February’s P90X2 Experiment [Barre Experiment Results Are In!]
One day into our P90X2 Experiment and I am unimpressed. The reason: I have the stomach flu* and therefore permission to watch as much crap television as I want without feeling (too) guilty and instead of getting cozy with Project Runway All-stars (How much does this show suck without Tim Gunn and Heidi?!) I’m sitting here listening to Tony Horton and taking notes like a school girl in detention. Albeit a really pale, shivery school girl with a fever. (Although I’m not as bad off as Gym Buddy Allison who puked so much last night she fainted and had to go to the ER. Bad week for Gym Buddies: we be dropping like flies.)
Anyhow, it’s making me a wee bit resentful. The reason? P90X2 doesn’t come with an instruction booklet like the first P90X did. For people who do the program at home with constant access to a DVD player it’s no big deal but for those of us who need to use a gym for the equipment and childcare then it’s, dare I say it, nearly a deal breaker. Because this means I have to watch all FOURTEEN videos and write down every move, a description of how to do it because he makes up some weirdly awesome stuff, sets, reps and rest periods. Instead of the super-helpful booklet (it also had a place to write down your weights so you could track your progress), now I have a 20-page glossy book that the Gym Buddies and I have dubbed “Tony Porn” because it’s just page after page of pictures of his admittedly very impressive physique sprinkled with a few words.
But, aside from the pencil purgatory I’m in at the moment, P90X2 looks pretty awesome. It’s definitely not a repeat of the first version and just judging on this, I think I’m going to like #2 better than the first. Which is saying a lot since I was a huge fangirl the first time around. This time Tony is focusing more on the newest fitness research and streamlining the workouts which is a huge plus since one of the biggest complaints against the first version was how time consuming it was. He is also making it simpler to follow the plan. The kickboxing is totally gone but there’s several new workout formats built around active rest and recovery, presumably to circumvent the injuries for which P90X is also famous for.
Anyhow, despite all my whining, the workouts look solid and I’m really excited to get started on this one. We all really enjoyed the challenge of P90X and it looks like this one will live up to that legacy. There are three phases, just like the original (hence the “90″) but this time he recommends spending 3-6 weeks in each phase plus one week of recovery in the middle. We’ll be doing each phase for three weeks unless we get into it and realize we need more time and then we’ll take it.
There is a nutrition guide that comes with it which is much more comprehensive than the old one and even allows for several different tracks based on your goals and different meal preferences within those tracks – like say you’re a vegetarian who wants to get ripped, Tony has a whole food plan customized just for you. Since I am no longer doing food Experiments however, I’ll just be doing the workouts.
Barre Experiment Results
Honestly this workout was just “meh” for me. It was a good burn – anyone who thinks ballerinas are wimps needs to try this immediately – but the workouts were incredibly long. If I’m going to spend that much time, I’d expect to see some kind of difference in my body from it but I didn’t. All measurements stayed exactly the same. So given that end, I’d rather lift heavy for 30 minutes and reap all the metabolic benefits of that rather than burn out 100 reps with 5-lb ‘bells for an hour and a half.
That said, my ennui could be attributed to the fact we only did the workouts with videos – hah, you should have seen us all crowded around Allison’s tiny 7″ portable DVD player in the middle of the stretching area! – and books. Given what I’ve heard from some of you, taking it in a Barre studio is a totally different and much more fun experience.
And now I think I need to hurl again. Gah. Please forgive my whininess – it’s been A Day. I feel asleep on the floor only to wake up to Jelly Bean screeching “Mommy PWETTY!!!” as she decorated me with my new lipstick. After she’d used up most of the tube on herself.
Any of you trying P90X2 yet??
*AGAIN. I KNOW. I never get sick and now stomach flu twice this season!
Eating is Now A Spectator Sport: How do you play?
A waitress friend of mine recently snapped a pic of an overweight patron’s meal. Why? So she could text it to several of her friends. Sure her customer’s meal was appalling – One of every appetizer? Yes, please – but even more so was the realization that now, more than ever, eating is a spectator sport. People feel they not only have a right to see what other people are eating but also to pass judgment on it. Even though we don’t.
I blame the media for this. Or at least for beginning the trend with shows like the Biggest Loser that have cameras recording participants’ every bite and advertising that relies on monitoring a person’s food intake to sell their product a la Jared the Subway Guy. We won’t even talk about the media hoopla surrounding Marie Osmond, Kirstie Alley, and the grand dame of weight loss struggles, Oprah. Jessica Alba can’t take a bite of food without a telephoto lens documenting it.
I know all this because every weight blip is broadcast to an eager audience, one I am apparently a part of despite the fact that I have never seen even one episode of The Biggest Loser (culturally irrelevant, that’s me!) and the last time I ate in a Subway was Homecoming dance my junior year of high school when I got food poisoning from old ham and spent the rest of the night upchucking in the E.R. Remember when Jared TSG showed up looking a bit meatier and immediately the Examiner exclaimed, “We’re sure Jared will lose the extra weight in no time. After all, his career as a Subway spokesperson depends on it.” highlighting the fact that we have entered the era where losing weight is an official career choice. And a lucrative one.
But if eating has become a sport, not eating (i.e. dieting or “making lifestyle changes”) has become the national pastime. Instead of Ladies Who Lunch, we have ladies who pick at their lunches and talk about how they really should have ordered the salad. I’ve often wondered if my inability to have a conversation with a new acquaintance without talk turning to weight loss, exercise or food stems from what I do for a living or because everyone just talks about it that much. Both?
The weird twist, however, is that while we feel (too?) comfortable commenting on a stranger’s weight whether it be on TV or texting their menu choices to friends, many of us don’t dare broach the subject with our friends. Perhaps we are afraid of offending people or losing a friendship but my personal theory is that people are already keenly aware of what they weigh and whether or not that is healthy for them and therefore do not need me to tell them about it.
And yet.
The other day I came home from the gym and noticed during my post-shower grooming ritual that mostly involves random tweezing and lotioning my brillo-bad kneecaps (they have actually ran my nylons – back in the days when I wore nylons. Which I don’t now, but I digress.) a realllly long, dark hair on my jawline. It was so bad I should have been getting better radio reception everywhere I went. It was clearly visible and so embarrassing. My first thought was: why didn’t the Gym Buddies tell me I was rocking a chin-stache??
My chin hair gave me an A-Ha moment (paging Oprah!): I wish my weight weren’t an issue at all – that nobody would notice it one way or the other – but since that is not the case (not for me, not for anyone) I would rather my friends talk to me about it than a stranger.
Which would you prefer – strangers commenting on your weight or a good friend? (Sadly, “nobody” is not an option.) Do you feel comfortable commenting on a strangers weight? Would you talk to a friend about hers or his? Is anyone else’s worst nightmare having a waitress text pics of your cheat meal to all her friends???
Just do SOMETHING. Every day!
New Motto.
I love it. Today- I am sore. And I am loving it! WOOT! So excited. In fact so excited I shot this vlog tonight after I did an impromptu workout at night!! Check it:
I feel really good about getting back to good habits. I’m taking my vitamins every day at lunch-time, in addition to the GNC Genetix HD supplement stack I’ve shared in the past. Call me crazy, but I feel like I see some leaning out in myself. Probably too early to tell but we’ll see.
GOAL.
I’m just looking back at the last few months of 2011, well September- December so a bit more, but seeing what was wrong. It was all WORK and no rest, so I’m putting boundaries in place and re-establishing habits. I can’t be all things to all people or I’m no good to anyone! I have to put me first. And now I am. You’ll see a difference.
Random QUESTION OF THE DAY: When do you go to bed, and when do you wake up??
How Do You Know When to Push and When to Rest?
Disaster struck at the gym this morning. We were doing the P90X fitness assessment to prepare for February’s Great P90X 2 Experiment (I know!! Squee!!!) that we start Wednesday. The test has you check your performance against the P90X standard in pull-ups, push-ups, in-and-outs (abs), vertical jump, biceps curl max, wall sit, flexibility and a high-intensity cardio interval to check how quickly your heart rate recovers, to see if you are fit enough to do the workout. Needless to say, the test to do the workout is a workout in and of itself. But us being us, we had to tack on a few things. We figured if we were testing stuff, might as well test everything! Plus, I cannot even tell you how much I love a workout that makes me take a test first.
The plank and balancing on one leg with our eyes closed were both hard and hilarious but the problem came when we decided to time ourselves sprinting one lap around our indoor track (1/10th of a mile). Still bent over sucking wind from my sprint, I didn’t see it all happen but just as Gym Buddy Krista crossed the finish line, her ankle rolled and she went down, smacking into a nearby wall. She is a trouper and didn’t shed a tear but as of this evening, she reports it’s so swollen she can’t flex her foot and can barely walk on it. The worst part? She is leaving to go on a cruise in two days.
As Daria got her an ice pack, I did the next most helpful thing and told her stories about other gym injuries I’ve seen (I know, I’m a regular Florence Nightingale) and we had a good giggle remembering how the last time we took this fitness assessment Gym Buddy Allison smacked into a wall doing the vertical leap and got a huge scrape and bruise down her shin that lasted for weeks. (We were laughing about that not because we’re sadists but because we had to spend 15 minutes talking her into doing the jump – all you do is take one step and then jump, touching the wall as high as you can and yet she was terrified she was going to smack into the wall like a muggle at Platform 9 3/4. “There’s no way you’re going to hit the wall! You can’t, you don’t even get a running start!” we assured her. She hit the wall. Really hard. I laughed so hard I was crying. Okay now we really sound like sadists. ANYHOW.)
“It’s like the P90X test is cursed for us,” I joked. But when I got home I wasn’t laughing anymore. What had seemed like coincidence at first glance, ended up looking anything but. We’re all perfectionists and so for a test we were pushing ourselves as hard as possible. Too hard? I don’t know. I don’t think fitness tests are inherently bad but I also don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the times when Gym Buddies get injured are when we are really pushing ourselves – tests, one-rep maxes, online challenges, and race training have all side-lined us over the years.
I’m sure some of this is just par for the course. I don’t know any regular exerciser who doesn’t have a story or two like this. And yet when I came across Gina Kolata’s article in the New York Times “Personal Best: Workouts have their limits whether recognized or not” I saw a lot of myself in it. She writes:
“While public health officials bemoan the tendency of most people to do little exercise, if any, physiologists are fretting over the opposite trend: an increasing focus on extreme exercise among some recreational athletes. Weight lifting with no rest between sets and with no days off. Endurance training with no easy days or days off. Competitions that encourage excess. And there is no shortage of commercial fitness programs promising to push people beyond their limits.”
Um. I wouldn’t know anything about those… Oh wait, I wrote a book about pushing myself beyond my limits.
“People think a good workout is, ‘I am in a pile of sweat and puking,’ ” said William Kraemer, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. But if that happens, he said, “it means you went much too quickly, and your body just can’t meet its demands.”
In the past I have definitely been guilty of that mentality but over the past couple of years – really since Jelly Bean has been born – I’ve gotten a lot better. I don’t do double workouts anymore. I take a rest day every week. Workouts stay under an hour, generally. (This was a hard one with the Barre Experiment – those suckers are long workouts!) But the piece I haven’t mastered yet is of course the most critical: learning to listen to my body. Kolata says, “There are no hard and fast rules, because individual athletes vary so much. A training program that one person thrives on will break another, equally talented athlete.” The best cues to rely on then are the ones that only you can recognize.
And I’m still bad at that. After we finished the fitness test this morning, we still had some time left so Daria and I ran interval repeats. Even though I was already pretty spent and they did not sound fun at all.
This is what I need to learn:
I don’t have to push myself to the limit in every workout.
I can skip a workout and be fine.
Just because someone else can do something and be fine doesn’t necessarily mean I can.
I do not always have to be training for something.
Everything is not a competition.
Writing these all out helps but I’d love some more advice. Obviously there are times when it’s great to push yourself – the amazing results you get from Tabata training* come from the amazing effort you have to put into it – but there are times when rest is equally as important.
What’s your training schedule like? Anyone else feel like they need to constantly be setting goals and meeting them to feel like their workouts are worthwhile? How does your body tell you when it’s time to rest? Also, any prayers for a speedy recovery for Krista will be much appreciated!
*Check out Athletic Ali’s incredible results from her 6-week Tabata experiment! Seriously amazing.
Sweet.
Happy Sunday Peeps. I am feeling GREAT!!! I actually had a full night of sleep (amen) followed by a perfect day of eats (Amen) and a kick butt workout! WOOT! And I mark today as my first real day back at real weights…especially for my now (hopefully) not-injured shoulder. I did Taebo Amped followed by some circuit blasts for shoulders. I only went up to 8lb weights and really focused hard on form.
First circuit was:
- Upright Row
- Overhead Press
- Front Raise
- Bent over (rear) Raise
In between each set I ran up and down my stairs 2x or did plyo.
Second circuit was:
- Bent arm delt raise
- Straight arm delt raise
- Bicep front raises (if you’ve done any of Billy Blanks workouts you might know what I mean by this. Think of your arms in a bicep curl position and you push up the dumbells toward the ceiling with your shoulders while your arms are in the bent position. It’s a burner)
Yea I was all about stretching after this workout. Burned 735 calories and I am feeling the DOMS creep in right now. YUMMY.
Here’s my mid-workout vlog:
So how was your weekend? I hope this week I can absolutely wow myself and you and crush my workouts, total consistency, total awesomeness. That’s the plan.
Question of the Day: What is your favorite way to prepare vegetables? I’m digging the roasting of vegetables lately. In a big way.
Are Push-Ups Better Than a Push-Up For Your Chest? (And what are square boobs?)
“I must! I must! I must increase my bust! The bigger the better, the tighter the sweater, the boys depend on…” Not me, that’s for darn sure. (And for any of you that are going to point out how busty I look in that green-skirt pic in the rotating images at the top of my site – push-up bra + pose, for the win!) As a small-chested girl who’s always wanted to be just a smidge bigger I’ll admit that I’ve always read with interest anything that reasonably claims to enhance my bust size. Okay and I might possibly have read a few that weren’t so reasonable. Hush.
While growing up hasn’t changed my girls much – some women get bigger knockers during pregnancy, mine just stopped pointing in the same direction – getting older has changed my perception of them. As in, I really don’t care as much about size as I used to. They are what they are and they do what I need them to do and for all other occasions, Victoria kindly shares her Secret with me. No surgery, pills or creams for me. But if there were an exercise or two that helped perk them up? I’d be all over it.
When I first got into weight lifting years ago, there was a lot of talk amongst the lady lifters about the effects of different chest exercises on our boobs. I was even told by a female personal trainer not to lift heavy for chest exercises as it would give me “square boobs.” What on earth are square boobs?! I was reminded of this when I got the following Facebook from Reader Kristin:
“What kind of exercises are best for chest for ladies? I’ve heard mixed reviews, some say that BB [barbell] benchpress is totally fine whereas others claim it makes a woman look too “boxy”. I personally stick with cables but that’s only because I don’t know the exact effects of other traditional chest exercises (wouldn’t want to look boxy!). Thanks and I love love LOVE your blog!!
”
First, thank you for taking the time to read my blog – seriously it means so much to me, you guys! Second, great question and imagining “boxy boobs” has had me giggling all weekend. You remember the old joke about the blond stuffing the actual box of tissues down her bra…? But anyhow, I think that square boobs, boxy boobs and manly boobs are all terms girls use in referring to over-developed pecs where you have a line down your chest that isn’t cleavage. Kind of like this:
I’m not body-snarking on Kelly Ripa – I adore her and I think she’s got a gorgeous bod but I remember a couple of years ago when she took a lot of flak for looking too muscular in a dress, particularly in the chest area. I’m not saying I agree with the criticism but I do know that a lot of women worry about weight lifting making them look too bulky and it feels even more personal when it’s in such a particularly feminine area. I know some of you will roll feel I’m getting too Cosmo up in here but this is a worry I’ve heard quite a few women express.
So what’s a girl who wants to be strong, wouldn’t mind perkier boobs and yet doesn’t want to look like a dude in a dress supposed to do? Here are my thoughts, keeping in mind that I’m as much an expert on this as Kim Kardashian is about marriage.
1. You need to work your chest. To maintain proper alignment of your spine, balance between your back and chest muscles and good posture you need to have reasonably strong chest muscles.
2. Most women don’t have enough testosterone to really bulk out but if you are particularly concerned you can take the advice of a personal trainer friend of mine. He said, “What do you do when you want hypertrophy (to make the muscle bigger)? You lift really heavy in short sets with long rest periods. So if you don’t want hypertrophy then don’t do that.” i.e. Use lighter weights for more reps and less rest in between. But let me go on the record saying while we do have some control over the shape of our muscles (but not the length, that’s genetically determined) that I think without steroids the differences here are going to be minimal.
3. A lot of how defined you look depends on how much body fat is covering your muscles. If you tend to lose weight up top before anywhere else (like me) then you’ll get that boxy look faster. Boobs are made up of a lot of fat and for a lot of women losing weight can deflate those puppies pretty fast. Unfortunately we don’t get much of a say where our body chooses to store fat but gaining weight and body fat can help you look softer.
4. Change is key. So what if you are enjoying your barbell bench presses and you do them every workout? That’s not going to be good in more ways than just the shape of your muscles. Vary your exercises so you end up working the chest muscles from different angles and using different supporting muscles. There’s no need to work your chest (or any other muscle) in every single workout either. And don’t forget to work your back too – gotta stay balanced! If you’re looking for ideas other than push-ups and bench presses, here are a few of my fave chest moves:
One-arm dumbbell chest press: Just like a regular chest press but this one works your core by forcing your body to stabilize the off-balance weight. You can do it laying on an exercise ball to up the instability if you want (and if you never read that story about the man doing this when his ball popped and he broke both arms…).
Towel pulls: Hold a towel between your hands about shoulder width apart. Contract your chest and pull out tightly on the towel. Hold for 15 seconds. This move is great because isometric exercises are very powerful but also because you look hilarious standing there with your arms barely moving and sweat pouring down your face. You can also do this with a Pilates ring, pressing inward.
Plate slide outs: Using a gliding disc or plastic plates on carpet or a rag on a wood floor, place one hand on the floor and the other on the plate. Assume a push-up position. Lower down slowly while sliding your hand on the disc out to the side. As you push back up, contract your chest to pull the plate back in to the starting position. You can work up to using plates under both hands. Warning: these are brutal!
So tell me honestly: does the whole weightlifting-boobs conversation bug you? What’s your fave chest exercise? Any advice to help Kristin out (or correct me)??
6 “Healthy” Foods That You Should Never Eat
See, it does take a village! Of chihuahuas!
It’s Project Runway, health food cycle: One day you’re in, the next day you’re out! (Bonus points if you can say that like Heidi Klum.) Food fads are a sad but true fact in the health and fitness industry. Science, and more importantly marketers, are always pimping the next Super Food. And sometimes that introduces us to some really awesome weird foods that we might not have otherwise tried. Chia seeds, quinoa and acai berries anyone? Many times these fads are duds. And then there are the few times where purportedly “healthy” foods are actually harming you. Check out my slideshow on Shape.com to see the full list of 6 Healthy Foods That Should Never Pass Your Lips but the one most surprising to me was – dun, dun, dun – agave nectar!
Long touted as an “all natural” and healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners, it turns out the agave nectar sold in stores, including “blue,” “natural,” and “organic” varieties, has more fructose than even high-fructose corn syrup and is far more processed than plain table sugar. If you’ve watched “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” then you’ll know that fructose taken out of fruit (where it occurs naturally) becomes a toxin when processed. While it’s true that agave nectar is lower on the glycemic index than other sweeteners, it’s no dietary friend but rather poison disguised as a health food. All of which really surprised me given the aura of “health” that surrounds it.
Any of you surprised to discover a food you thought was healthy, wasn’t? Have you ever tried a food fad??
Other things I wrote this week:
Fitness Trainers Reveal: The #1 Piece of Equipment I Swear By (which we already discussed on here but all my trainers are so darn adorable I had to give them a little more love!)
Are your birth control pills safe? (And the controversy rumbles on…)
Do you make your kids write thank you notes? (Or do you write them for them? Cough, cough, not that I’d know anything about that)
The #1 Thing Parents Wish People Understood About Their Child (Weirdly this got reposted on Yahoo and the comments are even crazier this time around. If that’s possible.)
Mom’s 10 Weirdest Tips for Saving Money
Is it harder having 1 child or 9? (One mom’s poignant answer may surprise you)
How parenting changes us: Jay-Z to stop using “bitch” (The day after I wrote this, news outlets said that it couldn’t be confirmed that he actually said this. Which I think kind of depresses me. You’d hope after a man has a daughter he’d stop calling women hos and bitches. Of course if being married to Beyonce didn’t turn him around I’m not sure how much hope there is for him.)
It was Friday the 13th! Do you have a mommy superstition?
Parenting Challenge: How do you get through the vending machine gauntlet? (I really love one company’s answer to this: H.U.M.A.N. vending only stocks healthy options in their machines plus they offer in-community health counseling as well as video tips that play on their machines. Advertising – it can be used for good too!)
“You Sure Are Strong… For a Girl.”
Tonight after a marvelously brutal interval class that involved jumping lunges, crouching push-ups and so many skaters that my I’d get an Apollo Ohno tattoo on my butt if it didn’t already hurt so much, a male friend gave me a grin and commented, “You sure are strong. For a girl.” Well, what do you say to that?
Five years ago: ”I’m strong, period.” I would have felt insulted and then challenged the guy to a weight-lifting duel. Indeed, one of my very first posts on this blog to ever cause some (minor) controversy was when I bragged I could match a male lifter in my weight class. Allison, the only Gym Buddy I had at the time, and I lifted some very heavy weights with very bad form and declared ourselves the winners. While I still give myself some points for chutzpah, today I cringe remembering that. And not just because at the time I didn’t understand why using a Smith machine was cheating. It’s because I wasn’t proud to be a girl. I didn’t want to be a man either, let’s be clear, but I saw my femininity as a weakness and I hated it when people pointed it out to me.
Three years ago: “Am I?” I would have felt accused and uncertain. I was pregnant, anxious, depressed and unable to keep up with a fraction of my old workouts. In addition, I have never felt more vulnerable in my whole life than during my pregnancies. Pregnancy for me is a scary thing. Not only do I have to protect myself with half my strength but I’m also 100% responsible for the little person growing inside me. And all the others hanging onto my skirt. Pregnancy, one of the experiences that can most define you as a girl, felt like weakness to me in so many ways.
One year ago: “Haha, I’m working on it.” I would have felt embarrassed. Jelly Bean was safely on the outside and thriving, I’d just weaned her and so finally had full custody of my body again, and was settled back into a consistent workout schedule. Unlike previous post-partum periods, this time I knew enough to know how much I didn’t know. I’d been down the lose-the-baby-weight-at-all-costs road before. I’d over exercised. I’d been orthorexic. I wasn’t sure exactly what the right way was to do things but I sure knew what the wrong way was. Plus, being just over 30 with five children made me feel like I’d lost the girl in me forever. Losing oneself may be the ultimate weakness.
So what did I say tonight?
The intervening years have, hopefully, given me a better vantage from which to view myself and reevaluate what exactly are my strengths and my weakness. I can tell you for sure that I no longer see being a girl as a weakness. I may not ever be able to lift as much weight as a man and that’s fine. Their bodies are built for strength but mine is built for efficiency – there is a reason that women typically outlive men. Nor do I still see my pregnancies as weak spots in my life. Indeed, when I remember the can’t-be-overstated excruciating pain of natural childbirth, I see true strength. I can even now see my uncertainty and embarrassment and past mistakes more charitably. I can’t learn if I don’t screw up, right?
But I do have real weaknesses yet. Some are physical: I’ve been around the fitness industry long enough to know that while I may be strong compared to a lady who doesn’t work out, in the realm of fit females I’m not particularly strong. Just like there will always be someone more beautiful, I’ve come to learn that there will always be someone stronger, faster, more flexible. Many more weaknesses are mental: I still fight my competitive nature. Depression and anxiety are held at bay through a fragile combination of medication, exercise, healthy food, supplements and sleep. I’m still bad at balance and moderation.
This is what I have learned: Merely possessing strengths does not make me strong nor does having weaknesses inherently make me weak. I’m as strong or as weak as I practice to be.
And so tonight I answered my friend, “I am. And proud of it.” Whether he meant it as a joke (which I’m 90% sure he did) or as an insult, it doesn’t change my answer. I am strong. I am a girl. And neither has much to do with my muscles.
How do you take “strong… for a girl”? How would you answer this? Has your perception of your gender changed as you’ve gotten older?
Yes! Feeling Better and Better!
Isn’t that the truth? Seriously. I do find that what tends to work with me and my life and my goals RIGHT NOW for simply getting back into my habit where a daily workout was not negotiable, it was part of my day just like brushing my teeth every morning and night– a big part of what works for me in this endeavor is just mentally reminding myself of what I want.
I want to get back to the point where I can walk in my closet and wear anything that’s in there.
Sometimes, yea, it’s about superficial things. Big deal.
I’m heading out to a dinner meeting so I don’t have a lot of time but wanted to update y’all that yes I am finally starting to feel better. I did my first workout yesterday- first workout in more than ten days of sickness hell. I didn’t overdo it, I did Taebo Amped and some core work and burned 625 calories. Today I did most of my Ilaria Bodystrikes DVD and I have my TRX in my hotel room (I’m downtown Chicago for a conference) for some upper body after dinner. Yea, I’m gonna do it.
Last night was the first night in 10+ days that I went to sleep with NO COUGH DROPS. What a beautiful thing. Here is my vlog from that morning, where I still sound a bit like a man, sorry. My voice is much better today. 
I also started using the GNC Genetix HD this week which I dig. I’ll shoot a vlog later this week or maybe later tonight showing the 3 different products. I love the taste of the pre-workout drink even though in the jar it smells nasty.
Hope you guys are having a great week….more later!! WOOT!
My Short-Short Health & Fitness Book Report!
Thanks to Turbo Jennie (who got it from Leah? Or Sara?) for the vid! Totally safe for work. In fact, this video should become the theme for your next office party. Awesome. Click through to see the video if you get this via e-mail or RSS.
Relaxation is such a personal thing. Some people get pedicures, others watch a show, still others crawl into the butt-end of a Dope Zebra and get all Party Rocker up in their backyard. Me? I read stuff. Not even fun stuff but non-fiction science-y stuff. I love it. But not everyone has the time or interest to read it all so here’s my book report. And in the interest of efficiency – I have a tendency to write reallly looong pooosts – I’m doing each report in three sentences. Enjoy! Or just enjoy the dope zebra. Whatever boot scoots your boogie.
* **Gist: Processed food is bad for you – you may have heard? – but these evolutionary scientists have figured out that it’s because of the over abundance of Omega-6 fatty acids from corn, soybean, safflower and other processed oils. In addition they make a very compelling case for why women a) need to be fatter than men and b) need to be fatter than our current standard of beauty.
Best advice: Ditch the Omega-6′s in your diet by breaking up with processed foods and increase your intake of Omega-3 fats by adding fish, fish oil, walnuts and canola oil to your diet. Oh, and stop hating your thighs that touch – they’re why your kids are so smart.
Who should read it: Everyone! It’s awesome and the fact that the last 60 pages are nothing but dense citations make me trust it even more. Check out my post Women Are Supposed to be Fat for a more nuanced review.
Just 10 LBS: Easy Steps to Weighing What You Want (Finally)
Gist: I got to interview Brad Lamm for a Shape piece on Adderall abuse but his real expertise lies in helping people overcoming addictions of all kinds, especially to food. He presents a very thoughtful and loving way to lose weight.
Best advice: Don’t making loving yourself conditional upon losing weight. Love yourself first.
Who should read it: Anyone who is trying to lose weight in a healthy positive way and develop the life skills to keep it off. Also, be prepared to go slowly with this one – crash diet it’s not (and that’s a good thing!)
The Playful Brain: The Surprising Science of How Puzzles Improve Your Mind
Gist: Solving all kinds of puzzles helps your brain stay younger and healthier.
Best advice: Go beyond crosswords and Sudoku to challenge and strengthen different parts of your brain. I found myself skipping all the spatial puzzles (like those stupid matchstick puzzles they stick on every IQ test) and then I realized that’s because I’m super bad at them… which means I really need to do them to strengthen the spatial processing center in my brain. Gah.
Who should read it: Not for casual puzzle buffs just looking for a fun bathroom book but more for people really interested in the why and how – it really delves into the science.
The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness
Gist: Focusing on the Eastern philosophy of mindfulness, this book takes you step by step through how to change your thoughts, actions and lifestyle to rewire your brain and make it more resilient when it comes to depression and other mood disorders.
Best advice: We are not at the mercy of our moods, we can change the way we think and consequently the way we feel. As a girl who has struggled most of my life with depression and anxiety, I found the message of this book to be both helpful and hopeful and it also made a lot of sense to me – although I’m still working on implementing it.
Who should read it: For anyone who struggles with “chronic unhappiness” this book is a game changer.
Gist: Intermittent fasting guru Brad Pilon takes you through all the research supporting using fasting both as a diet and a healthy lifestyle tool. He advocates fasting (abstaining from all food and caloric beverages) for 1 – 2 days a week for 18-30 hour periods.
Best advice: Fasting gets a bad rap as being extreme but done properly (i.e. not in an eating disordered way) it is an immensely powerful tool for health. It’s also not as hard or scary as people think it will be.
Who should read it: Anyone who wants to know all the science behind IF and/or be convinced to try it. You don’t need the e-book to learn the technique, it’s simple: don’t eat or drink anything with calories for 24 hours.
Gist: The subtitle of this e-book is “weight loss without the rules” and it’s kind of like Intuitive Eating but a little more in depth.
Best advice: I’ll admit I was surprised as I assumed it would be just another diet book saying what to eat and what not to eat but it’s really a sane system of tapping into what your body wants and needs. It’s not a quick-fix diet.
Who should read it: People who have started Intuitive Eating but maybe need a little more structure.
The Physique 57(R) Solution: The Groundbreaking 2-Week Plan for a Lean, Beautiful Body
Gist: This book is the basis of this month’s Experiment but it basically details and expands upon the Lotte Berk method of using ballet techniques as a workout program.
Best advice: Ballerinas are tough, don’t discount a workout that pretty much only uses body weight as resistance until you’ve tried it. It’s a long workout but we sure are sore afterward!
Who should read it: Anyone who was a ballerina growing up or ever wanted to be a ballerina although expect mainly barre work. There are no dance moves, sadly.
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Bonus: This isn’t a health or fitness book but ohmygoodness is it amazing! It’s a true story and proves the saying that truth is stranger than fiction. I absolutely could not put it down. You’ll be surprised, impressed and inspired.
What good books have you read lately? Anyone have a favorite Internet meme to make me giggle??
*The link is an Amazon affiliate link. I figure since I went to the trouble of reviewing them, I’d love it if you used my link if you decide to purchase it! And for my local friends – you’re always welcome to borrow my copy!!
**I received a copy for free for review purposes