I get approached all the time from friends, strangers, my pastor, and even my mom about questions with fitness and health. A "luxury" I guess to being in the industry even though I have always hated pop quizzes. it still brings chills to my spine just thinking about geometry class, who the hell cares or needs to know how to find the area of a shape with like 17 sides. Ridiculous, I know. But despite the deep emotional scarring from geometry class, I truly love the opportunity to talk about fitness!
The other day a co-worker of mine came up to me with a question about working out and I could tell she had been struggling with this for awhile...........
The Problem:
Despite being consistently working out for more than 9 months she wasn't seeing any gains. As a matter of fact, things were actually going the other way and she was gaining weight in unwanted places. She wanted to know why and how she could get back to seeing results.
This is the million dollar question isn't it?
The Break down:
After spending some time talking with her about the details of her training, the problem was apparent. Despite incorporating weights and cardio, there was a big problem. She wasn't challenging her body enough and now her body had adapted and become quite efficent at her monotonous workouts.
Bless her heart for working out consistently for as long as she did but this is a problem everyone faces, not just women. Guys instead of doing 30 min of cardio everyday for 2 years, will bench press the same way for 2 years, Every Freaking Day! That's just stupid!
The Prescription:
There are a few quick, sure fire ways in diversifying your workout to induce some body altering results.
1.) Supersets: A superset is pairing up exercises back to back without rest until both sets are done. This is a great way to transform your weight training exercises into calorically demanding movements. So instead of doing your traditional 3 sets of 10 reps of a single exercise, with rests after each set.
Perform one set of 8 reps of your first exercise then fo directly into a set of your second exercise. Then you get to rest.
Example:
Body weight squats x 10 reps (3-4 sets)
Pushups x 8 reps (3-4 sets)
Perform your first set of 10 Body weight squats then go directly into 8 pushups before you rest and do it again.
Another great idea is to choose two larger muscle groups that are not directly associated with each other. Larger muscle groups require more energy which of course equals more energy used. By choosing muscle groups that are not associated with each other, you allow one muscle group to rest while the other works hard.
2. Cardio Intervals: Cardio intervals is exactly what is sounds like. Instead of running at a steady pace for an hour, continually change the intesity over a short amount of time. Try to maintain a regimen to follow, such as 2 min on High Intesnsity, 2 min low intensity, 2 min High intensity etc. etc.........
Example:
Try a 15 min time frame on the treadmill. (even though I don't like treadmills and don't want you to use this if you can run outside)
15 minutes Total
2 min on high intensity
3 min on low intensity
Repeat until 15 min is up.
This style of cardio intervals will help you jack up your heart rate requiring more oxygen to be pumped and more calories burned after your workout due to an increase in metabolic demand.
Another great way to incorporate cardio intervals to quickly transform your body into burning fat is sprint intervals. Try running a series of 40 yd dashes with rests in between. Throw in a 50 yd dash and then lastly one 100 yd dash, and it will demolish anything 45 min at level 5 on a treadmill could do.
Please! Ladies, don't get caught running for 2 hours at level 4 on a treadmill while you make your way through a season of Grey's Anatomy.
3. Nutrition: Ask yourself this simple question. What in the HELL am I eating? If you are working out consistently and still gaining weight, stop and take a second to think about what and when you are eating. Did you eat a double cheesburger and a large fries after getting drunk on saturday night right before you passed out? If you answered YES, I think you know why your gaining weight.
- Try eating a minimum of 5 smaller meals a day to help increase your metabolism and curb your appetite. This will help with the late night munchies.
- Avoid late night munchies.
- Eat a breakfast as it will help fuel your day and keep you from gorging through a big lunch and even bigger dinner.
- Drink lots of water. The less water you drink the more your body will retain because it doesn't know when the next time it will get some, because you don't drink anything!
- Try eating every 2-3 hours to keep your body fueled and burning calories. It takes more calories to process proteing then anything else so, I would probably eat protein with every major meal.
Closing Words:
These were the three major strategies I gave to my co-worker to help her get out fo that rut and charge into burning fat. Especially because I know she has a vacation planned to a beach somewhere, like many of you do.
These points are easier said then done, no doubt, but they are three quick, sure fire ways to start seeing results. Remeber that your body always is in survival mode. It wants to conserve energy all day long by doing everything as efficiently and effectively possible. So if you have been doing the same run for an hour on the treadmill for months now, your body probably is wokring with the least amount of energy possible. I think it's time spice things, don't be afraid of a little HEAT!
Bonus "Look Like a Fitness Cover Model":
Fitness Cover Model High Fat BURN Workout - The Albert Way!
Jumping Jacks x 25 reps
Body Weight Squats x 12 reps
Pushups x 8-10 reps
Reverse Lunges x 12 reps each side
Mountain climbers x 15 each leg
V-sits x 10 reps
Perform this workout all the way through without rest. Once you are finished rest 1-3 min, gradually decreasing the rest time as you progressively become better. Repeat 2-4 sets for desired effects. Good Luck!
RSS Feed
Twitter
