Thursday, May 21, 2009

Week of May 18 + The Importance of Tempo

Monday - TT for beginners (did this one with JP for support) + HIIT squat jumps
53:00min
473cals
HR Max179/146 avg

I love having a workout buddy! I'm hoping that all this exercise will turn her into a junkie like me! LOL

Wednesday- BOOTCAMP!! I decided that I needed to kick it up a notch, so I joined a local bootcamp for women. It was fun I guess, the worst and best part was the measuring. It FORCED me to do it. Sigh... not fun. But it's not supposed to be, is it? It's only 4 weeks, we'll see how it goes. But anyway, check out these stats!! HOLY COW!!!
1:09hour
787cals
HR Max 209/ 168avg

It was definitely intense. Not sore today (thurs) but that's because I worked out again with JP. Add to that... my PINK GYMBOSS timer came today so I can do all sorts more Intervals!! :) YAY!

LOL- I had to contact the instructor because her caliper measurments for me had me at 13% Body Fat! LMAO- if I was that fit (not to mention the fact that's like Olympic Athlete BF%) I wouldn't need to go get sweaty with 20 other women!! She took them again on Sat and lo and behold... I'm more like 18.1% waaaaaaaaaait a second, even that seems weird. SIGH- those tests are so inaccurate!

Inches Measurements:
Upper Arm left 11"
Upper Arm right 12.5"
Chest 37.5"
Waist (bellybutton) 32.5"
Hips 38.5"
Buttocks 41.25"
Upper Thigh left 24.5"
Upper Thigh right 24.5"

Caliper Measurements (OUCH did this hurt)
Tricep 10
Tummy 8
Thigh 24

Body Fat and Weight
Age 32
Weight 166lbs
Body Fat % 18.1
Fat Weight 30.1
Lean Mass 135.9

By this weirdo calculator I'm still within an athletes' BF%... hmm... it suuuuure doesn't feel like that. I don't even know what a good goal weight is for me. How's that for messed up? Trying to reach a goal I haven't even defined. SIGH. I was once down to 148 (before I met DH and gained "happiness" weight) and I don't think I was done losing. I was running 3 miles a day/ 5 days a week though, I'm done with the endless cardio. Plus, I was skinny fat with no muscle, no thanks. I need to do some more research to find a good goal weight.

Ladies- any ideas? How did you decide your goal weight?

Saturday - BOOTCAMP! (forgot to turn off my monitor till I got home, so the stats are slightly skewed- but I did ride my bike so...)
1:38min
973cals
HR max 197/ avg 155

As tough as these bootcamp sessions are, I'm never sore the next day. What's up with that? From the calories I burn it's not like I'm not working hard, and I try not to wuss out so what gives?

Link of the week- The Importance of Tempo during your workouts
For a relative amateur like me, I found this article pretty useful. Turbulence Training lists tempo's for workouts and since I had no idea why or how...

http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/weight-training.html

Also some great info about breathing and rest periods. Maybe it's all stuff you know, but if not, pretty basic info we should all have! :)

6 comments:

Greenteagirl said...

Goal weights are tough because I think it depends on what type of frame you are. How would you describe your frame? I am a small frame for sure so you'd think 5'6 and 128.5 is good but then my body fat is 20% and in pics my thighs look heavy. To me the weight numbers are not important. I want to see that bodyfat % going down. I'd take 140 lbs and 15% bodyfat in a heartbeat!

that70sgrl said...

Hmmm... Good point. I'd say I was med frame. I'm 5'6 as well. Do you use calipers? Where do you measure? Or do you get it done somewhere?
BF is a better way to measure a healthy body comp, you're right... but I still don't have a goal. LOL- so confusing!

Greenteagirl said...

I don't use calipers because there is so much room for error. I've only used a tape measure and a bodyfat scale. The bodyfat scale is not the most accurate way to measure I know, however I've been taking the measurement this way since I was 33% bodyfat! Just for consistency I do tape measure, bodyfat scale every Sunday at 5:30 pm. I hope that helps.

Laura said...

The problem with calipers is that there's a lot of room for user error. Also, a lot of it depends on the number of sites measured, and whether they're evenly distributed over the body. The bioimpedence method isn't great either, particularly for women, because our water levels fluctuate so much.

Honestly, I think the best way to decide on a goal weight is to look in the mirror every so often. If you've got no visible muscle definition you're probably overfat. Most of the time the appropriate way to fix the problem is to lose fat. The exceptions are the 99-lb weaklings of the world; these "skinny-fat" people need to build lean mass to improve their body composition.

If it helps, the typical female fitness model you see in magazines has body fat of around 8-10%. Frankly that's not healthy and I would hope that they don't try to maintain that degree of leanness between photo shoots. The women you see in exercise DVDs and such tend to be a more realistic 12-18% At that level you can usually see some abdominal separation but not necessarily a sixpack unless she's at the low end of the range. Likewise her arms and legs will look "toned" (hate that word!) but you won't really see quad separation or shoulder striations or pronounced vascularity. Possibly there will even be a bit of cellulite (boo! hiss!) if you go looking for it.

that70sgrl said...

Ladies- as usual you're a wealth of information! Thanks!
@Julie- will continue to track measurements and also strength (since I'm writing down all my reps/ weights used)

@laura - I knew 18% seemed low! Thanks for the tips, like you said, the mirror and pics (right Julie?) don't lie.

I think I'll continue to focus on a 1lb loss weekly. Slow and steady wins the race!

Greenteagirl said...

The truth is in the pictures! LOL