Winsor Pilates Review

Build Your Core with Mari Winsor Pilates Workout DVDs – Sculpting Your Body Slim with the Circle

By Carol Bardelli

I’ve discovered the hottest weight loss secret of the stars. Winsor Pilates is to weight loss what alternative medicine is to health. Many diet and exercise programs promise rapid weight loss. Winsor Pilates delivers with its unique approach. Read more.

Get your Bio Vibe on and get sexy and fit fast

Whole body vibration is in. Seeking super fast fitness? 10 Minutes a day is all it takes to get a great workout. Professional athletes and retired people alike are looking to vibration exercise to stay healthy.


















My ProForm Biovibe arrived a little over a month ago but I haven’t had a chance to really put it to its paces until this week. I’m here to say this machine rocks. If you're serious about fitness, or just starting out, this machine is a powerful addition to your home gym.

Here's the description ProForm provides of the BioVibe; "The ProForm BioVibe™ helps you build muscle faster through revolutionary vibration technology. The BioVibe includes 4 built-in Workout Programs that guide you step-by-step on your way to a better body." Read more and see videos and informative links.

Personal Update and New Examiner Article

This baby allows me to workout upper body despite my recent back problems.















I haven't said much lately on the personal front as far as diet and exercise. For one I've been busy writing, working on articles for The Examiner and rewriting my Protein Edge Cookbook and this poor little blog got the short end of the stick. I had that head cold last week but seem to have licked it. The other reason I've been fairly quiet is after I shook the colitis flare I had in July I managed to develop a nasty case of back arthritis.

I've had this condition before and usually manage to workout anyway. This time it's more severe and the workouts are trickier. I'm mainly shooting for maintenance and avoiding aggravating my frigging sacroiliitis.

What's weird is in the midst of this one of my health newsletters had a featured article on how sacroiliitis is associated with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease! Apparently sacroiliitis, migratory polyarthritis and ankylosing spondylitis are extraintestinal manifestations of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Here I thought it was old age.

So my pain levels are up and down, I'm having an affair with Icy Hot, Capzaisin, and Flex All. And we're into threesomes with ice packs and the Light Relief infrared machine.

Movement actually seems to help. Unfortunately my jobs require a lot of sitting at the computer. I splice a lot of chores into the schedule and that helps. But getting up is an exercise in agony. I'm walking on the treadmill an hour a day. And I'm doing briefer, isolated resistance training including isometrics and upper body work on my weight machine to minimize the stress on my lower back.

But I'm just itching to try out my new Tony Horton One On One Workouts.

I haven't tracked calories, carbs, or anything for several months, but I do stick to portion sizes and stress protein. I rarely eat more than a cup of food total at any meal. Sometime I'll photograph some examples.

My scale weight is holding steady at 118 pounds (ever since my last mass building stage peaked me out from 112 to 118 in the Spring), my body fat percentage is hovering between 19 and 21. And Bruno's kids jeans still fit me after I washed them. They're actually quite comfortable and a bit loose. Oh, how sweet the little victories.
















My latest article at The Examiner takes on the "Sweet Surprise" high fructose corn syrup campaign. Check it out.

Green Beans & Working Toward Lean Jeans

Bruno scolded me this morning for eating all the green beans he picked yesterday. Hey, it was only about half a cup. Those garden fresh beans are sweet and delicious. We ate them raw. We've got a lot of cilantro, chives, basil, and more beans to harvest this weekend.

Weight this morning 118 pounds, body fat 22.0 percent.

Yesterday's workouts went as planned despite the fact there was still thick smoke in the air. I did my 30 sets of biceps / triceps / shoulders while watching Wipeout! on TiVo. That show's fun, lot's of action. It has a lot of really challenging obstacle courses and a few of the contestants are very athletic.

I watched part of the San Francisco news this morning (our Reno Fox 11 doesn't have a news crew and broadcasts San Francisco's channel 2 news instead) and the smoke there is even worse than here. Most of it is coming from a fire in Big Sur. The channel 2 anchor warned everyone to try to stay inside and not to exercise. Ha! I pool jogged and swam under a smoke filled sky for the last several days. Guess my lungs are pretty healthy though my throat's still burning.

Not much else going on in Bardelli World. We're looking forward to the weekend and two relaxing days at home. Tonight we'll start our "cheat day" with pizza and wine. Tomorrow I'll eat a few more carbs - just some Orowheat Double Fiber English Muffins with lean meats and veggies for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, then pizza and wine again at dinner. Sunday morning I'm back on plan with another round of low carb. I'll see where I'm at next Friday and adjust my diet accordingly. Saturday will include a pool workout and Sunday will be weight lifting and hit the pool again (it's supposed to get to 97 degrees this weekend).

Today's plan looks like this:

Meal one - 4 ounces grilled salmon, 1 teaspoon butter, 1/2 cup green beans (canned unfortunately), 1 teaspoon walnut oil

Meal two - protein shake, 1/2 cup mixed berries

Meal three - 3 ounces chicken, salad greens, 1 teaspoon flax oil

Meal four - protein shake

Meal five - three slices of pizza, 1/2 bottle of wine

Meal six - optional, if I wake up hungry in the middle of the night I'll have a protein shake

Beverages - 2 cups black coffee, 1 gallon water with lime, 1/2 bottle of merlot

Supplements - same as yesterday

Workout one - Leg Day number two, pretty much a repeat of Tuesday's workout

Workout two 1 hour of pool aerobics / jogging / tag

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Excuses, Excuses...Time For Exercise If Nothing Else!

Photo Courtesy of iStockPhoto (I purchased rights to use).

















As for the excuses, excuses part of this post, I want to let all my regular readers and commentors know I appreciate your patronage even though I haven't responded, or returned your visit with a visit to your site, or dropped an entrecard on you as of late. I have a good excuse or three. My son came down with a case of conjunctivitis early this week and I had to pick him up at school and keep him home two days. Not to mention the frustrations of eye drops 4 times a day. The kid won't open his eyes!

If you don't think having an active eight year old home all day and up half the night (he isn't sick so much as bored) isn't an excuse to neglect your webly duties you don't have kids. (Or maybe yours are well mannered! Mine thinks I'm his personal Jeeves!)

On top of that, I'm going around with a bottle of Clorox Anywhere spray and paper towels cleaning every surface he might touch like an obsessive compulsive. Hey, I don't want him to reinfect himself or infect us.

Reason three, or is that four, is my kittens have learned to climb and so we spend time babysitting them when they're out of their cage / den playing. I'm trying to keep them in their den as long as possible at night to protect them. So when I want them to stay inside I have to turn the den into a fortress with strategically placed pieces of cardboard (on cardboard they can't get traction and climb out). Soon they'll be spending nights in the bathroom where there's a litter box.

























So, my limited time to myself these few days was spent working out. After his Daddy gets home from work at 2:30 pm he has been making Bruno water his garden and help with outdoor horsey work to give me time. (Normally Bruno is at school or on the bus from 7:50 am until 4:30 pm). I chose to work out instead of web surf...I have my priorities folks and my body trumps your websites. Sorry.

(Tip: the use of variables in weightlifting makes your workouts more effective by hitting more muscles and at different angles. For example, squats, calve raises, and lunges should be performed in wide stance, narrow stance, and medium stance. Calve raises can be done with toes straight, pointed out, and pointed in. Use of equipment like the BOSU, Urban Rebounder, Go Fit disc, uSurf, and a step change the height and stability (you want instability) of your work surface and recruit muscles in different ways. All these variables equal more muscle involvement and more muscle mass gain).

Monday I did a Chest & Back workout: 10 sets each of 15 - 35 reps of

1. Pull Ups (25 reps)
2. Push Ups on the Bosu (35 reps)
3. Back Rows with 15 pound dumbbells (15 reps - time to up the weight!)
4. Chest Presses with 45 pound bands (15 reps)
5. Lawn Mowers with 15 pound dumbbells (15 reps)
6. Chest Flyes with 45 pound bands (15 reps)
7. Pull Ups (20 reps)
8. Push Ups alternating one hand on the Go Fit Disc, one hand on the floor (15 reps per side, total 30 reps)
9. Back Rows with 15 pound dumbbells (15 reps)
10. Chest Flyes with 45 pound bands (15 reps)

REPEAT.

Tuesday - Leg Day was 10 sets each of lunges, squats, calf raises.

Set One
1. Sideways lunges one foot on the floor, lifted leg moved onto the Urban Rebounder,
(25 reps per leg)
2. Squats with 15 pound dumbell (25 reps)
3. Straight calf raises (45 reps)

Set Two
4. Front lunges onto Urban Rebounder (25 reps per leg)
5. Wall Squats, 20 second intervals per angle (5 reps each at two angles)
6. Calve raises (15 reps each of toes together, heels together, straight)

Set Three
7. Speed Skaters (25 reps per leg)
8, Squats on the Bosu (25 reps)
9. Straight calf raises on the Bosu (45 reps)

Set Four
10. Squats on the uSurf (20 reps)
11. Lunges on the uSurf (20 reps per leg)
12. Straight calf raises on the uSurf (30 reps)

Set Five
13. Deep Seat Squats on Urban Rebounder (25 reps)
14. Side Lunge / Side Kick (25 reps per side)
15. Loading Deck (25 reps per side with 15 pound dumbbell)

Set Six
16. Squats on Bosu (25 reps)
17. Front Lunge on Go Fit Disc (25 reps per leg)
18. Three angle calf raises (15 reps per angle)

Set Seven
19. Weighted squats (25 reps with 15 pounds)
20. Side lunge on Go Fit Disc (25 per leg)
21. Straight one-leg calf raises (15 per leg)

Set Eight
22. Squats with One Leg on the Go Fit Disc (20 per side)
23. Standing Lunges (25 per leg)
24. Three Angle Calf Raises at Two Speeds (15 slow per angle, 10 fast per angle)

Set Nine
25. Squats on the Bosu (20 reps)
26. Front Lunges onto Urban Rebounder (20 reps)
27. Straight calf raises at two speeds (15 reps each speed)

Set Ten
28. Wall Squats (same as number 5)
29. Speed Skaters (same as number 7)
30. Three angle calf raises (45 reps)

This workout was about 90 minutes with water breaks and the occasional interruption.

Wednesday was Ten Sets of Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders.

(Note: Muscle & Fitness magazine has a great training article "Fine Tune Your Delts" in the June 2008 issue. I started incorporating their minor adjustments and can really feel the difference. I rarely buy Muscle & Fitness Hers as it's incredibly skimpy compared to the original magazine and the training principles in the original are better suited to serious lifters).

Set One
1. Bench Dips (triceps - 25 reps)
2. Concentration Bicep Curls (15 pounds - 15 reps per arm)
3. Military Shoulder Press (20 pounds - 15 reps

Set Two
4. Overhead Trceps (12 per arm - 15 reps each)
5. Alternating Bicep Curl (15 pounds - 15 reps)
6. Side Lateral Shoulder Raise (12 pounds - 12 reps)

Set Three
7. Tricep Dumbbell Kickback (12 pounds - 12 reps per side)
8. Bicep Hammer Curls (15 pounds - 15 reps)
9. Upright Rows (15 pounds - 15 reps)

Set Four
10. Bench Dips (25 reps)
11. Dumbbell Curls with Lateral Rotation (15 pound - 12 reps)
12. 90 Degree Arnold Press (12 pounds per arm - 12 reps)

Set Five
13. Overhead Tricep Curls (12 pounds - 12 reps)
14. Incline Seated Hammer Curls (15 pounds - 12 reps)
15. Barbell Front to Overhead Raise (25 pound -12 reps)

Set Six
16. Tricep Dumbbell Kickback (12 pounds - 10 reps)
17. Alternating Hammer Curls and Front Curls (8 reps each - 12.5 pounds)
18. Lateral Shoulder Raises (12 pounds - 12 reps)

Set Seven
19. Bench Dips (20 reps)
20. Concentration Curls (15 pounds - 12 reps per arm)
21. Overhead Press (12 pounds - 10 rep sper arm)

Set Eight
22. Overhead Two Hand Tricep (20 pounds - 12 reps)
23. Power 90X Style Punch Curls (25 per side - 35 pound bands)
24. Upright Rows (15 pounds - 15 reps)

Set Nine
25. Tricep Kickbacks (12 pounds - 10 reps)
26. Alternate Hammer and Front Curls (15 pounds - 15 reps)
27. Dumbbell Press (12 pounds per arm - 12 reps)

Set Ten
28.Bench Dips (25 reps)
29. Dumbbell Curls with Lateral Rotation (15 pound - 12 reps)
30. 90 Degree Arnold Press (12 pounds per arm - 12 reps)

Thursday - Today will be my second leg day and pretty much a repeat of Tuesday's workout.

UPDATE: I did ten sets each of squats (25 reps per set), calves (45 reps per set), lunges (25 reps per set) with the variations listed above in my Tuesday workout but in a different order.

CALORIES! CALORIES! CALORIES!

Average nutrition on a weightlifting day: 1895 calories, 153 grams Protein (34 %), 138 grams carbs (25 %), 83 grams fat (41%).

On days where I combine weightlifting and aerobics I add some carbs: average 2205 calories, 150 grams protein, 205 gram carbohydrates, 80 grams fat.

And when time crunched like this week - or I'm on a mass gain mission - I always favor weightlifting over aerobics. Aerobics tends not to change your body shape the way building muscle mass does.

Foods eaten this week in no particular order: guacamole, peppers, tomatoes, salmon, eggs, cheese, protein powder, blackberries, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, spinach, round steak, double fiber English muffins, 100% whole wheat buns, tuna, chicken, corn tortillas, salsa, bananas, yogurt, celery, onions, strawberries, carrots, apples, Smart Balance mayo and margarine, flax oil, olive oil, olives, peanut butter, broccoli, green beans, squash,
beef roast, ginger snaps (only 5 at 130 calories) and PIZZA! (380 calories for 1/5 of pizza).

Beverages consumed are two cups of black coffee before breakfast, a gallon of ice water with lime juice, and a few glasses of wine in the evening. (Hey, I'm not a Spartan).

(My supplements are listed on my sidebar).

Tasty Tuesday & Too Much Ado About Doing Too Much

Calories burned per hour cleaning house: 148-266 depending on intensity.

Calories burned per hour weight training: 338 - 518 depending on intensity.

This is sort of a 'cheat' post as it's an excerpt from the recipes section of the book I'm working on (rewrites). I'm just too beat to do a proper entry. Saturday we did a lot of shopping at Walmart, then at a new thrift shop in our area, and then at our local favorite FISH Thrift store.

Then Sunday I did a leg workout and set a new record for me - 10 sets each of squats, lunges, and calf raises! Most of the sets were 25 reps. On top of that I used the BOSU and the uSurf to make them more challenging. It took me roughly an hour to complete with 2 minute breaks between sets.

I also did 5 sets of leg magic for 90 reps per set. And then in the evening I did 45 minutes of the Rock N Roll stepper. My glutes and leg muscles are sore, but not nearly as sore as they used to get on way less sets. My muscles are getting stronger and it takes a lot more work to get them to react.

I spent most of yesterday cleaning Bruno's room. The kid is smart, athletic, handsome, humorous, and sweet natured. His only big fault is he's a slob. I had cleaned his room three weeks ago but you'd never know to look. Can you say pigsty?

I vacuumed with the hose attachment for at least an hour, down on my hands and knees picking up enough ramen noodles to feed a small third world country (Bruno and his friends recently discovered the dubious charms of eating RAW noodles. Yuck.)

I found part of a petrified sandwich. And I sorted his ten bi-zillion LEGOS, cars, collectible cards, and assorted other toys into bins. It took half an hour just to put his CDs and DVDs and videotapes into their proper cases. New rules are about to ensue (rule one - no food or drink allowed) and hopefully he'll be a bit neater and organized.

Yes, he's totally spoiled. But Daddy and Mommy can't talk as I have a zillion books, exercise DVDs, and pieces of exercise equipment. And Daddy has more versions of LINUX and books on LINUX than God. We are the ultimate pack rats.

Someday I'll take photos of our half dozen storage sheds and out building and parked vans that double as storage sheds to show you what kind of serious pack rats we are. (And yes, we're proper REDNECKS - my tack room is a Dodge Van with no engine that Jerry bought as a parts car. Do we recycle or what?!)

After finishing all that cleaning, I immediately developed a flare (with flair?) of sciatica and lower back osteo-arthritis from the workload. That's on top of sore muslces from working out. I first got sciatica in the last trimester of my pregnancy with Bruno and it rarely comes back. Amazingly he can still make it flare by giving me a major case of cleaning! I should call it cleaning-itis.

So...these recipes are from one of my books "Weight Loss That Works" that I first published in 2003. I'm in the process of rewriting it and will be releasing the updated version as an eBook later this year.

From the updated book:

Easy Elegance Spinach Salad

1/8 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon red onion, chopped
1 teaspoon green pepper, chopped
2 cups torn fresh spinach
1 hard-cooked egg, sliced
3 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the first 6 ingredients and shake well. Divide spinach between two serving bowls or plates; top with egg and bacon. Drizzle with dressing.

Serves 2. Calories 373, Fat 38 grams, Protein 7 grams, Carbs 1 gram.

From the original book (before I counted carbs or protein:

Lean and Green Pasta Salad

1 - 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried basil,
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups cooked corkscrew pasta (use Dreamfields if you're counting carbs)
1 cup spinach, chopped
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup scallions, diced
1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup (about 1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese

Combine 1/2 of the artichoke hearts with olive oil, water, lemon juice, basil, oregano, pepper and garlic in a food processor until smooth. Chop remaining artichoke hearts and toss with pasta, spinach, celery, scallions and tomatoes in a large bowl. Pour artichoke mixture over pasta mixture and toss well. Cover and chill 2 hours. Before serving sprinkle with feta cheese.

Makes 6 servings. 1 serving equals 1 cup.
Nutritional Information: Calories: 155 Fat: 4 grams.

Full of Red Beef Pitas

1 tablespoon light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
2 whole wheat pita, cut in half (substitute lettuce leaves if you're counting carbs)
12 ounces cooked round steak, cubed
1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers, cut into strips
1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped

Combine mayonnaise, mustard, and horseradish in a small bowl. Spread mayonnaise mixture inside each pita half. Stuff pita halves with ¼ each of the remaining ingredients and serve. Makes 4 pita pocket sandwiches.

Serving Size: 1 half stuffed pita
Nutritional Information: Calories: 350 Fat: 14 grams

Tax Day

No, not that kind of tax day. This kind...















I've had seven hard driven, physically taxing workouts in the last ten days. And my muscles feel hard. Way harder than they did this time last year. Woo Hoo!

Yesterday I did a two hour lower body workout, 50 minutes was on the Rock N Roll Stepper, and the rest was six sets of squats, lunges, calf raises, and several of those sets were done on the uSurf. Doing squats, lunges, and calf raises on a shaking board makes them very challenging and effective.

I was planning a chest and back day today on The Bitch Sisters but it started snowing this morning. Most of yesterday and last night we had high winds with gusts past 60 mph. No, that's not unusual here in the high desert. Our winds are called Washoe Zephyrs and we also get dust devils which resemble small tornadoes. The spring like weather we enjoyed on the weekend has flown the coop and it's bitterly cold outside. I'll do an indoor chest and back instead. Time to pull out the BOSU.

A quick update on my The Cheat To Lose Diet adventures; I'm on week four and tomorrow is cheat day. Yeah! On the negative side I went down to 114.5 pounds earlier this week and now I'm back to 117 pounds this morning. So as of today, 28 days on Cheat To Lose has netted me a loss of 2.7 pounds since March 17th when I weighed in at 119.7 pounds. Not great, not fab, no big whoosh. But, oh how I love cheat days!

I'm aiming for 112 pounds by June 1st. We shall see...

Change It Up! Maximizing Your Workout & Diet Results

One of Bruno's Photoshop Creations
















Outsmarting Your Body’s Adaptation Response

I love to change up my exercise regimen often. Sometimes I’ll do a different workout everyday. Monday may be Turbo Jam, Tuesday may be Yoga Booty Ballet, then Wednesday will be a classic upper body workout on machines and with free weights, followed by an hour of horseback riding on Thursday, and Power 90X Legs & Back on Friday.

Other weeks I only change up every week and not everyday. I’ll do one week of Power 90X (a different P90X workout every day), a second week of a different daily Bosu training workout, a third week I'll alternate Power 90X Plus workouts mixed up with 10 Minute Trainer workouts. And this week I’m mixing classic step aerobics with classic weight training workouts on weight machines and with free weights using Super Slow, an exercise protocol invented by Ken Hutchins (review of Super Slow to come).

The main reason I change my workouts around is the body adapts rapidly to exercise. If you do the same routine or set of routines over and over your results slow to a snail’s pace or even grind to a halt as your body adapts. (Note that Power 90X and the 12 workouts in the system are designed specifically to avoid adaptation and plateau, but after 9 months of mostly Power 90X I felt it was time to mix it up more than I had been).

Ever wonder why you see some people at the gym or on the running path day after day, week after week, and month after month, yet their bodies rarely change? Ask them how long they’ve been riding the elliptical or treadmill every day, or how long they’ve done the same weight lifting regimen. The less their bodies change, the longer they’ve been doing the same old thing over and over again.

Someone once said doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. If what you’re doing or the way you’re doing it is not yielding the results you want why keep doing it?

Trying new recreational sports and exercise routines serves a second important function. You prevent boredom . Boredom - like a lack of results - leads to slacking off of exercising and even quitting altogether. Not only is variety the spice of life, it’s a valuable tool for getting in shape and staying there.

If a tight budget makes you feel limited in pursuing variety in your workouts try buying used exercise videos and equipment. Most public libraries have exercise videos you can check out for free. Start a neighborhood or online exercise exchange so you and others can share DVDs and equipment you’re tired of. (This can be done on Craig's List and other online community bulletin boards, or through local free ad newspapers). Try an outdoor workout like hiking or jogging on new trails that offer new challenges. Many parks have exercise courses with stations that include instructions. If you have a gym membership, ask other members or a personal trainer to give you new workout ideas. Check out low cost exercise classes, swimming pools, and gyms at community centers, colleges, churches, hospitals, and recreation centers.

If you’re limited to working out at home try changing between a calisthenics or isometric workout one day, a march in place workout like Leslie Sansone’s “Walk Away The Pounds’ another day, gardening for an hour a third day - which can burn up to 350 calories an hour, and doing a resistance workouts with a band another fews days a week (never do resistance training of the same body parts two days in a row, this leads to over-training and even muscle loss). Resistance bands can be purchased for a minimal cost both new and used. I even gave away a set of bands with two workout tapes on my blog a few months ago.

Your only barrier to better fitness is you. Instead of making excuses about how time, budget, and / or lack of space prevent you from working out or changing your present workout routine, get creative! This can be as simple as walking uphill instead of taking your usual flat walking route, or doing less repetitions and sets with heavier weights. If you’ve been using weight machines exclusively switch to free weights and bands or do calisthenics and isometrics for a change. If you’ve been running on the treadmill for weeks switch to the rowing machine or take a spinning class.

This same adaptation rule applies to nutrition and dieting. Your body will adapt to an intake of a relatively stable amount of calories and macro-nutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates). Research supports the success of a diet in which calories and macro-nutrients (particularly carbohydrates) are cycled. Occasionally raising calorie and carbohydrate intake – whether one day a week or rotating the macro-nutrient make up of your diet every third day – “fools” your body into believing you’re not in starvation mode, a common phenomenon of dieting.

(For an example of a rotation diet check out this update on my The Cheat To Lose Diet adventures. The Cheat To Lose Diet rotates carbohydrate and calorie content every week during the first three weeks (priming phase) and every two days on the core phase culminating in a cheat day without restrictions).

Change is a vital key to getting fit and staying that way. Change, particularly in fitness, fat loss, and muscle gain, rarely comes if you fail to outwit your body’s ability to adapt. If you want to prevent a plateau in fat loss, getting fit, or gaining muscle change it up!

The Three Hour Workout & Cheat To Lose Week Three

"Mommy! I want to go out. Now!"
















Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Yesterday I did an upper body workout and my son said, “Wow, you do more push ups and do them better than I do.” Nice compliment, but… Day before that he told me “I know you’re 48 but you look 25.” I thought how nice. Then he said, “But only because you’re so short.” Thanks kid. At least he didn’t say I look like a Hobbit. Probably because my feet aren’t hairy.

The Three Hour Workout

Yesterday I started my workout at 1:30 pm and finished it at 4:30 pm. Wow, a three hour workout!

Well, not exactly. I got interrupted about every 15 minutes or so by a pet wanting to go out / come in, or a chore begging to be done like moving laundry from washer to dryer. Bruno got home early, wanted lunch, then demanded the definition of some ridiculously big word. I had to Google it because I couldn’t think of a good explanation with sweat dripping off my forehead. Then Jerry got home and I took another break to ask him how his day went and look at some goodies he brought home (Thanks, Don!) and read the mail.

So I probably got an hour or so total workout time over the course of three hours. I clocked 35 minutes on the Rock N Roll Stepper (timed), and 6 sets each x varied reps x 5 body parts (triceps, biceps, shoulders, back, chest) of weight lifting.

The point I wanted to make is that you don’t have to carve out a whole one hour block of time to workout. Exercise is cumulative. You do not have to literally jam every exercise, every set, and every repetition into a rigid block of time. Breaking up your workouts into multiple spread throughout the day has even been shown to raise metabolism better than one session.

Studies show that post aerobic metabolism returns to normal within 60 minutes of working out. If you break your aerobic workout up into several sessions spread throughout the day you are raising your metabolism more often. The same thing happens when you eat your daily caloric allowance spread across six meals instead of three. Food and digestion have a thermal effect and raise metabolism. The more times you eat (small meals not Super-sized Big Mac meals) the more often you raise metabolism.

Weight lifting raises your post workout metabolism for a longer period of time - you can get an after burn up to 48 hours. This is another example of the value of weight lifting / resistance training.

“Accumulate is so important because exercise is accumulative, so you don't have to do it all at once. Which means you can split our workouts into as many different sessions in a day that you want. Two 15 minute workouts, three 10 minute workouts or ten 3 minute sessions (you get the idea) Splitting your workout into manageable portions works wonders for most people especially those who don't have access to a gym. So you can workout at home while watching the Today show in the morning and then workout again while watching Oprah in the afternoon. I have had lots of clients lose so much weight and get so healthy splitting their workouts like this.” - From “Can You Exercise For Just 10 Minutes and Still Lose Weight? by Kenn Kihiu


Cheat To Lose Week Three

I’m on day 16 of The Cheat To Lose Diet by Joel Marion and it’s a relief to not be eating so strictly. Week one, which looks like Atkins induction without cheese, was hard on me.

A day on week one looked like this:

Breakfast – egg white omelet with vegetables

Snack – protein shake

Lunch – 3 ounces chicken, mixed greens with 1 tablespoon olive oil

Snack – 2 tablespoons peanut butter and celery sticks

Dinner – 4 ounces fillet of sole, spinach with butter

A day on week two, Lower GI/GL, looked like this:

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs, 1 cup strawberries

Snack – 3 ounces ham, pineapple slices

Lunch - 2 tablespoons peanut butter on whole wheat toast

Snack – protein shake with ½ banana

Dinner – 4 ounce pork tenderloin, ½ cup sweet potato, zucchini

Week three which is Higher GI/GL allows pasta, potatoes, pancakes, and the like (all three of which I’m just not into but hey, I’ll make an exception). Last night I had two stuffed breadsticks with my one cup of spaghetti and meatballs! And breakfast this morning was ham on a 100 % whole wheat English muffin with dried fruit. I LIKE week three. And I definitely feel better and have more energy now that I’m eating some carbohydrates.

I find it ironic that a diet (more on The Cheat To Lose Diet) meant to allow for greater flexibility than most diets was harder for me to follow (particularly week one). My time on the Power 90X Nutrition Plan was more flexible and I didn’t have to pass on the pasta, fruit, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, or or whole wheat bread. And I enjoyed pizza and wine when I wanted it (about once a week on the pizza). After losing about 10 percent body fat and 10 pounds I was staying between 112 and 116 pounds for months.

When I got the flu in February and missed a month of workouts and ate erratically (very little food to anything I wanted) I topped out at 120 pounds. Now, don’t laugh at me, I’m 5 feet tall on a good day. And my body fat percentage, while in the decent range of 18 to 22 percent is not where I want to be when we open our swimming pool this summer.

Now on week three I’m at 116.5 pounds (barely post menstrual so that may go down soon), and I’ve lost 3 ¾ inches since January 15th. No big whoosh but not bad either.

Right now I think I could live on The Cheat To Lose Diet particularly when I’m passed the Priming Phase of three weeks (one week of low carb, one week of Lower GI/GL, one week of Higher GI/GL, day 22 is cheat day), and I’m on the Core Phase (two days low carb, two days Lower GI/GL, two days Higher GI/GL, day seven is cheat day).

But I’m not seeing any grand whoosh.

Kitten Photos - Three Days Old

Power 90X Kenpo Karate X Part One - Stretch and Warm Up

Here's our non-spectacular performance of Power 90X Kenpo Karate Part One - The Stretch and Warm Up.

Just a reminder or a head's up to those who are unaware, I have to modify some exercises because I have Cerebral Palsy, which means I have movement, gait, and balance issues. The objective of any exercise is to burn calories, not to be graceful, and I certainly accomplished both.

According to Fitday we burned around 465 calories in the hour it took to do Kenpo Karate X. Kenpo Karate X is one of three cardio workouts in the Power 90X set of 12 DVD workouts. And believe me by the end we were dripping sweat and close to wasted.