Since I had guests in town, I knew I would not have been able to make it to the gym this weekend. So I completed my 4 weight sessions during the week days. Luckily I didn't have to go into work for the first 3 days of the week, which always helps! I like work better when I only have to go into the office a couple days a week lol. Unfortunately it is not possible to make that a permanent arrangement.
So, I continued with month 10 of Get Glutes this week. Last week was my first week back to doing weights again after a 2 week hiatus. I mentioned that I felt much weaker. But towards the end of last week, I felt better. By the middle of this week, I was pretty much completely back to where I was before I took my break. So that's super promising. Moral of the story is you just gotta keep on doing it. Consistency is key. No short cuts. =)
Monday 8/3
What I did: Strength #1, followed by 30 minutes on the gauntlet.
What I wore: Lululemon If You're Lucky tank with Free To Be Wild bra in star crushed silver fox deep navy under. Splits59 Nova Trailblazer capris in navy and Nike Free 5.0 TR Fit 4 shoes in ash.
Lululemon Competition jacket as to and from:
Tuesday 8/4
What I did: Strength #2, followed by 20 minutes on the gauntlet.
What I wore: Nike Camouflage burnout tank with Titika Milton bra under. Lululemon Pace Crop, and Nike Free 5.0 TR Fit 4 shoes in venom/turbo green.
Titika Reveal top in mint ombre as to and from:
Wednesday 8/5 - Rest
Thursday 8/6
What I did: Strength #3, followed by 20 minutes of HIIT on treadmill.
What I wore: Lululemon Water Bound singlet in ombre wave with Lululemon Free To Be bra in spry blue under. Lululemon Live Natural ombre crop (Yes, ombre on ombre again! Hehe), and Nike Free 5.0 TR Fit 4 shoes in ash.
Nike Epic crew in deep night as to and from:
Friday 8/7
What I did: Strength #4, followed by a 15 minute run.
What I wore: I felt like ombre again for the 3rd day this week! So I wore my Nike Forevergradient tight, with Lululemon Yogi Cutoff Tee in heathered white. Same Nike shoes again.
Alo Yoga Mirage LS as to and from:
Saturday 8/8 - Rest. I went to Malibu and had brunch there, then walked around the beach for a bit since the weather was so nice. I posted my outfit here already. But I'll consolidate it again. Splits59 Ashby tanks with Victoria's Secret wrap mini skirt and my new Onitsuka Tiger Serrano sneakers in monaco blue/cameo pink.
Sunday 8/9 - Rest again. This is what I wore to eat in lol. I've been into the sporty look all weekend! Alo marled hoodie with Joe's Kathy Oblique skinny jeans and my other new pair of Onitsuka Tigers, the Tokidoki Serrano sneakers in mono mint/white. I also used my new Rebecca Minkoff Chevron Quilted Love bag.
I still love my heels and wedges, but it's nice to be sporty and comfy for a change once in a while!
Well, I'm off to go watch this confusing Season 2 of True Detection now. I had to read some Buzzfeed article that explained wtf happened in each week's episode (VERY helpful!)... and I keep hoping it would get better... lol! Glad it will be over tonight because I've invested way too much time into it and the last 7 episodes have dragged on for too long haha. Hope you all had a great weekend!
Hey! Would love ur opinion on how much cardio is necessary in your regimen. And how do you feel about Pilates?
ReplyDeleteHi there! I try to do 90 minutes of cardio a week. But if I don't hit it, I don't fret it either. I only make sure that I hit all my weight training sessions properly. I feel that cardio can definitely help burn calories, but I don't notice a huge difference in my physique whether I do it or not. But if I have time, ideally I'd like to get in 30 minutes of cardio (MIIT on treadmill, stairs, or conditioning work) on 3 separate days after strength training. Or I have also tried doing an one-hour spin class once a week, plus another day of 30 minutes on my own. Or, if I'm crunched for time, just do 20 minutes or so on 4 separate days. So my combination of cardio days just depends on how much time I have!
DeleteI love pilates! I go through phases where I buy a bunch of pilates classes from a studio and take it once a week. Then I stop lol. With weight lifting 4 times a week and working full time, it's kind of hard for me to fit in other things like pilates and yoga even though I'd love to do them once a week. It depends on what your goals are, but I don't think one should ONLY do pilates. I feel like it is a good compliment for a well rounded workout program where there is also heavier weight training sessions and moderate cardio involved.
Thank you so much for your opinion! Do you feel like heavy cardio counters the weight training benefits and that's why you do less of it? Also, for your weight training, do you have a strong opinion on full body sessions each time versus breaking it up so that one session is upper and one session is lower? Thanks again!
DeleteYeah I think if you want to keep your gains from weight lifting, you need to keep cardio to a moderate level so your muscles don't go into a catabolic state. I'm more interested in gaining muscle definitions rather than losing fat at this point. I want to look fit, not just skinny. But I'm trying to gain muscle without gaining too much fat at the same time, which makes it a much slower progress (but I'd rather be patient than having to buy all new clothes!). So I do some cardio to keep the fat gain at bay without negatively affecting my muscle gains.
DeleteI actually used to do body part splits training 5 days a week for a little over a year with my old coach. But have been doing full body sessions 4 days a week for the past 10 months. I think both strategies work as far as muscle building goes, but perhaps full body sessions are more efficient. My heart rate definitely stays higher for the whole duration of the workout with full body, whereas when I did splits I would really only get higher heart rate during lower body days. But it's hard to say which method worked better for me, since I already built a pretty solid foundation from my split training prior to starting full body. I do actually enjoy both though. I would just pick what you like and can stick to the most.
This is probably different for each individual, but for most women, it is harder to gain upper body strength relative to lower body. So even though my workout program now is glute focused, I also like to add some exercises that target upper body in addition to what is prescribed in the program. If you know what areas you need to work on the most, I would suggest focusing more on those areas even if you are doing full body exercises. I feel that my lower body is getting on point now, and I probably need to kick it up a notch with upper body exercises. It's a trial and error process to figure out what works for you, and very time consuming! Also, nothing will give great results if your diet is not dialed in. I try to be good most of the time but I do struggle with that sometimes too.
Such great info!!! With strength, you don't feel like you bulk up when you lift heavy? And how do you get your heart rate up? Even when I do a heavy lifting session, I'm not sweating buckets nor does my heart rate feel super high. Can you also share your HIIT schedule for treadmill and gauntlet? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIf I bulked up that easily from lifting, I would not be trying so hard to gain muscle lol. It sounds like you are probably not using heavy enough load or doing enough reps. Or the type of exercises you are doing are not engaging enough muscle groups. For example, if you are doing a medium load squat vs bicep curl, you'd probably find the squat to be a more complicated movement that engages a lot more muscle groups. Hence requiring more effort on your part and higher heart rate/sweating as a result.
DeleteFor cardio, I usually just do 1 minute of higher intensity alternating with 45 seconds of lower intensity for as much time as I have. If I'm on the treadmill I use the highest incline.
ah got it. i'll try upping my weights and see if i don't work up a sweat! for treadmill, you are walking and not running then? I can't imagine running at the highest incline. lol
ReplyDeleteYep, I walk at about 5 mph at the high speed and about 3.5 mph at the low speed. Hold onto the handles but just use it to stay balanced, shouldn't have too much weight on your hands. And don't lean back. =)
DeleteThanks so much! I can't wait to try out your recommendations! hey, I was looking at the get glutes! I thought it was a book but it looks like it's an online training program? So you pay the monthly membership and they give you workouts to follow?
DeleteYes it's an 18 month online program. You can pay by month and stop any time. Or you can pay it all up front which makes it only like $10 a month or something ridiculously cheap like that. Each month you will get new videos with instructions for all the workouts, and there is forum where you can ask the coaches and members questions or ask for form check.
DeleteInteresting! So you need to be at the gym how many times on this program? I'm wondering if I can follow their program and still take Pilates, etc. btw I tried treadmill today on 15 incline but no way I could do it at 5mph! You are a warrior! :)
DeleteYou can go as many times as you want. But in the beginning few months, they give you 3 strength sessions per month, and then it becomes 4 per month. I just do them each week as prescribed, but you can choose to do more or less. They also give you 2 conditioning sessions per month which you can also choose to do or not do. Totally up to you.
DeleteThe treadmill thing probably takes some practice to work the speed up. I don't remember what I started at when I first attempted it, but I'm sure it wasn't 5. =)
Deleteha! yeah that 5 speed is crazy intense! i thought to myself, 'is she for real?' thanks so much again for all the great tips!
Delete