My own worst enemy

[lost180]

I bought a heart monitor yesterday. Hopefully it can give me a better idea of what I'm burning or at least give me an idea of how hard I'm working so I push myself more.

[lost180]

I'm on week 5 of the running program and I've hit my first bump. Day two I've yet to complete. I did better Monday than I did today. My legs were just fatigued and I almost turned back to go home but I said screw it and I just took a few little rests. I've been walking on my breaks at work for a mile each time. Maybe a mix of that and only one day off is causing my legs to fatigue some. I'm going to put off running it again until Saturday most likely. Day 3 of week five is very intimidating though. I almost wish I hadn't looked ahead. Day 2 has me run for 8 minutes, walk 5 and then running another 8 minutes. Day 3 skips right to running 20 minutes straight.

My weight training days have been business as usual. I think on my chest days I'm going to stop increasing my bench press weight and start focusing more on pushups because my push ups still suck horribly.

[lost180]

Okay I'm in need of some guidance if you see this and don't mind.

Here's the situation. I haven't lost anything in like a month and I'm getting frustrated. It's most likely my own fault and I must confess. I was trying to drop the weight that I need to to join the military as quick as possible. By around October actually. So I dropped my calories down because I've heard that eating at around your BMR (mine is 1650) is okay until you've got like the last 10 pounds or so to lose. I did that for a few weeks and everything was fine. I lost 2 pounds in a week one week. I can't remember how long I did this for. Not long at all. Then I got and I wasn't tracking calories at all. I know some days I was probably really low. I didn't have much of an appetite for a while. I don't really know. Once I was better I went back to the 1600 and I've been stuck ever since. I did the 1600 for about 3 more weeks. In that time my workouts weren't 100 percent all the time but I know my body and know that even though they weren't perfect I still should have lost something so I knew something was wrong. I started to think about food all the time as well. I decided to go back up what I was doing before that was working which was 1800. In the beginning when I started here I was doing around 2000 but I felt like I was overeating. Not in the sense that I was worried I was taking in too many calories but it was just a lot of food day in and day out. I was making good steady progress at 1800. Anyway last week I might have even eaten around 2000 some days just to kick start my metabolism hopefully. Anyway this week I was pretty much perfect with my eating. I've been at 1800 minimum maybe a little over on some days. I didn't work out Sunday because I was busy but I worked out all week and took yesterday off and plan to work out today. I weighed myself this morning figuring one day early wouldn't matter and it says I've gained a pound. I'm feeling anxious. The reason I was trying to lose the weight faster is because October is when the military opens up more jobs and I was afraid I'd miss my chance. Now I don't know what I should do. Would you mind giving me advice on what I should have my calories at and how many minutes of cardio or anything really? I'm going to kick up my cardio and make up my own little calisthenic interval work out for after I finish my runs. My weight training days are the same as they've always been and usually last about an hour.

I'd appreciate your help as always. Thanks.

[lost180]

Just to add that the only part of my work outs that have changed is I moved from my HIIT sessions on the treadmill to running outdoors. But really that would still be considered interval training because I only run for a few minutes and then walk. And running is supposed to be the best cardio for weight loss so I don't know that that's affected anything. But I thought I'd add it.

And I guess I have a tendency to underestimate to play on the safe side. Like calculating my work out levels. I never know if I should choose moderate activity which is listed as working out 3 to 4 times a week or very active which is 6 to 7. I usually go with moderate just because I'm not working out for hours at a time to the point of feeling like I'm going to die. I'd say I'd probably fall somewhere in the middle. But that makes it hard to calculate my calorie maintenance.

If your advice is to up my calories from 1800 I will though. Even though I've fallen into the dreaded category of people who worry that if I eat much more I'll stall or gain. I mean maybe I am still eating too low. It was working fine before but maybe things have changed. I just don't know. I just want to get back on track.

My work out goals are to gain better endurance. I want to be able to run a few miles and I want to get stronger. I know before I told you I wanted to build muscle but what I meant was strength not size. I don't want to be bulky. I want to be as strong as I can without looking like a giant steroid. I don't know if I should stop upping the amount of weight I use and add more reps or what.

[lost180]

And also I'm at 192 right now.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

It sounds like the problem lies in your exercise intensity. If weight loss is your goal you need to be hitting higher intensity levels in your workouts. It's all about lactic acid production. When you are doing HIIT you need to be hitting the 90% HR range in your work periods. Try shuttle runs or suicides (let me know if you aren't familiar with those). In your workouts, try moving to body weight "boot camp" style training a couple times per week. Kettle Bell Swings followed by Burppies, followed by jumping jacks, and then break for 30sec or less and do it again. If you feel like you're gonna hurl at the end of the workout then you've done it right. If you actually hurl, then you've gone a bit too far. Doing this should up your hormonal response to exercise promoting protein synthesis and fat matabolism. Make sure that you take in a post workout ptn shake w/ a higher glycemic carb (ie banana) so that you stop the cortosol activity and start the anabolic process.

You can still do some traditional strength training days, but try to get your heart rate spiked at least once a day, even if it's only for like 15min. Remember, if you're going into the military they aren't going to care how much you bench press, but they will care how many push ups you can do. I wouldn't train some one to be a better soccer player by having them do lots of cycling. If you want to be a better soldier you have to train boot camp style.

[lost180]

It's funny you suggest that because I actually bought this interval timer for my ipod yesterday and it allows me to break down specific intervals. I decided to make an upper body circuit and a lower body circuit over the weekend. I planned to do the lower body on my run days two days before I work legs and then two days after I do chest and triceps I have a more upper body oriented circuit. Just two strength training exercises with cardio exercises in there. Like jump rope and jumping jacks and such. I was going to do them after I came back from runs on the days I specified for cardio. And I cut down on some of the weight exercises on chest days and instead did 100 pushups and 100 dips. And I'm pretty sure I know what suicides are but I don't know what shuttle runs are.

So you're suggesting I cut back on the weight training and start doing more cardio oriented exercise? My biggest problem is knowing where to start. I've fallen into the routine of doing cardio this day and weights the next. And I haven't really varied my routine all that much. I'm a creature of habit as well as I'm not sure where to start or what to change. I think because I've had it in my head that I need to weight train and lift heavy to lose the most weight I haven't tried any other type of work out because I didn't want to over train or something. Maybe cut down on the amount of exercises I do on weight days and add more body weight cardio oriented exercises instead? Like on leg days do burpies and jump squats and cut down on the amount of weight sets I do? I had been thinking about jumping back on the treadmill like I used to and doing some HIIT sprints. I'm the type that I get so focused on doing something one way I don't see that there are other ways sometimes better ways to get things done. I've been so set on doing my work outs the way I was before I'd move everything around just to do it they way I thought it should be instead of just doing something new. I guess I need things to be planned out instead of spontaneous.

And how about my calories? I don't want to be so low that I'm not getting enough and I slow my metabolism but I don't want to be too high and slow my progress that way. That's the biggest anxiety for me. Knowing if I'm eating the right amount. I was losing steadily at around 1800 this whole time until I made those changes. I've read more than once that diet is like 90 percent of the equation. In 10 minutes you can wipe out an hours worth of work depending on what you eat. Not that I'm eating those kinds of things. But even eating too much of good foods will slow you down.

Again thanks for you help. I really do appreciate it. Things were cruisin' along before. Sometimes slower than others but now I've hit this road block and it's getting harder to stay motivated but I haven't quit.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

Your calories may be a bit low especially going into a boot camp style workout. Whenever you decrease your calories for the purpose of weight loss it will work for a while and then your body will normally re adjust to the new calorie level as the norm and the weight loss will stop. It is better to reset your metabolism to a higher calorie intake and then have low and high calorie days throughout the week so you can spark weight loss without your body down regulating your metabolism.

As far as your workouts go, its easy to become a creature of habit, but the body adapts in response to change. If you want to continue to see progress you have to work outside of your comfort zone. Did you mention working into a kettlebell routine at one point? I have been using kettlebell and functional workouts in conjunction with some isolation work recently in my own workouts and I have seen good results from it.

[lost180]

Okay so bump them up to like 2000 but start doing that calorie cycling thing you mentioned a while back? I googled calorie cycling once and I remember a site that gives you what your calories should be and then cycles them for you. Like 2300 one day and 1800 another.

And my plan now is to work out 5 days a week with Friday and Saturday off because those are the days when I'm usually busy with family and stuff and things were often coming up and getting in the way. I plan to take this weekend and search youtube and sites for sample circuit training workouts and I'm going to give it a try. I want to get a bunch of exercises and think about how I can use the weight equipment I have downstairs to get in a full body strength training circuit at a more cardio pace. Like 1 minute circuits and 30 seconds rest. I'll be doing more body weight exercises. I took this martial arts class a while back and we'd always work out for 40-60 minutes and it was only body weight and some times we'd do so many leg exercises I'd be walking crooked for days. I just need to figure out how to maximize my time and how many exercises I should do. I'll see about doing that 3 days a week and then doing my running program the other two. Hopefully with some stretching and new sneakers my hip and knee issues will improve.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

Sounds like a solid plan. Ideal circuit splits would be 3-5 exercises each done for 20-30sec with 10sec transition break between each exc and maybe 30-60sec recovery between at the end of each circuit set, 3-5 sets.

Example:
Lunges
Push Ups
Russian Twists

Or

Push Press
Burpies
Ab Plank
Box jumpss

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

Also, would you mind starting a calorie cycling thread in the nutrition board with the link to that website you mentioned. I think that would be a great topic to get started.

[lost180]

So you think I should start off with only a handful of exercises and go with 30 second intervals? Maybe a minute would be too much to start with? I just don't want to under do it and not push myself. I had been planning in my head to do more exercises than that and to incorporate body weight exercises like steps ups on a chair, burpees, planks, and push ups but to also use my dumbbells and kettle bells for things like squat thrusts or using my light dumbbells to do minute long flys or bench presses. Maybe that's too ambitious. I guess I'm still thinking about it in strength training terms though instead of cardio. I guess both ways would be fine. Or I could try doing two days of lighter sets and just body weight with more cardio exercises and have one "heavy" day most likely at the end of the week so I'd have two days to recover. I guess there really is no wrong way to do it. I'm just new to this whole thing. I'm so used to my running days being followed by my lifting days. Mixing it up is messing with my whole rhythm.

Doing circuits like this every other day won't over train muscles right? Since it's not like I'm benching or squatting heavy weight. I'll have to see how I feel after trying it. I just really need to get back to seeing the scale drop.

And sure I'll go get the link.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

Messing with the rythm is a good thing . Your body gets used to patterns and muscle confusion is a great way to break plateaus.

I've been slacking on keeping up my exercise log, but I've been playing around with mixing high intensity circuit days in with my heavy isolation days and it seems to be working well. I'll update my journal with some examples of the circuits I've been doing. Lots of KB work and combined with conditioning drills.

[lost180]

Kettle bells are just so different from dumbbells. I was finding that the 15 pounders I had just weren't cutting it and my brother kept going on about kettle bells so I bought some and I'm glad I went with only 20 pounders to start. I'm sure it's got to do with the way the weight is distributed or something.

And that'd be cool. I could use more ideas. I haven't sat down to put my work out together because I spent all morning taking care of a 2 and a half month old. Now that's a work out.

[lost180]

Okay here's a breakdown of the routine I came up with. I decided to go with a whole bunch of strength training exercises done at a cardio pace. I plan to mix things up though and experiment . For now I did thirty seconds per exercise with thirty seconds rest. I targeted every area once. I debated if the exercises were too short and the rest too long but I went with it and it was a good choice. It definitely wore me out. My monitor said I was in the zone for 24 minutes BUT I still haven't input my personal target heart rate so I'll take that with a grain of salt. But it was definitely more intense than my normal weight lifting days. I was feeling a little to my stomach at the end. That usually happens to me at the start of a new routine so we'll see how I feel next time I do it. The exercises were in this order.

Warm up was 3 minutes on the bike then 30 seconds each of jump rope, knee ups, butt kicks, and jumping jacks.. I took a minute rest and then started my routine

Push ups
Step ups on both side obviously
Dips
Leg Curls
Lateral raises
Plie squats
Lat pull down
Bicep curls
Plank
Bicycle crunches

Then I finished with a cool down which was the same deal as my warm up only I did the bike after the 4 exercises.

It's crazy how quickly I tired out doing some of these exercises. Like dips for example. Maybe because I did them so close to push ups but I was fatigued really quickly and had to bend my knees.

I finished it off with some stretching and then had some oatmeal and a protein shake.