This week I'm doing an experiment on the effectiveness of short interval cardio. I know a lot of us rather workout less if we can still get the same result. I mean why spend one hour on the treadmill if you can get the same result by working out say 20 minute.
But the question is, can you get the same result by working out less? Well this is the point I try to find out this week. So far for the last 8 weeks I have been under the assumption that more is better. So I have been consistently doing cardio for 60 minutes 6-7 days a week and on top of that I have been trying to do strength training 3 times a week. However that needs serious time commitment and I wonder if why I get busy I find myself an excuse that I don't really have the time to go to the gym. Another downside of long workouts is the possibility of injury and wear an tear of our joins.
My new cardio consist of the following formula which I learned when I was doing body for life 10 years ago. I will give this combo 2 weeks to test the result. I'm still doing cardio 6 days a week in the morning and weights 3 times at night because I tried to do the cardio after weights and it just doesn't work. It is too intense of a work out and my body just didn't have the energy.
Effort 5 should be easy get your heart rate going but you should be able to be at this difficulty for extended period of time. When I started body for life level 5 is like 3 mph speed on treadmill. I'm at 4 mph now
On treadmill
Minute 1 level 5. 4mph
Minute 2. Level 5. 4mpr
Minute 3. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 4. Level7. 5mpr
Minute 5. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 6. Level 9. 6mpr
Minute 7. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 8. Level 7. 5mpr
Minute 9. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 10. Level 9. 6 mpr
Minute 11. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 12. Level 7. 5mpr
Minute 13. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 14. Level 9. 6mpr
Minute 15. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 16. Level 7. 5mpr
Minute 17. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 18. Level 9. 6mpr
Minute 19. Level 10 6.5mpr all out( you should be in heart zone 5 now really super intense for me was like 175-180 hr)
Minute 20. Level 5 cool down
Around minute 15 is really tempting to give up but resist the temptation and you will feel greate at the end.
You should adjust your levels according to your own body. You can start at level 5 be equivalent to 2mpr and increase say .2. Notice your work out if you feel you can do more then add a little higher intensity next time. If its too hard reduce it (start slowly you can always slowly add more)it may take a few try to get it just right and from that point on you will need to increase it periodically (once a week would be good) because you will get stronger. If the pace gets too fast you can increase the difficulty from increasing the incline setting.
I find it useful to write down ahead what I'm doing in my notebook and have that in front of me when I workout so I don't get confused. My average hr from this 20 minute workout is 155 as oppose to one hr on treadmill I'm usually at average of 130-140hr range
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Even better than expected 3rd weight in results (week #2)
I woke up early to go to the gym to get my measurements as part of the 90 day challenge. It has been exactly 2 weeks since I started the challenge and here is my latest results! Drum roll please...
Weight: this week is 128.5, last week was 132.1 that's 3.6 lbs! 2 weeks ago my weight was 134. That is 5.5 lbs in 2 weeks! When I started in January 3rd i weighted 136
Body fat percentage: this week is 28.8 %;last week was 27.8 % and two weeks ago was 31.7. Since the challenge I have lost 2% body fat January 3rd my body fat was 32.8%
Body Measurement wise since January 3 rd
I lost 2.5 inches in my waist, 2 inches in my hip, 2 inches at lower waist (around belly button) I can't wait to try on the black dress I brought from Zara last year that was too tight and see how it fit now
This is also second week of my low carb journey. Except the very first two days, I really feel good and ate delicious nutritious meals that didn't make me feel deprived. Even my old favorite thing rice, has lost it's attraction ;)
Here are some of my observations:
1) dietary fat doesn't translate to body fat. During these last two weeks I tracked meticulously everything that enters my mouth and I can say with certainty that my fat intake (both saturated and unsaturated from plant say coconut oil, or animal say fat on ribeye and butter) did not cause me to gain fat rather I lost fat. Our daily calories from fat is about 55-60, calories from carb is around 17-25 %and protein is 20-28%
2) the meat we eat is exact same amount than before usually 3-4 oz per meal. The difference is the leanness. We now eat fattier meats then before, like thighs, lambs, ribeyes occasionally.
3) I slacked off big time in work out this last week. I only did weights on time as oppose to 3 and my cardio was more lay back like walking or elliptical at easy setting. I totally didn't do any pushups either. That may explain why I lost some weight that wasn't fat... I'm hopping it is water and not muscle, but this week I will refocus on workout. I don't want to loose my precious muscle that I work so hard to get. I'm surprised that despite all I lost 2.6 lbs and 1% body fat. Nutrition and what one eats is really important.
What I will change to my routine and do different this week
Last week I wrote that I want to walk after meals for 15 min and not eat anything before bedtime ( if I'm really hungry I will drink half a cup of warm almond milk, but I hadn't have to all week) the result is I didn't do the walks consistently but I was able to stop snacking before bed.
This week I will continue to not snack before bed or even 3 hr before bedtime and I will also do push-ups on tue, thu and Saturdays so they don't conflict with weight lifting days.
After weight lifting instead of doing one hr regular low heart rate cardio I will do 20 min interval cardio.
I will continue on the low carb diet since I can't see going back to the old way of eating. I do budget for 2 cheat meals per week but so far I have been using just one a week because I don't have any strong cravings.
Lets see if those changes will improve next week numbers!
Weight: this week is 128.5, last week was 132.1 that's 3.6 lbs! 2 weeks ago my weight was 134. That is 5.5 lbs in 2 weeks! When I started in January 3rd i weighted 136
Body fat percentage: this week is 28.8 %;last week was 27.8 % and two weeks ago was 31.7. Since the challenge I have lost 2% body fat January 3rd my body fat was 32.8%
Body Measurement wise since January 3 rd
I lost 2.5 inches in my waist, 2 inches in my hip, 2 inches at lower waist (around belly button) I can't wait to try on the black dress I brought from Zara last year that was too tight and see how it fit now
This is also second week of my low carb journey. Except the very first two days, I really feel good and ate delicious nutritious meals that didn't make me feel deprived. Even my old favorite thing rice, has lost it's attraction ;)
Here are some of my observations:
1) dietary fat doesn't translate to body fat. During these last two weeks I tracked meticulously everything that enters my mouth and I can say with certainty that my fat intake (both saturated and unsaturated from plant say coconut oil, or animal say fat on ribeye and butter) did not cause me to gain fat rather I lost fat. Our daily calories from fat is about 55-60, calories from carb is around 17-25 %and protein is 20-28%
2) the meat we eat is exact same amount than before usually 3-4 oz per meal. The difference is the leanness. We now eat fattier meats then before, like thighs, lambs, ribeyes occasionally.
3) I slacked off big time in work out this last week. I only did weights on time as oppose to 3 and my cardio was more lay back like walking or elliptical at easy setting. I totally didn't do any pushups either. That may explain why I lost some weight that wasn't fat... I'm hopping it is water and not muscle, but this week I will refocus on workout. I don't want to loose my precious muscle that I work so hard to get. I'm surprised that despite all I lost 2.6 lbs and 1% body fat. Nutrition and what one eats is really important.
What I will change to my routine and do different this week
Last week I wrote that I want to walk after meals for 15 min and not eat anything before bedtime ( if I'm really hungry I will drink half a cup of warm almond milk, but I hadn't have to all week) the result is I didn't do the walks consistently but I was able to stop snacking before bed.
This week I will continue to not snack before bed or even 3 hr before bedtime and I will also do push-ups on tue, thu and Saturdays so they don't conflict with weight lifting days.
After weight lifting instead of doing one hr regular low heart rate cardio I will do 20 min interval cardio.
I will continue on the low carb diet since I can't see going back to the old way of eating. I do budget for 2 cheat meals per week but so far I have been using just one a week because I don't have any strong cravings.
Lets see if those changes will improve next week numbers!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Mind over body; why it's important to set goals before stepping into your workouts
Today I did my upper body weights works out at the gym and since I'm doings 6 day 1 hour cardio these days, after my strength training I hopped on the elliptical.
I was pretty tired from the weight lifting so after about 20 minutes on the elliptical I wanted to quit. Have this happen to you? I was looking for all possible excuses to step down from the machine, things like: I already worked out today, I don't think I can do this for an hour, I don't need to do this for an hr, 20 min is better than no cardio, etc. 60 minutes seems a nearly impossible target at this point. This is the reason why it is important to set the goal and reach an agreement with yourself before stepping into your workout. Here is what I mean, if I have not set the reasonable goal of doing cardio every day for 60 minutes and mentally had an agreement with myself then it would be very easy for me to quit at the 20 or 30 min mark because after All I wasn't aiming for anything in particular. You will take the path of lease resistance.
Its important to pick a reasonable achievable goal. I say reasonable goal because I have done this combo of weight lifting and 60 minutes cardio in the past so I know I can do it. I wasn't just picking this goal out of the thin air. However just because it is possible doesn't mean my body doesn't complain and look for excuses to get out of it, lol.
It is very different if you walk in to the gym knowing you have agreed to do 60 min cardio. Your body will still be whining and feel tired and lazy but your head knows there is a target and breaking that commitment you have set without a strong reason (say you feel like you had injured yourself or experience unusual pain not related to the common sore) would be too high of the price to pay. It's funny how we always keep promises and commitments we make to other people but when it comes to ourselves we break those promises all the time without any conscious thoughts. If you are expected to work for 8hrs you don't just go home after 4 hours because you don't feel like it or you feel tired. No, you just suck it up! Then why is it different when it comes to your excercise? I learned the hard way, every time you break a promise with yourself your self respect and self trust will suffer greatly. Your unconsciously deem yourself to be untrustworthy and unreliable and this will slowly become your Identity. Don't you think that is too high of a price to pay? when i think about the consequences of quitting, it gives me reason to continue and ignore my body. After you finish the 60 min, the feeling is incredible. Both your body and mind feel victorious.
I do this in the same way with my weight training. I carry a small notebook with me where I note the type of exercise, reps, sets, weight, heart rate so that next time I can beat my previous record. For example if I'm doing 3 sets of planks then I will write down before I start what I did last time. Last time set 1 I lasted 1:15 set 2 I did 58 sec and set 3 I only lasted 38sec so this time I'm trying to beat my last record. So i write down before i start, i want to shoot for set 1 1:30 set 2 1:15 sec and set 3 1 minute. I still may or may not be able to achieve it but you bet that i will a higher chance of accomplishing the target. the pain and discomfort are more endurable if you can see the end of it. Imagine if I didn't set the goal then I wouldn't know what to aim and thus harder to improve. I may just always stay in my comfort zone and not push harder.
I was pretty tired from the weight lifting so after about 20 minutes on the elliptical I wanted to quit. Have this happen to you? I was looking for all possible excuses to step down from the machine, things like: I already worked out today, I don't think I can do this for an hour, I don't need to do this for an hr, 20 min is better than no cardio, etc. 60 minutes seems a nearly impossible target at this point. This is the reason why it is important to set the goal and reach an agreement with yourself before stepping into your workout. Here is what I mean, if I have not set the reasonable goal of doing cardio every day for 60 minutes and mentally had an agreement with myself then it would be very easy for me to quit at the 20 or 30 min mark because after All I wasn't aiming for anything in particular. You will take the path of lease resistance.
Its important to pick a reasonable achievable goal. I say reasonable goal because I have done this combo of weight lifting and 60 minutes cardio in the past so I know I can do it. I wasn't just picking this goal out of the thin air. However just because it is possible doesn't mean my body doesn't complain and look for excuses to get out of it, lol.
It is very different if you walk in to the gym knowing you have agreed to do 60 min cardio. Your body will still be whining and feel tired and lazy but your head knows there is a target and breaking that commitment you have set without a strong reason (say you feel like you had injured yourself or experience unusual pain not related to the common sore) would be too high of the price to pay. It's funny how we always keep promises and commitments we make to other people but when it comes to ourselves we break those promises all the time without any conscious thoughts. If you are expected to work for 8hrs you don't just go home after 4 hours because you don't feel like it or you feel tired. No, you just suck it up! Then why is it different when it comes to your excercise? I learned the hard way, every time you break a promise with yourself your self respect and self trust will suffer greatly. Your unconsciously deem yourself to be untrustworthy and unreliable and this will slowly become your Identity. Don't you think that is too high of a price to pay? when i think about the consequences of quitting, it gives me reason to continue and ignore my body. After you finish the 60 min, the feeling is incredible. Both your body and mind feel victorious.
I do this in the same way with my weight training. I carry a small notebook with me where I note the type of exercise, reps, sets, weight, heart rate so that next time I can beat my previous record. For example if I'm doing 3 sets of planks then I will write down before I start what I did last time. Last time set 1 I lasted 1:15 set 2 I did 58 sec and set 3 I only lasted 38sec so this time I'm trying to beat my last record. So i write down before i start, i want to shoot for set 1 1:30 set 2 1:15 sec and set 3 1 minute. I still may or may not be able to achieve it but you bet that i will a higher chance of accomplishing the target. the pain and discomfort are more endurable if you can see the end of it. Imagine if I didn't set the goal then I wouldn't know what to aim and thus harder to improve. I may just always stay in my comfort zone and not push harder.
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