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Coming soon! Resistance band mania, a new fitness tracker and more!
So this is what normal shoes feel like to me now, and I can't believe I used to train in anything other than bare feet or Vibrams. It's not just about my vastly improved agility- my ankles, feet and calves are much stronger now as a result. I cannot praise the Vibrams enough for this.
I love martial arts, and training barefoot or with Vibrams seems to be the only way to go in order to achieve optimal agility, flexibility, balance and strength. I recently came up with a mixed martial arts (MMA) inspired circuit workout that turned out to be one of my most fun workouts ever. Enjoy! And stay tuned- I'm traveling abroad soon and will be posting some equipment-less circuit workouts as I train.
MMA Bootcamp Circuit
Components: 5 intervals consisting of 4 exercises each
Equipment: 20 lb sandbag used for weights (dumbbells could be substituted); pullup bar; suspension trainer set with handles about 1 foot off the ground; stability ball
Repetitions: Each exercise is repeated for maximum repetitions in one minute; each interval is repeated twice
Structure: I set my kickass Gymboss Max timer for 10 rounds of 1 minute with 10 seconds setup time between exercises x 4 + 30 seconds rest, as follows:
01:00 x 4
00:10 x R
00:20 x 1
Repeat cycle 10 x
Warmup
Interval #1
Bonus: open sandbag swing (similar to Bulgarian bag swing) x 10 to each side
Cool Down and Stretch
To celebrate the purchase of my Gymboss Max Timer, which I love dearly and you can read all about in my review, of course today I did a workout that did not require a timer. Why, you may ask? Because I'm a rebel, that's why. I love walking around in my Vibrams, attracting the ubiquitous, "What a freak" eyebrow raises from passerbys, I love eating like a cavewoman when everyone is endorsing whole grains, and dammit, I like doing an untimed circuit workout a week after I buy a brand spanking new timer that has every feature I've ever dreamed of.
Today's workout was a marathon by my wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am workout standards. There's nothing very creative in this workout, but it felt nice to change up the style. I tried to perform all the repetitions without breaks, but of course by the second time through the circuit, I had to take some breaks for some of them.
Rep Challenge 1
Components: Circuit of 22 exercises performed for repetitions, then repeated
Equipment: 20 lb sandbag, stabilility ball, suspension trainer, pullup bar
Repetitions: Each exercise has a specific number of repetitions; circuit is then repeated
Structure: Just do all the reps 
1. 20 lunge power ups on each leg
2. 30 stability ball pelvic bridges
3. 10 wide arm pullups
4. 20 side plank oblique crunches with stability ball on each side
5. 20 frog half burpees
6. 30 sandbag swings
7. 10 sets of 4 mountain climbers + 4 pushups
8. 10 chinups
9. 1 minute forearm plank
10. 20 jump kicks on each leg
11. 20 sandbag curtsy squats on each leg
12. 20 spider pushups alternating
13. 20 straight-legged hanging leg lifts
14. 50 alternating plyometric jump lunges
15. 20 alternating one-legged squats
16. 20 triceps pushups
17. 20 suspended triceps dips
18. 20 suspended plank presses
19. 20 log jumps
20. 20 suspended lunges on each leg
21. 20 alternating pushups to side planks
22. 4 sets of 4 suspension plank tucks and 1 suspension pike
The verdict? It was nice to change things up, and I ended up doing more repetitions than I normally do when I'm timed. Still, without the timer, I found myself going a little more slowly. It took me just over an hour to do the whole circuit twice. But I felt nice and teetery at the end. I was pretty happy that I split up the pullups and chinups, because normally I do them in the same interval, and this meant that I could do way more repetitions. I'm up to 9 pullups without a break now, and I pulled off 6 chinups in a row easily with the break in between. Pullup count: 20. Chinup count: 20. Pushup count for this workout: 200 even, not counting the burpees, pikes and planks.
Let's face it, one of the great benefits of working out is the aesthetic outcomes. Of course, all of us have different ideas of what constitutes desirable aesthetic outcomes. Many women I talk to aim for "slim" and "lean," but even that terminology is quite subjective; I would consider myself "slim" and "lean," but I have seen women with my physique called too muscular.
What most people seem to agree on is that there are certain characteristics to be avoided. In general, visible signs of exertion are considered unattractive on a woman. Here's a partial list of visible workout signs that I've seen women go out of their way to avoid: sweat, veins, the ever-dreaded "bulk" a.k.a. significant muscle mass and/or definition, callouses, bruises and strange tan lines from working out outside.
I'm not going to be hypocritical and say that critics be damned. I enjoy having a healthy and lean physique that fits into societally accepted standards of attractiveness. But, I also enjoy having visible signs that actually show that I work at it. I enjoy having callouses on my hands: they remind me that my hands take some abuse and I would be able to handle physical labor without blistering. I don't mind getting bruised once in a while: it reminds me that I actually move around enough to get bruised. I get a kick out of the callouses on my feet from working out barefoot or in my Vibrams: they remind me of how much jumping and kicking and running I do on them. These physical manifestations of my hard work are just as important to me as the outcomes because they remind me of the amazing feats of which my body is capable, not just the way I look from doing them regularly.
So keep your gloves, your shoes, your manicures and pedicures, your prescription antiperspirants and your tanning beds. My body's not perfect, but it sure as hell is beautiful in its power and functionality.
Speaking of appearances, here are some newer pictures of my progression with ketogenic eating and my circuit training routine. Since my last pictures, I've dropped a jean size. I took these in my full sweaty glory after today's workout. Again, I used my cellphone camera, so I apologize for the weird coloration and angles.
Here's a workout resource that you probably haven't tapped: there are literally millions of sets from DJs all over the world in any electronic music genre you can imagine, at any BPM that you need for your workouts, available for free download.
I am a huge electronic music fan and have been for at least 10 years, making my way through the ranks of break beats, trance, dance, hard dance, hardcore, electro, electro house, techno and minimal techno. Since electronic music is very much about the live music scene and less about a particular popular track, DJs release their live or studio mixes online for free, which means that there is a neverending supply of 1-3 hour mixes containing the latest and freshest tracks available for free. Electronic music is designed to motivate you to move your body- what better workout music is there?
It is a common perception that electronic music consists entirely of repetitive euro dance or house remixes of popular songs. This is incredibly far from the truth, but it does take time to develop taste in/tolerance for some of the less accessible electronic music genres. Here are some recommendations that I have for you to get started on using electronic music for your workouts.
Weekly Shows
1. House/Trance: Judge Jules' Weekly BBC Radio 1 Radio Show, which starts with slightly more mellow house and electro house and builds to trance music. Judge Jules plays the newest and most popular electronic music tracks and will expose you to a variety of genres and artists- plus he has a great personality that makes the show fun to listen to. A new 2-hour episode streams from the U.K. at the BBC website every Friday (and you can listen live from 6-8 p.m. E.S.T.). You can also download the show for free from various websites, including All DJ.
2. Progressive/Trance: Markus Schulz's Global DJ Broadcast World Tour, which starts with progressive and develops into trance and tech-trance. Markus releases new Global DJ Broadcasts every week, but on the first Thursday of every month, he streams a recent live set from one of his tours. His live sets are much more energetic and interesting than the studio sets, so I'd highly recommend you try one of those first. GDJBC broadcasts live every Thursday at 12 p.m. on DI.FM and can be downloaded from All DJ.
Sets
3. House: Laidback Luke's 2011 Essential Mix. Essential Mix is another BBC Radio 1 show that broadcasts weekly on Friday nights, but it's hit or miss. Some of the artists are much more obscure and play less workout-appropriate music. Laidback Luke is a popular electro house DJ who released an absolutely killer mix earlier this year. I used it for workouts for several weeks. It's a slower BPM than trance but I think it's more accessible to people who are not familiar with electronic music. This set just compels you to get up and move! You can download it from House Planet DJ.
That should be plenty of food for your ears. If you'd like more recommendations, leave a comment and I will reply or possibly write another post with more recommendations
Don’t worry, I’ll get around to explaining what the heck my exercise names mean. I got feedback from someone the other day who said that he had no idea what half of the exercises were.
But for now, the much-anticipated nutritional update: the method to my madness, cyclical ketosis, a.k.a. the cheat day strategy.
It goes like this. During the week, I eat a very low carbohydrate diet as described in my previous entries. I train hard 6 days a week. Then, on the weekends, I have a cheat period that comes in one of two forms:
Option 1: The “I’m a Serious Exerciser with a Grave Interest in my Glycogen Levels” Carb Up
If I'm seriously carbing up as per Lyle McDonald's The Ketogenic Diet (highly recommended reading), I do a 24 hour carb up with the recommended carbohydrate intake (in the range of 400-800 for most folks- yes, that much).
I start with simple carbohydrates taken immediately after my last workout of the week, which is usually a doozy (also as recommended by Lyle). Then, I slowly taper to more complex carbohydrates throughout the 24 hours. I use the glycemic index of foods as a guideline. Lyle recommends a 48 hour carb up but I have not found that to be necessary because I'm not very concerned about the rate of my muscle gains. The 24 hour carb up seems sufficient to replenish the glycogen stores in my muscles, and it significantly accelerates my performance throughout the week.
When do I do this? When I feel like it. Or when I have the urge to perform at a particularly high level the following week.
Option 2: The “I Just Want a Damn Slice of Cheesecake” Carb Up
I allow myself 1-3 cheat meals containing whatever I want. And by whatever I want, I mean whatever I want. I polished off an entire tub of movie popcorn a few weeks ago, and then had a huge slice of cheesecake with ice cream later. The only limitation is that I eat discrete meals- no nibbling or snacking throughout the day. If I can’t finish it in one sitting, it goes in the trash (or the freezer for next week).
How, you may ask, does this do me any good?
Well, I’ll tell you what it hasn’t done:
And here are the benefits: