Personal progress

I've been working out hard over the last few months, I've added more protein to my diet (I was going to write that I'd changed my diet, but that would infer less chocolate and wine... and that hasn't happened), and I've hit some pretty fantastic personal bests.

Unfortunately, my body hasn't got the memo that I've been trying really hard - so my weight, body fat percentage and muscle mass (all determined by my scales) have stayed resolutely the same. Even my waist and hip measurements have remained the same as they were in April.

I tell people all the time that if they put in the work, their bodies have no choice but to respond. My body, however, seems to be choosing. Ain't that typical!

So, what's going on?

Well... my deadlift has gone from 30kg x 10 reps to 52.5kg x 5 reps and my pulldown has gone from 32.5kg x 6 reps to 40kg x 5 reps since the beginning of the year, with the majority of the extra weight being added on in the last couple of months - which coincides with my extra protein intake.

Therefore, I have to conclude (and I would tell my clients this) I am making progress. My body is concentrating on getting stronger, I'm just not seeing the results in the mirror.

It's at this point, if you are a three-times-a-week/lose-weight-and-tone-up gym member, that you might despair and say that the gym doesn't work, exercise doesn't work and stop coming.

Don't do that!!

In a couple of months I have every confidence that my body fat percentage will be on the move again, in the right direction, and yours will too!

How to get over this slight slump:

• Make new exercise goals - short term and long term - that have nothing to do with weight/body fat loss. Want to leg press the entire stack? Want to train for a triathlon?
• Add in a new variation of one of the lifts you do - sumo squat instead of normal squat, walking lunges instead of the leg press, press ups instead of bench. Make sure you've got a couple of really good compound exercises in your routine (ie. lifts that use more than one joint/muscle)
• Do a bit of extra cardio
• Try something completely different - fancy kayaking, football, tennis, cycling, Tough Mudder?
• Make sure you're having fun!

So, how's your training going?

The Plank world record

What's the longest time you can hold a plank position? I can hold it for about a minute. A lot of people can hold it for longer.

55 year old George Hood, created a new world record in April of 3 hours, 7 minutes and 15 seconds.

Check out the article here, and feel your abs ache at the thought of it.

Going backwards?

By U.S. Navy photo by
Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Joshua Valcarcel
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Last night, while I was working, I overheard a father telling his son that he had to go backwards on the cross/elliptical trainer to work his muscles in a different way. This was a popular idea a few years ago, and although there are a few people still advocating it (I did a little Google search) this has moved more into the myth category.

I was never actually convinced by going backwards, although a few years ago - before I became an instructor - part of my programme was to do backwards intervals on this machine. I don't think I did it for long.

Reasons for not going backwards on the cross trainer:

• First and foremost, the cross trainer is a cardio machine - you are trying to raise and maintain your heart rate. Going backwards slows you down and lowers your heart rate.
• If you want to work your leg muscles, do some leg weight exercises - squats and lunges are awesome.
• Our legs are designed to propel us forward, it makes no sense to train them to go backwards.
• Current research suggests the same muscles are working backwards and forwards, there is no extra benefit, but it may put extra stress on the knees.
• If you really want to work your muscles harder, letting go of the handles works well. Your abs and inner thighs work harder to keep you upright, and your glutes work harder because you can't cheat and lean over the machine.

Do you use the cross trainer backwards?

How do you find it?

Will you give no holding on a go?

Making time to workout

It's taken me a while to write another post, because I couldn't decide what to write about, but today I am admitting that I've been rubbish at keeping to my workout schedule. Something else always seems to happen - illness, injury, kids on school holidays, coffee with a friend, the dog looks sad when I leave the house...

I know I'm not the only one who uses excuses, but I also know some really dedicated people who will always find the time, no matter what else is going on in their lives. I wish I was like that.

I have all the reasons, all the arguments to counter my clients arguments... I have the answer! But I also don't listen to myself.

Here are my top tips to make sure you (and I) get to the gym:

• Write your schedule in your diary, on your calendar or set an alarm on your phone
• If you plan on working out in the morning, set out your clothes the night before (yes, I know everyone says that) and think about your workout as you go to sleep - you'll be more motivated in the morning
• If you plan on working out at lunchtime or after work, keep some spare kit in your car, or in your desk, so you can't use the excuse that you left your bag at home
• Think about how you feel when you're in the gym/on the tennis court/pounding the streets... you're having fun, right? And afterwards, don't you feel great? Why wouldn't you want to do something that's fun and makes you feel great??
• Mix it up. If you're bored with your routine, throw in a class, go for a run or bike ride, swim a few lengths. Or get a new gym programme from your instructor.
• Buy yourself some new kit. (I did this recently, and if nothing else the compliments made me feel good.) A new colour or style is perfect for showing off your achievements so far.

I know for a fact how a missed session can turn into a couple of missed sessions, which can easily turn into a week or a month. Why 'start over' when you don't need to? Push yourself through a slump and you'll come out the other side feeling awesome!

Heart Rate Zones

When I put people on cardio equipment (bikes, cross trainers, ellipticals, steppers, rowers) I tell them the heart rate I want them to achieve. And they look back at me as though I'm mad because they've seen a chart like the one here (in fact, it might even be on the piece of equipment they're standing on).

I may also mention I want them to ignore the bottom two zones entirely - well, less mention more cover it up with my hands and tell them to not even go there!



See, the point is, exercise is there to get you fitter, not necessarily to help you lose weight (the weight loss is secondary), and to get fit you have to push your heart rate above your comfort level - at least to the 70% of your max HR example I used in my last post. Even then, once you've been working out for a little while, 70% will seem too easy and you can push yourself further. The higher you push yourself during the workout (within reason: no fainting or vomiting please) the longer your metabolic rate stays elevated afterwards, which means your body is burning calories for longer than if you stayed in the Fat Burning Zone of under 70%.

The fat burning zone came into being because someone once worked out that the percentage of calories burned from fat was higher when your heart rate was lower. To burn fat, your body need oxygen, so the hypothesis was that if you push yourself too hard and start gasping for breath, the fat burning percentage reduces, this isn't entirely untrue...

BUT, it completely ignores the fact that when you work out harder, you burn more total calories...

If I was on the cross trainer for 20 minutes working out at 60% of my maximum heart rate, I would burn say 150 calories, half of which come from fat, so 75 calories from fat.

If I was on the same cross trainer working out at 80% of my max, I could burn 250 calories, but only 35% from fat. But that equates to roughly 87 calories!

Please bear in mind these are not accurate figures, they vary from person to person, but they're a good guide to explain why you should be pushing yourself a little harder.

MY SUPER EASY INTENSITY GUIDE
65% or lower - you're able to talk non-stop about last night's TV, all of it from 7pm to 10pm - TOO EASY
70 - 80% - random sentences, taking a pause in between to catch your breath - CARDIO/BEGINNER
80 - 90% - gasping, unable to talk, but feel great and happy to continue - INTERVALS/ADVANCED
90 - 100% - almost maximum effort - INTERVALS/NOT FOR BEGINNERS

A mixture of heart rates between 70 to 90% is probably the best bet for most people - remembering that if you feel dizzy or faint, you're pushing yourself too hard and need to slow down/lower the intensity level on the machine your using - and the fitter you are the easier it will be to raise and maintain a higher heart rate.

This post has been weight-loss centric, but your fitness will also benefit from working out at a higher intensity - the higher you can push your heart rate for longer, the more your endurance will develop. Once you have a good base of endurance fitness, you'll be able to breeze through every new fitness class your gym offers and every run your partner/friend drags you out on.

Working out your target heart rate

I'm not even going to apologise for not being here for a very long time. It's pretty much taken as read that each post will be a long time after the last.

As you can see from my last post, I signed up for a fantastic blogging challenge where you post every day of April (barring Sundays) and each post corresponds to the next letter of the alphabet - 26 letters, 26 days. I signed up, then unsigned, but not before I'd decided on what my posts would be about, so I'm going to (yes, sporadically) post them.

~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~  ~~

I originally wrote a different post for today, but then I realised this needed to be slotted in first. I apologise for the amount of maths involved!

This is the original way to work out your target heart rate. I'll assume that I want to work out at 70% of my maximum heart rate (max HR)

220 - age = max HR
maxHR x 70% = target heart rate

So, inserting my info: 220 - 39 = 181
181 x 70% = 126 beats per minute (bpm)

For a couple of years now, in my gym, we've been using a different formula. For this you need to know your resting heart rate, which is easily worked out by counting the number of beats in a minute - that's it. The best time to do it is when you've been sitting still for a while and not while drinking coffee and watching horror films. Being as calm as possible will give you the most accurate count. Alternatively, there are a couple of phone apps which will do it for you.

The formula looks like this:
200 - (age x 0.5) = max HR
(maxHR - resting HR) x 70% + resting HR = target heart rate

And with my info: 200 - 19.5 = 180.5
(180.5 - 54)  x 70% + 54 = 142 bpm

So you can obviously see the difference between 126 and 142. Knowing my own training, at 126 bpm I'm barely breaking into a sweat. I could easily do that all day and it would probably make no difference to my fitness because I'm firmly within my abilities. At 142 bpm I am starting to feel a little more breathless - it's still quite easy, because I've been training for 15 years, but I'd definitely feel like I was working out.

Because my body is used to cardio, I tend to workout at 85% of my max HR. So next time (which will be quite soon, because it's already written) I'll explain the basic differences between intensity levels.

Thanks for visiting, but I am no longer taking part in the A-Z Challenge. My link on the list will/has been removed.I apologise

for the inconvenience.