See? Turtleneck leotards make her very happy. I want to be this happy. Except maybe with shoes on. That grass looks pokey.
Do you like calisthenics? Jazz hands? Turtleneck leotards? Then you will definitely want to get in on this mini-Experiment! For the next two weeks the Gym Buddies and I are going to be trying out T-Tapp , a workout program designed by Teresa Tapp that focuses on specific sequences of (slightly strange) compound movements in order to achieve “better alignment, increased strength, a flexible spine, better lymphatic function, neuro-kinetic flow as well as a high metabolic rate.”
Not gonna lie: when I first got pitched to try this workout*, I fell off my chair laughing. A t first glance it looks like like a combination of Sit And Be Fit and Buns of Steel (and now you are picturing grannys in thongs – you’re welcome). Seeing as I am neither geriatric nor recovering from an injury/surgery – the two groups this seemed to be marketed for – I sent my regrets. I mean I’ve done CrossFit, P90X and hung by one leg from a piece of silk 90 feet up in the air and now you want me to stand kinda like this and do biceps curls with no weights? Seriously?
But then I realized I was being, well, elitist. I have become a workout snob. What happened to the girl who wanted to try everything? Who knows? Maybe this thing does work? At the very least, all they were asking me to do was read the book, Fit and Fabulous in 15 Minutes (aff)
. So I did. Twice. And then I read up on it on the Internet. And then I tried one workout. And heaven help me, I think there’s something to this.
I tried out the basic workout last week and later that day I crashed and I swear it felt like a “metabolic reaction ” just like I get when I do something crazy intense. That night I pooped three times (TMI? Sorry but she does says it will help clean you out), slept like a rock and then was sore the next day. SORE. From standing in one spot and swinging my arms around. I’m not sure what all was going on but it was enough to convince me to give Teresa’s 2-week bootcamp a try. Convincing the Gym Buddies was a little tougher but in the end we all figured, hey, we just finished two months of really heavy weight lifting (my New Rules of Lifting for Women report’s coming Wednesday!) so even if it doesn’t work we should probably take a 2-week rest anyhow.
What I Am Skeptical About
1. The book reads like every warning sign you’ve been told to look out for. It promises spot reduction, nearly instant results (“lose two sizes in four weeks” is on the cover and it even says “two sizes in two weeks” inside the book) based on not much work (the basic workout is 15 minutes), and spouts statistics and studies without citing them. It keeps saying that it will “pump your lymphatic system” to “remove toxins” which kind of sound spurious to me (but then I’m not a scientist so maybe this is legit.) It even claims to be able to cure cellulite and if that doesn’t scream snake oil I don’t know what does.
2. One of the primary sellers of this book is how many testimonials it has. The people who love this workout really l-o-v-e it. And while I am a sucker for a good personal anecdote, all the rah-rah’s make me leery. (Although I will give her this: all the testimonials definitely look like real people. No air-brushed abs and spray tans nonsense here.)
3. It’s all very disjointed and kind of hard to figure out. Teresa Tapp, an “expert of rehabilitative fitness, educator and physiologist,” came up with this particular sequence of exercises when she was trying to help her back pain from scoliosis which she has then refined into a workout for everyone. But she has a hard time translating all her experience into a readable format in the book. Even after reading it twice (and the website) I still am not sure which DVDs are for what and how long I’m supposed to do which moves etc.
What I’m Excited About
1. It’s different. Really different. You know what they say about how doing the same things over and over is going to get you the same results? Well, I’m getting out of my box baby!
2. She promises to target some things I have very specific and measurable problems with:
- My lower-tummy pooch. I’ve talked about it on here before and just chalked it up to a souvenir of pregnancy but Teresa says she’s worked with size 0 models who’ve had that same pooch and a quick scan of a recent America’s Next Top Model, All-Stars episode says she’s right (yeah, yeah, tough research!) and that this can be corrected by properly aligning the muscles.
- My posture. For a long time I’ve felt like the fronts of my shoulders are a little over-developed and the backs are a little weak so that even when I’m standing up “straight”, I’m still hunched forward through the shoulders. I’m not sure what muscles to target to fix this as my upper back is quite strong but T-Tapp says that it will help with this.
3. It is supported by some very real and very interesting science. People in the rehab world have apparently known about this program for a long time and it’s won rave reviews for helping people overcome chronic pain and come back from injuries. Teresa explains that the strength of her program is based on something to do with reprogramming the
neuro-kinetic communication between your brain and your muscles and while this sounds like mumbo jumbo there is a significant body of research that supports this link (although not necessarily the way she describes it). For me it kind of reads like EFT –
remember my finger-tapping happy-birthday-singing eye-rolling Experiment? – it works but we’re not really sure why.
4. She tells you not to diet. There is no diet plan or recipes that come with the book. In fact she tells you not to change your eating at all for the first couple of weeks although she points out that the workout might make you crave healthier fare. After you’re established she promotes eating two days of “God-made food” (anything whole) followed by one day with some “man-made food” (treats, processed etc.). All of which sounds very reasonable to me, frankly.
The Mini-Experiment
Every day for the next 14 days, the Gym Buddies and I will be doing her 45-minute Total Body Workout. No weights, no cardio, no sprinting and no Bodyrock.tv (you see Zuzana and Freddie broke up?) – although I’m not ruling out turtleneck leotards. (Just give this girl a reason to dress up! Do it!) As far as results go, Teresa is big on only measuring inches, not pounds. This works well for me as I’m not weighing myself anyhow. The Gym Buddies and I all wrote down our measurements for pecs, bust, ribs, natural waist, low waist, hip, right thigh, left thigh, right calf, left calf, right arm and left arm. She says we’ll see a measurable difference in two weeks! I’ll let you know what happens. (I’m kind of nervous, actually. You can’t lose significant muscle in two weeks can you?)
If any of you are interested in trying this out too, there are some f
ree sample workouts on her website and on YouTube. Try one out (don’t just watch it, actually do it!) and let me know what you think!
Have any of you heard of T-Tapp? Ever tried it? Have you ever tried a workout that’s way out of your workout box? Ever worn a turtleneck leo?
I totally had this EXACT velvet mock-turtleneck snap-crotch bodysuit in the ’90′s – in maroon AND blue! It was my go-to club wear. Which in a club is pretty much the equivalent of dressing like a nun. Living on the edge, that’s me.
*FCC disclaimer: I was given one copy of the T-Tapp book and workout DVDs to try for free. I have a second copy of the DVDs to give away to one GFE reader.
See? Turtleneck leotards make her very happy. I want to be this happy. Except maybe with shoes on. That grass looks pokey.Do you like calisthenics? Jazz hands? Turtleneck leotards? Then you will definitely want to get in on this mini-Experiment! For the next two weeks the Gym Buddies and I are going to be trying out T-Tapp , a workout program designed by Teresa Tapp that focuses on specific sequences of (slightly strange) compound movements in order to achieve “better alignment, increased strength, a flexible spine, better lymphatic function, neuro-kinetic flow as well as a high metabolic rate.”
Not gonna lie: when I first got pitched to try this workout*, I fell off my chair laughing. A t first glance it looks like like a combination of Sit And Be Fit and Buns of Steel (and now you are picturing grannys in thongs – you’re welcome). Seeing as I am neither geriatric nor recovering from an injury/surgery – the two groups this seemed to be marketed for – I sent my regrets. I mean I’ve done CrossFit, P90X and hung by one leg from a piece of silk 90 feet up in the air and now you want me to stand kinda like this and do biceps curls with no weights? Seriously?
But then I realized I was being, well, elitist. I have become a workout snob. What happened to the girl who wanted to try everything? Who knows? Maybe this thing does work? At the very least, all they were asking me to do was read the book, Fit and Fabulous in 15 Minutes (aff)
. So I did. Twice. And then I read up on it on the Internet. And then I tried one workout. And heaven help me, I think there’s something to this.
I tried out the basic workout last week and later that day I crashed and I swear it felt like a “metabolic reaction ” just like I get when I do something crazy intense. That night I pooped three times (TMI? Sorry but she does says it will help clean you out), slept like a rock and then was sore the next day. SORE. From standing in one spot and swinging my arms around. I’m not sure what all was going on but it was enough to convince me to give Teresa’s 2-week bootcamp a try. Convincing the Gym Buddies was a little tougher but in the end we all figured, hey, we just finished two months of really heavy weight lifting (my New Rules of Lifting for Women report’s coming Wednesday!) so even if it doesn’t work we should probably take a 2-week rest anyhow.
What I Am Skeptical About
1. The book reads like every warning sign you’ve been told to look out for. It promises spot reduction, nearly instant results (“lose two sizes in four weeks” is on the cover and it even says “two sizes in two weeks” inside the book) based on not much work (the basic workout is 15 minutes), and spouts statistics and studies without citing them. It keeps saying that it will “pump your lymphatic system” to “remove toxins” which kind of sound spurious to me (but then I’m not a scientist so maybe this is legit.) It even claims to be able to cure cellulite and if that doesn’t scream snake oil I don’t know what does.
2. One of the primary sellers of this book is how many testimonials it has. The people who love this workout really l-o-v-e it. And while I am a sucker for a good personal anecdote, all the rah-rah’s make me leery. (Although I will give her this: all the testimonials definitely look like real people. No air-brushed abs and spray tans nonsense here.)
3. It’s all very disjointed and kind of hard to figure out. Teresa Tapp, an “expert of rehabilitative fitness, educator and physiologist,” came up with this particular sequence of exercises when she was trying to help her back pain from scoliosis which she has then refined into a workout for everyone. But she has a hard time translating all her experience into a readable format in the book. Even after reading it twice (and the website) I still am not sure which DVDs are for what and how long I’m supposed to do which moves etc.
What I’m Excited About
1. It’s different. Really different. You know what they say about how doing the same things over and over is going to get you the same results? Well, I’m getting out of my box baby!
2. She promises to target some things I have very specific and measurable problems with:
I totally had this EXACT velvet mock-turtleneck snap-crotch bodysuit in the ’90′s – in maroon AND blue! It was my go-to club wear. Which in a club is pretty much the equivalent of dressing like a nun. Living on the edge, that’s me.
*FCC disclaimer: I was given one copy of the T-Tapp book and workout DVDs to try for free. I have a second copy of the DVDs to give away to one GFE reader.