At least one reader!!

I have to admit that I was starting to feel a bit discouraged that nobody was actually reading this blog. But I finally got a few reader responses to those "talking points" that are always at the end of each blog entry (thank you Lauren and Stephanie!!) and then Stephanie wrote a really nice note on how much she is enjoying the blog. It made me get a bit teary-eyed and I realized that even if only one person is enjoying and/or learning something from this blog, then it makes it worth it.

Today's workout was another "Quick & Dirty" workout. It came from this website: bodyrock.tv (WARNING: The woman who does this website is incredibly fit and has some amazing workouts, but she shows A LOT of cleavage. You have been forewarned!!) Here's the actual workout I did:

Four exercises repeated six times for a total of 24 rounds. Each round consisted of 10 seconds of rest and 20 seconds of work (think Tabata-style). This entire workout only lasted 12 minutes, but left me totally spent at the end...

If you're using your Gymboss Interval Timer, you should set it up to look like this...

Complete the following exercises once each time and then repeat the entire circuit six times...

1. High Knees
2. Mountain Climbers
3. Side Plank Jumps (like squat thrusts but you jump to the side instead of out the back and add a little burpee on the end)
4. Super Girl Push-up (go down in a regular push-up, and as you come up, raise one arm and the opposite leg, repeat push-up and then raise the other arm and opposite leg)

(For more details on how to do this exact workout, go here)

During your 20 seconds of work, you should go all out and do as many as you can in the allotted time. Here were my results:

1. High Knees: 34/33/33/34/35/35 (I counted every time my right knee went up)
2. Mountain Climbers: 27/25/26/28/27/28 (Again, I counted each time my right knee went to the chest)
3. Side Plank Jump: 6/7/7/6/6/6
4. Super Girl Push-up: 7/8/8/8/7/8

I also did a 5-minute warm-up and cool-down on the stationary bike. This workout was short but very intense, great for a pre-lake workout (we spend most of Tuesday at the lake so I like to do something short before leaving in the morning.)

I refueled with my usual protein-flax oatmeal (love this stuff!) I also wanted to show my scrumptious lunch from yesterday...

Eating salads is one of the best ways to get in a lot of vegetable servings. My green of choice is fresh spinach and I also added some organic grape tomatoes and tuna all topped with some balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Add in a side of grapes and Babybel cheese and it was a complete meal.

Well, we're off to the lake. I will try my best not to get sunburned this time!! This afternoon I plan on attending my first BodyFlow class in order to complete this week's challenge. I'll let you know how it goes!

Talking Point: Do you like to eat salads? If so, what is your favorite kind of salad base (romaine, iceberg, spinach, arugula, etc..)? What else do you like to put on your salad?

Weekly Challenge (Aug. 9-15, 2010)

My day began with a 6:30 a.m. 5-mile run...

The weather was great this morning and I felt really good. I ran each mile successively faster, running an 8:30 mile for mile #1 and a 7:47 mile for mile #5.

I followed this run with a circuit weight workout that consisted of the following exercises:

Warm-up
1. Jumping jacks (15 reps)
2. Prisoner squats (10 reps)
3. Push-ups (8 reps)
Repeat entire circuit 5 times.

10 minute Quick and Dirty Circuit
1. Dumbbell row (10 reps)
2. Incline dumbbell bench press (10 reps)
3. Squat thrusts w/ push-up and burpee (8 reps)
4. Dumbbell push press (10 reps)
5. Single-arm kettlebell swing (12 reps)
Repeat entire circuit 3 times.

4 minute Tabata-style workout
1. Dumbbell squat (AMAP in 20 sec)
2. Single-arm kettlebell swing (AMAP in 20 sec)
3. Hammer curl to press (AMAP in 20 sec)
4. Single-arm kettlebell swing (AMAP in 20 sec)
Repeat entire circuit 2 times.

I liked this workout because I can finish the whole thing in 20 minutes, it keeps my heart rate elevated the entire time and I work every major muscle group. I was sweating like a banshee when it was all over (I'm not really sure what a banshee is, or if it even sweats...but I was sweating something fierce nonetheless!)

Afterwards, I refueled with my breakfast-of-choice...

Protein-Flax-Oatmeal

Each Monday, I thought I would introduce a new weekly challenge segment. I hope these will encourage everyone (myself included!!) to step things up a notch and challenge your body into making the changes that you desire.

Weekly Challenge (August 9-15, 2010)

This week is a workout challenge. I want you to change things up a bit by trying something completely new to you. If you belong to a gym, try out a new yoga, spinning, Zumba or kickboxing class. If you prefer working out at home, try a new workout DVD (your local library is a great resource to try, and it doesn't cost you a thing!) If you walk for fitness, try adding in a few 60 second jogging intervals into your daily session. And you could just do what you normally do (bike, swim, run, elliptical, etc.) but just take it up a notch. Try doing some speed intervals on the treadmill or do a new weight workout using the Tabata-style method. Whatever it is, just try to aim for doing something new to you this week. Your body will be shocked by doing something new and if you have plateaued, it could be just the jump start your body needs to reach it's new level of fitness. And who knows, you might even discover something new that you really enjoy doing, a definite bonus!!

Talking Point: So what are you going to do this week to shake things up a bit? My plan is to try a class at my gym called Bodyflow (a yoga-pilates style class.) I definitely need to work on my balance and flexibility training so I am hoping this will be a good class for me to try out.

Gymboss Interval Timer

Speaking of HIIT, one of my favorite gadgets for being able to perform interval training is this...

This is my Gymboss Interval Timer. It works great for setting up two different repeating interval times and lets you know when each time segment is complete (either by an alarm or vibration). This allows you to really focus on the exercises at hand instead of looking at a clock. I find this invaluable when performing Tabata training since the interval segments are so short but it can also be adjusted to fit any interval workout that you have in mind.

So if you are serious about interval training, give this little guy a shot. You won't be sorry!

Tabata Training

Tabata training is a form of interval training that involves short bursts of all out effort (20 seconds) followed by a brief period of rest (10 seconds). This sequence is repeated 8 times for a grand total of 4 minutes for each exercise. The great thing about Tabata training is that it can be done with almost any exercise (strength and/or cardio) and can be completed quickly for those who don't have a lot of time to work out any given day. I usually try to do about 5 different combos of strength/cardio Tabatas for a total workout time of 20 minutes.

The key to Tabata training is being sure you are going all out during those 20 seconds, pushing out as many reps as possible while still maintaining proper form. Here are just a few examples of some exercises that work great for Tabatas...

Strength:
Squats
Push-ups
Lunges
Chest Press
Bicep Curls
Tricep Dips
Shoulder raises

Cardio:
Mountain climbers
Burpees (or squat thrusts)
Jumping jacks
Jump squats
Jump lunges

The possibilites are endless and your results can be amazing. High intensity interval training (or HIIT) has been shown to be more beneficial for fat loss as compared to steady-state cardio activities. The reason for this is that HIIT causes more calories and fat to be burned POST workout meaning that you will still be melting that stubborn fat long after your workout is over. This has to do with what is called EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). With aerobic training, once you're done exercising, you're body is done burning calories. With HIIT, your body continues to burn calories from your workout as long as 2 days later. Pretty neat, huh?

So give Tabata training a try. It certainly isn't for the weak-hearted, but it will give you a great fat-blasting workout in very little time!