It's all about scheduling...

Tonight I'm not thinking about form or technique. I'm thinking about scheduling, specifically how to get through a fitness program without falling off track.

I'm proud to say that I survived two rounds of Insanity, and hardly ever missed a workout. I worked out on holiday, in the morning, late at night, in the smallest hotel fitness room that exists anywhere on the planet - whatever it took. That said, I did not always follow the schedule to the letter. For me, I need some flexibility in order to successfully incorporate fitness into my life. Where do I draw the line? I make sure that I complete all of the workouts for a specific week during that week. If I had six workouts and one rest day scheduled Monday-Sunday, each of those workouts needed to be finished by Sunday, rest day included, with a double if absolutely necessary.

There are some people who would strongly disagree with me. They hold the view that the trainers design the program as it is to be done, and any deviation from the schedule disrupts the program. I respect this view, but I don't accept it. In my view, if I complete the scheduled workouts within the week, then I'm going to achieve gains in fitness and keep moving forward with my plan. If I refuse to deviate from the schedule, my motivation may start to waver when "life happens" and I may fall off track.

For example, I'm currently doing T25. I have a double workout scheduled for Friday. However, I know that we're going to have a house guest staying in my preferred workout space on Thursday night, so I may not be able to find a peaceful corner of the house for a 50+ minute workout session. So, I've decided to swap Thursday's and Friday's workouts, so I'll have a shorter session to fit in on Friday.

Every week, I think about the week ahead and plan accordingly. Even if the week ahead looks packed, don't plan to skip your workout sessions - instead, look at what's possible, schedule accordingly, even miss a couple of hours' sleep - and make your fitness and health a top priority.

Pushing through soreness (not pain)

As promised, I did a double workout this morning to catch up with my T25 schedule - Cardio followed by Total Body Circuit. After two rounds of Insanity, I'm no stranger to doing longer workouts. But Total Body Circuit is tough for me, so doing it back to back with cardio was tough. My shoulders and arms are the weakest part of my body, so all the planks, plank walks and push ups are a real challenge. Plus, when I woke up this morning I was sore - my shoulders, my hips and my knees all chimed in to remind me that I'm not used to hauling around furniture and boxes. I really would have liked to stay in bed, I know how important it is to push through soreness, to ignore discomfort (not pain!) and get the next day's workout in. This really helps with the recovery process and gets the muscles used to doing hard work. So I pushed through and finished the workout. But, when it comes to pushing through the soreness, today I realized that I have to be extra careful with form. For example, forward lunges - it's a very basic move - step forward, sink into a lunge, then return to standing position. But today, if I let my hips get out of line and didn't keep my body balanced in the center, my hips started feeling strained. Once I focused on keeping my center of gravity correctly balanced during the lunge, the discomfort in my hips went away. After that, I kept my focus on form and everything went fine. So tomorrow morning is a new day. We continued moving stuff around and unpacking today, so I'm sure I'll be good and stiff in the morning for Lower Body Focus. But I'll get it done, and stay focused on proper form to avoid injury... Laura Twitter: @laurat

So what happens when you miss a scheduled workout? I missed mine today, for the first time in quite a while. I'm usually a stickler for planning my workout schedule for the week ahead. Even when we go on holiday, i schedule them in. I will switch the workout schedule around if necessary to make sure I finish the week (planning rest days accordingly). But today, the workout just didn't happen. I was supposed to do T25 Alpha Cardio, I didn't get it done, and it was entirely my fault. First, my excuses: we were moving a ton of furniture and boxes from one house to another, hauling beds and dressers upstairs and down - the works. I was tired after the end of year pool party for the swim team (and yes, I enjoyed a but of wine with my friends. That extra 1/2 hour of sleep sounded awfully nice when I went to bed, so I pushed back my alarm. I knew full well that if I didn't get my butt out of bed on time in the morning, the workout wouldn't get done. I didn't, and it didn't. So what now? Lets be honest - missing a workout isn't the end of the world. But, when you miss one, its absolutely essential to make it up and get back on track straight away. It's way too easy to fall into a habit of skipping days, with the idea that just one day doesn't matter. But days off accumulate and will eventually take a toll on your overall fitness. Even though I was lifting furniture today, I was due for a cardio session and I didn't get it. So tomorrow, I will get up early and do a double, and get my schedule back in track. I will recommit to my chosen workout schedule, and make it an absolute priority - good health is worth it! Laura

Yoga 1.0

I don't have much experience with yoga. Even though I've often been involved in sports, in the past I've typically avoided stretching as much as possible. I'd stretch when my coaches told me to, or for a couple of minutes before a run, but that was it.

Predictably, in recent years I noticed that my muscles were becoming less flexible. For a while I managed to ignore this unfortunate fact, but recently I acknowledged that this is an issue to be dealt with sooner rather than later. As we age, flexibility decreases, which has a negative impact on mobility in the later years. If I intend to be active in my 80s and beyond, I'd better start doing something about my flexibility now, before its too late.

My current workout program is Focus T25, which includes a full 25 minute stretching sequence that should be done at least once a week. It incorporates active stretching as well as yoga positions. I've been enjoying the yoga aspects of the workout, especially a section that incorporates the "pigeon" pose. The stretch through the hip is fantastic, but I feel like I haven't quite gotten it right. I'm now hoping to take a yoga class at least once a week in the fall, but in the meantime I found a website which offers some good tips on correct position. Please check it out - the link below is about the "pigeon", but once you're in the website there's a lot of good information for beginning yoga practitioners. Enjoy!

http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/1808

Another year, another summer swim season...

Every summer, my kids look forward to swimming with our neighborhood swim team, which is affiliated with the Northern Virginia Swimming League. The NVSL is one of the largest summer swim leagues in the country, with more than 100 teams divided into 17 six-team divisions. Literally thousands of kids from across Northern Virginia get up early every morning to practice with their teams, improve their strokes and compete in meets throughout the summer. Regardless of ability, the NVSL offers something for everyone.

This morning's competition was the annual Divisional meet, an individual championship for each team's top two swimmers in every stroke. The races were exciting, and energy was high. But when I looked around the meet, I realized that, no matter the outcome of the races, every kid at the meet was a winner. Every single child, from age 7 on up, were already excellent swimmers, able to swim lap after lap without a second thought. Each of them had already developed the skills they'll need to enjoy the sport of swimming for life. Without exception, they were strong, fit and healthy.

Without a doubt, America is facing an obesity epidemic, and kids haven't been left unscathed. According to the CDC, approximately 17% of children ages 2-19 in are obese. Nearly 1/3 of children in the USA are overweight to some degree. These numbers are scary, because they foretell an increase in heart disease, obesity and other diseases which affect quality of life. Children today eat more processed foods and high fructose corn syrup than ever before. My own children are not immune to these temptations, and I fight every day to teach them to make healthy choices.

Daily exercise is a critical part of staying healthy. Opportunities like the NVSL give kids the chance to exercise, learn a potentially life-saving skill, and most importantly, make it fun to stay fit. The kids on our swim team don't go to practice every morning because they want to "get the workout in". They go to practice be with their friends and have a great time. For kids, "fitness" means fun, whether that means being part of a team, or simply running around the neighborhood with their friends. It's up to each of us to make sure that fun opportunities like NVSL swimming are available to every child, to make fitness an integral part of their lives, rather than a chore or a burden.

Engage the Core!!

FINDING YOUR CORE

The most important change I've seen in my body so far is an improvement  in core strength.  I've always known that the core is crucial to health and well-being, but I never really bothered to build up my own. Big mistake - it makes a real difference in how I feel, and  now for me, it's reason enough to keep working out every day..

For example, I used to run all the time. I was in good shape, but running was the only thing I did to stay fit. In 2005-2006 I finished two marathons and was running 25-40 miles a week, depending on my training plan. Then life happened, and over the next few years, I slowly lost interest in running on a regular basis. Then a few years ago, I started having pain in my lower back that flared up every time a ran.  It wasn't severe or debilitating, but after every run I'd wind up with cramped muscles over the right side of my lower back. It never occurred to me that the problem was my core (or lack thereof).

Then back in February I looked in the mirror and realized that I'd let things go too far. I was barely working out and it showed.  On a whim I ordered Insanity, doubting I would even be able to handle it since a three mile run was still putting knots in my back.

Surprisingly, I could do the Insanity workouts without winding up in traction. Maybe its because the moves are constantly changing, as opposed to the repetitive motion of running. But there was a problem - when Shaun T said to "engage the core", I had no idea what he was talking about. My abs were so out of shape I could barely feel them. Through squats, planks, push-ups, floor sprints and all the rest, I tried to engage the core, but all I managed to do was suck in my stomach (which ain't it).

Then, one day, about three weeks in, I felt it. First in my obliques (the muscles that run up the sides of the abdomen), then gradually across my upper and lower abs. I had finally figured out what to do, and it made a real difference in my workouts.

HOW TO ENGAGE THE CORE

Contrary to what a lot of people think, engaging the core doesn't involve sucking in your stomach at all. When I engage my core during a workout, I first check my posture and make sure my hips are properly aligned. Then I gently contract the muscles across my lower abdomen, then focus on adding a gentle contraction of my oblique muscles. When I do this, I also feel my back muscles engage. At this point I feel like I have a solid "core" of support surrounding my abdomen and spine, which feels great.

It takes practice and hard work, but building core muscle should be a key part of any fitness regimen!

Focus on Fat Burning

I came across a short article today at http://www.womensfitness.co.uk/fitness/835/how-lose-fat, which got me thinking about my personal experience since I first started Insanity in March. This is not a groundbreaking article by any stretch, but I think it gets a lot of things right, and focuses attention on what you need to do to burn off fat. I wanted to comment on a few points

First point: refueling the body is not a license to pig out after a workout. Yes, when doing high-intensity exercise, you need to increase your caloric intake proportionally. But food choice and portion control are critical issues. If you don't maintain a reasonable calorie deficit, the weight will not go away. This is where my earlier attempts to drop weight went off track.

Second: High intensity interval training scorches fat. It continues to do so even after the workout s over. I had tremendous success with Insanity, which emphasizes HIIT, and I doubt I would have had equal success with another workout program. There are a lot of other quality programs out there, but I needed the intensity that this one offered (but note - if you've never really done this type of workout before, I would recommend starting with a lower intensity HIIT program).

Third - muscle-building promotes fat loss. As a woman, I don't want to look like Schwarzenegger in his heyday. But most women won't bulk up like that, even when lifting heavy. I love the look of a strong physique, plus it helps maintain achieved weight loss. My next program will combine cardio with weights (Chalean Extreme), in preparation for the dreaded P90X during the winter.

The last point from the article I want to emphasize is pylometrics (jumping). There's a lot of Plyo in Insanity, and I think it's one of the reason the program can be so effective. But it's essential to concentrate on form and control when you start incorporating Plyo into your workouts (especially for us in the over-40 crowd).

Workout report

This morning I finished FocusT25 Alpha Cardio. I pushed through and felt pretty good when I finished. Tomorrow I'll be up early for a double. (I have mentioned that I'm not a morning person?)