Conditioning – Page 4

January 14, 2015

Have a goal for every workout: Fat Cells respond to progressive resistance by getting smaller!

What is the goal of this workout today?

We all come into the workout room with different needs, strengths, and expectations. To some, not having a specific goal for every workout is actually unfathomable.

My goal for this workout

Keep track of specific exercises that have been done in the past and perform in more progressively challenging ways. These techniques help you to burn more fat:

Perform the exercise faster on the concentric, and slower on the eccentric
Use more resistance than before
Greater amount of reps using the same weight
Decrease rest intervals without sacrificing heavy weight
Using heavy weights in a larger range of motion
Improving your form and technique with weights that you struggled with before
Combination of the above

Time constraints can be motivating, as is some healthy Orangetheory Fitness competition

I don’t often speak to these accomplishments even if it is noticeable it helps me stay motivated in fitness.

Examples of a good goal to have

Let’s talk about a treadmill goal to begin with. Of course we’re following a HIIT program and the ideal length for a treadmill workout is between 20-30 minutes.

You can try to improve your times in the following ways:

Your one-mile time
Your half-mile time
Your quarter mile time
Your tenth of a mile time

Kyle Anderson from Seattle on the right running hard

You can further improve fat loss by:

Your .25 mile run at 3% incline
Your .25 mile run at 5% incline
Your .25 mile run at 7% incline

Then on a later workout once you have recovered, do your .25 mile run at 1% incline and you will likely be able to run faster than you did before at that particular incline!

Thus progress! Fat cells should get smaller due to this physical and neural progression in muscular contraction.

Once you have accomplished it, nobody can take that away from you!

It’s yours.

Now believe in it and go with it

January 9, 2015

— 1 Comment

Maximizing your Treadmill Intervals for Fat Loss, Performance and Unlimited Benefit

Will this blog help you get unlimited benefits? Maybe that’s a big statement

I’ve spent years now testing various treadmill interval blocks. Being native to the Pacific Northwest, I can run outdoors whenever I want but there are many times when I prefer to run indoors on a treadmill.

Treadmill intervals, if you go to OTFSeattle you’ll recognize a face or two from this special Ft. Lauderdale workout

The benefit of running on a treadmill:

Since it is a machine, you can find it easier to quantitatively track, record and achieve parameters of progression.
Increase resistance by simply increasing the incline
There is never a need to go downhill, so there may be less stress on the knees and the quads will be subjected to less stress and therefore less soreness.
Typically, less soreness means you can up your training frequency, thus getting faster results (so long as you stay healthy).

Designing effective treadmill interval blocks

Treadmill intervals are more a mental game than anything else. Almost every healthy person who uses a treadmill regularly can run faster than the maximum speed they’ve ever used on a treadmill. People just need a little encouragement! That’s why HIIT classes like Orangetheory Fitness in Seattle (my home studio Capitol Hill!!) are so popular and effective.

Example of a progressive HIIT block on the treadmill

Since teaching exercise classes to over a thousand people in Seattle, I’ve started focusing on how to coach these treadmill blocks even more effectively than before. Example of a recent All-Out block I coached my classes on.

30 second all out at 1% (exerciser chooses their most intense speed possible for 30 sceonds)
45 second walking recovery
30 second all out using the same speed as last time, but at 3% incline
45 second walking recovery
30 second all out at 1% incline, starts off as an aggressive push, and halfway through exercisers are coached to peak at their maximum speed (even if only for seconds at a time)

After the block was over and people were walking for recovery on the treadmills, I asked people to raise their hand if that was the fastest they have ever gone on the treadmill. More than a quarter of people raised their hands, knowing they have achieved something they never achieved before and thus breaking another mental barrier which could have held them back from their fitness goals.

Kyle Anderson in the teal from Seattle, Washington. He's our fitness and business inspiration

Kyle Anderson in the teal from Seattle, Washington. He is one our fitness and business inspirations and a leader for the local team here

HIIT is here to stay

Exercise science tells us this. Workouts only need to be between 20-60 minutes long and the intensity can vary from minute to minute throughout the training. There is no better way to release that cocktail of beneficial fat-burning hormones in the hours after your workout. Good recovery from high intensity training guarantees the accelerated decrease in fat-cell size.

Stay tuned my people

Orangetheory Fitness Seattle Orangetheory Seattle Physical Fitness by Dre Weightloss Now

December 30, 2014

— Leave a Comment

Set goals on achievements, not outcomes, for lasting results in fitness and Fat Loss

What is it more important to look a certain way or to feel a certain way?

The reality is that we can only do so much about our looks, but we can do so much more with our minds. I fully support the desire to reduce body fat to healthier levels. Meanwhile we should focus on daily accomplishments that take us to a better place in mind and in body.

This guy inspired me, he said, “Successful people do what they have to do whether they feel like it or not.” as he works towards his goals

Achievement: “a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill.” vs. Outcome: “the way a thing turns out; a consequence.”

The risky course is to focus on the outcome. Because some outcomes are ultimately out of your control and that’s just the way the world works. Sometimes you over-think the outcome, and then you don’t even start because of the anxiety or fear of failing. Fortunately, there are alternative ways to approach the goal of fat loss.

Achieve, you must

Achievement. Our greatest achievements are those that take us further or more powerfully than the day before. We can live day to day by seeking achievements, thereby altering the course of our lives and helping us burn the fat in more sustainable terms.

Fat loss tip for runners: By making progression in your speed and power, you’ll be able to obliterate more calories from muscles doing their natural function. If you run 8.0 mph at 1% incline for 90 seconds, then the next session go for 8.0 at 3% incline for 90 seconds, then after recovering do another session where you go 8.0 at 5% incline for 90 seconds. To continue the progression, perform 9.0 mph at 1% incline, then continue up the incline ladder each additional session (3%, then 5% for 90 seconds…).

Model pretending to set up for a run

Progressive resistance in speed or work against gravity is a proven successful formula.

Focus on performance goals for long term success in fitness.

Performance goals before aesthetic goals. Health goals before weight loss goals. Achievements take you further because you achieve more.

Everybody has potential for strength in some manner. Upper body strength maybe, perhaps lower body strength. Maybe it’s mental strength. Strength comes from overcoming barriers and achieving more than what you were capable of yesterday.

Good luck stay tuned for more local content as well

Orangetheory Fitness Seattle Orangetheory Seattle Power of the Mind Weightloss Now

Dre Fitness

HARDCORE HOLISTIC HEALTH

Tag: Conditioning