Is my body used to the punishment?? Analize please!!

denitraross

ok - so I think I am hitting the dreaded Plateau....I joined the Y in Sept 2010 to seriously kick my health in gear. Prior to the Y I went to Zumba classes three times a week and although I didn't lose any weight in the year I went, I maintained while not eating healthy at all....but I got bored of the classes and decided to kick it up....

When I first joined, I pretty much stuck to the gym and a group power class (all over weight training class)...and did cardio like crazy...but since have decided I needed to mix it up in January and here is my general schedule:

Monday - 60 min Cardio Kickboxing (an intensene hour workout that never fails to leave me soaked in sweat from head to toe, out of breath and beat)
Tuesday - either 60 min Cardio Core class (30 mins so intense cardio and 30 mins core workout) or I go to the gym and do treadmill (4.0-4.2 on 15 incline) for 30 mins and part of my upper body workout
Wednesday - 60 min Cardio Pump Extremme ( a bootcamp/circuit training workout that the instructor changes every week - burpees, mountain climbers, jumping lunges, deck rolls..you name is, she comes up with it, with weight training and running mixed it)....this is by far my most challenging class...and the only real one that makes me sour....love it
Thursday - 60 min Step Class (mix of mainly step with wieght lifting in between and some core work)
Friday - I hit the gym again (or if I am at my 10/11 day mark, I take the day off..more about this later) To do Cardio (usually 15 mins on stepper/ellipitical, then 30 minutes on treadmill..then I do my other upper body day...and a serios of core exercises
Saturday - repeat of Friday above - other upper body day
Sunday - either my day off (if at 10/11 days)...or I go to Group Step class...higher cardio workout than my Thursday Class...

My upper body workout is the following -

Day 1 - Chest - decline press, incline press, chest flys, rear dealt flys...and tricpes - tricep dips, tricep extensions, roll pull downs....Shoulders - shoulder press
Day 2 - Back - lateral pulldown, seated rows, MTS high row, Hyper extension...Bicep - Rope Curls, chin ups, Bicep curls....shoulders - shrugs, lateral raises
Core - crunches, decline sit ups, knee raises, planks, oblique side bends

I have been leaving a lower body workout off because all of the classes I take work my lower body (kick boxing, step class, bootcamp class with tones of lunges and squats)

ok - with that all out of the way...what more can I do??? My eating is pretty bang on (with the exception of sodium levels - I lowered it to 2300 mg and am struggling to met that)..but I usuallu met my calories (set at 1200, but I with my exercise I come in at about 1500-1600 each day net)...so I am definately eating...

I mentioned about not taking a day off until day 10/11....I just can't, I want the calories burned, feel way to guilty if I don't go, don't sleep as well...and I just plan enjoy the gym....so I do listen to my body and take a break when I feel run down..

What can I do different? What are some ways to change it up?......I am close to my first goal of 31 pounds (150 is my first goal)...but actually want to hit 140 eventually ( I am 5'8).....please - some serious analysis and advice!!!! I have only lost 1.4 in the past month...very frustrated.....

sandram82

WOW.. You really work it!! Great job!!!
I think all you can do is give your body a rest day.. our bodies really need it.. and maybe just indulge in something for a change.. your body needs to get a kick start!!
Hope this helps some

ProTFitness

Here is a change for you try Tabata Training or circirt training. Check these out.
Also look into overtraining as well. Goggle them :-)

Tabata is the name of a Japanese researcher who discovered a way to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It's an excellent training program that seems to fit across all training disciplines for athletes looking to increase their VO2max and lose fat quickly.


What is it?
It's simple: after warming up, take one exercise and perform it in the following manner:
1.For twenty seconds, do as many reps as possible, or run, bike as hard as you can
2.Rest for ten seconds
3.Repeat seven more times!
Eight sets of "as many reps as you can get done," followed with a brief ten seconds rest— simple and effective. This isn't "eight sets of eight," although the goal of doing eight reps in each of the twenty second clusters is about right. Instead it's "as many reps as I can get in" during the twenty seconds, followed by ten seconds rest. If running, biking, or rowing, go as hard as you can.

The best exercise options for the Tabata method are exercises that use a large number of muscles such as, squats, front squats, dead lifts, thrusters, sprints, stationary bike and rowing machine.

Use the "lowest rep number" of any of the eight sets as your measurement to compare workout to workout. If you go too heavy, that last set may be two. If you go too light, you might get around 15 reps or more.

And by the way, ten seconds is not getting a drink, looking in the mirror, talking to the cute girl on the bike, looking at the clock, walking back to the bar, chalking up, adjusting the belt, talking to a friend, then doing the next set. Ten second is ten seconds! No cheating!


Why should you do this workout?
The Tabata program might be the single best "fat burning workout" that I know, not to mention the increase in VO2max. It might only be four minutes, but you seem to keep sweating and breathing hard for a long time afterwards. Tabata truly teaches a person the mental focus needed to push and to help reach their athletic goals.

Using a GYMBOSS makes timing Tabata intervals easy. Simply set the timer to a work interval of 20 seconds followed by a rest interval of 10 seconds alarming with your choice of beep, vibrate, or both! The timer continues these intervals until you stop!! Or drop!!!!



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WORK HARD AND SMART
Check these links to read more about HIIT training:

This Aerobics Alternative Will Take You Out of The Fat Lane by Shawn Phillips
HIIT and Other Interval Training Methods by Robert Forney
Interval Training- HIIT or Miss? by Eric Cressey
HIIT Training Articles at BodyBuilding.com
The Final Nail in the Cardio Coffin by Rachael Cosgrove
What Is HIIT?
High intensity interval training, or HIIT training, is an interval workout that has been around for decades. The HIIT routine includes intervals of high intensity exercises, followed by recovery intervals of light to moderate intensity exercises. Due to the fact that this training involves pushing yourself to do intense exercise intervals, the HIIT workout can provide many advantages that the usual exercise routines cannot offer including, aerobic, anaerobic, muscular endurance, and fat burning like never before.


What exercises can be used for a HIIT Routine?
HIIT exercises can be very specific programs, or just traditional exercises, depending on your specific goals and your current physical condition. Here just a few samples you can consider for your HIIT training:

Running Sprinting Biking Stairmaster
Treadmill Elliptical Weight Training Kettlebell
Box Jumps Thrusters Pushups Power cleans
Sled pulling Jump rope Polyometrics Anything else

Whether you are at the gym, on the track, in your house, yard, or on the road a HIIT workout can be completed with great success. Any activity can be used for HIIT training, the idea is to go intense for a set amount of time doing any activity you want followed by a recovery period, and repeat as many sets necessary to meet your goals.

Throw boulders around your yard, run on a treadmill, sprint around the track, up a hill, or through your hood. Pound on an old tire with a sledgehammer, throw the old tire as far as you can, as high as you can, against the wall as hard as you can, as many times as you can in 30 seconds then rest 10 seconds. Repeat, Pick up the heaviest thing you can find and walk around with it for 30 seconds then rest and repeat. Lift that 70 lb punching bag up over your head as many times as possible for 30 seconds, then take 20 seconds off, repeat 10 times. Push your car down the driveway for 30 seconds, rest 30 seconds, and then repeat 20 times.

I think you get the point of HIIT training by now!


What are the interval lengths?
This depends on your current conditioning level and your specific workout goals. Starting with a few repeats of shorter intervals of work and longer intervals of rest and over time as your condition improves you can increase the work interval duration, decrease the recovery interval, and increase the number of sets to meet your goals.


The flexibility of the GYMBOSS timer allows you to set any 2 intervals of your choice from 2 seconds to 99 minutes, you can start your HIIT workout routine with precise work interval and rest interval time periods, and slowly increase or decrease as you see fit. Using the GYMBOSS interval timer you also set the number of repeats that you desire allowing you to focus on your workout, not the clock.

You decide what your work and rest intervals are, set the number of repeats you want to accomplish, and you will get the best possible HIIT workout in the least amount of time burning more calories and fat than ever before.

Clipped to the waistline of your shorts, armband, back of your hat, or held in your hand, clip to the weight rack, the loud beep and vibrate alarms are easy to recognize signaling time to start or stop your intervals allowing you to focus on your workout and get results like never before.


These are just a few sample HIIT workout samples:
Tabata
20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest, for 8 rounds. A 4 minute killer HIIT routine!
Sprint
5 minute warm up
20 seconds fast run, 40 seconds walk for 5 repeats
30 seconds fast run, 30 seconds walk for 5 repeats
1 minute fast run, 30 seconds walk for 5 repeats
5 minute cool down
(Say goodbye to boring runs!)
Weightlifting
Set timer to 1 minute interval for 30 repeats and start a set at every alarm using weight as necessary to complete 15 reps per set. (You’re going to sweat while everyone else in the gym is standing around talking!)


Your imagination is the only thing holding you back!

ProTFitness

I can not see your food But that will play a Big part as well. What are you eating? Are you eating enough with all that workingout? How often are you eating? All this will play a factor in fat loss

catniss

the thing that caught my attention was that with all that exercise, it looked like you were just adding in an additional 300-400 cals--are you sure that's enough?? it seems that in any one of those classes you would burn a lot more than that. Someone also mentioned the possibility of overtraining which is something that seems very possible. Good luck--you are certainly dedicated and motivated and you will get through this and have amazing successes.

givprayz

I think that sounds AWESOME! You are my idol.

Maybe you are so muscular that you can't lose weight because there is nothing to lose? Have you had a body fat analysis? You look great in your picture.

Are inches changing? Are you converting fat to muscle, thus getting smaller but not losing weight?

Have you tried varying your calorie intake? Look up zig-zag calories. The gist is you feed your body different amounts every day, to keep it from sinking into a set metabolic rate. For your activity level, I would think 1900 calories for 2 days, then maybe 1400, then 1700 for a day or two, another 1400, then rotate. You seem to be taking in a low amount for the expenditures you are having.

I didn't look at your food diary, so you may be doing this, but higher protein, lower carbs most days of the week can jump-start losses for some people, especially people who are lifting. 35% protein, 30% fat, 35% carbs, concentrating on the vegetables, and whole grains other than wheat is one plan.

I hope something helps. You really do look great. I am 5'8" and aiming for the low 140's, too. I just keep praying I don't level off in these last 15 pounds. I am nowhere near as active as you. I found when I worked out vigorously every day, I held a lot of water in my damaged muscles. Now that I work out every other day, my stiffness has time to resolve and the scale is going down steadily. I really don't enjoy exercise much, but I don't love brushing my teeth or cleaning either, but I do it because it has to be done. I wish I loved it :~(

WolffEarl

Wow, it certainly looks like you exercise a lot, so must be in fine shape. As always, our bodies do indeed adapt to the amount of "punishment" we expose them too. I would suggest that you set some fitness related goals related to increased the intensity, speed, length of a particular workout. Whether means running for the same time at a higher speed or for more minutes or lift more weights for a greater number of reps, etc. This will tell you more about that your body is getting stronger/fitter rather than the weight scale. The other thing I would suggest that you might want to keep track of your BMI or BF% as a more important measure rather than just weight. Weight can fluctuate so easily by 2 or more lbs, even within a single day. Do not beat your self up. Just reading your exercise schedule had me breaking out in a sweat:)

sunshine79

OMG I thought I was over doing it until I looked at your schedule.:huh: :huh:

Where do I begin?

Firstly I must state that I am NOT a professional, just someone who is sharing their 'opinion' and experience with you.

FYI - just for context last year I lost14lbs of body fat and got to into the best shape of my life but a medical condition caused me to gain it back, blah, blah blah which is why I'm here.

Now, I have a personal trainer, (the same on who whipped me into shape last year). He told me to cut down on all the cardio as in his opinion women tend to do too much of it to little avail and I tend to agree. You need to make weight/resistance training the corner stone of your workout schedule. Replace the long steady state cardio with 15 mins of HIIT (high intensity interval training).

I went from mon - spinning and aerobics, Tues - personal training, Wed- 2 x cardio conditioning classes, Thur - boxing and 40 mins of running, Sat - bootcamp, Sun - body pump (all of which produced little result) To: 2 x weights sessions (including 10 mins of HIIT) 1 x boxing and 1 x bootcamp. (Which resulted in 14lb loss)

Try not to work the same muscle groups on consecutive days and also you must allow your body more rest that it is currently getting.

I know it's hard to let go of the constant working out but it WILL benefit you. Please feel free to message me if you need more info about anything I've said.:happy:

denitraross

To answer some of the questions:

Tabata training - I could not remembe the name - but this is what my instructor for my Wed class follows - and like I said, I love it, totally kicks my butt and I get sore from it.....so maybe I will start doing my gym routines in this manner too...

As for the calories - I use the calories burned on the equipment I use at the gym (treadmill, stepper, etc.) because it lets me put in my weight...i use the strength training cardio option to log my lifting.....but for the rest I use MFP as I do not have a HRM (I bought 2 and did not like them much at all or find them to be that accurrate because of constantly having to press the button to check my HR...I would rather continue with my workout then try that).....so it tells me usually between 500-600 calories burned..so 1200 + 500 = 1700...and I usually eat at least 400 of them....I eat until I am full...

for the how often do I eat - I eat a light breakfast (I normally did not eat anything)..usually yogurt, bran buds and coffee...then I eat a snack (apple, banana) mid morning...have lunch usually try to stay around 400 calories....then I have a snack before the gym...get off work, go right to gym....then I have a late supper 7-8 at night once I get home and cook..then a snack in the evening..usually some baked chips (I was a doritoes addict..lol)...or popcorn or somthing...

I do struggle with my salt..and have been slowly trying to eat cleaner (less processed food) by preparing my own meals, no frozen lunches, no soup...etc....

givprayz

Checking back and reading what others have said, I am prone to agree with Sunshine, you have too much cardio going on. Recommendations are for 3 hours of moderate or 1.5 hours of strenuous cardio per week, and while I am not advocating sticking to minimums, you are way, way over. Our bodies can get acclimatized to that kind of workout if it is done every day, and they start to conserve energy. Our bodies are so efficient, the only way to keep them fit is to keep them guessing.

HIIT is based on keeping your body guessing. It is never supposed to be done 2 days in a row. Zig-zagging calories is based on that theory as well, never letting your metabolism know whether it will have 1200 or 2000 calories to work with keeps it churning at high output.

Maybe try cutting back 3 cardio workouts a week, while varying your intake every couple of days. If your average net calories are staying below 1000 (which it sounds like they are) your body is catabolizing muscle to fuel your workouts, which is bad. Your net needs to be above 1200 most days, and better still, 1300 to 1800 every day. Read about what happens in your body when you are consistently below 1200 (in the reliable journals, not the popular media.) Your organs can shrink, your bones get brittle, your muscles break down, all while your fat stores are protected. It really is possible to eat too little.

denitraross

I think I may cut some of the cardio back and try more of the HIIT training....

I think I may have missed typed by calories though......I usually never net below 1200.....I start with 1200, then add about 500 with my workouts (1700) and I eat about 1500-1600 at least...if I burn more, I generally eat more too...and I usually have a high day every few weeks or so, if we have pot luck at work, or I attend a social event....

I think the weight thing may be more muscle building...I never took my measurements when I started (wish I did)...but I have gone from a 16 jean size to a 10 (and I think if my butt wasn't so bountiful, I could get an 8)....bra size went from 38 DD to 36 C....I can buy medium shirts now, whereas before XL might not even fit......

khrys1

I know it seems the opposite of what you should do, but try to have one or two off days a week, and have a day every two weeks or so where you go OVER your calories. Your body/metabolism eventually gets used to what you're doing/eating, and eating more/exercising less once in a while can actually shock your system into losing again. Good luck!