Week 1 of 12 of our Body Transformation Challenge! Lessons when making huge lifestyle changes!
This week I and a few members started a 12 week body transformation challenge exercise and nutrition program with the goal of making a huge lifestyle change.
It’s 12 weeks of 5 days a week of strength training, 5 days of running or rowing, and nutrition changes.
Here is what I’ve learned so far…
Recovery, recovery, recovery!
I need to be eating MORE
I ate a lot of sugar!
Importance of water!
How much I prefer my way of training over all the rest. lol
Recovery. Recovery. Recovery.
Of course I already knew these things and I preach them every day to clients but it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a structured program. It is actually reminding me of being in sports again which like.
I am using my Whoop strap and I am SO glad I have it. I was wondering how all of this would impact my recovery and let’s just say that if I continue down this path it won’t be good!
Here is what my training week looks like:
Monday
5:45am-6:30am bootcamp
6:45-7:30am bootcamp
7:45-8:45 A12 program
20 min of sprinting
Tuesday
6-6:45am Cardio Class
7-7:45am Strength class
7:45-8:45 A12 program
20 min of running
Wednesday
5:45am-6:30am bootcamp
6:45-7:30am bootcamp
7:45-8:45 A12 program
20 min of sprinting
Thursday
20 min of running
7:45-8:45 A12 program
Friday
5:45am-6:30am bootcamp
6:45-7:30am bootcamp
7:45-8:45 A12 program
20 min of sprinting
This is A LOT and my body sure told me that. I got home from the studio on Wednesday and really needed to get some work done but I was exhausted! I rested my eyes what I was planning for 20 mins and it turned into 5 hours! Eek! But I knew I needed it. My Whoop had me at a 27% recovery…which is TERRIBLE. After being able to sleep and just rest on Wednesday, I am not back up to 60-80% recovery! Whew! So, I need to make some changes to my training routine and not do as much of the workouts with the crew when I am coaching in order to sustain the amount of volume that comes with A12 programming.
Which leads me to #2….
I need to be eating MORE!
We need to fuel our bodies for life vs eating for pleasure and indulgence. With that much volume of exercise, strength and cardio, I need to be eating A LOT and a lot of the right things. After the first few days I learned very quickly that I needed to be eating more protein, veggies and carbs (post workout) to be able to sustain what I was doing. Coming home from a vacation on a Sunday and starting something like this on a Monday with no meal prep is not a good idea. I was scrambling each day to figure out what to eat and I was failing…so maybe this lesson really needs to be MEAL PREPPING! LOL.
You can read an old post I wrote You can’t out train a bad diet to understand why food should be looked at as fuel and why calorie restriction is a TERRIBLE…did you hear that???….TERRIBLE route to go.
I ate a lot of sugar!
I did pretty good the first month or two of the pandemic. I wasn’t reaching for crappy food but it wasn’t until about month two that I started to come down from all the stress of completing 180’ing business in less than a week that I started to find I was reaching for my sweets…and a lot. I got into the habit of having a dessert every night after dinner and sometimes after lunch too. Did I say I have a sweet tooth. :)
Coming off a week vacation where I let myself have whatever I wanted plus doing it for 2 months made going cold turkey very difficult.
Of course, I didn’t throw the stuff away in our house because my husband was still eating it so that made it even harder.
Day 1 was ok. I didn’t crave it too much but come day three and four I was trying to convince my husband that I could have it and luckily he kept telling me “NO! You are asking your members to do this so you need to follow it too.”
Day 5 I didn’t crave it at all. I actually went through the entire day of not even wanting sugar. My body had finally detoxed from it. I also did fuel it properly so I was satisfied all day. Which helped a ton! I ate between clients when I could, followed my post workout nutrition protocol and ate my protein, veggies and carbs and I felt great. I had significantly more energy yesterday.
I am on day 6 now and will continue and can’t wait for my “cheat” day tomorrow. I am going to enjoy what I was craving this week then start all over again next week.
The Importance of water!
The first few days I didn’t drink enough water which also led to my very low recovery. Water is SO important especially when you are training as much as I have been.
Hydration Hints according to ACE guidelines
Drink 17 to 20 ounces of water two hours before the start of exercise.
Drink 7 to 10 ounces of fluid every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise.
Drink 16 to 24 ounces of fluid for every pound of body weight lost after exercise.
Want to learn more about why you need to hydrate even if you aren’t exercising? Check out an older blog post I did.
How much I prefer my way of training over all the rest. LOL
Based on your goals, there are different ways to train. I always believe in balance and a little of everything but have learned just how much really like strength endurance training and how my body reacts to each type.
Strength training really wipes me out and takes my body awhile to recover (a trend I am noticing from Whoop and trying to play with my post workout nutrition and hydration to fix) and cardio and power training with kettlebells energizes me and I recover much quicker.
It’s been fascinating watching my recovery and seeing how each time of workout impacts it. I am excited to see what happens when I start adding more load (weight) and reducing my other classes.
Progress? Come Saturday, day 6, I feel great. I am not as bloated (scale says I am down 4lbs (that’s how bloated I was from all the sugar and a week of vacation).
Moral of the story and why most people give up after a couple weeks…
It’s hard to start something.
It’s hard to stick with it.
It can take a long time to see progress. Measuring progress comes in different ways for everyone.
It’s a journey.
You’ve got to listen to your body!
Until next week!