At the Right Intensity for Optimum Performance

A Day of Nothingness

26 & 27 August 2010

Not as sore as I expected to be at breakfast time but definitely tired than I've ever felt, working long hard hours is terrible for my posture and tightening my hips. My body is dying to move, rotate, bend and stretch especially after yesterdays intense weight session. Physically tired I sleep through my 90min Bikram class. Delete effort here. I promise I will make it up to myself later. Dead keen for a run around the city the weather knocks the wind out my sails and turns me into a girl. One thing leads to another and I make it nowhere, but hunched like a monkey in a cage over a computer. GREAT. All I want to do is MOVE and BREATHE and SWEAT... Excited to play with my new toy, I'm dying to find out what my consistent heart rate is like in the yoga Sun Room heated at 35 deg + depending on Bikram or Power yoga. Turning down a Muay Thai class as well. Cranky because I am unable to get my fix I eat instead.

Day 19 Eat
 

Proud of my efforts the night before at Bacini's, famous for their pizzas and pasta's, I conservatively ordered the grilled chicken breast and veg, while everyone else enjoyed delicious pasta's in all caloric indulgent glory. Tucking in to my lean protein meal I thought I had broken boundaries and I was finally cured from my ridiculous obsession with complex carbs smothered in OTT rich sauces and creams. Not until this evening when I decided I would have Simply Asia wok chicken and broccoli, cauliflower and mushroom veg and a little bit of rice (Good choices) but then proceeded to eat more 3/4 of a box of vita snacks and salmon cream cheese: Epic Fail.

Protein Shake (Meal Replacement) half sachet + half banana and 10g peanut butter

Several dates

Chicken, mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli and rice

3/4 Box of Vita Snacks

Salmon Cream cheese (Tbsp of which contains 55 calories) I nearly finished an entire tub. That's about

15 minutes of walking or walking for an hour!!! (4mph) burns the calories in 2 tablespoons of regular cream cheese. Insane.

50m low fat yoghurt + dates + half grated green apple and walnuts

Eat Score

3/10 Destructive eating, counter productive to the goals that have been set.

My Best

 Just right

The new gadget, just a day old, much to my trainers disapproval, on spotting it immediately stated that if I ever mention the amount of calories I needed to burn or have burnt I'm going to be in trouble. Polar Heart Rate monitors lead to obsession he says, a bit late don't you think? I NEVER count caloric expenditure, always just going with it and judging my efforts on the sweat puddles around me, awful hair and how wet my t-shirt is at the end of the session. I have no objection to passing out and getting dizzy, so being over and above "my zone" suits me just fine... Eventually I thought it won't be such a bad idea as I see several people using this fancy gadget. Measuring your height and weight the Polar HR Monitor calculates your "zone" which tells you what heart rate you should be operating in to see results training in the right intensity, doesn’t always mean working faster or harder. Showing you what your optimum heart rate performance zone is. The best way to improving your fitness and seeing results is to train at the right intensity. So with a heart rate monitor, you can make sure you’re not over or under training, and make each session count.

Fancy Mechanics @ its best!! FT4 available at Sportsman's Warehouse R1000.

A heart rate monitor gives you an accurate measurement of how hard your body is working. This allows you to adjust how hard you exercise and achieve your fitness goals, it can also let you know if you should not train as you may need more recovery time. A basic 'rev counter' indicating your current heart rate in beats per minute is displayed.It also displays how hard you are working as a percentage of your maximum rate or how long you've managed to maintain your heart rate inside pre-set target zones. This is a great feature for targeting specific training zones, these are often refereed to as the following: The Energy Efficient or Recovery Zone which is 60% to 70%, The Aerobic Zone - 70% to 80%, The Anaerobic Zone - 80% to 90%, The Anaerobic Zone - 80% to 90% of your maximum heart rate. To see Heart Rate Zones visit http://www.polar.fi/en/training_with_polar/new_to_polar/why_train_with_a_heart_rate_monitor Each zone has a specific benefit and a HRM will help you to stay within these zones and achieve those benefits.

Play VA 

Exhausted, dead-tired, ready to drop, fried, enervated and every variation of the word is what seems to be a thrown around Missit's posts but Jeez this girl is knackered and there is no doubt why. Just two weeks of day dehydration and not being able to refeed myself every few hours and still trying to keep up some form of physical routine a s well as regular "life" activities has really been challenging. Finding a break in my day I shoot out to VA Gardens, wearing 2 x pairs of tights and 2 x t-shirts I have myself a 6.5km run, Posh definitely inspired me. If she can do it on empty I can. 

Then on to PP for some pushups, squat variations, lateral lunges with MD Balls, burpee pushups onto the PP, 1 legged burpee push ups, core work and bridges as well as some DB rows & chest presses until my point of deflection and I feel dizzy. The heart rate zone when performing these type of exercises, when doing the burpees especially, is perfect Aerobic Zone and the body benefits by increasing my aerobic capacity and staying in the fat burning zone for longer, but for a shorter workout time.

Play Rating

Run 6.5km 

+

PP

Sweaty t-shirt rating 8/10

630kcal total

Eat 

The Bombay Bicycle http://www.bombaybicycleclub.co.za/  serve the best chocolate chilli steak and it was exactly what my body was craving, with potatoe bake and crunchy broccoli. For bookings call  021 423 6805, I polished off 2 pieces of the white bread with sundried dip and after dinner snacked on half a bag of Woolies Chuckles... Much later that evening I also indulged in Giovanni's Bar-One Cheesecake, soooo yummm omword :)

Eat the chocolate chilli steak :)

Eat Rating

6/10 Subject should chose her chocolate more wisely, chees cake or Chuckles. Not both. And not at 22:00 either. FAIL.

As soon as the fats is over I'm having all my cake for breakfast.