Fab Fit Squad

Most people think because you are a personal trainer you are super human… UMMM NO.

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We have those days when we don’t want to work out and sometimes even when we set a fitness goal and get in the middle of training we say to ourselves, what did I sign myself up for.

That is me right now. Literally I signed up to the Miami half marathon. (I am registered, have a non-refundable plane ticket and hotel) Just 6 short weeks ago I thought it would be a fun challenge and keep me motivated through the holidays. WELP.. not so much. Today’s 19 degrees with a wind chill of 4 and I had to do 4 miles. Go ahead and call me a wimp, but this kid wasn’t going outside. So.. instead I decided I could suck it up and run on the treadmill for 4 miles how hard go it be.  In a word FREAK’N HARD!!!

Well.. even though the Jessica Simpson E True Hollywood story was on I still felt like a Gerbil on a wheel  so…4 treadmills, yes 4 treadmills every mile I moved one, because I was BORED out of mind and thought that would help not so much. This weekend I have to do 8 miles.. I really need to check the forecast… there is NO WAY I can do it on the treadmill.

So here I am 7 weeks away and wondering seriously who do I think I am. Should I be running a half  marathon?

As I train for the Miami half marathon a good friend of mine and an amazing marathon coach, John Furey has told me the secret to running an injury free marathon is cross training and intervals.

I know interval training has been around for awhile and people have been doing them, but are you really getting out of your comfort zone! Really pushing yourself to that 9-10, when you push yourself to the limit. So.. why do we do it.  Interval training helps:

• boost performance, by making the heart become more efficient at pumping blood
• helping increasing our tolerance for lactic acid burn
• we can increase our intensity in a short amount of time without risk of burning out or injury
• most importantly we BURN MORE FAT!!!!  You read correctly… We burn more fat!!!

So I have know this for years, but have I really pushed myself to the 9-10 zone!!! Honestly speaking I think I have been hanging out in the 7-8 zone. So I have been cheating myself of all of the benefits. Okay let me be honest the benefit I really want is FAT BURNING. Okay I’m training for a half marathon, I’d like to be able to be able to cross the finish line on my own 2 feet and not be dragging ass! So.. interval training will be my friend 2x/week until January 31st.
Now my interval will be a combination of cardio machines and metabolic circuits using only my bodyweight and light weights. Check out this one below.  If you have bodyweight circuit that you would like to share tell me about it, just write below in the comments

So, my first week went well..and the second week is going well. I just need to complete my last long run 5 miles for the week.

Now you may want to know what one of my interval cycles looks like.

• 2 minute warm up
• 1 1/2 min sprint
• 30 sec rest
• 2 1/2 min sprint
• 1 1/2 min rest

Repeat 5 times (should take you 30 minutes.
This can easily be done on any piece of cardio equipment, I did this on an elliptical.

Now here’s the plan for my third week  — November 22.

Monday — intervals and strength
Tuesday — 3.5 miles
Wednesday — rest
Thursday — Turkey Trot (4miles)
Friday — rest
Saturday 6 miles

Today is our last big run before the race. We will be running 6.2 miles. The humidity is suppose to break or it will be a long, hot sweaty run. If you are in Boston and want to tag along meet us on the river. BTW have I told you that the race doesn’t allow headphones so we have been training without our ipods. I thought it would be hard, but not so much. You really get into a nice rhythm listening to your footsteps and your breathing its kind of meditative.

<a href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ma/mid-cambridge/868124900372960214″ mce_href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ma/mid-cambridge/868124900372960214″>Kim and Philip 6.2 miler</a><br/><a href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/ma/mid-cambridge” mce_href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/ma/mid-cambridge”>Find more Runs in Mid-cambridge, Massachusetts</a>

My husband and I met 15 years ago at a Falmouth Road Race race party. A mutual friend invited us and who knew 15 years later I would be sitting here married to Philip and planning to run the Falmouth road race.  Philip and I are not sentimental l people at all, but every year we have talked about running this race when we hit a milestone in our relationship. On August 9th it will be 15 years that we have been together. Needless to say I am a little SHOCKED at how fast time goes by and he is still the first person that I want to talk to when I get up in the morning and the last person I want to talk to when I go to bed. Enough sentimental stuff… So, we have been training for the road race since mid June, slowly building up our mileage.  We have 2 weeks to go and today is a milestone run, 5.5 miles.  In 2000 I ran the Tufts 10K and that was the last time I ran for more than 20 minutes on a treadmill. So today is our first LONG run. (more…)

Craig Ballantyne, Men’s Health Magazine Expert, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist created this amazing bodyweight workout that help you get bootylious. Through his Turbulence Training program, you’ll discover that strength training and interval training you will burn fat, and build muscle. To learn more Click Here!

I see it all the time in the gym, women who are flying through reps thinking that they are lifting. I ask all the time do you think you could lift a little heavier, and I get the same response, I don’t want to bulk up!

News Flash!

Unless you have some sort of hormonal imbalance of testosterone, it’s impossible for you to bulk up! It is possible for you to tone up and show some muscle definition.  Who doesn’t want that!  Plus, muscle:

• Burns FAT!!
• Strengthens your bones
• Takes up less space that fat, so you look leaner

So, you need to stop flying through your reps and increase your weights.  You ask? When do I know it’s time to increase my weights?  Well, when you get to the last 2-3 reps and you feel like you can do 10 more, then you need to increase your weight.  With that said, you should only increase when you can maintain proper form!!

So tell me, are you flying through your reps? Do you have any more questions, about weight training, I would to hear them? Just post a question below.  I plan on answering a question every Sunday.

My mom has always said to me “Patience is a virtue!” Well, I have no virtues, seriously, I try to have patience, but I don’t have much!

Over the years, I have gained more than I had in my youth, but I still wish I had more.  You know like the Buddhist monks who can sit for hours in silence.  I can’t go 5 minutes without freaking out.  Okay who am I kidding, I can’t go for more than 1 minute.

Now here is the true.  I go for 12 weeks dieting and working out to get ready for a show, this is where I show the most patience.  I can take the journey and wait and see what my results will be.  Now I will admit I do get a little antsy about 3 weeks out and want to quit, but when the end line is in site, I must keep going.

So tell me about your patience? Do you have any? Are you like me and have patience in doses?

Today is my friend Diana’s wedding.  In fact, I should be getting dressed right now, but wanted to share a few thoughts.

Just because I am going to a speical event, doesn’t mean I need to throw away my diet.  I just need to plan.  I think about what do I really want to splurge on, do I want cake, bacon wrapped scallops or a few glasses of wine.

Know that you will be going to an event and want to enjoy yourself, so make concession during the week.  This way you can still enjoy a healthy lifestyle without feeling awkward at social events.

This weekend is action packed!!!

It’s recycling day here in Cambridge, now what does that mean?  It’s Cambridge’s way of keeping old paint, fluorescent light bulbs, etc from going in with the rest of your trash! As you can imagine my husband has been all hopped up for weeks!! He even scheduled it in his calendar. So, we are going to gather up all our hazardous stuff and head to the armory.

Next I’m heading to the gym to get in my 60 min of cardio and 30 min of routine practice.  Head to the grocery store. Cook something for a party we are going to tonight.  Are you exhausted yet!! I am and my day is just beginning.

I’m sure there are plenty of days you have where you are not sure where you are going to find time for yourself.  Well this is how I’m going to do it.  I looked at my day and decided that I needed to crave out some times for myself and not feel guility.  Can you do that? Out of a 24 hour day, I’ll give 8 hours to sleep, can you find at least 1 hour during the 16 hours that remain on a given Saturday or Sunday to do something for yourself?