Saturday Sweat Session: LEGS!!!

Legs, legs legs!!  My favorite body part to work.  This awesome workout was created by one of the other trainers at the gym and I loved it so had to share!  The only rule: no decreasing weights!!  If you choose to go up in the amount of weight you use because the first set is too easy, then you cannot decrease it back down.  If the first set is too easy, then you don't need to decrease the weights!

First exercise (each exercise done one after the other, no rest until all 4 exercises completed)
incline leg press x 12
incline leg press w/ feet together x 12
single leg incline leg press x 10
single leg incline leg press x 10
Repeat 4 times

Second exercise
Tabata seated hamstring curls
8 rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest

Third exercise
TRX one-leg jump lunges x 12
Repeat 3 times each leg

Fourth exercise
kettlebell thrusters x 20
Repeat 3 times

Fifth exercise (each exercise done one after the other, no rest until both exercises completed)
standing calf raise slow speed x 10
stadning calf raise fast speed x 10
Repeat 2 times

Nothing changes if nothing changes

I'm on my trip right now but here's something interesting (I hope):

If nothing about your current life-style changes, how can you expect changes to happen to your health and body?

When someone first starts out on a "life-style change",  they'll almost always see immediate results because any change, big or small, to their current lifestyle will have an effect on their body.

But what about those of us who have been going at this "life-style change" for months... even years?  Finding more and more things to change gets to be a little difficult and sooner or later, you'll hit a plateau. I'm not just talking about a weight-loss plateau, but a plateau in any area of your health and fitness journey (ex. strength, endurance, body fat, etc.).

Here are my tips on preventing/breaking through a plateau using exercise.

Cardio

• Change up which machine you use - Most people tend to stick to one type of cardio machine but by switching it up, your body now has to get used to using different muscles to get you the same cardio effect.  On the other hand, if you switch machines daily, you may want to think about switching machines weekly, even monthly, instead.  Although there's nothing wrong with cross-training, because your body is comfortable with ALL the cardio machines at once, it's hard to change it up if you needed to.
• Change up the resistance or level of the machine - Always doing level 5?  Jump up the resistance to level 8 every two minutes, then throw it down to level 3... then up to level 12.  
• Try an exercise class - It's amazing what a class-environment can do for motivation and boredom!
• Try swimming - it's a completely different type of of cardio workout
• Incorporate high intensity interval training (HIIT) - I wish I could get EVERYONE doing interval training.  A lot of experts say that intervals are for more conditioned exercises but I think that's BS.  Of course, I don't suggest that someone who's just started out do walking/sprinting intervals, but a beginner can easily alternate between walking and power walking.  That still gets your heart rate up/down.

Weight-lifting

• Like the first tip under "Cardio" change up which machines you use - There are TONS of machines that work the same muscle group, so switch it up once in a while.
• Change up your rep/set scheme - Always do 3 sets of 12 reps?  Change it up to 4 sets of 10.  Of course, this can only change so much depending on what your goal is at the time (bodybuilding vs. power vs. strength vs. endurance, etc.).
• Focus on all three muscle actions: concentric, isometric, and eccentric - Mose people concentrate on the concentric part of a movement, where you muscle is shortening to move the weight.  For example, the upward motion of a bicep curl.  But by focusing on the isometric (holding the weight at the 90 degree angle in a bicep curl) or the eccentric (the downward/lowering part of a bicep curl; also called negatives) movement, the muscles get worked in an entirely different way.  Yes, it's the same motion, but you recruit different muscle fibers in each action.

(source)

Basically, switching up the frequency, intensity, duration or type of exercise should help move you past a plateau. 

Flashback Friday: Since I'm on a trip...

I'm on my trip right now but here's something interesting (I hope):

Flashback Fridays are a re-posting of my previous blog entries.  Sometimes I need a good kick in the butt and these old posts remind me of how to get it done.

Why I flash-backed to this post:  This was an a-ha moment for me when I first wrote it.  I also chose it because the post kinda describes a trip and since I'm on a trip right now... perfect!

_______________________________________________

Original post date: 8/13/09
Original post found here.

So I know this is only day four of my promise to myself, but guess what... I've learned something already.

In order to get to the future, you have to live in the present.

So common sense and so NOT profound.

Why didn't I know this before? Well it's not that I didn't know it, I just didn't listen to it. I mean the main quote of my blog is "one step at a time..."

When some people start out losing weight (like me), they get into this super-motivated-I-can-do-anything mode especially when the first 5 lbs. are lost because those are always the easiest. They (I) set up goals and picture themselves as what they want to look like at the end of the journey but they forget about the journey itself.

It's like planning a trip. You decide you wanna go to Fitville and you plan all these must-do-activities for when you get there: where to eat, where to stay, what to visit, what to do but without even planning on how to get to Fitville, you'll never get there. Without knowing how you're going to get from your house to the airport, then from the airport to the hotel in Fitville, your goal is already impossible to accomplish.

This is exactly the same thing with weight loss.

It's awesome to know what you want your body to look like and do when you're at the end of the journey (btw, a weight-loss journey never ends... takes you straight to Maintenance Land!) but you also have to know how to get there. Going back to when I started out, I knew what my goal destination was but getting there was going to be the tricky part. I set weekly and monthly goals to help me along the way but that's like only planning the airplane ride then the car ride from the airport to Fitville. What about how to get from my house to the airport?!

The past four days have made me realize that my weekly/monthly goals are way more attainable if I break them down even further... into daily goals.

BRILLIANT!!

It's as simple as telling myself I just need to get through today - eat clean TODAY and get in a good workout TODAY. Don't worry about tomorrow today, worry about tomorrow when it gets here. By breaking down my goals to the smallest amounts possible not only makes the goal seem that much more achievable, but it also lets me see the goal... I mean really see it!

Currently my weight goal is about 20 lbs away. Instead of focusing on the entire 20 lbs. I'll focus on just the next two lbs., then the next two, then the next two and so on and so on. But instead of just focusing on the two lbs. I'll focus on what I need to do to get rid of those two lbs. I'll focus on my workouts each day and break it down even further and focus on pushing myself during the workouts.

Just get through the next 5 minutes of running and when I've done that, I'll focus on the next 5 minutes. If I'm able to really give it my all for each 5 minute increment and just repeat it, my workout will go by in no time and I'll probably have pushed myself harder than normal. It's a win-win situation.

Applying the same idea to my nutrition each day - hell, each meal - and I should kick those 20 lbs. in no time! Amazing it's taken me this long to really realize and apply this to my life.

Saturday Sweat Session: Booty time!

You know I love working my lower body but the muscles on the back of my lower body (glutes, hammies and calves) tend to get neglected.  Time to change that with a modified workout from the LiveFit program.

Each color-coded set of exercises are to be done as a superset (or tripleset in the case of the last three exercises).  This means you want to do one set of each exercise (two exercises in a row), rest a minute or two, then do the second set of each pair of exercises.  Rest, and repeat for three sets.

For example, you would do one set of seated leg curls immediately followed by 20 jump squats.  That's one set.  Rest a minute.  Repeat with seated leg curls followed by jump squats.  That's the second set.  Rest.  Again, seated leg curls followed by jump squats.  Third set is finished and you're done with the first superset.

Move on to the next pair of exercises.  ENJOY!!

Saturday Sweat Session: Hiking

I'm not a big fan of long steady-state cardio, but when it comes to hiking, the longer and steeper the trail, the better.  Check out my hiking picts here.

My mom has a group at work that goes hiking about once a month, so Anthony and I decided to tag a long with her... and we had to bring the puppies.  We didn't see any celebrities like the other time, but I got my sweat on!

Saturday Sweat Session: Legs!

Wheels.  Stems.  Rollers.  Trunks.  Whatever you call them, legs are by far my favorite body part to work.

Here's my workout from earlier this week, courtesy of this program.  I did tweak it a little bit and took out a couple of exercises that I don't believe in (abductor/adductor machines... but that's a different post all together).  Let me know if you give it a try!

Saturday Sweat Session

I've received quite a bit of questions about what my workouts look like so thought I'd dedicate a post to recap the workouts for the week or focus on one intense session I had.  

Introducing Saturday Sweat Sessions.  

This week, that intense session would be my workout today, with Trainer E: an upper body KILLER.

Warm up:  2-min jog, 2 min-skipping

Warm up:  12 push-ups, 15 squats, 15 arm circles x 3

assisted pull-ups   3x15

bear crawl + push-ups   3x15

(source)

one-arm dumbbell row   3x10

walking lunges   3x20

medicine ball rotational throw   3x15

(source)

jump pull-ups   3x15

one-arm TRX plyo row   3x15

Valslide hand crawl   3x15

(source)

Breakin' it down!

Week 1 mission: Smaller goals

"To start the challenge off, we want to encourage everyone to break your larger challenge goals down into bite-sized goals each week."

Mission accepted!  Lets take a look back at what my goals are for the challenge and I'll add in my smaller goals in red.

NSV Goal

• Success story.  The other week I was talking to Anthony and told him that one of my NSV goals is to be featured on the "Wall of Success" at our gym.  The catch is I don't wanna ask to be a feature, I wanna be asked... big difference.  This goal can't really be broken down smaller.  As long as I stick to my exercise/nutrition goals below, I'll hopefully hit this.
• Donation time!  This weekend, I'm spending the time to try on ALL my clothes and sort them into piles of too big, too small, and just right.  By the end of the RFSC, I want to fit into the "too small" pile and have to donate the other piles of clothes.  Same for this goal.  Being consistent with my goals below will let me hit this NSV.

Exercise Goal

• Keep on going.  Continue my current 12-week exercise program, which will take me into the middle of May.  Breaking down this goal by writing out exactly what I need to do each day.
• Sun:  back, biceps, and hamstrings weight training + 5-mile hike
• Mon:  high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on the stairmill
• Tues:  plyo + full-body weight training
• Wed:  shoulders and abs weight training
• Thur:  back weight training + 20 min HIIT
• Fri: chest and abs weight training + 20 min run
• Sat:  plyo + arms, back, and legs weight training
• Something new.  Based on where I am at the end of my current program, research and choose my next routine.  Can't break this one down.

Nutrition Goal

• Clean, clean, clean!  My #1 priority for the next 10 weeks is to really focus on and dial in my nutrition.  Clean, whole foods to support my body and intense workouts.  Meal planning for the week is done, just need to buy, prep, cook, and portion out my meals.
• Increase healthy fats.  Definitely need to add more "smart fats" to my diet: salmon, avocado, nuts, olive oil, flaxseeds, coconut oil, etc.  Stocked up on avocados, salmon, a new to me cooking oil (macadamia nut oil), almond butter, and coconut oil.  My meal-planning has me eating healthy fats at every meal this week!
• New eats = happy tummy.  Making it a goal to try one new recipe a week.  Nutrition can get pretty boring if you eat the same things over and over, so finding 10 new (hopefully yummy) recipes to add to my rotation will do me good.  Going to try this recipe as my "new eats" this week.

Weekend in picts.

Why do the weekends go by so quickly?!?!  It's not even several hours into Monday and I'm counting down the hours until next weekend.

Since I'm being lazy and it's Monday, here's my weekend recap in pictures.

Loving my salads!! I usually do salads 4 - 5 times a week, but for some reason, my "March Madness" is making me love them even more.

 Battle ropes are no joke.

I did back-to-back upper body workouts (Friday and Saturday) but I wasn't going to miss a chance to workout CrossFit style!

Saturday's "workout before going out" schedule for time:

50 shoulder presses

100 mountain climbers

50 bicep curls

100 mountain climbers

50 wide push-ups

100 mountain climbers

50 squats

100 mountain climbers

50 rows

 100 mountain climbers

50 narrow push-ups

200 mountain climbers

1 minute battle rope intervals x 5

full body = S.P.E.N.T.

Because of the above crazy workout, I took Sunday completely off and food prep took up most of my day...

... and food cooking.

 Sunday night was reserved for my first non-clean cheat meal for the month.  

Cheddar and bbq pulled pork sandwich, homemade chips...

... and garlic 4-cheese pizza.  

Super satisfying and totally made me look forward to my clean meals this week.

How was your weekend?

Slipped my mind

Remember the other week I went to Maui?

Remember I posted all these highlights from the trip?

Remember I talked about the spin class I went to?  NO?!  Yeah, that's because I didn't mention it!!

I can't believe I forget to talk about it sooner but on my last day in Maui…

... I attended my first spin class (actually, this is my first group fitness class E.V.E.R.)!!

(source)

Let me take you back a month when I freaked out was totally okay with turning 29.  To make myself feel better about almost being 30 (336 days left, but who's counting?), I made a list of 29 accomplishments I never thought I'd do.  My original idea was to do a "30x30" list.  30 things I want to do/achieve by 30 years old.  I decided against it because I knew I'd feel terrible if I didn't make it and being a glass-empty kinda person… I was leaning more towards the "not going to make it" side.

Getting back to my 30x30 list, "go to a spinning class" would have most definitely been on there.  And if I had a 30x30 list, I could cross this one off!

So why'd I wait this long to attend a spin class if I've always wanted to do one?  Simple: I was afraid/shame to.

I still have body issues that prevent me from doing things I want to and attending group fitness classes, like spinning, is one of them.  On Maui, my cousin teaches at the gym - as a spin instructor, none the less - so I HAD to do it.  Plus, it wasn't my normal gym and I'm on a different island… no one here will see me again in case I make a fool of myself.

My cousin wasn't teaching that day so she attended the class with me.  I got to the gym about an hour early to reserve a bike but got wait-listed.  No big deal since I was getting nervous and secretly hoped I wouldn't get a bike.  Fortunately/unfortunately I got one.  My cousin helped me adjust the bike and before I knew it, the instructor turned the lights off and we got started. 

Initial Thoughts

Holy hell, this is hard!  My heavy-lifting, squat-loving legs were not built for endurance.

Final Thoughts

After the initial burn in my quads, I really got a feel for spinning… the sprints, the hill climbs, the torturous "give me two full resistance turns"!

L.O.V.E.D. it!! Where do I sign up to reserve my bike by the month?

Flashback Fridays: I'm no beginner anymore

Flashback Fridays are a re-posting of my previous blog entries.  Sometimes I need a good kick in the butt and these old posts remind me of how to get it done.

Why I flash-backed to this post:  With the Great Aloha Run coming up in less than 72 hours, I'm still lacking the motivation and excitement about the race.  I remember the last time I did it - three years ago! - I couldn't wait for race day! 

I trained a lot more this time.
I weigh about 15 lbs. less this time.
I'm in much better shape this time.

So why the anxiety about the race?  I think it has to do with the fact that because of the things I just listed, I should easily beat my time from 2009, which was a pace of 13 minute/miles.  And if I don't, I have no excuse for it.

This weekend is the Great Aloha Run Health Expo so hopefully that'll inspire me to get hyped up!

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Original post date: 10/6/09
Original post found here.

Over the weekend I went back in time... sorta.

I spent my Sunday morning rereading my blog from start to finish. What an exhausting journey! The one thing I found constant throughout my posts was the fact that when I talk about fitness, I talk about myself as a beginner - someone just starting to workout. Even though the intensity, amount, length and type of workouts have increased with my posts, my reaction to my progress is still the same. I make it sound like I've accomplished so much by doing so little! Like my celebration about running up a one-mile hill.

"Hello! You've run a 13K almost a year ago, you should be
celebrating much harder fetes than a one-mile hill!!"

Well I'm no beginner but I'm no athlete yet either... or am I? I still see myself as the "fat girl" who could only walk for exercise...

Not someone who can hike non-stop-in-less-than-30-minutes up a mountain made of stairs!
Not someone who can do plyometric workouts with the best of them!
Not someone who does a boot-camp at the gym and remains the last one standing in my group!
Not even someone who looks forward to working out everyday!

But I need to keep telling myself that I am that someone!! I actually do look forward to my daily workouts!

I am no longer a beginner at this stuff called fitness and I need to stop acting like I am. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm not anywhere near elite athlete status or anything, but I can't be celebrating the small stuff anymore.

• 50 minutes on the stepmill? That's not something to celebrate for me! I should be celebrating two hours!
• Running seven miles? Nothing! I did eight miles almost a year ago! Where's the celebration in doing less miles than what I did several months ago?
• Hiking up a really tough mountain? Doesn't really count because I've done it over 6x already!

 

 

I always hear talk about how people who lose weight still think of themselves as fat and this is exactly what I'm going through except on the fitness side. During my personal trainer sessions, whenever my PT tells me to move faster or longer on an agility/cardio exercise, I always doubt myself because I have the mindset of a beginner. This is holding me back!!! Again my mindset is holding me back!

So for the next several workouts I do, I'm gonna think differently, reminding myself that I am not a beginner - in fact, far from it! Hopefully this will allow me to push myself

H.A.R.D.E.R.FA.S.T.E.R.S.T.R.O.N.G.E.R.F.A.R.T.H.E.R.