Oops—sometimes life gets the best of you and you don’t get things done as planned. Stage 3 is almost complete (one more session) and I think I can safely move on to Stage 4 without a recovery week. I am increasing my HIIT intervals each session and will be breaking the 8:00 minute mile barrier. This is a big deal for me, even with intervals. I will probably start trading out one of my running interval days to start increasing my steady-state pace. This means I will need to begin intervals (1 day per week) with my stair climber. This should work out and not affect my training significantly. After I am done with this particular program, I think I can be more aggressive with the intervals by expanding the units (3 minutes/6 minutes versus 1 minute/minute) and then having a much faster time for all cardio work. As the weather gets better I want to take some of my workout outside, which may mean doing some hills and or speed work that may be quite different than what I am used to on the treadmill.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
A Different Approach to Clean Eating
Sometimes I get too detailed in what I eat when a bigger picture may be more helpful. With that in mind, I am going to start an eight-week progressive plan to strip body fat. Phase one will be “cleaning up” my eating. Back to a food log so I get a good idea of my “true” calories, not just I think I ate. After I calculate my baseline and maintenance needs, I will start some basic shifts in my eating habits. So, I will keep my calorie intake at maintenance level (I will get back to you on this next week) while considering my worst dietary habits. Since I eat fairly clean right now, I need to focus on the small tweaks--
- Fast food isn’t an issue but I do tend to eat extra protein bars that can add 250 calories without thought; I will substitute these with real food alternatives that will typically be only 150 calories
- I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables but I could stress the fiber content of all foods I eat to get some of the same results
- I don’t eat lots of sweets (usually ice cream 2 times a week) so this area is off limits for now
- I don’t skip meals, however, I can move to a 5 meal per day to keep from overeating at breakfast/lunch/dinner
- Although not officially part of the cleaning phase, removing alcohol is probably a necessity. The added calories are empty and although it is enjoyable, I don’t need to have it nightly. I will start with a no-alcohol Monday-Thursday and see how that goes.
I will check in next week with my baseline calories, my maintenance calories, highlights of my food journal as well as cleaning techniques I have developed during the week.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Life Tip #4 Set a Goal
As most things in life, if you don’t set a goal nothing gets done. Even if you are consistent with a workout or health routine, periodically juicing your motivation by establishing a “visible” goal, such as a 10K, charitable event, or community competition can force you to continue improving when you lack motivation. Unless there is something compelling you to strive for improvement, you are bound to get complacent; not only with your workouts but with your life.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Stage 3 Workout B
Similar to Workout A, Workout B emphasizes smaller muscles and more difficult movements. All through the program it is mentioned that if you don’t do “exactly” what is written, they can’t predict your results—well, that would apply anyway as this is not being developed specifically for you. So, I take some of this with a grain of salt and make adjustments while trying to stay with the concept of the workout. So, without further delay—here is Workout B. Same sets/reps/rest as Workout A (3/6/105 seconds)
Barbell Romanian Dead lift/ Bent-over row
Alternating sets: Partial single-leg squat/Wide-grip lat pull down
Alternating sets: Back Extension/YTWL
Alternating sets: Swiss-ball crunch/Hip flexion/Lateral flexion
Prone Cobra: 90 seconds
I have changed my HIIT this week to a 30 second/90 second interval at a faster pace – 10:00 / 8:00; and will work up to the 60 second/ 120 second intervals for next week while I try to develop an increase fast speed/decrease recovery speed into my intervals.
Although I was doubtful I could weigh 110 lbs earlier this week, I believe I can reach this goal by the end of the year if I am more diligent. Keep your fingers crossed for me!