the Gym?  Of course the gym can be a great investment.  You can do all of the excersizes in the program at the gym from cardio to bodyweight excersizes to weights.  But here’s the deal.  I have had gym memberships off and on throughout my life and had very little results.  Part of the reason for that is lack of consistency, but that is only a small part of the problem.  I have never known how to use the gym properly.  It always turns in to renting a treadmill a few hours a week.  It worked out to about 5 dollars a half our session when I used it four days a week.  It is hard, for me at least, to stay motivated to go through all the gyrations of getting ready, driving to the gym, getting a locker, running for half an hour then reversing the process and getting home to take a shower.  It just got boring.  That boredom might have been minimized if I used the gym for weight or circuit training on the other machines they offered, but frankly I didn’t know what excersizes to use when lifting weights and for some reason I felt a little silly on the Nautilus and other weight machines.  I think I felt silly because no one ever really showed me how to use them, except in a cursory manner.  Bottom line is I just never really used anything but cardio machines.  All of these problems are eliminated with Fitter U Fitness.  There is simply a lot of information that comes with each month of the program: Video’s, audios, workout calendars, progress charts, pictures of all the excersizes, and this is for multiple work outs each month.  In other words you know exactly what and how to do each excersize.  You don’t feel silly in the gym.  You know what to do and how to do it.  More importantly, you have someone talking you through each step keeping you motivated.  Great stuff!

Look, Ma!  No Gym!

“But,” say you, “how do you use Fitter U Fitness if you don’t have a gym membership?”  Well so far, and I have not been through the whole program so I don’t know about later months, you can do most of the excersizes right at home with a few pieces of equipment.  I spent $130.00 on various dumbells and an inexpensive weight bench at a used sporting goods store and cleared a little room and I was in business.  Now, I still like to do the workouts in the gym, it has it’s advantages, but when I don’t want to go out, or am in a big hurry, or feel self-conscious about trying a new routine in front of all the muscle-men and women at the gym I just break out my equipment and work at home.

Such a deal!

Finally cost comparison:  My gym costs me $90.00 a month.  At the most expensive plan, Fitter U Fitness is only $39.95 and much cheaper if you buy an extended plan.  So for a 30 minute workout (a much better work out, none the less) you spend about $2.50 cents and no extra cost for one of the gyms personal trainers, which can get real expensive.

So do yourself a favor and join the club, the Fitter U Fitness club!

John

Week 2 Month 2 on Fitter U Fitness, and Oh My!!  We up the intensity in month 2 and I  was ready for it, sort of…

Some of the changes are subtle,45 sec instead of 30 sec in the core exercise, but HOW they make a difference. This core workout is by far the best I’ve ever done, and I am sticking to it. Some of the exercises are familiar with new ones thrown in for good measure, i.e. half turkish get ups. My advise is WATCH the videos. I did watch them, but AFTER I had tried them.

This month Im training alone. Not only did I really miss having a partner, there was no one to watch my form, ask advice or feedback.

The  videos I reckon are the most important tool here, watch and make notes, so you ensure correct technique. Often, if it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right, so make sure that you check to be sure. The second important tool, for me, would be the weekly trackers. Make note of weights/ reps, what feels good and what needs tweaking. Be honest with yourself here, its your program and will be your results.

Excited about Month 2 and ready for the variation, I soon had my new favorite: Total Body Conditioning 2. I love the cycling DB chest press(don’t wear baggy shorts)! I have a love/hate thing going on with the Leg lift planks, willing the clock to move faster and complete that 1 min! The stuff that hurts the most, are usually the ones you need most!

Im also loving fat blaster 1, this time I watched the video FIRST. The stability ball push-ups with knee roll in are my challenge, and embarrassingly I had to talk to myself through the lunge walks with press, as I lose coordination! With Bodyweight Circuit 2 in these weeks I realized that things were getting serious Im loving it and I feeling it. Its awesome to raise your heart rate, sweat and puff in a 30-40 min workout KNOWING that you really have worked.

This month, Im noticing my poorly tendons in my hand are struggling with the body weight stuff, and I will need to work around this.  I can see some positive changes, and my bi’s are definitely bigger!!   I have to watch my form and check back with the Fitter U Fitness ids and pics and not take for granted I “know it”. Lastly I have noticed that it is much more difficult to motivate yourself when you work out alone, but once you have done it, you feel a million dollars!

Hope its been a great couple of weeks for you?

Keep on Keeping on…..

Tam

Hi again, well month 1 is now done. It took a bit longer than expected as I has Laser Eye Corrective surgery done, which went fantastically well, but lost 2 weeks of training. I made some progress still despite the break and am looking forward to cracking on with Month 2 of fitter u fitness.

For the record my stats last month were:
Weight      188lbs
Waist         98cm
Body fat    26.2%
BMI            26.8

And today, 11^th June 2010 they are:

Weight      182lbs
Waist         95cm
Body fat    23.8%
BMI            26.1

I didn’t lose as much as I’d hoped but that’s probably due to the 2 week break.

So month 2 Starts tonight with Fat Blaster 1 and will still doing the Treadmill Trainer programs every other day as well.

I’ve not really looked too deeply into nutrition other than cutting out bread and potatoes and trying to eat as much veg as possible and getting as much protein in.

I’ll update soon with how Month 2 is going but don’t plan on weighing myself for another couple of weeks at least.

Cheers

Craig

Headed towards Weeks 3 and 4  on FitterUFitness with all engines firing, and……..BAM! a hurdle.

On a high raw diet, I have been thrilled to NEVER get sick. Well, until 2 weeks ago! I can be an “all or nothing person”, and when I do things, I tend to put my heart into them, it can be hard to find a balance. Achieving more balance in my life is on my “to do” list.

Week 3

Feeling poorly but ignoring what my body was trying to tell me, I  just kept pushing and juggling. I started week 3 with my Push Pull Swing workout, followed by the killer core with a friend. (I heard her say “I hate you Yuri” ! This made me smile, it meant she was feeling it. Im after  awesome arms and a great back so I really wanted to do the Chest & Back 1 and  Arm Sculpter 1, but, it wasn’t to be.  I had lost my “groove” it had left the building, and I didn’t know what to do.

So I ran, I just plugged my ipod in, turned on Interval Training 1, and I ran. The intensity wasn’t there,  but my body did what it could.  My Beautiful friends bought me raw mushroom soup to work, and I fed my body juicy fruits the rest of the week.

Week 4

I had planned on increasing intensity further this week, leading up to month 2 FitterUFitness, but, I just didn’t seem to have it in me. All I wanted to do was sleep this week, but I couldn’t get time of .  I listened more closely to my body,  it told me to sleep and run! I didn’t follow the FitterUFitness program this week, I did manage a heavy legs session (my dodgy knee survived), and I ran on the treadmill for 20 min bursts, (again, my knee survived)!  I only managed about 4k’s max, but it felt good to just move.

Finally, I gave in, fell asleep in my clothes, and slept on and off for 2 days! When I really woke up, I ate watermelon and grapes, put my trainers on, headed outdoors, and I ran…..Im only starting back running, so Its not  far or fast, but I am running again. I ran to the beach, it took 20 minutes, and I felt like I could have run forever!

Was my groove back? not all of it, but nearly.

So I didn’t achieve what I wanted the last 2 weeks, but I learnt a few things to help me long term

Listen to your body

Its ok and vital to rest when needed

A hurdle is just a hurdle, don’t bash into it. Go around it, step over it and Leap it when you can!

So, Im going gently into this week. Ive  decided to repeat week 4 FitterUFitness, do at least 1 secondary workout and Im aiming for cardio at the intensity that I can. Next week Ill start Month 2 and I cant wait

If all else fails, I will just run……..

Have an awesome week everyone and Keep on Keeping on!

Week 2 of following Fitter U Fitness and I was fired up. Had a great weekend, even though I had to work, I nourished myself with plenty of  raw food. I was itching to get back in  the gym and determined to increase the intensity of my workouts.

Another friend joined me for Push, Pull, Swing 1 and we Push, pulled and Swung. We did it outdoors on the balcony at the gym and it was awesome. I thought a lot about the weights as I was conscious of taking too many outside (had to leave some for the other gym goers). I wanted to go heavier, but not lose form so I used the Fitter U Tracker.

Heavier weights on the lateral lunges/curl had me really working and I had to be aware of my form (we used the glass window as a mirror)! I tried heavier weights for the push ups and used my knees, but it hurt my injured knee, and also, it felt like “cheating”. Im going back to toes, and gradually increase the weights. We both verbalized through the pushups they really challenged. Our favorite dumbbell swings we did with medicine balls and could definitely go heavier next time. My mate was swearing on the side thrusts, and I agreed. Found a great weight for the knee drives with an increased bench height and went for the big girl 5k’s on the fly which felt awesome (grunted a lot).

Upped the weights on Total Body Conditioning 1. Find this workout a bit trickier with the twisting squat and lawnmowers. I need to watch the Fitter U Fitness videos again for these ones, to make sure Im remembering everything. Partnerless and indoors, I had to make myself focus through this workout. Results rely on mental strength as well as physical.

I love  Eating for Energy, but this week I have been fueled mainly on bananas. I wanted to see how Id go on the treadmill with my “dodgy knee” and the banana power. I did a couple of interval runs, but, If Im honest, which I am Im not putting my heart into cardio.

I decided to challenge my knee to a straight treadmill run in normal trainers. I only had 20 mins break, and I wanted to see how far Id run in that time. I definitely didn’t run all out, and felt I was guarding my knee, I made it to 3.5 k’s (I think, i didn’t write it down). (I used to run for miles) So Im going to use that a starting point and push myself much much further!

What did I learn this week? That it helps to have a partner, as long as you focus and push each other. I felt more organized, and able to choose weights that would challenge enough, as I kept saying “Its only 8 reps”. I notice also, how excited I get sharing workouts and Im proud of the type of stuff we do.

I really hope it was a Fit week for you

Well, i finally made it on here! I may have procrastinated about getting on the mac to type, however I had an awesome first FitterUFitness workout week  Im starting from Month 1 again, week1and Im committed to working my way through the months ofFitterUFitness, to achieve the best results that I can. This time Im sharing my journey and Im going to stick at it. Okay, well, week 1, Total Body Conditioning 1, (TBC1), felt strange at first, strange and familiar  . I had been spending up to an hour working out with weights, and fitting my workouts into my 30minute break seemed like cheating! As Id raved to my mates about FitterUFitness my P.T friend joined me, and boy, did we work. I was grunting, breathing hard, and my heart rate was up. I was determined to document my weights/reps and adjust/improve each workout. To save time, she set up the dumbbells and step bench (improvised weights bench)  which helped a lot, however, the weights Id anticipated proved to be a little too light. Push-up DB pulls were the biggest challenge for me, I was determined not to use my knees, however my technique definitely suffered. You learn a lot when you work out with a partner, and you can definitely push each other for more, especially if you have a competitive nature  .  We were so fired up after, that I convinced her to do the core workout with me a little later, again there was grunting and a little swearing!  Legs are my strength, upper body and core, my challenges. We often avoid working on the areas we most need to address, and for me, its my core! I have a soft belly and am working on getting lean, core workouts WILL become my friend. V sits nearly polished us off, but we did it, though, I think the 30 second counts were a little speeded up!  Push, Pull, Swing 1 (PPS1), different partner, different feel. Again, need to go heavier on the weights, and definitely watch my form. Lateral lunge w bicep curls was tough, tough, tough, so, too again, the DB push ups. Bent over reverse flys felt awesome, normally do flys on the bench or ball and using  5k dumbbells was tough! Wasnt able to add the core workout as had to return to work, however, again, fired up, I decided the following morning to set off on a chi run in my new 5 finger shoes! Ok, next three days, calves = killing me. I lost my bananas out of my backpack on the way?!  (no idea) and nearly strangled myself on my ipod headphone cord. I felt, however, like I had come home! I hurt when i bent down, reached up or stood on tiptoe. I was excited, motivated and optomistic. I phoned my friend, who confirmed that she too hurt in places she had forgotten (we are both P.T’s), and it felt soooo good. I had planned on fitting in some more cardio or secondary workouts, however work got in the way. I squeezed in a couple of runs and now cannot wait for this week’s program. I really hope that its been a great week for everyone, and I also hope that I can get to grips with my new mac and time management, so we can share some more. Till next time, “Keep on keeping on” 

Today I finished week 2 of the first phase of Fitter U.  I love these circuit exercises because I feel like I’m doing a wide variety of full-body exercises that will prepare me to be more fit in… anything.  Everything!

My problem with weight-training in the past has always been about the tedium of counting reps and sets.  Sounds like a minor thing, but my approach to exercise is to “get in the zone” and not think about the time.  Can you imagine if you had to count every step in a two-mile run?  That’s what it feels like for me to be counting out every rep to every movement.  It’s agony.  I probably have ADD, I know…

So I love how I don’t have to count.  I just get ready, set, and go when Yuri says to go and then I stop when he says to stop.  Perfect!

One thing I wanted to talk about was something Yuri said during the warmup today that really resonated with me, about how successful people make sure they do the things that need to be done before they do anything else, they do that consistently, and they do those things even if (especially if) they’re the things they don’t want to do.

Remember that ADD?  I am a big one for doing what I want to do first and then squeezing in the “have-to’s” if there’s room.  (I used to eat dessert for breakfast, too.)  Lately I have tackled this issue as far as exercise.  I set some goals (lose ten pounds, start running again) and have been making great gains.  I recently told a friend that I do my exercise consistently and early on because then I feel good about myself for the rest of the day.

And while that’s good, it’s time to head into a new phase.  There are some other areas of my life where I’m not doing what needs to be done, not at all.  I’ve learned a lot about myself the past several months through my exercise plan but now I need to figure out how to carry that knowledge over to some other areas.

• My house is a mess!  That is a constant battle that I need to face.
• I have a degree in French but never use it and my skills are rusty.  I have the time, I have books, what am I waiting for?
• I love to write, am always promising to polish some rough projects and get them out in the world but there they still sit, in draft form.

I hope to make some progress in these three areas in the coming weeks.  Is it possible to have more than one area of one’s life pulled together at the same time?

Today I started the second week of Yuri’s Fitter U workout, the fourth workout in phase one.  And I feel great!

There’s a short bio about me somewhere around here, but I’ll just give a quick little background of where I am, fitness-wise.  I have always been somewhere in the middle – not very overweight (although the same 10-15 pounds tend to come and go, depending on my motivation) but also not very fit.  I watch runners as they go past my house or as I’m out driving around and I envy them so much, to be able to run for miles.  They look so strong.

I have tried running many times and I love it, but I kept injuring my knee, which led to a knee arthroscopy last May.  I am still working on the weakness and atrophy on that side, part of which is from the surgery but part of which is also likely to my having favored that side for the past few years.  So jumping right into a running program is not in the cards for me just yet, but I have been doing the cardio intervals in Yuri’s program at a run and that really encourages me.

Anyway, I’ve never been one of those people who other people look at and think, “I wish I were that fit,” and I want to be!  I want to reduce my bodyfat percentage and add some muscle.  I want to be able to go out for a run.   I want someone to look wistfully at me one day and think that I look strong as I run by…

Hello to all out there and welcome to what will hopefully be the first of many posts as I embark upon the fitter u fitness trail.

Like a lot of people out there I’ve been led on by claims of getting the most fantastic body in the shortest possible time and most of the time what you end up with is a re-hashed exercise program you could have probably found on the internet for free anyway.

I first came across Yuri Elkaim whilst I was looking for a decent running program to help me improve on my normal plodding runs around the compound out here in Baghdad where I work and discovered his Treadmill Trainer programs. I’ve been doing these for just under 3 weeks now and his training methods have made a very noticeable improvement to my running.

However, my main aim from fitness training has always been to lose weight, gain strength and add definition. So I needed a decent strength program to work alongside my cardio training.

I looked closely at the 12 week fitter u program, which was very well laid out, but decided to go with the fitter u fitness option because of its longevity, it’s ongoing and gives you new workouts every month.
At the end of the day it took more than 12 weeks to put this weight on and will probably take more than 12 weeks to get it off! Plus the first month is free which is my favourite price!!!!

For the record my stats at the minute are:

Age            41
Height       5ft 10in
Weight      188lbs
Waist         98cm
Body fat    21%
BMI            26

I have just started on this journey on the 29^th April 2010 and I must admit the Total Body Conditioning circuit on Day 1 was actually a lot tougher than I thought it would be for a half hour workout!! and I also used a lot less weight than I imagined I would as well due, I think, to the compound moves involving virtually the whole body!

My primary goal at the minute is just completion of the first months training. I know a very small goal to begin with but very attainable. After that it’s getting a beach body by August when I’m off to Egypt on holiday, roughly about 12 weeks away so I’ll be hoping I’ve made quite a transformation by then.

I’ll be back regularly with a bit more detail on what I’ve been doing in training each week.

Hopefully if people want to leave any comments or are starting something similar at the same time as me and want to share training tips etc you’re more than welcome to get in touch.

Catch you all next week after Week 1 is out of the way.

All the best

Craig

Today, I had an amazing workout!

It was a beautiful day and there’s nothing I love doing on a beautiful than getting outside and getting active.

But I knew that I needed more than just an outdoor bodyweight workout to satisfy what my body was craving. After all, yesterday, I ran some serious hills with the dogs and got some really good speed work done. I needed something a little more strength-based today.

So I needed to hit the gym. But I didn’t feel like driving so I laced up my shoes and ran the 3km or so to the gym – and at a good pace too…doing it in about 16 minutes.

Once at the gym, I was inspired to further challenge my lower body, so here’s what my strength training workout looked like:

[warm-up = 3km run in 16 minutes followed by 5 minutes dynamic stretching]

1a. Single Leg Barbell Deadlifts – 3 x 8RM per leg

1b. Military Press – 3 x 8RM

2a. Clean and press – 3 x 5 RM

2b. Barbell rollouts – 3 x 10 reps

3a. Incline biceps curls – 3 x 8RM

3b. Triceps Headbangers – 3 x 8RM

*The last superset was more for vanity. Hey, t-shirt weather is here so I gotta get the old arms pumped up, if you know what I mean.

I wasn’t really feeling up to running back home so I walked. However, just before getting back to the loft, I decided to pop by the park beside our place and run a few full-field (soccer field) sprints.

It was a great way to finish off a great workout and a great way to start the day!

“Ask Yuri” Episode #6 – Best Exercise to Lose Weight

I couldn’t leave you without posting today’s Q & A video. This episode of “Ask Yuri” sheds light on a very common question, which is “what is the best exercise for losing weight?”

If you want to know the answer, then just press play!

And if you have any questions that you want answered just post away in the comments.