Click Here to see my video experiment

Angie, Bernard and I are a TEAM ! I wish I was at the stage in my fitness campaign where I could call myself a " Bernard Babe ". Not quite yet. I know how hard it can be to stay motivated when you want to incorporate staying fit and a healthier life style into your routine. So I thought I would dedicate my Friday blog updates to my quest for better fitness with you. Trust me, I'm human and don't always stick to what I set out to do. But it is my goal to try to stay on target, even if I get side tracked from time to time. Having Angie as my work-out buddy is a great start.

Angie and I start out our sessions first with a little bit of light cardio. You might be inclined to think, as I did, that you should stretch first. But Bernard suggests a little bit of light cardio instead, to get those muscles warmed up. You will find stretching easier to do after this first step.

Consider this your first

BERNARD FIT BIT.

I have worked out with other physical fitness experts in the past and have never bothered to ask how they figure out how much weight I should be lifting. I usually just take the 10, 15, or 25 lb barbell and get down to business. So, how do you know how much to lift?

TIME TO TALK ABOUT...

That's right! In order to figure out how much weight is right for you, you first have to get your body to "fail" -- the point at which doing just one more pushup (or whatever it is you are doing) is just impossible. Here is how Bernard figured out how much weight Angie and I could lift in a typical chest press. He started out with an educated guess and gave us each a certain weight in the barbell to lift. Notice, Angie is doing her chest press while lying down on a big pink ball. The added instability of the ball causes her to work more than just her chest muscles. If the ball rolls slightly to one side, her oblique muscles will tighten along with her leg muscles to steady out the platform. This, overall, works her core.

Remember, IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR CORE !

Anyway, Angie does 2 sets of 6 - 10 reps of chest press. Immediately after that, she does a set of pushups. If you cannot complete a set of 6 - 10 pushups and you FAIL, then you know that the weight you have just used for the chest press is a good weight to use at this point in time. In these pictures you can see me doing the pushups. Why is the one picture blurry? It is because I am failing. FAILING NEVER FELT SO GOOD!!