Category Archives: Workout
One week
So next Sunday, I will be participating in my first powerlifting competition (the outfit I’m going to be wearing will be interesting looking). AND I’m super nervous and excited!
Numerous people have asked me why I’m doing it.
My question is why not?
- I love lifting heavy weights. And I’ve been doing heavy powerlifting-style training semi consistently for the last few months.
- The competition is only an hour away.
- It will be a new experience (and potentially a very humbling one!).
- And again…I love lifting weights soo…why not?
Also, if I love it maybe I will really start seriously training and do more!
If I don’t like it…well on to the next exercise challenge!
I must admit though…if I were to do another one, I would make sure I wasn’t traveling as much the two weekends before.
And super random, but can someone please explain to me why so many people feel the need to stand and crowd around their gate at the airport while they wait to board? They create confusion as to where the line to board is and just make everything more chaotic. AND THEY DON’T GET ON THE PLANE ANY QUICKER!
Workout Songs
There are some Thursday morning when I just don’t want to get out of bed, and I DEFINITELY don’t want to go teach spin class.
But I always do.
And my music always gets me through. There have even been studies and articles written (like this one by the NY Times) about the fact that music can motivate and help us push through fatigue during workouts.
Why did this come up when I typed in "working out to music" in Google images?
Some of the songs that I love when I spin or workout are songs that I would be embarrassed to admit that I love to listen to…Like Sexy and I know it.
Super stupid song, but between the beat and the phrase “Sexy and I know it,” I just get super pumped up and always find myself pushing harder and forgetting about the fact that the sun isn’t even up yet and my muscles are sore from the leg workout the day before.
There is just something about certain songs that makes you push harder – that motivates you to push yourself beyond the initial fatigue. There are just some songs that can get you through a workout even when you would rather be snuggled under your comforter in bed!
For me these songs usually have a strong beat and motivational lyrics…I prefer hip hop, pop, rap and some country…anything mainstream…yes I’m lame and definitely don’t have good musical taste.
Some of the songs that I’ve found motivating during my workouts recently are:Â Sweat by Snoop Dog, Sexy and I know it by LMFAO, Stronger by Kanye West, Remember the Name by Fort Minor, Country Girl by Luke Bryan, Click Click Boom by Saliva and Good Feeling by Flo Rida.
There are many more, but those are the most recent (and admitting I like some of them is slightly embarrassing) motivational songs that I’ve include on my spin playlists. I’ve also included songs like Who let the dog’s out and Bad Touch…but those were purely for amusement purposes. Making people laugh is also a great way to help them get through the hour and a half of spin.
Do you find that music motivates you to push through a workout even when you don’t really want to be there? What songs do you listen to? Anything embarrassing!?!
The P.I.N.K. Method
What does a workout and diet program need to make it big in the mainstream?
Apparently it needs to endorse lots of products and make it onto Dr. Phil. At least that’s all I could see that the P.I.N.K. method had going for it…(Oh and obviously a ton of money to spend on the packaging and marketing).
Oh and I guess it does need a whole lot of women who supposedly never liked working out, but managed to lose a ton of weight, endorsing it and saying it was the only program they could stick to. HA!
As far as I can see, the P.I.N.K. method (which stands for Power, Intensity, Nutrition and “Kardio”…yuck) is the same old crap just re-packaged with lots of pink. Light weights, “toning” exercises and cardio that looks like ever other workout tape for women is what you’ll get on their nicely packaged DVDs.
Along with the workouts, you’ll also get the same old nutritional information you find in every women’s fitness magazine, BUT they’ve made up catchy names for their dishes…like “Shred Soup” (which is essentially just a chicken broth, veggie soup) and some Pink Smoothie (I can’t remember the exact name, which is just a berry protein smoothie).
But hey…I mean don’t listen to me…Dr. Phil says it is a revolutionary new program. And with their Sketchers Shape Ups and Yoga pants that will burn more fat, it has to work right?
And if it doesn’t at least you got a free bracelet along with the DVDs…
P.S. I also love the lack of information on the P.I.N.K. method website. And I wish I could come up with some witty thing to say that P.I.N.K. stands for…Any ideas?
Man Bicep Principles
This post was inspired by Fit and Feminist. Caitlin wrote a post about 15 things she did to improve her health. When I started writing my list, I realized that everything on the list stemmed from 5 main principles. And these principles in my opinion are the foundation of developing a healthy lifestyle.
1. Question everything. Don’t blindly follow what others do. Study any diet or exercise program before you follow it. If you know the arguments for and against a program, you can really make an informed decision about whether or not you want to follow it. Questioning conventional wisdom about diet and exercise is what led me to Primal and heavy lifting/Crossfit – it led me to find a diet and exercise program that I think is IDEAL for me.
2. Experiment on yourself. Everyone is different. Just because it works for your friend, doesn’t mean it will work for you. You can’t know if something will work for you unless you give it a shot. The best way to create the perfect healthy lifestyle for yourself is by experimenting to find out what works! For example, the variation of Primal and heavy lifting that I do isn’t exactly the same thing that works for Ryan or Candy or Brian!
3. Lift heavy weights. I’m sorry. Cardio just doesn’t cut it ladies and gents. You need to lift heavy weights – you need muscle and strength to really be healthy (PLUS there are tons of benefits besides looking sexy that you get from lifting heavy weights…like increased bone density!)
4. Always challenge yourself. I don’t mean that you have to push yourself every workout, but don’t ever become complacent. Always set new goals to strive for. Don’t ever just get stuck doing the same thing over and over again. Always seek out new ways to challenge yourself. Try a new workout routine or a new sport. Try lifting heavier weights or a new form of cardio!
5. Focus on the big picture. This one has been the hardest thing for me to do. You can get so caught up in your day-to-day diet or even your weekly diet that you don’t realize all the progress that you’ve made over the past year. I know I’m guilty of occasionally getting stuck on daily fluctuations in weight or even weekly fluctuations in how much I can lift. Remember, the day-to-day stuff doesn’t matter that much as long as you remain committed to your health a majority of the time. One cheat day isn’t going to ruin your year even if it makes you gain weight the next day. One bad workout won’t set you back. Remember the 80/20 rule. If you work hard and commit to your diet and workout program 80% of the time, you WILL see results over time. Don’t stress over the few times you cheats or have a bad workout because they won’t matter. Just enjoy the adventure!
So those are the 5 main things I always keep in mind – those are the five main things I think everyone needs to live by if they want to lead a healthy happy life!
The Benefit of Time Off
Anytime there is a holiday or I have a vacation planned, I always start thinking about how beneficial the time off will be. I actually wrote another post about Rest right before my California vacation.
I’m bad about taking more than one day off a week BUT sometimes your body really needs more recovery than that. So vacation/holidays are a great time to take a few extra days off!
When you workout, you break down muscle tissues. You create mini tears, which when they heal, make your muscles stronger.
BUT for your muscles to rebuild the layers that were broken down and become stronger, you must take some time off. YOU MUST REST!
For me its sort of hard to accept how important time off is – even though I know that it is just as essential to a workout program as the lifts you design.
I just want to believe that all the work I’m doing in the gym is all that matters, BUT the time off that I take is just as important (if not more so!).
Rest is about more than even muscle repair. If you never rest you are probably overtraining and overtraining has consequences:
- Your energy level will drop and you may regress in how much you can lift or how far you can run.
- You can actually lose some of your leanness if you are overtraining. Working out too much can actually cause muscle wasting and fat deposition. Youâre burning calories but those calories are coming from predominantly glucose/glycogen and precious muscle tissue.
- You are unable to sleep soundly. If you are working out too much, you won’t be sleeping well, which will hurt your workout intensity.
- You’re getting injured more often and have lots of aches and pains. Uhm injuries prevent you from hitting your lifting/weight loss/workout goals. So if you are training so hard you get injured, you need to take some time off because injuries won’t help you progress!
- You’re getting sick more often. Yep..overtraining can cause a lowered immune system. And getting sick…well that doesn’t help you workout hard!
So next time you think about skipping that rest day…DON’T!
Squat form – Babies can do it, but most adults can’t
If a baby can do it...
When do we lose the ability to perform a perfect squat?
As children, we all have perfect form, but I can tell you that most adults don’t. Usually during the first couple of sessions with a client, I have to work on a client’s squat form. Which always shocks me because of how often we perform squats throughout the day.
We squat to sit down in a chair. We squat to go the bathroom. We squat to pick something up off the floor (or at least we should be squatting instead of just bending over).
But if you watch adults squat to sit down, they don’t have near as good of form as children do. Most adults lean forward and don’t keep their weight in their heels. Most let their knees fall together or flare out. Most adults let those toes flare out.
Most adults have lost the ability to squat. They don’t know how to activate their muscles to squat down properly. Why is this? Is it because the more we sit around, the more our muscles forget how to move properly? I mean inactivity and all the sitting we do can result in tightness and altered muscle length-tension relationships, which can cause bad movement patterns…but when do we start losing the ability to move properly?  Maybe this phrase is true – use it or lose it!
I mean you really do have to teach most adults all the steps to squatting that a baby is born knowing.
I have to tell them to stand upright with their feet pointing straight ahead, about shoulder-width apart. I have to tell them to push their butt back as they lower themselves to the ground, keeping their weight in their heels. I have to tell them to keep their chest up and head in a neutral position. I have to tell them to tighten their core to stabilize as they sink down. I have to remind them that if they are sitting back correctly their knees won’t go past their toes.
I have to remind them of everything that the baby above is doing without thought. Seriously, does anyone else find it sad that what a baby can do, most adults can’t?
Maybe play and recess need to be kept a part of the school day for longer so that we don’t lose our ability to move correctly (like until college at least…or maybe we should get recess at work….).
New PRs, Supplements and Water Weight
So yesterday I started a new cycle of creatine AND I hit a new PR on deadlift! So did Candy! YAY! đ
Of course, along with the new PR came about 2 pounds of water weight. haha
While I do think creatine is the reason for the weight gain, I don’t really think the creatine had any influence on yesterday’s lift since I just started it again. BUT hopefully it will help me gain a bit more strength over the next couple of weeks!
I like creatine…it is worth spending a bit of extra cash on…every once in a while.
BUT what is worth spending money on CONSTANTLY is glucosamine/chondroitin. I started having a bit of knee pain from all the spin I’d been teaching (along with all the super heavy lifting) so I decided it was time to give a joint health supplement a shot.
A glucosamine supplement should improve your joint health since glucosamine is a precursor for glycosaminoglycans, and glycosaminoglycans are a major component of joint cartilage. SO supplemental glucosamine may help to prevent cartilage degeneration and treat arthritis!
And let me tell you something amazing about the glucosamine/chondroitin supplement I took…I haven’t had ANY…I repeat ANY knee pain since!
YES!
So if you have some knee problems, give a glucosamine chondroitin supplement a shot. It isn’t a miracle pill but it DEFINITELY helped me!
Also, here is our wonderful workout from yesterday!
Deadlifts 3-2-2-1-1
Barbell RDLs paired with Inverted Row
Walking lunges paired with Lat pushdowns
Leg Extension paired with High Row Machine
Leg Curl paired with Upright Rows
Weight lifting gloves? REALLY!?!
The new (unnecessary) gym fashion accessory.
Why do I see so many women (and men for that matter) wearing weight lifting gloves around the gym?
Was there some news article recently that said they are the new hottest gym fashion accessory?
I just don’t get it.
I’ve never seen a point to lifting gloves and I have no intention of ever getting them. Are people really that afraid of getting blisters and calluses?
I mean most of the women I see wearing them are lifting the barbie weights anyway, which are already covered in plastic and won’t give you blisters and calluses.
For two, part of the “gnarly-ness” of lifting a ton of weight is getting calluses and blisters!!! They are sort of like battle scars…just like the bruises on your shins that you can get from deadlifting!
I mean why are people wasting money on lifting gloves? Someone please explain why I wouldn’t just want to be super awesome and gnarly and lift without gloves? đ
Also, can someone please explain to me why I see a ton of men walking around with lifting belts on? For one, they should strengthen their cores so they don’t need them. For two, most of them aren’t lifting enough weight to need them. And three, most of them should work on their form before putting on a belt or adding another plate!
Ok…please just stop with all the ridiculous accessories people!!!
5×5 = Torture
So I’ve started reading Bigger, Faster, Stronger, which is a program that started in 1976. I think this program is still probably one of the BEST ways to increase your strength (and I really want to try the program at some point!).
Basically (and I mean this is a very BASIC brief outline..the book goes into WAY more detail) the book outlines a 4 week program. The first week you do a 3×3 workout (so 3 sets of 3 reps trying to do at least 70% of your max weight). The second week is 5×5. The third week you do either 5-4-3-2-1 or 5-3-1 (a max out week) and then the fourth week, you go back to higher reps either 10-8-6 or 4-4-2.
I think right now we’ve been way too focused on maxing out. We’ve been maxing out almost every week, which isn’t good and I think it is causing me to get very nervous when I go to max out (so much so that I’ve had a few bad lifting days recently).
So I decided it was time to change up what we were doing just a little. Yesterday Candy and I tried the 5×5 workout structure for our deadlift workout. We did two warm up sets (the first at 135lbs and the second at 185). We then did the next 5 sets of 5 reps at 225lbs. And let me tell you…it wasn’t easy.
And today…My back is definitely feeling it. On top of the 5×5 heavy deadlift, we did RDLs supersetted with split squats and then KB Swings supersetted with deep KB squats. We also did some bosu crunches and weighted hypers at the end.
It was a great workout! Around an hour because of the long breaks during the heavy lifting.
There really is something to the 5×5 program. It definitely makes me want to try the StrongLifts routine!
Vanishing of the Bees
Ok so sometimes I’m really glad that Ryan picks out the TV shows and movies that we watch because I would never have watched this documentary on my own (of course this also has a downside…sometimes I’m forced to watch movies like Step Brothers BLEH).
Anyway, yesterday we watched Vanishing of the Bees. The documentary talks about the fact that honeybees have been literally disappearing from their hives…just sort of dying off.
Which may leave you thinking…who cares all they are used for is honey…BUT THAT IS FALSE!
Honeybees are the reason that we have most of our vegetable and fruit crops.
Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.
So without the honeybees, we would be EXTREMELY dependent on foreign crops.
So of course…scientists began trying to figure out ways to SOLVE the problem…let’s be clear here…not ways to PREVENT the problem…but ways to SOLVE the problem.
They tried dividing up the hives to repopulate the abandoned ones. They tried antibiotics. But nothing was really solving the issue of the disappearance of the bees (or as they call it Colony Collapse Disorder). Hives were still being abandoned and droves of honeybees were still dying off.
The farmers then find out from their European colleagues that the disappearance of their honeybees may have something to do with the pesticides being used on some of the crops that the honeybees are pollinating.
The pesticides may be killing off the bees! But does the government respond by pulling the product off the market? NOPE!
Why? Because we would rather solve a problem with a new product rather than prevent it by not using an old one.
We would rather create drugs for ailments and disease than prevent them by educating people on healthy eating.
We have the attitude of we can SOLVE any problem so we don’t need to worry about PREVENTION.
BUT PREVENTION IS KEY!!!
Prevention will help us keep this planet healthy. Prevention will help you keep yourself healthy!!!
It’s like I tell my clients, you invest in your health now (prevention) so you don’t have to spend more money later dealing with all the medical bills (trying to solve the problems).
The same applies to almost every aspect of our lives, including the fact that it is worth spending more money on grass-fed beef and organic vegetables to save our environment and our health.
I mean…think about it…if pesticides are killing the bees…they’ve got to have some effect on us. Not to mention if the bees die off so do most of our fruits and vegetables!!
So stop believing there will be a solution to any problem and start trying to PREVENT the problems!!! Start eating well and buying organic and taking care of yourself!!!
PREVENTION may be the BEST SOLUTION to any problem!
(DISCLAIMER: I’m really not a hippie…not that there is anything wrong with being one).
Man Bicep 