Since I laid some ground rules down for nutrition in terms of an obstacle race, I feel it only prudent to do the same for active recovery and injuries.  The only thing that tops being injured is being sick.  I have had a sick 6 year old at home now for 3 days and he is reminding how miserable it is to be sick.  But injuries are annoying because you really want to work out at full capacity but you can’t and the whole time you can hear the pounds collecting on the scale.  So let’s put this in perspective, shall we?

Active Recovery

Active recovery is a fancy schmancy word for “knock it off and rest, will ya?”  In support of us psychos who feel like we’re being lazy because we only worked out 7 days this week (as opposed to the 8 days available to us overachievers), this is a vital tool to be added to our tool box.  Unlike a regular athlete who has full calories available to them at all times, we have to recover in two ways:  fake “high” caloric days and consolidating exercise.

Since our lives are guided by the motto “less is more”, our prep for the race should be a bit less than the average athlete.  For one, a ton of running will kill a physique.  Therefore, that should cut the schedule back a bit.  Secondly, we will need to consolidate lifts with functional training because lifting more would be hard to due to the lack of food in the diet.  And lastly, we do not have enough starch in the diet to go hog wild in terms of energy output without wondering if we’re burning through some major muscle so we need to get smart about adding fat.  Here are some ways to manipulate your schedule:

• Go to full body lifts for now.
• Add functional movements in between the lifts.
• Wear a weighted vest in your workout instead of heavy DB’s or BB’s.
• Leave at least 2 days completely free from all exercise and instead, make them stretch days.
• Eat the most on those days, but not so much that you break the caloric bank.
• Add sprints to your schedule (like 200’s and 400’s) but do not put them after a killer leg workout.  Even if you are doing full body workouts, you may have more of a “leg day” than another day.  Avoid sprinting after that.
• You can make the high cal days high by adding more Omega 3 fats instead of adding more starch.  This will definitely aid in active recovery.
• Drop a day of cardio and make your lifts more dynamic so you suck wind during them.

Injuries

Injuries are a pain in the butt.  And I mean that literally!  I would rather (yes! I got my “I’d rather” in) remove a deep splinter with a butter knife than sit through my summer (again!) with a major injury like a broken limb.  I broke my foot last June and it was miserable.  I refused to be sidelined so I hobbled all over Boston with a huge boot, but it still wasn’t the same.  Because we are on a compromised diet in the first place, our joints and tendons are ripe for the picking in terms of injury.  Fat is scarce in our diet and it is what lubricates our joint capsules  so we have little give and take when we misstep or land funny.  Rolling ankles are almost a given as well as rotator cuff issues.  Be smart!  Make sure you recover and get plenty of sleep.  Should an injury occur, here is what you need to know:

• Your first reaction is to cut all the starch out of your diet.  Don’t do it.  Go to 1/day at least 4 days/week.
• Eat exactly what you need each day.  This means do not go to bed hungry or full.  Either one is bad for different reasons.
• Do not work out on the injured body part until you are completely well.  Trust me when I say this.  We heal jacked up if we do not fully recover.  For the rest of your life, your knee will ache every time you turn on the garbage disposal.  Seriously.
• You will not gain weight if you keep the junk out.  This is not the time to “munchy” yourself into next week.   With that being said, do not try to starve yourself, either.  See above.
• You will feel smooshy.  Itiswhatitis.  You are not losing muscle.  You are losing your “pump”.  Accept it and just know when you lift the right way again, all will be well.
• Don’t be a cardio hero.  If you can’t lift right but somehow can still do cardio, don’t try to make up for lifting with cardio.  Baaaaaaad decision right there.  Just say no.

I feel better now that I put this on paper.  If you go out and act crazy on the course, I have nothing to do with it.   You have been warned.  Hahaha!  Let me know if you are doing one any time soon.  I’d love to know.  Woop woop. )

I’m sure some of you have figured out that I have some issues.  From the butter obsession (that I must say I do not indulge upon, just dream about) to my pen/journal  fixation, it is clear that I can come across a bit unhinged at times.  Let me assure you that I have been cured of those afflictions and now sit in a place where I can at least look back at them and giggle.  Another gift that I have been given is learning that is ‘less is more’.  This is one that I hope to instill in you, as well.  This is tough for us type A folks because we are so extreme in all that we do.  If we are going to be an underwater basket weaver, we are going to be THE BEST underwater basket weaver there is.  Knowing me I’d learn how to do it with every possible type of reed available to weave and I’d understudy with a reedologist and I would complete an accredited course on basket weaving and become a certified weaver and—you get the point.  This is a perfect illustration as to why it was so important for me to learn the principle of ‘less is more’ before I became a walking symbol for destruction.

In the case of building muscle when you are lean, less is definitely more.  Or as I like to say, “Just a dab’ll do ya!”.  Give up the dreams of waking up tomorrow with shoulder caps so round you could hang your coat on them.  Walk away from the idea that in 12 weeks you’ll develop your glutes to the point that you could pick up your kids and carry them to the car while your hands are full.  These things are fallacies and because you believe that you can achieve them, you allow your desires to talk your head right out of common sense; because common sense would tell you if it was that easy, everyone would have them.  But you aren’t thinking like that right now.  You have visions of iron clad butt cheeks with tennis ball like caps separated by a rigid 6 pack…it’s scary in your mind right now.  So let’s get you back to reality, girl.  You’re out of control.

Gaining muscle takes time.  There I said it.  It takes time, lots of consistency and due diligence.  And honestly, if you don’t have any of that right now, keep doing what you’re doing until you do have time to do it fully.  (Essentially, if I keep you from thinking about how long it takes and you just keep doing it, you’ll get there without realizing it.  Wait til I tell you tomorrow that developing a tight body takes time, too.  You’ll really flip your lid then.)  Because it takes forever and a day (did I say that?), do not set aside times to specifically gain muscle and lose body fat like they used to back in the day.  You are going down a long dark road doing it that way.  Instead, let’s look at an alternative way to give you the shoulders and glutes you so desire.

YOU’VE GOT MY ATTENTION, NOW WHAT?

Wow.  Fiesty today, are we?  Ok, let’s get specific.

What you need to effectively build is a surplus of calories, ample rest and full recovery from effective workouts.  Since we have come to the conclusion that we are not going to be Arnold by the end of 12 weeks, it is not necessary for us to eat like him either.  An easy way to create a surplus sans calories is to do much less than before.  This means the only activity you would do during this period of time is lift.  No cardio, Zumba, pilates, power yoga or any other activity that makes you sweat.  Nothing.  And you would also rest more than you did before so you will create an even larger surplus of calories.  If you tell me that you cannot rest more because your life is go, go, go kind of busy, I will give you that look that says, “Well then you must not want to build right now then do you?”  Please refer back to Saturday when I said there is no whining and yes you have to do all that I say.  If you can’t cut your schedule down and rest, you can’t build right now.  All of this is important because you are not going to eat too much more than what you are right now maintaining.  At best you may go up 200 cals, but not much more than that so you can see why you becoming part of your couch is necessary.   We do not feed you more, we move you less.  It works really well without all the extra poundage that is incurred through traditional stuffing programs.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?

For all age groups, a bit of paranoia is to be expected.   If you are used to doing cardio 5 days a week right now, going down to none may make you freak out a bit.  You may also be more anxious because you just lost your daily stress relief.  However, it is still a better alternative to the freak out you would have eating extra starches in a day with a steady weight gain on the scale.  That, my dear, is a harrowing experience.  And you can expect minimal weight gain.  Seriously, you should gain no more than 10 but 7 is optimal over the course of 12 weeks.

TWENTY SOMETHING:

You can expect…well…not much.  Your ability to build muscle at this age is like my ability to give you a straight answer without some kind of wisecrack—hard.  You are going to slog away at the weights like it’s your job and have very little to show for it.  Especially if you are curvy.  The curvier you are, the less muscle you will make.  Sorry.  Just accept it.  So why depress you with this?  To keep you from thinking you’re doing something wrong and thereby attempt every lifting program/ergogenic aid under the sun which will in turn screw up your body for your thirties.

THIRTY SOMETHING:

You can expect the world.  At this age, it is at your fingertips.  Hormonally you are ripe for the picking.  You make muscle easier, you have the beginnings of muscle maturity and you aren’t calling your girlfriend every five minutes anymore as to what she is wearing so there is this inner peace and patience about that helps you stay focused.  This is a great age.  Get in the gym now and never come out!

FORTY SOMETHING:

You can expect density.  You will not get “bigger” but what you have will be fuller.  This is the look we all really strive for.  You are past your prime of making muscle and now are on a hormonal decline.  I know that well known dr. type folk are coming out saying the contrary but they are talking about general public making some muscle.  I am talking about you, the lifting elite, making more muscle.  Very different.  It ain’t happening now without a major battle or you being genetically gifted out the wazoo.  But you are in the age of making nice, full shoulder caps without trying.  Not two oranges sitting atop your clavicles, but a subtle attractive fullness that comes from muscle maturity.  And boy do we have focus now at this age.  Not only are we not calling our girlfriends, we are lucky if we keep our phones on.  And rest is not an issue.  We’re in bed by 9.  Shame.

I will put numbers to all of this when I wrap this series up.  Next up, dieting.  What you can really expect and how long it takes to truly get that lean look.  I will end with a talk on skinny fat because it is a daunting place to be and someone needs to put that reality out there for some of you.  I will put the numbers in that post or the one right after it but I promise to give you something very concrete to walk away with.  If you are signed up on the blog, you are getting the numbers today.  That is an advantage of being signed up.  Hang tight, there’s more to come!  Woop woop!

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)

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

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!

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!

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.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I workout in the morning.  I wake up somewhere between 4:50 and 5:30 and head over to the gym.  The number of times dictates when I actually get up, but if everything goes according to plan, I get up at 5 am.  I’ve been a morning-workout-person for the past 9 or 10 years (just figuring that out is crazy to me, I started morning training back in college).

 While morning workouts are my preference, there is usually one day per week that is either my rest day, and as such I don’t workout; or I just can’t get up, no matter how hard I try.  Well, last week did not go according to plan, at all!  Now that tax season is over, I actually have time after-work to have a life.  As a result, I can go to a yoga class or go back to the gym and do cardio.  This is a luxury I did not have Feb-Apr. 

 So last week went a little something like this; Monday my alarm went off, I rolled over and after hitting snooze 8 times, decided I was too exhausted to get up  – so I went to the gym after work.  Tuesday it took all my mental strength to get up, but I did, and I made it to the gym.  Wednesday, no matter what I wanted, there was no getting up.  The same for Thursday (and actually, by this point, I had given up on even trying).  And Friday was a moot point.  Granted I went to the gym after work, but it was not according to plan. 

 Thankfully by Wednesday I had given up and decided to just let this week be.  My body clearly wanted the extra sleep, and since I was able to get to the gym after work, no harm done.  Further, I knew I would start fresh this week and get back to it.  But without the foresight to let it go, I would have tortured myself all week about not getting up for the gym. 

 The body has this amazing ability of forcing us to listen to it when we are in need of things like sleep, rest, and recovery.  While all I needed was a few extra hours of sleep, there have been times when I needed to cease all activity and recover; and despite the fact that I didn’t want to, my body forced it. 

Twice now, once when training for the half marathon and once, a few years later when running with a friend, my body just flat out said stop.  Most of the time I will push through most workout fatigue/pain/suffering and I was trying to do so on both these occasions.  I had mentally turned off the little voice telling me I needed to stop.  Yet, all of a sudden, unconsciously, I just stopped.  The first time it happened I was completely shocked, it was not a conscious decision and after, there was nothing I could to do to get running again.  The same thing happened the second time and I was no less surprised that my body just stopped. 

 I don’t know if this has ever happened to you, but it is the body saying “you need to knock it off, and since you aren’t listening, I’m taking over.”  If this hasn’t happened to you during a run/sprint/cardio bout, maybe it has during a lift.  Have you ever been on a roll, lifting like a psycho, making amazing gains; and then all of a sudden – bam – you’ve got nothing and no matter how hard you try, you are not lifting anything else.  It is wild.

 Well, as I get older (and hopefully wiser) I have learned to listen and to be thankful that I have such a wise body that takes control when I’m acting a fool.  For those of you who might not have listened, I wonder soon thereafter an injury popped up?  If you are nursing an injury or remember an injury, what were you doing the months prior to the injury?  Were you training like a psycho and not resting?  Training for a race but also drinking with your buddies at night?  Pushing yourself physically and not eating to support that effort?  I bet you were.  And I bet you can pinpoint the time your body told you to stop or even forced you to stop; yet you didn’t heed the warning.  Even if you took the day off, you went right back to it, without making any modification for the thing your body was trying to tell you (more food/rest) and soon thereafter got injured. 

 If this is you, and the light bulb just went on, try to remember this the next time your body is trying to tell you something.  I know that I certainly am trying, although I know it is easier said than done.  And that is why, last week, I decided to give in to needing extra sleep.  It wasn’t like my body was telling me I needed a week off from training, just that I needed to sleep in – a much easier pill to swallow than having to sit out an entire season/miss the race/take a long hiatus. 

So, I challenge all of you to think back to a time you didn’t listen.  Take stock of the outcome.  And try to be more perceptive the next time it happens.

In the past few months, I have been so busy that I have not been able to make it to a yoga class.  I have been practicing yoga (in some way or another) for 9 or 10 years now.  When I started, I took class two times per week and never missed a class.  As my practice progressed I moved from one style to another until I got to the point that I was done with classes and only took private lessons.  That continued for a few years until I moved away from classes and teacher lead practices all together. 

 I never stopped practicing yoga on my own, but my time away was occupied with other activities that precluded me from getting to class.  (That is a really nice way of saying that yoga class was not my top priority because we all know that if it was a top priority, I would have made it happen).  Nonetheless, I only practiced on my own.  I would hit up a class every now and again, or go through a 4-6 week jaunt where I got into a more regular schedule, but nothing more than that. 

 I then, more recently, got back to wanting to make it to class once/week, but when tax season hit, I didn’t have the time.  Well, now I do – and I realized I was nervous; nervous that in my time-off, I would have lost some of my flexibility and core strength. 

 If you don’t live in a city with a plethora of yoga studios and amazing yoga teachers, then you are missing out.  Boston is a yoga haven.  The teachers are exceptionally good and because of that, the student’s skill is unmatched.  As a result, my two teachers teach classes that on any given day will challenge me, provided I am up for the challenge.  (That is the other amazing thing about yoga, you can make any pose less or more strenuous).

 This past Saturday I made the decision to get my butt to class – Todd’s class that is.  Todd is an amazing yoga teacher who teaches an advanced class.  The class not only incorporates quite a few advanced poses but is physically demanding.  However, I wanted a rigorous class – and Todd did not disappoint.  I had an amazing class and what was even more exciting is that I moved into a pose I had never been able to master.  Eka Pada Sirsasana (I think) – foot behind the head in a forward fold.  (I must admit, my pose did not look quite as graceful, but I am almost there).

 While there are still plenty of poses I want to master, this small achievement really got me thinking: I’ve been focusing on other athletic things yet when I got back to a class, was able to make an advancement.  

But the fact remains, I had taken my focus off of yoga.  Yes, I still practiced on my own (20 or so minutes a day after I’d workout), but I was not trying to improve.  Actually, I was using yoga for mental sanity and for flexibility and joint/muscle health, and nothing else.  But when I got back to it, I was right where I left off and ready to move forward.  As a result, while my focus was elsewhere, by not foregoing yoga altogether due to the fact that I couldn’t give it my full attention, I was able to maintain and prime myself to improve.  (How often do we give up on something all together because we cannot give it our full intention?  Boy am I glad that I did not fall prey to that line of thinking this time, like I have done so many other time.)

 Interestingly enough, I just went through this same experience with lifting.  As I’ve mentioned, I streamlined my training over the past few months.  My lifts have been full body lifts that incorporate plyometrics and agility with the goal of sucking wind and elevating my heart-rate without compromising the integrity of my lift.  Prior to this, one of my focuses was to increase shoulder strength.  However, I knew that any strength gain focus had to take a back seat when my program changed.

 To my pleasant surprise, when all was said and done, my shoulder strength did increase.  I lay the groundwork in Nov/Dec by increasing my weights in a typical strength building workout format.  However, during my recent training, I either maintained that weight or only slightly decreased it (remember when doing a metabolically taxing full body lift filled with plyos, the weight you use in an overhead press half way through the workout is not going to mirror that which you would use for straight sets).  My intent was to lift to my fullest potential, while maintaining good form, and that clearly did the trick. 

 The other day, as I was setting up some crazy giant set, it dawned on me that the weight I was overhead pressing for 10 reps was that which, in December, I could barely eek out for 10 reps while doing straight sets with plenty of rest. 

 In the end of the day, while we cannot always focus on everything all the time, that does not mean we will lose that for which we have worked so hard.  And while I would tell, and have told, clients/friends/anyone else this is true; I’ve always found it a hard concept to believe applies to me.  And so I imagine you might find this concept difficult to grasp as well. 

 While I don’t think an Olympic or even Pro-athlete can rest his/her laurels on this concept, I think the majority of the world can.  You cannot focus on everything all the time (whereas the Olympian/Pro is paid to do so); there are times when things you really love have to take a back seat.  But, that does not mean all is lost.  Maintenance is a very real and attainable option. While I had not purposefully set up a plan to maintain my flexibility, I had set up a plan for my shoulder strength.  I made sure I lifted with integrity every single time; perfect form and to failure; which paid off.  On the yoga side, my daily routine has become second nature to me, so in retrospect, I should not be surprised with Saturday’s new pose.  And while the point of my post was not to plug Jodiojo and Company, I will say that we do put together some amazing maintenance programs to help get you through those murky times when something else has to take center stage.  So regardless of what has to take a front seat in your life, there is always a way to maintain and possibly keep improving.