Too much "cardio"....not for me (Part 2)

Part 2!  Here we go.  If you haven't read part 1 or forgot what it was about...you can refresh by clicking here. 

I am already getting e-mails and private messages (most from other group fitness instructors might I add) about how I am knocking on the group fitness world...blah blah blah.  Did you guys not read my part 1 blog????  Please read thoroughly before you send me such nonsense!!!  And the fact that I am NOT finished with the series.  There is more!  I'm a group fitness instructor myself so why would I know it???  Geez!  SMH!  ANYWAY...moving on.......

Ok, so I talked a little bit about what types of training/workouts I did.  WHen I FIRST started, I didn't know what the hell i was doing.  SO I started off with the group fitness classes.  Before that I was just walking on the treadmill and kind of watching what others were doing in the weights section and tried to mimic them.  I remember the first group fitness class I went to.  Bodypump.  A class using weights.  High rep lower weights.  You will not see anyone deadlifting anything over 150 in there.  Hell, I don't think I've seen anyone DL anything over 100.  Like I said because it's high reps...and at a pretty fast pace might I add.  I thought that this was "THE class".  That this class will get me toned and buff and lookin all hot.  Boy was i wrong.  Don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT class.  And sometimes if I want something different I'll take that class.  Just for the hell of it.  It's a good class! 

As I said in part one....i was only becoming a smaller version of my fat self.  The group fitness classes were a start for me.  It got me moving.  AFterall...ANY type of movement is better than just sitting on the couch.  But After about 5-6 months of nothing but treadmills, ellipticals, group fitness classes, stairmills, and the occasional dumbells, I came to a stall.  No matter what I did nothing seemed to work anymore.  I decided to invest in a personal trainer.  Now as we all know...personal trainers are expensive!  I had my "lasik eye surgery fund" stashed away.  I asked myself....no contacts/glasses or a better body?  I chose a better body and emptied my lasik fund and hired Jason Urbanski--the head trainer at the gym I was working out at.  Let me tell you....BEST investment I've ever made!  I told you guys before I've worked with other trainers before...which is why I was so hesitant about hiring another one.  I've been dissapointed before, but EVERYONE at the gym had good things to say about him.  So I decided to give him a month and "test him out".   I'm sorry.  I'm vain as hell and I wanted to look good.  I was sick and tired of being fat and "ugly." 

Here is the man I always referred to as SATAN.  This was March of 2010.   He is gonna KILL me for posting his pic, but whatever!  I want you guys to see the man who has changed my life!

I'm not gonna lie.  I hated him.  I thought he was mean, and hard.  but that's what i wanted.  I didn't want anyone to hold my hand and say everything will be ok.  He didn't.  He only pushed me harder and although till this day he denies it, I think he was trying to "break me".  He hasn't.  haha.  After 6 weeks we weighed in and I lost 19 lbs!!!!!  You see, not only was Jason a personal trainer, he was also a strength and conditioning coach.  TRUST me when i say they are different from your typical "follow you around the gym with a clipboard" personal trainer.  We trained 3 times a week.  A lot of those were consisted of extremely heavy lifting and his psycho conditioning workouts.  When I say psycho I mean PSYCHO.  Biggest loser workouts on TV has NOTHING on Jason Urbanski.  I would cringe everytime we had to lift heavy!  I thought I was gonna "bulk up." I was still doing a lot more cardio and doing group fitness classes.  But I began to have a lot of "aha" moments with him.  Here is a good example of "less is more".

For the longest time I would be doing these hour long cardio sessions.  Jason's words?  WASTE OF TIME.  The "steady" cardio.  Even the group fitness classes I have to admit was steady of moderate intensity.  This is why I like teaching spin.  For those who have taken my class know for climbs and attacks, I have my class load up as much as possible on resistance and pedal as hard as they can before the break where they "release" the pressure and resistance.  Kind of like sprinters.  For about 30 seconds to a minute they will run as fast and hard as they can until it's over and then they recover.  This is also known as the HIIT (high intensity interval training).  A method I like to use is go as hard as you can for a minute...till you're about to pass out...then for a minute recover...then repeat for about 10-12 times.  I don't know about you...but I prefer the sprinters body over the marathoners body.  If you like the "marathon body" look, then please...by all means proceed with your long cardio sessions.  To each its own. 

In my case the group fitness classes were not enough.  I had to get a trainer.  Of course being healthy and in better shape was a plus......but one thing I observed while training.  All those people who did hours and hours of endless cardio on the machines and hours and hours of group fitness classes...all looked the same.  No real changes in their physique.  yes, they might lose weight, but I never really saw the "transformations."  It was only those who incorporated weight training and worked with good trainers that I saw transformations starting to take place.  I am the perfect example.  Now....if you are one of those who had a great physique transformation with just group fitness classes alone and cardio alone, i applaud you.  But it wasn't working for me and based on what I observed at the gym (trust me I was there 5-6 days a week), I didn't see much of it.  Even the group fitness instructors who taught like a zillion classes a day all looked the same.  Again, I am NOT knocking anyone.  It's just NOT the look I wanted.  Incorporated with HEAVY weight training and MINIMUM cardio is when my body started to change.  Part 2 is long enough.  I feel like I'm rambling.  But I will end with this:  I've done it ALL!  From group fitness classes to P90X to infomercial stuff.  What did it for me was not just heavy lifting, but working with a strength and conditioning coach.  In part 3 of the series I will get into how strength and conditioning workouts have accelerated my fat loss AND how the "less is more" really does come into effect.   I will also talk about meeting new coaches who I thought I would NEVER find....and incorporating other new workouts.....even kettlebells.  I'm still hesitant to release the sports bra/shorts fat pics so I will leave with this.  Maybe in part 3 I'll have the guts to post the mortifying pics.

Before I even knew what a gym membership was:

And me today:

Part 3 coming soon which will consist of what I am doing NOW and what type of strength and conditioning workouts I am doing with hardly ANY cardio.  Just once a week.  =)  And I like that cuz i HATE cardio!!!!!

Too much "cardio"....not for me! (part 1)

Been some time since my last "rant" or "rave",  But today....I'm baaaccckkkk!  =)

SO you've heard the mainstream and the norm right?  Ya know...to lose weight, get in better health, you gotta do this, this, this, and that.  Meaning....excercise regularly, eat 5-6 small meals a day, eat lean protien, eat a lot of veggies, avoid too much starch, avoid too much "bad carbs", avoid sugar......blah blah blah blah blah.  Right?  This isn't rocket science.  We all know you have to eat right and workout regularly.  Unless you are the .01% who is genetically blessed and don't have to lift a finger and can eat all the pizza and french fries you want and still have the body of a greek God or greek Goddess.  Am I wrong?  =)

In this blog I want to talk about the workout aspect.  The diet part will come later as I am still in the experimenting phase of my current diet.  Yes it's working like a charm but I want to give it a go for a few more months.  But since my workouts have also been giving me amazing results....I will talk about that first.

So we all know that cinco de Mayo of this year I had my knee surgery.  To make a long story short, I am bone on bone and will need a full knee replacement in the future, but not now.  I had surgery for a torn miniscus and damaged cartlidge.  They pretty much want to do a second surgery where I need an "alignment osteotomy" and where they want to inject new cells to see if I can regrow new cartlidge.  Recovery for that?  about 9 months to a year.  No thank you.  I am JUST recovering from my surgery in May.

You guys know how frustrating it was for me not being able to get to the gym.  After all that hard work.  Losing about 80 lbs and was on my way to more leaness when the knee crap happened.  I probably gained about 10-15 lbs after my surgery.  My recent Vegas pics show that really well.  You can see the difference from last years Vegas pics and this years Vegas pics.

Vegas last year:  July 2010

And Vegas of this year.  July 2011

You can clearly see the difference.  ESPECIALLY in my midsection and I wish my legs would have shown in the second bikini pic, but it was HORRENDOUS.  They were all squishy and with no muscle tone.  About 4-5 months prior to surgery I didn't do any lower body workouts except the spin class I taught once a week but even in my class I didn't use much resistance.  It was hell!  Then after surgery of course I didn't do much except go to physical therapy and try to heal as fast as I could so that I can hit it hard in the gym again.  You can tell that I lost a lot of the muscle tone in my arms and my face looks "fuller" as well.  10-15 pounds does make a big difference.  I had the "squishy" look that I dreaded.  Well, my knee isn't 100% but I am able to do lower body that I couldn't do before.

Let's track back 2 years ago when I was about 80-85 lbs heavier.  My next blog I will show from where I started (yes the mortifying fat pics) and to where I'm at now.  WHen I first started I started with the group fitness classes.  I had to start somewhere right?  For about 6 months I did nothing but these classes and then some of my own cardio and weight lifting.  I was in the gym 6 times a week.  It was spin class after body pump after bodycombat after more bodypump then the elliptical then hitting the free weights (yes the dumbells).  I was at the gym sometimes 2 1/2-3 hours a day.  Yes I lost weight but to be honest I was only becoming a smaller version of my fat self.  I had no definition.  Yes I was getting smaller, but that wasn't the look I wanted.  I wanted the vascularity, the muscles popping.  One of my favorite female fitness model is Jamie Eason.  This is what she looks like.  I love her physique.  Not only is she beautiful on the outside, she is the most humble, sincere, and kind individuals I have ever met.  She is also a woman of faith and NOT ashamed to tell everyone that.

Jamie's physique is one I want to hopefully achieve or pretty well come damn close to it.

What I realized is that I was wasting my time doing too much cardio.  You may beg to differ and I've already gotten a lot of crap from people who tell me that I'm wrong.  I'm not saying that my methods of training will work for you or anyone else.  But this is MY body and this is what is working for me.  From doing cardio 5-6 times a week I now only do "cardio" once a week and that is when I teach my spin class on tues nights.  You will never see me on another cardio machine (unless I'm warming up for 5-10 min) or another cardio class unless I'm doing it just for fun (like I really miss the Kangoo Jumps class I used to take--because it really is a fun class).  That's another thing....if you are smiling and having "fun" then you're not doing it right.  You want real results?  The workouts you do then should want to make you cry.  Go hard or go home!  ANyway, Ill get more on that later.

WHat I really wanted was a TRANSFORMATION.  Not just a smaller version of my fat self.  The group fitness excersice classes were great and yes i was losing weight, but then I stalled.  I wasn't getting the results I wanted.  That's when I met Jason.  The man you guys know I refer to as Satan.  That man has changed my life.  He wasn't your typical personal trainer who just followed you around the gym with a clipboard checking your form and telling you which workouts to do (ok, well yeah he did those things too, but stay with me here, lol).  I've worked with LOTS of trainers before.  But never one like Jason.  In part 2 of this blog I'll go more into detail about the workouts and how it's changed my life but let me just conclude this blog by saying this:
You can do all the cardio till you are blue in the face and do all the group fitness classes till you're laying in your own puddle of sweat.  But that is NOT going to do it for you.  I know this from personal experience but also my circle of friends and family in my life who has done the same things I have, but then with one little change...has changed not only their physique, but the saying...LESS IS MORE really did apply.  Hell, I'm a group fitness instructor myself.  I am in NO WAY bashing group fitness classes.  They are a GREAT addition.  But those alone is not gonna do it for you if you want to change your body.  Yes, you will lose weight and be healthier, but if you want a true transformation and change your physique.....you need to incorporate LESS cardio and more strength training.  And No bodypump does NOT count.  I am probably back to my Vegas weight of last year if not more leaner.  I think that was when I was in the best shape of my life.  The vascularity in my arms are finally starting to slowly pop through which I NEVER had.  =)
Before you send hate mail and disagree with me, let me finish this series first.  Part 2 coming tomorrow or within the week when I have time to write again.  =)  Until then.....happy training everyone!!!!!