Yesterday was about the basics.  Today is about faking like you know what you’re doing on the track.  Ready?

BREAKING IT DOWN

We are currently on a state of the art track.  Well not physically, but I want you to envision it because it’s important for today’s post.  The track is made of that red, foamy rubber stuff that feels great on the feet; the middle of the track is covered in turf instead of grass and has the little black rubber beads in it, too; there are bleachers that are in good shape and are made specifically for running them because they are high, with evenly spaced stairs; and there is a bathroom within 5 min of walking to it (ESSENTIAL for a woman).

I am going to take yesterday’s basic workout and add a ton of fillers to it.  Depending on what I add, it will lean either more to the conditioning side (lots of plyos and rest) or more to the cardio side (not much rest but much less intensity).  I will color code this because the anal engineer in me says that that makes the most sense.  You don’t want to know what the lazy woman in me said.  I told her to shut up for your benefit.

Red = added to yesterday’s workout

DYNAMIC WARM UP

1. Performed in a straight line, over 15 feet or so.  Backslash BP means to return to start with a back pedal.
2. 8 “runs”—each way is 1 run—get faster with each run so that the last one is just short of a sprint
3. High knees/BP
4. Every 3^rd high knee/BP
5. Butt kickers/BP
6. Every 3^rd butt kicker/BP
7. Skip/BP/10 mtn climbers (from the down position, pop up into skip for height)
8. Skip for height/BP/10 mtn climbers (from the down position, pop up into skip for distance)
9. Skip for distance/BP/10 mtn climbers (from the down position, pop up into skips with a twist)
10. Skips with a twist
11. 5 push ups/Shuffle/5 push ups/shuffle (“pop up” from the push up like a burpee; do not get up slowly and shuffle)
12. 3 groiners for stretch/Carioka/3 groiners for stretch/Carioka
13. 5 gateswings/side run/5 gateswings/side run
14. 180’s
15. 360’s
16. Fast walking lunge
17. Lunge and rotate
18. Frankensteins
19. Prisoner walks
20. Round house shuffle
21. Monster walks

The purpose of this warm up is two-fold:  warm you up dynamically in a way that mimics the movements you are about to do and get you used to flowing from one move to the next.  For example, when you back pedal back it is very natural to go right down to the ground at the end of it.  This puts you in the position to do a mountain climber.  From the down position of a mtn climber, you are almost in the “start block position” and you go right into a skip.  This forces you to learn how to go from floor to fast, but we’re not doing in it into a run because we’re not Flo Jo so back it down.

WARM UP SPRINT—this doesn’t change

1. Start at the beginning of the straight away
2. Run at a fast, but easy, pace half of the distance of the straight away.
3. Walk back to start.
4. Do this 3 to 5 times depending on how long it takes you to loosen up and feel comfortable.

SPRINTS AND SUCH

Start in start block position, run faster speed than the first set of sprints for the entire length of the 100m strip.  Walk back.  Repeat 2 more times.

HERE ARE THE FILLERS

Conditioning:

Rest a full 3 min. from the sprints.  Really do this or you’ll be junk by the end of the second set of sprints.  Respect rest periods.

Head to the bleachers.  Run up/down the bleachers 2 times.  At the bottom do 10 squat jumps, 10 squat thrusts and 10 prone jacks.  Repeat 1 time.  Rest 3 full min.

Begin another set of sprints again only this time, empty everything you have into the pavement.  You will only feel fast for the first one.  You will get progressively slower after that.  Rest fully now.  However long it takes to come down to normal breathing, take it.   You’ll notice this will get better every week.  Head to the turf.  This should be a football field marked off in 5 yards.  Find a vacant “10 yard space” for you to perform a 5/5/10/10.  You are going to perform an exercise for 5 yards Right, 5 yards L, 10 yards R, 10 yards left.

• Sprint/sprint/sprint/sprint
• Shuffle/shuffle/skip for height/skip for distance
• Bear crawl/bear crawl/carioca/carioca
• Sprint/BP/Sprint/BP

Rest 1 min.  Do this in sets of 4, do no more than 3 sets as a filler and use anything you want such as leap frogs, side runs and so on.  Get creative.  Rest fully again.  However long it takes.

Last set of 3.  Feel this one out.  If you feel good, do them full speed.  If you’re new to this, just “run fast” but don’t empty your tank into the track or you could get hurt.  Rest fully.  Head to bleachers.  This is a combo filler.  Run up the bleachers 1 time.  Come down, run to the turf.  Peform the following crank 1 time:

• 20 rapid fire squats
• 10 jump squats
• 10 squat thrusts
• 10 burpees

No rest AT ALL b/w exercises.

And then run 4—5/5/10/10’s.  Rest 2 min and repeat the entire sequence again.  If your bleachers are short, double the amount.  Time for cool down.

Cardio:

Rest a full 3 min. from the sprints.  Really do this or you’ll be junk by the end of the warm up.  Respect rest periods.

Run a 400.  Not all out as a sprint, but at a good pace.  Rest 3 full min and repeat one more time.  Rest 3 min.

Begin another set of sprints again only this time, empty everything you have into the pavement.  You will only feel fast for the first one.  You will get progressively slower after that.  Rest fully now.  However long it takes to come down to normal breathing, take it.   You’ll notice this will get better every week.  Run the bleachers 2 times, come down and run across the track (meaning across the turf) to the other side and back at 70% of max.  Repeat this for time (5 min), not reps.  Rest 3 min.

Last set of 3.  Feel this one out.  If you feel good, do them full speed.  If you’re new to this, just “run fast” but don’t empty your tank into the track or you could get hurt.  Rest 3 min.  Run the curve of the track, if they have bleachers on each side you’re going to loop the track by doing the bleachers on the straightaway, a good run on the curves.  Do this for 10 min. People will think you’re nuts—tell them you lost your wallet while running.

Same cool down as yesterday for both conditioning and cardio sections.  We’ll change that next time.

Do you have all that?   I know it’s a lot.  I’ll elaborate more when we head to the park tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

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Let’s jump (wow, unintended bad pun right there) right into this:

BEFORE YOU START

Sneakers: Running shoes.  Do not wear minimalist sneakers if you have never sprinted before, you will blow out your shins.  Bring those in slowly.  Sneakers are personal so no, I do not have a recommendation of a brand.

Time: NOT HIGH NOON.  I always see at least one crazy person on a track sprinting at high noon at least once a year.  And don’t ask why I’m there to see it–I’m nosy ok?  You feel better now?  If you go early morning, the grass will be wet.  Don’t walk through it, soak up your feet and then try to sprint with maximum traction.  Stay off the grass.  If you go later in the day, close to evening, the mosquitoes will make a meal of you so bring some OFF to show them who’s boss.  Track mosquitoes are a special gigantic breed that has been brought over from the Amazon.  Take heed.

Water: If it is hot, water may not be enough.  Nuuns are easy to bring with you in case you need them and are way better than any kind of Gatoraide product that’s going to kill your physique.

THE TRACK

Assuming this is a standard track, the straightaway is 100m; the curve is 100m.  Altogether the entire way around is 400m.  Don’t try to stay in your lane or get all technical, just get around the track.  Be mindful of other people and don’t hog up a whole area like we can in the gym because most tracks are for public use so they’ll be all types roaming around when you get there.

If it has bleachers, fabulous!  Make sure they are sturdy.  TEST THEM OUT before you barrel up them like Chariots of Fire on crack.  You’d be surprised at how many good looking but falling apart bleachers there are out there.

Dynamic warm ups are best done on the straightaway that is separated from the track.  Typically it’s about 8 to 15 feet that is set aside and leads right into the straight portion of the track.  Most people will not bother you if you use that as your warm up area.  Do not start your sprint from there, though, because it adds to the length of the 100m sprint.

WHAT YOU ARE WORKING

Overall: Conditioning.  We do not use these for anything other than to give you a nice tight body.  However, there is a nice side effect to sprinting which is your overall lung capacity.  If you are a runner, you’ll be able to run faster, longer after a few weeks of sprinting.  If you’re a gym rat, you’ll notice that your intense days of cardio in the gym are no longer intense and you’ll have to kick it up a notch.

Body:

• ‘Start block starts’ work the glutes, hamstrings and calves.
• The first ten steps work the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.
• Top speed running works the hamstrings.

I left out the hip flexors and other terminology like push/pull phase or return swing on purpose.  Unclog your mind of those things for now.  This is about appearance–not performance.

Mental stamina: There is something about sprinting that makes us feel fierce and productive.  Capitalize on this; don’t shy away.  Sweaty, smelly workouts that are directly correlated with a sense of being uniquely strong keep us focused on the task at hand, dieting, more than anything else we’ll do all week long.

THE WORKOUT

A true track workout should not take more than 15 min.  We use them for conditioning only.  When used as cardio, lots of fillers are put in to add to the length of the workout and all fillers MUST BE less intense than the sprint portion of the workout or you will fry yourself.  Adding too much stuff into the workout is a great way to get injured but this happens because we feel like we can conquer the world once we start releasing speed.  Get your head together, girl.  You’re coming back next week.  No need to shove it all in at one time.  Here are the components:

• Dynamic Warmup
• Warm up sprints
• Full out sprinting
• Add ins, fillers and rest periods
• Cool down

I will break all of these down for you tomorrow.  I’ll give you things to think about, how to do them, where you get yourself into trouble and how to keep it fresh.  Today, though, I’m just going to give you a sample workout to sink your teeth into so you have an idea of what I’m going to walk you through tomorrow and because I promised that I would.  I don’t want you to think I’m holding out.

You can google any of these exercises if you don’t know what they are:

DYNAMIC WARM UP

Performed in a straight line, over 15 feet or so.  Backslash BP means to return to start with a back pedal.

1. 8 “runs”—each way is 1 run
2. High knees/BP
3. Butt kickers/BP
4. Skip/BP
5. Skip for height/BP
6. Skip for distance/BP
7. Shuffle/shuffle
8. Carioka/Carioka
9. 180’s
10. 360’s
11. Frankensteins
12. Prisoner walks
13. Round house shuffle
14. Monster walks

WARM UP SPRINT

Start at the beginning of the straight away

Run at a fast, but easy, pace half of the distance of the straight away.

Walk back to start.

Do this 3 to 5 times depending on how long it takes you to loosen up and feel comfortable.

SPRINTS

Start in start block position, run faster speed than before the entire length of the 100m strip.  Walk back.  Repeat 2 more times.  Take a walk around the track or put a filler here.  I’ll explain tomorrow what fillers are.

Begin another set of sprints again only this time, empty everything you have into the pavement.  You will only feel fast for the first one.  You will get progressively slower after that.  Walk around again or add another filler.

Last set of 3.  Feel this one out.  If you feel good, do them full speed.  If you’re new to this, just “run fast” but don’t empty your tank into the track or you could get hurt.  Walk around the track or last filler.

You’re done.  This is as basic as it gets.  It’s time to cool down.

COOL DOWN

1. Prisoner walks
2. Thinker
3. Lunge and rotate
4. Over the fence, under the fence
5. Hip hip

Tomorrow we’ll do a “fancy” track workout with plyos and cranks before we move onto the park and the beach.  Sound good?  Woop woop!!

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There are two types of track workouts:  one for your performance where you worry about getting faster, better, stronger by manipulating rest periods, work load and intensity; and one for your physique where you work out so hard that the only thing you can imagine happening the next day is that your rear end and quads turn into cement thereby satisfying your desire to have unnaturally hard glutes and thighs.  But most of us have zero idea of how to differentiate between the two so we create these great track workouts and then worry about details that do not matter to us physique athletes and neglect those that do.   I will give you some much needed information on form, what part of your legs you’re working on doing what and workload so you can stop blindly following the workouts in magazines and start creating your own that are tailored to your physique rather than your performance.  I’m going to put up 3 sprint workouts for you to play around with and then use as a model for whenever you want to punish work on your back side.  They will be as follows:  1) traditional track workout, 2) I-don’t-have-a-track-near-me workout (i.e. park/street) and 3) beach workout.

Right now, I think it’s essential to get some of your questions out of the way before we start.

Why do I give a flying rat’s behind about a track workout in the first place?

Because you like a nice butt and legs and who better to model than “those who could hold a new born baby with their butt cheeks”.  Out of all professional athletes, no backside consistently compares to those of sprinters.  They’re super human almost.

Why can’t I just go run some sprints and be done with it?

Because you’re a type A psycho and you and I both know that if you are left to your own devices, you’ll do this 3X’s a week, add some plyos, run some bleachers, run to the track and back, lift before hand, do yoga after…really, right now?  Once you “just go run some sprints” you’ll think that wasn’t enough and you can add a little more to the workout…

Is there a limit to how many times a week I can do this?

Yes, one.  I know you can do more than that.  I know your girlfriend runs track and she does 2 to 3 days per week.  I know you’ve been doing it more than that for years.  Yes, I know you want to speed this process up and that you have a goal and that you’ve been this weight for so long and {big gasp as I take a loud breath}…

You know I always say this:  you cannot burn the candle on both ends.  Concentrate on food or concentrate on workout.  But do not try to diet and beat yourself to a pulp because the only thing you will lose is ground.

Does this count as cardio?

Nope.  Now how do you like dem apples?  This is too anaerobic to count as cardio but I will tell you how you can make it cardio if you like.

I can’t run fast.  I’m not built to sprint.

Do you have a butt?  Right…get on the track.  Here’s the deal:  you are not a sprinter.  You never have been and you never will be.  And even if you were, you aren’t one now.  I’m sure your mechanics are frightening—don’t worry about it.  For what we want out of this, you’re fabulous at it.  What matters is you give the pavement everything you have once you are warmed up.  Nothing else matters.  I will give you tips on how to survive this and then soon learn how to master it so you really do feel like you are doing some work.

I look stupid and uncoordinated doing this.

Really?  To who?  The 75 year old man walking the track?  Girl, get over yourself.  The majority of people out there only care about their workout and the way they look.  They did not drive there so they could spend 30 min. ogling over you.  Now when we get to the beach workout, that’s a different story.

I thought you said you were going to do outdoor workouts–not track workouts.

This is outdoors, what’s wrong with you?  Unless you have some super long basement I’m not tuned into.   Day 2 and 3 are less about sprinting and are more about getting outside to the park or beach and working out.  Jeez Louise.  (Anybody else like that argument I just had with myself?

I’m afraid I’m going to get hurt.

Now this is a legitimate concern and there is always a level of risk you take on when you do anything high intensity or full out.  Take it slow in the beginning.  Remember, you’re not a sprinter so leave your ego in the car.  We get ourselves in trouble when we think we don’t have to warm up or pay attention to the fact that we’re not under 18 anymore.

My aim is to finish this series this week; I really do not want to drag it on.  Can you believe it’s already mid July?!  So far for New England this has been a wonderful summer.  I have zero complaints so I want to get this out to you ladies while we have the nice weather.  Check in tomorrow for the first workout.  Woop woop!!

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I go to the gym Monday through Friday right after I drop my kids off at school.  (For those of you who are wondering, I finally started coming to a stop for my kids to get out of the car.  No more pushing them out as I drive by.   It’s been working well for us.  Thanks for your concern.;)  It’s a basic gym, nothing extraordinary about it and I go at that odd time of the morning where it’s the end of the early morning rush but before the mommy time starts so it’s never crowded.  Every day that I am at the gym there is a woman on the Arc Trainer—her special Arc Trainer—covered in about 2 gallons of sweat and I used to always think, ‘Work it girl!’ when I saw her doing cardio.  Then one day I got on next to her and she was covered in sweat while the display of her machine said 7 minutes.  I immediately thought, “Holy crap.  What setting could you possibly have that on if you are that sweaty after 7 minutes?!  I need to get a hook up from sister-girl on how to juice the Arc Trainer for everything it has.”  Then I got on again about a week or two later when her display read about 50 min or so (I know I wrote about this before on some post but I can’t find it right now) and while I was doing my cardio it looped at 60 min and started counting from 1 again.  What the…?  What is THAT about?  Who in this day and age has that much time to do that much cardio all week long?  Holy ticking time, Batman!

So today I just happen to be there before she was and she came in and put her stuff on the machine before going to the lockers to put her stuff away.  What she used to “hold her spot” was 7 pieces of gum neatly lined up on the machine—meanwhile she was chewing away on some already before setting up shop.  Holy intestinal fortitude!  I got the runs just knowing she was going to chew all that in that short of time.  Well short time for 7 pieces of gum, long time for useless cardio.  Thankfully I was done 5 minutes after she came back so I had enough time to stock up on Cank-Aid and warm salty water.  This brings me to some more of the basics…

I am going to start running, I need to lose some weight.

Good luck with that.  Using running to lose weight is like using a spoon to empty bathwater out of your tub; you will eventually get it done.  If you insist on running as a form of weight loss, do it the right way by incorporating speed drills and sprints into your runs and you’ll really achieve what you’re hoping for.

Can I do the weight lifting class at my gym instead of lifting?  It’s so boring and I hate it.

You mean the class that does more reps in one hour than I would ever do in one week?  I would say no simply because you cannot lift heavy enough.  And I can’t say this enough:  group fitness has its place in life but not as a primary if your desire is to look good naked.

What do you think about…{insert diet concept/book/workout technique/DVD/latest fad here}?

Who cares?  You know you don’t.  I could tell you that it causes a new arm to grow out of your neck and if you are hell bent on it enough, you’ll bring an extra sleeve for your shirt just in case.  Seriously.  And honestly, if it is going to energize you, challenge you, inspire you and so on and it is safe, I say go for it.  I hope that most of us have been around long enough to know that change matters more than the actual diet or workout itself.  Not to mention, are you new to dieting or not?  If you are new, you’ll lose weight running to the shower in the morning.  If you’re a veteran, you could scale Mount Kilimanjaro eating only a bean and a half of pear and maybe, just maybe, you’ll lose a half pound by the end of the week.

I started doing bootcamp 5 days a week.  Is that ok?

Only if they mix it up.  If you are doing 5 days of jumping/plyometrics, that is not ok.  And if it is really a glorified run club, see #1.

It is cool to see people in their “stages of readiness”.   When we first start out we just want to lose some weight.  But then we lose a few pounds and realize we look the same as before, just smaller.  Then we go to a beach and put on a bathing suit and realize we’re so crinkly that we look like we wrapped ourselves in cellophane before we left the house.  That sets us on a mission to be smaller and tighter.  The rest is history but it’s wild to watch it go down in slow motion.  This wraps up all the questions asked to me in April.  May is proving to be a slow month which is nice because I need to regenerate in my hole office after all that.  Woop woop!

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For the sake of keeping in line with Heather’s hot legs Monday’s post…

It’s getting warmer.

I love it. I am feeling human again.

Can you smell it? Can you hear it? (Honestly, I may hurt the bird that has made his new residence right under my bedroom window. Love nature but really?) Can you feel it?

It’s Sprint time! I mean…spring time!

It is that awesome time of the year when we get outside, shake off the dust from the forced hot air heaters in our houses and live a little. YAY!! I am like a completely different person in the summer and you would think that I would move to a warmer climate but alas, I cannot. Things like bugs, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis keep me in New England so instead I just worship the warmth when it shows up briefly 4 to 5 months out of the year.

But now is the time when most of y’alls fall into the same old 3 to 5 mile run that you do every day because it helps you to “think” or “it’s the only thing that helped (notice past tense) me lose weight” or “it wipes me out (yet you haven’t lost a pound for months)” and you refuse to change or cross train because you either do not want to or you do not know how. Let me help you out with that…

Here are 2 simple ways to liven up your everyday run and add enough intensity change to get your body to respond:

Short Distance Sprint
If you have a 3 to 5 mile flat course that you run every day, change it up with sprints by adding them in the middle of your run. You can do these two ways: stop and pick an area to run a set of sprints or incorporate them into the run and they are part of the overall distance. Either way, instead of racking your brain for distance (50m, 100m, etc), do it for time. If you want to do this separate from your run, after running a 1 mile warm up, find a remote straight away and perform 9—12 sec sprints. Run 3 sprints back to back with a 30 sec rest in between and then rest a full 3 to 5 min by walking around the area slowly. Repeat that whole sequence 2 more times to complete 9 sprints in total. If you want to do this in the run, warm up the same and sprint for 12 secs but now add a min rest in between each sprint and be sure to slow down between them more than your base pace.

Longer Distance Sprint
Take the above scenario in terms of distance and terrain. Now add a bunch of “400’s” instead of “100’s” into the mix. Truly, you cannot do many of these if you do them right. In the beginning, shoot for 3—400’s, if that doesn’t make you bleed from an orifice then try 4—400’s and so on. I would incorporate these into the run—not separately—so make sure you have a good idea of what your base pace is so that you know the distinction between the speeds you are about to run at. After your warm up, you are going to run at your fastest pace JUST short of all out. This means you will not run as fast as the 100 but you will run much faster than your 5 mile pace. Do not rack your brain for distance, instead, run for 1:45 and you will be pretty close to 400m. Once you complete it, drastically slow your run down but do not go to a walk if you can help it. Stay there for 4 min and then complete the next 400. Do that one more time and finish off your run at normal pace. Your legs should feel like jello.

Get out there and get moving if you live up north. Let us know how you do, all of us are sprinters at heart here and we’d love to know how you’re doing. Have fun! Woop woop!

You have women like her posted up all over the place.

You have made up your mind.
You are fully resolved.
You’ve told your closest friends and you told your hubby he better support you.
You cut out pictures, wrote declarations, sought out support groups on the web and rid yourself of all the folks who are not headed in your direction.
You clean out the cupboards and buy your Tupperware.
You set your schedule and even buy new gym outfits.
Lastly, you have a plan…

It’s time to diet down to the body you have desired for a long time.

Whether this decision was made as a first step to competing or you just decided you wanted to be a hot body in the gym, it doesn’t matter because the outcome is all the same: a lean, chiseled body. Or so you hope. But for today, it is. You are going to achieve it because that’s not the issue here today. The issue is what happens when it goes away? Now what?

It’s unrealistic to think that you will diet for 12 weeks into the hottest body you can imagine. For most of us it takes about 6 months to achieve an end product that we are even remotely satisfied with and then even longer for us to tweak and manage. That’s a long time when you think about how disciplined you must be to get there and then how much more so to stay there but the first time around is so easy that you hardly even notice.

You are willing to go through anything the first time around. The pounds magically fall off; your will is stronger than an ox. It is a fun process for lack of a better word and it is so rewarding. Kill yourself in the gym? The mirror reflects it. On point with your diet? The scale smiles back at you. Compliments are flying like the planes at the Southwest hub. Everybody has something to say about how you look. You think you’ve hit the jackpot. You’ve GOT this. You know what you’re doing even if no one else does. Why does everyone think this is so hard? You begin to give advice because you just keep losing a pound every 3 to 6 days—clearly you know what you’re doing so all must benefit. In fact, you begin to entertain thoughts of being a trainer because all you need to know is how to eat clean and workout just the right way and you can get everybody to lose weight and look good. Why is the world heavy?

Then you make goal. You look awesome. You can hang out here forever as far as you’re concerned. But there’s trouble in paradise. You have cravings. You’re exhausted. You’re actually pretty crabby and mean most of the time. You’re not sure when that started but you notice it. You’ve been sneaking bites of things here and there. Things you didn’t even like before you started dieting now appeal to you. Things like donuts, chips, ice cream, and peanut butter and so on. Everything smells good. You have dreams of particular foods. You have little injuries cropping up here and there. Eventually, you need a mini break. Your goal has come and gone and you can’t hold on to your sanity much longer. You let go. You head into a murky thing that we’ll define today as an offseason. Your diet opens up, your exercise is pulled back some because you couldn’t keep up that pace anymore and you begin to eat a bit more and live a bit more. By no means did you go back to who you were before you became ‘clean living girl’. We’re talking about a gain here of maybe 4 to 8 pounds. Nothing huge. But it was enough of a gain that the compliments stopped. Your lines are gone. And your head is swooning in complete alarm.

Is everyone laughing at me?
Do they think that I am fat?
I feel like a fraud.
I can’t go to my gym, everyone will know that I’ve gained.

So after about 3 to 5 weeks of unraveling you “get yourself together” and decide to that you need to get rid of those 4 to 8 pounds that you put on. You know how to do this since it was so easy before so you’ll just do it. So you start trying to lose that weight by doing exactly what you did before. No more, no less. And guess what? It doesn’t work. You don’t lose a pound.

WHAT??!!

Ok, hold on: Cardio? Check. Lifting? Check. Clean? Check. Supplements? Check. What gives then?

The Second Time Around
If you are signed up for my updates you know that I handle the meatier topics via email. This is no different. Next week I will tell you all about the pitfalls of trying to get lean after getting lean. It’s not easy and you cannot do what you did before or you end up just doing more of it. If you know of any girls right now doing more than an hour of cardio/day to maintain their physique, this is for them. More cardio, more dieting or more depravation is not the answer. You must get smarter or you will run yourself into the ground. That’s the first concern.

The second concern is your psychological well being. Read Kas’ post on Tuesday if you have not already and you’ll see what I mean. Being lean and losing it for a time—even if only slightly—can wreck shop in your mind. It can make you a holy hot mess. We need to address that.

Are you ready for a fun journey? Sign up for the email updates from me and you’ll be in the loop. Tomorrow marks the last day of keeping the bum lifted while running a half marathon. Stay tuned for that wrap up. In the mean time, if you were once lean and you want it back, hang tight because we have your number here at jodiojo & co. If you have any questions regarding this topic, feel free to ask them below or hit me up at Jodi@trans4mationstation.com. Talk soon!

Before I delve into the annoying world of fitness, I need to laugh about how many folks were taken aback by my snow shoeing!haha  I promise that if I do it I will tell you all about it.  Yes, I know it is cold out there and yes, I know I hate the cold.  But I will give it a go all in the name of fitness and I will report back as soon as possible with details…hehe.

As for whatever you are doing in the gym right now—knock it off!

Honestly, if you troll around the web long enough and begin to read all the training articles out there, no matter what you are doing right now (and it could be the latest and greatest thing) you are doing it ALL wrong and you are awful just for breathing.  In fact, you are a fitness waste that is destined to spend the rest of your life behind the times in leotards and Richard Simmons shorts.  Why you got up this morning is beyond belief—give it up, you suck.

I have no idea how this is supposed to motivate me to want to try whatever it is that they are pushing but this seems to be the norm for so many fitness folk that I am almost wondering if it really is an effective way of marketing one’s self.  Maybe I will try it next week in a post.  I’ll tell you about the newest thing out there and how you are less than human because you don’t know how to do it and not only that, you are archaic because what you are doing is SUCH a waste of time (yes, because working out is silly—whatever) and why aren’t you more efficient and why haven’t you burned 700 cals in 10 min. and then *continued* to burn cals for at least another 20 hours while maximizing your potential to sell real estate to pigmies in Africa who are recovering the best unknown workout recovery secret…(pant, pant, pant).  When did fitness become this full of overbearing folks with heinous agendas? OY!

Here’s my deal…  Workout.  Now.  That’s it.  I don’t care what you do, just break a sweat.  If you decide that your cardio for the day is going to be laundry and you walk up and down 2 flights of stairs with a laundry basket about 8 times, so be it!  If you think shop lifting in Walmart is the way to go and then being chased through the parking lot by undercover cops for cardio is appealing, just wear a heart rate monitor—it’s all I ask.  Say you decide to live on the edge and go for something new so you take up swimming…indoors…in the fountain at the center of the Burlington Mall…and you find a lot of change…GOOD!  Buy some new workout gear with it!  I don’t care what you do as long as you do something!!

If you want to split hairs and talk about optimizing and etc, save that for when you’re feeling perfect.  There’s about 2 weeks out of the year when we feel that way.  The rest of the time we’re just trying to get it done and hope that nothing gets in our way lest we don’t make it to the gym that day.  YKWIM?  So I’m here to cut some slack for you folk out there who are feeling like you are not doing all that you can because you keep reading how you are doing it all wrong:  tell them to go blow it out their backside and start counting everything under the sun as a workout including yelling in traffic, pacing because you have to go to the bathroom and running out of time! 

Stand up for yourself and don’t get bullied by these crazy exercise folks!  Almost started feeling bad about myself because I worked out for an hour today…what a waste of my time.  I could have worked out for 7 min. and maintained a high EPOC for 23 hours and then dropped 10 pounds before breakfast!   Instead I chose to “make myself fatter” by doing a complex or 2 and finishing out with some cardio…SHEESH!  Who knew?

Whatever you choose to do, I am glad you are doing something!  Feel free to let us know about it if it is something unique.  Have fun!:o)

The clocks have been pushed back, it’s colder in the morning, it’s dark out at 4pm in the afternoon…HELP! I’m losing my workout mojo again!

Honestly, I loathe the winter time.  If I could move to Florida (and know that when I came home from work my house wasn’t blown away in a hurricane or taken over by flying cockroaches) I honestly would.  I would love to be able to work out outside all the time.  I love the sound of nature, the difficulty of an outdoor workout and the freedom from the time ticker on a cardio machine.  But alas, I live in New England and it is that time of year again.  It is time for me to become creative and find something that gets me going when I don’t want to do anything but curl up in a ball on the couch with a Snuggie (no, I don’t own one yet but I am obsessed)! 

One of the most successful things that I have found to work for me is to change my cardio based on the seasons—or at least time intervals of weeks.  This helps tremendously and keeps me from getting in a cardio rut.  If you have the luxury of being able to do this—do it! 

Right now it is windy and unpredictable so my workouts have moved to the street where I will either bike now or hill walk.  I live in the hilliest area of my city and I love it.  In the summer it was all about field workouts and track workouts because the grass was conducive to direction change (no leaves on the ground) and great traction.  The winter is now upon us almost and I am considering my next outdoor adventure:  snow shoeing.  Yes…snow shoeing. 

I have never done it but I am really looking forward to trying it.  Not sure if I am going to or not, but it is a definite possibility.  I want to stay outside.  I am not a long distance runner—I am a sprinter by DNA—so that’s not really appealing to me and biking becomes dangerous once the snow falls.  So I am left with no choice other than to become really creative with my cardio if I want to stay outside for the majority of my workouts. 

Now if you know me you know that this is going to last until the first real cold day and then I’ll be over it faster than you can say 9-10 cardio!  Then I’ll hunker down to a nice kettlebell workout or a heavy complex and use that for cardio til it thaws out. 

No matter what your weapon of choice is, find something that brings out the kid in you.  Nothing stresses me out more than looking into the eyes of the drones on the elliptical machines in the gym who have been sucked into the land of mindless cardio.  There has to be more to life than that and I am punking you right now to find it.  Man up and get out there and find a great cardio alternative!…and then come back and share!  WOOP WOOP!:o)