Motivation Monday| Zumba Fitness Core Review| Personal Results

As you probably know, seems I keep banging on about it, I have been on a big fitness kick over the past 2 months. I’ve been working hard so I can fit perfectly into my party dresses this Christmas and New Year. I have been taking part in my self devised Fitness Challenge, however the other week I was kindly gifted the new Zumba Fitness Core Game to trial and to incorporate into my Festive Flat Tum Challenge.

As a huge fan of the Zumba workouts I obviously jumped at the chance to try this new game. Having exhausted all the routines and moves in the old one this was a nice change. The reasons why I love the Zumba games is that they don’t feel like a workout, you don’t have someone shouting at you demanding you to do push ups and jumping jacks, instead you get to dance along to some great moves and have a laugh. There have been many a times when my mum and I have been in stiches try to master some of the moves, one time my mum almost knocked me clean out while getting too overenthusiastic with the Zumba hand weights and hitting me in the head!

Anyways on to the new game! You can buy the Zumba Core Game for the Nintendo Wii and Kinect for the Xbox 360 and it is priced at £19.99, an absolute steal and only the cost of  a few exercises classes (or cocktails!) You can buy the game from the usual places, including Game. The game was designed and developed as research shows that the core is the one area that women are most unhappy about their own bodies and the area they most want to work on. It comes with a dance belt so you don’t have to mess around trying to carry a remote control, you can just dance you little bum off!

The review

What they say-

“Dance your way to flat, sexy abs! Skip the crunches and strengthen your core with the only game to sculpt you abs through an exhilarating total-body workout. Zumba Fitness Core focuses specifically on strengthening and sculpting your core, within an effective body workout to deliver the tight and toned abs for a sexy six pack. This energising dance-fitness experience features 40 tracks from Enrique Iglesias, LMFAO, Shakira, Bob Marley and more, and over 33 dance styles so you can party your abs off- without ever getting down on the floor!”

What I say-

“I have one other Zumba game, which I love and thankfully I can say the same about this one! I enjoyed the music a lot more than previous one, as there was more recent/recognisable songs. I think the dances are more diverse, you can find all sort from ballet to jive to African dance alongside the more traditionally Zumba dance; salsa and samba. If you are a newbie to Zumba, there is no need to fear as the tutorials are very clear and helpful so learning the steps is easy to do.

As with the older game, the workout options vary so you can match them to your mood. You can choose to dance one or two dances, picking from any of the routines, or you can do a full dance class, which are either 20, 40 or 60 minutes long.  I normally do the 40 minute routine, which is definitely long enough to feel the burn!

The feature I love the most is the ability to monitor your progress, just like my beloved NikeRun Ap, I love to see how I am performing and if I am improving! With the ability to monitor your progress and set goals it keeps me hooked in… I’m a bit of a nut for stats! So finding out how many calories I’ve burnt, achievements earned and technique scores is a great addition!”

Results

I have incorporated this game into my Festive Flat Tum Challenge and have been using it for about 3 weeks. So with my running, additional abs exercises and this game I have to say I am seeing results! I actually managed to fit into my target dress this past weekend, which didn’t fit 6 weeks ago… it barely went over my bum 6 weeks ago! You can also see how many inches I have lost on my waist! I put this belt on and was shocked to find it doesn’t fit anymore.. it literally hangs off me!

Overall I am more than impressed with this game! It has given me results and most importantly it is fun! I can’t wait to crack it out after Christmas and challenge my friends and family to it.. burn off that Christmas turkey!

Have you tried this game, or any of the other Zumba workouts? Do you enjoy dance workouts?

Abs Are Made In The Kitchen

I don't know about you, but I never seem to get the right balance with nutrition and exercise. I either find myself religiously working out, 5/6 days a week, feeling great, but not eating right as I am in the mentality that "oh I worked out already, so I can eat this chocolate." Or I eat great, really healthily, but don't exercise, as I think "I'm eating great and loosing weight, so I don't need to exercise."

At the moment I am eating great, but not exercising, I keep telling myself "Oh well, weight loss is 70 percent diet, and 30 per cent exercise." However if I don't work out I won't be toned, I need to kick myself up the bum. Think of it this way, you eat 3-5 times a day, everyday, however you only workout 1-2 times a day 5-6 times a week. The activity that you partake in the most, if obviously going to have a greater impact on your body. 

So starting this week, as in tomorrow! I am going to workout 4 days a week, and keep my soup/smoothie diet up.

I am also upping my soup/smoothie diet, to kick start my weight loss for December. So I will be having 3 smoothies a day, and 3 soups a day, it will almost be like a cleanse. Everything I eat will be green and I will be making sure the soups and smoothies are rammed full of protein so I do not loose muscle mass like you can do in some cleanses. 

Have you ever been on a cleanse, or liquid diet? Do you get the balance right between exercise and diet?