Body Fat - don't trust the scale

Hola!

One of my friends at my home gym is a trainer, and back in April I asked her to measure my body fat %.  Using the calipers (pinchy thing).

Last weekend I decided it was time for a follow up, so I snagged her and asked her to measure me again.

This time the gym got a new "fancy" scale that claims it will tell you your body fat %.  So I hopped on the scale, and grabbed the handles.  It calculated my weight and then spit out my body fat %.  Before I tell you what it said, here's a generalized grid of where the percentages fall.

Women (this is an average indication, as many charts take age in to consideration)
Essential Fat  10-12%
Athletes  14-20%
Fitness  21-24%
Acceptable  25-31%
Obese  32%+
 
It said my body fat percentage was 31%.  Ummm, no.  Do you see how close that is to obese?
 
So we went to the caliper method.  I won't tell you exactly what it came out to, but let's just say it was a drastic difference.  The moral of the story being, don't trust a scale to tell you your body fat percentage because I am concrete proof that they can be very inaccurate.

Missing again

 sorry to once again be MIA for a few days.  Was out of town for a funeral. :(

Back today and ready for a bit of a detox.  I made chocolate chip cookies to bring (from scratch) so I have of course eaten my share (and more) of cookies over the past three days.

I've also been having some WICKED heartburn.  It sucks.  I'm actually on meds for reflux so heartburn isn't usually an issue.  Unfortunately, that has not been the case the past few days.  Hopefully now that I'm home I can get back in to my routine and kick the burn to the curb.

Did a heavy leg workout on Monday and am still sore today.  Yikes.

I did step jumps (for lack of a better name).  I stacked a step with four risers on each side.  Standing with one leg on the step and one on the ground I jumped side to side, so I alternated legs on the step, squatting down with the leg on the floor.  Wow, that sounds confusing.

Here's a video that kind of explains what I'm talking about.   I tried to embed a video but it doesn't seem to be working.  But here's a link, if you're curious.  The version I did is more like the ones she does at the end, going deeper in to the squat.  Another a$$ kicking move. :)

Let me know if you try it.

Lateral Platform Drills for Step Exercise Training -- powered by eHow.com

My Schedule

I've been saying for a while that it's time for me to put the pedal to the medal and focus more on my gym time and training for the half marathon that i'd like to do in September.  Thus far I've been all talk, but I think I might be ready to change that. 

I figure writing out a tentative plan here, for all to read, might help me stay on track.  What makes it difficult is my spinning schedule, but I think I've figured it out.

My current Spin schedule:
Monday - 9:30a
Wednesday - 9:30a and 6:30p
Saturday - 10a

The goal is to not do any big runs on days where I spin, especially not Wednesday.

This is my tentative plan...

Monday - Spin in the AM, weights in the PM
Tuesday - Run (i've been doing 2 miles, but would like to bump that up) and then Boxing class
Wednesday - double spin
Thursday - Run (depending on how my legs feel after Wednesday) then bootcamp or a similar class, plus some leg work
Friday - Run or off day
Saturday - Spin and weights, possible short run in the evening, depending on the weather
Sunday, Run or off day

This seems logical to me.  My goal is to start to bump up my distance atleast one day a week.  I haven't yet figured out the details, but will post them as I sort through them.  I'm going to keep track in an Excel file and i'll post that in the next week or two.

Any training plans you'd recommend?

TRX Time

I noticed that I've been doing quite a lot of food related posts and wanted to try to get back to the "fit" element of Fit Talker.

The TRX is something i've been wanting to try for months now.  Right now it's offered predominantly as a SGT (small-group training) class, but my schedule and my budget didn't want to cooperate so I haven't been able to give it a try.

If you're not familiar with the TRX it's suspension training that leverages your body weight.  From what I've heard, it's a workout like none other.

Check out this video to get an idea.



A friend of mine just bought her own and told me she'd walk me through it.  I have to say, I'm really excited!

I've been wanting to mix up my routine a bit and I think this might be just what I'm looking for. 

Do you TRX?

Do you shake?

And by "shake", I mean Protein Shake.      

Do you drink them?  Have you ever?

I was decidedly undecided about them, their purpose, validity and necessity seemed vague to me.  Some people claim they're amazing and others say that unless you are working out VERY intensely, they're not necessary.

I guess I now fall in the middle of the road.  I had been thinking of incorporating them in to my diet as I probably don't always get the protein I need and depending on the day, can spend hours at the gym.

A friend recommended the brand Myofusion and gave me a few samples.  I have to say, they're not half bad.  The taste is decent and the calorie content is relatively low.  That was one of my biggest shocks when I started looking in to Protein powders, the high calorie content.  Especially given that many of them taste like crap and need to be mixed with milk and other additives which only up the calorie count further.  For this one, I just add water and find that it's almost enjoyable to consume.  Who knew?

As for whether or not this will enhance my performance or recovery, I can't yet say.  But I am going to give them a try and will keep you posted.

Endurance?

This past weekend I had a 3 hour training ride (Spinning) for my upcoming Spin Odyssey event (http://www.spinodyssey.org/).  I'll admit, I was NERVOUS.  While I have taught 3 classes in one day, I have never done three hours consecutively and between you and me, I wasn't even sure I could do it.
But, I did do it and it felt great!
The difference between a 3 hour ride and a 45 minute ride is also the subject of this post, ENDURANCE.  Like many spin instructors (and students), when we teach (or take) a 45 minute class, the goal is to work hard and sweat.  I feel like if I don't make the class work hard, they're going to leave feeling cheated and then maybe never come back to my class.
However when you're riding for 180 minutes, the goal has to be different.  The first hour of the ride was completely "endurance" training.  While we moved through different positions and resistance, the goal was to never get our heart rate over 75%, which for me is somewhere around 145 beats per minute.  Sometimes this meant going slower than my natural inclination or using less resistance than I'd normally strive for.
So while it was very different than what I'm used to, I enjoyed it.  It forced me to be in touch with my body and how it was feeling.  I was one of the few people wearing a heart rate monitor so I was able to compare how I felt with my actual effort.
The next two hours were a bit more varied, but still with more of an endurance theme than an all out effort.  Which when you think about it, is really how a 3 hour ride has to be.
I spoke with my sister after the ride.  She's currently training for a half marathon and then perhaps the full.  She's on a pretty structured schedule and told me that 90% of our training should in fact be endurance, especially when the goal is a significant distance or time.
It makes perfect sense.
However my dilemma still comes back to my 45 minute class.  Most of the students don't wear heart rate monitors so i'm not sure that they'll be true to themselves in how their body feels and then end up leaving the class thinking it was "easy".  The mentality of a casual spinner is to work hard, so I'm just not sure that the level of student I teach will be accepting of the fact that endurance is a key part of any training regiment.  But really, that's my issue.
I definitely plan on incorporating more endurance training in to my rides, it's just a question for me, of finding the right balance.