Butt Blasting Leg Workout and Thoughts on Caffeine..

The moment is finally here.  I have gotten several requests regarding specific workouts.  I decided I will do my best to let you in on at least a couple of my workouts each week.  Let's be honest, if I posted every single workout it would be exhausting and bombarding you with more information than you choose to care about!  So for this week I am posting my favorite workout of the week:  Heavy Leg Day.

Important to note:  Yes, I generally lead a low-carb lifestyle, with the source of nearly all of my carbohydrates being vegetables.  For this workout, my pre-workout meal about an hour before had some sweet potato and post-workout I had some greek yogurt and a small amount of oats.  As a rule of thumb, try not to consume fats around your workout, after all you want to BURN fat stores you already have so it wouldn't make much sense to put it in your system.

MY definition of good glutes..she is no skinny girl!

Heavy Leg Day:
Warmup - walking in the gym...hahahaha
Standing Hip Abductors - 4 sets, 20 reps (4x20)
Back Squats (rather DETAILED explanation of how I perform these) - 10 sets, 10x45 lb., 8x65, 6x85, 6x95, 6x115, 6x125, 6x125, 6x125, 6x125
Split Squats - 3 sets - 8x65, 6x75, 6x75
Side Step Ups - 3 sets, 10 reps with 30 barbell
Unilateral Leg Press - 3 sets, 8x50, 6x70, 6x90
Standing Calf Raise - 4 sets, 20 reps at 110
Glute Machine (Butt Blaster) - 3 sets, 10 reps
(45 minutes)

Cardio - 20 minute HIIT on stair master consisting of 1:20 work intervals at 1:1 ratio of work:rest. Work intervals at level 15 (of 20) and rest intervals at level 5.  Basically I gave the stair master a bath ;)
(20 minutes)

And in and out of the gym in a little over an hour.  Let me tell you it is now Thursday and I am STILL feeling Tight Tush Tuesday in my tush it IS quite the feeling.  I also have to note that this was a pretty light day for me weight wise because I had not hit legs that hard in a while so I did not want to push the weight.  That being said, when you feel like you are ready to push the weight hard for the 6-8 rep range make sure that you have built yourself up in the 10-15 rep range first.  The link I sent you to for the squat form is the Lab Gym in St. Louis, MO where I used to train.  He has a large collection of videos on You tube that you guys can check out for proper form on nearly every exercise (those worth doing at least!).  Do NOT trust the first link that pops up when you Google some random exercise.  I see some of the most ludicrous things in the gym on a daily basis and sometimes I have to cringe.

Caffeine:

Also a hot topic these days it seems.  This won't take long.  I used to be a caffeine junkie, I will admit.  I believe it is something that is WIDELY abused by the American public.  If you are using a pre-workout with caffeine in it (i.e. "fat-burner") it is not doing ANYTHING for you if you are consuming 2-3 cups of coffee a day.  And before you say, "But I only have 1 cup of coffee a day."  Let me remind you the 1 cup of coffee is defined as about 8 oz. so next time you might want to measure the amount you put in your jumbo mug.  You know who you are.  In any case, it might be wise to switch to decaffeinated so that when you utilize caffeine as a pre-workout stimulant, you actually feel the effects and it can improve your workout.  I only use caffeine when I absolutely need to and the results have been great.  I take in about 50-70 mg pre-workout and I can feel the effects now.  Before, when I was consuming 200-250 mg of caffeine a day I would have felt nothing off of 50-70 mg.  Like any stimulant, you will need to cycle it every 2-3 weeks if you want to keep feeling the effect.  Otherwise you will continue to increase more and more caffeine until it has no effect on you at all.

Tip:  Gradually lower your caffeine to reduce withdrawal effects by using "half-caf" coffee, pouring half cup of coffee and half water, or switching to green tea (usually around 20-30 mg of caffeine in one cup compared to 80-100 mg in coffee).  Comprehensive list of caffeine in various drinks here.  Also, VERY interesting to note for all you Starbucks junkies.  Pay particular attention to paragraph 3.  I mean wow!!

That's all for now, time for some cardio.  One simple YES could change your life forever..

Your diet isn't working?? SURPRISE!

For those of you who don't know, I am a Sagittarius so catch on to sarcasm or find a new blog to follow.  Some call it rude, I call it real!  But that's just me so on to the topic today..

COMMITMENT!

 
Ok not THAT kind of commitment but it is kind of funny.  I am talking about commitment to your plan.  You individual plan for fitness.  For some it could be as simple as going to gym three times a week and "watching what you eat."  For other like me, it is more of a strict regimen of counting and measuring foods down to the gram and hitting the gym twice a day for very specific, rigorous workouts to achieve an optimal physique.  Then again I recognize we aren't all freaks.  My point is this, we commit to things we want (desire not need) such as homes, cars, and jelly of the month memberships for YEARS.  If you own a 1997 Ford Taurus that slightly resembles a demolition derby car and has mileage approaching a nice income you would dream of having then you probably wouldn't say something like this:  "You know what, I am going to buy a brand new 2013 Dodge Charger and I'm going to go on the 8 week plan to pay it off."  That's right 8 weeks is all you are committing to the car and then it is yours to keep.  Sadly, that isn't how it works.  If you want that car and you are in with the majority of the population in the working middle class, you have to commit to that car for YEARS.

Along the same lines, let's consider the gym.  Why do the majority of gyms not sell 3 month memberships?  I know there are some out there, but let's consider the majority.  Two reasons here:  first, gyms want to maximize longevity of memberships to ensure profit (it's a business), but second the gym knows that if by some miracle you actually DO utilize your membership you will need longer than three months to actually experience RESULTS.  And results = retention = revenue (again, it's a business).

So here is the questions I pose to you.  Have you ever committed to a diet or workout plan for 1 YEAR with at least 90% adherence?  Let's be honest!  Before you answer consider this hypothetical situation.

AVERAGE JANE
Diet plan: Zone Diet
Duration: 6 months
Cheats: She always followed the diet 100% every week so on Saturday's she would go out and treat herself.  But back to strict diet on Sunday.  Also in the 6 month time frame was her birthday, one random day of weakness each month (LADIES!) and some major holiday so that's another 9 days of cheating (1 for your birthday because you HAVE to have a drink, 6 "weak" days in 6 months, and 2 for the holiday because you CAN'T eat healthy when family is in town).

Math:
Let me break it down for you since most don't like math.
6 months =  approx. 180 days
24 Saturdays + 1 birthday + 6 "weak" days + 2 holiday cheat days = 33 cheat days

AVERAGE JANE cheats 33/180 days or about 18% of the time.

This means she stuck to her diet 82% of the time.  Psh just another example of Americans putting out "C" effort and expecting an "A+" result!

But I don't know WHY my diet isn't working?!

But let's look at the bright side.  I know many of you were reading that and thinking, wow that is  just like me.  Good news is this, if you are 82% effective, you are MUCH more effective than the majority. And, you WILL see positive changes OVER TIME.  How much time will be totally dependent on how long you stick to it.  Most people would be inclined to give up completely after 6 months if they only saw 10 pounds of fat loss because hey, it's only 10 pounds right?!  But in reality, that 10 pounds could be 15-25 pounds if they were 95-99% effective.

In conclusion, what I want you to take away is that it is less important what you are doing, but rather your consistency.  Don't waste your time on cookie-cutter, fad diets.  Do your research.  Your individual "diet" will be one that is about you finding what foods and in what combinations work for YOU.  Find a plan that works, one that you can maintain, and STICK to it.  Fad diets will come in and out of popularity and you will no doubt experiment with different things.  How do you know that your plan isn't working unless you adhere for an amount of time such as a whole year?  You will never know until you try.

What are my recommendations??  Well you have to keep reading to get more info on that but if you have scrolled through my blogs you will see that I generally consume a diet high in lean protein with balanced carbohydrates and fats.  Keep in mind, I use carbohydrates to FUEL and REFEED workouts (rather strenuous ones at that) so if you aren't hitting the gym very often and lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle, you should probably limit your carbohydrate intake, especially complex, high calorie sources i.e. bread, pasta, cereals, rice.

Remember, consistency and commitment are the keys to building the body you want in your nutrition and gym programs.  So grind it out, and don't sweat the small stuff.  Get 1% better every day, that is what it is all about.  One simple YES could change your life forever!

HIIT Cardio: Maximize Your Fat Burn

Let's explore a little further...what is HIIT?  How long?  What intensity?  Why should I do it?

What is HIIT:
I have answered before what HIIT is but to refresh:  High Intensity Interval Training.  Before you scoff and say "I can't do HIGH INTENSITY I am just a beginner," hear me out.  This type of cardio can be done by anyone because it is based on your individual tolerance.  I recommend that you get yourself an inexpensive heart rate monitor and use that to track your progress unless you are one of those freaks like me who judges based on feeling like throwing up!

Duration:
You only need 20-30 minutes to perform you intervals.  They will be short in duration, with each interval lasting approximately 60-90 seconds.  You can alternate work intervals and rest periods until you reach your total time.  The rest period should be long enough for your heart rate to return to 60-75% of your max heart rate or in simple terms, you become "conversational" again.  If you still feel like you can't talk then your heart hasn't recovered enough.  TIP:  Make sure you have some motivational music on for those work intervals to get you really moving!

Mode:
Many have asked what is the best machine for me to use for cardio?  Well the answer is there is no answer.  You can perform HIIT cardio machines such as the elliptical, treadmill, spinning bike, stair mill, or stair stepper, or you can also swim or do sprints outside.  No matter your preference of mode of exercise, you should be able to perform HIIT cardio.  As long as you are taking your heart rate up for a period of time and then letting it recover, you are doing it.  Many bootcamps are run as a HIIT cardio type of routine (and you could argue P90X and Insanity are variations of HIIT).

I like to do HIIT on the elliptical that has the arm movement incorporated so I use my total body.  In the following picture you can see my calorie burn in only 25 minutes.  I set the resistance to 10 (out of 20) and used the intervals on a program to keep track of time.  I alternated 1 minute of work with 1 minute of rest for 20 minutes with a 2.5 minute warmup and cooldown.  On the work minutes I kept the RPM around 85-90 (bustin it!) and on the rest I just tried to keep moving.

25 minute HIIT on elliptical calorie burn

Finally, I wanted to show you all my breakfast today.  I am switching things up a bit and trying organic wheat bran in the morning instead of oats.  It will take some getting used to (I love oats!) but let me give you some reasoning.

Organic Wheat Bran (1/2 cup):  20 g carb (14 g fiber), 0 g fat, 4 g protein, 60 kcal

Whole Grain Oats (1/2 cup):  27 g carb (4 g fiber), 2.5 g fat, 5 g protein, 150 kcal

You could also sub an oat bran as well.  Consider switching to an organic bran over the "whole grain." Basically you are getting the part of the grain that contains the best source of insoluble fiber.  Insoluble fiber is good for keeping the digestive system working properly and giving you the extra "roughage" you need.  I would say that most out there are not taking in enough fiber, so this is a great way to up your intake.

Here is my breakfast:

1/2 cup Organic Wheat Bran (cooked with water)

1 packet Truvia

1/2 Tbs. 100% natural cacao

1 scoop whey protein (peanut butter flavor)

Dunkin' Donuts French Vanilla roast with 1 packet Truvia...delish!

Gets my day started right and kills the chocolate craving!

Keep the comments coming because they fuel the content!  I love to hear what you guys think.  One simple YES could change your life forever..

A peek inside my kitchen..

I did just get back from the pool so lookin' rough..





Hope this answered some questions!  As always remember, one simple YES could change your life forever!

Real Life RESULTS

Finally convinced my client Markita to give me some before photos.  She was even blown away by her transformation!  Just to give you a little background, when I first met her she was very reluctant about trusting me.  I mean what do I know I just have a couple degrees, a couple certs, and years of experience..pshhh..  Ok enough kidding around.  She followed my advice for nutrition and this is the result of working with me on NUTRITION ALONE.  I repeat, we have not trained a session together. We are going to start very soon, I just had to get some pounds off her to get her to trust me :)

But we are getting there...

Hard work pays off.  Remember one simple YES could change your life forever..

Breakfast and P90X..

I felt the need to address this little number due to increased feedback. Let me say this right up front..IF YOU EMAIL ME YOUR QUESTIONS YOU WILL SEE THESE TOPICS IN THE BLOG. I may not be able to follow up with everyone instantly on an individual basis but I do take into account your feedback and most importantly I AM LISTENING. Take note that is all a girl wants..to be listened to right?!

 Let's start with breakfast. It's in the name and it needs to happen fast, I get it. But please, don't skip it. It is true what they say about breakfast and you NEED to be eating it. I can't emphasize enough. For those of you wondering what my breakfast often consists of I will share it with you now. I have this with my green tea every morning. Don't cringe..

 All Mixed Together:
1/4 cup oats (not instant)
1 scoop isolated whey protein (peanut butter flavor)
1/4 cup blueberries

This is the chocolate version of some great-tasting whey protein

It is the perfect blend of carbs and protein. Best part is that it tastes GREAT. My favorite is the peanut butter flavor, but you could also use chocolate (duh!) or vanilla for some great tasting oats.  With the protein there is no need for artificial sweetener or sugar. One important note to consider is that you microwave the oats with water (how much depends on the consistency you desire) and then add the protein AFTER YOU HAVE MICROWAVED THE OATS. Do not microwave protein, just don't.

AKA Glorified Cardio

Moving on to P90X/P90X2/Insanity/Whatever they are calling it these days.  Many, many, many people ask me which of these programs they should be doing and which one is the best bang for the buck, etc.  I have to be honest, all these programs look exactly the same to me.  Do they work?  Of course they work, it is glorified cardio!  The truth is this:  I would seek out a local trainer running a bootcamp and sign up immediately.  Find a reputable trainer with good reviews and a solid base.  Most bootcamps run anywhere from $10-$30 per class and could be less expensive in the long run than continuously buying the newest, latest "fad workout trend."  If you could spend $150 for absolutely no results but add a DVD that is no fun to watch to your collection or $300 for results that last a lifetime what would you do?  Duh, no brainer.  I may be a little biased be it that I am a trainer but here is why you should take my advice:

ACCOUNTABILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY!!!!!!!

I can't emphasize enough.  If I go into your home and see P90X, P90X2, and Insanity in your DVD collection I have to wonder, why do you keep buying these workout programs if they don't work?  And why don't they work for you?  Simple. BECAUSE YOU DON'T DO IT.  Or you don't do it right, often enough, or you don't fuel right.  Come on admit it, you may think you do it...but really? REALLY?  Those working with a trainer are 200% more likely to reach their goals do to accountability and consistency.  Commit to a few months of a bootcamp over a few months of "maybe you will pop in the DVD after a long day at work but probably not."  Guarantee you that if you pay for that trainer then you are going to those bootcamps and you are getting results.

Be sure when you look for a trainer you type in a google or bing search for "personal fitness trainer" or "bootcamp" in your local area and DO YOUR RESEARCH.  Make sure the professional you choose is certified and reputable.

Put it this way, I would rather have my clients who do not live close to me anymore working with a trainer over buying a workout program from me or using P90X.  Why?  Because I know that client will continue to get results.  That is what it is all about people.  As always remember, one simple YES could change your life forever..