Working Out

I've had quite a few people ask me how I've been losing weight.  It's really quite simple: burn more calories than you take in.  (Translation: eat less, exercise more)

Yes, but how?

I will tell you what works for me.  I should state that I am not a physician, a health coach nor a weight loss guru of any kind.  I am just a normal guy who has lost some weight and has a whole bunch more to lose.  You should talk to your doctor before starting any exercise routine.

Also, what works for me, may not work for you.  Just because I see results from this workout, doesn't mean you will.  Try to find an exercise that you could do for at least 30 minutes a day. (My time is limited to 30 minutes, so I try to keep all of my routines around that time.)

My workout is based on a number of books, DVDs and personal preferences that I have tweaked over the years.  I am riddled with ADD, so I like to change it up quite a bit, but here are the basics:

• Two non-consecutive days of weight training, divided into upper body (arms, shoulders, back) and Lower Body (abs, legs)
• Two days cardio
• One day of Yoga or Tai Chi

With the exception of my yoga/Tai Chi days, I always start all of my workouts with some jumping jacks, jump rope, push-ups and boxing to warm up.  (I have a mini boxing gym in my garage, but with the cold weather, I usually just do some shadow boxing.)  I do this warm-up for about 5 minutes.

Then, depending on the day, I will do the actual workout.  I mix it up every week, so I'm not always doing cardio on Monday, weights on Tuesday and so on.

However, this morning was cardio.  When the weather is good, I jog or ride my bike as my main source of cardio.  There's just something about being outside exercising that makes it a little better than being trapped indoors.

Since the weather sucks, I have various DVDs that I use for cardio.  This morning I did Supreme 90's "Cardio Challenge".  (Supreme 90 is what I call "The poor man's P90X."  It's a set of ten DVDs, with pretty intense workouts covering cardio, weights and core.  You can find it for about $10 at places like Ross or Big 5.)

"Cardio Challenge" is a fast-paced workout where you work for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds.  I know that you're thinking, "That sounds easy."  Trust me, it's not.  The 30 seconds of workout seem like five minutes and the 30 seconds of rest seem like two seconds.)

Tomorrow, I am going to do yoga.  Personally, I like Rodney Yee's DVDs.  I guess I feel they are a bit more - for lack of a better word - "manly".

I will say, though, that even my wife's yoga DVD done by Suzanne Deason is not a walk in the park.  A common mistake most men make is that they assume yoga is easy, so why try it?  Trust me, it's not easy.  Yoga can be a great workout.  It also helps your flexibility, strength and relieves stress.  Try it.  

Wednesday will be what I call "Upper Body A" workout.  (I have Upper Body A-D and Lower Body A-D and I just rotate through them.)  "Upper Body A" consists of incline chest press on a stability ball, back extensions on the ball, kettlebell clean, bicep curls and skullcrushers.

Thursday is cardio again, this time with Jillian Michael's "Cardio Kickboxing".

Friday will be "Lower Body B" which includes side lunges, deadlifts, heel raises and ab crossovers.

Next week will be similar except the routine order will go: Upper Body (weights), Tae Bo (cardio), Tai Chi, Lower Body (weights) and Boot Camp (cardio).

I realize that I will never look like Rambo doing this workout, but it works well for me.