Fitness Update

So I've been doing the 5 days a week of workouts for a little over a month now.  Mostly the "barre" workouts, with a Cindy Crawford mixed in about once a week, sometimes every other week.

Prior to doing the DVD workout I do ab work on my decline bench.  I started out at 10 reps.  Once that became too easy I moved it up to 20 reps.  Once that became too easy I increased it to 30 reps, which is what I am currently at.  I am planning that once I get to 50 reps & it becomes too easy that I will then start adding on weights. 

I have definitely gained muscle mass over the past month, but I have now added on 15 minutes of cardio after my strength training workouts.  I do intervals, which burns more calories in a short amount of time.  The idea is to burn off some body fat.

So first I do my decline bench, then I do the strength training workout of the day, & then I do 15 minutes of cardio.  And then I hit the shower.  :)

I am tentatively planning that once I am pleased with my fitness level I will drop down to 3 days per week for maintaining.  That is, of course, until I find myself bored & needing a big fitness routine overhaul.  But I don't think it'll be coming for a while, since most of these workouts are very new to me.  And Suzanne Bowen, who is my favorite instructor for barre workouts, is filming DVDs in August, so I am eagerly anticipating their release & that will give me even more variety. 

Suzanne Bowen is my favorite because of the way she explains & teaches.  I somehow just really get what she's saying & I find that I can engage my muscles even more with her workouts.  Leah Sarago is my second favorite.  And I recently learned that Leah has lots of mini workouts on her website, some for free & some cost money.  You can also pay $14.99 per month to have access to new workouts online all the time.  That sure sounds like a great idea, once I don't feel challenged by the workouts I have currently I mean, but the price seems a bit much to me.  Hopefully when I get to the point where I feel I want/need to subscribe to that that the price will be less or our finances will be that where it will allow for it.  But I still have a ways to go before these workouts I have are no longer challenging & Suzanne has new DVDs coming as well. 

And I figure if I've gotten 20+ years of workouts out of my Cindy Crawford workouts then these should take me to at least age 60, LOL. 

My DVD routine is basically:
Monday-Ruah Warrior
Tuesday-Ballet Body Core
Wednesday-Cindy Crawford or Ballet Body Upper Body
Thursday-Ballet Body Lower Body
Friday-Ruah Release