V-Ohhhhh-2! Part 1

I'm a freak. I'll step up and admit it. I do stupid things like head out for a run in the pouring rain and lighting, like running 2 marathons (one of which almost, I mean almost, killed me), like volunteering for a skin fold test (who really wants to know how much of your body is fat), or like sitting on a big, Dyna ball instead of an office chair at work. No surprise I was willing to pay too much money ($220.00 in case you too are a freak and wanna give it a try) to have a series of two VO2 test performed on my 147lb frame. And yes, I just openly admitted my weight, on my blog, for everyone to read, and I didn't even flinch when I typed it (I rarely step on a scale, rather I judge based on the fit of my Seven for all Mankind jeans as my litmus test). Ok, here's the ditty about training "smarter" not "harder." AND if you are like me and a complete cardio junky, who loves the endorphins, this is gonna be tough to swallow. Ok, so I'm going to boil this down to the basics and the best news of all is there will be no test at the end. It all boils down to A.T. or Anaerobic Threshold. This my friends is the point at which your bod STOPS burning calories from fat and STARTS burning calories from sugar (carbs). You may be saying burning any calorie in my book is fine, but consider this... your body has way more hours of fuel from fat than hours of fuel from sugar (carbs). So when you are spending your time working out why not target burning calories where they really count? Burn all sugar (carbs) and when you head home to eat (refuel) you'll be right back where you started. This people is why you gotta get a heart rate monitor (I recommend Polar brand-it syncs with most quality cardio equipment) (mine is the model in the photo...pink of course) and you have to know your workout zones and your A.T. I spend about 2/3 of my time (this will depend on your fitness goals) working out in zones 2 or 3 and 1/3 of my time working out at my A.T. (165 beats per minute for me) or above to increase my fitness level and condition the old ticker. Here's where I start sounding like a commercial for Lifetime Fitness. Sure, you can guess your A.T. by looking at your heart rate monitor when your jaw drops and you can only speak 1-2 words without taking a breath. Or by using a heart rate chart as your guide if you aren't up for the testing I am talking about. Follow this link and then download/open the PDF to find your approximate heart rate zones and begin training smarter.

Ok, this is the tip of the iceberg, do you wanna know more? Check out this site for New Leaf (the testing process used by Lifetime). They do a good job of explaining more... I hope I've peaked your interest, cuz tomorrow we talk about the first step in metabolic testing. It's gonna be fun and way less painful than a morning after 3 sets/15 reps of lunges.