Alternating Limb Exercises Worth the Time - Who Knew??

You're going to have to forgive me for my lack of technical terminology on this one...I'm not sure what it's TECHNICALLY called when you do an exercise that involves one limb and then the other except that when they're listed on a workout sheet, they're called one-arm...or one-legged...so wouldn't alternating limbed make sense?

It did in my head, but then again, I am pregnant so I swear that my brain is getting sucked out a little bit more every week.

Normally when I write anything regarding a workout, I call my husband in and go through the motion of the exercise saying, "What is this called again, honey?"

To which I receive an eye roll and a correct, technical answer.

But alas, he's at work and you are stuck with me and my own terminology...which you're probably just fine with since you've stuck with me this long and you know I'm not one of those trainer-people...I'm just a mama who likes to workout.

So anyway, back to my point...I have an hour in the gym and normally try to squeeze some form of cardio and weights into that time period.  Now, I have used this excuse of crunched time to avoid any exercise that calls for one-limb to be used at a time because I know you then have to workout the other limb next and it takes DOUBLE the time than if you would have just done both things together.  At the same time, I have mumbled and grumbled about my biceps, quads and calves especially, criticizing them for their lack of focus and definition.  Well, because it couldn't be my fault.  ha!

I started following a couple programs that called for lunges - really the single exercise I had been avoiding like the plague because they really "take a long time" - and I began to notice an immediate difference in not only my quads but also my rear-end jiggle.  Thinking that perhaps there was a trend to the idea, I began adding in one-armed bicep curls, single-leg calf raises, one-armed rows  and single-leg extensions on the machine.  Eureka!  Progress, finally!

Now, the key also was within the fact that I was using a weight that challenged me - meaning that I really couldn't get more than 10-12 reps if I wanted to - and that I kept moving onto a different exercise immediately afterwards.  Because I like to super-set my workouts, I began mixing up my single-limbed exercises with regular lifts.  So Biceps and Triceps would look something like this:

1-arm DB bicep curls alternated with

Tricep rope push down

Barbell curls alternated with

One-arm tricep extensions

Alternating DB hammer curls alternated with

Tricep bench dips

Mixing the exercises up like this eliminates much need to take a break and also gives the other body part an active rest - which also burns more calories in my short time span.  Oh, and speaking of time span, my workouts now take me no more time than the old ones...I was just being a Negative Nelly and avoiding harder movements, which also provided more results (go figure).

This would be so easy to apply at home - as you can do lunges anywhere or single-legged calf raises off the floor or front stoop, or (if you're up for the physcial challenge) even one-arm push ups (yikes!).  When I was younger, my mom and I would walk on the track at the high school and would finish doing walking lunges from one end of the track to the other.  We were very anti-rear-end jiggle back then.

Good luck!

My husband's thoughts: What's your excuse?

I committed a few weeks ago to write a couple of posts dealing with common excuses given to not train or to not follow a sound nutrition plan.  Today I will post some of my thoughts on training excuses and hopefully can offer up some tips, motivation, and action steps to help in overcoming this obstacle.  I will apologize in advance to anyone who gets uncomfortable reading some of my thoughts on this subject of excuses. This is only my opinion, based solely on my experience as a fitness enthusiast, athlete, teacher, trainer, and coach.    

The most common excuse a person will give to not start or stick to a structured exercise plan always sounds something like this:

“I would like to exercise but I am too busy because…:”

“My schedule just does not allow me to workout because…”

“With my family and work responsibilities I don’t have time to...”

Or it some variation of this type of physical limitation excuse:

“I would like to workout but I have a bad (knee, back, foot, shoulder)..”

“I just had surgery to repair…”

“I would love to train but I have a heart issue or I am a diabetic...”

“I have shin splints…”

“I am pregnant or I just had a baby…” etc, etc.

Please let me share with you my common responses to the above excuses:

• The person running beside me on the treadmill at 5:15 a.m. on Monday morning is busier then you are.

• The mom with 3 young kids finishing up a Cross-Fit Class at 10:30 a.m. has more going on her life than you do.
• The successful businessman on set 5 of an intense squat workout at 7:00 p.m. has the same life responsibilities as you.
• The diabetic walking out of the gym at 7:00 a.m. after a hard interval cardio session had worse blood sugar issues than you 1 year ago (but is now completely off of insulin).
• The 40-year-old woman in the locker room doing a little happy dance because she just fit into her skinny jeans had worse knees than you before her total knee replacement 2 years ago.
• The recent retiree that just started training 6 months ago and is now planning on running a 10K this summer had worse heart problems than you do.

And the list could go on and on….

Here is the deal – I think everyone will admit that physical training is good for us all and should be part of our life schedule.  The difference between the people that do train and the people that don’t is a simple perspective shift around the “rule” that says – physical training is beneficial to me and should be an integral part of my day. 

My old college wrestling coach, the very respected, Dr Vince Monseau, once told me that people that make excuses always believe that they are or should be exceptions to rules.  He said that people who don’t make excuses usually believe that "rules" apply to them.  If you are someone that uses the not exercising excuses listed above – I would challenge you to change your perspective.

The fact is that all of us should have time to train; it all becomes a matter of priority.  The only difference between consistent trainers and non-trainers is the priority given to the activity TIME, not necessarily the activity (or task) itself. 

For those of you with “no time” for exercise, try this homework assignment for two-days this week:  Make the effort to record your activity (total activity) for a complete 24 hours.  The more detailed your documentation, the better.  This will take some effort, but what I guarantee you will see is how much time is wasted each day.  I documented my day on Friday as a reference.

4:05 –Wake up

4:10 -4:25 – Get dressed / coffee on couch while watching news / bathroom break

4:30 -5:10 – Drive  to YMCA

5:15-6:30 – Workout

6:30-7:00 – Shower / shave / dress

7:00-7:05 – Drive to office / Call Annie

7:10-7:30 – Make shake / start computer / check email / update job list

7:30-8:30 – Conference call

8:30 –:900 –Nashville unit meeting

9:00-10:00 – Phone calls / client proposal

10:00-10:15 – Check wrestling sites / protein shake

10:15-11:00 - Internal interview

11:00-11:20 – Drive to client lunch

11:30-12:30 – Client lunch

12:30-1:00 -Drive back to office / get gas

1:00-1:25 – Client contract agreement

1:30-2:15 – Cold calls

2:15-2:50 – reply emails / finish SOW / finish contract

2:55-3:15 – Drive to client Happy hour

3:15-5:00 – Happy hour

5:10-6:45 – Drive home (Friday traffic)

7:00-7:30 – Dinner with girls

7:30- 8:15 – Baths / read books / put girls to bed

8:15-9:15 – Watch TV/ talk with Annie

9:20 – Asleep

You have to be honest with this exercise or it serves no purpose. You can't list, cook dinner from 5-6 when you actually had hot dogs and chips and spent most of that hour looking at Facebook on your iphone from the kitchen. You have to be detailed and specific.  This activity will help identify time wasting activities and will help you identify areas to be more efficient. 

Consistent gym goers will have the same requirements on their time as non-gym goers, but will prioritize their time in a way that they will be able to get their activities done in shorter amount of time.  This does not happen easily or without meticulous planning.  Step one in this process is “setting in stone” your workout time for the week.  I would challenge everyone reading this blog to post your workout schedule in the comment section or on Annie’s Facebook site for this blog. It will help for accountability and could be a fun assignment to track.

For those of you who often use a physical limitation excuse to not train –I would offer you this thought.  If you were to stop at any local gym, you would find someone who has had, or is currently battling the same physical issue as you.  It is what I love about training in a public facility.

At every gym you will find people that inspire you, people that have the same lifestyle, body, body goals, and limitations as you.  Where else on earth can you find that?  Training is motivating and being around people with common lifestyles, issues, and goals is incredibly motivating and rewarding. This week – leave the excuses at home, set your schedule, get to the gym, and have some fun. 

My Husband's Thoughts: Effort and Excuses, Part 1

It's amazing how life works sometimes.  Between Annie's blog, my new circle of contacts, and my ever-changing lifestyle/fitness/training schedule, I've been fielding more questions about weight training, nutrition, and body modification than I have since I left the coaching profession.  

Many of the questions I've been hearing regularly revolve around "secrets" to losing weight, getting in shape, winning championships or modifying some negative habit in a current lifestyle.  I'd like to start a short series in my rant corner, wrapping up the excuses series Annie started in January.  

For anyone with any interest in getting in shape, one key acknowledgment must be made. This acknowledgment will be the jumping-off point for all efforts and will also be the main cause for any excuses as well.

Here's the acknowledgement:  The human body is designed and has evolved to be a mechanism for physical work.  My Gardner-Webb wrestlers will remember one of my more readily-used statements to them regarding this... that man was designed to walk 50 miles a day and kill saber tooth tigers. 

So what does this mean for human beings living and functioning in 2011?  

We live in a time where 99% of us eat way too much and do way too little.  This is the main reason why most people fail at their long-term fitness goals.  People will start an exercise program and question why 45 minutes of general movement does not result in abdominal muscles resembling our caveman ancestors.  

There are many of us with desk jobs or careers that don't require any physical activity.  Without a committed workout regiment, we may find ourselves in a bad situation where our work and life-related daily energy expenditure is not much higher than the energy expenditure required to do normal body functions, such as breathing, digestion, making your heart beat and a few other very rudimentary, but essential things.  

On the other side of the coin are the people in 2011 who lead active to very active professional lives.  This group of people are in jobs that require manual labor - constant walking or physical activity.  Many take for granted that we are in a better situation than some of our peers who have to sit at desks all day.  The cruel irony is that those of us who do lead pretty physical work lives are really not much better off than someone sitting at a desk all day, if that's all the activity that we do.  

Please refer back to acknowledgment 1:  the human body is designed to walk 50 miles a day and kill saber tooth tigers.

One very common excuse from people who lead relatively active careers is that, "I'm active all day.  When I get home, I'm tired and I don't feel like working out."  Unfortunately for this group, your daily energy expenditure is not much higher than the group that sat at the desk all day.

Why?  Because all you're doing is living slightly closer to our cornerstone acknowledgement:  that we were created to perform physical work.

The greatest thing about the human body is it's ability to adapt to stressors.  So if you're in an activity or a career where you do basically the same thing day after day, you are forcing no subsequent changes to your body.  Your baseline ends up being about the same as someone who's body is used to sitting around.  And this is the reason why calculating daily calorie expenditures for a given population is not that hard to do, based on statistics.  The difference in energy usage between someone (of the same age and gender) who sits at a desk all day, someone that lays block for a living, or someone that runs a household  is not very different.  The difference is probably only 10-12 percent.  

So the answer in 2011 is physical training. 

If you want to be fit today, regardless of definition, training is essential.  There are no secrets.  In my specific case, I consider training and time with my family to be on the same level.  In a perfect world, quantity of time is almost always better than quality of time.  I would much rather spend every day with my children than one day a week of "quality time."  Likewise, you will do better working out every day than having one super workout a week.  There is no secret.  There's no special exercise.  There's no special food sequence or supplement that will short-cut what our bodies were designed to do.  

Over the next couple weeks, I'm going to address two other main excuses to lack of training:  "No time" and "My genetics."  If you're motivated this week, my recommendation for a weekly challenge is to work out every day.  7 straight days...Monday to Monday.  Train this week with a purpose...like you were created to do it. 

My husband's thoughts: Excuse 16

Our actual excuse today:  We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and the NFL Playoffs are on...

We decided this morning to use a gift certificate for CB that my mom gave to Annie for her birthday this past week.  We rarely eat out as a family and Annie thought it would be a nice (ha) adventure. We made it to the restaurant by 8:30 and here is a quick ranking of our breakfast choices by Shipman family member (listed best to worst).

1- Annie - She won her internal fight against the Apple Struessal French Toast and went with the very sensible egg sandwich (with tomoto), baked apples, water and coffee.  She has been working very hard at regaining her pre-baby body and she showed great dedication this morning.

2- Rachel - A close second to Annie with 1 scrambled egg and a sampling of a biscuit.  She did receive the Messiest Diner in the Place Award though, and we apologized to the wait staff on the way out.

3- Elizabeth - 2 eggs and a biscuit (initially) -which would have gained her second place until she stuffed entire second biscuit in her mouth while we were attempting to get Rachel's jacket on before leaving.

4 (Dead Last)- Me - I went with the Old Timers Breakfast, and for those of you who do not eat at CB, here is a summary:  3 eggs (over easy), fried sirloin steak (I usually go with pork chops here, but today, I felt like beef), potato casserole, 3 biscuits and gravy, baked apples, and because I needed to a vegetable - a large tomato juice. Conservatively, a 1200 calorie breakfast for me (who is also trying to drop a few pounds).

We then took our traveling circus to Publix, through the car wash, and finally returned home around 11:45. Annie got the girls down for naps and I made two trips to the dump before returning home to get a little work done on the computer.  Once the games started - my workout motivation was gone until our afternoon coffee.  I made the decision to hit the garage for this at-home, fast paced, leg workout.  I was able to get back in before the end of the first quarter of the Pats and Jets.

Warm up - Jump rope - 5 x 1 min go's with 30 sec break between sets.
Chair Lunge (back leg balanced on chair or stool) - 3 x 15 each leg with 30 sec break between sets.
One Leg RDL - 3 x 12 each leg with 30sec break between sets.
DB Front squat (lt db on shoulders) -3 x 15 with a 30sec break between sets.
Split squat leap - 3 x 8 each leg with 30 sec break.  For beginners substitute squat jumps here (3 x 5)
Cool down - Jump rope 5 x 1 min go's with 30 sec break.

All you'll need is some light dumbbells, jump rope, and about 30 minutes.  Substitute calisthenics for jump roping if you want.  Thanks to this workout I was probably able to work off 30% of the calories I ate at breakfast!