Thursday, September 24, 2009

More Weights, Less Cardio

I'm here and I'm listening to happy songs today! No really, I am. I am in a good mood. I swear. This melancholy had to end at some point right?

Things are good. I took the day off from working out because rest is important. Rest! This goes back to my all or nothing mentality, but I have a hard time with rest days. I'm always afraid one will turn into two and on and on until one day, suddenly, it's been three years since I've been to the gym and I have gained 200 pounds. Yes realistically I know that's not going to happen, but still.

The one thing I've been hitting really hard this week is weights, actually Body Pump classes to be specific. I normally focus a bit more on cardio, but from everything I've been reading lately, it appears I need to chill on the cardio bunny side of myself and try to hit weights 2-3 times a week hard, and do shorter, harder cardio intervals. If I go to Body Pump tomorrow morning, I will have done weights three times this week, and I can't remember the last time I did that. I work out consistently, but I just dread weights so I do them once, maybe MAYBE twice a week. I think the main problem is I don't feel like I burn a ton of calories when I lift weights, so somehow I think that kind of workout isn't "good enough."

I know now that is old-fashioned mentality and chronic cardio can lead to inflammation (something this arthritis-suffering girl doesn't need any more of) and over-use injuries (also do not need). So I'm chilling on the running (will still go to kickboxing because I LOVE it and why should I stop doing something I love?) and am doing more weights. It should be interesting to see my progress because I know I'll be burning less calories a week than I typically do and that sort of freaks the number-crunching, calorie-counting side of me out, but I think it's worth a shot to see what happens.

Aside from that, all is well in my little world. I'm looking forward to the season premiere of Grey's tonight. My sister is coming over and we are ordering in Thai food and watching it together, so that should be some nice bonding time. I plan to get tofu in peanut sauce with broccoli and of course will only eat a proper portion size thank you very much. Oh and no wine because tomorrow is a friend's birthday and we are going to Octoberfest. Yikes. I will be successful though. You can count on that!

TTFN!

4 comments:

skinny me! said...

Hey,
I totally think your plan is a great idea. I had great success with Bodypump! I'm going to get back there again soon.

I've been running too much later as well and have been in a lot of pain. I think people place too much value on cardio....me included, but strength training is just as effective. Bodypump is AWESOME! You'll love it!

Jess said...

I've actually found that lifting weights does help, a lot. As long as you're eating well it makes a difference because it increases your metabolism. It's great that you're mixing things up!

alea said...

Sounds like a good plan! Hope it'll work for you and you'll see the results you want.

Hmm, Grey's Anatomy... I love that show! I'm WAY behind though, as I've missed a lot when we were travelling. Need to catch up sometime...

I'll be thinking of you tonight... Guess what I'm doing? I'll be having a quiet night in with my sister, probably watching a film... :) Have a great weekend!

Tiffany said...

I think much the same. I always feel like the weights don't burn enough calories so I don't do as much as I should. Although everything I read says they rev the metabolism and help you lose faster.

Sounds like you've got a good plan.