How I overcame my cellulite with Dove Part II

I come from a long line of ice tea addicts with multiple pitchers full on the counter for all day anytime consumption. I imagined that I would become the feral cat with caffeine withdrawal, but amazingly, it was not difficult. I was over caffeine in 3 days and 1 migraine.

And in addition to the Dove’s Bodies Total Body Workout DVDs which should be done one per day from start to finish without breaks as she’s playing with your heart rate constantly, there is, drum roll please, …

CARDIO… Oh how I hated cardio and each time I did a Dove’s Bodies DVD I saw those machines lurking in the background. However, Dove helped me tremendously here. She told me not to think of doing it to get a “high” but rather do it for tissue change. Ahh. All this time I never got a joy state like others. Dove said she doesn’t either but she does it anyway. Coming from 5 minutes on the elliptical, my intuition finally told me to buy a treadmill. OMG OMG OMG I’m so glad I did. I got a bad ass one too with fans and docking station for an iPod and speakers and tweeters. I can go uphill, downhill or flat. Twenty minutes flies by. Yes I wear my MBT shoes!! Dove likes the 4.0 speed. I think she said she did intervals. There were two days that I pushed and I did 45 minutes but for right now, I’m happy being happy with 20 minutes. I do this 4 days a week. My ‘Dove goal’ she gave me is 6 days at 45 minutes each.

Dove prefers cross-training-cardio and does treadmill, elliptical and recumbent. Oh and she can do a mean jump rope.

Okay. Now you have a plan. A plan that works and takes the mystery out of “should I or shouldn’t I do XYZ?” However if you have specific issues, I encourage you not to buy that dress or jacket and invest in a consult for you and Dove.

I’ve lost many inches, gained more definition, am much tighter, youthful, and as Dove said, not only can you gain all of those qualities, but you will change the tissue quality on the inside which is necessary to help the cellulite go bye-bye.

Wow. After all these years, I’m saying goodbye to my cellulite. There was a fix. Aren’t some new relationships just plain wonderful?!

It turned out that Dove Rose is a pretty good magic bullet.

Did I do it without temptation and internal turmoil?

Oh I asked myself several times…could I stay the course? Could I stay to my commitment?

Ugh.

Part of what prevents any of us from change is fear of course, but also in the mix is a clinging to old myths. We have our perspective, our past, our routine and we’re going to cling to all that like a 2 year old with a pacifier. But we keep an eye out for that magic bullet! Often we cling to our way and we’ll “try” something new but only if it works instantly!! Thus our running to the mirror after doing a workout, and looking for instant improvement. How many times did I do that? Infinity comes to mind.

Or doing these DVDs for a couple of weeks and then listening to the siren song of cupcakes or being too busy for several days because in the back of the mind lurks “other people do that.”

Caving to mediocrity I proclaim! It’s hard to go for excellence because so much of society caters to the cave-in, the oh-you-deserve not to be excellent and be mediocre so go ahead and stuff your face with that bread basket, bloomin’ onion, smothered nachos and 4 margaritas. Average so often wins because the majority seeks the status quo.

How many times have we heard that certain exercise moves don’t work? They bulk, they build, they whatever.

For all the haters of squats and lunges, guess what? In these DVDs, there are squats and lunges. Now before you get your panties in a twist, have you been doing squats and lunges CORRECTLY? I thought they were a no-brainer but I was wrong. Dove teaches you how to do them correctly AND in a rhythm that does not bulk and there’s been no bulking for me. See my before and after thigh pictures at the end of Part I. Dove does not belabor any exercise but keeps moving, moving, moving.
My point is this: if you are not happy with how you look, make no excuses to stall, procrastinate or sabotage (“oh I don’t want to give up X”) and do the Zone and these DVDs and the cardio faithfully and I promise you that in 8 weeks your friends, and you, will be stunned. Yes, I understand that you might have been burned before, but damn it, just try this before you complain one more second. J

More about the Dove’s Bodies DVDs: When I got my package I thought that I’d hit pay dirt in Vegas, I started mixing the 4 DVDs immediately doing one on Monday and another on Tuesday and so on which left me giddy and overwhelmed. I feel that the better method would be to work with one video for about a week and half to two weeks to gain necessary strength, familiarity, and better mastery. I recommend starting with #4. And do #3 after you’ve mastered the others. #3, although not labeled as such, is for the hard-core-bring-it-on-try-to-hurt-me exerciser.

You do not need a lot of space for this (the area around a mat) nor do you have to worry about making too much noise for an apartment below. Well, unless you like to scream out when doing a knee lift.

There’s a variety of exercises, old school, new school, twists on standards, but always with a focus on doing the exercises correctly. I have learned SO much from these videos. When you go to her website, you can see clips of each video.

You get about 5 seconds of rest per video. Dove just flows from one to the next and there’s no down time, no standing and talking about what’s next. You just do it. She is not annoying, she does not cheerlead; rather it’s a “Hi. I’m Dove. Welcome to today’s workout.” Just let’s get down to business.

Her cues are for some counts but also many tips on how to get more out of each exercise so you’re not deluding yourself into thinking that you are working out when you’re going about it halfway. Now that I’m approaching 2 months of using the DVDs I notice that I can “hear” more of her tips now and execute it as she asks vs. trying just to breathe, survive, and get through it.

That’s what is cool about this program: rapid results but as you gain strength you can attack the exercises with peak performance and take it to another level. She does modify exercises. Even if you are completely de-conditioned, you can start these DVDs (now that I’ve terrorized you!) and modify and over time watch yourself bloom with strength. The music in the DVDs is original back beat stuff. Her voice is mixed at a level high enough that it stands out so eventually, if you have the DVD memorized, you could play your own music and still hear her so hats off to the editor.

BTW, she’s a dancer. I don’t know her background or if she danced professionally but she truly understands dance technique and can execute it and cue it and when you see her vertical split, you’ll know she knows. She also demonstrates the opposite side than what she calls for. When she says get on your left side she does her right so as she faces you, you both match. Only an experienced dance teacher knows to do this in order to make it easier on the student.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO DO DOVE’S BODIES DVDS: You need a mat, and a step for two of the DVDs but I got a Bosu ball (it’s a half dome) and I love it. The steps used in the video are no longer sold although I sent an email and Dove’s assistant said Dove might manufacture them. I’m a big MBT shoes fan and the Bosu continues this feeling that as I step on it there is a give. I also use it to kneel on for push ups, or even leg lifts on all fours. I was happy I got this rather than a hard plastic step.

You need hand weights. Dove says 1 to 8 pounds. I use 3 pounds and 5 pounds: the 5 pounds hand weights for the easier things and the 3 pounds are for the stuff that kills like her “Red Hots” which I will rename “Molten Lava Center of the Earth Fire in the Muscles.” That also applies to that lying leg move in #2. I prefer the foam wrapped weights so that you can use them during her killer Triceps Sliders.

If you are going to start this program— I INSIST that you document your starting baseline so you can factually enjoy your improvement, not just assume. Take measurements of every single diameter of you and write them down and put them in a safe place. Make sure that you measure just above the knee, mid thigh, and bulkiest top part of thigh. Measure true waist, above and below the waist, etc. In other words be specific and date the page of measurements; Have pictures taken of you (beg a mate, friend, child to do so) with you in a bikini or similar from the front, side, and the rear so that you can refer back to how you actually looked.
Weigh yourself 3 times to get the correct starting weight.
And the last marker: put on some tight pants and lock and load that feeling into your mind so that you can see how different they feel over the next few weeks.

Once you start this program you may want to only weigh yourself every 7 days to see that 1 pound fat drop gone. And remember, if you held a pound of fat in your hand you can’t direct the fat to be lost from just your belly! Think of massaging that fat pound all over your body and that’s how the fat will come off. Obviously wherever you have the most, that will be the last place to lose it all, but it will go.

I have returned to the measurements I had from 20 years ago and reduced my cellulite by about 80%!!!! I’ll continue to follow her program and see further improvement, because she said this would be the case!

While Dove does not toot her own horn or seek publicity I will cheerlead about her. Her name is not Dove Rose in my book. She is Dove The Tissue Changer Miracle Worker Cellulite Ridder Dreams Come True Ass Kicker Rose.

Here’s to your panty prancing days to come,

The Reviewer