Workout Ideas

Date: 1/10/2012

Workout: Morning Cardio-30 minutes on treadmill with speed intervals and incline intervals at Rush, evening cardio and strength- 15 minute warm up on cardio machine of my choice (what’s open) and “12minute” workout by Rush trainers at 5:30pm (I’ve heard it’s a really good total body workout in 12 minutes plus all group x instructors at the rush have to do it this week to tell members about) and back exercises to finish

Treadmill workouts: If you are like me, and you get easily bored on the treadmill, I have a couple ideas for you to try. When I’m on the treadmill, I like to warm up at a speed that I feel comfortable with for 5-10minutes. Then once I reach that 5 or 10 minute mark, I start with intermediate 30 second speed intervals. So if I am going at 6.5 pace, I will go to a 7.0 pace for 30 seconds and then back to 6.5. I repeat this at least 5 times (sometimes more depending on the day). After that, I change it up to incline intervals on the treadmill. I return back to a pace I feel comfortable with and take a breather for a minute or two. Once that time is up, I crank the incline to a 2.0 for 30 seconds, then back down to 0 for 30 seconds, then to a 4.0 for 30 seconds, then to a 0 for 30 seconds, then to a 6.0 for 30 seconds, and then back down to a 0 for 30 seconds. I repeat this 2 or 3 more times. From there, if you still have it in you (sometimes I don’t), I do what I call “ladder drills”. So if I am going at a 6.5 pace, I will take it up to a 7.0 pace for 30 seconds and then back down to a 6.6 pace for 30 seconds. Then I will go to a 7.1 pace for 30 seconds and then back down to a 6.7 pace for 30 seconds. So as you can see, I increase by .5 and decrease by .4 so I’m tricking myself into gradually going faster and faster until the 5-10minutes (you choose) is done. Then I like to end my treadmill workouts with a nice walk and maybe add a little incline to the walk if I’m feeling it.

Back workouts: As I was working out this morning, I got to thinking how you use your back muscles in almost everything you do. You use your back muscles for almost any exercise I can think of and it is the part of your body that keeps everything together and so very important to keep strong. Today, I am going to do some workouts for my back that I am familiar with and some that I am not. Here they are:

·         12 Superman’s: if you’re not familiar, these are when you are lying on your stomach and you reach your hands out in front of you while you lift your legs up a few inches of the ground. Then, you lift your arms up as high as you can and your legs up as high as you can so that you feel your back muscles contract.

·         12 Quadrupeds on each leg: if you’re not familiar, this is where you start on all fours (knees and hands are down on the flour), and you extend one arm out while you extend the opposite leg out at the same time. You then touch your hand down to the floor while you touch your toe down to the floor keeping everything as straight as possible. This can be a little tricky, but it just takes practice. You repeat this 12 times and then switch to the other hand and other leg and repeat.

·         12 Lat Pull Downs on the Lat Pull Down Machine: this is pretty self-explanatory but you use the Lat Pull Down Machine at your gym and and pull down the bar with the correct amount of weight. This helps to work your lats and also your back muscles.

·         12 rows on the Row Machine: once again, pretty self-explanatory but you use the Row Machine at your gym and just row back to work your muscles

I’m planning on doing each of these exercises at least twice. If I see any other back machines at the gym, I may try those too.

Food:

Breakfast: Instant Original Oatmeal and Banana: 210 Calories, 49g Carbs, 5g Protein, 6g Fiber, 2g Fat, 75mg Sodium, 19g Sugar

Morning Snack: Activa Vanilla Yogurt and Apple: 165 Calories, 30g Carbs, 4g Protein, 3g Fiber, 2g Fat, 46mg Sodium, 23g Sugar

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich (3 slices Hormel Natural Choice 100% All Natural Turkey, 2 slices Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread, 1 slice Sargento Reduced Fat Provolone sliced cheese, mixed green veggies, 1 Tbsp French’s Honey Dijon Mustard): 220 Calories, 22g Carbs, 23g Protein, 4g Fiber, 5g Fat, 870mg Sodium, 17g Sugar

Afternoon Snack: Protein Shake (1c. frozen mixed berries, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/2c. 2% reduced fat organic milk): 275 Calories, 25g Carbs, 37g Protein, 6g Fiber, 5g Fat, 95mg Sodium, 17g Sugar

Dinner: Panera-Asian Sesame Chicken Salad (with no wonton strips): 310 Calories, 15g Carbs, 30g Protein, 4g Fiber, 18g Fat, 610mg Sodium, 6g Sugar

Total Nutrition Intake:

1,180 Calories

141g Carbs

99g Protein

23g Fiber

32g Fat

1,636mg Sodium

69g Sugar

Last night, I got extremely hungry around 8pm so I had a glass of milk. I thought it was a good choice based on the nutritional info. Tonight, I am going to Panera for dinner as you can see. IT is a bonding event for the team that I work with at work. Luckily, Panera had a really neat nutritional website I could use and I feel like the Asian Sesame Chicken Salad was a good choice. The fat content was high in it because of the almonds and dressing in it but otherwise it was still a good choice.

I am going to let my workout advice be my advice/tips for the day J So far, everything is going pretty well. I am sticking to the fitness and nutrition better than I thought so I hope it continues!