Fit, Quick! (An At-Home Workout)

Yesterday was a long, busy day, but I made time for a really quick, at-home workout: strength, endurance and plyos for legs, core, shoulders, chest, back... I've hit every major muscle group quickly and (somewhat) easily, with only a yoga mat, fitbands, and 5-lb dumbbells, all optional.


Take out the jumps and dumbbells if you need to, but give it a try!


***
1 - plyo squat jumps x15
2 - single-leg deadlifts with lateral delt holds x 12 each side
3 - plyo lunges with biceps curls x 15 each side
4 - pushups with plank jacks and bird dogs x 20
5 - side planks with reverse flyes x 15 each side


REPEAT.


Videos of exercises are here.


#workout #homeworkout #fitathome #sweaty #fitgirl #exercise #squat #lungesandsquats #plyometrics #pressup #pushup #plank




Did you try it? What did you think? Let me know!

Clickbait Claims about Exercising in the Cold: What does the research say?

Are there ANY benefits to exercising in cold weather?

Karen (Power) Hough

Originally published on Medium.com.

Photo by Andyone on Unsplash

It’s winter, and nobody — NOBODY — does cocooning like me. The cold, the damp, the late sunrise and early darkness…why, it’s enough to keep me inside until May, wrapped in a blanket, wearing a sweater and legwarmers over my knees, with a hot cup of tea on my desk. Like I am right now.

I was hygge — which, in my interpretation, translates to “rocking fuzzy pants” — well before it was cool to be cosy.

Before continuing, let me make a bold admission: I am Canadian. I lived in Canada (the cold parts, where it gets down to -20 regularly, but “feels like” -35 with the wind) for 41 years, and am now living in London.

I love the weather here — even the rain can’t get me down.

I run a boot camp in a park. Nothing complex, not too much equipment to carry, but we meet once a week, rain, snow, or shine, and we work out. (This is a luxury; living in London, I’m not faced with the challenges of my Canadian existence, so I appreciate that the “ruggedness” of my London experience is relative.) On cold days (less than 5 degrees C), it’s a smaller draw; not many people come out.

On cold, wet days, still less, but — and this is highly scientific — we all feel AMAZING afterwards, and glad we came to exercise in the fresh air, breathing deeply, and catching a few rays of sun if we’re lucky.

There is a great deal of research out there on how exercise and cold weather affects our health, and a lot of it is inconclusive. I thought I’d take a look at the claims and/or myths from all those “Ten Reasons to Work Out in Cold Weather” clickbait articles that circulate every winter, and see if they really line up with the research.

“It boosts your metabolism.”

This claim showed up in almost every lay article. Let me debunk this one…sort of.

One of the main claims (that seems like common sense) is that, when you’re exercising in the cold, your body must work not only to exercise, but to stay warm; regulating your core temperature burns in the cold more calories and fat. And shivering has been repeatedly shown to burns lots of calories and increase metabolic rates.

However.

Exercise warms you up (duh). Although you might be shivering while waiting to start exercising, by the time you get going, the shivering is gone. (And for those who plan to kick start their weight loss routine by adding in some intentional shivering time, know that even a short bout of shivering impairs your performance and increases the onset of fatigue, meaning that you will not be able to train as well or as long.)

Interestingly, when exercising in warm weather, your body needs to expend far more energy to prevent overheating than it does in the cold to “stay warm”. Research shows that in the cold, your body doesn’t need to do much to not overheat (if you’re dressed properly in layers and removing them as you warm up), and can thus devote more resources to training and performance…which in turn can lead you to burn more calories and fat (but from the amazing training session, not from a so-called metabolic boost).

Finally, there is a well-hyped and growing body of research into the body’s ability to convert white (stored) fat into brown or beige fat when exposed to cold. Brown (and beige) adipose tissue (BAT) is good fat to have, as it’s metabolically active and burns calories, thus actually increasing your metabolism. It’s interesting science, worth a read if you’d like, and if it pans out to be true would be great news and a solid reason to exercise in the cold. Currently, though, the strongest terms they use is that cold weather “may” cause this conversion to a “small degree” in certain deposits of white fat in humans.

(If you’re a small rodent, however, it’s been proven in repeated, treadmill-in-the-cold studies. Good for you, small rodent! Have some celebratory cheese!)

(Note: if a mouse is using your computer, do they use a mouse? And are they insulted by this, or flattered?)

At the very least, the natural desire to cocoon in winter months (and eat delicious carbs) means that winter weight gain is a “thing” for most people. If exercising outside in the cold means you’re tricking your body out of its hibernating tendencies, then yes, you’ll be burning more fat and calories…
…than if you stayed inside on the couch. For six months.

“Exposure to Vitamin D improves your mood.”

This one has so many levels of interest and myth and fact.

First of all, vitamin D is great. It helps with absorption of calcium and phosphates, contributing to the health of our bones, teeth, and muscles. Most of the vitamin D we need (up to 90% of it) is absorbed from sunlight during the summer months.

In the UK (and anything above or below the 33rd parallel, north or south), there is not enough UVB in the sunlight in winter (October through early March for the northern hemisphere) for our bodies to produce our own vitamin D, and dietary supplements are recommended.

As well, despite many lay websites recommending exposure of ten or so minutes on face, arms or legs per day, I couldn’t find any specific (or research-based) recommendations, as skin colour, time of day and year, air pollution and latitude all affect how much an individual absorbs. The only consistent guideline? Wear sunscreen, of course.

But what about mood?

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is thought to be caused by lower levels of light exposure and less endorphins; symptoms include lethargy, sleepiness, and increased carbohydrate cravings. 

Recommended medical treatments are light therapy and drugs, with the NHS suggesting exposure to as much natural sunlight as possible, exercising regularly (which helps you produce your own endorphins) and managing your stress levels. Although research backs up the effectiveness of light-exposure treatments, whether or not the benefits are tied to vitamin D is still unclear. There is still no conclusive evidence that vitamin D alone is related to mood.

For further reading: this NIH summary of research shows a consistently positive correlation between exercise, exposure to sunlight (not necessarily vitamin D) and improvements in mood, and recommends it as a simple, cost-effective way to improve one’s mental well-being.

“Your immune system is strengthened.”

This claim was everywhere: blogs, magazine articles, research publications...without any reasonable scientific reference; it was almost as though it was supposed to be an accepted fact. Similarly, I suppose I wouldn’t need a reference for “the sky is blue”. But I digress.

These two made-for-the-public publications were the closest thing I could find to a proper endorsement. They (grudgingly) get credibility for being distributed by an Actual Health Department and a National Institute of Health.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health talks about the benefits of “playing outside” in cold air on immunity with several very plausible explanations: an escape from indoor germs and bacteria; development of a stronger autoimmune system; and a resistance to allergies. It finished strong: “studies have shown that children in rural areas or those who are active outside have the best overall health.”

This NIH page backs up my conviction that there is as yet no actual proof, just theories of how and why immune system function might be strengthened by exercise, without factoring in the element of cold.

Several articles vaguely reference CDC findings that I couldn’t find online. (This doesn’t mean that they’re not true, just that I couldn’t find them.) 

My feeling: there’s probably something in this. I mean, the sky is blue.

“It’s better cardio.”

The theory is that exercising in the cold increases the load on your cardiovascular system, because your heart needs to work harder to pump blood around a cold body, and thus gets stronger in response.

Most of the articles and experts seemed to feel that, since cardiovascular disease (and death by) is so prevalent, even if there’s the smallest chance that this is true, it’s worthwhile to try. However, others feel that this is risky for those who have heart disease, for, as the adage goes, “Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Or kills me.”

Bottom line: consult your doctor.

“It strengthens different muscles.”

That it certainly can. Cold weather training can give you the inspiration and motivation to try new activities that aren’t possible inside or in the summer, using those well-trained muscle fibres in new ways. There’s downhill skiing! Skating! Cross-country skiing! Um… well, there must be more than that, but again, my cocoon beckons.

Trying new activities safely is an excellent way to cross-train, challenge new muscle groups, and invigorate a tired training plan.

The others in the Top Tens seem to be all remixes of the above, claiming the same things in different ways.

My own take?

All these claims and myths aside, exercise is good for you. Sunlight is good for you. Fresh air is good for you.

And, as I mentioned before, feeling warm enough to take off a layer or two during a hard, cold, wet workout feels AMAZING (at least when it’s over). And it makes the post-workout shower (and the subsequent climbing back into my cocoon) feel even better than usual.

Last January, three brave members of my running group did a good five miles in ankle-deep snow (again, we’re in London, not Canada, so it was impressive). We came through it laughing and glowing, our jackets tied around our waists. And the seven-mile run in the ice-cold downpour? We got to a point where the cold rain felt good on our faces, and the coffee afterwards was lovely. These experiences make the best stories; you never remember the boring workouts.

So, a beautiful winter’s day, with sparkling frost, crisp air, and a ray of sun? That’s worth getting out of that cocoon! So… what are you waiting for? (with your doctor’s permission) Get out there!



Want to try it out? If you don’t have an existing workout plan (by which I mean, My Dear Clients, Please Don’t Follow this Link Instead of Paying Me to Train You) the NHS has created this free Outdoor Gym 31-Day Plan.

Don’t forget to be safe: hydrate, dress in layers, wear a hat and gloves, and make sure you warm up and cool down properly.

And, of course, wear sunscreen.

Karen (Power) Hough is a writer and blogger with an Honours BSc. in Human Kinetics, who tries to Embrace Winter!TM every year, but she would really rather be inside with a book. Her part-time “superhero job” has been as a fitness instructor for over 20 years. She currently lives in London with her husband, three energetic kids and a codependent dog, and bores/impresses them all with stories about how she used to be a nutritionist, personal trainer and national-level fitness competitor.


Health
Cold Weather
Exercise
Winter
Benefits

I Didn't "Get" Yoga

My first experience with yoga was scarring.

I was running a corporate wellness centre, where weary IT employees would go to work up some good, clean, nerd sweat. I had been teaching all sorts of fitness classes, from step to cardio box to low impact aerobics, and even funk (because it was the late 90s, that’s why!). I had hired a yoga instructor to come in to teach weekly classes for a while, without participating myself, but decided that I should add it to my skillset, in case — god forbid — the funk thing was only a fad.

I chose a three-hour workshop as my starting point, a “yoga for fitness” certification. It was a terrible idea, I realized as soon as we started; I’d never tried the activity before, so why not destroy my soul by doing it for three hours straight? (It’s like the “box set” mentality: “I’ve never owned anything by this band. I think I want to own everything by this band!”)

It was agony, of course. The instructor “helped” me “go deeper” into various completely-unnatural positions, and talked about the meditation that is at the heart of yoga. Meditation? I gasped as my muscles and tendons screamed. How could I “meditate” when all I could hear over and over in my mind was, “How long do I have to hold this pose?” and “Why am I doing this?” These were, I suppose, a sort of mantra, but, I suspect, not the kind I was supposed to have.

As for the latter mantra, the answer to that arrived (eventually) in the form of the Best Part of Yoga, a.k.a. The Only Real Reason for Doing Yoga: corpse pose. Almost every yoga class has a five-minute nap built into the end. I’ve been told (repeatedly) that it’s not a nap, and I’m not supposed to fall asleep, but what am I, made of stone? They strain my body and mind for 60–90 minutes, then put me in a supine position to listen to soothing music. Ergo, I nap.

Image from DoYouYoga.com

But, back to the meditation/mindful bit. Some of my instructors have started classes with inspirational quotes, or suggested a focus for the class, like “strength” or “peace”. Some have even pulled out The Big Om, asking us to sing/drone a nasal, atonal song together. After the first few nervous times, I now enjoy that bit, even as I find it uncomfortable. It’s the bringing together of different voices and tones into a single (ish) tone that is, well, symbolic. Yoga, after all, means union.

The focus on the ujai breath, an audible nose-to-back-of-throat way of breathing, is another way to stop thinking about the minutiae of your day, and instead to turn breathing — an unconscious, automatic act — into a conscious activity (or, a focus on how irritating the yogi on the next mat is, and how special they must think they are to be able to breathe that loudly).

But I digress again. Meditation. Right.

The poses themselves are meditations. It took me many, many years to understand that. How could it be a meditation when all of my consciousness was tied up in thinking inhale/extend the front leg…lift the chest…exhale…inhale/reach higher….exhale/ground the outside of the back foot…don’t forget that front leg again… Ohhhh. The very nature of a pose’s overwhelming requirement of full concentration on practically every part of my body meant that I was no longer thinking about needing to tidy up the house or book the kids’ afterschool activities, or work in another 45 minutes of cardio somewhere. I was fully immersed in the moment. My mind, despite racing furiously to “achieve” the yoga pose, was completely focused on the now: the shaking muscles, the straining to breathe. The pose is the meditation.

As a fitness nerd admittedly more comfortable with the physical than the mindful, and always wanting to know the expected results and the why of exercise, I offer my professional opinion: should you do yoga? What is it good for: building strength, flexibility, burning fat? Wouldn’t you achieve better results running, lifting weights, and stretching?

Well, as a cross-training option, it’s a very functional workout, and non-impact. The poses require you to lift, move and hold your own body weight through a series of uncomfortable, impractical moves. It’s not a progressive workout, per se, but you will see improvement if you keep it up. For strength, it’s good, but not great. It does strengthen your upper body and core, but other workouts do it better, and the specificity is limited unless your sport or life goal involves being able to wrap yourself into the eagle pose, for example. Flexibility improves with repeated practice, but again, a concentrated regime of progressive stretching is more effective. And as a fat-burning exercise, yes, sustained exercise at moderate intensity burns fat, but there are better workouts out there if this is your goal. 

Mentally, there’s a lot going for yoga. Throughout each session, you are training equanimity, as you force yourself to stay calm in (sometimes intensely) awkward and embarrassing situations (like holding in your giggles when somebody farts… and someone always will) and discomfort. If you have kids, a partner, or a job, equanimity is an important life skill. You also get an entire session of turning your mind off of everything else, which results in a feeling of mental refreshment at the end of the class.

With all that considered, I would recommend, without reservation, yoga practice as part of your fitness program, a cross-training workout that does improve strength and flexibility, burns fat, and leaves you feeling relaxed and floppy, sweaty and peaceful. It’s mentally and physically challenging and intense, while giving your brain a welcome break from the rest of your stressors. And you can do it anywhere.

If you need to ask yourself one more convincing question, might I remind you to ask this:

Wait, and doesn’t this workout also incorporate a nap at the end?

Why, yes. Yes it does.

This article has been cross-posted on Medium.com and kapowfit.blogspot.com.

Damage Control and Abdominals

How do I target my abs/shrink my waist/get a six-pack/get a flat tummy?

The abs are probably the body part that people worry most about, and with the most reason: any sort of slacking, exercise or dietary, results in immediate changes to the look and feel of the waistline.

The answer, then, is easy: don’t slack off! Be perfect at all times! Constant vigilance!

More realistic, however, is committing to building a healthy lifestyle, including a regular and challenging exercise program and good eating habits, and having a solid damage control plan, which I present to you today.

The first phase: Water, Water, Everywhere (so let’s all have a drink!)

If you’ve been sedentary for a few days too long, or making poor food choices, you’ll notice swelling and bloating. Speaking as part camel myself, you have to drink water to shed water. Lots of water. The “8-glasses-a-day” schtick is fine for the very sedentary, but if you’re active at all, you need more. Drink your eight glasses, and then add more whenever you move and groove. Yes, you will have to pee more frequently, but look at it this way: 1 – running to the bathroom counts as extra activity, non? And 2 – if you’re peeing water out, it’s leaving your cells, reducing retention (in theory). So drink up, and no, coffee doesn’t count. Water.

Second phase: Vigorous Physical Activity.

All that muscle flexing and heart pumping helps squeeze out any extra water held in your cells. It will also increase bone density, increase muscle mass and tone, improve cardiovascular function, and release endorphins to make you happy. Therefore, we have no further arguments against it, right? You’ll want to challenge yourself each time you work out. I recommend total body interval training, the kind of training that I’ve been doing for a few years now; it’s quick, it’s effective, and, well, it’s quick and effective – what more do you want?

After a brief (5-min) warmup, jump right in to compound exercises, alternated with single-muscle work and/or cardio. I tend to use a great deal of plyometric exercises, mostly because they’re fun, but they also work lots of muscle fibres and keep my heart rate up, too.

Examples:

Squats, followed by Calf Raises, followed by 1 minute of jumping jacks or mountain climbers.
Pushups, Cable Row, Plyo Lunges
Clean-and-Press, Step-ups
Box jumps, Plank twists
Cross-behind Lunges with Lateral Raise, Biceps curls on BOSU

If you keep moving, more or less, for 25 minutes, then take 5 minutes at the end to stretch, it would count as a regular (but intense) workout. On special Damage Days, when you need more, follow it with 20 minutes of cardio intervals, in the mode of your choice.

Just these two steps will help reduce any sudden-onset troublesome areas around your middle.

Um, ok. But I asked about abdominal exercises, remember?

Oh, right. But! The abdominals are engaged throughout a workout like that. And besides, just doing ab work won’t get you anywhere if you don’t have a solid cardio and strength habit.

...

Oh, fine.

My “favourite” exercises for core strength all use various muscle groups and more fibres than the average crunch. Keep your tummy sucked in for bonus points.

Ball crunch:

Holding a swiss ball between your legs, push your low back into the floor and exhale as you lift the ball and crunch your elbows up to your knees. Lower both ends at the same time, but don’t allow your head or the ball to rest. (3 sets of 12-15 reps - 15 second rest between each set)

Yoga boat variations:

Start by sitting up, knees bent 90 degrees, feet on the ground. Hold the back of your knees, and slouch so that your back is rounded. Release your grip, and lift your chest and head to maintain a straight spine. This is your basic position. If you want more of a challenge, pick up your feet, so that your shins are parallel to the floor.

Variation 1: Lift one arm overhead; return. Lift the other
arm overhead; return. Lift both arms overhead and hold; return. Take a quick
rest (10 sec), then reset.
Variation 2: Open one arm out to side; return. Open other
arm out to side; return. Open both arms out and hold. Rest. (10 sec)
Variation 3: Place palms together in prayer position. Twist, moving your pressed hands towards your left hip, and your knees towards the floor on your right. Switch to the other side. Alternate 3 times each side.

Plank Twist:

Start in a strong plank position, shoulders over hands, hips down, back straight. Pull your bellybutton pulled into your spine and your hips tilted under, with a neutral head position. Bring one knee slowly across to the outside of the opposite elbow. Switch. Repeat up to 10 times each side, ensuring you maintain good plank position.

Happy Abbing! (and stay vigilant!)

Jillian Michaels is Trying to Kill Me

The Cranky Book Reviewer (CBR) is branching out to workout videos, it seems.

So, I got me a new dvd with which to kick my butt.

Ok, really, I want to tighten up the Mommy Tummy.

This video, which advertises "Lose 20 lbs in 30 days!" and "20-minute workouts" is brutal, on many levels.

One: Jillian Michaels is brutal. She's not likeable, she's not motivating, and honestly, I don't think she looks that great (aside from her shoulders, which are amazingly incredible and huge and awesome) (I like her shoulders). She's abrasive, and pulls the standard aerobics-instructor "let me yell at my participants instead of doing the workout myself" thing that I hate.

Two: Level One isn't really that bad. I did it three times and decided that I wasn't really being challenged... she calls herself "TV's toughest trainer" for this? So I moved on to Level Two, and...

Three: Dear God, she's a madwoman. Level Two has put me through my paces 4 times now, and yikes. After 20 intense minutes of effort (about 28 minutes, total), I look like I've been pummelled. Red-faced, dripping, panting, shaky... awesome. I expect that I'll have to bite the bullet and attempt Level Three this week.

gulp

I agree with her philosophy: work harder for less time, but know that this video would be too much for 75% of the population. There's a lot of high-impact aerobic work, an unbalanced amount of focus on the front delts, and a too-short warm-up and cool-down for me to recommend this video.

I took my measurements on the first day (none of your business) and will take them again on Day 30, and I'm sure there will be a crazily significant change. Two weeks in, I've missed 5 workouts (wow, that sounds worse than I thought) - it's recommended to do a session every day, but my shoulders are already acting up from carrying small children, past injuries that are flaring up and also with having a 3-month-old that doesn't sleep at night...well, you get the picture. Anyhoo, my arms look more toned already, my jeans fit better, and the mommy tummy is much less saggy and baggy.

But I still don't like Jillian.

Why am I not getting results?

I have been working with a trainer for the past 6 weeks and I'm not seeing results.

I work with the trainer 2x week for one hour. 10 mins on the elliptical and then weight bearing exercises with her.

I was going about 3 other days for cardio which was either 1/2 hour treadmill or 15 each on treadmill and elliptical.

I log all my food on the 14-hour fitness program and keep a watch on the nutrition mix. She advised a 20-60-20 ratio of protein-carbs-fat and a goal of 1500 calories. I have a good deficit every day (over 500 calories) but the scale is not budging.

This past week I decided I needed to move more so I went every day (other than Mon and Fri) and spent 50 mins on the treadmill and/or elliptical.

I weigh in every week and I lost an initial 2 pounds and that's it. Since then nothing has changed - either weight or measurements.

What's up with that? Any advice you can give is appreciated.

If you look around a gym, the people that are in the best shape are the ones that are working the hardest; they're running on the treadmill (not jogging), lifting heavy weights (usually with free weights, not the machines), and taking less breaks than the rest of the gym-goers. This isn't a coincidence!

Intensity: It's the number one key to getting results at the gym (and nutrition is number one for getting results, period (more on that later).

I'd talk to your trainer if you feel that you're not being decimated by your sessions. Seriously - you're not paying her for conversation, and after 12 sessions, you should have a pretty good idea of your form, so her main job is to push you to achieve what you can't by yourself (and "just showing up" doesn't count as an achievement!). She should be tracking your workouts, so you should be able to see a sizeable increase in strength (the amount of weight you can lift) over the last 6 weeks. If not, ask to be pushed harder. A good trainer can work you reeeeally hard without breaking you!

(A great example of intense training (to work up to) is on the Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp - these people work HARD, but get fantastic results in 4 weeks) http://www.slice.ca/Shows/ShowsPage.aspx?Title_ID=105451 (also some great menus and meal ideas!)

Cardio: 3x a week (on top of 2 weight days) sounds great - but again, how hard are you working? Generally, light cardio needs to last 60 minutes, moderate about 45 minutes, and intense/intervals from 20-30 minutes in order to be effective. If you're sticking with 30 minutes (I'd rather work harder for less time, personally), choose ONE cardio machine for each workout (alternating them is fine), and, after a 5-minute warmup at an easy pace, try pushing yourself through some intervals - 1 minute of running/very brisk walking/high incline, followed by 2-3 of recovery...and if that's ok, then work up to 3 minutes of the intense interval for every 1-2 minutes of recovery, and a 5-minute cooldown. In a 30-minute session, that's 20 minutes of "work", so again, make it count! (if you're doing 15 minutes on each machine, there's the break in between in which your heart rate goes down, and because it's a different mode of exercise, your body takes a while to want to burn fat... don't make me get all science-y here.

For those following along at home, this means ramping up your workouts, whether it's walking more briskly (actively refocusing: picture me walking beside you and peskily reminding you to swing your arms more ("chest/hip, chest/hip") or "faster!" every 30 seconds or so), making bigger movements with your exercise videos, or doing a few extra repetitions of your weights. Work harder, please!

Food: If you are being honest with your workouts, and giving it your all (or at least 90 percent on the days that you don't have the full 100 to give), and you are honestly eating fairly cleanly and maintaining a reasonable calorie deficit, and not seeing results, well, somebody isn't being honest somewhere.

This is always the hardest part, but if you have a little bit of this and that here and there, you're probably overshooting your caloric requirements and unwittingly sabotaging your efforts.

Do you have a food scale? I was surprised by how big a 4 oz chicken breast was and how small a 3 oz potato was. Measuring your carbs is always an eye-opener, as is measuring your "extras" - I had to put a measuring cup in our giant bag of trail mix, so that we could see what a serving looked like (it was NOT what we had been eating, that's for sure). If you feel that you really need your treats (I'm typing with sticky fingers and a wine smile, so no judgement from here!), start skipping them every second day. Cutting out homemade raspberry-rhubarb tarts with lemony cream cheese icing (for example) for the rest of your life is a bit daunting and unreasonable, but deciding that my willpower can last ONE DAY and that I can have one (ONE!) tomorrow (and possibly a glass of wine with it) is manageable. Just make sure that you're not overcompensating on the "good" days!

Are you eating three small meals and three healthy snacks? This keeps your metabolism pumping, and prevents the "oh dear, I'm starving and I need to eat a box of donuts" problem. Try to make sure that you have whole grains, lean protein, and a fruit or vegetable with each meal/snack.

Water: the more, the better! If you eat processed or salty foods, water retention can be a big problem, and can prevent you from seeing results. Aim for 2 litres a day (I think that's half a gallon to you Americans), NOT INCLUDING what you drink during and right after your workout. Measure it, drink it, and burn extra calories on your many trips to the bathroom! :)

Um...so that's all the advice I can give you from this far away.

To sum up: 1) Make every workout count (and make sure your trainer is earning your money); and 2) Be scrupulously honest about your food intake.

Let me know how your talk with your trainer goes, but I definitely recommend continuing with a trainer for another 4-6 weeks before deciding to go it on your own...maybe there's another trainer there that you see really pushing her clients? This is probably rather scattered, but I hope it's a little helpful.

Total Body BOSU Bootcamp

I'd been a bit delinquent last week; between houseguests, swimming "lessons" for the pooper, and a long weekend in Edmonton, I only got to the gym twice last week, and I wasn't sure how this week would pan out.

So I skipped my upper/lower split, which seems to have been working nicely, and threw myself into a bootcamp-inspired total body blast, using plyometrics and stabilization drills to completely annihilate every muscle in my body. Actually, the main targets (I discovered the next day while trying to get out of bed) ended up being the medial glutes, quadriceps (teardrop, to be specific), mid-back and shoulders. All of this in 30 sweaty, heart-pumping minutes. Awesome.

Clean and press: With a moderately wide stance, I deadlifted a 30-lb (oooo) barbell from the ground up to my shoulders (the "clean" portion of this powerlifting move), then pressed it overhead, and lowered it all the way back to the floor 12 times. This uses all the major muscle groups in the legs and glutes, as well as low back, shoulders and triceps. I repeated this with the 40-lb barbell for 10 reps, and the 50-lb barbell for 8. Supersetted with...

Hanging knee raises: Simple movement to really focus on the lower abdominals, hanging from the chinup bar (since I'm still not quite ready to try chinups again...) - the knees pull up into the chest as you exhale and curl your hips up. 3 sets of 15.

BOSU agility work: Round side up, I started on the right side of the BOSU. I stepped up with my left foot, then my right, then stepped off the left side with my left foot. Up with my right, then left, and off the right side with my right foot, and it counts as one rep. Yay for plyometrics! It's an up-up-down 3-c0unt, and by keeping my legs bent and my centre of gravity low, I was able to get some good speed going, while burning my legs and lungs near to death. Nice. 3 sets of 15, supersetted with...

BOSU pushups: Flat side up, I placed my hands on the far edges of the BOSU. With the round side down, you have a very unstable surface, which is excellent for calling your stabilizers into action, making your chest, shoulders and triceps work even harder, and turns boring old pushups into a whole-body challenge. 3 sets of 15.

BOSU jump-in squats: More plyos! Round side up, I stood behind the BOSU, and jumped forward with both legs into a squat position so that my left foot landed on the BOSU, and my right was on the ground beside the BOSU. I quickly stepped back behind the BOSU, and jumped forward so that the right was on the BOSU and the left on the floor. Again, that was one rep. The round side gives an uneven surface to help challenge the stabilizers, strengthen the calf, foot, and ankle, and also allow a new range of motion for the squats. Excellent for legs, glutes, and cardio. 3 sets of 15, supersetted with...

BOSU bent-over dumbbell rows: Flat side up, I climbed up on the BOSU (very carefully), and hinged forward at the hips. Keeping my head lifted and my back slightly arched, I pulled two 20-lb dumbbells up to my waist, squeezing my shoulder blades together at the top. Strengthens the lats, spinal erectors, biceps, and gives the hamstrings an isometric workout, as well as making your whole body shake from trying to hold this position on a wobbly base. 3 sets of 12.

Raise-and-rotates: Holding two wee little 5-lb dumbbells, I started with a bent-arm lateral raise up to shoulder height. From there, I keep the elbows still, and rotate the weight up so that my upper arms are straight out from my body, and my forearms are bent 90 degrees, pressing straight to the ceiling, and the weights are by my ears. (Ok, this one needs a stick figure, but I don't have access to a scanner here...) This exercise is excellent for focusing on both the front and medial delts, as well as the rotator cuff. These are all tiny little muscles, and it doesn't take much to make them work.

There you go! A total body blast, quick and dirty. And boy, will you feel it the next day.