How To Maximize Workout Results.

What's that definition of insanity?? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?? Yea. If you don't like what you see in the mirror, you gotta MIX IT UP. 

Are you ONLY focusing on cardio? Or are you a gym rat only that hates cardio and avoids it? Or, perhaps you like Yoga, but that's ALL YOU DO. 

I'm not a personal trainer, a nutritionist, a self-proclaimed expert, guru or ninja, but I'm obsessed with fitness and getting more fit, and I've learned from books, trainers, nutritionists, bodybuilders and figure competitors. Considering all of that learning collectively, I can say strongly that mixing it up in the workout department is the key to preventing boredom (which can lead to not continuing down the workout path or simply straying from the path temporarily) and to delivering results.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. That's a life mantra, but particularly true in training.

I love running now that I'm doing it. But I don't want to just run. I LOVE weight training and I sure as heck LOVE how my muscles are not only stronger every week but also look better. And as much as I love running, I still love kickboxing, kettlebells and bootcamps. And I want to make sure I mix it up. With weight training, I don't want to ONLY do isolation training. And when I DO do some isolation training, I want to change the order, weight, the style (Tabata, Circuits, drop sets etc.)

I used to hate training core in the past and now, as much as it hurts the next day, I'm all about making sure each week has some serious core training- both in an isolation style a la Jenny Lynn (holy cow she killed me that day!) and also mixed in with cardio or functional training like RevAbs and such. 

I will do pull-ups before I die. I will not FEAR them. I embrace the challenge. 

I had a good run this morning-(yea I was up at 5am again WOOT!) it was supposed to be an off day so I planned 3 miles, ended up doing 2 miles at like 5.5mph then the last mile I started doing some sprints up to 8mph. Now, I'm planning 4 hard core days of weight training with my running. I have a new trainer up here, in addition to Matt Damon's younger brother, and stay tuned to see some videos of serious sweatfest and MIXING IT UP training sessions. I'm HOPING to get my former trainer (who I miss SOOOOOO much, best TRAINER EVER now living in Ft. Lauderdale Sniff Sniff) to do some vlogs with me in the near future. He is definitely BadAss defined:

Hello. Do you see what I mean? If you are in that area of FL and NOT training with Jay, you are missing out. 

Take a peek at this random video of some Tabata training I found on YouTube. GREAT mix-it-up idea. See the ball-slam move?? Jay did that with me a lot. I like taking a ball and slamming it into the floor. I pretend it's someone that I DISLIKE VERY MUCH and that I am slamming that ball near the foot of their bed while they are trying to sleep. hehehehe

Also those ropes are something that Amy and I did with Matt Damon. They are WAY HARDER THAN YOU THINK. Holy Cow. And I'm not talking about Matt Damon there, I'm talking about the ropes. 

I'm doing great on my eats~ back to making a lot of Tilapia (I LOVE that stuff) with green vegies for dinner. Doing oats/protein or protein shake with banana after morning cardio. Reasonable meals~ not carb free at all, but I am recording everything just to track my results. 

Sorry for no vlog today kids- it's been storming like a mother here in Chicago and our power has been off and on all day, thus the reason for this semi-rushed blog post. Oy. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you feel that you are mixing up your workouts enough? Balancing cardio, types of cardio, weights, stretching, rest days?? If not, how do you plan to do better??