21 January 2010

Burn It: DIY Workout Routine

I recently got an email from reader Meghan:

I’m at a basic level of fitness now, and I joined Planet Fitness (I don’t know how familiar you are with their franchise) and I love their 30 minute circuit room, but I have no idea how many reps/how much weight to use on the machines.  They have trainers there to help, but they’re only around during the day when I’m at work.

If you know any good workout plans, or where I could look them up, it would be great! I love the trainerpack ipod videos for home workouts but I’m looking for a gym routine now!

I’ll teach you how to create your own routine! For strength workouts, the general rule is to pick a weight that is challenging by around the 8th rep. I would start with three sets of 10-12 reps for any given exercise, but as my trainer says, don’t limit yourself to a number! If you feel like you can do a few more reps on a given set, do them. But, if things are TOO easy, you may have to up your weight.

Try to focus on two muscle groups for each workout rather than trying to hit all of them on the same day (you risk overtraining certain muscles anyway). Pick two to three exercises for each muscle group. Here’s a good schedule, based on the one my trainer made for me:

• Monday: Chest & Biceps

Choose from: Bench Press (with dumbbells or machine), Incline Bench Press, Dumbbell Flys (or use machine), Push-ups, Bicep Curls, Hammer Curls, Concentration Curls

• Wednesday: Shoulders & Triceps

Choose from: Side Lateral Raises, Shoulder Presses, Upright Rows, Rear Delt Pec (machine), Lying Tricep Extensions, Tricep Dips, Tricep Dips off Smith Machine

• Friday: Back & Traps

Choose from: Lat Pulldowns, Seated Rows, Rows under Smith Machine, Back Extension (machine), Shrugs

• Saturday: Legs

Choose from: Squats, Lunges, Straight-Leg Deadlifts, Standing Calf Raises, Abductor (machine), Adductor (machine), Leg Press (machine)

On strength days, I still warm up with 10-20 minutes of cardio, depending on how much time I have. On the off days, I do light cardio or rest. I also sometimes switch it up and do circuits. These are great! To create your own circuit workout, alternate the above moves with 1-5 minute bursts of cardio. Your heart rate will be up the whole time, but you’ll get some good toning moves in, too. For the cardio, choose from:

• Butt Kicks
• Jump Rope
• High Knees
• Mountain Climbers
• Burpees
• Squat Thrusts
• Kick-Boxing
• Sprints
• Jumping Jacks
• Any cardio machine, but turn up the intensity!

Let me show you what a sample strength/cardio circuit workout would look like on a bicep/chest day:

• 5 minute easy cardio warm up
• 3x10 Bicep Curls
• 1 minute Mountain Climbers
• 3x10 Hammer Curls
• 1 minute jumping jacks
• 3x10 Push-ups
• 5 minutes high-intensity elliptical
• 3x10 Bench Press
• 1 minute Jumping Jacks
• 3x10 Dumbbell Flys
• 1 minute Butt Kicks
• 5 minute easy cardio cooldown

That workout would take you around 35-40 minutes, and I guarantee you’d be sweating the whole time!

2 December 2009

Reader Mail: “Are you naturally thin?”

Reader Amy says: “I really love all your advice and meals you eat (I’m highly jealous of most of your meals).  Are you a small, thin person naturally or do you have to work at it to keep your body how you want it to be?  Have you had body issues before?  What made you so interested in food and nutrition?”

I actually get her last question a lot. Since my job has nothing to do with food or nutrition, people wonder how I got so interested in it. I suppose it’s just something I’ve always been naturally drawn to. I remember being fascinated by health and fitness magazines in high school and college (not to say all advice dispensed in those magazines is so great!).

I think I’m mostly interested in nutrition because of all the misinformation out there. How do we define what’s “good” for us? A food that’s good for us calorically speaking may be horrible for us environmentally or nutritionally speaking (think of one of those 100-calorie packs, for instance).

I have no formal education in nutrition, though I don’t necessarily think all formal nutrition education is a good thing (many RD programs are not quite as progressive and up-to-date as you’d think). All my knowledge is based on my own research, meaning it’s totally fallible. But most likely, I’ve double- or triple-checked my info (and have sources to back it up!)

Anyway, on to the first few of Amy’s questions.

I’m absolutely NOT a naturally thin person! I come from a family of foodies and big eaters. Naturally, I think my body likes to be fairly curvy. I tend to fluctuate between a size 6 and a size 10, depending on how much I’m eating and working out. To be a size 6, I have to cut back significantly on treats and work out really consistently. Sometimes it feels worth it and sometimes it doesn’t. And then I go through periods where I reject my size 10 self and get really frustrated by it. But as my boyfriend can attest, I also often admire my muscles in the mirror (I tend to build muscle and tone pretty quickly, so a few weeks in the gym makes a big difference on me!). He makes fun of me because I try to give him tickets to the gun show wayyyyy too often. :)

I think what really makes me love my body is seeing what it’s capable of. Having never played a single sport in my life, I was so proud of being able to train for and run a half marathon. And every time I’m able to lift just a little bit more weight, I get so excited. The human body is an amazing specimen! Just last night on The Biggest Loser, contestants that couldn’t run a single mile five months ago ran a full marathon. That, my friends, is pretty outstanding.

If you don’t always love your body for how it looks, at least love it for what it can do for you. Be thankful if your body efficiently turns food into energy, carries you from place to place, allows you to perform all kinds of activities, from standing at a podium to holding hands to driving a car. Some people’s bodies don’t do those things. And trust me, I realize how cheesy that sounds, but sometimes you just gotta go there.

28 July 2009

Are Trio bars nutritious?

Reader Stacy asks:

What are your thoughts on Trio bars?  The are certainly delicious…are they nutritious?

As most of you know by now, with any processed food, my rule is the fewer ingredients, the better. On top of that, I want to be able to recognize all of those ingredients. Luckily, Trio bars have a pretty solid ingredient list. The blueberry flavor contains:

Cashew, Almonds, Pistachios, Blueberries, Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Dates, Raisins, Rice Malt, Natural Flavors, Evaporated Cane Juice and Sea Salt.

Yes, they have added sugar, but there are certainly worse offenders out there. You can probably guess that I prefer Larabars because of their wildly short ingredient list (sometimes as few as TWO ingredients!) and their lack of added sugar. But I think Trio bars are a decent option. They also offer 5g of protein and 2g of fiber per bar, which isn’t too shabby (though with all the fruit and nuts, I’m surprised they don’t have more fiber).

Bottom line, Stacy: Trio bars are definitely a decent option for snacking on-the-go.

27 July 2009

Calculate Calories the Easy Way

Reader Seth recently emailed me with an amazing tip for all of you out there who prefer to count calories. Seth says:

You might have heard of WolframAlpha, but it’s basically a search engine that can do calculations. If you type 2+2 into Google, you’ll get an answer - Wolfram does the same thing, but way, way more calculations are possible.

I just figured out that Wolfram is great with nutritional based data, it can very easily give you nutritional statistics on food that you prepare.

Here are a few of the ingredients from my recipes that I have plugged into Wolfram, click the links (or copy and paste them) and you’ll see what I mean by how helpful this site can be if you’re concerned about calorie intake or breakdown:

• Burgers
• Salad
• Eggs

Such a great find, Seth! I’m excited to try it out.

Run It: Battling Blisters

Recently, I whined to Emily about my problem with blisters. I seem to get them on all my long runs! Emily, who’s training for a marathon, gave me some great advice I wanted to share:

• Use Body Glide on your feet.  I used to only put it on my arms and thighs, but I now slather my toes, my arches and the insides of my step with Body Glide.  It really does help.
• Thick socks might help…but there is a chance the socks are actually part of the problem.  I SWEAR by Balega socks.  They are great for long distances because they fit snugly (meaning they don’t move around much) while still having enough padding that it provides your feet some cushion from the road.
• Runner’s world ran a pretty good review of the best types of socks…you might want to check that out too: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-320—12456-2-1-2,00.html.
• Finally, treat yourself to a pack of ”Band-Aid” Brand Blister Band-Aids.  I don’t run in them, but they work miracles on my feet the rest of the time.  They actually dissolve into the blister and help heal it much quicker.  At first these things freaked me out, but my dad (who is in the medical industry) basically forced me to use them and they have cut my blister recovery time in half!

Thanks, Emily! I know I’m going to stock up on those blister band-aids and some Body Glide asap!