New Month New Fit Goals

I'll be the first to admit I get pretty bored with my fitness routine, so bored in fact that the only constant in my workout routine is zumba on Wednesdays with my co-workers. I'm constantly searching for new ways to challenge myself and combing through research on the most effective workouts for weight loss.

During my personal training sessions we woke up a sleeping giant so to speak in the form of a knee injury that hasn't bothered me in ages. As a result I took a week off from my personal training sessions and began experimenting with a variety of workouts while nursing my knee. Through a combination of weight training along with both high intensity and steady state cardio I lost three pounds over the course of a week by changing nothing other than my workout routine.

After workout pic & grilled chicken covered in artichoke dip-YUM!

My daily workouts were broken down as such: 10-20 minutes of high intensity cardio to begin (Zumba Fitness, ploymetric routines or a high intensity cardio DVD) followed by 20 to 30 minutes of strength training and ending with twenty to thirty minutes of steady state cardio on the elliptical or stationary bike. Finally I committed to at least three sets of one abdominal exercise per day.

I came up with this plan of attack based on my not-so-scientific research on how different forms of exercise impact your weight loss and body in general. Starting with high intensity cardio such as running sprints, it's said to improve endurance, burn more fat than muscle, increase metabolism and HIIT cardio can be done without equipment. On the other hand steady state cardio like walking, jogging and utilizing stationary equipment tends to burn more calories, may be a better option for exercise novices and helps your body stay in a fat burning zone. Finally, my favorite exercise of all, weight training. Not only should we as women be lifting more weight in order to maintain muscle mass that we lose yearly as we age but weight training also improves bone density, boost confidence, continues burning fat long after the workout is complete and makes me feel like a real bad ass!

I decided to combine all three forms of exercise, modified to some degree based on my knee, to see what happened and now I'm two pounds away from where the magic happens. You see, I've been lingering in the 180's for quite some time. Part of that is because although I stayed true to exercise and a modified eating plan I also wanted to enjoy the summer, our vacation and time with friends and family without making weight loss rule my lifestyle. Now I'm bound and determined to break out of this weight loss lull and began dropping pounds again. The reason goes way beyond just a number on the scale, as a 5'4 curvy gal my body becomes much more proportionate as the scale goes down. My clothes fit better and I really know I'm feeling good when I can fit comfortably into the jeans I met my husband in, right now I can get them on and buttoned but sitting down isn't an option.

I'm definitely going to continue my hybrid workout routines, in my opinion it's giving me the best of all three forms of exercise. I'm strength training different body parts daily, I'm maintaining the fat burning zone with steady state cardio and I'm increasing my agility and endurance with high intensity cardio. The added bonus is that I'm pushing myself just enough as not to injure my knee, it feels much better but I'm still very aware of my limits. Finally, in regards to weight loss I'm really attempting to focus on indulging less as the holidays approach. I pick and choose my treats be sure to tune in next week to find out how I plan to balance my weight loss and Thanksgiving indulgences.