Archive | Cardio Workouts RSS feed for this section

Answers To “How To Lose Weight”

by on

Awhile ago I asked everyone to share with me 3 questions you have about how to lose weight.  I got a lot of great responses and I apologize for just now getting back to answering some of them.  Every once in awhile, I will pick a couple of these questions and give my opinion.  Check out the previous post about questions and feel free to add your own questions for me to answer

#1 is from Rebekah: One thing that would be interesting to know is if you stop working out, how long (or how little) does it take to lose muscle? I’ve heard that it takes as little as a month for your body to revert and to be back at square one, so to speak.

Rebekah, it is true that if you stop working out for awhile you will begin to lose muscle and could put on fat depending on your nutrition.  A one week break won’t be a big deal, and in fact, I encourage you to take a week off of lifting every 3-4 months.  This can help heal any small injuries you might have and allow your body to recharge and get refocused.  From a cardio standpoint you will notice a decrease after a week, things might be a little tougher and you will be out of breath for a bit.  It takes a couple weeks to a month of not working out to really see the muscle start to decrease.  It depends on how long you have been working out, to go back to square one.  It would take longer then 1 month to revert back to before assuming you have been working out for more then 6 months.

This is why it is so important to make working out a lifestyle rather then a short term fix.  The good news is something called “muscle memory” which means that your muscles are able to get stronger, quicker if they had been there before.  I am amazed at how fast muscle and strength increases on someone who has been fit before and just slacked off for awhile. Continue Reading →

Comments { 3 }

How Oprah is Going to Lose the Weight

by on

Yesterday’s Oprah was simply amazing!  One of the best Oprah shows I have seen, so good, I watched it twice.  Oprah is kicking off a 5 day “Best Life” theme, were she has experts in various health topics.  Yesterday’s show was with Bob Green, her trainer, and a very intimate look into Oprah’s life.  She was very honest with herself and with her viewers about her frustrations with “letting herself go” and not “living life” instead only existing.  For Oprah, 2009 is the year she makes time for herself and “loves herself.”  I love her message and is the message that I preach to moms everyday.  You must make time for yourself and take care of yourself.  So many moms are like Oprah, always giving of themselves, they have a servant’s heart.  But, even a servant’s heart, if not properly taken care of will become worn out and fatigued, and they lose their zest for life.

Are you worn out?  Have put everyone elses needs before your own?  Have you given yourself “Mom time” of late? If not, I challenge you to make that time for yourself.  Take time to exercise, to eat right, to get enough sleep, to get pampered, to spend time with your girlfriends talking about things other than kids, take time alone with your husband.  When you take time for yourself, you will become a happier healthier you!

So how is Oprah going to go from over 200 lbs to a much lighter weight (she doesn’t have a goal weight, but rather wants to be strong and healthy)?  Oprah is FINALLY going to do what I have been pleading moms to do for the past 7 years!  She is going to do much less slow cardio and more weights!!!!  I just about jumped off the couch when she said “I am going to focus more on resistance training this year!”  Ahh finally, I hope that one sentences will cause millions of moms to overcome their hesitation to weight train.

Oprah’s weight loss plan is to lift 6 days a week, splitting her body up into groups.  Chest/tris one day, back/biceps/shoulders another day, and legs another day.  She will rotate between these three splits.  On top of that, she will do 30 min of aerobics everyday.  She demonstrated that cardio should be intense enough that it is possible to carry a conversation on, but very unpleasent and hard to do.  This is generally consistent with an intensity level of 70% of a persons max heart rate.

Oprah’s weight loss diet is very simple… she says the key is planning out every meal and knowing what you are going to eat for the week.  She has every meal and snack written out on a chart, and then eats the same menu each week.  Her diet consists of lean proteins, lots of veggies, some complex carbs, and some healthy fats.  hmm have you heard that before from somewhere :)

What I think about the plan:

Overall I am extremely pleased with Oprah’s weight loss plan and am sure that if she follows it she will be in amazing shape!  There are a few things Continue Reading →

Comments { 6 }

Car Pushing For Fat Burning Workout

by on

One of the biggest reasons Fit Fun Bootcamps has been such a big hit (besides the great results and community that is built) is the fun and unique factor.  In this video I have two bootcampers Lauren and Amy who have been coming to Fit Fun Bootcamp for about 9 months and have seen some incredible toning and increases in their athletic performance.

Check it out.

Pushing cars is a great family activity that the kids love to do as well.  Plus you will never be worried about running out of gas again because you know you can push it :)

If you are doing this with kids, please be safe and push on a flat area and make sure someone is near the brake in case something happens. Continue Reading →

Comments { 8 }