Posts Tagged ‘hiit’

WHAT’S NEW? TRAINING

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

Well! Just 2 more workouts and I’m done Stage 1!!!! This first stage, also know as the “break in” period, is normally 16 workouts and about 6 weeks long. I added extra workouts so it was 24 total and 8 weeks long. Because I am new to lifting I thought it would be beneficial to extend it and they suggest it as an option in the book. At the end you do something called AMRAP, which stands for As Many Reps as Possible. I will use the very first weight used in my first workout and do as many reps as possible for each exercise. The idea is to see the improvements you have made. I, fortunately, also determined my 1RM before starting so I will also have that to re-test and show my improvements. Can’t tell you how excited I am about that. It seems I’m like a guy when it comes to lifting and I like to brag about my numbers. : )

Here’s what a week looks like right now:

Monday 50 to 60 minute walk (outside)(good for recovery)

Tuesday HIIT

Wednesday Lifting, HIIT and 20 minutes on treadmill

Thursday 50 to 60 minute walk (outside)(good for recovery)

Friday Lifting, HIIT and 20 minutes on treadmill

Saturday 50 to 60 minute walk (outside)(good for recovery)

Sunday Lifting, HIIT and 20 minutes on treadmill

H.I.I.T. (High Intensity Interval Training)

I alternate between the bike and the elliptical. Someday, when I have less “chest” I’ll try it on the treadmill.

My max heart rate is 180 and on the high intensity bits I get it up to between 170 and 175bpm.

After the HIIT I wait 5 minutes, just sit around (as instructed to in the book), and then do 20 minutes on the treadmill to burn off some fat : ) and further cool down. I’m beat red and sweating profusely after the HIIT. Plus, Stage 1 workouts are well under and an hour so I had the time.

5 minute warm up

1 minute hard, 2 minutes light

1 minute hard, 2 minutes light

1 minute hard, 2 minutes light

1 minute hard, 2 minutes light

1 minute hard

5 minute cool down

Going through a bit of mind f#&!k right now. Working my ass off as you can see and eating right yet the scale has not moved in 2 months and no change in measurements either. I know that someone new to lifting can experience a phenomenon where muscle is gained and fat is lost and there is no change on the scale. I think there is usually a change in measurements though. If I were getting my bodyfat professionally tested I would have had that to help me gauge the changes but I didn’t. I can see a difference. I’m smoother (less jiggly and fewer rolls) and I can see the shapes of muscles under the fat. My muscles are also rock hard now. I may get fired shortly ’cause I’m running around asking my co-workers to feel my rock hard quads and poke my ass! : 0 There is absolutely a difference in my strength! Thank god!

My 1RM for Squats when I started was 105 and for my last workout I did 3 sets of 8 with 115lbs. In the beginning it was 3 sets of 15 with 65lbs.

For the Deadlift my 1RM to start was 115 and today I did 3 sets of 8 with 125lbs. In the beginning it was 3 sets of 15 with 75lbs.

I’m using two 25lb Dumbells when doing lunges (started with body weight), step-ups (started with body weight) and the shoulder press (started with two 12.5lb dumbells).

Started with 50lbs for Wide Grip Lat Pulldown and Seated Row. Now using 75lbs. Mind you the workouts started with 2 sets of 15 and now do only 3 sets of 8. Still an improvement even taking that into account.

Weight Loss/Nutrition

I’m still trying to get the scale to move by adjusting my calories. I’ve gone as low as I’m willing to go so now I’m going to try up again. I’m continuing to eat protein and veggies 5x day. I drink Surge Recovery after a workout. Still need to kick my coffee habit. Maybe it’s the tiny little piece of the puzzle. Only one way to find out! In addition, I’ve ordered Precision Nutrition. I believe I am already eating “with plan” but i still think it will be of benefit to me. I cannot tell you how sick I am of chicken, broccoli and cucumber! I’m hoping that the recipes and such will help. The support of the PN online community will certainly be of benefit. I just keep reminding myself, this IS about body RECOMPOSITION, not just weight loss!

I think that about covers it. I will be back in about 2 weeks to provide a wrap up of Stage 1 including my AMRAP results and my new 1RM for the Deadlift and Squats! The end of the month is only a week away so next weekend I’ll be updating the Weight and Measurements chart. Woohoo! : ( Ok, I’ll shut up now : )

Happiness and Health to you and yours!

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TRAINING – PHASE 2 – New Rules of Lifting For Women Stage I

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Quick recap of Phase 1:

  • Worked out at home using resistance bands for 5 months.
  • Walked pretty much every day.
  • Then did a couple months of bodyweight Turbulence Training along with HIIT.

Phase 2 is all about lifting heavy!

Started The New Rules of Lifting for Women around April 1st.

Before starting I tested my 1RM having never lifted weights before. Actually, the first thing I did was practice form. I did buckets of body weight squats in the few months prior. Then I spent a day in the gym with a friend and an olympic bar in the power rack. The next time I went to the gym it was another form practice and trying to figure out how much weight I would be using for each of movements in Workouts A and B (2 sets of 15 with 60s rest) of the program from The New Rules of Lifting for Women.

Squat 1RM 105 lbs

Deadlift 1RM 115 lbs

Bench 1RM 85 lbs

For reps (2 sets of 15 with 60s rest)

Squat 65 lbs and Deadlift 75 lbs

About a week after starting the program I found a formula which would have been helpful to have before but was now just interesting. It was bang on for me. Of course I did not use it to determine my weight for sets of 10 as it was unnecessary. I used the weight that I had built up to. No point re-testing my 1RM just so I could use the chart. I will, at the end of this phase re-test my 1RM to compare it with where I started. I’ll use that and the chart below to calculate for a 5 rep set (which the program does not use) and see how close it is just for fun.

Sets {% of 1RM } DL 115 (Squat 105)
15 {60 – 65%} 70 – 75 lbs (68 lbs)
10 {75% } 86 lbs (79 lbs)
5 {87%} 100 lbs (91 lbs)

At the 4 week mark I am doing the following for 3 sets of 10 with 60 seconds rest

Squat 85 lbs

Deadlift 105 lbs

Guess I should mention I’m about 30 to 40lbs overweight which is extra weight I have to lift when doing squats.

There is no bench press in the program right now just men’s push ups. Right now (May 1st) I can do the 3 sets of 10 at a 30 degree angle. Being overweight means I’m “pushing” more weight. Am pretty sure I will be able to do them on the ground in the next few weeks when it changes to sets of 8. Can do 11 max on the floor right now (May 1).

I will share as much of my progress as possible without “giving away” the program.

Cardio – HIIT
The book does include HIIT but it’s not until a later stage. I need to lose weight so I have started HIIT 2 weeks into Stage 1 (which was about 2 weeks ago). I following the same HIIT program I mentioned in my previous post about Phase 1. It appears to be from Alwyn’s Afterburn program and is posted at bodybuilding.com http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alwyn8.htm

Cardio – Steady State
I do my best to go for a walk every day for 45 to 60 minutes. There is a lot of debate about whether or not there is a “fat burning zone” or any real benefit to walking or any steady state cardio. Others are just arguing you get more “bang for your buck” with HIIT or weights. Sometimes it’s about time. People say they have such limited time they just can’t do it. Personally I’m doing them all, in reasonable amounts, to cover all the bases. The walking, which I always do outside, helps me in other ways too.

  • Time to think or not think.
  • It’s one more thing I’m doing every day towards my goals. Keeps me focused.
  • Creates a routine which is always helpful.
  • Any activity is better than no activity! In the beginning it made a huge difference because It was a step up from the couch potato I had been up until then.
  • If you choose an activity you enjoy you are far more likely to continue to do it.
  • Enjoyable activities will also reduce your stress level and they say stress produces Cortisol which can cause you to gain or hold on to fat.
  • Assists with recovery from lifting weights.

Right now it’s 3 days of HIIT and it’s done right after lifting. Because Stage I is a “break in” the lifting has only been taking about 20 min. Add on the 20 min. of HIIT and that’s only 40 minutes. To round it out I then do a 20 min. low intensity “steady state” walk on the treadmill.

As the lifting part of the program gets longer I’ll stop doing that last 20 minutes. We’ll see. If I’m losing weight consistently I’ll stop and see if that changes anything. If it slows or stalls the weight loss I’ll add it back.

Nutrition

When I first started lifting heavy around April 1st with the program from The New Rules of Lifting For Women I was HUNGRY! One night after the first workout I woke up in the middle of the night super hungry so I drank a protein drink. Never experienced that before in my life. In the book they suggest you start off eating maintenance calories and see how you feel and how your body responds to training for the first month. I simply continued to eat whole healthy foods whenever I was hungry for the month of April. I also found I was tired all the time. The hunger and exhaustion are understandable considering I was doing more and working harder physically than I have ever done in my entire life (and loving it!). However I am starting to get frustrated with the lack of inch and weight loss and wanting to SEE the muscles I have grown. Now that I am a little more adjusted, sleeping more and my hunger has calmed down it’s time to see if can get some fat loss happening. I’m working all the energy systems, I’ve got the diet down, I just need to adjust the calories. The question is in which direction?

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TRAINING – In The Beginning (PHASE 1)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

For the first 5 months (Phase 1) of my body downsizing and recomposition I followed Michael Thurmond’s 6 Week Body Makeover program. The exercise in this program consisted of walking almost daily and resistance training which he called the Body Sculpting Program.

  • Two workouts, A and B.
  • Workout 3 times per week alternating workouts A & B.
  • Most of the exercises were 2 sets of 15.
  • Uses resistance bands.
  • Supposed to only take 20 minutes but always took me longer.

For some of the exercises it took a couple of weeks before I could actually feel the target muscle working! Don’t know if it was because they were so small and weak or it just takes time and practice to learn to isolate/activate/whatever them.

In all that time not once did I have a sore muscle. Made me crave it! I started itching to lift weights. Around this time I started reading about nutrition, weightlifting, etc. on the internet. I came across an article by a guy named Alwyn Cosgrove. He said something along the lines of… someone who cannot even do 20 push-ups has no business getting under a bar to bench press. I agreed so I started working on my push-ups! I’d do them before the above program. Started doing body weight lunges, split squats and squats. I was about 50lbs overweight at the time which of course adds to the difficulty of bodyweight movements.

Continued reading more of Alwyn’s stuff. Found out he a new book coming out called The New Rules of Lifting for Women. How perfect! I placed my pre-order right away. That was around the beginning of December ‘07. I planned to be able to do those 20 push ups by the time I got the book so I’d be “worthy” of, and ready for, Alwyn’s training program. The book had been released but shipment was delayed. Decided to end Phase1 (using the 6 Week Body Makeover program) of my body recomposition and prepare for Phase 2 (New Rules of Lifting for Women) with a bodyweight program. I thought it was a logical transition from bands to bodyweight to free weights. I found Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne and followed that along with a High Intensity Interval Training program by Alwyn Cosgrove. I believe it is from his Afterburn program. Read it here http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alwyn8.htm

Long story short, I did Turbulence Training for 2 months from mid January to mid March. Lost only a few pounds but inches everywhere. Muscles were clearly tightening up and/or some fat was being lost. I then took a couple of weeks off to prepare for starting the Alwyn’s training program from the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women. Started looking for a gym. Had a nearby, windowless, smelly neigbourhood gym just a 15 min. walk away that would have been perfect but it was not to be. We’ll just say their professionalism left something to be desired. Ended up settling on Gold’s Gym. A 15 min. drive from home and about halfway between work and home. Now! On to Phase 2…….

http://www.brattland.com/training-log/training-phase-2/


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