Get out of your comfort zone

I know I just wrote a post a couple of hours ago but I had a fabulous workout today and I wanted to write about it.

Today, I got out of my comfort zone. So often I find myself getting used to one thing or another and/or I might enjoy it so much that I don't like to change it. Unfortunately, for our body to change, we need to shock it. And that means, changing things up now and then. I typically try to do this every 4 weeks.

Our bodies are incredibly efficient. I've read tons of literature about this. To put it into perspective I'll use running as an example (shocking, I know). Basically, if you run at the same level of difficulty day after day, your body becomes extremely efficient as it adapts. Eventually your metabolism will slow allowing your body to store more fat. When it's easy for you to run your miles, you'll burn fewer calories and lose less weight. And this is why I don't use running as a fat loss tool. Of course if you are an endurance athlete, your goal is to be efficient like that. However, if you are looking to lose fat, this is not the way to do it. Also, while it is good exercise for the heart, again, you are essentially only training your heart to be efficient at that one level of intensity. This is why I like to do intervals because I'm getting my heart rate up to the max instead of one comfortable level.

THE FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/The-Myth-of-the-Fat-burning-Zone.htm
" Myth - "If you want to lose a few pounds you need to do long, slow, steady-state aerobic exercise in the fat burning zone."

Heard this advice before? It's one of the biggest misconceptions in the exercise and weight-loss world. If long, slow, steady-state aerobics was the key to fat loss every person who crosses the finish line of a marathon or Ironman would have very low body fat. "

Here is another BRILLIANT piece you should read on the subject http://www.truthaboutabs.com/cardio-article.html     (I have this book too - a great read)

So, back to today's workout:
I've been known to do just one heavy set to failure, or 3 sets with medium to heavy weight and sometimes I incorporate supersets and metabolic circuits. But I never have taken sets above 4 (other than that 6 week stint of metabolic circuit training - but that was light weight, just fast paced). This time, I did 5 sets. And I used the pyramid method. I started at a pretty light weight in a higher rep range and move up in weight, down in reps for each set. Here's the cool part: when you have exhausted those legs at the highest amount of weight for 6 reps and think you can't do anymore, go down in weight a bit (not all the way - just a bit) and hit it again for 12 reps. In your mind you can't imagine doing another 12 reps but just lowering that weight a little makes it feel feather light and you've suddenly got the will to go for 12 more! It surprised me - and I love that! So of course I had to share.

I was able to get my legs done today despite my back without it affecting my form at all. In fact, I didn't notice it at all until I did crunches, but I'd say it's 95% back to normal. Yay!

I was happy to get out of my comfort zone today. You know, speaking of that, you can apply that to any type of training you do. For example, I have a friend who loves to run. She has done quite a few half marathons and this year, she decided to get out of her comfort zone and do the full marathon. If you are a fan of running, you should check out her blog (on my side bar) Runnergirl. And Carmen, if you read this, I just had a thought, I hope I don't ever offend you with all my anti-cardio blabbering! I respect you as a friend, fellow stay-at-home-mother, and fitness fanatic. And I am totally proud of you for having the guts and determination to train hard and run that distance, especially with 3 little ones. I'm not really anti-cardio,  I'm just anti-tons of it daily ;) And please, all you devoted runners out there, don't take my opinions too personally. I'm sure there are plenty of you who run simply for the enjoyment of it, just like my fabulous friend. I run for enjoyment too, but it's probably on a much smaller scale, 30-45 minutes, after that, it's no longer fun for me. Not everyone is as obsessed with losing fat. There are many days when I wish it wasn't so important to me. But the fact is, it is important to me right now, and so I am devoted to finding the best ways to get the fat off and journaling my own findings. So far my findings are simply that HIIT + weight training = fat loss success. And if I can help just one person in their own personal fat loss journey, I would die happy =)

So anyway, there you have it. Have you gotten out of your comfort zone lately?