Tag: fitness blog

HIIT IT- Memorial Day Style

LifeOfCarlyBLeave a comment

Who’s got big Memorial Day Weekend plans? Many of you I’m sure. Who wants to get their sweat on before or after (or both) they attend all their parties, etc?!

No fear, I’ve got your back.

Test this MDW (Memorial Day Weekend) workout on for size:

-8 exercises X 8 reps each (AND EACH SIDE) X 8 rounds and DONE!

All you need is ONE weight

Exercises:

Snatch burpee

Side lunge high pull

Double jack

Ground to ceiling squat press

Lunge to curl

Around the world

Plank drag rows

Alternating v-ups

 

You are racing against the clock – let me know how you do! Or find me on Instagram @lifeofcarlyb_ and let me know how you do!

When it Comes to Exercise, Sometimes Less Is More

LifeOfCarlyBLeave a comment

How many of you…

have wanted quick progress in the gym or push past a plateau? How many of you adopted the mentality that in order to do that, then more was MORE? In other words, the more I workout, the quicker I will get to my goals, because afterall a calorie deficit is what I’m aiming for right? You’ve worked yourself day in and day out, not missing a workout, restricting your calories, and so on. And you get to a point where you are now just so fatigued all the time that you don’t even want to work out, but you do it anyway because that is what is pushing you towards your goals? Maybe you’re not even sure if you’re exercising right – you’re working the same muscle groups each day, you’re always sore, but you don’t know if its right or wrong, but it doesn’t matter because your FitBit tells you that you just burned 800 calories in 2 hours – SCORE! So you develop this relationship with the gym that is nothing short of an obsession.

I’m sure some of you have been there, I have.

But what if I told you that less is more?

That you don’t have to workout 7 days a week, sometimes 2 times a day, and restrict your calories and feel so fatigued you could fall of the treadmill? Maybe you’re not quite that obsessed with the gym, but you still can’t go a day without skipping the gym without feeling guilty. But what if LESS was MORE?

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Let’s start here.

Do you know what happens to your body, specifically your muscles when you workout? Let me tell you what most people say to this answer – my body is getting stronger! I’m building my muscles! WRONG. When you exercise you are literally tearing your muscle fibers apart. The growth happens in the rest period. So no, you aren’t getting stronger when you are working out, when you’re curling 50’s and squatting 200’s. No, you are setting your muscles up to get stronger while you are resting. The workout is like the pre-game. The fun stuff, the magic happens AFTER you leave the gym.

When it comes to muscle fiber repair, one of two things can happen leading up to this.

A) You aren’t overloading your muscles enough to break down the muscle fibers enough to a point where they have to be repaired during the rest before. Thus starting a repeating cycle of working your muscles to an almost pointless effort. If you’re not setting them up to repair and get stronger, you are essential wasting your time (Cue encouraging words to start lifting HEAVIER! You will NOT get bulky)

B) You overload too much to a point where your muscles can’t sufficiently repair themselves in the rest period. This can happen from lifting too much weight, but it likely going to be cause from lifting too much weight too frequently (Cue talk on overtraining).

The phenomenon of OverTraining. 

Overtraining occurs when you push your body too hard and pass the point that your body is able to recover from. To improve you must overload the muscles and then allow adequate time for recovery and growth by resting. Overtraining occurs when either the overload is too high, or the rest period (recovery time) is too low.

Overtraining in the form of too much intensity on a constant basis, in the form of working out for hours on end, in the form of not challenging your muscles enough but still working them too much, in the form of over exercising and under eating will all hinder your results.

Let me show you a real life example.

At the beginning of my fitness journey I would work out for HOURS upon HOURS and be so freaking happy that I burned 700 calories on a total of 3 different cardio machines combined. I didn’t bother to try to educate myself on proper nutrition, I didn’t really care, because I was working out. I mean at this point, I was an 18 year old who just graduated high school – I was naive. BUT this exercise obsession continued into college, trying to beat the Freshman 15. And here, in college, I discovered that 2-a-days were a thing. UM HELL YEAH sign me up?! More exercise, yes please!

So I exercised, and exercised, and exercised. I was doing too much. I thought I was working at high intensities, but now seeing what I CAN do, I realize that it was definitely only moderate intensities – I couldn’t muster up energy for more!

I became “skinny fat”. Where I would hold on to extra body fat, primarily around my stomach, because my body was screaminggggg for proper nutrition and less exericse, but I didn’t know. My arms and legs looked relatively skinny, but my mid section didn’t exactly match up. My body fat was at a solid 23%, which was in normal range so I was happy with it. And so I kept going- working out 7 days a week for probably, oh 10 hours in total or more.

BUT what happened was I started to get educated. I mean I was now in school for Exercise Science & Health Promotion. And I learned the right way to do things, I actually began to love researching articles on those topics in my free time. I was like WOAH.

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(Over-exercising -left VS. Getting it right -right)

So now? Now I exercise 5 days a week and eat more than what I used to – but my body needs it! I’ve figured out how to truly work at my highest intensities. BUT THATS OKAY! Because now I take 2 rest days and I kid you not, I only exercise for a total of 5 hours a week – MAX. Most of my workouts are now between 45 – 55 minutes and IT. IS. GLORIOUS.

And what has happened to my body composition? 8% lower body fat, more muscle, and more personal records. My body is thriving. And it’s because I stopped digging it into a hole I couldn’t get it out of.

(Too much cardio, not enough strength VS. getting it right)

My point is not to brag about what I’ve done, but rather show you that LESS IS MORE when it comes to your exercise, and WHY that is true.

Is it tempting to want to exercise more, to hit the gym after a night of rough eating, even though it isn’t supposed to be on the schedule? Absolutely. Do I sometimes do extra? Sometimes, yes. But I make sure that if I’m doing an extra workout it’s because I want to not because I’m trying to punish myself.

Working out less and eating more [of the right things and right proportions] are the hardest thing to wrap my clients minds around. But it WORKS. Results will 110% not come over night. Hell, you won’t have your “dream body” (whatever the hell that means) in one month. Nope, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And the patience needed for that is something that is LONG GONE in this day in age where we all have access to instant gratification.

But do yourself a favor. Love yourself enough to do things the right way. Eat right, exercise right, and give yourself a solid 6 MONTHS to start seeing the progress you want. Hell, it has taken me FIVE YEARS.

Let that sink in.

For more tips & tricks, or just to have the tea spilled in your inbox weekly, subscribe to my email list! CLICK HERE, new friend 🙂

 

In health,

Carly

Cross-Fit Inspired Weights Workout

LifeOfCarlyBLeave a comment

I bet you can’t get through this without breaking a sweat.

Why would you want to leave the gym fresh anyway?

Set 1: 7 sets

  • Deadlifts X6,4,3,3,3,4,6 reps
  • Increasing weight with decreasing reps. Try to match the same weight you did the first time when you get back to the reps of 4 & 6
  • Last 3 sets: compound with pull ups to failure

Set 2: 3 sets

  • Dumbbell stiff leg deadlift X10
  • Single arm dumbbell alternating snatch X10 total
  • Bodyweight squats X15

Set 3: 3 sets

  • Single arm dumbbell thrusters X8 each
  • Dumbbell or kettlebell swings X8

Set 4: 2 set burnout

  • Heavy med ball over the shoulder tosses to failure
  • TRX pistol squats X8 each
Try it out and throw your results in the comments!

For more workouts follow me on instagram @lifeofcarlyb_

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What kind of stretching should you be doing before and after exercise?

LifeOfCarlyBLeave a comment

Okay don’t worry, THAT ^ is not the stretching I’m talking about 🙂

When it comes to exercise, you’re supposed to stretch right? Did you know that there are proper forms of stretching and right times to do them?

Dynamic Vs. Static Stretching – or Warm up Vs. Cool down

Dynamic:

adj. (of a process or system) characterized by constant change, activity, or progress.

Static:

adj. lacking in movement, action, or change

Think of dynamic as constantly moving and static as not moving at all. Perform a dynamic warm up, like the one seen in the video below is beneficial to warm up your muscles while also lengthening them. Performing static stretches before exercise puts your muscles at risk for injury. It is a lot harder, and a lot less safe to stretch a cool muscle. Muscles stretch best when they are warm, allowing them to lengthen to their maximum ability, and also allow them to recover after the stretch.

For your next workout, try these basic dynamic (warm up) and static (cool down) stretches!

 

Do More With Less. 6 Complex Exercise Workout to Give You More Bang For Your Buck

LifeOfCarlyBLeave a comment

….Because who doesn’t love saving time while doing more.

Your workouts don’t have to include the fanciest, newest, or an extreme amount of exercises. If you focus on complex and compound movements you will be working more muscles in one movement than you could in a few simple movements.

What is a compound movement? An exercise that uses more than one muscle group and also moves more than one joint 

–For example: A squat to press works your shoulders, glutes, quads, hamstrings, and core while working with the shoulder, hip, elbow, and knee joints. W0ah that’s a lot of action in one movement!

If you want to dig deeper than that we can look into the different planes of movements to add a whole new level of intensity!

Sagittal plane: divides the body into left and right halves.

  • Movements done in this plane is the squat because it does not break the plane by moving side to side. Another, more simple exercise in this plane is a bicep curl, again because it does not break the center plane and only moves up and down rather than side to side

Frontal plane: divides the body into front and back halves

  • Movements done in this plane are shoulder presses because the work up and down but not forward and back (unlike the bicep curl) therefore they do not break the plane

Transverse plane: divides the body into top and bottom halves

  • Movement done in this plane is a horizontal woodchop because the movement works across the body and up (breaking both the frontal and sagittal planes) but does not work below the waist therefore not breaking the up and down plane.

All talk of planes can be kind of confusing, but don’t worry I have you covered! The following exercises work in multiple joints, multiple planes and with multiple muscle groups – talk about a full body workout!

So how about you take these 6 exercises for a spin. Attach 8-10 reps per exercise and put a time limit on (15,20,30 minutes) and go to work! The goal is to work efficiently, work hard on the exercise you are working on, take minimal breaks between exercises and save your rest periods for in between rounds and see how many rounds you can do! (Otherwise known as ARMAP).

Video exercises (in order)

Burpee pull up

  • Muscles: chest, triceps, core, lats, traps, shoulders, biceps
  • Joints: shoulder, hips, knees, elbow
  • Planes: transverse, sagittal, frontal

Squat to press:

  • Muscles: shoulders, glutes, quads, hamstrings, core
  • Joint: shoulder, elbow, hip, knee
  • Planes: sagittal and frontal

Chest fly to skullcrusher:

  • Muscles: chest, triceps, shoulders
  • Joints: shoulder, elbow
  • Planes: frontal, sagittal

Double bent over row to deadlift

  • Muscles: traps, lats, biceps, shoulders, low back, glutes, quads, hamstrings
  • Joints: shoulder, elbow, hip, knee
  • Planes: sagittal, frontal, transverse (a mixture really)

TRX lunge to chest fly

  • Muscles: chest, tricep, shoulder, core, quads, glutes
  • Joints: shoulder, hip, knee
  • Planes: transverse, sagittal, frontal

GHD sit up

  • Muscles: core, quads
  • Joints, hip, knee
  • Planes: sagittal, transverse

Weeks to the Beach: Week 3

LifeOfCarlyBLeave a comment

Monday: Memorial Day

Option A (I actually did this on Sunday)

This workout video was posted to my instagram but to have it in writing it looks like:

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) – set your own time limite:

  • 12 heisman each
  • 12 DB deadlift
  • 10 pull ups
  • 10 plank combo
  • 8 DB snatches each
  • 8 stability ball tuck to pike

Not sure what each exercise is? Go to commit_fit_carly on Instagram and find the post from Memorial Day!

 

Option B: Legs + Glutes

5 minute warm up

Set 1

  • Back squat 5X12,10,8,6,4

Set 2

  • Weighted reverse lunge to curtsy lunge 4X5 each leg
  • Weighted calf raise 4X20
  • Incline glute bridge 4X10 each

Set 3

  • Sumo goblet squat to abduction (in the video) 4X10 total
  • KB stiff leg deadlift 4X10

Cardio break (2-3 min or .25 mile)

Set 4

  • Reverse hack squat 4X6
  • Full burpees 4X6

Cardio break (2-3 min or .25 mile)

Set 5: 3 round burnout to finish

  • Birddog X10 each
  • Donkey kick X12 each
  • Hydrant X12 each
  • Weighted glute bridges X15

*Option for back squat: heavy weight dumbbell squats

*Option for reverse hack squat: Heavy weighted dumbbell BOUNCE squat

Tuesday: CARDIO

For me? 5 mile run

Not for you? Try treadmill intervals (refer back to week 1)

Wednesday: Back + Shoulders

Warm up:

  • Lat pull down 3X10
  • Cable lateral raise (LIGHT) 3X8

Set 1

  • Barbell row 4X12,10,8,8
  • Plate bent arm lateral raise (in the video) 4X10

Set 2

  • DB upright row to curl to shoulder press 4X8

Set 3

  • Mid row machine (in video) 4X12,10,8,8
  • Plate front raise 4X10,8,10,12

Set 4

  • Heavy lat pull down 4X6
  • DB lateral raise 4X10

Set 5

  • DB double row 3X8 + One more set at a drop set
  • Shoulder push ups 4X10

Plank finishers! **3 rounds of max hold in seconds**

Notes: bent arm lateral raise needs to be fast up & slow down

Shoulder push ups are also on the Instagram!

This day is a little bit off of what I’ve been trying to do for this programming. More sets and exercises than most days, but it works

Thursday: Orangetheory Fitness

But for real, look at adding this into your routine!

*If no access to Orangetheory, do a 40 minute HIIT*

Friday: Chest + Arms

Warm up 5 minutes

Set 1

  • Bench press 4 X 5,5,4,4 <— Make these HEAVY!
  • DB bicep runner 4X20 (in video)

Set 2: 3 RFT (Rounds For Time) – In video

  • 5 push ups
  • 5 plate sit up press
  • 6 plank tircep kickback each
  • 6 plate russian twist each
  • 7 plank lateral raise each
  • 7 plank glute bridge
  • 8 plank row each
  • 8 plank toe taps

Set 3:

  • DB seasaw chest press 4X8 each arm
  • DB hammer curl 4X8
  • DB overhead tricep extension 4 X8

Burnout finisher- NO REST during transition

  • Chest press X20,15,10
  • Skull crusher X10,8,6

*Use a bar (if no bar use DB’s and perform 20 chest press then 10 skull crushers, back to 15 chest press and 8 skull crusher, then 10 chest press, 6 skull crusher. As little to NO rest as possible)

Cool down 4-5 min

Saturday: Quick HIIT

1 mile warm up

AMRAP 20 minutes: The Magic 8

  • 8 squat curl press
  • 8 tuck jumps
  • 8 full burpees (we all love I know!)
  • 8 crab crunch cross
  • 8 reverse lunge to power up
  • 8 upright row
  • 8 chest press with glute bridge
  • 8 static v-sit hold with front press

*Whole workout is videod*

Weeks to the Beach: Week 1

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A glimpse into my new programming getting ready for Myrtle beach in T-minus 3 weeks

if you have questions, ask!

Monday: LEG DAY

Set 1:

  • Back squat 5 X 12,10,8,6,4
  • Kettlebell full swing 5 X12

Set 2

  • Power clean 4X6
  • Kettlebell front squat 4X12

Set 3

  • Reverse hack squat 5X12,10,8,6,4
  • Box Jumps 5X12

Set 4

  • Split lunge pulse 4X6
  • Weighted calf raise 4X20

Treadmill X10 min

 

Tuesday: Boulder Shoulders

Set 1

  • Smith machine shoulder press 5X12,10,8,6,4
  • Steam engines 5X20

Set 2: 5 rounds for time

  • Pate full front raise X4
  • Burpess X6
  • Lateral raise X8
  • Shuffle tuck jump X10
  • Reverse fly X12
  • Mountain climber twist X14

Set 3:

  • Dumbbell arnold press 4X10
  • BOSU side to side knee tuck 4X12

1/2 mile run

 

Wednesday: Back Attack

1/2 mile warm up

Set 1:

  • Barbell bent over row 5X12,10,8,6,4
  • Plate curl 5X12,10,8,8,8

Set 2:

  • Lat pull down 4X12
  • Kettlebell curl 4X12
  • Cable lat pulls 4X12

Set 3:

  • Man makers 4X5
  • Seated hammer curl 4X6

Set 4:

  • Deadlift 4X8
  • Jumping pull up 4X8

Cardio machine 6 mins

Thursday: Orangetheory Fitness 🙂

If no access to Orangetheory (you unfortunate soul): find 3 running paces or 3 walking inclines on the treadmill and do 3 rounds of the following:

  • Level 1 X1 min
  • Level 2 X1 min
  • Level 3 X1 min
  • Walking recovery x30 sec
  • Level 1 X1 min
  • Level 2 X45 sec
  • Level 3 X45 sec
  • Walking recovery X30 sec
  • Level 1 X2 min
  • Level 2 X30 sec
  • Level 3 X30 sec
  • Walking recovery X1min

Friday: Cardio

  • 3 mile run
  • Plank work X 5 min- be creative here!

Saturday: Chest and triiiiis (+Deadlift)

.5 mile run

  • Deadlift 6X5,5,3,3,2,1
  • Military (tricep) push up 6X5

.5 mile run

  • TRX chest press 4X6,8,10,12
  • TRX tricep extension 4X6,8,10,12
  • Battling ropes X30 sec

.5 mile run

  • Dumbbell chest press 4X6
  • Dumbbell bent over tricep kickback 4X12
  • Incline mountain climber 4X20

.5 mile run

Accessory work if you have time/ want to:

  • Pull ups (or jumping pull ups) 3X5
  • Regular push ups 3X6

Challenge! Try to beat my .5 mile times each interval:

  1. 4:19
  2. 3:51
  3. 3:47
  4. 3:35

Seen in the video (in order):

Leg day

  • Barbell squats
  • Kettlebell swings
  • Kettlebell squats

Shoulder day + HIIT

  • Shuffle tuck jump
  • Reverse flyes

Back day

  • Man makers
  • Barbell bent over row

Deadlift

Not videod: chest day specific exercises + Orangetheory/ cardio workouts

How to Set Realistic Weight Loss Goals

LifeOfCarlyBLeave a comment

… and not only realistic, healthy.

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Whether you’re coming up on spring break, summer, a wedding, etc. There’s SOMETHING coming up that likely makes you want to lose some weight. What better time of year to realize that you aren’t where you want to be? That your goals might have been forgotten about, or maybe half-assed the last oh, 6-8 months?

So it’s March, and new weight loss goals are being set. And the fitness industry knows this. Now, I am proud to be apart of, present and past, of organizations that revolve their goals for members around healthy achievement, but I do know that that is not the case for everyone in the “health and fitness industry”.

Nothing. Nothing Makes me cringe more than the weight loss ploys to lose 5-10 lbs A WEEK! Like What?! Have you ever taken a course in nutrition or how the body works?!

Excuse me while I go calm myself down…

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OKAY. I’m back. Here’s the thing, if you have been victimized by one of those weight loss ploys there are a few different things that could be happening here.

  1. you are shaking your head yes with every passing sentence thinking about the money you spent and the results you did NOT get.
  2. you are shaking your head yes with every passing sentence thinking about the results you did get, and the weight gained back- not to mention how your body hasn’t been the same since.
  3. you are shaking your head yes with every passing sentence just simply because you couldn’t agree more.

I’ve seen it. I’ve seen friends, acquaintances, co-workers, community members, new clients, etc. put money into something that just didn’t measure up. I’ve seen people with such damaged metabolisms that no matter what they do they can’t get it back on track. I’ve seen people with cupboards full of supplements, detoxes, pills, powders, and fridges full of cucumber waters, etc. that aren’t being used because they don’t work.

And here’s why they don’t work

Based on scientific, long-research, mathematical equations, a person should only *healthily and realistically* lose up to 2 LBS per week. TWO POUNDS! Why? Well here’s some math for you…

1 lb of weight loss per week= 3,500 calorie deficit per week = 500 calorie deficit in one day. Double that for 2 lbs.

What does a 500 calorie deficit look like? For most people starting out, who likely eat maybe 3 meals a day, that is essentially cutting each meal in 1/3. But realistically it is cutting your dinner in half, because that is where most overeat.

Sure, this may sound easy, and to some it is. I’m not saying the caloric deficit is hard, I’m saying that a deficit more than that is hard on the body.

What do most of these “lose 30 lbs in a month” or “lose up to 20 lbs in a week” ploys do? They put you on a restricted diet. And for the love of God, don’t get me started on the “CUT OUT CARBS BULLSHIT” like do you even know what your body’s preferred source of energy is? It is NOT 4 servings of green tea a day + 1 bowl of cottage cheese (eye roll). And if these weight loss fixes don’t put you on a restricted diet they are filling your body with chemicals that confuse the heck out of your body.

What happens when you restrict your caloric intake?

You restrict your nutrient intake. You might be eating less and not physically feel starved (but honestly most of the time you will) but instead you will start feeling lethargic, your immune system will suppress and you will be sick more, you might break out with more acne, you might get injured more easily. There could be a lot of “side effects” that you won’t even realize are related.

Not getting enough nutrients in your diet because you are eating 600 calories per day? You’re going to get sick. Or maybe you’re drinking some sore of drink that is “full of nutrients” which it MIGHT be, but chances are your body is only absorbing 10% of those nutrients (this is common among most multivitamins anyway). So if you’re drinking a nutrient rich drink and not absorbing it, where are those nutrients going? You’re peeing them out.

OH and when you lose a lot of weight each week, what kind of weight do you think you’re losing? Fat? Yeah sure, you’re losing some. But you’re also losing muscle. Muscle doesn’t only exist on bodybuilders and gym rats, EVERYONE has muscle. And even if you don’t have muscle definition you still have muscle and that muscle is the support system of your body. It is what keeps you tall with proper posture and supports your core in daily activities. You need muscle, not only for that, but for the fact that you want your body, your bones, your organs, protected.

The jyst here: I could go on and on about why these things don’t work but it all comes down to the fact that health and fitness professionals, along with scientist and people who dedicate their lives to their field have proven that weight loss should not happen in more than 2 lbs per week, and that fact has stayed tried and true for YEARS.

*Side note: if you are BRAND new, to a fitness and health program there is a good chance that you do  lose more than 2 lbs per week, this is called adaptation. It is not something that lasts*

So how to set realistic health and fitness goals

  • Set that goal for 1-2 lbs per week!
  • Incorporate not only a cleaned up diet but also a prescribed fitness routine by a professional
  • Set small goals that lead to a big picture
  • Know that not all goals need to be weight loss related. Make performance goals.
  • Realize that progress is still progress no matter how small. We are not sprinting here, we are running a marathon, and that-that is what makes results that last. Why? Because you are creating not only healthy habits but a healthy lifestyle. You are not falling into a 1 month quick fix only to “bounce back” and relapse as soon as you’re done. No, to be healthy you have to realize that it is a lifetime commitment to yourself

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When it comes down to it, trust your gut, but more importantly trust yourself. You are much  more powerful than you think you are. You got this. Go rock the world.

 

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