Badass Fitness

#360to30 Guest Blog: Building the Badass Army

This week, the theme of this blog is a sort of "Pay it Forward with Fitness and Health." Whether it is bringing a friend to bootcamp, or helping an overweight nephew make better choices at lunch, or stocking that dreaded office break room with healthier snacks, every single one of us can do our part to make this fast food nation more "Badass."

To kick the week off, guest blogger Chris shares an awesome reminder he got last week of how one little act can shift someone's Badass Journey in a stronger direction....

We’ve all seen those commercials that show one person doing a good deed for a random stranger, another random stranger sees them and does a good deed for another random stranger, and so on.  I thought about those commercials when I got this message from my friend Laura Chan this past week:

“I wouldn't be where I am today if you hadn't bought that dang fridge from me earlier this year. If it weren't for that and your encouragement, I wouldn't have started at Sweat Therapy, I wouldn't have met Shannon Colavecchio and I wouldn't be feeling as good as I do now. Thank you so much. By the way...30 isn't that bad. You'll be fine.”

Laura has been a friend for some time.  Background: I had just started my new job and wanted a mini-fridge for my office.  I stopped by to pick it up and started telling her about my journey into getting back in shape.  (Full disclosure: this was before #360to30 even started.  All I knew then was I was tired of looking at myself in the mirror, which is unusual given my admitted tendency toward vanity ;)

She said that she would check out one of the group classes I was taking because although she teaches belly dancing and does other exercises, it just wasn’t getting her to where she wanted to be.  So she came with me to a few classes, met my trainer Shannon and fell in love with the classes. Just like that, she became a Badass Recruit.

She wrote to me: "Thinking back over the past year, that seemingly insignificant act of selling you a mini-fridge and the next day you sending me a text that said, 'We are rowing tomorrow. 6 am. See you there,' turned out to be one of the most pivotal moments of the past few years. What I want you to realize, Chris, is that even the small stuff you do can have a huge, life-changing ripple effect on others. :)"

I share Laura's message because it is a reminder of how simple it is to help someone find their road to a stronger Badass. Every once in awhile we may get discouraged or put down because some people don’t want to hear what we have to say about our fitness goals or our latest upcoming race. Well, do not be discouraged.

I can’t speak for every member of the Badass Army, but I don’t do it just to brag that I am working out (well, every once in awhile I do). I do it because for every three people that are turned off or annoyed, ONE person hears me or sees a tweet and decides it’s time to get off their couch and do something. Someone thinks, well if he and Laura and all these other people can do it, I can too!

When they see the way you feel because of the endorphin rush, when they see your personal confidence going to high levels because you look good and know it, when they see how happy you are and the energy you have: THEY WANT IT AS WELL! Not every Recruit is going to have a goal of running a marathon, doing a triathlon, or fitting into jeans they haven’t been able to wear in six years.

But every recruit is brought together by that desire, that push, that fierce WANT to do something more.

We are building the Badass Army “One Badass At A Time.”  So as a new week begins, wear your fitness and your confidence with pride.  Do not be afraid to tell someone, “I am a Badass and I know it!” And always tell them: “You can be one too!”

Coming up: An Earth Fare field trip turns doubting teenage girls into healthy eating believers...An office appetizer potluck made healthy, with zero flavor sacrifice...and a Tough Mudder/Urban Disturbance training workout.

TRX 8x8 for TGIF: Burnin' Biceps, Tight Triceps, Oh My!

Warning: This. Workout. Will. Not. Tickle.

But ....it will make an impact on your arms, and who doesn't want toned arms, right? The format for this biceps and triceps session uses the "Iron Guru" 8x8 method and the TRX plus a bench/step, but you can just as easily do this with dumbbells and weight machines.

The good news: You only have to do two exercises per body part. The "hurts so good it is bad" news: You will be doing 64 reps for each circuit, so that's a total of 256 reps. Um, yeah. No tickle.

But do NOT back out - it's Halloween weekend, and there is no doubt in your weekend future a get-together involving any number of combos of party food/Halloween candy/costumes/alcohol. So get those arms pumped for the festivities!

Bi's and Tri's 8X8

Warmup: 30 seconds each of...

• Jacks
• High Knees
• Skaters
• Mountain climbers

Biceps curls, TRX at mid-level (gym alternative: dumbbell front curls)

• 8 curls, rest for 30 seconds **for an extra calorie burn, do 8-16 jump squats during the 30-second rest**
• Repeat 7 more times for total of 8

Triceps presses, TRX at mid-level (gym alternative-rope press)

• 8 curls, rest for 30 seconds. **for an extra calorie burn, do 8-16 skaters uring the 30-second rest**
• Repeat 7 more times for total of 8

Biceps curls, TRX at short length (gym alternative: narrow grip barbell or preacher curl)

• 8 curls, rest for 30 seconds **for an extra calorie burn, do 8-16 jump squats during the 30-second rest**
• Repeat 7 more times for total of 8

Triceps bench dips

• 8 slow and deep dips, rest for 30 seconds. **for an extra calorie burn, do 8-16 jump squats during the 30-second rest**
• Repeat 7 more times for total of 8

STRETCH it out - you are done:)

Coming next week: Chris' #360to30 Journey is Building the Army; and two Tough Mudder/Urban Disturbance training sessions

New Kicks + Track Sprints 'Holy Grail' = Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

The quickest assurance that your current running shoes needed replacing is when you go for the first run to "break in" the new pair. It's heaven for your feet - especially if the new pair provides the right support for your arches, pronation, supination, etc.

Tuesday morning, at promptly 6 am and 47 degrees, this "mild pronator" brought my new Nike kicks to the local high school track and gave them an hourlong "sneaker, meet feet" introduction with varying sprints and longer intervals.

My feet felt like they were wearing pillows of perfect support, thanks to the helpful staff at Capital City Runners here in town. My quads and hip flexors, however, got a little angry.

This workout is one of those that helps immensely with your speed and cardio power if you're training for a race. These speed workouts, mixed in with your long runs and tempo runs, go a long way to helping you truly reach your maximum performance on race day. If you're simply running to lose weight or build leg muscle strength, these track interval sessions will torch calories and fire up your glutes, quads, calves and hamstrings. 

No matter your training motivation, this one will basically burn like a mutha'. If, after the 3rd or 4th round of a 400m loop, you feel like your lungs and heart are popping out of your throat, know that I was right there with ya!

So here it is. This is basically six rounds each of 400s, 200s and 100s. One of my clients pointed out that this is 6-6-6, which was not intentional. But I like to think of this as a "Holy Grail" for the track, and the only devil in this is the Tazmanian we're chasing around the track.

If you can only do 3 rounds of each distance, or 4, or 2, whatever. Just call that your starting point. It's just the beginning - from there, you will get stronger. Believe it!

Warmup: 1600 m jog pace (400m is one loop around the track). Stretch a little if you need before the real fun begins...

The 400s: **Your goal is to do each 400 at your race pace, ideally a short fast 5K. And you want to try to maintain the same time for each of the 400s

• Do six 400s, walking 100m in between each loop to get your wind back.

The 200s: **Try to shave a few seconds off your race pace time since you're only going half the distance, and maintain throughout each of the six. For me, mastering this distance and pace is the toughest, a weird in-between that isn't a 400 yet isn't an all-out sprint.

• Do six 200s, walking 100 m in between each loop. You are regrouping only to ensure you are at full power for the next 200.

The 100s: **These are cake, relatively speaking, compared to the distances you've just done. And it's the home stretch. You've got this.

• Do six 100s, truly sprinting, truly going as fast as you can. Walk 50 to 100 m in between each one. See if you can maintain your sprint speed for each one, or even go faster with the last couple.

Cooldown: Jog 800m, twice around. And stretch!

Coming up: 8x8s on the TRX for biceps, triceps and shoulders

 

Eating for Two (a-Days)

When you push your car harder, faster, and more often, it requires more fuel. Not the diluted cheap stuff, but the good stuff.

Our bodies are no different. Our bodies are machines. Yet as we push harder to get to our goals faster, we sometimes forget the importance of fuel. Or we're just not sure what's what, and what is best, when it comes to eating.

The fuel balance can be especially tricky with two-a-day workouts, which are putting demands on your body - and glycogen stores - within 12 hours or so, far less recovery time than is typical.

The two-a-days are a staple in competitive college and professional sports, typically in pre-season training. For "mere mortals," exercise sessions in the morning and again in the evening can be done a couple days a week (more than that and beware of overtraining) to break up cardio and strength training (not uncommon for bodybuilders or just to accommodate work schedules) or to boost calories burned for those trying to lose weight.

If your two-a-days are simply your typical 90-minute morning workout broken into two 45-minute sessions, odds are you don't need extra calories because you aren't burning more - you're merely burning them over two intervals. But you might need to time your meals and snacks a bit differently to ensure your furnace stays fueled.

And for those trying to lose weight: if that second session of the day equates to extra sweat and muscle burn time, you need to find the balance between fueling your muscles to keep them from breaking down, while maintaining the slight calorie deficit you need for steady, healthy weight loss. Because if you just keep exercising more and eating less, your body can feel too deprived. When that happens, the metabolism slows and you will not see the scale move how you want it to.

So, here are a few pointers for those days when you're hitting the gym, pavement, swim lane, clay courts, or roads more than once:

Two-A-Day Eating Tips

1. C,P,F: Carbs, protein, fat. Your body needs all three. Without all three, you DO NOT have a nutritious eating plan and you will not see maximum performance. Eating just a bagel after your morning workout will spike your sugar and leave you hungry because your body wants the protein. Eating just two eggs before a cycling class will leave you ready to throw in the towel midway through because your muscles need glycogen (carbs) to meet the intense demands of the class. So for your main three meals, shoot for 30 grams of carbs minimum; at least 20 grams of protein; and at least 10 grams of fat.

"Carbs" doesn't mean white toast or sugary cereal. It means oatmeal (complex carbs) cooked with skim milk (protein) and topped with a handful of berries (carbs) and walnut (healthy fats). Or a whole wheat wrap (carbs) smeared with hummus or avocado (healthy fats) and filled with three ounces of chicken (protein) and lots of veggies. Snacks can also be a mix, but smaller portions, like a small apple (carbs) and a piece of string cheese (fat, protein); a handful of almonds (fat, protein) plus half a banana (carbs); or a small 100-calorie wheat pita (carbs) stuffed with a slice of tomato, and a slice of swiss cheese (protein, fat).

2. Don't miss the post-exercise window: In the 30 minutes after an intense cardio session - be it a cycle class,  intense swim or boot camp - your body really is a machine quenched for fuel. Your metabolism is still smoking, and this is the window when you want to re-fuel. Go for a mix of carbs plus protein - ideally in easily digestible liquid form like a smoothie or protein shake that will absorb quickly. The carbs restore your glycogen levels, and the protein helps rebuild your muscles and speed up your recovery. I like the EAS Myoplex, which tastes great and is a low fat 170 calories with a great blend of carbs (23 grams) and protein (25 grams).

3. Eat your antioxidants: Intense exercise is taxing to your system. Weight training tears muscles so that they can grow stronger. Distance running puts a lot of strain on the joints and muscles. The antioxidants in fruits and greens and vegetables will go a long way toward your body's recovery. So snack on fruits and vegetables with protein like hummus, peanut butter, and low-fat cheeses. And give vegetables a starring role in lunch and dinner.

4. Eat clean, but reevaluate the portion sizes: If you typically eat one slice of whole wheat bread as an open-faced sandwich for lunch, consider adding just a slice to help keep you satisfied through that second workout. Usually put a tablespoon of peanut butter on your mid-afternoon apple slices? Add a second tablespoon. The tweaks needed for two-a-days are just that, tweaks. Depending on the workout, you do not need what amounts to an additional meal.

5. The math still matters: An athlete like Dara Torres or Michael Phelps needs thousands of calories. One of the most common missteps among those of us "mere mortals" trying to reach fitness goals - be it muscle building or weight loss - is that we overestimate calories burned and underestimate the calories in what we eat.

If your second workout of the day is half an hour of weight training without cardio bursts or plyometrics in between, and you're trying to shed pounds while getting lean, odds are you do not need to chase this session by eating a 350-calorie protein bar or gulping down a 20-ounce smoothie that weighs in - as many do - at 500 calories or more, and then eating dinner an hour later.  So do the math. Track calories burned. Track what you're eating. Do the math.

6. Hydrate: Water, water, water. You need to stay especially mindful of your water intake (yes, I said water - not juice, not soda) when you're doing two-a-days.

7. Listen to your body: If your stomach is growling, and if you know it's not just dehydration (which is often mistaken for hunger), feed your empty tank. Don't gorge it, feed it. All it takes is 200 or so calories as a snack to keep you going. That's a piece of toast with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, or fruit and string cheese, or hummus with a small pita.

8. Plan ahead: You cannot be caught empty-handed in terms of food on days when you're pushing extra. Success in healthy eating absolutely requires planning ahead and shopping, cooking and baking ahead. This is not always easy, but the more you make it a habit, the easier it gets. And there is simply no way around it. Every SDaturday after I teach bootcamp, I drive down the street to EarthFare. When I don't stock up on these good eats for the week ahead, my eating is inferior and my fitness performance suffers.

So hardboil a dozen eggs on Sunday. Bake 5 chicken breasts for weekday lunches. Make a huge bowl of salad and pull from it throughout the week for lunches. (Yes, I do all of this) Pack fruit, almonds, etc. for snacks. Make protein bars for a sweet but healthy pre-workout pickup. Whatever works.

If any of you 2-a-day veterans have found strategies that work, please share in the comments section below or by email to shannon@badassfitness.net.

Coming this week: An 8x8 workout for shoulders/ bi's/ tri's with the TRX...

Healthy Eating Sabotage: The Office Break Room

Does this picture look familiar?

This is what Tammy, a fellow Badass Recruit, finds most mornings when she arrives at work. The breakroom of the law office where she works is, to be blunt, what I call the Sabotage Zone. The common area's landmines included, when she took this picture Monday:

• A baked brie tart
• Lots of various crackers (most crackers are full of trans fats and white-flour carbs)
• Chicken Salad (oh, the mayo!)
• Chocolate chip cookies
• and a "lonely bowl" containing a "small amount of fruit."

"And we (the people working here) wonder why we just can't seem to get healthy.  Not pictured is the coke machine to the right and the constantly full vending machine that taunts you after your lunch just doesn't leave you feeling fulfilled some days....With the holidays coming, LORD HELP US!"

Amen. On the same day, back in my office, we were kicking off the Fall 2011 Weight Loss Challenge. Yet I walked into the conference room and found four boxes of glazed and chocolate glazed donuts. Horror!!! Last week, an advertiser sent a "thank you" basket full of caramels, taffy, and gigantic chocolate-covered caramel apples. Cuz, ya know, the caramel apple isn't quite sweet enough. #FAIL!

The donut delivery prompted a co-worker and weight loss challenge participant to e-mail me a few hours later, "So… what advice could I get for the dozen donuts in the kitchen? lol"

My answer: DO. Not. Eat.

But it's not always that easy, right? The Badass Armour gets weak - especially on a stressful day, or mid-afternoon when we're hungry again with no healthy snacks in sight. The healthy eating is especially difficult to maintain this time of year, when every day a new decadent temptation finds its way in the door.

So here are a few thoughts on how to Navigate the Sabotage Zone:

1. Don't enter it: This is the simplest one. Out of sight, out of mind. If you go into that break room with the treats 6 times a day, you're upping the strain on your willpower. So stock your desk with water, a little coffee maker, mini cooler to stock your lunch, whatever it takes to avoid ever needing to go into the Sabotage Zone.

2. Bring in your own Ammo: Fine, if passive-aggressive Suzie wants to thwart your weight loss efforts by bringing in the cookies, fire back. Every week, stock that Sabotage Zone with "Safe Reserves," the healthy snacks you can turn to when hunger sets in. Let your co-workers have the chocolate, leftover birthday cake and whatever else. Fuel yourself with stuff like hummus and pita or carrots, string cheese, chocolate protein shakes, fruit, etc.

3. No change, no cash, no candy: You can't use the vending machine stocked with all those processed cheese crackers and candy treats or soda if you don't have change or cash. So play poor, and that Snickers bar won't be an option.

4. Consider the penance: Of course the donuts taste good. Of course the gooey Brie would be an awesome mid-afternoon pick-you-up. But before you indulge, consider the calories and the exercise needed to burn it off.  Are 10 extra stadiums or 2 extra miles of running worth it? If so, go ahead - and be sure to pay the penance via exercise. But all that penance can quickly turn into a marathon. So do the math. Especially during the holidays, it's all of these extra little nibbles that add up to those 5 to 10 pounds come Dec. 31.

5. Take 5: When the urge to enjoy the Sabotage Zone hits, just wait 5 minutes. Odds are, by the time 5 minutes is up, you might have changed your mind or gotten distracted by something else. Or, if your office is like most, the 5-minute wait is all it takes for that last donut you almost ate to be eaten by someone else. And for you, that's a win!

Eight IS Enough...when you multiply it by Eight

Three sets, 12 to 15 reps each. Pyramid sets of 6-8-12-8-6. Sloooow reps of 4 counts up, 4 counts down. Yadda yadda....

In strength training, there are multiple strategies for building your workouts. Depending on your goals or where you are in your Badass Fitness journey, each of them has a place.

But always, we should be looking for new challenges. Muscles adapt, and when they do, it is imperative that we give them a little shock and awe. Otherwise, we get stuck - as does the scale and the tape measure tracking the size of our biceps, thighs, waist, etc.

So this week, I challenge you to a new challenge: The 8X8, first created by former Mr. Universe Vince Gironda (picture at right, courtesy of Critical Bench). Now deceased, Gironda never got fame like the late bodybuilder Jack Lalane. But Gironda's nickname was "Iron Guru," so the Hollywood trainer clearly had somethin' goin' on!

The 8X8, much like his other preferred combos of 10X10,15X4, etc., are based on achieving maximum muscle density by increasing the workout intensity as a unit of time. Translation: Maintain the reps and sets, while decreasing the rest time in between, until you get little rest in between.

It works like this, and I can testify after a few sessions' worth that it burns: Do 8 sets of an exercise, 8 reps per set. Start with exactly 60 seconds of rest in between sets, maintaining the same rest for that day's workout.The next session you work that muscle group, decrease the rest time by 5 to 10 seconds.

Over time, you will get down to as little as 15 to 20 seconds of rest in between sets - an intensity that will result in awesome muscle building! This is a great technique to use for six to eight weeks as a changeup to whatever weight training method you've been using.

A note on weights/intensity: Find weights that leave you feeling challenged, but that aren't so heavy that you find you can't finish all 8 sets - this means if you normally do three sets of 15 shoulder presses with 30 pounds, you should drop down to 20 or so pounds.

And you don't need to do more than three to four exercises per session. So on legs day, maybe it's just squats, calf raises, and leg presses. On chest day, flat bench flys plus decline chest press and incline chest press. Trust me, you'll still feel this. (Also, if you want to keep the heart rate going, especially with the minute rest in between, do 25 jacks in between each of the 8 sets.)

Here is a shoulders and triceps workout, which took me about 45 minutes to complete Sunday. I used the 60-second rest as my baseline, and next time will do 50 seconds of rest in between, followed by 40 seconds the following session, etc. (The following day, I did legs - Smith machine squats, leg presses, and hamstring curls - with a 30-second rest in between. That did not tickle....)

Shoulders/Triceps Eight is Enough

8x8 #1

• Overhead dumbbell presses

8x8 #2

• Straight-arm dumbbell shoulder side raises

   

8x8 #3

• Tricep weighted two-bench dips (10 to 20 lb weight plate)

 8x8 #4

• Tricep rope press-down


Coming up: The Sabotage Zone for healthy eating, and tips on Eating for 2 (a-days)...

 

#360to30: Halfway there, and not backing down.

Milestones get celebrated here in the Badass Army, and our guest blogger Chris celebrates a doozy this week - halfway down the road on his #360to30 journey to find the strongest 30-year-old he can be, inside and out. So let's check in with Chris, who is recovering after two - yes, two! - knee surgeries but hardly slowing down....

“What’s going to be harder:  1st year at West Point, or my first swim lesson for @xopherfl?”

This is the last thing I read before going to sleep the other night.  See, my swim coach Brecht Heuchan is kinda insane.  He’s one of those nut job tri-athletes that I, for some reason, want to become. 

Swim 2000 meters before work?  No problem!  70 mile bike on a nice Sunday afternoon?  Why not 90!  (OK, he never actually said any of these, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did.)  So I fall asleep having flashbacks to Plebe drowning and wondering like I have a lot in the past 180-plus days “What the HELL have I gotten myself into?”  I wake up and head to Trousdell Aquatics Center. 

*Side note: The facility was very clean, and has an amazing staff (Thanks Clarissa for taking the picture!).  Good job to the City of Tallahassee for maintaining such a nice place.*

I look in the water for my trainer and he’s doing laps, don’t know how long he’s been there but I’m hoping long enough that he will be tired.  NO. SUCH .LUCK.  Dude sees me, jumps out with a huge smile on his face.  I should’ve known I was in trouble when I saw his Speedo: “Winning” on the front, “Tiger Blood” on the back. 

I have to say it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and probably because he was being easy on me and he’s going to try to drown me next time.  A few tips, some advice and some things to practice and I was on my way.  It’s amazing how much a good coach will help.  By the time I had done 75 meters I noticed a difference in my stroke, my heart rate, and my breathing.  I actually felt comfortable in the water, a place that is not my element at all. But he assured me that come April, I will smoke the 500 meters I am going to be swimming!

Yes, we are little over the halfway mark right now in #360to30.  In 173 days, the 360 to 30 will come to an end in a glorious fashion.  But let’s reflect on three things I have learned over the last 193 days. 

• Eat right – My diet has changed, which has helped my budget SO much.  A small investment of a mini-fridge in the office helped a lot.  Controlling my portions, packing lunches, and the wonderful myfitnesspal.com have helped so much in making sure I not only eat the right things, but that I eat enough to fuel my workouts.  One thing I learned quickly is that even if you want to lose weight, you need to eat, and if you don’t keep track, you don’t realize how little you are helping your body.

• Know your body – I know I have said it before, and Shannon has said it as well: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!  Take that time to rest if you need.  We had a conversation a few months ago about seeing people taking three classes a day, every day, for weeks straight.  You don’t get the results you want if you beat up your body.  Muscles need time to recover, and the only thing that will come from overtraining is injury.

• Mondays cannot be, will not be, and AREN’T Fridays as much as they used to be – I am not going to lie and say that I have completely turned around on how much I go out, but I will adamantly state that it has changed.  Yes, there are still days where I text a friend and say “Monday is not Friday,” but those days are fewer and further between than they were in years past.  When given the choice between happy hour and an evening lift, I take the evening lift 8 out of 10 times.  And if I do go out, I never use it as an excuse for not doing exercise the next morning: Play Hard, WORK HARDER.

So here we are, 173 days to go. Not backing down, and embracing my challenges.  #360to30

Coming this week: Eating for 2(a-days), and a routine using the 8x8 strength training method.

 

It's Friday! 2 weeks left to vote for this blog as among the best! http://www.shape.com/sweepsproducts/you-tell-us/shape-2011-best-blogger-awards-vote-your-favorite-sports-blog

Friday Confessional: Frozen Swiss Rolls, Chocolate Dunkers, and that 'one cookie'

When the e-mail subject line reads like an actual sinner-to-priest confessional, you know it's going to be a doozy. And when another e-mail comes complete with pictures of chicken and dumplings AND blueberry pudding dessert, well, bust out the extra rosaries.

Yes, Badasses, it's baaaaack! The Friday Confessional returns, just in time for the Food Frenzy Season that begins this month with Halloween candy and ends with Christmas dinner leftovers and New Year's Eve hors d'ouvres.

This first week is, appropriately, a fine example of the comforting reality that we ALL "cheat" when it comes to eating healthy or slacking off exercise. And ya know what? That is OK. There is no judging in the Badass Army, so we confess, forgive ourselves and others - and move on to better eats and the next workout.

Moreover, a day off the wagon doesn't doom our efforts. One of this week's most massive - and funniest - confessionals comes from one of my training clients who, through clean eating most of the time and plenty of exercise, is down 20 lbs and counting.

So here goes....

• I will start with myself, and the ugliness that was Saturday. It started strong with bootcamp fueld by a protein-berry smoothie. I stayed on track until my beloved Gators played LSU at 3:30 that afternoon. What ensued was a game-watching party, hosted by LSU fans, at which I drowned my "they are playing like crap" sorrows in gumbo, too much white rice, Gator Picante (yes, yes, the ultimate Orange and Blue sin of eating the mascot....), apple custard pie, and two large cookies. Not even an hour later, at another friend's house, I ate two slices of homemade sausage and pepperoni pizza and later washed it down with wine, a vodka soda, and then an almond tequila shot. Hail Mary, indeed....
• My co-worker Ayla -in between her vegetarian eating trial - has been helping herseflf to the frozen Swiss Rolls her  roommate left behind before recently moving out. "I would never buy those, but since they're there....and they are really good!"
• A bootcamp student, Laura, started a new job two weeks ago and this week has discovered the Hershey's dark chocolate goodness that her co-worker leaves in a dish on her desk. "And she refills it every morning! Dang that evil dark chocolate and my itty bitty co-worker!"
• Tara, a single working mom, managed to down an entire box of Pizza Hut Chocolate Dunkers by herself. "Those things are the devil!" she insists.

Tammy is down a few pounds and into "those jeans" in spite of this stumble: "So I was good ALL WEEK!  And then yesterday I had a lunch date with the ladies at my Mother's house and I fell off the wagon and did a few back flips after I fell.  Though it does not show me consuming the guilty pleasure I consumed, here are the pictures of my indulgence yesterday.  :( 
 
This (at left) would be my Mother's homemade chicken and dumplings and her to die for dessert of Blueberry 4 Layer )at right).
 
On a high note though, I did fit into a pair of jeans that I tried on not more than 2 weeks ago at the store and couldn't even button them and I've lost 3 pounds as of this morning.  Time to get right with myself again.  :)

• Chris, halfway to his #360to30 goal, hit the Heart Attack Trifecta this week: Fried Chicken and Red Velvet Cake Waffles at a local food truck, AND Chik-fil-A, AND happy hour drinks

And now, about Sarah, who is training for Tough Mudder in December and looks like a leaner, more toned woman since we began training 5 months ago. She is down more than 20 pounds, has cuts in her arms, and is back to wearing those smaller-sized clothes she had all but given up on. But this week, there was this cookie, which begat the latte, which begat the motherlode of Triscuit binges. Read on:

Forgive me, Shannon Colavecchio, for I have sinned... Not once, but three times - in one day.
 
It all started Tuesday when the scale showed that I was ahead of my schedule for my regular weight loss goal for the week. VICTORY!!!  I was feeling good. I had a great run Monday night and successfully fended off the cookies the day before. But little did I know that was all about to change...temptations were looming around every corner.
 
When I arrived at work and settled in at my desk, I immediately realized that I forgot to bring my lunch and afternoon snack to work -- #epicfail. This meant I would have to try to find something "badass approved" at one of the nearby restaurants for both. No worries, I thought to myself. I had done this plenty of times before...
 
As I ran downstairs to the cafeteria to try and grab something quickly, I saw it... THE HOLY MOTHER OF COOKIES. You know...the one that is not all the way cooked, but cooked just enough to be safe to consume (or at least we convince ourselves to believe that it is...). I immediately reverted to my inner cookie monster and thought, "NOM! NOM!" but my Badass said "NO! NO!"
 
Thinking that it would not hurt to look, I opened up the case…and then it all went downhill.  I took one look at that perfection, followed by a deep inhale of all its glory and out of nowhere – PUFF! – it was in my hand. There was no going back at that point.
 
Around 3 p.m. when I normally have my afternoon snack, I decided to partake in a Skinny Vanilla Latte. I am now convinced that the cookie at lunch was magical. Now given the opportunity to not make another mistake, something takes a hold of me – code for NONE OF THIS IS MY FAULT.  Instead of ordering the Grande. I do the unthinkable….wait for it... Venti please! Also known as Sin #2... I blame the magical cookie.
 
At this point, one might think that I had enough cheats for one day, but one might also be wrong. When I hit the grocery store after work... I was just getting started. I decide to take “go big or go home” to a whole new level. With my Fooducate App in tow, I loaded up a basket full of healthy fruits, vegetables, lean turkey, etc. poised to redeem myself (again) for my sins of the day. But, as I made my way to the checkout line, all I could think about was something besides veggies to dip my hummus in, so I started to wander to... THE CRACKER AISLE!!!!! D’oh!!!! THE CRACKER AISLE???? What the heck was I thinking? With so much salty goodness at my disposal, I knew I was about to make Sin #3 and fast...

Now, in my defense, I did select the Reduced Fat Triscuits that were rated a B+ on the Fooducate app. #patontheback However, the fact that I opted for the Family-Size box of these B+ Triscuits probably won't earn me any brownie points. Mmmm…brownies. But buying the box wasn't the sin... it is what I chose to do with this box that lands me in the "Badass Doghouse." My not-so-badass shoved 30 (Muahahaha) of these Family-Size Triscuits with red pepper hummus into my mouth around 9:30 p.m. -- A double sin if you ask me!
 
So, with that - I confess! May my cookie-eating, latte-drinking, family-size-Triscuit-eating self redeem her Badass status STAT! PLEASE!

Sarah and everyone: Drop, give me 50 pushups, and all is forgiven. Here's to a new day, a new start! Have a great weekend!

Coming next week: Chris is halfway to that #360to30, a guide to eating for 2(a-days), and a cycle mix plus profile.

The Multi-tasker's Workout

We hold conference calls while answering e-mails on our laptops. We eat while driving, and check Twitter while waiting for the red light to turn green.

We call relatives and friends to get caught up while stirring dinner on the stove, and in between help the kids with homework or tidy the living room. Maybe you're even reading this blog on your iPhone or BlackBerry while waiting for your next meeting (hopefully NOT while driving!)

Yes, we have become a society of  Master Multi-taskers. Yet this time-saving strategy doesn't often make its way into our fitness, which makes it all the easier to skip exercise with the lament of, "Oh, I don't have time." Yes, you do. Read on.

That 30-minute strength training session can be boiled down to 15-20 minutes if you use combination moves that work multiple body parts. It's that whole work smarter, not longer, thing. Instead of just doing squats, combine a squat with shoulder raises. Don't just lunge - do biceps curls with each lunge. When you pushup, add in back rows.

A few of my clients come to me for 30-minute sessions. When we started out, they were skeptical about being able to "get enough of a workout" in that shorter window. But their schedules also don't leave room for much more. So we make every minute count. Ask them now, and they will testify to the butt-kicking that can take place in the time it takes to bake a casserole.

Try it out for yourself with this routine, which uses timed sets with no rest in between the three exercises in each circuit. You rest for 2 to 3 minutes after a circuit, before heading into the next circuit:

Multi-Tasker's Workout

Warmup: 30 seconds each of jack squats, (leg work plus cardio) mountain climbers (core and arms/shoulders plus cardio), running in place with high knees (core plus cardio) and plank hops (obliques plus arms and cardio)

Circuit 1: Shoulders and legs

Squats with Front Shoulder Raises: Holding dumbbells (or resistance bands) that will challenge you (start with 3 to 8 lb for shoulders, heavier if it feels too light), squat slowly and as you squat, do front shoulder raises, stopping for a second when your arms are at shoulder height. Keep the arms as straight as you can. As you come out of the squat, lower the dumbbells back down. That's one rep. Do this for 45 to 60 seconds.

Lunges with Side Shoulder Raises: Holding your dumbbells, step the right leg out front, with enough distance from the back (left) leg that when you come down into a lunge, your right leg ends at 90 degrees. You don't want the right knee over your toes. As you come down into the lunge, raise your straight arms out to the side, pausing at the top when your hands are parallel with your shoulders. Lower the dumbbells as you come up from the lunge. That's one rep. Do 30 seconds on the right side, and repeat the same lunge-shoulder raise combo for 30 seconds on the left leg. (Bonus: Lunge on top of a Bosu, pictured at left)

Plie' Squat with Overhead Shoulder Press: Holding the dumbbells at your shoulders, position the feet wide apart, wider than your hips and with the toes turned out at about 45 degrees. Bring the butt straight up and down slowly for each plie' squat, making sure the legs end up at 90 degrees when you reach the bottom of the squat. As you plie' squat, press the dumbbells overhead. Go for 45 to 60 seconds.

Rest for 2 minutes, repeat the circuit.

Circuit 2: Core and Back

Pushup-Plank with Overhead Reach: Get into a pushup position, dumbbells on the floor and hands on top. Do a pushup and as you come up, raise the right dumbbell overhead above your right shoulder as you pivot into a side plank. Go back to the center, pushup and do the overhead reach on the left side. That's one rep. You know the drill: 45 to 60 seconds.

Plank-Pushup with Dumbbell Row: With the dumbbells on the floor and your hands on top, get into a plank, making sure your shoulders are positioned over your hands. Hold the plank for a few seconds, lower into a pushup, and as you come back up into the plank, pull the right dumbbell up into a row, keeping the elbow close to your side. Lower back down into a pushup, come up and row on the left side. Repeat for the 45 to 60 seconds.

Rest for 2 minutes, repeat the circuit.

STRETCH!

Coming Friday: The Friday Confessional is back! Send me your wellness "sins" this week - PopTart binge? Too many sodas? Pizza overload? - and they are officially forgiven! Best part: We take comfort in knowing we are not alone! Email me at shannon@badassfitness.net...