A month or so ago I wrote about taking stock of where you are in your training, reaching your goals and life in general.  The general point of that post is quoted below. 

 Too often we use our training as a measure of success.  However, not in a way that is at all accurate.  It would be one thing to set out a six-month goal and once those six months have passed, look to see if we achieved what we set out to.  And if you are doing that, I applaud you.   That is a rational way to measure your training.  But that is not the measuring most of us are doing.  Most of us are taking and comparing only one aspect of our lives – ignoring everything else that was going at the times of comparison. ……

 In the end of the day, the best thing to do is sit back and look at where you were, as an entire person, 12 months ago and compare that to where you are now.  Once you have that baseline, then you can move down to the specifics of training.  Now, and only now, can you say “hey, I’ve been slacking and that’s unacceptable” or “hey, I’ve been slacking but that’s because I am now a part of this great non-profit organization that takes up my time after work so I can only get in my training in the morning, and that is more than acceptable.”  But had you not assessed your life as a whole, you never would have been able to realize your charity work is eating into your training time and you are ok with that trade.  Only after we assess our lives as a whole can we really make any realistic conclusions. 

My point, at that time, was that I was doing pretty darn well.  However, after assessing my life, as a whole, and coming up with a baseline; I did have to face the music.  I was slacking in certain areas of my training.  Nonetheless, coming to that conclusion from an objective place allowed me to objectively remedy the situation. 

For me, it was as simple as getting back to writing out and keeping track of my training.  For years I kept a training log.  I would sit down every Sunday and map out my week; when I planned to lift, do cardio, head to yoga – and even set up contingency plans in the event I missed a workout on Monday, I knew I’d fit it in on Thursday.  However, about 6 months ago I got away from that planning.  Thankfully, going back and setting up a calendar again did the trick and has gotten me back on track. 

 However, what I needed to do is not necessarily what you need to do.  Further, often the smallest of things can make all the difference.  With that in mind, I’ve come up with some ways you can modify your training/planning/cardio to realign yourself with your goals or even step up a notch. 

1. Get back to journaling and/or planning.  While it may seem like a daunting task, simplify it.  I am not talking about writing pages and pages in a journal or spending hours planning.  But tracking your training or planning your training can make all the difference as it will keep you accountable and allow you to objectively look for patterns of either slacking or over-doing it. 

2. Finish each rep.  Too often we cut the reps early; that which you are skipping may be the best part.  If you are deadlifting, when you stand up at the top of the movement, are you tucking your pelvis under before lowering the weight again?  While performing a row, are you squeezing your scapula and/or elbows together at the top of the move, despite the fact that this small movement burns?  Are you lowering your chest all the way to the ground in your push-up, knowing that doing so will slow you down and possibly limit the number of reps you can complete?  If you are not, try to consciously finish every move.  Do not worry about taking a bit longer to complete the set or possibly having to lighten the weight or even not being able to finish the set.  

3. Wear a watch and track your rest periods.  Despite my best efforts to maintain appropriate rest intervals, without a watch, it’s impossible.  On my heavy lifting days, I rest too little.  On my metabolic training days, as the workout progresses and I become more and more fatigued, I am tempted to rest longer than the prescribed period.  Wearing a watch solves this problem.  However, I must warn you, it also makes you realize how much following appropriate rest intervals can make any suddenly killer!

4. Wear and iPod.  There have been mornings when I’m not in the mood to listen to music.  I jump on the elliptical or spinner bike and watch t.v.  Half way through my workout I’ll get bored and turn on my iPod.  Without fail I end up kicking it up a notch because I have the right music to pump me up.  Find a good mix that will get you going and listen to it during your training.  That alone can do the trick.

So there you have it, a few tricks to either get you back on track or pick it up.  Some get at the mental side of training while others push you on the pysical, depending on where you lost your momentum.  Chose one that most appeals to you and go for it.  Let me know how it goes, or share with us tricks your own tricks.

I wish I could listen to music all the time. I mean everywhere I go. Never turn it off. I would jam all the time.

I’d have to change up what I listen to and all (you ever listen to one too many dance beats and want to hit yourself over the head with an anvil?), I don’t want to get sick of genre or anything. But I do want to be submerged in music. It has energy…fun…optimism…wreaks of creativity and most importantly, rhythm (aka tempo).

Everything in life has a rhythm. I know what you thinking right now and I just laughed out loud thinking it too, “Oh no, I don’t and you do NOT want to see me dance.” That may be true but you do have a natural rhythm about you. When you get up, when you go to bed, when you eat and etc. It’s inbred into your system and can take an act of God to get you to change and at times it is necessary to change. If I sent you to the weight room right now without thinking about what your goal was and I handed you a weight and said, “Go”, you would most like lift at a certain rhythm/pace that you have been forever. There is no reason to change. The move will feel familiar to you; the speed will feel familiar. You could trace your movements in the dark.

Now on the one hand, that’s good stuff. Who wouldn’t want to be that confident in the weight room? On the other hand, that’s a huge problem. Your body is tired of you. Bored with you. Knows all about you and has moved on. You are like John and Kate to your body—so yesterday’s news.

I promise I won’t start on my ‘you need to lift heavy rant’; instead I will help you to gain more out of your lifts than you may be now.

A simple weight lifting tool that can make an exercise go from bearable to pukeable is Tempo. It is one of my favorite things to play with and can give you the most gains. Here is a perfect example of when tempo is a gift from Heaven:

Side raises. Love them or hate them they are a great burn. If you are lifting a weight that is nearly impossible to go up from (say you can do raises with 15’s, 20’s would KILL you) then you need to find a way to make them harder. Tempo will do this for you. So what is it exactly?

Typically written as 3 numbers, but can be written as 4, tempo will show up on a program like this: 301, 211, 3111, etc. What does it mean? The amount of seconds you are to lower the weight, pause at the bottom, lift it and then pause at the top. This is great stuff when you want to convey to someone that the lift should be powerful—not slow. You would have them perform it at a pace of 201 or 211. If you wanted it done explosively, then you would denote that as 20X or 31X.

Why would you ever want to do this? Well, to beat your own arse obviously! Take a walking lunge. Feel free to just aimlessly walk around the gym for a while with some weights in your hand and call it effective. The first time you did it, it was. Now, a year later and in the middle of your plateau—not so much. How can you take an effective move like that and make it fresh again? Start the walking lunge with a BB on your shoulders and in the standing position. Step out and *quickly* sink into the lunge (you almost look like you thought there was a step there or something and missed it—but don’t fall;). PAUSE for 1 full second. In fact, say the word pause. Shift all of your weight to the forward leg. Push your heel into the floor and lift yourself up on a count of 3. Your tempo for this move is now 311. I call these Moonwalks and they hurt like heck. Go heavy while doing it and you cannot walk the whole gym like you used to. You should be able to do 6 to 8 of them. Walk on only one side at a time and you’ll really hate me.

So here it is again: 2210

Lowering the weight 2
Pause 2
Lifting the weight 1
Pause 0—this one is often left off of the count

To give you an idea of how fast you are lifting now, you most likely are lifting at a tempo of 101 right now if not very heavy, 102 if heavier. Adding a second onto the lowering and a pause at the bottom will change how many reps you can do and will most likely shorten it. Try it next time you lift.

Tempo has been around for a long time. I, myself, have been writing programs with tempo for ages and during that time I have gotten a good amount of feedback about it. There are 2 common threads that you will hear about tempo: it’s complicated and it’s hard to think about speed, form, etc. all at the same time. In other words, it detracts from the lift. I beg to differ on the first one, can understand on the second one. This is just another tool in your toolbox. It shouldn’t define you any more than it should limit you. Try it and see how much it changes your lifts but don’t get all wigged out about it and throw a weight across the gym. That could get you in jail and then you’ll have nothing but time on your hands to learn tempo there. Use some common sense and ease into it slowly by just trying to vary the speed at which you lift. When you feel good about it, begin counting. Soon you will be kicking your own behind and thinking you are the mack. Hey, whatever gets you going, you know?

Tempo really is an easy way to increase demand without having to add more weight or cut out any more cals. If you are signed up on my blog, I will be sending out a program this week with ways for you to try this out (sure, when I learn how to use the function…bwahahaha). You’ll get to see how tempo really feels and you’ll have a great template to follow when you want to add it in on your programs. I am going to use all basic exercises so you won’t need a glossary to figure out the moves. Feel free to email me at jodiojo@comcast.net if you have any questions or just reply off of the blog blast. Looking forward to hearing how you do…

For the average woman participating in a sport, aside from the performance aspect, there is an undeniable aesthetic component that cannot be ignored.  On or off the court, the female athlete of today must be diligent about her nutrition and training so as they line up with all her demands but they also nuture her feminine side.

Much like the men in this series, the following guidelines have been put together to help women perform at their best but special attention has been added to help them look their best, as well.

VOLLEYBALL, SOCCER, TENNIS, SOFTBALL

Performing:                   1-2 days/week

Eating:                          30% more than baseline

Macro Breakdown:         25 to 35% protein

                                    40 to 50% carbs

                                    Fats round out the remainder

Training:                        3 days lifting—varying volume

                                    2 days endurance, 2 days HIIT

                                    1 day functional SAQ type training

Supplements:                One that supports immune function

                                    One that supports recovery

                                    A few that harness alertness and proper cell function

Hydration:                     Critical

Much like the men, these sports are powerful and require strength and endurance to be competitive.  To keep that physique tight, though, while training for an event, eat for the days that you train and cut back on the days that you are less active.  Balancing this may be hard in the beginning so this requires you to be diligent in your tracking of your sport performance versus your prior day eating.  You will find that very high days on training days and very low days on off days does not work very well here.  Your approach should be maybe a ST or 2 difference on training days vs. not instead of large calorie swings between the days.

MARATHON, TRIATHALON, IRONMAN, CYCLING, ADVENTURE RACING:

Performing:                   4 days/week

Eating:                          40% more than baseline

Macro Breakdown:         45 to 55% carbs

                                    20 to 30% fat

                                    Protein round outs the remainder

Training:                        2 to 3 days lifting—Complexes/compounds

                                    1 day functional with lots of BW training

Supplements:                Many that support immune function and antioxidant properties

                                    A few that support recovery

                                    One that supports proper cell function

Hydration:                     Crucial

The focus for a female endurance athlete is to not lose all of her muscle tone while training for an event.  Physique maintenance should also be done in the offseason—not while training.  While for other sports it’s not as critical, for endurance athletes it is.  Once your runs go over 60 min. at a time, you need to stop whatever type of “dieting” you may have been doing prior.  Not having enough fuel for your runs will ensure that you become a Shar Pei by the time of your race and bonk on the runs.  That’s a lose, lose either way so focus on losing weight and lifting heavy in the offseason and eating right and maintaining in the in season.

GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, RECREATIONAL LIFTER/EXERCISOR

Performing:                   3 to 5 days/week

Eating:                          25 to 40% above baseline—depending on sport/goal

Macro Breakdown:         30 to 40% protein

                                    30 to 40% carb

                                    20 to 30% fat

                                    This is more of a “Zone diet” approach

Training:                        3 to 4 days lifting—Various techniques added throughout

                                    1 day full cross training

                                    4 days/week moderate cardio—you may use sport as cardio

Supplements:                One that support proper cell function/growth

                                    One that supports anti-inflammatory function

                                    One that supports recovery

                                    Some that support immune function

Hydration:                     Important

Here is where having a balanced plate everyday (divvy in 3 on your plate: meat, veggie, starch) helps tremendously.  A more even approach to the three macronutrients keeps your physique tight and helps you to minimize body fat while allowing you to perform effectively.   Muscle development in these sports is essential but staying light and streamlined is just as important so you find yourself having a larger gap between training and non training days.  You may have as much as a 20% calorie difference between the two days so as to fuel your performance but shape your physique on other days.

I think a beautiful, well fed athlete is like poetry in motion.  Healthy hair and nails alongside speed, agility and quickness make an awesome combination.  You do not have to be a jock to be an athlete and you do not have to be just a girly-girl to care about how you look.  Combining the two is hot and is wildly popular in the media since Nike, Reebok and etc. now sponsor so many of the “hot ones”.   

There is still more to come in the series so stay tuned for more.:o)

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