Bendy People Contest Winner!

I just want to pop in real quick to announce the winner of the Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga DVD. Here it is:

What? You can't see that? Okay, fine. Try this.

Who is number 9? Well I went and numbered all the comments, crossing out any duplicate comments, and this is number 9:

Aimee from 3busybs! Congratulations Aimee! I wish I could send this DVD to all of my bloggy friends, but I just have one today.

Aimee, send me an e-mail at Jillderbeast@cableone.net with your address and I'll mail it to you chop, chop.

Are you laughing at my e-mail address? Because I hear laughing. I should tell you that Pickle saddled me with the name Jillderbeast when we were teenagers. Shortly after I started calling him Pickle, I believe. :)

A Contest for Bendy People (or Wanna Be Bendies)

Does anyone else remember Gumby and Pokey? I used to watch them as kids and, strangely enough, right now Gumby is my hero. That's because of this:

It's the Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga workout. It kills me.

In my young, smokin' hot days I was a bendy person, like Gumby. Now, at 43, not so much. I'm trying to change that though. If I have any hope of conquering that chin-up bar this year, I need to get my muscles and flexibility back. Right now, when I hang from the chin-up bar I feel like I'm on a torture rack and someone is ripping my arms from their sockets. It makes me want to cry.

I don't like crying. I'm an ugly crier.

So, I've been doing this Yoga workout, alternating with cardio, for the last eight weeks or so, and I'm feeling a lot stronger. And a little bendier.

And I can pin Peanut Head down when I command him to drop to the floor, put one arm behind his back and use only his pinky finger to fight me off. Yeah, I really can't pin him ever. He's not ticklish and he has the advantage of leverage. And some extra muscles. Plus he's a cheater.

That's all beside the point though. I'm trying to tell you about this workout and how much I love it.

First, I have to confess, I used to think Yoga was a [air quotes please] "workout" for pansies, but that's because I had never tried it. And I had no idea what I was talking about. I tend to put my foot in my mouth from time to time. Okay, a lot.

Yoga is hard. Yoga is reeeeeeel hard. I used to think I had to do high intensity, sweatfest cardio to get a good workout. I don't think that anymore. Try holding plank pose for a minute or more, and you'll be begging to stop. You'll be shaking, your face will be turning red, and you'll have scary veins popping out of your forehead that you never knew you had. Go ahead, try it. I dare you.

Unless of course you're a Yoga expert, then forget it. You, with Gumby, are my hero. I want to be like you.

Anyway, my point if ever I should get there, is that I love this Yoga DVD workout. It has three levels, which is really nice if you're a beginner like me, and you can customize your workout so you are doing only the sections you want to do. Here is how the workout is broken up:

Warm-Up (5 minutes) - Gentle Yoga stretches

Yoga Level 1 (20 minutes) - Essential Yoga poses

Yoga Level 2 (15 minutes) - Poses that sculpt and define muscle

Yoga Level 3 (10 minutes) - Flowing Poses that challenge your strength and stamina

Cool-Down (5 minutes)

You can do the whole thing or just pick and choose each time what you want to do. I love this flexibility with workout DVDs. Some days I have less time and can only get 20 minutes in, so this flexibility is what I need.

The other thing I love is the trainer, Bob Harper. He's so Zen. I'm about as Zen as a Chihuahua, so I need this workout. Bob is always calm (well except for once this season on The Biggest Loser and it was awesome) and his voice is so soothing. Well at least I think it's soothing. Peanut Head disagrees with me on this point. He can't stand Bob's voice. But then Peanut Head can handle the Wii Fit trainers, so there's no reconciling that. I also think Bob is way cute.

I really want you to give this Yoga workout a try, so I'm going to give one away. I went out and bought one just so I could have this little contest and tell you all about it, so here's what I want you to do.

Leave me a comment telling me about your experience (or lack of) with Yoga and what you think of it. I will randomly pick one person to send this DVD to. Please make sure you have contact information in your comment if you don't have a blog or an e-mail attached to a Google account. The contest will end at midnight, Pacific Time, on Friday. Good luck!

Oh, and if you don't win and you want to just buy this DVD for yourself, here's a link for you:

Workin' Out With the Girls

We had Janae's girls (well, 2 of the 9 anyway) over for a sleepover last night. It's been awhile since we had them over, and usually I'm not a big fan of the sleepover, but I have to admit that it went well last night. The little pretties decided to join me this morning during my Billy's Bootcamp workout.

Working out with them kinda made me feel a little better about my lack of spatial skills and clumsiness. They persevered longer than I expected though, and surprisingly no one got kicked in the head.

Notice they all still have bed head. Although, for a change, Zoe Bug's hair is in reasonably good condition. Not the norm, as you may remember.

When Billy started sweating they said "Ew, gross, he's sweating." That happens sometimes. Just wait until they develop sweat glands of their own.

At one point one of them turned around and took a look at me and said "Eeeeeeeew, Jill's sweating now. Look at her face!" I tend to turn beet red when I work out. Chalk it up to good circulation in my head, I guess. Just a little gift I got from my Dad.

When it was time for the Billy Bands I sent them all for jump ropes. They scattered like birds, they were so excited, and each of them came back with a jump rope.

Zoe Bug is such a lightweight, she didn't last long. She's my delicate flower.

I love this picture. Their heads are tilted and they're saying "What is he doing?" I say that a lot when I'm trying to follow a workout like this.

Have you ever watched a kid do jumping jacks? It's hilarious. They can't get their arms and legs in sync and they jump around clapping their hands. 

After Zoe gave up, she started playing around on that nasty chin-up bar, which by the way, I have not conquered yet. I'm working on it though. When the movement exceeds the microscopic stage, I'll get back to you.

Lacey May is the only one that stuck it out with me for the entire workout. Girlfriend's got stamina. Maybe I'll introduce her to Jillian Michaels next time.

Want a Really Challenging LOOOOONG Workout?

First of all, I'll admit it, I am a dork and I tried the Tae-Bo tapes when they first came out and could not, I repeat, could not do them. The problem was coordination. Well, lack of it. I would get five minutes into the workout and just get frustrated and stop. Now don't judge me, I do know how to persevere, but not when I'm mad and sweaty and embarrassed because I'm tripping over myself, all at the same time. That's just asking too much.

Well, fast-forward three or four years and my friend, Mattie Cake, told me I had to try Billy's new Boot Camp workout series. In spite of my Bad Billy Experience, I'm generally influenced by my friends so I gave him another shot. And I'm glad I did, what a great workout! Billy knows how to punish a person, that's for sure. He loves him some squats and he looks great doing them.
Billy kills me in this workout. I scream out in pain regularly when doing this workout. My kids used to get scared, but now they just say "Is Billy hurting you, Mama?"

In addition to the excessive squats, you use Billy Bands, which are basically big rubber bands with handles on the end that you hold and loops to go over your feet. They are effective though. Whenever I stop doing this workout for more than two weeks, I have to go through the whole sore/can't-walk, sit, breath or go potty-without-crying-out-in-pain period. It's the punishing workout that keeps on giving. It is a good workout though. My only real complaint is that it is 55 minutes long. That's a big commitment in my life. Maybe that's why I'm rotund.

If you want to give these workouts a try, go here:

Anyone for a Workout?

I used to go to the gym for my workouts, but once I had kids that was no longer practical or convenient for me, not to mention in the budget. I had used workout videos before with success, so it is a good choice for me now. I recently discovered The Biggest Loser Cardio Max and Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVDs and I LOVE them. They are both very challenging workouts and, best of all, timesaving.

The Biggest Loser DVD is customizable with a 5-minute warm-up section, a 20-minute level 1 workout, a 10-minute level 2 workout, a 10-minute level 3 workout, and a 5-minute cool down. You can choose to do whichever combination you want with each workout and you can even block out the trainer's voice (great for when they start to get on your nerves). There are no perfect bodies in this workout, well, except for the trainers, so that is another plus. You don't have to endure the camera man panning over and zooming in on Malibu Barbie's parts. I love the cool-down part of this workout too. Bob leads you through some really great yoga stretches. Now I've never done any type of yoga before, but this little five-minute sample has really got me interested. Does anyone out there have any recommendations for a good yoga workout on DVD? I would love to hear from people about this.

The Shred workout is a winner because it is intense and it's only 25 minutes (including warm-up/cool-down). I find it pretty hard to make an excuse to not do this one. I mean, how can I not fit a 25 minute work out into my day. Both workouts are intense and efficient in that they make you work more than one muscle group at a time for more efficient calorie burning. Now I'm not exactly a poster-child for these workouts because I am, how shall I say it, rotund. However, I am fit, I'm just one of those fat fit people.

If you're interested in trying either of these workouts, click on the images below: