04.25.08

HIIT vs. SSC

Posted in Workouts tagged , , , , at 9:00 am by leslie

HIIT: High-Intensity Interval Training. Sprint, recover, repeat.
SSC: Steady-State Cardio. Long slow distance.

Which is better for burning fat? (That’s all anyone cares about when these two are mentioned in a single post, really.)

How about “both and neither” for an unambiguous answer? :)

There are benefits to both HIIT and SSC. They both get you moving. They both involve your heart and lungs and muscles. They both challenge your body (though in different ways). They both require mind over matter.

HIIT takes less time; SSC won’t make you puke (usually). HIIT, you’ll likely be feeling for a few hours after; SSC, you can do again tomorrow. HIIT, you think bad thoughts about the person who told you to do it; SSC, you invite your friends for a trail run.

There are proponents and opponents for both HIIT and SSC, and you can find lots of debates around the internet, with some claiming one is superior to the other, an “either/or” approach. There are studies that seem to back up one or the other. I prefer a “both/and”. Both HIIT and SSC have their place.

Which helps you lose fat/weight better? Both. In different ways, for different reasons, through different processes. But still, both.

We humans are made to move, and to move both fast and slow. Mix in both.

04.22.08

Post-Workout Nutrition

Posted in Nutrition, Supplements tagged , , , , , , at 10:06 am by leslie

Post-workout, your muscles need glucose and protein. (No fat.) Glucose to replace the glucose/glycogen that you just used up, and protein (amino acids) as building blocks for new muscle proteins.

Glucose is the direct molecule that your cells use to get energy. Fructose, found mostly in fruit, has to be converted to glucose by your liver. Maltodextrin is a starch of glucose molecules, usually made from corn or wheat.

Either glucose/fructose or maltodextrin or a combination of the two is fine. Some people are adamant about one or the other; most said simply “carbohydrate.” The main point is to get some kind of a faster-absorbing carb in your post-workout nutrition so that your muscle and liver glycogen can be restored (and won’t steal amino acids from your muscle proteins to reverse-engineer glucose).

My PWO shake:

  • 2 scoops Blue Ice Iso-Extreme (30 g protein)
  • 0.5 scoop Xtinguisher (25 g dextrose (carb))
  • 8 oz Fruit Punch Gatorade (14 g carbs (fructose & sucrose))
  • 1 scoop Max Glutamine (5 g)

An hour or so after your post-workout shake, have a regular meal of protein, carbs, and fat.

04.11.08

Push ups

Posted in Ramblings tagged , , , , , at 9:00 am by leslie

Somehow, the little push up is being debated as “sexist.” Seriously.

It all started with a New York Times article. The article suggested that push ups are a good measure of overall fitness because they’re an easy body-weight exercise to measure upper body strength. The article also says that push ups are important for older people to do because they’ll be able catch themselves more easily when they fall. All well and good.

(The video with the article is amusing–and sad. They show women doing either “girlie pushups” from their knees or just barely dipping their shoulders + dropping their hips (cheating and not a push up). In other words, those girls were not even doing push ups. Just to make sure I wasn’t despising them for something I couldn’t do, I dropped down beside my desk and did 20. Knuckles. No problem.)

I didn’t follow the story any more than that, but apparently there were “feminist bloggers” who took issue with the story. They claimed that the push up was unfair and “sexist” because women generally have less muscle in their upper bodies. (Hint: That makes it an even better test of fitness for women.) Since the push up was invented by males, they argue, we should get rid of it as a test of fitness.

Why is it “sexist” when women aren’t allowed to do something, but then once they are but can’t do it as well as men, it’s supposedly now an inherently sexist whatever-it-is that should be eliminated? We should eliminate push ups and pull ups because some women can’t do them? (Is that what “feminism” means? Only let everyone do what women can do? Gag.)

I can do push ups. (I’ve nearly got pull ups, too.) So can the girls in the TKD classes I teach. And guess what? They can do them better than most of the guys. Oh, yeah: and we do them on our knuckles. For each test, there is a push up requirement. One number. Not a separate number for girls and a different one for guys–because that would be sexist. (Equality’s what you want, right?)

Whining wimps. Drop and give me 20. Quit crying and start practicing. I like the attitude in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle in response to the silly backlash:

But I absolutely agree that push-ups are a symbol of everything we have done wrong in fitness, especially for women.
…
Here’s a newsflash about why women have a hard time with push-ups: We don’t do them. We don’t do other kinds of weight training that would build the necessary strength.
…
Women don’t do push ups because they think of them as a man exercise. Same goes for weightlifting. We teach women to strive for thin and toned, but not strong and powerful. I mean, be athletic, but not so athletic that you can kick a guy’s rear end at strength endeavors.

How many push ups can you do?

More article love:

Notice, too, that all those sites above are written by women. Who workout. Who do push ups and pull ups. What was your excuse again?

Update: I can now do pull ups.

04.08.08

NROLFW, 3A2, & BJJ class #2

Posted in Training Log tagged , , , , at 11:14 am by leslie

Last night, I went to my second BJJ class. (There’s a class every night of the week, except Sunday.) And I made it through the warm-up, no passing out. Nice. :) Couldn’t completely do everything, but got at least half of it and didn’t pass out. Good start. Did some rolling, and then went home for NROLFW Stage 3 A2. Because I’m that crazy.

NROLFW 3A2

  • DB Snatch: 3×6x25lbs
  • DB single-leg RDL: 3×6x25/10lbs (25-lb DB in off hand; 10-lb DB in other)
  • Bent-over Row: 2×6x50lbs, 1×6x40lbs
  • DB Single-arm OH squat: 3×6x5/10lbs
  • DB incline press: 3×6x25lb DBs
  • Planks: 1×60s

After that Plank, I dropped to the floor for the rest period… and didn’t get back up again. Body was done. Got to bed and was asleep in under 30 minutes. Nice.

I’d skipped the third lifting session last week because I was too tired; I slept away most of the weekend. So I’m a workout behind. Now I just have to figure out how to fit lifting around BJJ & TKD without burning out.

This morning, I’m sore, especially in my shoulders. One of the things we practiced at BJJ last night, you had to partially lift the other guy with your legs/arms; then the snatch & incline press really hit the shoulders.

04.07.08

Site Spotlight: Stumptuous

Posted in Workouts tagged , , , , , , , , at 9:00 am by leslie

One of the first websites I was introduced to for women & lifting was Stumptuous.com. Mistress Krista not only debunks all the reasons women shouldn’t lift weight, she also provides tutorials for getting started, inspirational stories, and other articles. And the website isn’t just for the grrls: the Training section includes the “Learn to Squat” series and “Lurn 2 squat good — E-ZY” article (for learning to squat properly, obviously) and the “From Dork to Diva” series (for learning a variety of exercises, with demonstration of bad form and good form).

04.04.08

Lost in Translation

Posted in Workouts tagged , , , at 10:41 am by leslie

beach_by_chris_gin.jpg
Photo* by Chris Gin

I’ve done Tae Kwon Do for almost 7 years now; I’m a black belt. I’ve been doing NROLFW for several months now and have been throwing around some heavy weights. I’ve been doing HIIT. I’ve still got some work to do, but I’ve been happy with my progress. And I thought I was in pretty decent shape.

And then…

Last night, I started classes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Their warm-up kicked my butt. I nearly passed out. Spent the rest of the night on the sidelines trying not to throw up or pass out (or deciding which to do first). I have some work to do here.

Just because you’re good at one thing (e.g., head-level kicks, calf-machine raises) doesn’t mean you can waltz in to something entirely different and immediately be good at it. I’m so used to being a black belt at TKD. Now I get to start over at white belt. This oughta be fun. :D

*This photo has nothing to do with the post, except that I wish I were there =P

04.03.08

NROLFW, 3B1

Posted in Training Log tagged at 9:24 am by leslie

  • RDL/BOR: 3×6x50lbs
  • Pistol squats: 3×6xbw
  • Wide-Grip Pulldowns: 1×6x50lbs, 2×6x60lbs
  • Swiss Ball Reverse Hyperextensions: 3×6
  • YTWL: 3×6x5-lb DBs
  • Swiss Ball Crunch: 3×6x20lsb
  • Jackknives: 3×6
  • Flexion #3: 3×6
  • Prone Cobra: 3×90s

Intervals… didn’t happen: too tired, mentally and physically. The workout itself isn’t tough in the same gasping-for-breath, heart-pounding way that Workout A or Stage 2 was, but it still isn’t easy. And then I went and sat down for about an hour and stood up–wow! wiped out.

04.02.08

Losing “weight”

Posted in Ramblings tagged , , at 9:00 am by leslie

duck_softcotton.jpg
Photo by softcotton

When people say they want to lose weight, they mean that they want the number on the scale to go down.

Image you could wake up tomorrow with your ideal body, whatever size you want. Whatever clothing size you wanted. Strong, fit. Remember, this is your ideal body. But there’s one catch: you weigh 500 lbs. Would you take it?

That’s an extreme example, I know. But so often I hear people equate “ideal body” with “ideal body weight.” The two aren’t the same. A pound of muscle takes up less room than a pound of fat, even though both weigh 1 lb. In other words, just because the scale shows a “low” weight, you still might not fit in those size 4 jeans because you have a larger percentage of fat that takes up more room. (And you’ll still struggle to carry in that gallon of milk.)

The scale lies. It doesn’t tell you what’s in your body, only how much that body weighs. Why let an inanimate object define how you feel about yourself?

04.01.08

NROLFW, 3A1

Posted in Training Log tagged , , at 10:57 am by leslie

I have been run over by a truck…

  • One-arm DB snatch: 3×6x20lb –I love these!
  • DB single-leg RDL: 1×6x10lb DBs, 2×6x20lb DB (switched from 2 10-lb DBs to 1 20-lb DB–balance improved)
  • Bent-over Row: 3×6x40lbs
  • DB single-arm OH squat: 3×6x5/10lb DB (oops–lighter weight is supposed to go overhead)
  • DB incline press: 1×6x10lb DBs, 1×6x15lbs DBs, 1×6x20lbs DBs
  • Planks: 3×90s
  • Reverse Wood Chop: 3×6x10lbs

Followed by the Bodyweight Matrix:

  • 24 bw squats — easy
  • 12 lunges/leg — yawn
  • 12 jump lunges/leg — ouchies. Quads quit working about halfway through, and feet get stuck to the ground…
  • the end…

You’re supposed to repeat the BW Matrix, but I could hardly move my legs. Still sore and stiff today. Whew.