Cue the Insanity...

After a weekend of running, relaxing, and Richmond, I am back on the grind today.  Oh yeah... I ran a 5K this weekend in Richmond, Virginia.  But not just any 5K.  It was "the happiest 5K on the planet":  The Color Run. 

I had a blast!  I had paint tossed at me at several points during the race.  I guess I shouldn't call it a race--there were no timing chips and I certainly didn't time myself.  I can't wait to do it again next year!

After my race, I was plum out of fitness goals.  This is not a good thing.  Without a goal, I become hapless and complacent, trudging through each day without purpose or any kind of caring.  So, I set another goal.

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And as long as I'm scaring the crap out of myself here, I thought about the one program I've always wanted to try, but assumed I didn't have the guts to complete:  Insanity.

Insanity is a 60-day conditioning program, full of high intensity cardio and resistance exercises.  I'm trying to make this lifelong fitness journey less about aesthetics and more about my total health.  But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm secretly hoping Insanity will help me get ready for my birthday "freakum dress."   Just sayin...

I've heard that Insanity is tough, but I've seen people get ridiculous results from it.  So I'm giving it a whirl.  Why?  Just because right now I think I can't, and I really want to change my mind. But in order to do it, I have to start thinking that I can.  I can and I will.

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As far as my diet is concerned, of course I'll be keeping better track of it.  My primary concern is getting enough calories, so I will likely use My Fitness Pal to track my diet.  There is a handy dandy nutrition guide (with recipes) that comes along with the Insanity package, so I'll utilize that to plan my meals.  We're talking lots of lean protein, fruits, and veggies, and 5 meals a day.  I have a basic idea of how I want to structure my meals, so I'm excited to hit the grocery store and stock up!

I'll take before, 30-day, and 60-day progress pics.  I would take measurements, but I never seem to do those right. I will post before pics in the next post, along with my results from the Fit Test. 

Stay tuned!

ETA:  So I didn't post pics on the next post, but they are coming soon!

All about the Female Body Breakthrough

I admit, I've been hiding from everyone/the blog/my life.  Sometimes I feel like a multitasking ninja, managing family, work, fitness, recreation, whatever without breaking a sweat.  Occasionally, I freak out and let the madness consume me.  I get tired, become emotional, get stressed... and work myself into a funk.  And then, I'm paralyzed.  I usually snap out of it after a few nights of good sleep and get back on top.

So, I said I was going to dish on the workout program I've been doing for the past 9 weeks.  The Female Body Breakthrough is a 16-week strength training program, designed to help build muscle mass and lose fat in a reasonable amount of time.  I know a lot of women think that lifting heavy weights will make them beefy, but the truth is that we don't nearly as much testosterone as men do.  So, it's much harder for us to build significant muscle mass.  As you build muscle, your metabolism increases, allowing you to burn fat at a faster rate and burn more calories even when you're not doing anything at all. 

There are four 4-week phases, all with different workouts.  You can also improve your nutrition in four phases for optimal fat loss.  Basically there are 3 major components of fat loss, in order of priority:

1. Nutrition
2. Strength training
3. Cardio

The first phase (Base Phase) has you doing 2-3 strength workouts per week, and no cardio at all until the third week. You focus on cleaning up your eating by eliminating processed and fried foods from your diet. 

Each phase has two strength workouts (A & B) which are alternated each week. There is one day of rest or stretching between workouts, in order to give your body ample time to recover.  For example, if you do 3 strength workouts each week, your schedule looks like this:

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7
WEEK 1	Workout A	stretch	Workout B	stretch	Workout A	REST	REST
WEEK 2	Workout B	stretch	Workout A	stretch	Workout B	REST	REST

In each following phase, the workouts change again.  You lift heavier weights for fewer reps, and do more challenging exercises. You gradually add 1-2 highly intense cardio interval workouts (HIIT or metabolic circuits as they are called in the book), and by the third phase, you can add 1 more day of cardio-of-choice.  By then, your workout schedule may look like this:

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7
WEEK 1	Workout A	HIIT cardio	Workout B	Stretch	Workout A	HIIT cardio	Opt. cardio
WEEK 2	Workout B	HIIT	Workout A	Stretch	Workout B	HIIT	cardio

This may look like a lot of exercise, but each strength workout is really only 30-45 minutes long, maybe as long as an hour, depending on your pace.  The HIIT cardio takes only 20-30 minutes.  In the book, author Rachel Cosgrove recommends that you only do 30 minutes on your day of optional cardio.  At most, you may be working out up to 6 hours each week.  Considering that there are 168 hours in a week, that's really not a lot of time at all.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to "tone up" or build strength.  I'm sure you'll get excellent results with consistency and patience.  To be honest, I've struggled with my nutrition.  In the book, Rachel has you eating clean and not counting calories until the final four weeks.  For me, counting calories is much easier.  When I can see the numbers, it motivates me to up my protein intake.  I know what to eat to manipulate the numbers, so I trick myself into eating more veggies, less starchy carbs, etc.  I don't eat a lot of processed food, but I do have a tendency to eat too much food, period.  Especially carbs.  Carbs are not forbidden, but you must eat the right kind of carbs (complex, full of fiber--sweet potatoes, green veggies, fruits) at the right times (in the morning or before and after a workout).  I still struggle with carb timing, but I am giving myself time to improve.

My results so far have not been dramatic, and I know it is because of my eating habits. But I am figuring out what works best for me, and sticking with that.  Consistency is what will lead to success.

FBB: 4-week Results!

So, I just finished the Base Phase of the Female Body Breakthrough.  Annnnd here are my results from the first 4 weeks:

Weight lost:  6 pounds

Chest:  -1 inch
Waist:  -0.5 inches
Hips:  nada (buildin up the booty, y'all)

Arms:  0
Thighs: + 1 inch??

Oh, and though I'm too shy to post progress pics just yet, I swear my tummy is much flatter.  I've got baby biceps trying to bust through my arm fat.  And, *drum roll please*......... I am now an early morning exerciser, y'all!  Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?  Those are 3 words I would have NEVER used to describe myself four weeks ago.  I'm pretty freakin proud of myself!  I feel like I got a great start.  I cleaned up my eating tremendously, although I still allow for a "splurge meal" once or twice a week.  Don't worry, I imagine I will post my bikini progress at some point. ;) 

I am happy to have cardio back in my life--although, truth be told, the strength workouts provide plenty of cardio, as moving from circuit to circuit is great for getting that heart rate up.  I am now working out 4 times a week, which is totally manageable.  I do my strength workouts at the gym at work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.  On Saturday, I do my HIIT workout at home.  I am already excited to add in another HIIT workout at Week 9, but I'm only at Week 5 so I guess I need to slow my roll...  How bout, lemme figure out how to do some chin ups?  I was supposed to do like, 6 of them in today's workout.  But I got shy (as I was not alone in the gym) and wimped out by doing some lat pull-downs instead. Ha!

I haven't had my body fat professionally tested yet, which is something I really, REALLY need to do.  I don't go to a regular gym and I ain't gots a trainer, so I'll have to figure out how to get that done.

So, I started the next four-week phase, which means I'll be doing more intense exercises and lifting heavier for fewer reps in order to define my newfound muscles.  And it means learning how to do a motherlovin chin-up.  My focus will be on eating even cleaner,  timing my carbs around my workouts, and eating just 2 servings of fruit per day (as opposed to 3 or 4).  The nutrition aspect is always the hardest for me, since I luurrrrve food, like forreal.  Like, food is my BOO, y'all.  Deprivation is no bueno, and variety is key.  For instance, I had steak tacos for dinner on Friday.  I grilled some marinated sirloin.  Added some of my favorite veggies.  Instead of wrapping all that up in a low-carb tortilla (or 2), I cut the tortillas into quadrants, sprayed them, and baked them.  I topped the whole deal with cheese and... healthy NACHOS.  Twoulda been bangin, but apparently whole wheat low-carb tortillas get pretty chewy when baked.  Oh well--at least the flavors were still there *mwah*.  That reminds me, I am hoping to post some of the recipes I've tried along the way.  I've come across some good ones!  Except for this one...

This is a homemade chocolate peanut butter protein bar, believe it or not.  It definitely tasted much better than it looks...
So yeah, stay tuned. ;)