Review of Jari Love’s Get Ripped: Slim and Lean vs. The Biggest Loser Workout: Power Sculpt

On Monday, April 20, 2009, Jari Love’s Get Ripped: Slim & Lean DVD came to me by way of Netflix. The next day I popped in the dvd and began what I think is a huge step in the right direction with strength training.

There is a major difference between Love’s Get Ripped: Slim and Lean workout versus The Biggest Loser Workout: Power Sculpt one. Although Power Sculpt is great, it lacks changes to really tear deep muscle tissue which is essential for building muscle. Consequently, there aren’t a lot of repetitions so after a few sessions of doing the workout, you can easily lift the weights, although you can go heavier once that happens.

On the flip-side, Slim & Lean wears down your muscles. You don’t just do 18 single count bicep curls and move along to another exercise. Oh no. Jari Love constantly changes the dynamics of the entire session. You count four up slow and down slow, then up two and down two, down three and up one, pulsing, and finally single counts–then you repeat this three to four times. It’s the same whether you’re doing squats, shoulder presses, lunges, dead-lifts, or triceps. When it comes to bicep curls I start out with eight pounds and then end up using five. As for shoulder presses? Oh. My. Gawd. I do one set with eight pound weights, do 1/4 of the next with five pound weights and then finish the second and third sets with three pounds in each hand–shaking and grunting to lift them!

Another difference between Power Sculpt and Slim & Lean is the length of the workout. The Biggest Loser workout is broken up into five segments: 5-minute warm-up, 20-minute sculpting section, two 10-minute sculpting segments, and a five minute cool down. Once you’ve gained strength you can tailor your workout to do all three strength training sessions which adds up to 40-minutes. Jari Love’s Slim & Lean workout is broken up into 15 segments–12 of them equal almost an hour (including the warm-up) and that doesn’t include the cool down.

Even though Jari Love’s Get Ripped: Slim & Lean workout is harder, beginner’s can adjust the amount of weights used and pause if need be. And like I said previously, The Biggest Loser Workout: Power Sculpt dvd is great. I really recommend it for beginners looking to ease in to weight training without half dying in the process. Make no mistake about it though, I used it for a few months before learning about Jari Love through a friend and felt it!

Three wonderful similarities stand-out to me between The Biggest Loser trainers, Bob Harper, Jillian Micheals and Kim Lyons, and Slim & Lean’s Jari Love; they are all very encouraging and definitely will keep you motivated, the workouts are fun, and you can tailor your workouts accordingly.

I’ve done the Get Ripped: Slim and Lean workout every other day since April 21st (minus this past weekend when I was camping) and can already feel a difference in my body.

My fitness goal is to do the entire Get Ripped: Slim & Lean dvd without stopping or switching to lower weights and then I’ll move along to Love’s cardio and strength interval training video.

Have a happy and healthy day!

Hugs ~ Sandy

Rev Up Your Sex Life with After Workout Sex!

Need some spice to your dead or dying marital sex life? Then let’s talk about sex and specifically why after workout sex rocks and how it can take your sex life to a whole new level.

When you’ve been married for awhile (we’ve been married 17 years), it’s normal for intercourse to become a bit mundane and dwindle from quite a few times a week to a few times a month. Although sex isn’t “the” most important thing in a marriage, it does rank up there with having a healthy and happy one. So, what’s a woman to do when it comes to revving up sex? Why, workout with or at the same time as her husband. And, if he isn’t into working out, bring his ass over to the computer and give him a good reason to. 

My husband works out at home in the mornings; he sets the alarm for 3:30 or 4:30 (depending on whether he runs or not) and leaves for work around 6:15. I usually don’t wake up at three-thirty but I do get up around 4:30-5am daily so instead of waiting until six, I go ahead and workout too. We do not workout together, but we’re usually done within 10-15 minutes of one another. Whoever finishes first takes a shower, but sometimes we take one together.

Regardless of your size, when you’ve finished a hard cardio or strength training workout, you feel sexy (once you’ve passed the dead phase). Also, cardio and/or weight lifting gets the blood rushing and we all know that sex enhancement herbs or drugs are all about getting the blood to places of desire–working out is a natural way to get those little red guys where they need to be.

My attraction towards my husband happens on several levels; I love the sounds he makes when lifting weights, the sweat trickling down his rock hard chest drives me wild, and his muscles appear enlarged and powerful which makes me want to touch, touch, touch.  His attraction towards me is seeing me working towards the goal and viewing the confidence I have when finished.

Feeling good about yourself, blood flowing throughout your body and the mutual animal attraction for one another are all perfect ingredients for an incredible sexual experience! You may also find yourself willing to try positions you normally wouldn’t do because your self-confidence levels are running high. I don’t know about your man, but if you’re an overweight woman like myself who try’s to cover-up the fat during sex with shirts or blankets–do not do it–my guy hates it and chances are yours does too. Why? Because it takes the focus of what you should be enjoying completely uninhibited.

Have a great day and try working out with your man!

Sore, Sore, Sore and the Cure for Soreness

I’m into day three of the May 2009 issue of Prevention Magazine’s strength training workout and yesterday and first thing this morning I was sore…make that sore, sore, sore!

I’ve been lifting weights every other day, as well as lunges and squats, since January but it didn’t prepare me for Prevention’s workout at all. The exercises require moving in to and out of the positions slowly. For instance, instead of just squatting and returning to standing position, you slowly lower into squat position to a count of four and then raise back while counting to two or four.

The reason counting in this manner works so well and feels so new to your body is because it confuses the muscles and makes them work harder. If you’re in need of a boost to your routine, you should definitely try incorporating the slow-count method in to your routine.

Yesterday I could barely move and this morning was the same way. However, I’m no longer sore due to a wonderful natural “cure” for sore and tender muscles…after workout morning sex with my husband. Cool eh? Of course, you’ll have to use your own hubby or significant other to cure the soreness though…which I’m sure they’ll be happy to oblige.