Chalean Extreme

[PeakFitness]

I didn't like CLX. (And I've never done STS.) Anyway, I got no kind of change at all. It didn't burn any fat off me. You can see my detailed review in the review section. I really felt like I was wasting my workout time. I agree with PhyllisG, awkward exercises. Combinations of exercises that just don't fit together and are awkward to do. And you can see from my review, I felt like too many of the exercises focused on shoulders. I mean, each workout only has 9 exercises, do 7 of them need to work my shoulders?? (I'll answer my own question, no it's excessive!) Also, and I don't know why I didn't put this in my review, it just slipped my mind, but month 3 made me feel arthritic, even when I wasn't working out all my joints hurt! It hurt to even sit down at work! As soon as I finished month 3, I felt normal again. (And that's when I realized it was CLX month 3 causing the joint pain, I didn't attribute it to CLX before that.)

My review: http://www.videofitness.com/reviewsd...ew.php?id=2221

[JackieB]

I enjoyed CLX, but ended up giving it away. The compound moves and heavy lifting really exacerbated my back. The length of the workouts was awesome and I didn't mind Chalene at all.

Jackie

[Blackadar]

Oh, and as an addendum...

As much as I liked (most) of CLX, I don't see myself doing it again. I feel that I'm past it as a program. The only way I think I'd do it again is for weightlifting fillers around some other program.

[ellaenchanted]

I adore CLX and got great strength gains from it. It's all about going heavy enough to exhaust the muscle. But, don't do something that hurts- it's okay to work up to heavier weights. I've done 3 rotations and have used the different phases separately as part of other rotations. It has been definitely worth the money for me.

I never did STS although it intrigues. I love Cathe's workouts but the program is definitely a time commitment. There are so many discs in the complete set and I am a clutterphobe. Of course, I may buy it one Meso cycle at a time at some point and go from there.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by ellaenchanted

I adore CLX and got great strength gains from it. It's all about going heavy enough to exhaust the muscle. But, don't do something that hurts- it's okay to work up to heavier weights. I've done 3 rotations and have used the different phases separately as part of other rotations. It has been definitely worth the money for me.

I never did STS although it intrigues. I love Cathe's workouts but the program is definitely a time commitment. There are so many discs in the complete set and I am a clutterphobe. Of course, I may buy it one Meso cycle at a time at some point and go from there.

Trade for one Meso cycle at a time instead!

[lfcjasp]

I did CLX once all the way through and felt so proud to have survived it I haven't been able to do that since (last summer I think) simply because it's a three-day split. But the workouts are nice and short, Chalene didn't get on my nerves and the equipment is kept VERY simple...all you need are some dumbells or bands and a looped band (thigh toner), or maybe ankle weights. I got STS, tried the very first workout in Meso 1...too much equipment, too many exercises...do you really have to do THAT much???? Sold off Meso 2 & 3...still need to get rid of Meso 1. Someday I'll do somemore CLX...maybe figure out how to incorporate it into my usual routines...once I get back to one

[ilovemygreatdane]

Love, love, love CLX. If there is a thread about CLX you will most likely find I have posted. I lost 30 lbs doing 2 rounds of CLX. The fact that the workouts are short is great and kept me doing it. The only thing I didn't like was the yoga so I never did it. I still use it all the time. Chalene never got on my nerves and I do not care for chatty instructors.

[TonyaC]

I have mixed feelings about CLX. I bought the set back in mid-2009, and immediately after, I joined an online coaching program where specific workouts were prescribed. I finished with that at the end of 2010, and I decided it was finally time to try CLX. I did the whole 3-month program, although after month 1, I started subbing different cardio in due to alleviate boredom. I did like Chalene's cardio, but I just got sick of the same old thing every week.

The workouts I was doing during my coaching program were really tough, generally with heavy weights. I have a well-equipped home gym, but this was stuff you'd typically need to join a gym for - squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull-ups, cable exercises, etc. I'm only mentioning this so you'll know where I'm coming from.

So from my perspective, here are the pros and cons of CLX:

Pros:

I liked Chalene, most of the time. I thought she'd drive me nuts, but that wasn't the case. I think it's because her perkiness seems genuine.

The workouts were short. I definitely appreciated that after having some workouts in my previous program take over an hour.

The workouts were challenging.

Cons:

A lot of the moves were awkward. This was mainly an issue with the first and third phases, when she has you doing upper and lower body at the same time. As others have mentioned, sometimes the pairing seemed inappropriate, either because the combination just didn't feel "right," or because it was impossible to use a challenging weight for the lower body due to being limited by upper body strength.

I didn't notice any "results." This is likely because CLX was a step down from what I had been doing. I might have even lost some muscle mass, but I can't be sure because I didn't do any measurements. I really needed a break from all that tough training, so I'm not really upset about this, but if you've been doing something similar to what I was doing before, you're not likely to magically put on a lot of muscle or lose a lot of fat just by virtue of doing CLX. However, if CLS seems like it's tougher than anything you've done before, you might get amazing results.

Sometimes Chalene could be a little too...motivating. I don't need to be motivated to exercise. That's been a habit since I was 16 or 17. (I'm 39.)That's just me, though. Maybe some people need that.

I HATE it when she stops doing an exercise to walk around and chit chat. This seems to be a Beach Body thing, and it just irritates to me to no end.

This is just nitpicking, but I really got sick of hearing about Toni's 7 kids every time I did whatever workout that was in. And some of the background exercisers just annoyed the heck out of me, although Toni herself didn't bother me in the least ...Laylee and Skip, I'm talking to you.

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So, I doubt I'd do this program again, and I probably ought to trade it away. I think I'm holding onto it because I may want to do the cardio again at some point. The program was kind of fun to do, since it was so different from what I had been doing, but the awkward moves were really the deal-breaker for me in the long run.

[Pie]

Best program that I've ever done. They are short and effective. I've only done one round but I lost 20 pounds. I like that it's a more complete program. With my STS rotation, I didn't lose weight but I lost a few inches. I'm sure that I would have done better if cardio was included with the program.......

I like both, but if I had to choose........ No contest, CLX!!!!!

[Debbie S.]

I could be a poster VFer for CLX. I just love this program. I did CLX for 15 months straight before finally shelving it, at least for awhile.

I had been waiting years for something completely different (much like P90X) and CLX was the program that I had been waiting for.

CLX can be as hard as you want it to be. I'm a solid advanced exerciser and have been for years, and I found CLX very challenging. Nothing made my entire body shake like CLX. Since hitting peri-menopause and then menopause, my weight remained the same no matter how hard I tried. Granted, I didn't have much to lose, but it would have been nice to lose the 10-12 lbs. that I gained and couldn't lose. Well, the weight just fell off of me during the Lean phase, and I have since lost quite a bit more. Now days I have to watch that I don't lose weight, because I really am at my low end for my height.