…pounds that is.  And lots of them.

Building is a myth of epic proportions for women.  Not so much for men, but for women–oh yeah it is.  Whenever I talk to a woman who’s in a building phase, I normally stand there silent, in awe of what she thinks is going on vs. what really is going down.  Typically her trainer has her taking more pills than a senior in assisted living, eating enough food for a small army and lifting like a psycho while she “builds” this ginormous amount of muscle in 8 to 10 weeks.  On the surface, some of that is true.  You will build some muscle in that time period; but nowhere near the amount that you think you’re going to build if you are doing it naturally and you will be left wondering if the price was worth it.

I want to remind you that I am all about all natural before I go on any further.  I mean no fat burners or hormonal help in any way other than all natural sources.  I have no issues with things like creatine and bcaa’s but I will not even entertain the idea of anything else you can dream up that’s on the market today that serves as some type of precursor to testosterone or the like.  This makes a huge difference as you read on because I’m sure you are going to say in your head that this isn’t true and that you know of such and such who did so and so in 10 weeks and she looks amazing.  And then you find out she took xyz and that just killed this comparison.  And trust me; if she looked like that in 10 weeks, she was taking xyz.

As a coach, building in the traditional sense is a kiss of death.  If you tell me you want to take time to build, you are essentially telling me you are preparing yourself to walk the plank and end your fitness training right then and there.  Why the drama?  (Besides the fact that that is my middle name?) Read on…

WHAT IT IS

Building is a period of time where you lift heavy and eat in a caloric surplus to support your lifting.  Recovery is essential during this time in terms of both food and rest and ample attention needs to be paid to how much you are gaining weekly vs. how much you originally weighed so you are not just gaining fat during this time.  This is done through carefully increasing the amount of food that you eat over a period of time while watching the scale for major increases in weight.  Extra activity is cut back and becoming a hermit is a must.  Short of not shaving your legs anymore and letting your eyebrows grow out, you basically adopt a life of baseball hats and big sweatshirts.

TECHNICAL FACTS TO CHEW ON

Training:  Heavy.

Food:  A lot.  Like a wicka-lah.

Supplements:  Expensive. No seriously.  Don’t buy a house or condo before you embark on a building program.  You may not make the payments.

Rest:  Minimum 8 hours of sleep but really, you’ll need more than that.

THE FINE PRINT

Honestly, the program itself is not the thing that I want you to focus on.  You can find a great building program from some of the most notable names out there so there’s no need spending time quibbling those facts.  What I want to talk about is what you WON’T find on the web about building, being natural and being a woman.

First, if you are interested in a building program, you most likely have already gone through a dieting program of some kind and realized you ain’t got no muskel.  NONE.  If you did, you would not be so concerned with building.  You probably lost a good amount of body fat and realized that you were all lower body and no upper and you need take 12 weeks to “build some shoulders”.   This is pretty straight forward, just eat a little extra and lift a little heavier and you’ll be on your way to the new and improved you.  Only it doesn’t go down that way and the amount of weight you can gain in the first few weeks of building can send you into a tailspin that sets up the next 16 weeks of dieting to get it off.

Second, if you are natural and female and you spent the entire year lifting in a building phase, you’d be lucky if you put on 2 pounds of muscle.  Go read the titles of your average man’s magazine:  “Gain 5 pounds of muscle in a year!”, “Follow this protocol for the ultimate gains”, “Max gains in minimum time” and “Gain X pounds of muscle in 6 months”.  Now that’s for men…on the cover of a non-natural man’s magazine…that’s what they’d gain in a year…and they are genetically predisposed to gain muscle.  So stop and think about what this says about you…a female…who wants to build for 10 weeks…naturally…while you have the genetic disposition of a noodle.  So you put on say 10 pounds of weight only to gain less than a half pound of muscle.  Yeah…good luck with that.

Lastly, you have no idea what  you are about to take on emotionally.  This all sounds fine and dandy on paper, but when you put this into practice—you lose your mind.

• You eat more so you feel full.  Feeling full makes you feel fat.  It doesn’t make you fat, you just feel fat.

• You typically eat more carbohydrate than normal.  You don’t have to go crazy with it, but you have more ST than you normally would.  This means you carry more water and you will feel it all over.  Instantaneously your thighs are bigger.  In real life they aren’t, but as far as you’re concerned they just became water filled Lincoln logs.  You will think that everyone can see that you just swallowed a baby beluga and you are ready to deliver it at any second.

• Eating becomes a full time job and it begins to wear you down.  You will hate chewing, chicken and choices.  Everything seems the same and all you want is a break from eating another meal.

• You become stressed from the amount of pills you are swallowing.  Every meal is just another reminder of the pill sac sitting in your purse that you need to chug down sometime during the day and you look like you have a major illness when you’re out to lunch with a friend popping them all.

• Every time you go somewhere and run into someone who saw you when you were leaner, you say hi to them with a caveat attached:  “Hey girl, how are you?  I’m good.  I’m building right now.”  As in…that’s-why-I-am-in-a-baseball-cap-and-sweat-suit.  Soon you’ll just put a name tag on yourself and carry a picture of what you used to look like before you started building.  Really right now?

Once you are lean, stay lean.  Tomorrow we talk about what this really needs to look like for you to make it happen, how it varies by your age, how much you can truly gain before you are setting yourself up for failure and how to get around constantly making an excuse for how you look.  Cool?  Woop woop! )

Previous Series Post Next Post in Series

I think one of the things that plague us as women is constantly wondering if what we are doing is enough.  Honestly, I could also go so far as to say it is just constantly wondering X and then you insert the fear here (x=if I’m good enough, if I’m the only one who…, if I’ll ever be…) but that’s been brought up here so I’m going to be more specific today in referring to if what we are doing measures up to “enough”.

The obvious question here is enough for what?  Enough for weight loss?  Enough for muscle gain?  And boy is this a tough question to have you answer just off the cuff.  If I ask you ‘enough for what’,  you will say in one breath that you want to get lean, add muscle, be more athletic and have 2 babies all before lunch time.  And I have learned not to be so silly as to say, “Which one means the most to you?”, because that question opens up a one hour dialogue about the meaning of life that you were not ready to answer thereby sending you into a tail spin (and me for a drink).   I’m not going to do that today so you can calm down and keep reading.  I am sure you did a nose dive under your table getting ready to rock back and forth in fetal position fearing one my probing moments with you (unless you’ve never spoken with me before and then you’re an innocent victim waiting to be had by one of my conversations. Hehe…) but I can assure you that is not the point of this.  Today is all about defining—but you know me…this may go further after that—and the next few posts are about the actual guidelines.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT HERE?

First, let me just say before I even begin to talk about what’s enough, no whining!  NONE.  I already know the texts, calls and emails are about to follow when I put this out here that ask me, “Do I really have to do all that?”  Yes.  You do.  Now knock it off.  What?  Do you think I’m writing for some sick sadist side of me that needs appeasing?  I’ll admit I have my days but for the love of all that’s holy I’d never put those days in print.  So, yes, you must do all to get what I am saying—if you are the genetically average.   If you have anything exceptional in your genes, then you need to “chew the meat and spit out the fat” as they say as to what pertains to you or not.  But other than that, there is no compromise.

Second, I am going to break this down by goal and within each goal I am going to further delineate it by age group.  For instance, I may give a general over view of what ‘building’ is and then go into what that looks like for a 40-50 year old, a 30-40 year old and a twenty something because it is dramatically different for all three.   If you are 45 and think you want to “build” like a 20 year old, you’re in for a big disappointment and most likely major weight gain in the process.  Our needs are different and need to be acknowledged as being different.

Lastly, I’m going to do this in a way that is very different from what you are probably used to seeing.  I promise to be somewhat technical, but I’m mostly going to be realistic.  Meaning that I want you to know what it really looks like to put these goals in action.   The burnout, the discipline required, the places you could awry, potential weight gain and other issues that crop up when we put this into effect.   They are way more important than any technical information and let me give you an idea of what this looks like:

Say I am talking about building muscle.  Most women think that you just lift heavy for 12 weeks and then you build a ton of muscle.  Seriously, I have people say I want to build my shoulders this winter.  Um…good luck with that.  It takes a whole lot more than a winter to build great shoulders.  But they’ve read somewhere that they need to eat X amount of calories more and set their lifting up in such a way that they get the max recovery and take advantage of the EPOC and so on.  Good info for sure and I will certainly have some of that info in there, as well, but I will also have a whole section called “Walking This Out”.  This section forces you to think about the emotional cost of gaining weight over the winter and all that comes with a building program.  It sounds romantic and fun when presented as this “amazing 12-week program to shape you”, it’s a whole other thing when you are at your holiday Christmas party up 10 pounds and feeling puffy.  At that point, you couldn’t care less about your shoulders and you are more worried that someone’s going to shoot your picture and put it in the company newsletter.

ARE YOU JUST GOING TO DEPRESS ME?

No!  Let me say this as nicely as I can… NO, now stop looking for an excuse to stop pursuing your goal!  Why are our New Year’s Resolutions never successful?  (Besides the fact that people bite off more than they can chew and the whole concept in and of itself is so cliché…) Because we do not count the cost ahead of time.  Some of us rush out into excitement and hop on the latest and greatest fad but that’s not normally the clean eating community.  For us it is more like whatever we choose we choose it because it is solving that current problem.  “If I just lose some body fat, I’ll be able to fit into my jeans and then I’ll be happy…”  But then in the middle of that quest, you realize that toting all your food around and not going to social functions made you more unhappy than the ten pounds you wanted to lose in the first place so you end up abandoning that goal in midstride.  For every goal you abandon, there is a closet in your mind that opens up and accepts that failure and piles it on top of all the others and then just when you need confidence the most—the door pops open and reminds you just how good you aren’t.  Let’s avoid that this year by knowing what we’re getting into when we set our goals and then putting the appropriate things in place to deal with the drawbacks.

For instance, in the case above we would talk about short term pain vs. long term gain.  What does it matter what people thought of you (and I really make you answer this and warning: it can be eye opening) and truth be told, you being 10 pounds up is still better than 80% of the office staff so why the worry.   When you think this through BEFORE you get to the party and BEFORE you put the goal in motion, it changes the entire situation and you are able to deal with it head on instead of being blindsided by it while holding a shrimp cocktail in your hand.

How about we get on with it already then?  Look forward to this being my next mini-series and I hope you enjoy.  I am not sure that I will start it tomorrow or Monday but you know if you are signed up on my blog or if you get me via RSS, you will be notified.   Until we meet again, start pondering ‘what’s the goal?’.  Cool?  WOOP WOOP!:o)

Next Post in Series

If you live in New England, I am sure you noticed that today is markedly different than last week’s balmy December weather.  We’ve gone from global warming to bun warming in less than a week with you sitting on your car engine to provide the bun warming.  It’s right about now that you start to question your resolve for “getting out for a good run”.  But then knowing that sends me into Dr. Mercola mode (you know, Chicken Little, the sky is falling, everything is going to make you flabby and so on) where I have to give you the ins and outs of using running as a means to sculpting a great body lest you go crazy and run yourself into the ground on a treadmill instead.   Using running as your only means of cardio can be done but in the long run it’s a lot of work and it doesn’t always pay off.   Depending on what kind of runner you are dictates what type of approach you should take to make or maintain your shape.  Read on…

(Is it bad that I have the space heater blowing directly on my legs right now as I type?  Brrrrr…)

Best heater ever.  I’m about medium well right now.  Almost done.

Plug and Chug

I read somewhere that the average woman runs a 9:30-10:00 min mile and in the running world, that’s not very fast.  And in the physique world, that’s not even cardio.  And I am not saying that to be mean, I am saying that to be honest.  You know if I let you go the whole winter doing that and knew it wasn’t going to get you anywhere, you’d be mad that I didn’t tell you.  So let’s unruffle the feathers here and get to changing your body, yes?  For instance, I have a favorite “walk spot” that I go to when I need to clear out my mind and if I’m really worked up over something I can find myself walking at a heinous pace.  Whenever this happens I always seem to pass someone on a ‘run’ by a good clip.  Now there is something wrong with that and although they’re most likely going to be on their run longer than I’ll be doing my walk, I’m still doing more work than them.  The take-home from this?  Make sure your run is challenging, first and foremost.  No puttering.

Second, if you’re slow, you’re slow.  Don’t try to go faster, you’ll most likely injure yourself but then you cannot run 5 days a week as your cardio—you’re going to have to mix that up.  You can either:  add in hills, cross train with another piece of cardio or add specific bouts of speed into the mix at specific times so that they are limited and controlled.   I’ll be honest; I’m never a fan of 5 days of running unless you are preparing for a marathon.  At that point I’ll cut you some slack otherwise mix it up.   See below for how to add controlled speed into the program.

Going Nowhere Fast

Have I mentioned lately that it’s cold?  And if you are not “all about the run” or getting ready for an event, chances are you have moved your run indoors.  If you want to do that that’s cool but there are some things you need to know if your body is the main reason why you run.

• Running on the treadmill is not the same as running outdoors.  Now I know that “runners” may know this because you are dramatically faster on a treadmill than you are outside but you may not think about this if you don’t care how fast you are.  When you run outside you propel yourself forward and engage more of the backside but when you run on a treadmill, you are just jumping up and down in place.  Not the same thing.

• Sprinting on a treadmill is bad news and sprinting on a treadmill on an incline is even badder.  Can I say that? Well, maybe not, but truly, it is worse because it completely changes your gait.  Why do you care?  Because cardio never ends for us; there is no place for injury or any time for program interruption.  Jack up your knee and you’re going to lose your mind.  You’re not a run nut so you won’t work out through pain, instead you’ll bring yourself down to chicken and green beans for your entire knee rehab and that’s crazy.

• But since you are on a treadmill, odds are that you can hop off and go do some really crazy stuff like plyos and cranks and then hop back on.  Or maybe you can do a triathlon in your gym by swimming first (elliptical w/arms), biking second (upright is better than recumbent) and then running third.  Going from one to the other can be challenging and you’ll have a better workout session because you are not just slogging through forty minutes on the treadmill alone.

Out and About

If it is all about you and the pavement and you are somewhat on the faster side, then these guidelines can help you to get somewhere in terms of your physique this winter:

• Sprint two days per week in your runs by adding anywhere from 400m to 800m speed work in your run.  I know, you have no idea what 400m looks like so let’s add 90 sec to 3 min speed surges to your run after you have been on the road for at least 10 min.  Add them in so that you can do at least 5 of them in your total run and leave at least 5 min on the run that you can use to cool down.

• Run one whole day at a pace 0:30 sec faster than usual.  This doesn’t sound like a lot until you actually do it and then you realize it’s a major challenge.  Added challenge:  add 60 sec surges in to this run.  You’ll be dying by the end but this is exactly what you want and need.

The Big Picture

What is this really all about?  Doing the same cardio, same time, same run route and same pace day in and day out is the best and fastest way to plateau on your physique goal.  If you really want to change your body or keep on changing your body you have to change your run or it will not help you—it will hurt you.  I know what you’re thinking…you don’t do the same run, there are days you go longer than others.  Yes, but it’s still the same run unless you have changed your pace dramatically. Out of 4 days of running, you have to have at least 2 of those runs make you pant harder than a dog hanging out a car window or you’re wasting your time.  However, if you are the polar opposite and every run you do is an Olympic tryout, then you must have 2 runs per week at a slightly easier pace to mix it up.  If you keep it stagnate, your body will, too.

Remember, what we are all about is longevity in the life of leanness.  And this series is about using the 5K to lose 5 pounds or more.  Overall, this journey is a marathon—not a sprint–and if you want a body that lasts and lasts while being lean, you have more factors to think about besides just the here and now.   If you’re stuck and need pointers, comment below and I’ll be happy to help you out.  Cool?  Woop woop!:o)

Previous Series Post

Honestly, you women are crazy.  Last night I was on the phone with Kas (former Tuesday blogger) chatting away just catching up when I casually mentioned that I was blogging again.  Well she nearly flipped her lid and yelled at me saying that I never told her and why was I holding out.  But wait it gets better…  She’s on the phone with me, clearly agitated that she is now strapped in by this call that we’re on because she wants to…yes, wait for it…hang up to go read what I wrote.  WHAT?  Why not just ask me while you have me on the phone?  Hahahaha!!  Needless to say, we got a good laugh over that but she still hung up on me to read my blogs.  Ummm…whatever.

I am not sure if it’s me or what but this just makes no sense!

But this is our life, ladies.  We do things that do not make a lot of sense a lot of the times thereby wasting precious time.  But what if there were some things out there that do not make a lot of sense but somehow are beneficial for us?  Would you do them then?  Probably not but it’s worth a try:

1. Eat more to break a plateau: No matter how much I try to convince people this works, they still treat me like a dude with a big poster on himself that claims the world is ending tomorrow.  If you find yourself lifting 3 to 5 days per week, doing cardio even more than that and eating next to nothing and your body fat loss has come to a hault—consider eating more before eating less.  See most of you start off dieting and training with parameters that you should have at the *end* of your dieting and training season—not at the beginning.  If your goal date is 12 weeks away and you are already starving to death doing endless cardio and lifting like a fool, you’ve got a long, wasteful road ahead of you.  There is no doubt that somewhere in there you will hit a plateau.  When that happens  EAT MORE…not less!  Let me explain what this looks like:  all clean food, over a set amount of time, at least 50% more of your present intake and then go back to your original diet.  You’ll drop right away and be shocked.
2. Go on vacation to lose weight: Say you are the girl above and not only are you stuck in a rut, you are also exhausted.  Here is a little known secret:  you lose weight when you sleep, not when you move.  So if you never sleep, you never lose.  This is for the girl right now who is reading this and is getting 4 to 6 hours of sleep/night and can’t figure out what is wrong.  A surefire way of knowing if this is you is if you decide to go on vacation and you come back 5 pounds lighter after fully enjoying yourself for the week—this was you.  Ladies, give your adrenals a break and go to bed.
3. Can’t stop cheating?  EAT THE TREAT!: Deprivation causes madness.  Hands down.  ‘The more you deny, the more you will try’ and it can become all consuming if you allow it to be.  What’s the answer?  Take the temptation out by scheduling the treat in the diet.  And don’t just schedule it.  BE OK WITH IT.  *KNOW* that it’s fine.  Know that you are allowed to have this thing and it’s not going to do any damage.  If you don’t know it on the heart level not just the mind level, you will continue to snack uncontrollably.  TAKE THE TEMPTATION OUT and you will knock it off!

I know it seems outrageous and sometimes even gloomy.  But hang in there…it really does work!

We will do just about anything over here to help you ladies see how destructive your behaviors can become if you are not careful.  Maintaining a great body with definition and tightness takes a healthy balance between workout, nutrition and emotional health.  Many talk about it but very few have it.  We have been where you are and know all of what you are going through—trust us.  It seems so simple but it really isn’t.

Keep checking in as we go through all the things that you need to do to make it through eating clean and clean dieting the healthy way.  THAT’s the difference here.  Ciao for now!  Woop woop!

I know you heard the saying “you are what you eat” but I am here to take it a bit further and say you are what you do, as well.

I think many of us sort of evolved down the same path to the way we eat and workout:  we wanted more out of our body and whatever we were doing at the time just didn’t cut it.  Like I mentioned in my last post, there are two types of weight gain out there and you would probably think then that there would be two types of weight loss, too, but no…there’s a bunch.  (There are also more types of weight gain but that really gives a good synopsis.)

Ok, so maybe you’re not running in the Olympics but some of you are racking up that kind of mileage without any “Olympic” results.

One of the ways I see all the time (and watch endless frustration with) is running to get a great body.  Now notice I did not say to lose weight.  You definitely can decide to get up tomorrow and start running and possibly lose some weight but the odds of you getting that body that you desire are slim and the risk you run with injury and overuse is quite high.  Running for a hot body without a concise plan is like heading to the bakery “to pick something up” for a party you’re going to later on—we all know that ends badly with bread tasting and cupcake snacking so let’s just be honest about it.  Go with a dessert already set in your mind, get in and get out or bring someone with you to bail you out when you go down hard.

Running is addictive to many women.  It’s easy, cheap, hard in the beginning so it is a great challenge, relaxing, rewarding and… *completely unsatisfying in the weight maintenance department* so the more we run, the more we have to.  We keep looking at the covers of the running magazines wondering why they have a hot body and we don’t although we log mile after mile after mile.  Yes, from the waist up you are getting there…from the waist down though you look like a Land O Lakes advertisement for their latest cheese product.  With cellulite and dimples abound, you run and run and run and run.  You have every color capris there is to own and you are an expert at tying your jacket around your waist.

But now you have solved that problem—or so you thought–because you became a savvy reader.  You started following the girls out there who have the hot bodies and began to mimic what they do.  You dropped your starches, cleaned up the diet, you lift now and yet, still…nothing.  Instead, you have no energy, you binge on carbs every 2 or 3 days because you just can’t take not eating them and you don’t know how to fit lifting into your schedule the way they do it.  What gives??

YOU HAVE AN IDENTITY CRISIS

• You are not a runner. You are a woman who enjoys using running as a means to getting the body that she desires.

• You are not a figure girl. You have no desire to get on stage—you want to run—but you want that body too.

• You are not your average consumer. You are willing to put in the work of eating clean and working out so following magazines that are telling you the same ole same ole like “top 10 superfoods” and so on is not helping much.

• You’re not a world class runner. You are quite competitive and have no desire to be the slowest runner out there but you are not a run-nut either.  You don’t own the latest heart rate monitor and you just want to enjoy your run.

Honestly, girl.  You need to know who you are so you can get what you want.  Taking pieces of everyone’s plans and trying to make them work is frustrating and unproductive.  I’m sure you’ve also noticed that the more you run the harder it is to lose weight.  So what does the running world say about that?  Run more.  Ummm…how’s that working for you?  Because at some point, you need to go to work.

We have much to develop over the next few weeks: nutrition, training, psychological warfare, supplements and so on.

Obviously this is an issue we need to really put on the table with some serious solutions for you.  This is one of the top questions I am asking no matter where I go.  Follow this series that I will talk about over the next few weeks and we’ll talk about taking off 5 pounds per 5K and tightening that bum.  Cool?

I’m looking forward to it!!  Woop woop!

Next Post in Series

What?

Where are we going, you ask?

IT’S SUMMER TIME!!

Unlike last summer, this summer we are taking it off.  Why?  Because we are all about quality and not quantity. 

Every single one of us is up to our whazoo in projects and traveling and posting for us is becoming harder and harder.  Knowing this, it’s easier to cut this off before we get two weeks into the summer and there isn’t a post to be found with no explanation why.   So what does this mean for you?

Just like our last hiatus, if you are signed up on the blog, you will receive emails from me all summer long.  I have not sent any out for a while so you don’t have to sign up again.  You haven’t missed anything.  What’s sitting in my laptop now and going out in the next week or so is “Lean Going Leaner”.  It’s all about the pitfalls, what you need to know, how hard it is and answers to your questions.  That will take a week or two.  I will also cover a few other hot topics like Staying on Track–For Real.  If you have been eating clean for a while, you know that you can fall off the wagon for weeks at a time and not be able to get back on track and it can incredibly frustrating.  We’ll talk about what you can do to get around that and why it happens. 

We want to thank everyone who reads this blog all the time.  When we jumped into the blogging world we had no idea what to expect nor did we know what we were doing (ummm…and we still don’t!).  Almost two years later, our readership is up over 300% (WOW!) and our email list is up about 400%! We are blown away by your response to us.  Why?  Because we’re not your typical bloggers nor are we your typical company:

• We do not really advertise.  Yes, every so often we’ll tell you what’s coming, but we’re not all ‘in your face’ about it.
• You have no idea what we do.  And we’re kind of ok with that for now.  What you do know is that we love what we do.  We’re real.  And we know what we’re talking about.
• We are consistent.  We’re not a blog that showed up for 10 min and then disappeared.  We’ve been in this location and at Model Per4mance for 2 full years and I pray we have a few more left in us.
• We are low key.  What most of you do not realize (and why should you–read bullet #1) is that Jodiojo & Co. is a thriving company behind the scenes.  While all the world is shouting at you for your attention, we are quietly doing our thing one body at a time.  We will be a bit more flashy when we come back, but not by much.  I am so not the flashy type and I am deeply committed to our clients.  This means I am not trying to pull in a billion clients we cannot service just to say my numbers are up.  (I am SURE there is an internet marketer reading my blog right now CRINGEING over what I am saying.  I am supposed to tell you all kinds of things to make you *think* otherwise. *sigh*)  

So while we will miss you for the next 8 weeks or so, we are happy to take time off to renew our minds, relax and think about the next series or topic we’re going to talk about.  I will be honest with you and tell you that I do not know the format of Jodiojo when we return.  We have a bunch of ideas on the table and we are exploring them all.  If you have anything you would like to see, let us know!  We always want to know what you would like to have us chat about.

In the mean time, I have been doing a ton of consulting lately (funny how this happens) and I thought I would let you know what I do, what it entails and how much it costs.  If it is of interest to you, our contact info will be at the bottom of the post and you can get us at that email address.

I am always asked: “What am I doing wrong?”  “How could I do this better?”  “I want to be healthier, what do I change?”  “How do I take this to the next level” and so on.  Sometimes you just want to know that without having to invest in a full program.  You like what you’re doing and are not ready to change OR you cannot afford the commitment right now because it’s summer and that’s not in the budget OR you’re deciding whether I am serial killer masquerading as an internet guru who is going to run off with all your money so this is the safest way to check me out.  I understand the last one more than you can imagine.  But regardless your reason, what you are searching for is answers.  Things like:

• How much protein should I be getting?
• Am I doing enough?
• Am I doing too much?
• How many calories should I be eating?
• How do I go from lean to leaner?
• What supplements should I be taking?
• How do I incorporate running into my schedule?
• The weight is not coming off like it did before…why?  And how do I change that?
• How do I put my schedule for the week together?

I will answer these questions for you and more in two phone calls:

Phone Call #1:  30 minutes in length

Initially I will send you a questionnaire for you to fill out.  Tell me as much about you and what you’re doing as possible.  Email it back to me and I will call you at the time we agree upon.  During that call I will drill you like a bolt to a beam and get the real truth.  Ok, not really–but it sounded compelling.  I will actually get the details that I need to help you out and I will also get to know what your true goals are–there’s always more than what’s written;).  Then, I need about a week depending on what you have going on because I am going to be VERY detailed in my answer to you.  This is not a general plan or canned phone call.

Phone Call #2: 60 to 90 minutes in length

This phone call will be your life spoken back to you in an orderly and optimized format.  You will have all your questions answered and then some, a detailed schedule that you may change and solid, implementable recommendations.  Typically the call is 60 min in length, but I pad the time by 30 minutes because I am a yapper so I allot for that and I don’t want you to feel like the clock is ticking.  If you have questions–this call is the time to ask them.

What I will not and cannot do in the phone calls is give you custom programming.  I can, however, give you a sample program of some type if you want one or feel that it will help you in any way.  I also cannot give medical advice, I am not a doctor.  But I can tell you what questions to ask your doctor or tell you what specialist can help you more than another based on past experience. 

I am offering this special for the summer only while we disappear off the blogging radar.  Quantity is limited and this will fill up fast because it already has and I have not even advertised it!  Hop on it while you can.

SUMMER SUMMIT CONSULTATION PACKAGE:  $100

If you are interested or have any questions, hit me at jodi@trans4mationstation.com and I will get right back to you with either the questionnaire or answer to your question about this service.  If you would like this with Heather, let me know when you email.  She has a different set of pricing but I will put you in touch with her and you can go from there. 

Thank you again for making this blog awesome!  We had no idea that it would go this far and it has…  Thank you!!  Have an awesome summer and we will see in you September!

Since I shared the first half of my craziness with you last week, I thought I would share how the remainder of the back-and-forth-to-Vermont went.  Wednesday after work, which was supposed to be 5pm but turned out to be 6:45, I left for VT and arrived around 9:15.  I got in, fed the cat and went to bed.  I was up and at em early Thursday, but not to workout.  I wanted to run or hike with the dog, who I couldn’t pick up from doggy daycare until 7am (I start working between 7:30 and 8 so before work was out of the question).  So instead I slept in a bit and picked Rosco up at 7.  Unfortunately, right after that I had to work.

(Despite having to work, how nice is the view from where I was sitting?  This is right outside our living room window)

Finally at 4:30 pm I was able to get up from the computer and head outside.  The weather was beautiful.  Our workout started with a hike on the trails which quickly turned into a run.  It only took us about 20 minutes to run some of our trails and I was nowhere near done with my card.  Thus, enter my madness.  Our driveway is 1/2 mile predominately uphill (and dirt).  I hadn’t picked up the mail, which is at the bottom of the driveway, so decided I’d run down, grab the mail, and walk/run back up.  (There is a short spurt of the driveway which is only moderately steep but more flat, so for that portion, we ran).  Let me tell you, it takes about 12 minutes to go down and back, with going back up taking the majority of the time and by the time I reached the top, I was full on panting.  After we got the mail I decided we needed another go at it.

(Part of the driveway, although picture taken from the car)

Rosco and I ran down and hiked back up the driveway twice more.  The poor dog was so confused.  Each time I turned to go back down, he looked at me like I was crazy.  But he couldn’t not come with me.  However, each time, he trailed further and further behind me.  I think he figured why rush.  But by the time I got to the bottom, he would sprint down to me in time for us to go right back up.  Needless to say, after that workout, we were both pooped!  After our cardio I got in a short stretch/yoga and we were done.

As you might recall, I got in two heavy lifts earlier in the week, so my plan was to get in a hybrid-lift done, while in VT.  Enter Friday.  I made plans to go on a short hike with my neighbor at 7 am and so I got up at 5:30 for my hybrid lift.  For this lift I did a mix between the workout I wrote about here and Heather’s workout she wrote about here.  I did two rounds of the workout I wrote, except that I did the two following cycles, separated by jumping-jacks and done stick-of-butter style:

• 5 Squat Jumps
• 5 Squat Thrusts
• 5 Burpees
• 5 Squats

And

• 5 Push-Ups
• 5 Wood-Chops (each side)
• 5 DB OH Press
• 5 Lat Pull Downs (we do have a lat pull down at home)

For the second round, I reversed the order of each set such that I did 4 sets of the lat pull down and only one of the push-up.  (If you are confused, definitely check out the post I referenced above as it will all become clear).

After those two rounds, I did Heather’s workout, minus the abs.  Thus I did 1 round of her workout, rested 120 seconds and did the second round.  Needless to say, that kicked my butt!  I then got in 20 minutes of stretching and was ready for my hike by 7 am.

Rosco and I then met my neighbor and went for a 40 minute hike, although it was nice and leisurely.  However, while we take a leisurely hike, the dog runs up and down and through the woods and back to meet us and off again, so he got in his exercise.  After all this I was home by 7:45 and showered and eating breakfast in front of the computer by 8.

Saturday rolled around and friends of mine came up for a hike on the Appalachian Trail.  I had forgotten that the direction we were taking was a steady incline the entire way.  Because of that incline, an hour into our hike, we were panting!  Thankfully I carried a backpack with a bowl and water for Rosco (and it was nice and convenient for my water bottle too).  When it was all said and done, we hiked for about two and a half hours.  By the time we got back, both the dog and I were ready for a nap!

Sunday was my last day up in VT.  I was planning on doing cardio on the elliptical and then taking the dog for a hike.  But that would have been such a cop out as it was beautiful out and I had no excuse not to get outside.  I have all my lifting planned for this week while in Boston, so Sunday would either be a plyo or sprinting day or only cardio/yoga.  That is when it dawned on me, why not sprint up the steepest part of the driveway and get in sprint work, follow it with 2 runs up and down the driveway, then take the dog for a hike….and that is what we did.  If you have ever heard Jodi talk about sprinting uphill and how good it is for your backside, you have probably already sprinted uphill and know how hard it is.  After 9 sprints, twice up and down the driveway, Rosco and I got on the trails to finish up with a 20 minute hike.  We then went inside and I did a quick yoga stretch for about 20 minutes.

(The end of my sprint – and I gotta say, this picture doesn’t do the steepness justice)

And there you have it.  I am now back in Boston ready for a full normal week.  But to be honest, I really miss having such an outdoor playground right next to me.  2 years ago I never would have been able to spend so much time away from the gym.  But I’ve learned how to be creative and get in some amazing workouts anywhere.  Oh, did I mention what running/jogging downhill does for your quads?  And all the uphill hiking and sprinting makes for beautiful hamstrings and glutes.  So the next vacation your take, or the next time you are way and can’t get to the gym; I hope you can be creative and enjoy yourself instead of stressing out that you are not getting in your planned/traditional workout!

It has been quite a busy few weeks for me and because of it, I am a little all over the place.  My parents took a trip to the Grand Canyon and are away for 10 days.  This is a very big deal because my father does not like to travel.  Usually my mother travels with her friends or sisters or me, but my father decided he wants to make an effort to travel with her; ergo, the trip to the Grand Canyon.  However, back in the good-old-days when we lived in Connecticut (where I am from) and only had cats, it was not difficult to get someone to feed the cats while away.  However, my parents now live in Vermont and have Bumba (my cat) and Rosco (our dog).  It is harder to get someone to come feed the cat and we have to put the dog in doggy daycare.  Not wanting the dog to be in daycare for 10 days or for the cat to be alone for 10 days, I agreed to go up to Vermont last Thursday evening through Sunday evening and then again this Wednesday evening through Sunday evening. 

With all of this travelling, my schedule has been completely off.  But, that doesn’t mean my training has suffered.  Through a hectic schedule, training is the one constant that keeps my sanity.  But, with all this travelling and back and forth, I cannot stick to the 4-week program I had scheduled.  So, I decided to let it go and enjoy these two weeks.  (Actually, it is more like the entire month of June because a week after my parents get back, my extended family will be up in Vermont and so I will head back up for a few days). 

While home in Vermont this past weekend I pulled out the workout Heather posted a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect workout to fit into our little home-gym.  We have a finished basement with an elliptical, dumbbells, yoga mats and some other things.  That workout was fabulous!  It was a nice hybrid just like the style I have been doing.  I also spent a lot of time doing yoga as I have not been able to get to a class recently.  Sadly enough Friday was the only sunny day and it rained all Saturday and Sunday.  Thankfully, Rosco and I got outside for a run on Friday and took advantage of the sun.  But man were we both bummed it rained the remainder of the weekend. 

I am now back in Boston for a few days and had to really think about my training for the week.  I decided to go back to a classic upper/lower lift for the three days I am here, as the dumbbells we have in Vermont do not go up as high as I’d like for a heavy lift.  After spending the past 6ish months training in a hybrid style (mix of plyos, sprints and lifting all together) it was refreshing to get in a straight lift.  Yesterday was upper body, for which I did in a push-pull super-set style. i.e. Overhead Press and Lat Puilldown, Chest Press and Bentover BB Row and so on.  What a great workout.  I really enjoyed it because I haven’t done a straight lift in a while.  In fact, I had become a bit snobby about my training and only wanted to do a hybrid-style.  That attitude is never good as all training styles have their importance.  So it was very nice to do and enjoy a more classic lift.  However, I know after a few weeks of this, I’d become very bored.  So don’t expect me to continue with a classic lift.  But for now, it serves its purpose. 

And that sums up my all-over-the-place life and training right now.  I’m planning on doing a hybrid lift up in Vermont when I get back up there and then, weather permitting, lots of hiking and trail running with Rosco.  I will also get in a lot of yoga as my body really needs it right now.  And other than that – I am flying by the seat of my pants; which is very uncharacteristic of me.  So the next time your schedule blows up and becomes a mess, let go of any preconceived plan you think you must stick to and roll with it.  Provided you continue to eat clean and get in and train in some way, shape, or form, you will come out on the other side of your hectic weeks in great shape.  I know that is my plan!

My lunch time group training participation keeps growing.  Most notably, I have more guys from the office attending.  Unfortunately, we have to stay inside because it’s too hot to go outside at that time of day now here in the Deep South.  I had a big group today, therefore I had to keep folks confined to their own little area in the room we use.   Anyhow, guys and gals alike were dying… in a good way…

“Man, I should have stuck around for the cooldown before trying to return to my desk.”

Here’s the workout I was simply calling a “2/4/6/8″, referring to numbers of reps per round.  See below:  The solid dotted exercises are done in a string of 1 rep each to create 1 “rep”.  Try to hold the weights the whole rep, during the pushups even, so that just coming up from the pushups launches you into the next rep as your deadlift (DL).  After the prescribed reps, do the open dotted exercises in the corresponding # of reps to that round.  So your first set you do 2 of the giant-string-of-exercises reps, put the weights down and do 2 burpee double jacks, 2 high knees, 2 climbers, 2 split jumps (all per side except burpees).  In our case, after the 2/4/6/8 pyramid was complete, ½ the class each picked an ab exercise and we all had to do 20 reps of it where appropriate (some were split as 10/10 or timed or whatever).  Then we did the whole mess again, as 8/6/4/2, and finished with other ½ of class’s abs.  Regarding mode of resistance, some did BB, some KBs, some DBs, so pick your pleasure.

• DL (deadlift)
• Clean
• Press (overhead/push press)
• Front Squat
• Row (bent over)
• Pushup

(So-in case it was unclear-1 rep of each of the 6 exercises above = 1 “rep” for this class’s purposes)

o   Burpee Double Jack (burpee down, jack legs out and in while in up-pushup position-otherwise knows as a “prone jack”-finish the burpee and do a jumping jack)

o   High Knee (per side)

o   Mtn Climbers (per side)

o   Split Jump (per side)

ABS—Everyone contributes, repeats allowed, 20 reps each (if alone, pick 5 exercises)

Then again, as 8/6/4/2…

Enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  I hope you enjoyed a long weekend because I sure did.  I went to visit my parents which means the following: lots of napping, staying up a little too late watching tv with my mother, early morning coffee with my father, and getting in some great hiking and trail running.  It also means that I don’t go to the gym, but instead workout at home.  Thankfully my parents have a small gym area where they have some free weights, an elliptical and space for yoga.  But it also means that I won’t get in my regularly scheduled workout.  Additionally, if I am home for more than a day or two, it means I will have to restructure my entire week.  Whatever plan I am currently doing will have to be modified.

It also means that when I get back home, I usually have a day or two to fill with a miscellaneous workout.  This is the workout you do when you have an extra day to fill or the workout you do when you’ve just finished a program and are not yet ready to start a new one.  Or it is the workout you do when you need a break from your current plan.

This is a variation on that timed sets and can also be called “30 seconds on, 30 seconds off”.  Essentially you set up a bunch of exercises, each of which you were perform for 30 seconds.  In between each exercise you rest for 30 seconds.  Let me give you an example workout first, and then we can talk about variations.  This example is one I would call more of a metabolic romp that is full body with plyos.  As always, perform either a dynamic warm up or at least mobility work first.  Then find an area in the gym and set up all of your weights.  For exercises to be done with weight, chose a weight for which you can do 10 reps, but no more than 10.  There is no weight needed for the ploys.  Because you are lifting for time, a gym boss really comes in handy here.

• BB Front Squat (can also use DB)
• Squat Jumps
• BB Bentover Row
• Prone Jack
• DB Overhead Press
• Burpee
• BB Romanian Deadlift
• Push-Up

Based on the above, you perform front squats for 30 seconds, rest 30 seconds, squat jumps for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds and continue until you have finished 30 seconds of push-ups. That is 1 round.  Rest for 2 minutes and repeat for a total of 3 or 4 rounds.

Now that you’ve got the basic set-up, you can start playing with the exercises, rest periods and weight parameters so the workout best meets your goals.  In this example, mixed plyos and traditional lifting.  However, if you prefer a more traditional lift, replace the plyos with all traditional lifting exercises.  I also chose a 10 rep max weight.  However, if you are currently working in a lower rep scheme and want this work to stay in line with that scheme, chose a weight you can only lift for 6 reps.  You will still lift for the full 30 seconds, but because you are using a heavier weight, your reps will take longer.  However, lifting for time will force you to possibly push out a few extra reps – don’t worry if you have to rest in between finishing the 30 set, so long as you keep trying for the full 30 seconds.

I also chose to put together a full body workout.  However, you can put together any split you want.  And finally, I put this workout together for that miscellaneous time.  But, you can easily add something like this in once/week and progress it.  You can progress it by changing up the rest period or by increasing the number of reps you get out in each 30 seconds.  If you want to progress it by time, in week 2, lift for 35 seconds, rest for 25 seconds.  In week 3, lift for 40 seconds, rest for 20 seconds.  Finally in week 4, lift for 45 seconds, rest for 15 seconds.

If you want to progress by reps, keep track of the number of reps you perform in each 30 second interval (write them down during your 30 second rest period).  Keep track for each round you do.  Next week, try to get in more reps (one or two more).

As you can see, the possibilities are endless. But this is a great workout you can do anywhere and customize it to fit the general scheme of your current plan/goals.