So what does one do when they realize that summer is only a few months away, that their 40th birthday will follow not too soon after that, and that they’ve fallen into a rut with their exercise routine? Well if you’re like me you sign up for the latest fitness craze to hit the infomercial circuit; Tracy Anderson’s metamorphosis workout series. I’m not sure why I picked this workout over others on the market – but I found myself going to her website and using the body type calculator to figure out whether I was omnicentric, abcentric, hipcentric or glutecentric. The results showed I was abcentric – so that’s the DVD set that I ordered.
Upon receiving the DVD set the first thing I did was review the workout summary which basically says that you need to do both the cardio and muscular structure work 6 days a week. The phase 1 Metamorphosis set is 90 days long. Both the cardio and the muscular workouts are a half hour each. The muscular structure workout changes every 10 days, the cardio remains the same for the entire 90 day series.
The instructions ask you write down your body measurements and current weight for tracking results over the upcoming weeks. While I didn’t sign up for the workout series to necessarily lose weight (it will be a side benefit if it happens), I really wanted to just tone up all over prior to swimsuit season.
Day 1: I started with the cardio DVD which Tracy refers to as a dance workout. Personally to me it’s more like doing various jumping exercises for a half hour. Picture jumping jacks, straight jumps, cross-over jumps, etc… After what seems like a significant amount of dancing around, I look at the clock to realize it’s only been 5 minutes and think I am never going to make it through an entire ½ hour. However the next time I glanced at the clock it was 20 minutes into it and I knew I could push through to the end. I want to say that I did not ease my way into this workout – I went full force the whole time (that point will come into play later). By the end of the video I was drenched in sweat, incredibly thankful to be done with that part, and wondering how I was going to now do the muscular structure workout.
So I put in the 2nd DVD with the muscular workout – It starts with you standing up for an arm workout, some standing ab work and then moves to the floor for mat work the remainder of the time. I will admit I had a much tougher time with this workout than the cardio workout. Most of the mat work is done on all four – so while you are doing an insane amount of leg lifts on each side you are also holding your body up on your arms the entire time. I kept having to stop and stretch out my arms and back by moving into a yoga baby pose. I did make it through the entire workout but did not complete nearly the number of reps that she did in the video.
One thing I want to mention about the videos because it caught me off guard at first. Tracy does not cue during most of the workout. So the first couple times you perform the workouts, you’re really having to concentrate on what she is doing so you don’t completely miss something. It’s not so bad when you are doing the cardio because you’re standing but for the mat work it can be challenging. Not cuing may be brilliant on her part – because you are so focused on following her that time passes quickly and then by the time you know the routine the last thing you want to hear is the same voiceovers each day. Also if you decide to join me – I’d recommend just playing your own music in the background to keep you moving since the music on the video isn’t that great.
On Day 2, I woke up and every muscle in my body was sore from my neck down to my calves. That’s when I figured something must have been working… I haven’t been really sore from any workouts in a long time. So I pushed on and completed my two workouts for the day.
On Day 3, While the rest of my body seemed to start to adjust to the new workout – my calves were not having any of it. I spent the entire day hobbling around and looking ridiculous. I even whined some to my husband that I must have pulled something… to which he just shook his head and said “um no you’re probably not used to using those particular muscles“. So I focused on really stretching out throughout the day. And that evening, I decided to do the workout but at lower impact – hoping that by not jumping constantly it might resolve my calf issues. I also went on Tracy’s website to see if others had the same issues when they started… turns out others did. And the recommendation was exactly what I was doing with the lower impact and lots of stretching.
Day 4 – Day 10, By about day 5 or 6 my calves seemed to adjust to the new workout and I was able to resume with the increased intensity level. Each day I noticed that the mat work that I’d have to stop constantly the first day to stretch out my back and arms during got easier and my number of reps increased. I should mention that 2 of the 10 days I opted to run on the treadmill for my cardio workout vs. doing the dance video. Personally I needed to change it up in order to not get bored or lose motivation. The mat work I had no issues completing daily as I liked seeing how I was progressing. I do think the cardio workout had an impact on my running. I found that I had more endurance and could run at a slightly faster pace on the days that I chose to run.
There is an eating plan as part of this program, to date I have not followed the eating plan but I did lose 2 pounds. Of course I can gain or lose 2 pounds in a day depending on what I eat so we’ll see if the trend continues as I progress. Tracy does say that you should follow the eating plan for the weight loss part of the program… and I may try it over the next few weeks as the program progresses but for now I felt like the workout changes were enough.
Tomorrow I start the next muscular structure workout in the series. I’ll provide an update on day 20 of how things are going. I know a few people mentioned that they were thinking about trying this workout series also. I’d love to hear from you if you decide to join me or are already an expert J