December Callanetics Challenge

[Sandrahanna]

Originally Posted by Weebonilass

Toni,

That is what Callan says in 10/10. She says they are working hard enough... and to breathe normally.... I'm confused now too...

I hope my previous answer helps you understand this and yes, breathe normally.

Once, my students have rounded in I tell them to take a deep breath and on the exhale melt abs down along with lower and upper sternum which rounds you in even more. It's important to breathe deeply to help relaxation. We do focus a lot more on breathing in a CAllanetics class. We breathe to work deeper and relax more, more, more.

[Sandrahanna]

Originally Posted by tpiper55

OMG, I'm so glad you confirmed this - THANK YOU. Lately, I've been making my pulses smaller on the abwork and feeling it more intensely. I've even noticed that on the video, some of them are pulsing so small that they appear to not be pulsing at all. WOW, there is just soooo much potential for growth in this program.
Toni

When you watch advanced students workout you have to get up real close to see anything happen. This is what makes it difficult to film as you have to show something. Just know that the smaller the movement the better. There does have to be movement though as it's the pulse that is doing the toning.

There are so many, seemingly minor, things you can do to change the feel of an exercise and work deeper. This is why we don't get bored with the workout. The number one intensifier though, in my opinion, is relaxing and letting go of every muscle in your body...even the muscles you are training want to be relaxed

[Sandrahanna]

Originally Posted by Joyful111

I am feeling that too.

Sandra, thank you for the advice on pulsing. As I get stronger I feel like I have more control.

I did another hour of 10/10 today. It felt great.

Great, it feels wonderful when you feel the muscles working deeply but you have control over this. You know you're doing your best work

[Sandrahanna]

Originally Posted by lovely86

Alright! I didn't do good in November BUT I also didn't do bad!

I have to really kick it up this month I get fitted for my wedding dress beginning of January I have the 10/10 and both evolutions...does anyone have any suggestions for the best routine to go about doing before I get fitted

I encourage my students to do extra waist stretch exercise to promote a more streamlined torso. So as you have both DVDs I'd do both waist exercises in your workout. Even if you do 75 pulses instead of 100 of traditional (10/1) If you're going to do lots of Callanetics pre wedding (what am I saying of course you will) be prepared for lots of changes in your dress. Your fitter will get more than a little fed up with constant adjusting especially around the waist. So talk to her about this she may want to just do one alteration before the day.

I had a student who did a private with me 2 days prior to wedding and even though she had to constantly have the dress altered it was still loose on the day around the waist. She didn't complain about this though

[AprilW]

Hour 4 done!

[newmomtx]

Did Cardio of CardioC day before yesterday. And the toning part today .. so i am going to consider these together as my 2nd hour of callanetics for this month!

Sandra, I didnot quite understand how to do this exercise from the toning part:
"Kneeling with knees kept apart and sitting on the heals. Then gently curl up the pelvis and pulse up."
Although it looks very easy, I find it very very difficult to do actually. I just can't curl up my pelvis in that position; and it looks like I am jumping with my butt on my heals. How can I improve on this?

[CosmicGirl]

1 of 10/10 this morning. So pleased with myself as I usually use Sunday mornings as an excuse to lie in bed for 5 hours! The best things about doing Callanetics first thing in the morning are a) it is over and done with! b) I feel really energised and my posture is improved all day long and c) I tend to eat cleaner as I don't want to undo all of my good work.
Anyway off to do something constructive with my 'gained' Sunday morning time!

[edna_scooter]

Thank you Sandra for clearing the ab work up for us. It makes sense how you explain it. I have not been pulling my abs in like you said so I guess I have been using my back, oops. But hopefully, I can correct that from now on.

Did 4/14 yesterday. Hopefully I can get in #5 tonight.

[tempted_by_food]

another hour of evo that makes 3 of 10 for dec!

[Weebonilass]

Originally Posted by Sandrahanna

The most important thing here is that your back feels protected and both sides of your pelvis are relaxed down on the floor. The smaller the ball the lower your leg will be, the more challenging the workout. So you may like to use a bigger ball initially. You can also rest your foot on a chair or other support. The beauty is that you don't have the weight of the legs to contend with so you can relax and let go easier and focus on abs.

Again, please remember to listen to your body for signals if something doesn't feel right. If your back lifts or doesn't feel comfortable adjust your position to bring leg higher up. This is so important I don't want you to put strain on your back while doing the workout this way

Thanks Sandra, I went with the bigger ball for my session that night. I'll continue using it. Unfortunately at this point in time, I'm finding that I can only do Callanetics every other night due to my lower back. This may help me some... of course, the hard woodfloors in this place probably doesn't help much, even if I am using a yoga mat. Part I think is the extra weight I'm carrying around this go-around.... it's one of the things that is egging me on. The back is so much better when it's not supporting alot of extra weight.

[Weebonilass]

Originally Posted by Sandrahanna

I encourage my students to do extra waist stretch exercise to promote a more streamlined torso. So as you have both DVDs I'd do both waist exercises in your workout. Even if you do 75 pulses instead of 100 of traditional (10/1)

I love this exercise... even when I wasn't doing Callanetics, I would do that ab exercises, at least the first one for a 100 and then the side stretches for a hundred.. sometimes the side stretches were done at work in the bathroom... when no one else was in the bathroom

[slendercate]

Hi, y'all,
Two sessions of quick Callanetics for abd/stomach done this month.
Really working on the abd/waist area first, then will go back to 10/10 which I love.

Thanks for the tips on extra waist work, Sandrahanna. Will try it.

[Joyful111]

I did one hour of 10/10 this morning.

[lovely86]

Originally Posted by Sandrahanna

I encourage my students to do extra waist stretch exercise to promote a more streamlined torso. So as you have both DVDs I'd do both waist exercises in your workout. Even if you do 75 pulses instead of 100 of traditional (10/1) If you're going to do lots of Callanetics pre wedding (what am I saying of course you will) be prepared for lots of changes in your dress. Your fitter will get more than a little fed up with constant adjusting especially around the waist. So talk to her about this she may want to just do one alteration before the day.

I had a student who did a private with me 2 days prior to wedding and even though she had to constantly have the dress altered it was still loose on the day around the waist. She didn't complain about this though

Sandra Thank you so much for all of your advice you're so wonderful When you say the waist stretches do you mean the actual ab excercises or the "wais slimming" excercises where you stand up and pulse to the sides or all ha ha either way I'll do all of them a little extra this month Thanks again!

[AprilW]

Hour 5 done.

[tpiper55]

Originally Posted by edna_scooter

Tpiper55 thank you! Your avatar is very inspirational too! You look like you have had incredible results so far. My routine is solely Callanetics right now, I only have the 10/10 video. I just wanted to give the program a chance to see how it worked by itself. So far I'm very impressed. Although, I may add in weight training for upper body in the future. No cardio either, not saying cardio isn't good for you, I just never could motivate myself to do it. I saw more changes with diet anyways.

Weebonilass I agree about the warm house. The one thing that keeps me dreading a workout is the thought of crawling out from under the cozy warm blanket on my couch! My boyfriend keeps the apartment like an icebox

Edna, thank you so much for your kind words on my progress. What I still can't wrap my mind around is that I'm seeing MORE (or, different type of) progress after only 11 hours with Callanetics than I saw doing multiple strength/cardio based training programs AND, putting in 2+ hours of working out each day. Last weekend I spent some time reading some of the callanetics threads from 2007 and they were referring to it as MAGIC - well I agree. Like you, I'm ONLY doing Callanetics right now...no strength or cardio workouts and like you, am very impressed. I can't wait to see how I look after 20 hours I was so concerned about my thighs because I have a tendency to bulk up in my lower body (yeah yeah, I know everyone says women can't bulk, well, I do...Women aren't supposed to grow mustaches either, but if I don't wax this upper lip for a few weeks, guess what happens, lol). Anyway, my legs are looking sooooooo much longer and leaner. I LOVE Callanetics

oh, BTW, I turn on a small space heater about 30 minutes prior to starting my callanetics workout..

Does anyone else here giggle when Callan says "...roll up verteBRA by verteBRA.."?
Toni

[Mulberry32]

Sat-10/10 for #5
Cardio C cardio and toning this a.m. for #6

[tpiper55]

Originally Posted by Sandrahanna

I instruct students to visualise that their navel is a treasure chest sinking down to the bottom of the ocean. You'll see your waist expanding as you do this.

So, think melting abs down not contracting them.

Sandra, thanks for clearing that up. The visualization techniques helped a GREAT deal (especially melting down).

So I think I'm good to go with the abs, BUT, I have trouble keeping my butt tight on the thigh and behind moves (both of them). To be quite honest, I never really feel muscle fatigue on these moves, which tells me I'm most likely doing something incorrectly, I get a little shakey leg, but not that DEEP FATIGUE that I get from most of the other moves. I always feel like if I tighten my butt too much, them my hamstrings come into play when I'm pulsing, is that normal? OH MY, and trying to keep the shoulders relaxed while trying to keep the butt tight, hip rolled forward and pelvis tipped - it's no wonder this is a TOTAL BODY workout. Any pointers for the legs?

6/26 DONE! (10 in 10)

Toni

[tpiper55]

Originally Posted by Sandrahanna

...The number one intensifier though, in my opinion, is relaxing and letting go of every muscle in your body...even the muscles you are training want to be relaxed

, that SOUNDS so easy, and yet...

[newmomtx]

Did 10/10 followed by 10 mins cardio today morning, for my #3 of this month.

Feeling great & energized

[anitanewbutt]

Hello everyone, I am looking forward to starting up Callanetics again. I purchased the Callanetics Evolution and today was my first hour in Dec. My question is, would I see better results to start with 10/10 or should I continue with the Evolution dvd. Thanx for feedback.

[AprilW]

Hour 6 done.

[Hoppinn]

Callanetics, 10 Years Younger in 10 Hours!
I completed 1 hour!
Total: 12 hours!

[dontletsstart]

Just did 2/10!

[tempted_by_food]

logging in one more hr that makes 4 of 10

anita

[CallanFan]

Originally Posted by anitanewbutt

Hello everyone, I am looking forward to starting up Callanetics again. I purchased the Callanetics Evolution and today was my first hour in Dec. My question is, would I see better results to start with 10/10 or should I continue with the Evolution dvd. Thanx for feedback.

They're both good; do whichever one you feel more deeply, or alternate. I started with 10/10, so I had a preference for it. Evolution has the concepts and the different pulses and I love the stretching, but I didn't feel the intensity at first because I wasn't doing some of the moves quite right. When I finally figured each one out (thank you, Sandra), I felt them. Now I do my own best-of-both plus some SuperC mix.

So you actually worked out with Callan? What was that like?

[anitanewbutt]

Working out with Callan was wonderful. She was very gracious and helped me on some moves I had not been doing correctly. I actually have a pix of her and I and I blew it up into a calendar. I will try to find it and post it. May take time, that was the late 80's or early 90's.

[CosmicGirl]

Wow Anitanewbutt (great name) I am soooo jealous that you got to work out with Queen Callan!!! I bet it was amazing. (I am completely besotted with her by the way and I can't believe the whole world doesn't know who she is.)

Still, I worked out with her in a way via my vhs player today - 3 of 10/10.

[anitanewbutt]

Just finished 2nd hour of Callanetic Evolution for Dec. Feeling good

Anita

[CallanFan]

Originally Posted by CosmicGirl

Wow Anitanewbutt (great name) I am soooo jealous that you got to work out with Queen Callan!!! I bet it was amazing. (I am completely besotted with her by the way and I can't believe the whole world doesn't know who she is.)

Still, I worked out with her in a way via my vhs player today - 3 of 10/10.

This, that, and the other!