My HIIT Program

So after weeks of prepping, I think I've finally created a solid HIIT training program for both legs and upper body.  If you're interested, keep reading.

What is HIIT?

For those who don't know, HIIT stands for high intensity interval training.  Essentially the purpose of this type of training to elevate the heart rate for a predetermined amount of time with limited rest in between intervals.  For example, you would do 1 min of intense training like...sprinting, burpees, or jump rope, followed by 30 sec of rest, then start the 1 min intensity again.  The limited rest allows you to recover just enough to do the movements but doesn't allow the heart rate to drop, thus increasing caloric burn and improving cardiovascular health.  This is what the Insanity program is based on, hence people's success at dropping considerable amounts of weight using it.

The best part about HIIT:  training time is cut in half because your workout is 10x more efficient.  You can do an entire workout...full body in 25 - 30 min and be sweating and breathing heavy like you just ran a marathon.  Love it.  I went from spending 1:30 in the gym to under an hour and I'm working 15x harder than before.

In all honesty, I've lost more weight and leaned out more post Insanity using this program than I did with the actual program.  And make no mistake about it, nothing is borrowed from that thing other than a couple stretches I do at the end, and those are ones I've been doing for years anyway so technically they're not stolen.  Again, not trying to nag the program, just being honest.

For this program I highly recommended getting this app on your phone.  Don't know what to tell Apple users, but since y'all already know I'm #teamandroid don't be surprised that I'm only provided one link.  I'm sure you can find it in the Apple store.  Milk dud had it the gym...he paid $0.99.  Y'all also know I'm not about that life, so don't be surprised that my app is free.  But anyways, the app will allow you to literally program the entire workout in, rests included, and cycle through it without stopping.  I even programmed in the breaks between sets so I don't have to actually touch it the entire time.  Saves on time and energy and you don't have to bring a notebook and a pencil to the gym like you're about to take notes all the damn time.

My week typically looks like this, pending of course some unforeseen event that I must tend to:

Monday...Legs

Tuesday...Upper

Wednesday...Legs

Thursday...upper

Friday...Legs

You'll notice Saturday and Sunday ain't on the list...remember, I don't workout on those days.  I also squat on both the upper body and leg days, so I'm squatting 5 days a week with 2 full days of rest to let these weary bones recover.  Haven't had any problems yet, other than my knees aching from being triiiied all week long.  They don't hurt, they just feel like I was lifting 185 lbs for a week.

Leg Circuit

First and foremost, everyone should have a leg day and said day should include use of the squat rack if one is using a gym.  I don't know what this notion is of people walking by the greatest lower body machine ever created.  You want to get strong?  Squat.  You want a firm butt?  Squat.  You wanna tone up those legs?  Squat.  So basically what I'm trying to say is...squat.

Left:  Standard squat
Right:  front squat

Now that that's covered, I can get into the actual program.

The actual circuit itself takes exactly 25:30 to complete.  That's 2 sets of 11 movements.  Not bad if you ask me.  After the set you do 25-35 squats and/or deadlifts gradually increasing in weight.  I'll let you determine what weight that is for you.  My personal max is 185 lbs, so I usually do about 20-25 reps of 160 lbs then do 1-2 at the max.  Form is key for me, which is why the max reps aren't as high as you might think.

The actual circuit itself is 11 movements done for :45 followed by :15 of rest.  Then there's a 2:00 break between each set.  If you use the app you can program all of that in and it will tell you all of that, including the break.  It cycles through to the second one automatically.  Pretty hot considering I was doing all of this manually at one point.

The goal here is not to worry about the number of reps you do, just do as many as possible.  If you need a visual demo of any of the movements, check out this guy's YouTube channel.  I've mentioned him before.  He was kinda the inspiration behind this.

***Also, make sure you do some kind of warm-up before this.  I usually hang with my buddy Mr. StairMaster for 10 min or so, then do a few light ab moves and stretch thoroughly before doing this.  The last thing you need is to be doing all this jumping and pull something.***

• Burpee lunges
• Rest
• Rotating squats
• Rest
• Star burpees
• Rest
• Squat pulses
• Rest
• Jumping lunges
• Rest
• Side-to-side burpees
• Rest
• Body weight squats
• Rest
• Knee strike burpees
• Rest
• Ski hoops
• Rest
• Kick out burpees
• Rest
• Single leg plyo
• Break

If for some reason you think you can do this sans breaks, I encourage you to try it.  Don't worry, I'll wait...

...

That's what I thought.  You'll probably get about half way through before you vomit or one of your legs completely falls off.  Or you'll stop half way though one of the sets.  Either way, a break is necessary...helps keep the form and give you a little bit of wind for the next movement.

If you do the circuit correctly, your heart rate should be sky high and your legs should be burning.  Use the 2:00 break in between sets to grab some water since, as you can see, there's not designated water break.

You can take a few minutes to catch your breath after fully completing the circuit because you're going to need it for the squats.  Even though your body is nice 'n' toasty warm now, it's still a good idea to warm up a little by starting with light weight.  A power lifter friend of mine even starts off lifting just the bar and his max is 545 lbs.  I usually do the bar, the add 25 lbs (each side), then 35 lbs, then 45 lbs, then 55 lbs, the 65 lbs.  By the time everything is said 'n' done, I probably do somewhere between 25-35 reps.  I'm not really particular on the number since it's form and strength (and to get a band of minions like this) I'm going for here, but I aim for 3x10.

After that you do 2x15 calf raises, leg curls, and leg extensions (not necessarily in that order), cool down, and stretch.  You don't have to kill it with the leg curls since your quads should have gotten a good workout between the circuit and the squats.  

Total amount of time spent:  approx. 60 min...most of which is depending on how long it takes you to squat.

This circuit coupled with the weights afterward gives you a complete lower body workout.  Hopefully you live on the first floor or have an elevator in your building because chances are you won't be doing too much walking in the upcoming days.

My goals for this:  5 reps at max weight for squats and slowly increase the overall max to 220 lbs.  That might seem like a random number for you, but I'm trying to get to 1.5x my body weight, which is around that amount.

Upper Body Circuit

The upper body circuit is set up just like the lower body one, except...well, with upper body movements. 

• Side-to-side burpees
• Rest
• Dive bombers
• Rest
• Tricep extension
• Rest
• Bicep curls
• Rest
• Squat pulses
• Rest
• Renegade burpees
• Rest
• Star burpees
• Rest
• Bent over rows
• Rest
• Push up jacks
• Rest
• Squat press/clean
• Break

These are done for 45 sec with 15 sec rest between each just like with the lower body.

Total amount of time spent on circuit:  23:30. 

Once you do your squats and wrist curls you'll probably be closer to an hour.  

*SN* Wrist curls aren't anything major...I just like 'em.  Feel free to skip 'em if you want.

Renegade burpees

I'm sure you won't have the arm strength to do anything else.  In fact, you may have even have arms at all.  I've spaced out the free weight exercises because I was finding that my arms felt like (insert expletive here) by the 4th exercise, and I wasn't able to properly do all of the exercises after it.  Sometimes less is better.  If you do this correctly, your arms will basically be immobile for the next day or so.  You've been warned...

Results

So far I've seen fantastical results with this program.  Even the trainers at the gym are seeing a difference...which also signifies that I'm there waaay too often, but whatevs.  I not sure how much weight I've lost since I think scales are devil and lie on the regular, but I've noticed that my clothes fit differently, especially the pants, so there are some obvi changes going on.  Since kid sister is gone, I'm going to tighten up my diet and see if that makes more of a difference.

As you can see, most of the movements in both upper and lower body don't require weights, and the ones that do don't require heavy ones.  You can go to Wal-Mart and put up 2 dumbbells for like $25 and be good to go for awhile.  If I wasn't moderately addicted to the gym and the squat rack that's what I would do.

I like this routine better than Insanity because the voice in my head doesn't sound like a gay man it's shorter and I have the attention span of a small child.  45 min of something is excess to me in my old age, especially when it's physically challenging.  You can do these in your basement while watching a 30 min program and be finished before the program is over.  Quick 'n' sweet, short & to the point.  That's how I like things.  When I was in college and had copious amounts of time, I could do an hour and a half in the gym.  After 2 hrs worth of driving and 8 hrs worth of working, an hour is more than enough...or if you go to Crunch Fitness, 100 min is more than enough (since they don't validate any more than that).

The Importance of Protein Powder

For those who don't know, protein is important.  And no, it's not bad for you...the protein in the jar is the same as the stuff you find in chicken...just more concentrated and infinitely less tasty.  It's best to just get as much protein as possible from regular foods.  You shouldn't be completely substituting powder for actual food; that's not the purpose of the powder, and frankly that's going to be hella expensive for you in the long run.

And for the ladies:  no, it won't make you bulk up like a man.  I'm not sure who your 8th grade science teacher was, but if they told you that, they lied.

You need protein, not just for muscle health but for your overall health as well.  In theory you should be eating some type of protein with every mean.  I've heard it's supposed to be the size of your fist...or something like that.  Of course that may not be possible all the time, but it's still a good thing to strive for.

Types of Protein

There are a bunch of different types of proteins which you can read about here since I don't feel like typing all that.  Professional grade bodybuilders will likely use the more advanced stuff, but you should def talk to your doctor before you start taking anything like that.  I checked with my doctor...she approved of the stuff I use.  There are like 184612 different brands that basically do the same thing, so it's just a matter of which additives you like...or in my case, which jars are on the lower shelves.  The height struggle...

Protein and Weight Training

$50 for 5 lbs.
71 servings

Protein powder is essential to weight lifters and athletes because we kill ourselves our muscles every time we workout.  You may not feel it at the moment, but all that heaving, running, and jumping is asking a lot of your muscles.  And although they're equipped for the challenge, it still takes a toll on them.  The post-workout protein shake helps to repair, rebuild those beat up ol' muscles, and build new bright 'n' shiny ones..or at least healthy ones.  Even if you're trying to lose weight you still need protein because it builds muscles...muscles burn oodles of fat, therefore d'licious protein shakes will help your life.

Now, the downside to protein is that it's a little costly.  My weapon protein of choice is the Gold Standard Whey because it doesn't have a bunch of carbs/sugar, and it's on the low shelves in Vitamin Shoppe.  If you plan on using it daily or taking more than one scoop in a serving, I highly recommend getting the bigger jar.  Mine lasts me 4 months because I only use it when I workout (saves money that way.  Times is hard...the fitness & money struggles are real).  I got my first one in January...didn't have to buy another one til April.  It's the end of July and I still probably have another month left with that same jar, and that's with the double scoopage.  I prefer strawberry banana since I actually like that flavor in other things, plus it tastes good with milk.  Also because I was getting cookies 'n' cream last time and literally getting anxiety attacks when it came time to drinking it.  I wish I was joking.  Kid sister can attest to these attacks.

This is a name brand company, which accounts somewhat for the price.  But typically smaller containers run 2 lbs. for $32.99, and that's only a month's supply.  So like I said, if you're planning on using this stuff for the long haul, just invest in the big jar.  $50 four times a year is better that $33 twelve times a year.  Wal-mart sells the smaller jars for like $25.99 or something like that.  It'll do it you're really in a pinch.

The thing to lookout for with protein is the sugar content.  Some of the off-brands have entirely too many carbs in them to be effective, so make sure you watch out for that.

When to Your Protein Shake

As you can see from this video, some people drink protein several times a day.  Although this is probably ideal, it's not really practical unless you're a professional athlete and/or have $18463 to pay for protein all the time.

*SN*  That's not really an exaggeration either.

For those of us with regular 9-5 jobs, I think once a day will do just fine.  I only take mine after a workout.  2 scoops, which is up from my usual 1 scoop because I'm trying to lean out a bit, aka, make more muscles.  In theory, one scoop will do you just fine.  I've been taking 2 scoops for awhile now and haven't grown a beard or a 3rd leg, so I'm sure I'm not causing any harm.  One top of that, most of the lifters I know take 2 scoops.  They're men, but you know what I always say:  Equal pay for equal work.

Mini automatic
blender for the high rollers.

Manual labor blender
for us blue collar folks.

I prefer to drink my shake with milk because protein + water = horrifying & nauseating, at least for me.  So 8 oz. of milk + 2 scoops of protein = tolerable.  I'll usually have this with dinner since unrefrigerated milk tends to not be so tasty 10-12 hrs later.  If I put it in the fridge at work I'm like 100% sure I'll forget it, therefore I just wait til I get home.  It's only a 25 min drive home from the gym and I snack on some blueberry flavored greek yogurt on the way so I don't pass out from hunger on the beltway.  I know how you Maryland people are...y'all would drive by and not even help a sista out.

Flavors

I have the strawberry banana flavored one...it's not too bad.  I tried the cookies 'n' cream one before...the lies we tell ourselves.  Ain't never had a cookie nor cream that taste like that.  Unacceptable.  A buddy of mine said he didn't understand why the made protein flavors in things that really only go well with milk...makes a good point.

• Chocolate + water?  Watery chocolate almost sounds exciting.
• Vanilla + water?  Sounds worse than the chocolate!
• Strawberry + water?  You had me until you said water.
• Cookies 'n' Cream + water?  Would you dunk an oreo cookie in water?  Didn't think so.
• Strawberry banana + water?  Why water down perfection?
• Banana cream + water?  Looks like the vomit of someone who ate too many vanilla wafers then drank 7146 cups of water.

It comes in a bunch more flavors, but good luck finding them in stores.  Those are the ones I see most often.  So you see, milk is the best choice, although I know plenty of people who would be to differ.  If you can stomach these flavors with water/you don't want the extra calories from the milk, bless yo heart and yo days.

But like I said before, always check with your doctor before taking anything.  I told y'all I learned that lesson the hard way.  I'm sure they won't have a problem with you taking it, if you have a good reason for doing so.

Cheat Meals

I'm sure by now you've heard that diet is the most important part of fitness.  I've heard it's like 80% of the work, meaning it arguably has more impact on your physique and fitness level than what you do in the gym.

Even though we all know this, it's basically impossible (or at least hella uncomfortable) to stick to a diet 100% of the time.  Nutritionists say treating yourself to you favoritest junk foods every now and then is actually psychologically good and can help you lose weight by keeping you from binge eating.  I remember those days when I just haaad to have sugar...I'd been turning it down for days 'n' days 'n' days...then all of a sudden I found myself eating my body weight in candy bars.  Satisfyingly horrible.

My Cheat Days

Since those days I've been working on managing my cravings for all things healthy & d'licious.  Life is too short to be depriving yourself of what I refer to as "mental health food".  I have 1.5 cheat days (before you judge, let me explain):  Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday is when I live like a wild child run my errands, so I don't really have the time/ability to eat healthy, structured meals like I do during the week.  Not all the means I eat are bad, but I'm sure my portions are out of wack, so it's just the same.  Sunday is fishing day with pops.  There isn't even a decent bathroom available, let alone healthy food.  I count this as the 0.5 because I don't eat a lot that day...usually a small snack and a bunch of water.  Then a healthy dinner.  So it's not all bad, I hope.  I also make pancakes for breakfast on the weekend...not sure how healthy or unhealthy they are, but I figured I'd mention them just in case.

The only major cheating I do during the week is pizza day with kid sister on Thursdays.  I gets my pizza ON, like for real for real...pepperoni, heck, sometimes extra pepperoni, stuffed crust...I tasks no prisoners.  Mind you, this is dinner...the rest of the day is quality eating.  Kid sister is planning on going back to school in August so those will likely stop once she's gone.

So my cheat day are as follows:

• Weekend pancakes
• Saturdays
• Partial Sundays
• Pizza Thursday

It doesn't seem like that to me, but now I feel horrible after writing it down for y'all.  Thanks.

Cheat Days vs. Cheat Meals

So I've been trying to get my lean muscle on, and I happened upon this video from Funky Roberts, aka burpee man.  He makes some good points about the mental importance of cheat meals and why it's good to have them planned.  I like that he turns his cheat "days" into cheat "meals", which I think is a good way of doing things...it's sure to keep you from going overboard with the fatty eating.  If I were to do this, weekly pizza bonding day with kid sister would be out, fisherman Sunday with pops would have to included some kinda portable healthy snack, and Saturdays...I don't even know about that life.

My only issue with his cheat method is that it only includes 3 meals, not days...meals.  Think about that for a sec...

I eat 5 small meals a day, 5 days a week.  That's approximately 25 meals in 5 days.  Saturdays it's probably around 4 and Sunday it's probably 3.  Let's do some math, shall we?

• 25 healthy meals a week x 4 weeks in a month = 100 healthy meals
• 4 bad Saturday meals x 4 weeks in a month = 16 
• 3 mediocre Sunday meals x 4 weeks in a month = 12 
• Totals meals eaten = approx. 128

Let's just say 130 meals for the sake of rounding.  Now, you mean to tell me out of 130 meals in a month, only 3 can be faulty?  3/130.  I'd give you the percentage, but I don't do that much math.  But that's a hella small percentage, especially for a foodie like me.  An average person could go through their monthly allotment of cheat meals in the course of a single weekend. That doesn't mean you're sabotaging your diet, it just means you're living like a normal person.  In theory, this is where I tell you I'm going to try it out and report back to y'all, but I ain't even gonna kid myself into thinking I'd be able to do something like that.  I need to live my life.  That plus the fact I'm moderately addicted to food and couldn't stop eating even if I wanted to.

Good Luck with That

But if anyone is able to torture themselves do this for a month, do let me know.  Or maybe you already do, in which case, bless yo' heart and yo' days.

Burpees: The Love-Hate Relationship

I've been watching a lot of videos from this guy and I've started infusing burpees into my workout regiments 5 days a week.  Check out some of his regiments...they're legit.  I only had two issues thus far:  my knees and my wrists.  I got wrist wraps for the latter problem, and the first one I'm attributing to a combination of the frequency of my gym visits and perhaps bad form.  My knees don't hurt all the time, they're just a little achy in the morning.  Well, they were before I took an 8 day hiatus for vacay.  Been back at the gym for 2 days now and haven't had any problems, so I'm assuming it was just the frequency.

I don't really follow any of his workouts exactly, but I steal the moves and combine them with other things including some Insanity moves.

Yeah I said it...no shame in my game.

45 min of Cardio

But pretty much the goal is to keep your heart rate elevated for at least 45 min, so I've changed a few things to make sure that happens.  Before I started reppin' #TeamBurpee my heart rate would always decrease  during the weight lifting sessions in comparison to when I was doing cardio.  I would do the most strenuous cardio in the beginning of the workout and and disperse the rest of it in between the weights.  Now I do an intense warm-up...probably 10 min with my friend Mr. StairMaster, followed by my ab routine, then stretching.  This does several important things:

• Gets the heart rate up for the rest of the workout
• Gets blood flowing - which is important for those of us who sit on their butts all day
• Helps with stretching and making sure you don't stiffen up

Lower Back Tragedies

My biggest issue with cardio is my lower back.  It's always hella stiff...I can't even do a lap around a track without it stiffening up to the point where I have to stop running.  The real gag is, I'm not even tired.  So sad.  Milk Dud (my trainer buddy hook-up at the gym) said it could be because I need to stretch my hamstrings, glutes, or hip flexors, all of which stiffen up if you're sitting for hours at a time. 

So pretty much this damn job is ruining my body.  I can't with this place...

But I digress.

So far I've been having a lot of success with that.  I make sure to specifically work on my lower back, abs, and stretch them everyday.

If you don't burpee, I recommend you hop on it, no pun intended.  It really is a great total body workout.  Funk Roberts has like 104146 different kinds of burpees you can do, so I highly suggest you mix 'n' match and see which ones you like best.  I copied his style of doing 5+ exercises in a row, so I mix 'n' match myself without sticking to any particular order he's laid out.  I started with 2-3 sets of :30 each but now I'm doing :45 and 1:00 sets.  There's no set number of reps, just do as many as you can. I think the thing that was messing me up before was that I was taking too many breaks between exercises.  I was letting my heart rate drop back down, which meant I wasn't burning as much fat as I could have been.  Doing 5 exercises like this for :45 or 1:00 will have you thinking death will come faster than weight loss, trust me.  But it will be worth it in the end.  Here's a link to his website.  He's pretty legit.  Somewhere on there is a link for a free meal plan and a bunch of workout info.  It's legit, too, and it's all free - that's my favorite word.  Let me know if you can't find the link and I'll send you the PDF files.  If nothing else, the dude is good for exercise ideas, which is exactly what I was looking for when I happened upon him on YouTube.

P.S. - If you do the burpees correctly, you will tire quickly and your body will ache the next day.  This is a good thing.

Scales, Y U NO be Accurate?

So if you read my last post, you know I've been for realz tryna lose some lbs.  I honestly think it's working...I'm apparently down 2-3 lbs since the last time I posted something here...

However...

The scale could be wrong...

Because each scale gives a different damn number every time you get on it...

Scales, Y U NO be accurate?!

These ol' rickety scales be done had me losing so much weight I look like a crackhead or something.  I can't...but if it's right, I think I have about 3 or so more lbs to go.  Satan tried to goup me today...gave me some ol' naaasty hunger pangs just because kid sister guilted me into taking some of her brownies into work with me.  I know it was him because nothing about my routine, including what I ate for breakfast had changed.  But my God is a good God and He came to the rescue!  Literally just as I put the first fork full of brownie (don't you judge me) in my mouth, somebody at work came and told me there were free sandwiches in the bistro.  Got me a mystery meat chicken salad sandwich that HIT. THE. SPOT.  No need for brownies after that.

As for my routine, I'm now doing 20 min on the Jacobs Ladder, followed by a couple min of ab work and 3 weight lifting exercises, then 15 min of more cardio (treadmill, elliptical, etc.), then 3 more weight exercises, the 5-10 min of cardio again (this one is usually the treadmill.  Today I used the second shift of cardio to do some total body exercises, 30 sec each:  burpees, mountain climbers, wide leg mountain climbers, and some moves I stole from Insanity.  Yeah, I said it.  STOLE.  Thanks.  I did wide leg mountain climbers this time around because it's leg day...I might not do those tomorrow.  We. Shall. See. how the spirit moves me when the time comes.  When I was done with everything, it was about 13 min.  I spent the last 2 doing more ab work.

In all honesty, I do see a difference in the way I look since we last met on here.  I can def see where the weight is coming of:  right around the middle.  My legs are also getting slimmer, but as my family so kindly pointed out to me, my legs are probably always going to be this size.  I'm inclined to agree, but my goal is to make/keep them shapely.  Just because these hips will never be a size 0 doesn't mean they can't rock the hell out of a size 9.

So yeah, I'm pretty pleased with how things are going thus far.  I'm keeping with the 5-6 small meals a day to keep myself from every being hungry.  Lunch has been a small piece of chicken or steak with a cup (microwaveable) of brown rice.  This week I'm subbing in the fruit that used to be part of lunch in for meal #2 at 10:30, which makes lunch a little bare.  But I put in grits for meal #4 (the pre-gym meal) so I have plenty of energy while I work out. Since i carpool with kid sister, I'm usually not able to get dinner in immediately following my workout, so I bring some OMG D'LICIOUS blueberry Oikos yogurt to eat while I wait for her to get off work.  Then I eat dinner, which is usually something small and drink some almost d'licious protein.  It's not a perfect diet, but it seems to be working.  I'm still planning on THROWING DOWN tomorrow for me and kid sister's "Pizza Thursday" celebrations.  It's not about deprivation, it's about moderation.  That plus the fact that I simply refuse to give up pizza.

Motivation

So recently I've decided to make some professional / life changes, which just so happen to require me drop down to 140 lbs.  Now I can't say for certain how much I weigh at the moment since the scale at my house gives me a different number every  time I hop on the damn thing, but I know for certain I'm not quite at that level.  Those of you who know me know I'm nowhere near almost overweight, so getting to this point won't require dropping suspect amounts of weight, but the weight must come off nonetheless.  For the first time in my life I have real.  live.  motivation (and not the Kelly Rowland kind).

I'm attempting to infuse the following into my routines:

• Burpees
• Jacobs Ladder
• Mountain climbers
• Treadmill (le sigh)
• Row machine

I've done all of these before.  Allow me to rank them in order by likability, with 1 being...well, #1:

1. Jacobs Ladder
2. Row machine
3. Burpees
4. Mountain climbers

     #891246265289641.  Treadmill

Yeah you read that number right.

I caaan't with stationary running.  I'm pretty confident I run greater distances outside than I do on the treadmill.  I'm going to have to trespass on some high schools to use their outdoor tracks (Reservoir, I'm looking at you).  Good thing I have 4 yrs of fence-hopping under my belt from SMCM.

Shout out to the ARC!

You know what I really miss?  Indoor tracks.  I got a little spoiled from my internship days in Fitchburg with that.  It's probably the greatest thing since the squat rack.  They really should become a "thing".

*SN*  It's becoming a common theme in my life for me to become moderately addicted to things that I can only have for a short amount of time or things that are hella expensive.  This fact somewhat diminishes my overall quality of life.

In any event, I'll keep ya'll in the know.  I have many moons before the weight needs to be gone, and by "many moons" I mean I'd like it to be gone by mid-July.

If for some ungodly reason I can't get it off the good ol' fashion way (hard work & dedication), I'll just stop eating.  Starvation is always a guaranteed way of meeting your weight loss goals...if you survive...

Date #2 with the Personal Trainer

Yesterday was Day 2 aka the last free session with my secretly African personal trainer.  It really is too bad I don't have $90/hr to spend on him otherwise I'd totally keep going.  He told me they're having a special...3 for $130.  I don't know about ya'll, but that ain't no sale to me.  It's bad enough this membership costs the same amount as my car insurance.  I can't even be giving away $130 on something I could Google and YouTube.

Last time I met with him he said we'd spent time talking about diet this session, which was a lie because he made no mention of such things this time around.  The session was still quality though; I think it lasted about 40 min or so.  I kinda gouped him out of like 10 min because he asked me what time we started and I said 6 when it was really 5:50, but he be aiight.

New Addition to the Routine

This time around we did a lot of cardio and core work.  He said those are the two things I should work on.  He recommends at least 45 min of cardio; I have to figure out how to work that in because I hate treadmill running, 45 min on the StairMaster is an awful lot, and I don't know that the bike would be able to hold my attention span for that long.  I'll probably go back to what I was doing at LifeTime:  15 min of elliptical, 15 min of bike, 15 min of running, or something to that effect.  I'm also going to add core work in with this, so now my week will probably look as follows:

• Monday:  Leg day
• Tuesday:  Cardio & core
• Wednesday: Todal body day
• Thursday:  Upper body
• Friday:  Cardio & core

Monday and Thursday are going to remain the same in terms of exercises I currently do.  Wednesday will be a mixture of both legs & upper body.  I'll probably do a bunch of exercises that require total body movements, ex) burpees and the like.  As for the cardio & core day, I'll do 15, core, 15, core, 15 core...or something like that - that does dd up to 45, right??  Man I wish I paid attention in math...  I'm gonna research different core exercises I can do between each set to keep my heart rate up.  You can get an core workout from more than crunches.  I'll let you guys know what I find.  As for the cardio bit, I know I'm keeping the StairMaster and I'll probably add the row machine and Jacob's Ladder to keep things interesting.  Treadmills and stationary bikes get boring after awhile.  You'll be too R.I.P. to be bored with Jacob's Ladder and StairMaster, and the row machine in right in front of the TVs so it just has good placement.

*SN*  The Jacob's Ladder struggle is real.  The 2:30 felt like 981246 minutes.  Now, this could have been because it was the end of the workout, I was already tired, and I spent 30 min on the StairMaster before the date even started.  But it was probably because it was just hard.

He Tried It

Anyways, here are a couple of funny things/complements the trainer dude said:

1. "You're shaped like a gymnast or an Olympic sprinter."
2. "You're stocky and short, which could be problems if you gain weight."
3. "You already have the muscle so if you do more cardio you'll be...OMG...yesss, so toned...OMG."

OK, first of all, #2 was not as it seems; he was trying to explain the importance of cardio to me, even though I secretly already knew.  Little harsh?  Yesss, but correct none-the-less.  This little 5'0" frame can only hold so much weight.  In fact, I'm so short that when he went to show me the Jacob's Ladder machine, the belt doesn't even go down that far.  Also, I've been called "stocky" my entire life, so that's really nothing new.  Anyway, I've never been compared to a sprinter or a gymnast, but I'll take it.  And that last comment...all I could do is laugh.  He said it just like that, French accent and all.

I'm gonna take his advice and go back to the cardio day(s) like when I was at LifeTime for the next 4 months or so.  He says I can yell at him if I don't see any results after that.  And I plan on holding him to that.

So we'll see how this new routine works out.  I'll start it on Monday and make adjustments accordingly.

Post Insanity Life (continued)

I haven't measured myself but I'm sure I'm smaller than I was in my Insanity days.  I'm sure that's because of the weight lifting.  My waistline is smaller and everything is more toned than before, which is odd because cardio is supposed to slim you down, thus toning you up.  This leads me to conclude that Insanity really only helped me improve my conditioning and not much else...which is fine since that is after all what I bought it for.  I just thought I'd share that piece with you.