TAM Update – Week 7

No pictures today, I need to get some new clothes that aren’t so baggy and that can actually show off all the hard work I’ve put in! I’ll be hitting a thrift store soon to grab something to tide me over until I’m at my teeniest size and can buy more permanent clothes.

Today I wanted to briefly go into a little more detail about exactly what TAM is and why it is different from other exercise DVDs out there. Some of this might be a bit of a review. TAM stands for the Tracy Anderson Method. First, each workout is two parts which you do six days a week and then have a rest day. (That’s why I’ve done 7 weeks of this, but just 42 days. Make sense?) There is a half hour of cardio each day, which is in the form of dance cardio. Tracy is giving you a dancer’s body, the kind of body that isn’t bulky, and her theory is that any cardio that uses the large muscles repetitively can bulk you up. In all her studies, dance cardio worked the best to help melt fat away without bulking up the larger muscle groups. Besides, the dancing is fun! I’ve really started to enjoy just turning up the music and dancing away. It’s a good thing I do it with the blinds closed, though, because I am still a terrible dancer! The second part of the workout is a half hour of what she calls muscular structure. This is the part that is really different than other workouts out there. I’ve lifted weights before, a lot, and all it ever really did was make me bigger and boxier. For a man, that’s great, but it’s not exactly what a woman is looking for, at least not what I’m looking for! I don’t really want a six pack stomach, I just want a flat, toned stomach. Instead of working your large muscle groups, the muscular structure exercises work your accessory muscles, so you end up toned but not bulky. The exercises are a bit wacky, no normal crunches here! But the variety is what keeps things fun. And because these smaller muscles get bored really fast, this is the part of the workout that changes every 10 days.

Tracy has a lot of different products out there, but the one I am doing is her 90 day program, Metamorphosis. She has split Metamorphosis up into four different body types based on your problem areas, and I am doing the Omnicentric one, which basically means my problem area is everything! I just finished up Level 4 yesterday. That level was interesting, there were arm moves that made me feel like the 3 pound weights I had in my hands were more like 300 pounds! But I pushed through because I figured that meant that is where I really needed to work to get my arms to tone up. I also took my 40 day measurements yesterday, and the frustration from last week carries over a little bit. I lost a half inch in my chest and a half inch off my hips, and that’s it. Blah! But I know things are changing because I can see the difference, and I had to add a belt to my “skinny” jeans, the only pair of pants I have that still fit well enough to actually wear. Take that stupid tape measure! My prob could also be that this is the week out of the month that I would expect to see some bloating going on. Also, they say that everyone’s body is different, and some levels you will see more change than others, so I’m glad to be starting on the next one. And I still lost another 2 pounds, so yeah for that! Still making progress!

I started Level 5 today, and Tracy is making me think! At 5:00 in the morning! The arm series is super fast, but it’s kind of dancey and fun. I’m excited about the ab series in this one, I can tell it’s really going to get my lower abs. Not to brag, but I’ve always had pretty good ab muscles, enough that the doctor made a big fuss over them during both my C-sections, (have any other C-section moms gotten compliments on their ab muscles when they were all on display like that? I’m flattered, but maybe that’s a bit odd?) and so far I’ve been able to get through all Tracy’s ab work pretty easily, but I had to pause for a second on this level. Yeah for flatter abs! The leg work has you doing some stuff with your legs and stuff with your arms at the same time, which is tricky. I know I’ll catch on soon, but I probably looked a little crazy this morning.

Overall, despite those stubborn inches I still feel great. My weight is still steadily dropping, I’m eating really great food, and so far I have not missed a single workout. Seven weeks, and not one single missed workout! That’s my stubbornness coming out right there, I will do this, and do it well. But I also consider that a big, hearty slice of success. Go me!!

(For the record, TAM has not given me anything to write about them. But hey, if they want to send a fat check my way, I won’t object, wink, wink.)