“Flooded” With Fitness Questions: How To Improve Fitness Performance
By admin
We are recovering from some serious weather today! If you live in the south then perhaps you had torrential downpours yesterday too?
I realize that we’re lucky and not having to go through the chaos that New Orleans and other Gulf cities are having to face but we ended the day with record rain falls around Charleston. If you’re facing the storm, good luck, you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Gotta love Charleston humor!
Of course since parts of Charleston are below sea level, we had some flooding problems. The picture above is from Market Street downtown! Crazy, but looks like fun.
But today the sun appears to be fighting to break through the clouds and the water has resided, so that means we can resume life and I can get to Ask Away Wednesday!
There were so many awesome questions this week! I’ll do my best to answer as many as I can, however if I don’t answer yours I will make sure to tackle it on Facebook!
And if you have a question for next week’s Ask Away Wednesday just post it below in the comments! I am loving Wednesdays and hearing from you all, so don’t be shy.
Fitness Performance Ask Away Wednesday
After looking through the questions, I realized a majority of them were overall fitness performance based. Which rocks, and just so happens something that I can talk all day about (but I won’t).
Q: This is not something new, all the experts put their 2 cents in but I would like your opinion. How much exercise should you complete each week (or daily) to actually lose weight.
I think all the experts have different answers because we all disagree in what “exercise” is defined as. Some say you should workout every day, some say 3 days, some say something in the middle.
Those that say working out should be done every day aren’t giving exercise a fair definition, I don’t think walking the neighborhood, cleaning the house, or playing frisbee with the kids is “exercise” this is an activity but nothing where you’re exerting your muscles or body beyond discomfort.
Exercise in my book is an intense 20-60 minute activity of full body moves where your pushing beyond your comfort zone… you’re sweating, working muscles and at the end you can say “wow, I worked out.” This is the sort of exercise that results in a higher metabolism and fat burning state.
For this, I tell clients to workout between 3-5 days per week. No more than 5 so that the body can have time to rest. That doesn’t mean you can’t go for a walk or be active with the family though.
Rest is essential for seeing results and recovery. Personally I workout 4-5 days per week with Mondays being a COMPLETE rest day, no exercise just walking the dog and moving around the house.
Q: Is it ok to work on abs on consecutive days?
Great question! And the answer is…
No.
The abs are a muscle group just like legs, chest, back, etc. You wouldn’t work your legs two days in a row because they need to recover and the same is true for abs. Over working your abs can lead to delayed results. They don’t need to be targeted more than 3 days per week.
Q: What are the best vitamin supplements to help in toning?
Personally, I don’t take supplements for toning (read here), I am a full believer you can get great results from a balanced diet. For toning, the trick is to have a 90-10 diet. 90% clean, 10% freedom, abs and toning are made in the kitchen!
Avoid processed foods, sugar, fried junk, cokes, etc. Aim for whole foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, beans and lean meats.
Supplements I have used in the past that I don’t object to (just talk with your doctor first) include creatine, which can help improve performance and stamina so you burn more calories during a workout or perhaps lift 1-2 extra reps; and protein powder.
Q: I’m currently following weight lifting plan 4-5 days/wk. I also do kickboxing at night (4 nights/wk – half cardio, half non contact boxing). I usually lift first thing in the morning and kickboxing at night. My bf said that I might overwork myself by working out too much but I feel great doing it. Do you think my routine is too much? Can I see result by this routine or should it be changed?
Wow, you are dedicated! I do agree with your boyfriend that you may possible be setting yourself up for overtraining. This is 8-9 workouts per week, which is a lot on your system. Even though kickboxing and weight training are different they still place stress on the body.
In order to get the most out of your workouts, it is necessary to give your body plenty of time to recover fully so that it can show off the results.
Overtraining can lead to a lot of issues: depression, lethargy, decreased metabolism, decreased results, weakness, injuries, and more.
- I would scale back to doing the weight training perhaps to 3 days per week, and the kickboxing to just 1-2 days.
- I personally don’t advise doing more than 5 workouts in a week, especially when these seem pretty intense.
Q: Tricep help from A to Z?
Ahh, you just so happen to be in luck! I did a video of just tricep exercises a while back, you can also read about the moves here.
Now, let me start off by saying I am not a running coach, and this is advice I have picked up a long my own personal training and research. First off, congrats on getting started! And secondly, I know you can push through this plateau.
There is an ultra runner named Scott Jurek who is awesome, he teaches runners to breath through your mouth to get a “deep breath” going during runs, you should be breathing through your diaphram and not just letting your chest rise and fall (which happens when you breath through your nose). Your whole stomach should rise as you engage the chest and diaphram to work together.
As for pushing through the 15-minute barrier, I am a full believer that running is 20% ability, 80% mental. You can break through it and hit 20 minutes, just tell yourself, “it’s only 5 more minutes”. Slow down your pace if you need to and another great tip, if you wear a watch, take it off!
Don’t have anything where you can glance down at and see how far you’ve gone. Just run, play some music, listen to a podcast and go. You might surprise yourself.
Lights Camera Action!
I have some big stuff that I’ll be working on today, I can’t share it yet, but it will be revealed soon! The sun is finally out so it’s time for the camera and mic to make it’s way out as well.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
- What’s your favorite way to pass time on a run?
- Do you have a go to pre workout snack?