...Nakd Cocoa Orange Bars and Clare Nasir's DVD.....

The title pretty much says it all really. Good grief, they are delicious!
I can't believe that I can eat something that is actually nicer than any chocolate orange that I've tasted but has a fraction of the calories without putting in any crap like sweeteners.

I feel in internet splurge coming on. There's a 21 bar mixed case with my name on it.............

Anyway, on to the review......

I bought this DVD about 3 weeks ago after procrastinating since Boxing Day about whether or not buying another "Celebrity" fitness DVD was a good idea.
Having now done it for EVERY workout session since (prior to AHB) I can tell you that it is, most definitely, a good idea.

For those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about these pics (courtesy of dailymail.co.uk) should tell you everything you need to know.




This is an interval based workout, split into 4, 20 minute sections.

The first section is the warm followed by some skip/run intervals interspersed with boxing moves using weights and a toning section with T-Ups , push ups and ab work.

Section two is made up of jumping knee lift intervals interspersed with leg exercises and more ab work.

Section three is the main toning section but you will still be burning fat with plyometric lunges, push up/burpee variations and a push up/ oblique mountain climber hybrid that they call the "Clare-Climber".
You will also do more ab work, lower abs this time.

Section four is the ab section - as if you needed more ab work at this point. It is followed immediately by the cool down and stretch. If you have the time and inclination I suggest that you do include these extra abs because, lets face it, you can never do enough Planks :)

Since I have been doing this workout I have felt a real tightening all over my body. I have also found that my muscle gains in my shoulders have been substantial - in 3 weeks I have been able to rebuild what  having a frozen shoulder a year ago took away.
I also still get muscle ache in my legs the next day which usually NEVER happens after the second time doing a routine.

I am so pleased I bought this DVD and have been recommending it to anyone who'll listen!

For anyone who's interested I saw it reduced to £10 the other night in Tesco and if you do decide to take the plunge I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

FiTNESS: Valerie Waters Action Hero Babe Programme - Day 3 - Burn and my first Nakd Bar!......

Today was the sweaty day with lots and lots of fast paced bodyweight and resistance band moves.

My personal nemesis are Alligator Walks which involve starting in "top of a push up" position with your feet on Valslides (slidy, plastic discs) and dragging yourself along with your arms.
Pure evil/genius.

On a food note I finally got to try a Nakd Bar - Cashew Cookie - and it was so nice. It's good to know that I can buy something sweet and nutritious from a supermarket. I also bought a Cocoa Orange bar but I am being very restrained and resisting the urge to try it tonight :)

Didn't see the Mint one though, which I really want to try.
Are any supermarkets better for stock than Tesco?
Maybe I should try the website.

FITNESS: Valerie Waters Action Hero Babe Programme - Day 1 - We're going to need a bigger boat!! But by boat I mean weights........

For those of you who don't know her, Valerie Waters is a personal trainer based in Hollywood. She is Jennifer Garner and Rachel Nichol's (GI Joe, Star Trek) regular trainer and has also worked with Kate Beckinsale on Underworld (LOVE!) and Jessica Biel among many, many more.

I have been using her workouts as part of my rotations since August 2008 when she opened the Red Carpet Ready Club which is an online community for people who use her workouts.

I was  travelling through L.A. at the time so I was able to pick up the Val Kit for travel (review on that coming later) from Val's house where she very kindly let me ask her questions even though she had completely forgotten that I was coming and didn't know who I was!!
I think she was very relieved when I explained but she hid it very well!

The thing I love about Val's workouts is that they do exactly what they promise and AHB is no exception.
In case you're wondering I have done the workouts before, they came out in 2009, but I only did them for about a week and a half because I got sucked in to the UK Christmas celebrity fitness DVD mire.

Anyway, with this training programme the clue is in the title: Action Hero Babe. If you like the way any of the actresses I mentioned earlier look, then this is the programme you want because it's based on the exact routines that Val used to get their bodies in to kick ass shape.

You get 6 DVD workouts:
- Build 1+2 - Heavy lifting to give shape and strength
- Burn 1+2 - This is where you sweat! Lots of fast paced, bodyweight based moves.
- Sculpt 1+2  - These are the polishing moves that refine your shape but you'll still be working hard!

You do level 1 for 4 weeks. I do "Build" on Mondays, "Burn" on Wednesdays and "Sculpt"on Fridays with cardio in between.
In the kit you get some interval routines for use with an Eliptical or Treadmill, etc but I don't have one so I use my (excellent) Clubland aerobics DVD instead, but the interval routines look good so if you have one, or Gym access then they would definitely be worth a go.

So today I started again on Build 1 and I really enjoyed it. As my title suggests, my weights are too light, Val uses a 35 pound kettlebell for some of the moves and I only have 10 pound dumbbells - fail!!
It wasn't too bad though, I was feeling a bit rough so I was actually glad to not go too hard in the beginning, but by the time I got to the Valslide Pikes I was in the zone :)

I don't have any pain yet but I have been doing mainly bodyweight work recently thanks to the lovely Clara Nasir (glowing review to follow!) so i am expecting some major creakiness tomorrow.

I will keep you posted  and report back again on Wednesday with the next installment :)

Hope everyone's having a good day :)

Fitness: Quest for sports bra....

If anyone knows of a good sports bra, PLEASE let me know.

My Shock Absorber is knackered and discontinued. I have already tried another style from them and one from M+S with very poor results.

I just want to do jumping jacks without holding my boobs!!

Fitness: Blue Monday....

Feeling rather miserable today. 2 pounds up from Saturday weigh in, plus got to the post office too late to send off a parcel to QVC. Doesn't sound like much now that I've written it down, but there you go.
The result is that I have been very tempted by junk today but have, so far stuck to my guns even though we went to Tesco and my husband bought a bar of Galaxy - the horror!!!!

Anyway.....

Workout: Natalie Cassidy warm up, BD, 8 1/s mins of Davina Body Buff Cardio,don't know why, just wasn't feeling it today so swapped to Natalie Cassidy Sweat section + some of the Punch section for a total of 25 mins of cardio.

Food:
-Usual breakfast
- cous cous cucumber mix
- 2 steak, veggie and salad tortillas

That's it, short and sweet is best today, I think!

Hope everyone's had a good day :)
xx

Fitness: New Year = New Diet.......

So, if anyone out there is actually reading any of this, you may have noticed that I stopped posting about CAD. There is a reason for this: it stopped working so I started eating crap again.
Apparently, such extreme (in my opinion) dieting does not agree with me mentally or physically so once I'd got the Christmas crapfest out of my system I set about researching/remembering what had worked before.

At the end of 2008 I embarked on a basic healthy eating plan that enabled me to lose weight during a month that contains both my birthday and Christmas. There was no magic bullet, just simple healthy meals three times a day with the option to be a little less controlled on weekends or special occasions, combined with regular exercise in the form of DVDs.

That's it.

Unfortunately, I developed a frozen shoulder at the end of January and the result was a fear of working out in case it happened again (trust me, that is a valid fear it is bloody awful pain) and lots of comfort eating.

The year went downhill from there.


Anyway, I had a bit of a wake up call a couple of weeks ago and just thought "I have to change this now" so I did. I had a bit of a blowout last weekend and on Monday I started again.
This is what I have been doing for the past week:

WORKOUT:
I am re-testing the Body Doctor routine. I used this routine in 2003 and got good results but I was pretty much starving myself at the time so I am interested to see what happens when I eat in a sustainable way.
here is how I used it this week:

MON: Davina Body Buff warm up (10 min), Body Doctor weights routine, Davina Body Buff Cardio + Yoga cool down.

WED:Same warm up, BD(Body Doctor), Davina Body Buff Boxing + cool down.

FRI: Natalie Cassidy Warm Up (10 min), BD, Natalie Cassidy Sweat (15 min) + Punch (15 min), Davina cool down.

I really enjoyed these combinations. BD (as I shall now call it!) requires a 10 minute cardio warm up prior to the weight routine and at least 15 minutes of cardio immediately after it. The book recommends gym cardio machines but I find them deathly boring so I am using my DVDs and I am just as knackered I assure you!

FOOD:
Breakfast: frozen fruit, 2 tbsps Greek yoghurt, 1 tbsp flaked almonds/pumpkin seeds.
This is what I have every day, except Sunday when I have eggs and toast.

Lunches:
-Cous cous made w/ vegetable stock powder, sliced cucumber, 1/2 can butter beans, 1 tbsp cashew nuts.
-Cous cous w/stock, 1/2 avocado, 2 tomatoes, 1/2 can chickpeas.
-Cous cous (plain) 2 tomatoes, 1 can sardines.

The meals with the 1/2 measurements are spread over 2 days and the sardine meal is a once a week thing.

The result? I started the week at 14st 6lbs and as of yesterday I was 14st 3lbs so it is definitely doing something. I've been a bit lax this weekend so I will post the "official" stat tomorrow.

I am really happy with the results so far. There was a huge amount of habit breaking going on and I think I managed pretty well.

If anyone else is in the same boat good luck to us all!! :)

xx

Fitness: Day 10 of CAD

And the crappiness continues......
I am up another pound today, WTF??????????????????????????
This is the one of only two diets I have stuck to completely and I am absolutely gutted by this reversal of fortune.
Anyway, I will continue for a while longer but, if I keep gaining weight, this experiment may come to a premature finish.