Most people separate their cardio workout from strength training by adding cardio before or after. I’m usually in this category but sometimes I like to switch things up and add another dimension. Today, I was back to splicing quick cardio blocks between my leg training.
The beauty of mixing cardio in between sets is you’re keeping your leg muscles on alert the whole time, but changing their function back and forth. My workout lasted only 1:15 but I was exhausted afterwords. I had another 20 minutes of gym time left, but I was running on empty so …read more

You’ve read my previous blogs on combining cardio and weight lifting into a high intensity circuit.  That program was in full effect today.  Below is a rough sketch of the workout followed by recommendations on how to apply it.

Inside Grip Incline Bench Press 3×12 135 lbs
Regular Dumbell Curls 3×12 25 lbs
Cross Curls 3×12 25 lbs
12 minutes hard treadmill, 1.3 miles + 4 more minutes cool down .3 miles
Lat Pulldown 3×12 (reverse grip) plate 10
Leg Extensions 3×12 plate 10
Leg Adductor (pushing outwards) 3×12 135 lbs
1×12 pushups
2×12 high step ups w/ 25 lb dumbells
1x 6 minutes stair stepper level 8
1×6 minutes stair …read more

You think all that iron you’ve been pumping is just for show?  The more muscle you have, the more weight you will lose.  For every pound of muscle you have, your body burns 50 calories a day just to maintain it.  So let’s say you add 3 pounds of muscle over summer.  You’re amazing body is now burning through 1,050 calories with no additional help.
For all you readers that would like to lose some weight, the wheels in your head are probably churning.  Before you run out and start curling away, think efficiently.  I’ve talked before about dynamic exercises.  Incorporate …read more

The weight training portion of my workout was brief today.  I decided to focus more on burning fat than building muscle because my entire week to this point was being sick, eating, getting better, eating and then being ok, eating and not going to the gym.  So with that sequence, I decided to go heavy on the treadmill (with only 50 minutes til gym closed).
Workout
22 minutes treadmill (the hard treadmill) 2.23 miles; 26 minutes total 2.48 miles (this includes my cool down walking stage)
mini burst workout (to be described in a second)
3×10 leg extensions, plate 12
On the mini burst workout, …read more

I bought a bike yesterday and I’m heading out to ride about 10 miles. This will be the first time I have rode such a distance in a long time and I’m really looking forward to the wind in my face and working up a good sweat. I’ve been wanting to get back in to bicycling for a long time but the roads here in NC do not have significant shoulders and it makes it kind of dangerous to ride.
The bike isn’t what I really wanted, which is a standard road bike with the ram-horn handle bars and narrow tires. …read more

Today was a solid workout, but I would have liked to get in a little more cardio before I stopped. Hopefully the resistance exercises I did stimulated my heart rate and gave me that fat burning I’m after. One thing was for sure, despite only 9+ minutes on the treadmill, I was soaked at the end of my workout.
One note on today’s workout was the treadmill gave up on me. I was targeting 10 high paced minutes as a good kick start to leg day, but the machine fluttered as I continued escalating the speed. Once …read more

Well, based on our past conversation, and watching this feat of amazingness last night, I’ve decided to give running another shot.
I decided that since I know for a fact now that it’s a mental block that keeps me from running, I can’t use it as an excuse anymore. So, since this is summer in Seattle, which means it was raining, I popped in Accepted, one of the most underrated and hilarious movies ever, cranked up the volume and hopped on the treadmill.

Rachel sent me this question:
Can someone just not be “good” at running? I have tried and tried and tried for the last couple months to work up my endurance and speed and it just isn’t happening. I am lucky to get a ten minute mile and even then I do intervals (2 minutes running & 1 minute speed walking and even then I only get up to 3 miles). It never seems to get any easier. Do you have any suggestions on ways to work on endurance? I do elliptical and the bike sometimes but don’t feel like I worked out …read more

I got this question from Danielle yesterday:
so I was wondering if you need to increase or decrease calories when trying to turn fat to muscle and how often/how much should you lift to tone and turn fat to muscle? And since I’m impatient how long should I wait to expect results?
This is one of those try-and-explain-evertyhing-about-working-out-in-one post questions, but I’ll give it a go.
 First of all, you can’t turn fat into muscle.

it’s good or bad news.  Scott over at Health and Men has put up this post about how the daily minimum requirement for cardiovascular exercise has been raised to 55 minutes for health gains, instead of 30 for the obese.
If 30 minutes seemed daunting, almost doubling it will surely send the apprehensive workout-er running for the hills.
Maybe the hills are 55 minutes away. That’s one day’s worth right there.