Tag: cardio

Get in the Zone

MPiccolo1 Comment

This says: "You're kicking a$$!"

hrzones2

A few days ago I went to LifeTime Fitness where I used to work as a Personal Trainer and got my heart rate zones re-assessed.  If I was computer savvy enough I would post my old testing results here but just to put these two pics up here was tedious enough (You have to click on them to enlarge them so you can actually read them).

I was really excited to see these zones because they have changed dramatically from where I used to be.

To summarize for those who are not familiar with heart rate training, the above results show what my heart rate in beats per minute is in each Zone.  There are 5 Zones.  You will see that I didn’t reach a Zone 5 because…well, why would I prolong the torture? Not only that, but the point was to get to my Zone 4,  which is the threshold – the point where someone stops burning a significant amount of fat and starts burning a significant amount of carbohydrates.  See that shaded area in the top pic?? That’s fat being burned off.

Nine or 10 months ago I was nowhere near 175 beats per minute in my Zone 4.  I was closer to 156.  A huge leap!  Makes sense since I wasn’t doing much in the way of high intensity a year ago.  Actually I was in crutches a year ago so I wasn’t doing much of anything at that time.  I had just done some recumbent/stationary bike as my main form of cardio after getting off the crutches.  It was killing me not to be able to do any running of any kind.

Nowadays, my cardio workouts are much SMARTER.  I was told by my test administrator Amanda that I would be wise to implement some recovery training once in a while (staying below that Zone 1) to give my system a break.  I like to describe it as keeping your foot on a gas pedal – you might be going FAST but are you really doing your body any favors by constantly “running” it into the ground?  You gotta take your foot off the gas and hit the brakes.  I was really fearful of over-training at this point in the game so I’m happy to see that I am NOT…..yet.  Had I not gotten tested I probably would just continue to hit it hard without getting in any recovery time.

The second pic shows the Zones and how many calories are being burned per minute as well as my Volume of Oxygen.  To make a long story short: the higher the Volume of Oxygen is, the better.  Again, I was nowhere in the 40’s prior to this test so yet another milestone conquered.

Of course it’s not all about the numbers.  As with any goal, the hard data is great to have but it’s also important to note the other Non-Number Related Victories:

  • Getting above 7mph on the treadmill during this test without passing out.  Granted it wasn’t for a long period of time but I’m amazed at how FAST I’m able to go, even for brief intervals, on the treadmill.  One of my first posts on this blog was about my experience at A.S.A.P. Fitness where I participated in my friend Gerred’s R.E.A.L. Training class.  I know for a fact he had me on the treadmill to “run for 3 minutes” and I can still see myself hanging on the treadmill for fear I was going to fly off….at 5mph.  Ha!  In my defense that was the first time I was “running” on a treadmill in over a year so, it was probably to be expected.  But now, I can sprint at 8mph for about minute, and then I am wiped out collapse on the floor.
  • Taking progress pics more frequently now, every week.  It seems like everyday I’m noticing something small yet significant related to some muscle growth going on.  I would emphasize to ANYONE on a weight loss journey or just a body transformation quest to take pictures.  You might be the only one looking at them but you will REGRET it when you make some progress if you don’t have that “before” pic to show everyone how far you have come.
  • My lower abs lower abdominal region is trying to sneak its way out of the fat and show itself. 🙂  I’m coaxing these muscles as much as possible to show themselves – no doubt due to the Hanging Leg Raises and Hanging Knee Raises I try to do every other day at home from my Pull-up bar. (The nutrition helps of course too!)  Thanks again to my sister for getting that for me and my brother for hooking it up.
  • Speaking of pull ups, I completed 3 chin ups – unassisted this morning. Woohoo! I still have yet to do one complete unassisted Pull up but I’m getting there!

On that happy note, Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Random Tweet of the Day courtesy of @PenniesAndGum: “It’s best mixture. One bag microwave popcorn, 1/3 big box Duds. They melt in the hot popcorn, and the whole thing is fantastic.”

All I can think of is: This is going to be what I’m going to eat as soon as I’m done with my competition. HA!

Hurry up and Wait

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ImageThere’s a little saying in the production world where I used to work that if you were on the crew you would say to one another as a joke: “Hurry up and wait.”  I have no idea where this saying came from, perhaps it’s applicable to your job. 

The reason behind it is the rush of trying to get things done, only to have to wait for certain things to happen first.  When I worked as a production coordinator, you would hurry up and get everyone in place ready to shoot a scene, only to have to wait for someone else to make things happen.   Maybe the actor that was hired is still in wardrobe or makeup, maybe the lighting still isn’t quite right, maybe the teleprompter won’t start up (that last one is from personal experience).  Talk about a panic attack as everyone sits there and just waits and stares at you to solve the problem so they can get through the day.  Glad those days are behind me!

I thought of this saying today as I was frantically emailing and messaging various people online asking all kinds of questions about my figure competition goal.  I recently opened up and sent some pictures of myself to a very well known trainer who told me I was way too thin to even think about competing this year.  Granted she made it clear it was her own opinion and she is just looking at pictures of me but it threw me off a little bit. 

I did ask for her advice so I brought that on myself.  And I knew she would be honest.  After thinking about it for awhile I realized she’s only saying I need to train 3 months longer than I had originally planned.  No big deal right? 

See the problem with being surrounded by other trainers and being a trainer myself as well as having a fair amount of knowledge about nutrition, I am constantly researching what the best method is for training for this competition.  At the same time I’m getting all kinds of advice.  So with this advice and research, the self-doubt kicks in. 

All of a sudden I thought to myself “Maybe I’m doing too much cardio.  Maybe I should do what that woman is doing…maybe I should eat like that guy is telling people.  Shouldn’t I be seeing muscle gains by now?  How come I’m not losing the fat quicker?  How long is this going to take?!”

I worked my brain into a frenzy.  But worst of all, I didn’t trust my coach.  I hired this man for a reason and I realized I need to stick with the plan.  There is no rushing this process.  It’s going to take time.  A year?  Well, maybe.  But after I got some great advice from two competitors that I contacted, I understand that I can still do my show as intended in October this year as a “warm-up.”  Then, if I choose to, do another show as the “real deal” in the Spring of 2014.

I also took a step back this week to remind myself why I started this whole thing:  For myself; to change my body; to see how far I could take this body and my fitness level and to essentially show off all my hard work.  I’m not doing this for a trophy, for a prize, for anything more than to say “I did this.”  So back to the drawing board, although I never really left the board.  I just took a temporary leave to get my mind straight.

Now that it’s on straight, I can say this:

“It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop.”

I’m not stopping.  I will keep going.  I can do this.

-Michelle

Breaking through the plateau

MPiccolo2 Comments

Of course this was going to happen…Of course.  It was inevitable after losing so much weight that I would hit a standstill.  The weight loss plateau has reared it’s ugly head in my direction.

Stuck at 127 with absolutely not a budge in two weeks.

Now I know it’s the holidays.  And most people who are trying to lose weight would be happy to see themselves maintaining during such a difficult time of the year.  I shouldn’t complain.   But it’s still a disappointing.

I am becoming one of my own clients.  I’m doing all the wrong things like weighing myself after dinner (WHAT!? Duh!), stressing out about a measly little pound, freaking out and envisioning the scale frozen on 127 forever.

This won’t happen.  I will start to lose again but the first step is to figure out what the hell I’m doing wrong.

A few possibilities:

1.  I’m doing too much:  I have only allowed myself 1 day off since starting this journey.  That’s more then 3 months of non-stop exercising.  Not good.  That could lead to overtraining which can lead to all sorts of metabolic issues if I don’t address it.

2. I’m not doing enough:  Even with all this working out, it’s possible I’m not doing enough of the QUALITY workouts.  Possibly  too much steady state and not enough High Intensity?  Too many full body workouts and not enough splits?

3.  I’m doing the same thing over and over:  Don’t we all know the definition of insanity?  Although my strength training program has been different each week, it has always been full body.  So it might be time to change it to split routines.  Also the diet has been the same for 3 weeks so it’s quite possibly my coach will change that up next week.

Those are the three main reasons why I we all hit a weight loss rut.   In keeping with my previous post about looking at the positives and staying optimistic, I’m going to attempt to have some fun while trying to figure out exactly what is holding me back.

In the meantime, I’m still planning my regular meal plan for this week despite celebrating Christmas (tomorrow actually), traveling on a plane Wednesday and Thursday and working a nice long day on Christmas Eve starting at 6am and ending after I get finished with Christmas Eve dinner.  I have my work cut out for me this week.

But in the end, now is not the time to worry or care about staying perfect; it’s time to enjoy spending time with loved ones and friends.  I will be enjoying the hell out of my food and hanging with my family.  And I will not give this plateau a second thought! I might even eat a piece of (gasp!) bread.  Yes real life starch! (what’s starch? It’s been so long since I’ve had any I forgot what the hell it is.)

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays and all that jazz everyone!

-Michelle

Random song on iTunes: The Killer by The Twilight Singers (quite possibly the best song ever…ever!)

Random Tweet courtesy of some random person: When someone walks into a school w/a rope w/a spear attached throwing it & screaming “Get over here!” then let’s discuss video games.