Garbage That GOO!

First SUSPENDED plank!

I did my very first suspended plank today! Lasted all of 4 seconds. Heck, just getting my feet properly in the loops and rotated over into position without slipping out of the TRX trainer was a first!

I'd tried once before when I first got the trainer, and found it to be absolutely impossible. Could NOT do it. Worse, the DVD said that unless you could do a full regular plank for at least a minute, you shouldn't try to go suspended.

But I CAN'T do a regular plank... the position my feet are in for that stretches them in a scream provoking and painful manner. I tried briefly last fall and set my foot progress back a good while. So I had thought that with my feet suspended, maybe I could do it.

Then I couldn't because my core was too weak!

So I always substituted kneeling planks for as long as I could hold 'em instead. I don't know why I tried the suspended plank today... just did.

I was so jazzed that I managed to get my body up for even those few seconds, I rested and then tried again! I made 10 seconds. My heart rate went from 106 to 125 bpm! I know, seems so pitiful. But I was practically dancing, because I can DO it!

Oh yeah... I also managed 12 lunges on each leg with the trainer assist. Progress forward!

According to my heart rate monitor, I burned 350 calories for the 35 minutes I did on the trainer. Average heart rate 111 bpm (64%). Max heart rate 143 (83%). 25 minutes in the light aerobic zone... 8 minutes in my regular working aerobic zone. I managed Nordic Track skiing for 20 minutes after. Supposedly that burnt 275 calories... hard to believe, but my heart rate was up, so maybe. Average heart rate 137 bpm (79%) and max rate 147 bpm (85%). Had to stop after 20 minutes, my feet were going numb.

Made a wonderful Gourmet Nutrition v2.0 Pina Colada smoothie in my new Vita-Mix with green tea, light coconut milk, fresh pineapple and banana for my very necessary post-workout meal.

Great TRX workout yesterday!

I was slow getting going on the TRX trainer workout, though I DID do my fasted cardio first thing yesterday morning.

Finally, motivated by the fact that I wanted to be "done with it" and by the fact that the Kentucky Derby post time was creeping up on me, I got busy and put on the "All Body Express" DVD that came with my trainer and installed the trainer on the front door. I hadn't done the "express" workout in a while, as I'd been using the "Trainer Basics" DVD and focusing on individual exercises, reps and form.

The good news is that I was able to keep the pace with the DVD more than I have previously. It is an intense and fast workout, you are done in roughly 25 minutes. Quick isn't necessarily easy though! My average heart rate was 126 (73%) and my max heart rate was 151 (87%). And by the time I was done, I was trembling all over from the effort! I did manage 10 minutes of Nordic Track afterwards and some stretching.

Squats definitely got my heat rate up, but felt easier. Lunges were as hard as ever, but I managed 8 for the first time on my left leg and 10 on my right leg! So improvement there, even though I still have a tough time keeping my balance on these. I also had enough time to rest and do 3 more reps on the weak left leg. I'm very encouraged to see some improvement, especially since I was NOT good about doing my workout last week.

Hubby happened to be off... and I think he was impressed to see how hard I work! I think I'll have to show him some TRX moves, he'll understand the moans of pain I make the next day after a workout better, LOL!

Today, naturally, I can feel EVERY muscle I worked... big time! I kind of like that though. It may not be fun being sore, but I know that I am getting just that wee bit stronger each time.

As for calories, I eat more on weight workout days, less on rest days. Yesterday saw me scarfing down approximately 2550 calories. Today, since it's a rest day, I'm aiming for 1800.

Gotta cut and run to go shopping though, fridge is nearly empty!

Fasted cardio joins the mix

Fasted cardio is one of the exercise strategies I've heard about for some time now. But I also heard a lot of people claim it can be a bad idea, because it may cost you muscle mass. Yet, there are plenty of folks who feel this strategy has worked well for them. So I've had mixed feelings about trying it. And hey, I'm not usually a 6AM up and at 'em kind of gal!

OTOH, I could use more exercise and I'm not good about eating first thing anyway. So yesterday, when my T-Nation email newsletter came through and I saw there was an article on fasted cardio, I decided to have a read.

Anyway, the upshot of the roundtable is that fasted cardio *may* be useful, depending on one's goals. For me, the indicators look like it could indeed be worth trying. I'm a classic endomorph... I'm fat and I suspect a little extra exercise daily wouldn't hurt me at all, provided my feet are cooperative. I plan to aim for about 15-20 minutes a day this week and see how it goes.

I'm thinking that this will be a better idea for dealing with summer heat as well... my house is not all that well insulated, so it tends to be on the warm side for indoor exercise, even with the A/C running full bore. Getting up and getting it done with early sounds good! And I'm not planning to stop water aerobics or other exercise, this will be in addition, so extra calories burned.

So this morning, I got up, put my heart rate monitor on, got dressed, had a half serving of protein powder in water as recommended, shook up a water bottle with some BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) and off I went. OK, I didn't go very far... all the way to the living room, where I turned on the ceiling fan, the boombox and hopped on the Nordic Track. As it turns out, just skiing on the machine without the arm exerciser was easily sufficient to get my heart rate to a comfortable 72-75%. And so that's what I did, for 30 minutes and 2.2 miles. If I start feeling less strong, or it's too hard on my feet, then I'll rethink the matter. I certainly felt fine this morning!

Has anyone else done fasted cardio? Did you feel like it worked for fat loss?

Rest and paperwork day

Well, wish me luck! I need to schedule a rather late accountant's appointment. But I did get our paperwork together! I hate tax time.

Today was a rest day... Saturday's TRX trainer workout was good. Maybe too good! The DOMS is here, but I've been mobile today, sore, but able to walk up and downstairs without too much groaning.

I timed it so my workout would end right around the point I needed to eat next... but even though it was not a long workout, I was trembling all over by the end of it! I immediately fixed the fastest thing I could think of, which was simply rolled oats and milk in the microwave, along with a little peanut butter, cocoa powder and a TBSP of chocolate Splenda syrup by Torani. Followed by some turkey and veggies shortly after.

Some highlights... I was able to do some chest presses WITHOUT using a leg to help spot and take some of my bodyweight! I also managed to hold a kneeling plank 67 seconds... a 7 second improvement over last week. I found the shoulder exercises came a little bit more naturally. I'm still kind of working on just getting comfortable with the various exercises, so was not really counting reps yet.

Lunges, even assisted with the trainer, are still very tough. More so on my left leg than on my right, so there is work to be done. I'm afraid I didn't notice any improvements there. It may take time. Years ago, I injured my left quad trying to do squats, and had no insurance then, so I'm not sure just what I did, only that it has been touchy since. For the moment, lunges on the left are shallow.

The weekend eating was good... I kept to my calorie budget.

I will do girth measures soon, I know I need to, but taxes came first.

Marshmallow body… steel workout

Having had a binge that, took me further from goal, I did, at least, make a following decision to take me closer to goal. Yeah, I did my exercise!

Anything is better than doing taxes!

Today's session was Nordic Track HIIT.

Warm up for 9 minutes... aging bodies like a good warm up! I did a total of 8 intervals! Would you believe I kept track with the assorted laundry stuff on the bar counter next to the NT? Yeah, my brain isn't always up to counting and remembering intervals as I do them. I'm too busy heaving for air! So I just lined up the stuff and moved an item to the left after each interval.

I planned for only 6 intervals, because this time, instead of doing 30 seconds ON and 120 seconds OFF... I was going to do 30 seconds ON and 90 seconds OFF. Or bust. So less rest, which I haven't really been able to maintain before and still get my heart rate back down.

I did it! My heart rate after the warm up was in my normal "working" zone of 136-138. And I was worried, because the very FIRST interval had my heart rate up high! But, each time, though I had to slow to a 3.0 mph pace for my rests, my heart rate came back down to working level, just. I wasn't really sure I would last out my planned six, but I did and managed two more intervals as well. I did have to rest for 2 minutes before the last one.

Rest speed in the neighborhood of 3.0-3.5 mph.
Interval speed from 7.0 to 8.5 mph.
Average HR for the session = 140. Max = 160. 82% to 94%!

WOOT! OK... as far as fun goes... that session was not exactly there, but I enjoyed it more than slogging through steady state! If I didn't do some HIIT today, I probably wouldn't have been able to squeeze it in this week.

Meal after was a little sliced Jennie-O Oven Roasted Turkey Breast w/stone ground mustard, a tablespoon of almonds, fish oil cap and about half a green pepper. Back on track!

I DO like interval training

It's funny, I stagger off the Nordic Track skiier when I'm done, I sweat like crazy, my face turns red, I sometimes get a slight headache, but it's just way more FUN than slogging along at the same slow pace. Not that steady state cardio doesn't also have a place in my workouts, but I love HIIT more.

Still, my feet can usually only take it once a week. No real problems today though.

According to conventional wisdom... high intensity interval training is supposed to keep burning calories for you long after you've finished your workout session. Here's hoping, considering last night's poor choices!

So, what was today's session like?

I warmed up for 10 minutes... a little longer than usual. I decided to try for 15 seconds of really intense effort and 45 seconds of rest. OK, that lasted for two intervals and I could see I was not going to be able to sustain it unless I got a little more rest between intervals! So I went to 60 and then 90 seconds of rest. That's OK... one day I'll manage it with less. It's just something to work towards.

What I could see, was that my heart rate would come down a little faster than it used to. What I learned was that it did not have to come all the way down to 132 bpm before I'd be ready to go again. I was ready to go at 136 bpm. That's an improvement!

Fat me was fast!

Now, my rest intervals were at 4 MPH or slightly below. My work intervals were hitting some impressive speeds. I'm talking 9 and even 10.1 MPH! That's FAST for me! And a true all-out effort. It's definitely a different challenge to the muscles to have to ramp up the pace so quickly! The big trick is not to fall off the skier!

I'm more used to doing something like 7-9 MPH for 30 seconds, then resting 2 minutes. Still, change is good.

To put these speeds in perspective though, I can ski faster than I can walk. My normal walking pace is 3 MPH... I simply can't take the impact of walking much faster than that. 4 MPH on the Nordic Track is actually a slow pace. My normal average speed after a steady state cardio session on the NT is around 4.5 MPH.

Today's average was 4.8. I covered 2.4 miles in a half hour!

Notes for workout newbies...

Though HIIT sounds great with good cardiovascular fitness and fat burning benefits, all wrapped up in SHORTER cardio workouts, it is hard on the central nervous system and shouldn't be done for every workout. Once or twice a week is fine. Also, if you have any health issues, check with your doctor to be sure it is safe for you to try. And then always start with easier work intervals and work up to more challenging ones.

The nice thing about interval training is that you do it at YOUR level and it's possible to use a variety of exercises.

The President’s Challenge

I joined a weight loss blogging community called Iowa Avenue recently. My first venture into social networking. Kind of overwhelming at first, but I've enjoyed it. Can't say I have the time to participate as much as others.

Anyway, someone there started a group on the President's Challenge site, called the Iowa Avenue Go-Getters. And that reminded me I was already signed up. I initially started using it back in North Dakota because the Department of Commerce was pushing it to government employees, including my hubby in the weather service (NOAA). I logged faithfully for a while, but my exercise was just too inconsistent at the time and I never did earn my Active Lifestyle award.

At first, I was hesitant to get back into it. Yet one more site to log onto and log stuff into. But, now that I've done it, the site loads fast even on my slow dial-up and I'm on the way to possibly finally earning my Active Lifestyle award. I remember days of yore when, as a child, our PE teachers would torture us in the name of the President's Fitness Challenge. I never did very well at that. This is far easier on the psyche.

Here's a little shot from my activity log-in page.

The idea is to do 30 minutes of activity a day and there are a wide variety of activity choices to choose from. Each day you are active, you can log and fill in a point on the star. Once you can fill in six stars completely, you are eligible for an award. Honestly, I'm not sure what the award IS... but being more active is really the point.

Then they have harder awards to go after, based on points earned. I might try that if I can get this first one under my belt.