The 6 Week Programme, Louise Parker

When I requested a copy of The 6 Week Programme to review I did so hoping I would be inspired with new gym routines. This is what I have focussed on with my analysis of the book.

The 6 Week Programme

The 6 Week Programme is not only about working out intelligently. It also focuses on eating beautifully, thinking successfully and living well. Included are 3 workout routines, each one starting and ending with the same warm up and cool down. The book encourages you to do each routine 4 times, in one week. The goal is to do each exercise for 90 seconds, starting with 60 seconds and building up. As I am already fit, I started at 90 seconds with the exercises that did not put strain on my knees. The ones that worked my knees I only did 60 seconds.

A Fitness Tracker

The 6 week programme recommends the use of a Fitbit. I have a Polar A360 tracker and I am not convinced it counts steps the same way the Fitbit does. Louise recommends aiming for 10 000 steps per day. I do not subscribe to this, and my aim is to reach 100% each day of my activity goal.

Warm up

• Sumo reach hands on ground
• Sumo reach with twist
• Ts
• Ts extending to table top
• Hip striders
• Hip striders with twist

Workout 1

• Hip thrusters
• Heel flicks
• Hand plank with arms straight
• Hand plank with leg raises
• Bird dogs using the opposite hand and leg
• Squat sidewalk with pulse

How I fared:

Session	Time	Kcal	Steps	Activity
1	38	183	94	55%
2	39	174	218	49%
3	43	190	190	53%
4 *	49	98	212	54%

* When I reviewed this session I realized I had forgotten to do one of the warm-up exercises.

Workout 2

• Reverse lunge to leg raise
• Reverse lunge with rotation
• Bear crawl shoulder taps
• Side lunge reach with extension
• High knees with punches
• Dead bug opposite arms and legs
• Dead bug both legs
• Triceps dips
• Triceps dips legs parallel – I didn’t even try to do this in the first session

How I fared:

Session	Time	Kcal	Steps	Activity
1 *	53	186	774	46%
2	58	235	938	63%
3	52	211	2346	57%
4	42	174	550	48%

* I did not start my fitness tracker when I started the workout so I added a few exercises of my own to the cool down to make up the time

It was not possible for me to take the book to gym. In light of this, I should have taken photographs. My memory of what the exercises should be, based on their names was not very accurate. It might have been a good idea to do each exercise once at home beforehand to imprint it on my memory.

Workout 3

• Surrender squats
• Split lunge press
• Hippies
• Hippies with twist which I only did for the last session
• Walkout jumps
• Wonder abs
• Tricep press
• Tricep press with hold which I did not do in any of the sessions

How I fared:

Session	Time	Kcal	Steps	Activity
1	43	139	122	30%
2	44	162	140	41%
3	37	168	120	49%
4 *	46	76	156	8%

As I did these routines at home, I did not use weights. I also did the exercises very passively due to my knee injury.

* I decided for the last session to leave my fitness tracker on its usual setting to see if there was a difference in steps calculated as the book is all about the steps. This meant that the session was not recorded as activity on my tracker. I have concluded that leaving the fitness tracker on its standard setting is not good for accurate calculations.

Cool down

• Static glute stretch – this is meant to be done standing up but I changed this on the 3rd session of the 2nd workout to lying down for a better stretch
• Child’s pose
• Child’s pose with hands stretched – once on each side, hands on top of each other
• Torso twist with opposite hands

My verdict:

I found the repetitiveness of the warm up and cool down boring and took two weeks off between session two and three of the last workout. Also,  4 times a week is just too much when you are doing the same thing over and over again. I am going to use the routines but as a continuous session, and aim for 50 minutes for each workout.

Chapters are divided into:

• Breakfasts
• Snacks
• Mains

Recipes that caught my eye:

• Orange, hazelnut & cinnamon bircher (p137)
• Super fluffy pancakes (p144)
• Beetroot, apple & blueberry smoothie (p147)
• Roasted aubergine & ricotta dip (p158)
• Cashews & seeds (pl61)
• Greek salad frittata (p171)
• Vietnamese-style pork ‘noodle’ salad (p178)
• My favourite fish chowder (p184)
• Chicken & chickpea tagine (p192)
• Stuffed pork fillet with rainbow chard (p213)

 

What I thought:

The recipes include notes plus portion sizes on some which is really helpful if you are trying to lose weight. The photography of both the exercises and the recipes was really good. I would have loved there to be a bookmark so I could mark the exercises for the week I was on.

Lean for Life App

I only saw this once I had completed the routines and worked through the recipe section. The App asks you to add a before photo which I think is a great idea if you are trying to lose weight and want to see your progress. The next step is to record your initial weight. After setting goals you begin the transformation phase.  Each day you will record:

• breakfast
• snack
• lunch
• snack
• supper
• side
• drink / sweet
• steps
• exercises

The app also includes

• tips to think successfully
• tips to live well
• recipes (at a cost)
• exercises (some free, some at a cost)

The date / day rolls over automatically which is great for continuity. However, I did not record anything in the App as I had already completed the programme when I downloaded it.

Publishing information:

ISBN 9781784725372

Disclosure: I was sent The 6 Week Programme to review by Jonathan Ball Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. This post is in line with my blogging policy.

I am leaving for Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg tomorrow and will have limited access to the internet while I am gone. Please forgive me if I don’t reply to comments straight away. I will be back at work on the 3rd of June. 

Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime May 22:

• • 2017 – Bottled Guavas
  • 2014 – Trail Mix Rusks
  • 2013 – Rustic Basil Pesto Pasta
  • 2010 – The Challenge Bake a Soufflé

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