Best Way to Get Toned Up

I can’t believe it’s mid February already! Time to glance back and check how those New Year’s Resolutions are going’, right? Now is not the time to panic about that if you’ve fallen off the wagon, because that’s not going to get cha anywhere. Instead, remember what did go well last month no matter how small or irrelevant it may seem. Take that, feel proud and add just one more small change for February. Do a little introspection...Were you able to stick to that fitness routine? Yes, Fantastic, keep doing what you're doing! But what if things didn’t go all that well? Don’t give up, instead try changing something. Not every exercise is enjoyable to all people. Yeah I might like running, but why the heck should you? While there’s a ton of reasons to like running and it's super healthy, but that does not mean you’ll like it. Maybe you’d rather lift a lot and train for a physique competition, swim competitively, walk, do yoga, dance...And the list goes on. So try something new and switch it up from time to time, it will help keep you psyched about your next workout.

You have to build muscle

Whatever exercise you decide on, just make sure you are doing some type of resistance or weight training also (unless, that’s what you are already doing primarily for all of your workouts). Especially if you decide that cardio is one of your favorites. There’s nothing wrong with cardio, and we all know there’s tons of health benefits to breaking a sweat. Just don’t fall into the trap of doing only one form of exercise and don’t believe that calorie burn or fat burning settings and numbers. Besides, when it's cold out why not spend more time in the weight room. I'd rather do more cardio outside when the weather is nice. Exercising outside can be very enjoyable as long as it's not too hot or cold.

The Fat Burning setting on the cardio machine has been lying to you

We burn more fat doing low intensity cardio exercise which is why cardio machine buttons have a fat burning setting and it's usually a low intensity workout, where high intensity workouts typically use more carbohydrate. Don’t get settled into a low intensity exercise routine, just because the button on the machine says you’re burning fat and it seems easy. I like to do this type of work about once a week and do higher intensity or weight training on other days. Check out my routine at the bottom of this post!

But don’t forget that cardio completely, you just have to mix and match. Kinda like piecing together a great outfit!

Strength training is where it's at

Even if it’s not your favorite thing to do, it’s a must if you are looking to tone up and see muscle definition. Trust me ladies, you aren’t going to turn into some macho looking bulky muscled beast. Which might be why you’re afraid to lift too heavy. I worked out with that mentality for years. I was a cardio addict, wait I actually still am but I also spend anywhere from two to four days a week pushing weights, depending on where I’m at on my periodization calendar. As I get closer to a race, I'll back off to two days of weight training and logging more miles. Just to give you an example, if you read my last blog, you’ll remember I’m training for a ½ in October. And since our weather here in Nebraska is usually rough in the winter, hey we just got 12 inches of snow dumped on us on Groundhog Day! Basically,  running outside just kinda sucks this time of year, you take advantage of the good days when they come but can’t count on them being consistent. So, it’s a perfect reason to work on building muscle and by the time the weather gets nicer, I’ll be ready to trade some of those days out for more miles on the track.

Burn more calories after exercise
                                                       say what!?

After exercising your body has this oxygen debt it needs to make up for. That’s where you end up burning calories even after you’ve left the gym. It’s during this time, which is called EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) that your body is burning more calories to restore itself. EPOC lasts longer after workouts that were high intensity in comparison to a low intensity session  EPOC is also in full swing after resistance training  so don’t leave out the weights if your goal is to lose weight. Here's a link to a summary of research on the topic. 
Be sure to mix up high intensity sessions in with lower intensity sessions, to lower injury risk and/or prevent overtraining syndrome.

Eat right

And lastly, but not leastly. In fact probably more importantly, is make sure you’re eating the right stuff to support your goals. I can’t repeat this enough, because you can’t out exercise a poor diet. Now this is such a simple theory, yet so complicated in applying it to real life. With all the different directions we are constantly being pulled in, barely finding time for exercise, where the heck will we fit in healthy eating? Relax, cause it doesn’t have to be that complicated. Trust me. It just takes some simple planning, like anything else you want to be successful at in this crazy life! 

Getting fit is the key to burning fat

Regular exercise increases the amount of mitochondria, which are the little fat burning power plants in our cells. The more of those you have, equals you being able to burn more fat.  Change just takes time, so if you’re new to exercise consistency is vital and your body will get better at burning fat!

Exercise plan

Here's what my exercise routine is shaping up to look like for this month. Still focusing on building muscle, so lifting 3 times a week at 3 sets of 10 Reps for each exercise. They are split routines, so able to lift on consecutive days and mixing in running about 4 times a week. 

​Routine A

• Lat Pulldown
  
• 45 Degree Incline Row
  
• Dumbbell Bent Over Row
  
• Dumbbell Shrug
  
• Cable Standing Rear Delt Row with rope
  
• Assisted chin up
  
• Concentration Curl
  
• Reverse Curl

Routine B

• Cable Standing Fly
• Seated Calf Press on hip sled
• Dumbbell Incline Fly
• Seated Calf Raise
• Cable Bench Press
• Barbell Squats
• Front Dumbbell Raise
• Triceps Pushdown
• Toe Raises

Routine C

• Barbell Lunge
• Leg Curl
• Leg Press (low foot placement for Quad emphasis)
• Stability Ball Leg Curl
• Leg Extension
• Cable Hip Adduction
• Dumbbell Hip Abduction
• Lying Scissors Kick
• Weighted Overhead Crunch on Ball
• Medicine Ball Oblique Twist

Running Schedule

• 10 -15 Minute High intensity run at the end of Routine A (or later in the day)
• Three to four 400 meter (about 1/4 mile) sprints, resting 400 meters in between sprints at the end of Routine B (or later in the day)

• 20-30 Minute tempo run. Heart rate around 150-165.
• 3 to 4 mile LSD (long slow distance) run. Keeping heart rate between 130 bpm and 150.

REST and flexibility

I take one full day off from all exercise and work on flexibility as in stretching when I can, although this is an area I definitely need to improve on.

Flexibility also means that I do the best I can to follow this plan, but sometimes other things get in the way, or I'm tired and can't finish so have to adjust accordingly. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's important to not let it get you down. Brush it off and figure out what went wrong. If I ever can't finish a workout, I look back on what I ate and usually figure out right away why I didn't get it done.

Learn from the bad training days and and give it your best the next day

Thanks for reading and never miss a post if you click on the Join button! 

Next month's post will go over some information about knee pain and running and a focus on nutrition since March is National Nutrition Month!