Kickboxing Chic’s BodyBlog

After almost two weeks of an “abnormal” schedule, I’m back on track this week. The past two weeks also knocked my nutrition plan out of whack with various family and friend gatherings. Additionally, as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m no longer considering myself on the post-pregnancy come back track. I’m calling my new plan a “do over”. I’m incorporating some slightly different training methods along with a new approach to my diet. The training tweaks are not much different than how I normally train, but I’ve been doing some research and want to test out some stuff. My original nutrition plan was not bad and I stuck to it pretty well, but it wasn’t working with my breastfeeding commitment.  So here’s my “Do Over” plan:

Training
Monday: Strength training and HIIT cardio

Tuesday: Metabolic circuits for time

Wednesday: Strength training and HIIT Cardio

Thursday: Rest/recovery day

Friday: Indoor cycling – 1 hour class

Saturday: Metabolic circuits for time

Sunday: Boot camp (semi- rest/recovery day)

This week isn’t the ideal schedule because the indoor cycle class and boot camp are things I need to work around. I lead the boot camp and I’m going to focus more on instructing and motivating my “cadets” than doing the workout myself. However, one of my guiding principles is leading by example, which means I need to demonstrate the intensity I want them to do. For my strength training days, I do a mix of upper and lower body exercises (including core).

Nutrition
I’m simplifying my approach to nutrition by just creating 5 basic “rules” that I need to follow 90% of the time.  This means I’m allowing 4 planned deviations from the rules in a week. I realize these are nothing new and I already follow them for the most part. The change is focusing more on the “rules” and less on a specific meal plan. These rules should be pretty easy to follow since I’ve scaled back my grocery bill. I only buy the basics - produce, lean meats, low fat dairy, eggs, and whole grain items – no extras. I also minimize buying stuff from the middle of the store. Since I do have a husband and kids, I still buy cereal and a few snack items for them.

The rules are…

Rule #1: Eat every 2.5-3 hours. This equals 3 meals and 2 snacks per day.

Rule #2: All meals need 20-25 grams of protein and fruit or veggies. I will have fruit with my snacks and veggies with my meals.

Rule #3: Starch carbs twice per day. One of which must be post-workout. Starch carbs are limited to oatmeal, yams, and brown rice. I may open this up to Ezekiel bread seeing how things go the next two weeks.

Rule #4: Drink bodyweight in ounces of water. Right now that’s about 125 ounces/day. This includes a big mug of green or peppermint tea which I have on a daily basis.

Rule #5: Take a multi-vitamin and Omega-3 fish oil.

My planned deviations for this week…

1. A Hispanic pastry during my Friday trip to the local grocery store. I will only have this if they have my favorite one.

2. Wine Friday and Saturday nights, 1-2 glasses each night

3. Pita pizza night, usually Saturday

4. TBD – I don’t have one yet. I’m meeting a friend for a play date with our kids on Thursday. Afterwards we are going to take them to Red Robin for dinner. I’m hoping I can get something that fits with my nutrition rules. If not, then that will be my 4^th.

I plan to do some body comp measurements and pictures in two weeks to give me an evaluation period. I’m not shooting for any specific numbers… I just want to set a good baseline for further improvements and test out my plan and rules.

I can’t really say I’m in a post-pregnancy phase of training. I’m really back doing the style of training I enjoy and am known for. For the past couple weeks, I’ve created some very intense workouts that I admit are a bit on the insane side. Especially since my sleep is interupted every night for a diaper change and feeding. At least I’m only up once for 30 minutes and get 6.5-7 hours of sleep total. Not bad for a 9 week old baby. Despite all this goodness, I still need to make sure I’m getting adequate rest and not over-doing it. This is always my biggest challenge and toughest battle with myself. I am fully aware results do not come without proper rest. What makes this particularly challenging right now is the breastfeeding. I need to keep my caloric intake higher than I normally would to have a good milk supply for my daughter, and I’m hungry ALL THE TIME! Granted, most of what I eat is lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains. But I’m still eating a lot and feel I need to workout to compensate for it. I know this is wrong, but it is still a mental conflict I have with myself. At least I’m aware of this, and at times am successful in taking time off or keeping my workout that day low key.

I had a good, hard workout today (see below). And here is my plan for the rest of the week for not over-doing it.

Today’s Workout

Warm-up: Elliptical, Prisoner squats, stick-ups, and push-ups - 10 minutes

Set 1: 4x thru

A) DB clean and press

B) Plyo-push-ups (on knees)

Set 2: 4x thru

A) DB tricep press lying on stability ball

B) Tricep push-ups w/ hands on a high bench and feet on stability ball

Set 3: 3x thru

A) Double curtsy squats

B) Outer thigh press w/ resistance band

Cardio Circuit: 3x thru

A) Jump rope, 100 basic jumps, 50 high knee jumps

B) Burpees x20

C) Jumping lunges w/ shoulder press (8 lb DBs) x10/side

D) Weighted jumping jacks (5 lb DB in each hand) x100

Friday

Indoor cycling class - 1 hour

I sweat a lot and get a good calorie burn, but it still is not as intense as my self-created workouts. I still enjoy a long, mindless cardio session once a week even though I’m much more of an interval, circuit style exerciser.

Saturday

Outdoor boot camp - 1 hour

I create and lead the workout, so it counts as a high intensity workout.

Sunday

Rest/recover and plan/prep day.

I enjoy sitting down, flipping through magazines and websites to come up with my workouts just as much as I enjoy doing them. So having a day to focus on creating my game plan for the week, is just as important to me as executing my game plan. Must have one full rest/recovery day per week to do that.

I’m now 7 weeks post-partum and I admit my come back has been a bit challenging. Primarily because I’m so sleep-deprived and have reached a point of chronic exhaustion. Everyday I fight the (mental) battle with myself whether or not to power through and get in a workout or make it a rest day. Some days I wish I would have taken the day off, but other days it feels pretty good and energizes me for a portion of the day. Today, for example, felt good. I decided to get up at 5:00am and get my workout in before the kids got up. I was crossing my fingers that my newborn would sleep until 7:00am, like she does on most days. So while I was down in my garage with the baby monitor, I was working through my reps and sets as fast as I could. I wanted to get through as much of my workout as I could before my little one woke up. About 40 minutes into my workout, she started to make some noise so I kicked it into gear even more, keeping rest periods to a minimum. Thankfully, she ended up falling back to sleep and I was able to get through my entire plan. But it was a non-stop 65 minute workout.

Hoping my sleep deprivation doesn’t get the best of me, here is my plan for this week.

Monday: Rest/recovery and planning day.

Tuesday: MMA workout 1 (modified) from Men’s Fitness March 2009

Wednesday: Indoor cycling

Thursday: MMA workout 2 (modified) from Men’s Fitness March 2009

Friday: Rest/recovery day

Saturday: Outdoor boot camp (I’m the Instructor)

Sunday: MMA workout 3/circuit (modified) from Men’s Fitness March 2009

I’ve been wanting to do the MMA workouts in Men’s Fitness. But since I was pregnant, it would have to wait until post-pregnancy. I can’t do them exactly as they are written because I do most of my workouts in my home gym and don’t have all the equipment. So I find alternatives. I also tweak the suggested reps and add a bit more intensity to make my limited hour worth it. This is my 3^rd week doing the MMA workouts in the March 2009 edition. I’ll probably do one more week then change it up. I really enjoy this style of training and it works great for a busy mom with a limited amount of time to workout.

I have not been very happy with my progress pics. They just aren’t what I see when I look in the mirror. Granted, they are just taken by my non-professional photographer husband with our point-and-shoot camera. I also have zero training in how to pose. Still have some saggy skin in the abdominal area, but my weight is a tad less than my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m 123 in this pic taken 6 weeks post-partum. A couple of my husbands buddies made a comment the other day on how good I looked after having a baby just 7 weeks ago. I guess that’s worth more than the pic.