My Month with Tracie Long

[Aunt Famous]

The forum has been abuzz lately with several threads that have interested me -- and some that could have been written by me. Middle age weight gain. Boredom. Parting with workouts you hate. Rotations. The slow/wise/no buy challenge. So I decided to do some animal testing -- on me, so breathe easy -- and try something new. Since this grand experiment is the love child of these threads (and because Breezy Trousers said she'd read it), I decided to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and chronicle My Month with Tracie Long.

Why Tracie Long, you ask? Several wildly disparate reasons. I scraped together my pennies back in the day to buy the original Firms, and then the Tracie Firms, so you can't discount nostalgia. Posters in several threads said that they got great results with a Tracie rotation, and the words "great results" always prick up my ears. And as part of my own personal westward ho! DVD expansion movement, Tracie's DVDs started being on sale at all the right times. So I collected.

But truth be told, it has a lot to do with the fact that I am now a middle-aged woman, a woman in my prime. Nearing 44, it is great to feel on top of my game mentally and be oozing with confidence, but it is not nearly so great to have strenuous workouts evoke thoughts of knee replacements.

And it also has a lot to do with the fact that I am tired. Tired of really long workouts, tired of really painful DOMS, and tired of feeling like Ms. Pac Man when I cannot get enough food to fuel the machine. Tired of feeling like exercise is a bit of a chore sometimes. And tired of juggling the competing demands of work, family, and me.

So I present to you MMwTL. Will I turn to goo doing 30 to 50 minute DVDs five days a week? Will I grow bored with only one instructor? (Remember, friends, I am the one who converted Supreme 90 into Supreme 42, and three days after proudly announcing my Rushfit rotation, I went back to doing my own thing.) Will I start ending every fitness session with a ta-da! move?

Or will it be better? Will I get the right amount of exercise to feel energized? Will I sleep better? And will I look good in my new bikini, because honestly, vanity can't be underestimated?

Here is the rotation I downloaded from Tracie's website (which helpfully tells me what workout fits in what category):

week one: cardio weights cardio rest interval cardio rest
week two: interval cardio rest interval weights rest weights

So far, so good -- week one has included Step Forward, Leaning Out, Kick Back, and Reboot 2.

I'll post again tomorrow. I welcome your questions, comments, and similar experiences.

Happy training. And ta-da!

AF

[Harantwanders]

Interesting, thanks for posting.

[CharM]

Originally Posted by Aunt Famous

So I decided to do some animal testing -- on me, so breathe easy

and tired of feeling like Ms. Pac Man when I cannot get enough food to fuel the machine.

(Remember, friends, I am the one who converted Supreme 90 into Supreme 42

Happy training. And ta-da!

Hahaha very funny. I look forward to your updates. And I do hope you make it to the month, or I'm sure we'll see it referred to as your "Tracie Short experiment "

[Elise7]

Aunt Famous, I enjoyed your post and look forward to hearing about your experience!

[KathAL79]

I look forward to follow your progress. I've done Tracie Long months before myself; her workouts are pretty varied that it's harder to get bored with her workouts compared to some other instructors. Good luck!

[lrb04]

Good Luck! I am a huge Tracie fan & have all but her very first workouts. I am one who does not intensify her workouts but I bring it down a notch. I think that you could bring any of her workouts to a challenging workout if one wanted to do that. Step Forward is a good start & is my favorite step workout. Enjoy & I will be reading your posts.

[Lucky Star]

Good luck and I look forward to reading about your results! Although, from the thread title I thought you'd be reporting about your completed month with Tracie Long...

[jEnNnY]

This is great! I'll be reading your chronicle! I am addicted to Tracie's Leaning Out and always chuckle at the ta-da! moments I still have to try the 5 dvds I got during her last sale I also hope to hear about how you intensify up the w/o's

[FirmDancer]

Looking forward to reading your feedback!

[Breezy Trousers]

The lines that made Char quoted made me laugh, too. (Char: The "Tracie Short Experiment" -- lol.)

Hey, Aunt Famous, I love the way you write, so I'd read your posts even if you were writing about hydraulic brakes. But Tracie Long, my new fitness interest? I'll be following this thread!