Today’s Run: 7/8/2013

Distance: 2.04 miles
Pace: 9’38″/mile
Route: Indoor on the tready
HOT AS HADES IN THE GYM!

I’ve decided to commit to running at least 2 miles every day this week to make up for a semi glutinous week of 4th of July vacation (by glutinous I mean I ate probably my maintenance calories or better for a few days without watching my macros). Enter the 2 mile Monday jog. I had plans to go to spinning class, then lift (arms), then jog 2 miles. However, something was going on with the spin bikes and all of the displaced spinning folk were monopolizing the treadmills so I decided I’d lift weights first.

When I lift upper body I do arm circles and arm swings to lubricate the joints a bit. I also do a few 30 second jump rope intervals to warm up my body and let my muscles know that we’re about to get working. My arm workout was brutal since I have increased the weights and am now bicep curling and doing tricep kickbacks with the 17.5lb dumbbells for 5 sets of 15 reps. After the arm workout, I moved grabbed an open treadmill (the spinners were still at work, so I was lucky to grab one) and did the 2 mile run. I had taken most of my pre-workout drink during my lift (planned to take it towards the end of spinning to get a pump for lifting), so I was starting to feel a little bit of an adrenaline buzz. A simple 2 mile jog was not going to cut it anymore. I decided I would run the first mile at a moderate pace and run the second mile a bit faster. I ended up going 9’47″/mile for mile 1 and 9’28″/mile for mile 2.

After the run, I hopped on the stair climber for 15 minutes @ level 5: // left side sideways for 2 minutes (to target the hips, inner thighs/adductors) // right side sideways for 2 minutes // forward for 7 minutes // left side sideways for 2 minutes // right side sideways for 2 minutes //

Between the stairclimber and runnign I was a sweaty mess…but I still had 25 minutes on the elliptical to get a total of a little under 1hr of cardio.

I think that dropping almost 10lbs of fat/fluff/water weight has helped me to pick up the pace quite a bit for my runs. From lifting, my legs are definitely stronger (I lift legs 3 times/week) so that helps a bunch. Also, because of my fitness goals, I’m focusing on shorter distance runs (1-5 miles) as opposed to the longer runs because my goal is to be able to do quality speed play and efficiently torch calories vs. work on muscle endurance. I just got a notification about reduced pricing for the Cleveland Perfect 10 miler though…so maybe I’ll make an exception just to get some racing miles in this year.

We’ll have to see.

Week 2 on training program – unrealistic expectations and frustration

Wow what a week. Week 1 I guess I was high off the excitement of starting something new. New supplements, new training program, new nutrition program…a complete lifestyle overhaul. It was something different, was going to help me get to where I wanted to be in life and I was PUMPED.

Enter week 2. I start my period and I’m a moody emotional mess with a face full of acne that wants to sit in bed and eat pork rinds while watching repeats of The Real Housewives. Paradoxically, i also want to look like the women in my #fitspo images on Instagram. Despite the fact that last week I lost over 7 lbs, I started this week frustrated that the weight wasn’t coming off faster. Its a damn shame how hormones, emotional eating and self deprecation are so powerful in some women (like me). Resisting the urge to binge eat to calm my nerves, anxiety, anger, or sadness this week has been the HARDEST part of this fitness/healthy eating journey so far and I know it will probably only get harder as time goes on. Here, on day 14 writing this, I’m proud to say that with the exception of a tablespoon of natural peanut butter on Tuesday, I stuck to my macros and calorie limits. (Side bar, that little bit of peanut butter on Tuesday really helped with a gross little side effect of the sudden increase in protein – sluggish bowels…TMI? Sorry). I mentioned in my last update that I eat an ungodly amount of egg whites. I’m experimenting with ways to make them more appetizing and exciting and will occasionally post recipes (with macronutrient/calorie) breakdown if they end up tasting good. This week for example I made an egg white frittata which was DEVINE!

Along with the urge to voraciously eat things outside of my meal plan, I also was a little less excited about the gym this week. My body was sore and felt beat up from last week. I knew this week would be harder because I was adding in running and sprints for my cardio and laws switching to workout plan B (trainer gave me two programs which I alternate rom week to week to keep my body guessing). While I’m happy I got through all of the workouts, I have to be honest with myself and say that I didn’t always feel like I pushed myself as hard as I should have. Don’t get me wrong I still worked hard, but I feel like I could have worked harder and that feeling bites a little.

The highlight of the week was that for double cardio on Saturday, I hit the stadium stairs @ Lakewood high school w/ my boyfriend and his friend. We did a football style track/ stairs workout and I kept up with the boys!

Anyway, if I’m learning anything over this journey is that after you have put in the hard work and stuck to the diet, you have to accept yourself. I was frustrated on Monday because my weight hadn’t dropped as drastically as I would have hoped. I find myself looking in the mirror at my body more than usual – checking for ab definition, looking to see if my delts are popping, hoping that my vastus medialis is growing and ultimately being frustrated by lack of drastic results. Then I remind myself that I didn’t fluff up over night or in 14 days. Expecting to completely change my body shape in 14 days not realistic…neither is it healthy to beat myself up over slow progress when I’m working hard. So…onto this week’s data.

Weight: 139.4lbs
Hips: 39.5
Neck: 14
Waist: 27.5
Estimated BF%: 27%

Progress pictures:

All I can do is hit the weights harder and smash every cardio session like my life depends on it in the coming week. Progression is the goal and the only way I can do that is to look forward and keep moving 🙂

Stay fit!

Week 1 on new training program

I started out this week still crazy sore from my first workout with Dave. Talk about a case of DOMS. It’s been pretty easy going however and I haven’t had much fatigue or any issues at all really adjusting to the consistency of activity or the meals.

6 egg whites every morning for breakfast…

In fact my biggest problem with the meal plan is that I feel like I’m always eating. The meals are small but protein packed. With my digestive system and eating every 3 hours I feel like I’m sitting down to eat again before my stomach is actually emptied. I mean, how long does it take your stomach to digest 6 egg whites at a time?

Because it’s week 1, I’ll go through my day-by-day. I probably won’t do this every week because both my diet and workout routines will be pretty repetitive for 3 months.

On Monday I did my first fasted morning cardio session which was a spin class @ the paid campus gym. I rejoined this gym in addition to working out @ titans when I train with Dave and working out at the free campus athletic center when I want to do powerlifting movements ( squats, cleans and deadlifts). I got up in time to take the 6:30 am spin class. The instructor was Rich and I’ve taken classes with him before. He likes to tell stories and take class members on a journey. Unfortunately for me the journey led us through the battle of Gettysburg and admiration for Robert E. Lee. FAIL. Anyway, I tuned him out and did my own thing and got a good sweat which is all that mattered. I did abs after. In the evening, I did an arm workout and 10 quick sprints on the treadmill.

On Tuesday, leg day!, I had a rest from the morning cardio. I hit legs hard doing a workout similar to the first one I did with Dave…bring on the DOMS!

On Wednesday I woke up and took another 6am spinning class. I opted for spinning instead of running (which is what Dave actually instructed me to do) because I was still trying to give my muscles a minute to ease into the new program. I’d never had this instructor before, but the first half of her class was horrific. Who spins to folk music…I mean I love folk music and I love spinning, but they don’t go together. I did abs after. In the evening I did shoulder and hamstrings and some stretching in the dry sauna. This right here is what I’ve been missing at the campus gym.

On Thursday I took the fay off of work to finish an upload for a paper submission (this is soemthing i need to defend my phd). It was great not having to go into work because i was able to just chill out a little bit and get some rest. I wasnt really feeling exercise at all and was to be honest a little over he whole workout thing. i forced myself to the gym and cranked out the back workout. Can I just say that right now back is my favorite part of the body to work. Maybe it’s been like that for a while actually. There’s something really powerful about rowing motions…idk. After my back workout I did 30 min on the stair climber.

On Friday I ended up oversleeping again and missed out on morning cardio. I made up for it with spin class after lifting chest, abs and calves. I really struggled through my lift. My muscles were cool, but I think I was starting to get mentally fatigued. Mike’s spin class is always pretty god lots of up tempo dance music.

Because I wasn’t really feeling the lift on Friday I opted to take Saturday off of iron and do my two-a-day cardio. I did an 8:30 spin class for my fasted am cardio…this class was taught by Kate, a teacher I’ve never had before. Music was old and it was a good variety of jumps and sprints. My only issue was that I hadn’t realized it was a 75 min class. That’s a little long for a fasted morning cardio effort, IMO. It was ok though…but next time I go to this class it’ll be after I eat something.

Sunday I did my bonus leg day and a 5 mile run in the cle metro parks.

Progress
Weight: 140.3
Waist: 28
Neck: 14
Hips: 40
Estimated BF%: 28%

Not much progress yet…but progress is often a slow process so I’m keeping at it.

New update next week.

In the meantime: Stay fit people!

Today’s Run(s): 5/15/2013

Distance: 2 miles

Pace: 9’30/mile average (speed intervals)

Location: Campus gym, indoors and HUMID AS ALL GET OUT

 

Today I did double duty workouts. I did leg day in the morning (heavy power lifts mostly like squats/deadlifts and some accessory stuff like leg extensions and leg curls). Then I worked back/biceps and shoulders in the evening. After my evening workout I did 2 miles of speed intervals where I ran at 6min pace for a minute and then cranked it up to as fast as I could handle for 30 seconds. During a few intervals I got up to 10mph but as the legs started to turn to jello the speed started to decline. (No reason flying off the back of a treadmill).

My love hate-relationship with the treadmill continues…

100 reps workout – description and review

Today just for fun I decided to try a 100-reps workout. I’ve read about them from a few different sources…like here, and here, and here. For the workout you pick 1 exercise for each of the major body parts (or 2 for some of the larger areas, like upper legs/glutes or back) and you do 1 set of 100 reps of each exercise. The best way to do this workout is with light weights or with bodyweight exercises…this is not the time to load up the bar with plates – 100 reps is A LOT, don’t underestimate it!

So I did this today after my run when the gym opened and boy was it hard. I chose light weight (10lbs for most of the dumbbell exercises, 50lbs for the lat pull downs, 20lb ez curl bar for shoulder press) but despite that by rep 50 my muscles were screaming bloody MURDER. If you’re looking for a shock-your-system type of workout then this is one. It’s definitely not something I would do often –  perhaps just once every couple of weeks or when you hit a slump in your current workout routine. I may do this workout again but not anytime soon…back to typical bodybuilding splits for the next few weeks…and hoping I’m not too sore to move tomorrow 🙂

Give the 100 reps workout a try and let me know how it feels for you?

Today’s Back Workout!

The “home gym”. Teddy bear in a basket is optional 🙂

A lot of times I find that after I get home from a long day at work it literally would take the voice of God (or Charlton Heston) to compel me to leave my house again – especially in the frigid Ohio winter. Unfortunately I have to leave the house to get to the gym (totally going to remedy this when I buy my first house). Enter – my “home gym.” This basically consists of a crate full of resistance bands, 10lb and 15lb dumbbells, ankle weights, an ab roller, yoga mats, a medicine ball and a stability ball that I keep in a crate in the corner of my living room. I call it my “home gym” and even though it might seem a little bootleg and even my own mother has laughed out loud at me about it, I am so thankful that it’s here. That list of fitness equipment above and a working body are all anyone needs to get fit and those items are not that expensive. As a matter of fact, most of them I’ve collected over the years as Christmas presents or as the result of new years resolutioning (and I know you have these things around too). There really is no excuse!

My favorite thing to do with my home gym equipment – especially when I’ve skipped out on my cardio for the day (like a Lazy McLazerson) is create a circuit. In a circuit, you will basically move from exercise to exercise with little rest in between to build up some cardiovascular intensity in addition to strength training. Since today was “back day” I decided to design a killer back circuit. I finished it up with P90x ab ripper X and my daily stretching routine. (In case you’re wondering. No I didn’t buy the P90X program. I found it online via some simple google sleuthing and this is the only part of p90X that I do…it’s a great ab workout.)

 

 

Jan-Feb Workout Schedule

I’ve been literally pulling myself through my workweek workout by workout. Since my workouts are so important to my productivity in other areas of my life I thought I’d start filling the blogosphere in on what kinds of workouts I’m doing every week.

For the month of January and February my schedule looks like this:

Monday: AM cardio/HIIT strength circuit + AB ripper X

Tuesday: AM cardio/Legs + Shoulders

Wednesday: AM cardio/HIIT strength circuit + AB ripper X

Thursday: AM cardio/Back + Biceps + Glutes

Friday: AM cardio/HIIT strength circuit + Ab ripper X

Saturday: AM cardio/Chest + Triceps

Sunday: Rest day (maybe yoga)

I also will be doing daily deep stretching for 30 minutes. Check for daily updates with my “Today’s Run” posts and check out my “Strength Circuit” posts for interesting or particularly brutal strength circuits.

Progressive circuits- fat burning resistance training

Whenever I’m in a rut, or pressed for time, or confined to my meager “home gym” I turn to this workout. Today, America’s birthday, I’m confined to my home gym –  a few dumbbells, a medicine ball, a stability ball and a few resistance bands. So here we go.

I love circuit training in general. I usually do my regular strength training routines [in a proper gym] in supersets. It makes the workout go faster an makes me sweat more (which could mean I’m working harder, i.e. burning more calories).

I call this workout a progressive circuit because you basically pick 8 exercises and progress through 8 sets of 10-20 reps, adding 1 exercise in each set.

For example today I picked these 8 movements:

1- DB squat – 15 reps

2- DB swing – 10 reps each arm

3- pushups – 10 reps

4- DB row – 15 reps (both arms)

5- DB chest press – 15 reps on stability ball

6- Medicine ball side squat lung – 10 reps each side

7- DB fly – 15 reps on stability ball

8- In and outs on the floor – 20 reps

You start set 1 with the first exercise and then set 2 is exercise 1+ exercise 2. Basically this looks like this:

Set 1: exercise 1

Set 2: exercises 1+2

set 3: exercises 1+2+3

set 4: exercises 1+2+3+4

set 5: exercises 1+2+3+4+5

set 6: exercises 1+2+3+4+5+6

set 7: exercises 1+2+3+4+5+6+7

set 8: exercises 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8

There is no rest between sets. So basically you end up doing a crap ton of reps of the first few exercises. For this reason, I like to make those exercises movements that combine a lot of big muscle groups (squats, lunges) or compound exercises (squat press). You sweat a bit more that way. [In an air conditioned room, I sweat just as much as I do in the first 20 minutes of bikram yoga]

It’s best to choose weights that are challenging but do-able (this is not the time to max out on your chest press or your squat). The fact the whole circuit is unrested will already make the routine challenging so compensate by moving down slighty in weight. The entire circuit takes about 30 unrested minutes to complete. I typically will perform it once in the forward direction (exercises 1-8) and once in reverse (exercises 8-1).

Try it and see how awesome you feel.