Archive for July 2009

Day 20 Chest / 30 min cardio

Max OT requires heavy lifts 4-6 rep range…without a partner it can be hard.

So I was only able to do 245×5 / 3 sets. With a workout partner I would of strived for 285…next time!

In other news I see this guy in the gym and everytime I see him he’s working chest….I have a new name for him…CHESTER!

Day 18: A Wife's Love: Back Max OT/45mins Cardio

Day 16 Biceps Max OT/ 45min Cardio

45 mins of cycling with NOxplode…it works, not only that, after the first 30 minutes you really get in a zone.

“the dictionary is the only place where success comes before work”

Before and After Weight Loss Success Photos: How’d she do it? Part II

I posted a story about a Indiana woman (Before and After Weight Loss Success Photos: How’d she do it?) who changed her life around and got incredible feedback. She recently entered a fitness competition the OCB and wanted to share her secrets to success.

I began by doing cardio 4 days/week for 30 minutes.  I bought an elliptical so that helped tremendously since I didn’t have a gym membership yet.  I also stopped eating processed food.  I stopped drinking soda pop.  Cut out all sugar and used substitues like Splenda or Stevia.  I made sure that I drank at least 8 glasses of water each day.  After about 4 months of this, I began to notice a huge difference.  I lost 30 lbs! Wow, I was excited!

I knew that I needed to lose more, but didn’t know exactly what to do, so I went and joined the gym up the road from my home.  I started working out every single day doing cardio for at least 45 minutes.  I still had not yet added weight training.  It wasn’t until one day I met a gentleman at the gym while I was mumbling to myself how I was frustrated with not “seeing” the results I wanted.  He told me he did some training on the side, and wondered if I’d like to give it a try.  At this point, I was desperate to get the rest of the weight off.  I was up for anything.  I was at 140 lbs. and holding…

Thus began my “newfound” calling.  I began training every Monday with the personal trainer.  He told me which machines to use, what to eat etc.  There were so many things that I didn’t know about the human body.  Ways to manipulate muscle and what cardio does in combination with the correct diet and weights!  It was a miracle.  The first 2 weeks of training I lost 6 lbs.  I was hooked.  I felt wonderful, like I hadn’t felt in years.  After training with him for 3 1/2 months, I lost about 32 more lbs.  I had the drive to compete, the drive to succeed, and continue to be successful in a healthy lifestyle and the tools I needed to do it.
I’m outlining what I do as a 5’0 106lbs. woman who weighed 170lbs to begin with.  Every individual is different.  I invested in a personal trainer, and it was worth every dollar, but more importantly every single pound.

**Cardio is essential (YOU MUST DO CARDIO AT LEAST 20 MINUTES/DAY)  You WILL NOT burn fat without cardio.  Weight training does burn fat and increases the metabolism, however, for women, it is a necessary evil!  Sorry ladies…cardio incinerates fat cells, along with the proper diet.   Also, with the help of gym staff you must calculate your BPM for your height and weight to be able to monitor where your heart rate should be in order to be actually “burning fat”.  None of that slow walking… or barely moving, you’ve got to get your butt moving!!!

Monday – Saturday
45 – 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical, AMT Cross Trainer, Treadmill, etc.)

Weight Training
Monday – Legs (Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves & Thighs)
Wednesdays – Upper Body (Back, Biceps, Triceps & Shoulders)
Friday – Abs, Abs, Abs… and Chest

My workouts consist of a mix of using the machines and free weights (dumbbells).  Ex.  The Smith-Machine is wonderful for squats and leg work for me.  For some, they may prefer to use a straight bar with weights.  You have to find what will work for you to get the results you need.

Diet -
I don’t view the “diet” as a diet.  I don’t look at the way I eat as being on a diet.  A diet is basically what you eat on a day to day basis.  So I just refer to what I eat as my meals.  When I hear the word diet, dread comes forth! LOL
5-6 small meals daily – it is essential to eat at least every 2 1/2 – 3 hours respectively.   You MUST feed your body in order for it to “let go” of that stored fat.  This does NOT mean that you eat whatever you want.  I eat protein and complex carbs with every meal.  I eat a bit more at breakfast and lunch.  In between meals are lighter like a protein shake with some dry oats for example.

7a – Oatmeal & Eggs w/ fruit
10a-  Protein Shake
1p -  Chicken Breast w/ salad and fruit or lowfat cottage cheese
3p -  Protein Shake or Protein bar w/ almonds or sunflower seeds
7p -  Talapia w/ brocoli or brown rice
9p -  Protein Shake (maybe if still a bit hungry) * I don’t normally eat after 8P

This is just a sample of what I eat on a daily basis.  It’s just a general outline.  My protein intake is very high, and I eat carbs, but in moderation and only fibrous complex carbs, but that’s because I am currenlty in training for an upcoming competition.  My fat intake is in limited moderation also daily.  Only “good” fats like in salmon for instance.  Or in olive oil.  Everything in moderation.  I also weight my food, but again, its becasue I’m in training.  Off season, I’m not as strict, but I do still maintain a high protein intake daily on or off season.  I also always limit my carb intake.  Bread, NO!  NO! NO!  and absolutely NO ALCOHOL!  Lots and lots of sugar and carbs in alcohol.  DON’T be fooled…

50 Simple Fitness Tests to See Where You Stack Up

Cool Sites!

Some people enjoy exercising. Some people don’t. But everyone needs a little activity in life. Start a new exercise and nutrition plan with the help of these 50 simple fitness tests and calculators to assess your health’s current state. Always consult your doctor when you begin any new fitness or diet regimen to make sure it’s right for you and your body.

Strength Fitness Tests

1. The Crunch Test – Another great test needing only a watch, this crunch test lets you measure your abdominal strength and endurance.
2. The Push-up Test – With just a watch, you can measure you strength and endurance with this simple push-up test.
3. Assess Your Muscular Strength – This simple site lets you use how many push-ups you can do in 2 minutes to determine your muscular strength.
4. The 5 Second Muscle Test – “Use this simple test to spot your weaknesses and help you increase the amount of weight you can hoist.”
5. Muscle and Strength Toolbox – Whether you’re trying to lose weight or chisel muscles, this site has the tools, guides, and wisdom you need.
6. Lift for Life.com – For bodybuilders only, this site helps with the nutritional and physical aspects of shaping yourself into all you can be.
7. Test Your Flexibility – This site provides a 2-for-1: it helps ease you into the stretching game, and lets you use stretching as a way to determine just how flexible you really are.
8. Assess Your Balance – With just two feet and a stopwatch, you’ve got all the tools you need for this site to assess how balanced you are.

Metabolic Fitness Tests

9. The 3-minute Step Test – This is a fun, quick way to measure your cardiovascular fitness level with a simple step technique.
10. Weight Loss: Measure Your Metabolism – This site helps you determine your metabolism, which helps you measure your necessary caloric intake.
11. The Famous Running and Fitness Calculator Page! – For runners only, this site helps you determine your pace, predict race results, and compare your results with those of different genders and ages.
12. Pace Calculator – This sleek site helps you determine your running pace, which just might get you ahead in the next race.

Health and Fitness Screenings and Calculators

13. Fitness Tools & Calculators – These great tools include heart rate info, body fat and BMI calculators, and even nutritional analyses.
14. Interactive Tool: What Is Your Target Heart Rate? – Using just your age and your average heartbeat, this site helps you determine what your heart rate should be.
15. My Apex Fitness Tools – A few neat fitness tools to gauge your metabolic rate, body mass index and daily caloric needs all for free.
16. Heart Rate Recovery Quiz – With this interactive quiz, you can determine what shape your ticker is in.
17. Cool Tools and Calculators – This site has all sorts of awesome info, from fast food calorie-counters to healthy snack checkers and everything in-between.
18. Fitness Tools – This slick site helps determine your current fitness level, evaluates your nutritional intake, and determine a fitness program that’s right for you.
19. Healthy Living and Fitness Tools – This site helps determine your heart condition, stroke risk, BMI, and much more.
20. Bodybuilding.com Fitness Calculators – Work on your nutrition, cardio, and sports ability with this great site.
21. About.com: Fitness Calculators – Determine your pace, take a walking test, and determine your ideal weight with this simple site.
22. One-Mile Fitness Calculator – This thorough test determines how healthy your heart is, and provides tips on how to make it stronger.
23. Army PFT Calculator – Using your ability to do push-ups, sit-ups, and run 2 miles, this calculator determines if you’re fit for the Army.
24. Health and Fitness Calculator – This site maximizes your weight loss by helping to measure your heart rate, find a healthy blood pressure, determine your BMI, and much more.
25. Air Force Physical Fitness Test Calculator – If you’d like to defend the blue skies, take this Air Force test to determine if you’ve got what it takes.
26. Measured Success: 50 Online Fitness and Nutrition Calculators – This site offers links to so many health calculators, you may need your own calculator to keep track of them.
27. Race Training Tools – This bevy of free online tools helps get your mind and body in harmony for the big race.
Super Fitness Tools Web Sites
28. Fitness Tests Section – This no-frills site will help you with benchmarking, goal setting, and also offers feedback and motivation for your fitness activities.
29. Rob’s Home of Fitness Testing – With over 120 fitness tests and awesome health info, this site will get you fit in no time.
30. Fitness Tests – This site provides quirkier (but useful) fitness tests, with activities that you can do on treadmills or outdoors, running or walking, and even on your bicycle.
31. Fitness Testing – This simple site has plenty of exercises for strength, endurance, cardiovascular fitness and body composition, and also provides information on cholesterol and health screenings.
32. FREE Fitness Tools – Making Learning Health & Fitness Fun! – This fun site provides fitness crosswords, quizzes, polls, and much more.
33. Fit-Bottomed Girls – The Fit-Bottomed Girls provide various programs and techniques to help you stay in shape, from exercise journals and map-running software to virtual trainers and health-food finders.
34. Every Body’s Personal Trainer – This site helps you find your own personal trainer, and provides a variety of links to help you shed pounds at home.

Diet and Nutrition Tools

35. Health Tools for Your Use—Free! – This simple site helps you keep track of your daily walks, count carbs, and provides a variety of fitness tests.
36. Fitness Tools – This site helps you calculate calories burned, figure out your water requirement, and just how much of your favorite activities it will take to burn the pounds away.
37. Interactive Tool: How Many Calories Did You Burn? – This pick-me-up website helps determine how many calories you burned throughout your day.

Weight Loss Tools and Tests

38. Weight Loss and Muscle Building Tools – This site helps you sculpt your physique through protein intake, calorie-burning exercises, a healthy fat calculator, and more.
39. Women Fitness: Fitness Tools – This women-centric site helps you rate your flexibility, figure out your BMI, help set a target weight, and much more.
40. Diet & Fitness Tools – These tools provide fun challenges, expert quizzes, and informative videos to help you lose weight.
41. Calorie Burn Calculator – Just select your favorite physical activity, tell the machine your weight, and tell it how long you’ll be performing the activity. It instantly tells you how many calories you’ll burn.
42. Weight Loss: Body Mass Index Calculator – This quick, easy site lets you calculate your BMI in no time.
43. Weight Loss: Weight Loss Calculator – With this simple site, you input your goal weight reduction, and it estimates how long it will take you to reach this goal.
44. Online Diet and Fitness Tools – This no-frills site provides links to things like health portals, dieting support sites, and food availability calculators.
45. Waist to Hip Ratio Calculator – This simple site determines your waist to hip ratio.
46. Changing Shape 2.0 – This site helps you determine your strength, figure out caloric intake, and shed those unwanted pounds.
47. SELF: Calculators and Programs – This SELF magazine site provides women-friendly advice on losing weight, toning up, and living a healthier life.
48. tweight.com – The weight-loss future is now—simply “tweet” your weight via Twitter periodically, and follow your own weight-loss history online.
49. What Does 200 Calories Look Like? – Because a picture is worth a 1000 words (if not a 1000 calories), this site gives you bright pictures of food servings, along with info about how many calories they contain.
50. Gear Inch & Shifting Pattern Calculator – For cyclists only, this site helps you determine how far you need to bike to reach your target weight-loss goal.

Now that you know where you stand on the fitness spectrum, you can gauge a better idea of how hard you’ll have to work to get your dream body and lead a healthy lifestyle for good.

Crash and Burn....30 inches of Manhood

Today I got caught up with work and traffic and crashed. Normally I do arms, Day 2 of the Max OT program, so I will go at it again tomorrow. My current goal is to eat clean and get my waist line down to 30″. Did I say waistline 30″…haven’t been there since the days of flat tops and cross colors. This will be a test of my manhood…diet,discipline,desire and determination (4D’s)

This is what 30in looks like

Day 14 : A Black Woman's Weight Loss Success Story

I blasted my legs today …I almost trembled out of the gym. I took some NO Xplode before I started, for someone with had a slightly elevated BP this might not be a good idea, but I needed the boost today. It worked 45min cardio on the bike is the longest so far and the 315 squat felt alot easier than normal.

I was motivated big time today. I’m stealing this straight from my girl over at thefitnessgoddess.com

My Guilty Pleasure and My Saving Grace Day11

Day 11 was last week….but I had this saved so I’ll post it anyway. I was going to write a long article on self confidence and your deserving to be fit. This one was going to be deep…real deep. Instead I will leave you with a quote to think about over the weekend “EXHALE: if you don’t have self confidence you’ll always find a way not to win”

You’ve heard it before you can workout all day and all night but it won’t mean squat if the diet is not spot on!

My Saving Grace:

NEED INSPIRATION:

http://www.theajzone.com/all-about-aj/