Monday, December 6th, 2010
It’s confession time. It always is with me, really, as anyone who has read enough of my transparent and TMI-laden posts can agree. But I’m going to use this post to make some things “okay” with myself that really aren’t at the moment. You see, in the very-near future I’ll be in Mexico on vacation with friends old and new. Part of the point of this trip—a large part—is to celebrate my turning 40. Now, I had big old plans to be a lean size 6 by the trip, oh yes I did. Those plans evolved into being happy to just look really good, like a “small 8” without lumps or bumps (what my husband refers to as “hail damage”). Well, when I saw the writing on the wall as my workload and work hours really ramped up, I decided I’d settle for fitting into my existing summer wardrobe. I mean, where the heck am I going to find shorts in December? And who has time to shop, or get them shipped in time? Oy. So I tried on all of my mostly-8 shorts a week or two ago and decided that, as long as I didn’t drink any alcohol, rotated my starches, and didn’t miss any training, I was cool.
What has actually happened is some occasional (okay, maybe more than occasional) booze and dietary boo-boos as I catch up with friends and enjoy holiday merriment, miss meals only to eat the majority of my cals later in the day, and find myself too exhausted from a work time overage and the dag-nabbed early darkness to exert myself ala a “workout”. I’d love to post that “All ya gotta do, folks, is just {insert unrealistic tips here} during the holidays and you’ll be fine”. Apparently that is not my reality this year. It has been my reality in previous years, and I’m bummed that it won’t be for 40, but there you have it. (I don’t know why it’s a bigger deal than 39 or 41, it just is.) But I can say that I’ve found some ways to look and feel better if I can stick to them, however minimal they sound. Here they are:
Here was the workout:
-Dbl KB swings x 20
-Monkey Rows x 20 (per side)
-Tactical Lunges x 20 (total)
-Floor Press x 20 (per side, piston style)
-Lateral knee up lunges (20 total, alternating)
X5 (which took me under 20 minutes, maybe even under 15—we haven’t put the clocks back up at work yet, so I was blissfully ignorant)
Monkey Rows: Squat deeply—butt way down, chest up, curve in low back, KBs should touch the floor. Piston-style—one arm right after the other—rapidly row alternating right and left, and letting the KBs touch the floor. You’ll look like an ape knocking its knuckles on the ground. Where you’ll really feel this is in your butt, more so than your back or shoulders, I find.
Tactical Lunges: Holding one KB in your left hand, reverse lunge with your left leg, once in lunge, pass the KB from left to right under your right thigh, retrieving it with your right hand. Immediately perform the same motion on the opposite side. Briskly but with control, perform this for reps, working on fluidity of transitions.
Floor Press: Lie on your back on the floor, legs straight out and “glued” together, holding a KB in each hand with arms locked out in up-position of chest press. Lower one down to down-position of chest press, then piston-style—one arm right after the other—alternate your presses side to side for reps.
Lateral knee up lunges: Holding either one KB by the horns and at chest, or two KBs in rack position, draw one knee up to your chest, then “fall” to the same side as bent knee into a side lunge. Keeping the trailing leg straight the whole time, push off with the lead leg right back into the same knee up position you started with. Gently place that leg down, and perform on the other side (or not, you don’t have to alternate). Don’t rush this, milk it for balance, stability, and to work the lead leg well.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
When the weather started to change I recommended some strategies to keep your workouts fun while getting the same bang for your buck that you did during the summer. However, I’m sure now a month later, some of you are starting to again get bored with your training. Thus, I think it is time to go over a few more killer, I mean fun ways to keep your training exciting!
One of my all time favorite make-you-want-to-puke things to do is plate pushes. What are they you ask? Well, grab a 45 lb plate (or whatever size works for you), put it on the ground, get into a position as if you were about to bear crawl with hands on plate, and push away.
Gotta love a good ole iron plate!
Yes, I know this is typically done on turf and you don’t have access to turf. Never fear, there is an easy fix. Grab your plate and a towel; mosey on into the aerobics room, wrap the plate in the towel and you are good to go!
Depending on how your workout is set up, you can add plate pushes to a super or giant set, add them in-between sets, use them as a finisher, incorporate them in a crank; you name it, the possibilities are endless.
Now that you already have your plate set up (wrapped in a towel); I’ve got another great one for ya. Get in a plank position with your feet on the plate. Position your feet so your toes are right up against the ridge of the plate and begin walking yourself forward with your hands while dragging the plate behind you. For this variation, you stay in a plank the entire time.
And yes, there is a second variation, keep your hands where they are and pull the plate in with your feet similar to a prone tuck. Once feet are pulled in tight, walk you hands out until you are again in a plank position and repeat. Continue all the way across the aerobics room.
Both of these plank-walk variations are also great to add into a workout just like the plate pushes.
Moving on from the plate, here is a great twist to the deadlift. Take your conventional or sumo deadlift using a loaded barbell. Start with the barbell on the floor in front of you. Place hands on the barbell and walk back into a plank. Hold for desired time (preferably 10-15 seconds) then jump feet forward and perform your deadlift. If feet do not land the correct position to start a deadlift, move them into position. The position of your feet and proper execution of the deadlift is the most important part of this exercise. As you lower the barbell down after the deadlift, jump or walk back into your plank.
Depending on what your lifting goal is, you can use this variation for all sets/reps of your deadlift or you can perform all sets/reps then add a one or two sets using this variation as a finisher.
While I’ve already listed a few ways to add these bad boys into your workout, I know not everyone is working towards the same goal. Here are a few surefire ways to add these guys in without interfering with your goal:
If your goal is building, you are lifting heavy and need to take full advantage of rest periods à Do not start supersetting plate pushes/plate plank-walks or plank deadlifts with your current program. Your rest period and ability to lift heavy is the point of your workout. However, once you are finished with your training, head into the aerobics room for a few laps with the plate. Or after your last deadlift, add on a set or two using the plank technique (lower the weight so not to injure yourself). You will be adding these bad boys in as a finisher to your workout to give you that extra boost!
If your goal is to maintain your athleticism for your sport à hopefully you have either dedicated one or two days to some sort of plyo/agility/speed work or you are mixing those elements into your lifting. I am a huge fan of mixing those elements into your training and that is what you will do with the three exercises. Add in a plate push during your rest period, tack it on to the end of a superset, sub a regular deadlift for the plank variation, you name it, mix it up.
Finally, if your goal is weight loss or body recomposition à you can play around with either mixing these elements into your training or using them as a finisher, the choice is up to you.
So there you have it, three new and fun exercise variations to add to your training and keep the winter exciting! Hope you enjoy – and let me know how it goes!
Monday, November 1st, 2010
As mentioned in Jodi’s post last Thursday about Whippy, I was indeed in Boston for 5 days of reconnecting with friends, family, and my Northern roots. One of the best things about visiting friends with a healthy lifestyle is that you can horn in on their workouts, or use their stuff. I did both. I stayed with Jodi for a few days. During one of those we took a walk, during which we enjoyed lovely Fall weather and scenery, observed territorial habits of multi-racial bird communities, dug deeply into spiritual topics, and found a great potty rock (any female who has taken a walk of 3 miles or more knows what I mean). But one day, while Jodi was busy taking good care of MP4 clients, I headed to her basement for a much-needed workout. “Much-needed” because I was apparently taking a “what happens in Vegas…er…Boston, stays in Boston” approach to eating while I was up there. 
Jodi has plenty of things to use for a workout in her home, but I headed for the dumbbells and kettlebells so that I could stay in a well-defined (yoga mat sized) space, which kept me from disturbing the two eldest Jones children while they played an Indiana Jones (no relation) video game. I’m not one to get in the way of a no-school Friday, after all. Here’s what I came up with, and I’m convinced it made up for the dessert Jodi and I split on Thursday night:
4 rounds of:
Then…
3 rounds of:
Unfamiliar with some of these exercises? Shoot me a note and I’ll do my best to describe them for you. heather@modelper4mance.com
Is there anything like good friends and sibling-time for restoration of the soul? Not likely.
Now, it wasn’t all desserts and nutritional jackassery. There were some salads from “The Fruity” and some walks all over Boston with my sister. Speaking of my sister Margaret–one of my very favorite people in the world–we had a fabulous brunch at a place called The Elephant Walk. We were so impressed with a soup that my sister ordered, we asked for the recipe. And they gave it to us(!) Here it is, chock full of good fats for you:
Chilled Avocado Citrus Soup (serves 4)
A.
B.
C.
Procedure:
A. Cover the chopped onion with salt for 20-30 minutes. Rinse the salt completely off the onion, drain and squeeze off the excess water.
B. Mix salt, black pepper, orange juice, lime juice, garlic and sugar. Stir into mix well. Add olive oil and mix well. Add the diced avocado, mushroom, tomatoes and onion. Stir gently now to mix well. Let chill 1 hour before serving.
C. When serving: Add 1 TB of chopped cilantro to soup and stir into mix.
Source: The Elephant Walk, French and Cambodian cuisine, Boston, MA
Travelling to see some people who are special to me is cause for celebration, in my opinion. At the brunch with my sister, I “invented” a new drink. While most order mimosas, I typically order poinsettias (champagne + cranberry juice). I’ve also seen bellinis, which are champagne + peach schnapps, or some variation thereof. So I thought to order what I’ll call “The Heather” because I love champagne and I have so much to celebrate, I’m from the North, and I now call the South my home. In case you find yourself needing to toast something and/or someone(s) special, here ‘tiz in case you haven’t already guessed:
The “Heather” = Champagne (nearly full flute, woot!) + splash or two of peach schnapps (South) + splash of cranberry juice (North).
Simple, delicious, and refreshing—just like my trip. Not to mention a great way to take the edge off of my nerves after “Whippy-ing” around Boston!
Me, after several rides in Whippy.
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
Sticking with the spirit of Jodi and Heather’s last posts, I’ll continue with the changing of seasons = moving workouts indoors. Jodi said the following in her post last Thursday:
Then we come inside. Oh boy. Now we’re bored out of our minds. I would rather remove a limb with a butter knife than get on the elliptical which is where the problems begin: we’re going to forget to step up the indoor activity to match the intensity of the outdoor activity. We now have to meter our workouts by tracking time/intensity/mode etc. Do not think that just “punching” the clock of that workout is going to do the trick. Stay on it! This is how the holidays come up on us and we’re up 10 pounds without even realizing it.
Let’s avoid this catastrophe by 1) ensure variety within our workouts. Do not get on the same piece of equipment everyday even if it is your bike trainer! Vary it up. 2) Be conscious while working out. I really mean that. If you finish your workout and you don’t even remember beginning it–there’s a problem! KNOW what you’re doing right now. And 3) Try to get outdoors every once in a while even if it is monsoon wind season like it is now. Take one for the team and get either wet or cold. Who cares which–just get outside.
But how, exactly are we supposed to vary it up? As Jodi alluded to, there really is more to it than merely getting on a different piece of equipment every day. Time and intensity, as she said, make a HUGE difference.
(1) Start playing around with intervals. Don’t simply get on the elliptical and hit the pre-programmed interval session; make your own intervals. Now is the time to get out that heart-rate monitor, stop watch, gym boss and go to town. Play around with differing work-rest ratios. For beginners, start with a 1:2 work-rest ratio. For example, if your hard interval lasts 30 seconds, your recover is double that time – 1 minute. If you work for 1 minute, your recovery is 2 minutes. Once you have the 1:2 ratio mastered, move onto 1:1 and then 2:1.
Also, don’t forget to try shorter intervals and longer intervals. Working a 30 second killer interval and a 3 minute killer interval feel very different. The possibilities are endless.
(2) Add in some cranks. I know I’ve probably said this a million times before, but there is nothing like jumping off a piece of cardio equipment and doing a crank: 12 squats, 12 alternating forward lunges, 12 pushups, 12 jump squats – and then jumping back on the machine. Jumping off every 3-5 minutes will turn your cardio up a notch!
(3) Make your lift cardio. It sounds strange but can be done. This has recently become a new fad with all types of names such as cardio-lifting, insanity workouts, metabolic confusion, cardio-strength….but they all boil down to a similar outcome – a lift that gets your heart-rate up and the sweat rolling! First thing you have to do is check out Jodi’s post on complexes. There is nothing like these bad boys to get your heart racing!
I know, some of you can’t give up your traditional lifting style that you have been hanging onto since the 80s. I’m not going to argue….instead, why not start your workout with a complex/combo OR finish it with one. Either way, you can continue the lifting you are currently doing, but kick it up a notch.
Alternatively, try some timed sets. Or, add in a functional move during your rest intervals – think burpee, squat jump, split jump, alternating side lunges….and so one.
(4) Bring out the toys – kettlebells, TRX, medicine balls, ab dollies, whatever toy your gym has, grab it and work it into your program. Now, this is not an excuse to do nothing but sit on a stability ball all day, this is a challenge to step your training up by incorporating this fun stuff. Start your workout with a kettlebell circuit for time. Add med-ball slams and wood chops in between working sets. Try TRX training and incorporate it anyway possible. Just add it in. And while this might seem overwhelming at first, if you start simple, you will be fine.
I challenge every single person reading this blog to try 1 new thing each week for the next 4 weeks. Create a new interval cardio workout, try a complex, jump of the cardio machine and perform a crank, whatever you want, just try it. Dare to step outside your comfort zone and keep your training fresh as we settle into a fall/winter of indoor training!
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
No. Not that season. And to be honest, I dread the beginning of that season which I swear now starts as early as July in some stores.
No…it’s THAT season. The season of change.
Living in New England makes us privvy to weather changes. We go from Winter to Spring/Summer (I swear spring is 2 days long now), Summer to Fall/Summer (Indian summer anyone?) and finally Fall to Winter again. Each time this occurs, there seems to be an overall “feeling” that comes with each season.
Winter brings commitment. We tend to hunker down and disappear during this time. We’re hoping to find the energy and resolve we need to do the offseason justice.
Spring brings renewal. We become engergized and want to either clean out our house or go for a hike. Depends on the day.
Summer brings carefree fun. Who cares about work or that house we just cleaned. All we’re thinking is ‘bring on the deck with the drinks’.
Fall brings a distinct feeling of change. You’re not quite sure of what you want, you just know it’s about change. I have spoken about this before when I touched upon being put back into a “diet box” and so on. Suddenly, we feel the need for structure, sweaters (even if it is warm out) and different food/exercise combinations. It’s wild. Everyone I talk to right now needs a change and it is because of fall.
Here are 2 things you need to be aware of to weather the change of fall:
Nutrition:
Lose the green veggies as a staple. I know I love them and push them on folks like a winter coat in a storm, but you need to break out the winter squashes again. Now is the time for a good soup like a butternut squash soup or a protein source like bison, liver or sardines to come out again. (I do want you to know I slid the sardines in there and have laughed my head off because of it.) Fish varieties should be changing if you buy your fish from a fish market and not a supermarket. Warm foods like oat bran and quinoa come back to life now. You may have been rocking quinoa cold in a salad before but now it’s time to heat it back up.
Suddenly, there is this sense of needing to be cozy. Quiet. Contemplative. With that our food should soon follow with healthy casseroles becoming more appealing, crock pots coming back to the counter and salads disappearing overnight. We need to keep up with the change of the season by rotating the same old staples that we have in the diet. Look for chili recipes and stratas–make it lively because it is easy to fall into the winter blues before it’s even winter.
Workouts:
“Non-Metered to metered”. What in Heaven’s name do I mean by metered? Summer time sends folks outside. Unless you just sit on your porch and fan yourself and then try to call it cardio, you are most likely working pretty hard. Outside workouts are bodyweight centered workouts. You must move your whole body and it’s not dependent on a piece of equipement to do it. You hike, bike, walk, run, skip, shuffle and so on. There’s direction change, scaling things such as rocks and park fixtures, level changes (ground to standing), sprinting, etc. There seems to be an endless amount of activity that we can do outside without having to kill ourselves creatively to do it. Then we come inside. Oh boy. Now we’re bored out of our minds. I would rather remove a limb with a butter knife than get on the elliptical which is where the problems begin: we’re going to forget to step up the indoor activity to match the intensity of the outdoor activity. We now have to meter our workouts by tracking time/intensity/mode etc. Do not think that just “punching” the clock of that workout is going to do the trick. Stay on it! This is how the holidays come up on us and we’re up 10 pounds without even realizing it.
Let’s avoid this catastrophe by 1) ensure variety within our workouts. Do not get on the same piece of equipment everyday even if it is your bike trainer! Vary it up. 2) Be conscious while working out. I really mean that. If you finish your workout and you don’t even remember beginning it–there’s a problem! KNOW what you’re doing right now. And 3) Try to get outdoors every once in a while even if it is monsoon wind season like it is now. Take one for the team and get either wet or cold. Who cares which–just get outside.
I have grown to love fall. I am a true summer girl, myself. I come alive in the summer and shrink back into my cave in the fall. I do enjoy a beautiful Indian summer but hate the fact that the sun goes down so early. I have thought about moving, every year about this time to be exact, but then I am reminded about bugs, hurricanes, tornadoes, mud slides and earthquakes whenever I bring up a great “warm all the time” location. I think I’ll stay right here and just learn to deal with the change.
It’s time to get ready for the offseason. I know a few of you still have events on the horizon, but for the most of us it is time to plan for the spring. Keep reading because we have lots of stuff coming along to help you get there.
