Fit Fest '09 or Practical Knowledge

As part of this whole experience we Zone Dancing ladies got to go to this year's Fit Fest, a two day convention for fitness professionals to update their credentials, learn new workouts, network, etc. It was so much fun. I got to work out all day with some of the best people in the business, try things that aren't even out on the market yet, and learn a lot about fitness and weight loss.

In this particular blog I am going to share with you what I learned from Dr. Len Kravitz about maximizing your caloric burn (sprinkled with a little wisdom from Mindy and my own experience.) You may have a lot of this before but if you're interested in losing weight, this might help.

Ready?

Get this.

To lose weight, burn more calories and eat fewer calories.

I know, right. But exercise all you want but if you don't reduce your calorie intake you're going to plateau. I just found out that on the Biggest Loser the female contestants are on a 1200 calorie diet and have a daily calorie burn of 6000 (the men are at 8000, not sure of the intake.) If you don't have 8 hours a day to spend in the gym and your goal isn't to lose 200 pounds in 17 weeks then obviously you don' t have to do anything quite so extreme. But don't you think that if people who's weight has spiraled out of control and who may have never exercised a day in their life can do that, that you can reduce your intake by a couple hundred calories and work out an hour a day? What can you cut out? Soda, juice, cream in your coffee (stop drinking your calories)? Less bread, more veggies? Have one serving instead of two? The first week might suck, but give it a few and some of this stuff will really stick.

According to Dr Kravitz, you don't start burning off the fat that gives you a muffin top until a solid hour into moderate exercise. Before that you're burning fat out of your muscles and blood stream. BUT, have no fear. If you don't feel like exercising for 2 or 3 hours a day to shrink your butt, that's where calorie restriction comes in because your muscles and blood will pull fat from your saddlebags to replace what you used up (as long as you didn't replace it with half a pizza before it could use up what you've already stored away.)


Alright, on to the exercise.


7 Calorie Torching Workouts:

1) TEMPO TRAINING
- Continuous aerobic exercise at 14-17 RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion out of 20) for 30 to 60 minutes (basically go at the hardest pace you can maintain for your goal time or your MAX STEADY STATE)

2) METABOLIC BASE TRAINING
- Continuous aerobic exercise at a light to moderate intensity (brisk walk/jog 11-14 RPE) for 60 to 80 minutes

3) SPLIT TRAINING
- 2 to 4 High Intensity sets for 15 to 20 minutes separated by 5 minutes of active rest

4) INTERVAL TRAINING
- Alternate 3 minutes of nearly all out effort (16 to 18 RPE) with 3 minutes of low intensity (10 to 11 RPE)

5) SUPRAMAXIMAL INTERVAL TRAINING
- Alternate 15 to 10 intervals of 1 minute at absolute max (19-20 RPE) with 2 to 5 minutes active rest

6) CIRCUIT TRAINING
- Do 5 circuits of 10 reps (1 second concentric and eccentric contraction with a pretty comfortable weight) each of as many stations as you can think of (biceps, triceps, lunges, squats, abs, back, etc etc) and sprint from station to station (this would be much more fun with a partner)

7) FARTLEK PLUS
- "fartlek" means "speed play" in Swedish (really)
- Basically mix it up, go from anaerobic to aerobic at random intervals doing different types of exercises (walk, run, sprint, jump, etc.) Have fun with it.

So here's what you're going to do...

- Do low to moderate exercise fo 20 to 60 minutes every day. That could be as simple as a brisk walk or dancing around your living room.

- Mix in some high intensity/short duration exercise days....interval training is soooooo good.

- Multi mode training: mix it up, don't get bored, test your body. If you're not having fun, you probably won't do it. If you hate running but like swimming then swim and throw in a treadmill day for a challenge. If you hate swimming but love dancing take a dance class. (I love kicking stuff really hard, so some days I do that and other days I run so that kicking stuff really hard is easier and more fun.) This will also help combat the dreaded plateau.

- Shrink your portions.

- Eat food from the source (meat, veggies, fruit)

- Surround yourself with people that are supportive. Someone in your life just might try to sabotage you. Don't let them.

- Stick it out for 6 weeks. It takes about 4 to 6 weeks to form a new habit. Give it the chance to get there. Week 1 will suck. You'll be hungry and sore. By week 3 you'll be looking forward to your sweat session and you'll realize that you don't need those gummy bears to make it to dinner.

- And finally, some more Mindy wisdom... Be content. Celebrate your victories each day and don't punish yourself for not fitting into your skinny jeans. Be patient (and throw out those skinny jeans).

Note: If you're interested in the science behind a lot of this stuff, check out Dr. Kravitz's website. It's pretty cool.