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??

I Am Your Daddy.

This pretty much sums up how I feel right now. I CRUSHED IT today. WOOT!! Kids, yesterday was literally a day from hell. That headache and nausea lasted ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT. I do think it was God trying to tell me to slow down. Because, after laying on my couch immobile, not watching TV or working online or even reading- I felt 1000x better today. Amen!

I did a lovely kickboxing cardio workout this morning - Ilaria's Kickboxing DVD that I love. I was at 400 calories burned when I got the cool-down, so GLYNIS- I added one wee little part of your Tabata suggestion- Squats and OMG!! One set of 8 added a 100 calorie burn!! Kids I am loving the Tabata twist; check it out, it is virtually unlimited the ways to incorporate it and wow the sweat and calorie burn. I'm down. And here's the thing. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. With kicking butt like this and my diet "plan" I'm working on (stone soup and heroin, plus every other day I do chocolate ONLY with regular Coca Cola haha), I will be HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY again in my hot orange bikini this summer. I WILL. NO DOUBT. 

On that note, this is NOT an April Fool's Joke- I did a SECOND ROUND OF CARDIO when I got home tonight!! I was feeling it, and I was feeling a WEE bit guilty about having this for lunch:

 

O.M.G. Croque Madame. I did NOT partake in any fries though. So, my morning workout burned 500 calories. I had that for lunch. Then I came home and burned another 500 calories. **Please note, I am not under the delusion that you can just eat whatever you want every day, then come home and "work it off". However, with the understanding that tomorrow is my birthday, and I'm going to be going to ****A CERTAIN ITALIAN RESTAURANT**** for lunch....plus Sunday is Easter and we are celebrating 3 family birthdays, so CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH WHITE ICING WILL BE ENTERING MY STOMACH CAVITY....I think you can see why extra extra cardio MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA. ok?? OK.

Now, I must go bathe because tonight is massage time. I've been sorely without one for at least 5 days. This is unacceptable. And Yes I am a princess. ;-)

Goodnight. If you aren't doing Tabata and you are trying to lose fat, you need to spend some time looking this up and DOING IT. Trust me. I think I may be a size -10 soon at this rate. Yes, Negative 10. I'm sure they have that size right? Isn't Jennifer Aniston a -10? (blleeehhhh I am sooooo tired of hearing about Jennifer Aniston!!! GAH!)

Also- random thought here- Vanity Fair, which I used to consider a somewhat classy publication, is doing a feature spread on 4 of Tiger Wood's "Lovers" (I could use other words here but I'm keeping it rated G). How completely low class and scummy can you get? Does anyone think of the wife here? My God, it is appalling. Why not send them to www.DirtyWhores.com and do a nice layout THERE for crying out loud? Perhaps they'd get some more boyfriends?? It would truly be a "win-win"?? 

Blleeeehhhh. 

Question of the Day: What is YOUR favorite Birthday Meal? (and please don't bore me with something like "I love lean turkey breast on whole wheat")

Monday Manjoyment.

This goes out to you Ricky. I know, I know, you are OUT now, but I still think you are SMOKIN!. Dang. Triple Dang. 

Happy Monday Kids!! Did you kick butt today? I did. 840 calories worth!! Can I get an AMEN? Mondays are ALWAYS a crazy day, work-wise, for me. We have a group sales meeting and then conferences with our boss-man. So, Mondays always end up with me frazzle and doing my workouts and my vlogs late, which annoys me but oh well. 

So, I did Cathe HIIT 30/30. I really need to branch out and do her other HIIT workouts, I think today I chose 30/30 because I was worried about cramping, I recall the 40/20 being much TOUGHER. Anyhoo, I did the 30/30 and then moved into a Shoulder Blast workout. I had just read in the latest Muscle & Fitness HERS magazine about TABATA workouts and I know I've seen these on other bloggers' blogs, but I need to read a bit more. Based on my quick perusal, I see that you work up to doing like 8 sets of say, shoulder presses. When you've built up to this endurance level, you would do 8 sets at 20 seconds each, resting 10 seconds in between. I started my first sets on that level, then I look at the magazine and it says for the first month to go for 30 seconds, resting for a minute in between. I modified that and did 15 seconds of reps followed by 15 seconds of rest. I did 8 sets for each move. Below was my shoulder blast. I'm going to read up more on Tabata tonight. 

1. Tabata Style Overhead Press: Used 10lbs weights, 8 sets.
2. Tabata Style Lateral Raise: Used 8lbs weights, 8 sets. 
3. Tabata Style Bent Over Lateral Raise: Used 8lbs weights, 8 sets.

Next Circuit:

1. Front Raise, Straight Arm: Used 10lb weights, 12 reps. Rest 10 seconds then:
2. Bent Arm Lateral Raise: Used 10lb weights, 12 reps. Rest 10 seconds then:
3. "Bicep Push Ups" (a made up move for biceps/shoulders): Used 8lb weights, 12 reps.
4. Did this circuit 3x.

Next Circuit: 

1. Upright Row, 12lb weights, 12 reps, Rest 10 then:
2. Overhead Arnold press: 10lb weights, 12 reps, Rest 10 then:
3. Single Side Lateral Raise, at angle: Used 12lb weights, 12 reps each arm.
4. Did this circuit 3x each.

In between all the sets, I would run up and down my stairs 2x to get my heart rate up. Then when I was finished with this, I was at about 640 calories, so I wanted to hit 800. That was for me, because I didn't workout on Saturday. So I went for a walk in my neighborhood and it was AWESOME~!

Feeling KILLER right now. CRUSHED IT!!! ;-)

Enjoy a double dose of KO right now, followed by some more Manjoyment, or vice versa. Peace Out. 

DAYUM.