I bought the book last night at Wal Mart and started reading it, didn't get very far as it was late when I got home.

I am setting my start date for March 18 and am in the process of gathering information. This sight has so much info I don't know where to start. I plan on sticking with my low carb way of eating, but I feel this exercise routine will help shape my body into what I've wanted all my life.

I do have a question, will I be able to do the workouts on a home gym. We have a Weider home gym, the kind with the weights and pulleys 2 people can work out at the same time. I also have 3, 5 and 10 pound dumbells. Will I be needing any other equipment.

I also have a question about the cardio workout, I currently do Tae Bo Basics workout, will this work for the cardio part? it's 25 minutes including the warm up and cool down.

I'm trying to get DH to do it with me, so far no luck. That's ok because now I've found you guys and I feel with support I will accomplish all I set out to do.

Hi Harley and welcome Great to have you joining us!

Your home gym sounds great. I have managed to do one full challenge and am on the 6th week of my second with only a weight bench (with a leg curl attachment) and free weights. Many of the transformations you read and see in the book were done with home gyms.

You may need to get a few extra free weights - an adjustable set would be a good idea. Some exercises performed with dumbbells will give you a better workout. I found a set of 40lbs weights at WalMart for 39$ that served me well. For now though you should be OK.

I would suggest you try a few practice workouts to get the feel of your first routines - it will help you better guage what a 10 is and how to move between exercises in the one minute allotted.

I'm not sure that the Tae Bo would work as cardio at first - you might be able to incorporate it later once you know what your different levels feel like. The idea behind the 20 MAS (minute aerobic solution) is that you work at different levels - similar to interval training. You start off at a very easy pace then work up to near maximum effort, then scale it back and climb back up. This is done 4 times until you do reach your maximum effort. You might try a treadmill (or jogging) or a stationary bike first to get the feel.

The thread stuck at the top of this forum would be a good place to start nutrition wise - there are some hints I compiled after my first challenge. I'd also recommend looking through Bsayne's and Marlaine's journals - they have both been doing LC nutrition w/ BFL for 8 weeks now and have some great menus to copy off of

Looking forward to hearing more!
Nat