W.O.W. March 14, 2012

Wow (get it, W.O.W.?), this is a long time coming:). I am so hilarious.

This is your Workout Of The Week:

You will need a set of dumbbells (or two if you think you might need to switch for lighter ones)

Warm Up

5 Jacks, 5 Burpees, 5 Tuck Jumps, 5 Single leg squat thrust on each side.

Perform the following drills for 50 seconds each, take 10 seconds to switch drills:


Alt row in plank position

Kneeling get up with one DB overhead on the right leg only

Kneeling get up with one DB overhead on the left leg only

Renegade push ups

Jackknife





Repeat all cardio drills
Repeat all DB drills

Repeat both one more time.

Stretch

Workout Of The Week October 13th, 2011

W.O.W. 10/13/2011

You will need dumbbells and a place to run for this workout.

Warm up for five minutes.


Perform two rounds of the following:
Single leg squat hop Right X20
Burpee X20
Single leg squat hop Left X20
Push up and row X20 (10 a side)
Run a fast 400 meter
Rest





Perform two rounds of the following exercises:
Frog hop X20
Jack squat thrust X20
Frog hop X20
Squat and shoulder press X20
Run sprints 30 secs on/30 secs off - 5X




Perform two rounds of the following exercises
Split jump X20
Tuck squat thrust X20
Split jump X20
Overhead lunge X20/s
Run 800 meters





Finish with 4 sets of 20 sit ups.

Top Four Body Weight Drills

There are four exercises that you can do anytime, anywhere so keep them handy for when you are on the road or stuck in your house for any reason. Here are the drills with variations to keep it interesting.



Push Ups

#1. Decline push ups - put your feet on a chair or table to perform the movement.
#2. Renegade push ups - perform a push up and as you come up out of the push up extend the opposite arm and leg. There are a couple variations on this drill. The most popular one is push up and row (pull one elbow to the ceiling at the top of the push up) but it isn't nearly as effective without weights and the drills I have listed are specifically designed to be challenging without using any equipment.
#3. Tricep push ups - keep elbows close to your body throughout the exercise.
#4. Plyometric push ups - as you come up push off explosively so that your hands (and/or feet) leave the floor.

Squats

Here are just a few squat variations. There are many, many more.
#1. Change the tempo of the squat by pulsing at the bottom for 10-20 reps before you come all the way up.
#2. Take your feet really wide with toes turned out, place your hands on your head and sink down at least to a 90 degree angle at your knee.
#3. Drop into a squat with your hands on your head and walk around the room for 10-20 steps.
#4. Bring your feet together and touch the floor with both hands on either side of your feet. Explode up into a jump while reaching for the ceiling.




Squat Thrusts/Burpees

#1. Just to clarify - a squat thrust is nothing fancy, just down/back/in/up. A burpee has a push up thrown in.
#2. Add a jack with the legs once your in plank and a jack as you hop up.
#3. After you kick your legs back lay all the way down on the floor so legs, belly and chest are all touching then push yourself up and hop in and up.
#4. After you kick your feet back bring your knees into your chest and kick back again before you hop in and up.




Sit Ups

#1. Traditional gym-class sit ups - hands behind the head, knees bent and curl all the way up to touch your elbows to your knees.
#2. Straighten your knee with arms straight over head. Curl up and touch your toes.
#3. Start with legs straight and hands behind your head. Curl up all the way, bringing one knee into your chest, touch it with your opposite elbow (you should twist across).
#4. Put your hands behind your head and tuck elbows and knee together so they touch. Extend legs out parallel to the floor. Bring them up some if your lower back bothers you.

Mix up sets and reps for the above exercises to create even more variation.

W.O.W. June 27, 2011

Work Out Of The Week

This is a complicated pyramid work out. It's complicated to figure out, not to do. You will perform 5 drills in order but the times will vary.

Here's the formula:

Drill #1-50 seconds
Drill #2-50 seconds, Drill #1-40 seconds
Drill #3-50 seconds, Drill #2-40 seconds, Drill #1-30 seconds
Drill #4-50 seconds, Drill #3-40 seconds, Drill #2-30 seconds, Drill #1-20 seconds
Drill #5-50 seconds, Drill #4-40 seconds, Drill #3-30 seconds, Drill #2-20 seconds, Drill#1-10 seconds

You can do the above with any five drills. The sequence is about 9 minutes long. Go through it in order, Drills #1-5, and then rest. Repeat everything but start with Drill #5 and go backwards.

Here are today's drills:



#1 Jacks

#2 Push Ups

#3 Jump squats

#4 Sit ups

#5 Burpees

Go through the above drills, rest, and then repeat in reverse order.




Yes, it's hard to keep your own time but there are ways to do it. There are interval apps for smart phones and there are watches with which you can program any interval length.

W.O.W. March 1st, 2011

Workout Of the Day

Warm up on the treadmill for 5 minutes then increase your speed and run hard for 3 minutes. Drop your speed and increase the incline to 10% and run for 2 minutes.

Hold one dumbbell up in your RIGHT hand, so it's overhead with a straight arm. Lunge forward and back with the RIGHT leg. Repeat 10X on each side for 4 sets.

Run fast for 3 minutes, decrease your speed and increase your incline to 8% and run for 2 minutes.

On the cable machine. Adjust a single-grip pulley about waist height. Step back and lunge forward with your LEFT foot and hold the lunge. Make sure the lunge is deep and static so don't move. Grab the handle with the RIGHT hand and pull it back in a row to your waist. The weight should be heavy enough that you feel off-balance. Repeat 12X on each side for 4 sets. The illustration on the left shows a one arm cable row and the height that I want but her feet are not in the position I want. If she puts her left foot forward and right leg and bends both knees she will be in a static lunge position.

Run fast for 3 minutes, slow down, increase incline to 6% and run for 2 minutes.


Perform decline push ups (feet on a bench or a couple of stacked plates, depends on how easily you do push ups). 4 sets of 20 reps.

Jog easily on the treadmill for 5 minutes.

And yes, stretch. Again I know it is highly unlikely that you will stretch on your own but please, stretch at least your low back, hamstrings and chest (see illustrations below).

Hamstring Stretch

Chest Stretch on the left, low back stretches on the right.

Nutrition For February 25th, 2011

A lot of women ask me how to control bloat. Our weight can fluctuate 5 lbs either way, on a daily basis. It is discouraging to weigh yourself and see that you are up 3 lbs when you have been working out like crazy and eating a healthy diet.

The way to control bloat is to watch your refined carbs. One gram of starchy carbs holds four grams of water, which is one of the reasons I adhere to a lower carb diet. I mainly stay between 50-100 grams of carbs a day and I stay far away from anything starchy (rice, bread of any kind, potatoes, etc. Oh yeah and SUGAR!). I do eat Fiber One every morning but the amount of fiber in that cereal lowers the the amount of carbs that you count toward your daily total. I'm sure you have heard the phrase 'impact carbs'. The amount of impact carbs in any given food is grams of total carbs - grams of fiber. For example a serving on Fiber One is 1/2 cup. It contains 25 grams of carbs and 14 grams of fiber. 25 - 14 = 11 grams of impact carbs.

Here is my nutrition intake for 2/25/11:

On this particular day I took my kids out for lunch so it shows what you can do if you do the same thing.


Breakfast
Muscle Milk Protein Bar
Snack
100 calorie pack of almonds
2 ounces of cheddar cheese

Lunch
Triple stack hamburger
3 pieces of American cheese
1/2 a hamburger bun

Snack
2 chicken thighs (just the meat from a teriyaki place that I had left over from the day before)

Dinner
2 fried chicken wings
1/4 cup rice
1 Bourbon and soda

Total calories: 2,277
Total carbs : 57 grms
Total Protein: 176

I am not suggesting that you eat the way that I do. A couple people commented on the fact that I eat no fruit and almost no vegetables. That's true. I do try to get more leafy greens in my diet on a daily basis. I manage to do that about three times a week in the form of spinach, broccoli and lettuce. Yes, you should eat vegetables but I do suggest that you are careful with how much fruit you eat. Research shows that the body still recognizes fruit as sugar.

W.O.W. November 13th, 2010

Here's your Workout Of the Week:

Set two pairs of dumbbells aside, one medium and one heavy. You will also need access to a weight bench.

Jog on the treadmill for 5 minutes. Increase the incline to 6% and increase your speed by .3-.5. Run for 3 minutes.

Hop off the treadmill and pick up the heavy dumbbells. Perform step ups on the weight bench. 3 sets of 10 per side.

Return to the treadmill. Run on the flat for 2 minutes. Increase the incline to 8% and increase your speed. Run for 3 minutes.

Pick up the medium weights and perform a reverse lunge with bicep curls for 10 reps total (or 5 a side) follow immediately with 10 squat thrusts with dumbbells. Repeat 2 more times without a break between sets.

Return to the treadmill. Run on the flat for 2 minutes. Increase the incline to 10% and increase your speed. Run for 3 minutes.

Pick up the medium dumbbells and perform squats with shoulder press for 3 sets of 10.

Return to the treadmill. Run on the flat for 2 minutes. Increase your speed and the incline to 6% running for 2 minutes, increase incline to 8%, maintaining speed, for 2 minutes and finally increase incline to 10% and run for 2 minutes. Bring treadmill down to flat and run for 3 minutes.

Pick up one heavy dumbbell and perform push up and row for 10 reps (5 a side) and then perform 20 mountain climbers (count every other one). Repeat two more times.

Perform 3 sets of 20 full sit ups - these are standard, gym class sit ups elbows all the way up to your knees on every repetition.

Stretch

W.O.W. June 2nd, 2010

Once again, the following work out can be done in your home or at a gym using minimal equipment.


Warm up with light jogging or calisthenics.

Perform 50 jacks
Pick up two 25-35lb dumbbells and perform 20 close stance squats lowering until thighs are parallel to floor.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform 50 crouch squat hops - crouch down touching elbows to your thighs and then jump up forcefully reaching for the ceiling.
Pick up 10-15lb dumbbells and alternate lunge while performing a shoulder press with both arms. Keep palms facing each other during the shoulder press. Repeat for 20.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform ten 8-count bodybuilders - this is an embellished squat thrust: hands down on the floor, kick your legs back, push up, hold a plank and do two jacks with the legs, hop in and hop up reaching for the ceiling.
Lying on floor or bench pick up your heavier dumbbells again. With knees and hips at a 90 degree angle perform 20 dumbbell bench presses. Make sure your knees and hips are in the correct position. You should feel your abdominals fully firing throughout the drill. If you don't, push your feet further away from your body.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform 20 tuck jumps, trying to hug your knees to your chest on every tuck.
Grab one of your heavier dumbbells. Hold a plank position (top of a push up) and perform a one arm dumbbell row, 15 per side.
Repeat both two more times.

For abs perform 3 sets of 20 military sit ups. Hook your feet under a couch or bar, place your hands across your chest (making an 'X') and bring your elbows all the way up to your knees.

Stretch. I know your won't but please, at least stretch your hamstrings. For me.

More Evidence on the Benefits of Interval Training

Interval training rocks. If you haven't been totally convinced yet read the following information as written in a Men's Health publication.

No matter what exercise you choose, there's only so much fat you can burn during, say, a 30-minute workout. And research shows that the better trained you become, the more your body's 'exercise efficiency' improves, meaning the same amount of activity burns fewer calories as time goes by. For instance, University of California, Berkeley, scientists have determined that to avoid age-related weight gain, avid runners need to boost their weekly mileage by 1.7 miles a year.

Sure, aerobic exercise burns calories. However, if you're already dieting studies show that distance running does little to further enhance fat loss. Most likely, this is because aerobic exercise doesn't boost your metabolism after your workout. But that doesn't mean cardio can't help: high intensity intervals-such as short sprints of 30 seconds or more, interspersed with a slow jog-are great for accelerating fat loss. Why? Because they're similar to weight training. After all, a 200-meter sprint challenges your lower-body muscles hard for 30 seconds or more, just like a set of 8 reps of squats. So by doing a few intervals on the days you don't lift weights, you can spike your metabolism even higher.

In other words, if fat loss is your goal, do intervals. If your just doing steady-state aerobic activity re-read the information study above. If your a runner you would have to run an extra 1.7 miles A WEEK, every single year just to stave off age related weight gain. So there's no fat loss involved. Think about how many more minutes you'd have to add to your elliptical workout every week. The elliptical is really a waste of your time to begin with, but pretty soon you would have to be on that thing for hours.

When I design workouts for clients, and the workouts of the week I post here, they include both weight training and cardio interval training mixed together in the same workout. If's efficient and very effective.

You have to get uncomfortable in order to move forward in your fat loss goals.

Know it. Embrace it. Now go out and do it.

Goal Setting For Results

Do one thing today to bring you closer to your goal.

Research shows that people tend to give up their goal if they focus on the end result. Let's say that you would like to lose 40 pounds. You set a realistic goal of losing the weight in 6 months. After one month you have lost 5 pounds and you think 'If I only lose 5 pounds a month I will never reach my goal!' You get discouraged and give up. A fat loss of 5 pounds per month is great, but it doesn't seem like enough and your goal seems further and further away.

6 months can seems pretty far off for some people. The end result is a loss of 40 pounds but what can you do everyday to help you reach your goal? Ask yourself that question right now. 'What can I do today to help me reach my goal?' Start with picking one thing. Maybe it's that today you are going to eat a healthy breakfast. Even if you do that one thing you will feel successful, I guarantee it! It is also helpful to set a weekly goal so you can include in your schedule fitness, grocery store runs for fresh produce and some time you can take out of your daily schedule to focus on stress release (a big one that can contribute to weight gain).

Since fat loss is an emotional issue, especially with woman, research also shows that changing your goal from weight loss to fitness, achieves better results. Maybe your goal could be to run a 5K in three months, and then pick a race and train for that event. It could be to anchor the swim-leg of a triathlon - why not split the race up to accommodate every one's strengths? If racing isn't your thing what about setting a goal to ride your bike for 25 miles continuously - it doesn't have to have anything at all to do with racing. Another goal maybe to participate in three dance classes per week - Zumba, hip hop, ballet, cardio striptease -whatever excites you. Maybe schedule a yoga class during your week. Whatever seems doable to you. Forget what other people say and focus on what you want to do that is fitness, not fat loss, related.

Making a goal that is NOT weight related might feel less emotional and empower you to accomplish something other then fat loss. The end result will be what you wanted all along - a feeling of success and an appreciation for your body.