GRRRRRREAT!

To quote Tony the Tiger. Lame. I know.

I was just shocked into reality today when I discovered that Hard Charge is in 10 days. TEN DAYS!!!! Not comfortably 3 months away like it seemed it just was. That wasn't the worst of it though. The worst of it was realizing the last time I actually....ran. Or rather, not realizing, because I can't remember.

I kept telling myself, I'll start running next week. But "next week" never happened. I was enjoying Dance Fit far too much to be bothered with running (eck!). I honestly think the last time I ran was when I did the 5k in the beginning of April.

And it's not just that I haven't been running. I haven't been lifting either. I had planned on really working towards better upper body strength to get me through the obstacles easier. Yeah. That didn't happen.

But, it doesn't matter. My teammates and I are not in it for any kind of seriousness whatsoever. We aren't racing for bragging rights. There are specific heats they call "glory heats" and heats called "fun heats". Glory heats have the competitors who are racing to win. We are in the fun heat. To go at our own pace and get some free beer at the end :)

So, with the bonus of knowing it really doesn't matter how long it takes us to get through the course, I've taken my training to a new level of lax.

Right now I'm drinking water and preparing myself for a little treadmill workout. Not traditional "cardio", but a nice sweaty HIIT session. Partly because I had a big bowl of fattening pasta at my favorite Italian restaurant for dinner last night, and partly because I haven't had a workout since last Saturday. (wow)

And speaking of the word...cardio...I read a good article on Bodybuilding.com about it. It was good in the way it neither praised nor bashed this form of fitness, but rather gave good insight about what it really does for you and how you should approach it depending on your goals.

For obvious reasons, if your goal is to be a better distance runner, and you have the time to do it, you can do steady state cardio. However, if that isn't your goal, and you don't particularly enjoy all the endless running, you may be wasting upwards of 5 hours of your life each week. Because your little device telling you that you just burned 1000 calories running for an hour and a half isn't telling you that: A) it doesn't raise metabolism, B) it doesn't put you in a "fat burning zone", and C) it's not the most efficient way to train for fat loss or athleticism.

"If you're endurance training because you think it's the best way to burn calories...you're wrong." So what should you do? Focus on weight training and HIIT to get lean.

Another thing that is really helpful in trying to decide if you should run or not at the gym is......do you like to run? I know, obvious, right? But if you don't like to do it, don't do it! There's no need to! Do what you like. Avid runners run because they like it! Weight lifters lift because they like it! Spinners spin because they like it! I think Dance Fit is fun, therefore I do it. I enjoy it. I can burn calories and get in an hour long workout that doesn't feel like torture.

"Don't hate people for following their passion. Just follow yours." - great quote!

So there you have it. The type of workout you should be doing depends on your goals and what you like. Easy peasy.

Article from Bodybuilding.com written by Jon-Erik Kawamoto, CSCS, CEP