Operation Get Lean - Week 1 Recap + TREADMILL SPRINT INTERVALS
Last week, starting Sunday, I began training and eating to get lean and add muscle with a goal of looking something like the photos below. I'm crazy for those shoulders and abs! I've never really had nice shoulders and arms like that and I want to see if I can get them.
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Slightly embarrassing to post my pic, but I wanted to document my progress, so here's where I'm starting.
I have been doing a lot of reading, researching, and remembering what trainers and fitness competitors I've known have told me throughout the years. To get results like that, you have to lift weights, do cardio, and eat clean. There's really no secret.
A few days ago, I posted my current eating regimen and I'm happy to report I have stuck to it 100%. I have planned a cheat meal for Saturday night, but plan to continue my clean eating Saturday day and on Sunday and the next week, etc. I really want to see what eating like this COMBINED WITH the working out and cardio do for me in the next few months.
I'm planning to workout 5 days a week (Mon-Thurs, Saturday, and off Friday and Sunday). This week I'm taking off Friday (so that will be 6 days this week). The cool thing for me is that I added 20 minutes of cardio to the end of every workout. I've never done that before. And I'm talking hard cardio, keeping the heart rate up the whole time. (I'm not monitoring it with a device but can tell by the way I feel).
Go HERE to see what I ate this week. The big changes for me were giving up my afternoon coffee (I drank hot tea instead) and my late night bowl of cereal. I used to always eat a bowl of something like Cheerios before bed. Now if I'm hungry, I'll eat one serving of greek yogurt. It's also challenging to eat every 2-3 hours, reminds me of breastfeeding. It feels like as soon as you're finished eating, it's time to eat again. But, I liked my meals, so it wasn't too bad. I just keep thinking
THE WORKOUTS
I'm not following any specific program, just making sure I hit every body part hard each week. For convenience, this week, I followed 5 workouts from the Jamie Eason Live Fit plan. But, I also added 20 minutes of cardio on the treadmill at the end. For 5 of the days, I just kept adjusting the treadmill to do my own made-up intervals. For instance:
Minute 1: 4.0 mph at 0 incline
Minutes 2-4: 2.5 mph at 15 incline (don't hold on!)
Minute 5: 4 mph at 0 incline
Minutes 6-7: 6.5 at 0 incline
and then repeat for 20 minutes total.
One day, I did treadmill sprint intervals. Since I've never done this before, I set the treadmill speed to 7.5 mph and did 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. Basically, you crank the treadmill to your desired speed and run for 30 seconds, then grab the side rails and jump to the side, keeping the treadmill going at that speed and rest for 30 seconds. Moving the speed up and down takes too long.
I did that for 20 minutes. The first 9 minutes weren't too bad, and the iPod helped. Minutes 11 and 12 felt super hard. Minutes 13-15 I was like, "Why am I doing this f*#k*ng thing?" But the last 4 minutes, I'm thinking, "I'm almost done, I can do this, I AM doing this! I'm strong!" I swear working out is such a mental and physical sport. I never thought I could consistently do cardio after a hard weight lifting workout and now I've done it 5 times in one week. I learn that you have to train your mind and your body at the same time.
For weight training, I did:
SUNDAY- back
MONDAY - legs
TUESDAY - biceps and triceps
WEDNESDAY - shoulders + planks (3 sets, 45 seconds to 1 minute)
THURSDAY - back and biceps + planks (3 sets, 45 seconds to 1 minute)
SATURDAY- legs
Go HERE for the exact workouts with pinnable images, except I added one more not shown.
I have been tired at a reasonable time at night (thank God, sometimes I get a "second wind" right before bed and can't sleep) and woken up so SORE every morning that I was immediately taking 2 Advil. I just ordered a nighttime recovery supplement that is supposed to help with soreness- it's by Advocare. I haven't taken it yet, so I can't tell you if it helps or not, but I'm crossing my fingers!
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Have a great weekend!
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