Georges St. Pierre's Rushfit: A Woman's Perspective on the Program

I wanted to get a woman's perspective on the RushFit program. After all, women pretty much invented the at home fitness program and many of the men taking up the challenge will do so with their scowling lady friends either at their side or making cutting comments about their back fat. Maybe I'm projecting too much?

Anyway, long time readers of this site know it's a complete sausage fest. We have no female staffers and both of our female readers are actually 45 year old men from Hackensack, New Jersey, a place I've never been to but picked as the worst sounding real life locale imaginable. This is a round about way of introducing my lovely wife, who will give you the skinny on RushFit from a woman's point of view:

Since reading Jonathan's interview with Rushfit creator, Erik Owings, I have begun to think of it as my own personalized fitness program. After all, he did say he had me in mind when he created it, a new mom trying to lose that last bit of baby weight. Actually, I am a new mom twice over with the extra weight and extra responsibilities that go with that. When I started looking for a program to help me lose weight and shape up, I needed something that could be done at home, in minimal time, at any time of day or night and with little to no preparation. You can't have a workout schedule with two little ones. You need total flexibility, and Rushfit is completely flexible. The workouts require no preparation beyond pulling out my mat and dumbells, they are only 45 minutes long which is about the longest stretch of uninterrupted time I can count on, and I can do them right in my living room.

I really enjoy the Strength and Conditioning workout. I started with 2 lb weights and I am now up to 5 lb weights and getting ready to move to 8 pounds for some exercises. At the beginning, I had to do a lot of modified exercises, but by the third run through, I was able to skip the modifications. I love this tangible proof that my physical fitness is improved. I am stronger and I have greater stamina. I have also come to enjoy the Fight Conditioning workout. It took me a couple times through to find a rhythm but once I did I was able to turn up the intensity and get a really fantastic cardio workout from it. Now I'm not going to lie, the Ab workout is still grueling for me. But as GSP himself says, you're not going to be happy while you're doing the workouts, only after. No one is happier than I am when that Ab workout is over.

I have just a few minor criticisms. I love the content of the warm-up. It is very effective, but it's the same on every disc which means you are seeing it several times a week. It gets to be a little mind-numbing to hear all the same dialogue to start every single workout. I suggest you either do what we do and make a game out of it, saying all of GSP's lines before he does, or turn down the volume and crank up some music while you watch. Same with the cool down. At this point, Jonathan and I have modified our cool down so much we really only have the DVD still playing to see GSP's smiling and/or grimacing face.

Now onto the numbers. My goals going into the program were much more modest than Jonathan's. I only have 12 pounds to lose to get to my pre-baby weight and 14 to get my ideal weight (or as Jonathan puts it the lowest I can weigh without losing boob weight.) But I believe my battle is tougher than Jonathan's. Baby weight is extremely stubborn. It took nearly a year finding places to hide and it is entrenched. Because this battle isn't new to me, I set very long term goals, five months to lose the first 10 pounds and three more months to lose the rest. At the end of the eight months, we have a week long beach trip planned so I have constant motivation.

My progress so far has been slow but steady. I have dropped 4 pounds and one jeans size. That actually puts me back in my pre-baby jeans which puts a huge smile on my face. I have not been perfect on this plan, by any means. My diet could be better and we have taken two vacations since starting, but I was especially pleased to find that the weight didn't come right back the second I fell from grace. I will finish up this Beginners plan, shift to another plan for six weeks or so, and then come back to tackle the Rushfit Intermediate plan. I am actually starting to visualize myself on the beach in my swimsuit without being covered up by a giant t-shirt.

Previous RushFit entries:
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five