Since last week, when I'd decided I needed to add more weights to my routines, I've been trying out a number of workout techniques and reading up on lots of information to try to define my new fitness routine in more definite terms. The workouts I've done this week include good old Tracy Anderson but with ankle and wrist weights added, a Body Pump and a Body Combat class at the leisure centre, some free and machine weights at home, part of the Tonique workout (which is way harder than you can ever imagine!) and also a 20 minute video by a man named Hamelin D'abelo (sorry if I've not remembered the name correctly). So my conclusions from all this are as follows...
Body Pump - very good for toning, but each 'track' targets one particular muscle or set of muscles and there are NUMEROUS reps, so this is good for light toning and not building significant muscle.
Body Combat - good for a cardio blast as lots of jumping and turning and lunging and ducking etc, in between all the punching and kicking. Not going to build me much in the way of muscle but pretty good for getting the sweat on.
Free/Machine Weights - I do really enjoy doing this, it's like my little escape into my own world of 'challenge Janice', seeing if I can squeeze one more rep out etc. I definitely need to do more of this and I am reading Tosca Reno's Workouts for your Best Body Yet book to make sure I get to know all the exercises I need and do them correctly. I did 3 sets of each exercise with 8-15 reps of each.
Tonique - I would highly recommend this if you want to target buns, thighs, legs. Lots of squats (LOTS), lunges, etc and most with hand weights thrown in. I think this is a good addition once or twice a week to give cardio plus toning all in one go. Similar appeal and effect to Body Pump, but not so static.
Hamelin D'abelo toning video - this video got my muscles feeling fatigued and achy, so it definitely works. Not sure it's enough for where I want to go in terms of building proper muscle though. May throw it in now and again.
On the diet side I printed out Tosca Reno's 'Food Tracker', which is a chart with 6 slots for each day, where you write your Lean Protein, Complex Carbs, Healthy Fats, Supplements and Drinks each meal, to make sure you are remembering to each the right stuff! The link to this chart can be found by clicking on the picture below if you would like to keep track too!
Earlier in the week something Nancy Reinhardt said hit me and hit me hard - I was listening to a little video she'd made for a previous fitness challenge she'd run, and she said it was important to not only eat clean but to eat 5-6 snack sized portions per day. SNACK SIZED. OMG, yes, SNACK sized, not your regular lunch and dinner portions PLUS clean snack, but ALL SNACK SIZED portions. This was a major revelation to me, and I think this immediately gave me a renewed energy for eating right, not just eating clean, but eating mean! So I've done very well this week, ditching the wrap around the chicken salad for lunch and leaving myself just lean protein and salad, then still having my nut butter wrap or seeds & fruit for one snack and my 1 scoop protein shake for the other snack. But the thing that I actually saw this week was that I was slightly more hungry when these snack times came round, I was not just eating them because it was 'time' to.
So as a result off all these trials and revelations the scales have tipped in my favour this week and I am 1 pound down. Nancy would not want me to talk about my weight on the scales and rather focus on the fit of the clothes or how much extra I can lift, but it's a hard habit to break. I'm trying, honest! On a note that Nancy would like, I had to put a belt on these jeans today, they're too embarrasing to wear without now. When I bought them early this year they were tight fitting ;-)
So, a successful week, I was on the ball all week, I said no to (most) temptations that weren't clean, and I'm getting there in finding my new routine.
Nancy is starting a 6 week challenge group of her own, with over 300 people also saying they're in (including me), so I'm hoping the extra help, tips, motivation I get from that starting next weekend will keep me going and going.
This week... more weights (starting with Body Pump tonight), a bit less cardio and lots of good clean food. That's a plan.
Janice.
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