Being Efficient About Cardio - Enter HIIT

When it comes to working out, the amount of time and effort you exert is precious. Unless you're addicted to long distance running, do know that there are more efficient ways to lose fat and get shredded. High Intensity Interval Training is going to be the best cardio you're ever going to do.

HIIT, for short, includes balls-out interval workouts with periods of rest. Your work outs are so hardcore that even when you're in the rest stage, your heart is beating so fast, and working so hard, that you're still burning calories. And not only that, these fast-twitch muscle movement workouts will help you build muscle during your session. Research shows that HIIT is able to increase 24-hour mitochondrial biogenesis, and increase testosterone levels, which is so necessary to build muscle.

HIIT is also very flexible-- you can change up your workout sequence and try out new routines. One of the biggest mistakes I've made this year is stick to the same routine for a WHOLE year. This made my body get used to the movements, and that promoted very little growth. I then slipped into a plateaued state where I basically wasn't building muscle and shredding fat as much as I'd like. I highly suggest changing up your HIIT workouts every two weeks to a month for variety and to "shock" your body.

Here is a sample work out I started doing for this month. I got this routine from Anne Phung's Instagram. Make sure you have a timer on:

30 Second BURPEES
30 Second Mountain Climbers
30 Second Ham String Walk Outs
30 Second Jumping Lunges
REST
Now do this 4 times, with only 1 minute rest in between each circuit. DO NOT rest between those individual 30 second sets-- it'll defeat the purpose of intensity.
LOL DEAD. I know.

On top of my HIIT, I also like to add other smart workouts. My inspiration comes from another Insta-famous Coach, BFITLIKEVANE

She calls these two routines the "Bulgarian split squat/ clean/ press/ one legged RDL" and "Bridge with weighted leg lift and tricep extension." Whew, what a mouthful. Whew, this workout freakin' killed me. Please check out my attempt in the video below.

A video posted by Grace H (@grraceface) on Apr 10, 2016 at 5:45pm PDT

I'm hoping to create my own routines next month. This month I'm only borrowing from others because I couldn't find the inspiration to do my own workouts since I've been hitting them hard for one year straight. Keep in mind that with any kind of workout, it's key to change it up once in a while to give your muscles a pleasant surprise.

As a recap, let's REVIEW THE BENEFITS OF HIIT!
- TIME EFFICIENT
- MORE VARIETY
- BUILDS MUSCLE
- BURNS FAT
- BURNS FAT WHILE RESTING
- INCREASES METABOLISM

Cheers to you and enjoy your workout!

Upper Body Party - Chest and Lats

I'm all for upper body days since they're my favorite. They're also my weakness because truth be told, I don't have too much of a variety of workouts that I do for upper body. I usually break up my upper body days into two parts-- chest/ lats, and chest/ tris. I understand that doing so much chest in a week will result in lesser boobs, but whatever. I had none to begin with anyway.

Lat/ Shoulder Day and Bench

Let's start off with Benching. Benching is SO necessary to perk up your chest, to build your shoulders, and strengthen your lats. 

Bench- warm up 65lbs x10

85 lbs x5

95 lbs x5

100 lbs x5

105 lbs x5

Wide grip bench (targets your lats)

65 lbs x8

85 lbs x5

95 lbs x5

3 sec pause wide grip bench (targets lats, improves bench form)

75 lbs x5

85 lbs x5

95 lbs x3

Bent Over Back Rows (targets lats)

65 lbs x10

75 lbs x10 x 2

85 lbs x 8

Dumbbell Rows (targets lats)

35 lbs x 10 x 5

Dumbbell Shoulder Presses (duh, shoulders)

20 lbs  x 10 x 5

Dumbbell Bicep Curls

15 lbs x 10 x 4 

Pull Ups (targets ego. jk. Pull ups are great for upper body overall)

10 x 3

Dumbbell delt raises (delts)

10 lbs x 10 x 4

Medicine Ball Twists (targets middle back and abs)

10 lbs ball x 30 x 4 

Afterwards, you'll feel so jacked that you are tempted to take a douchey selfie like this

With my hip injury, I've upped the amount of times I work on upper body in a week. I've seen drastic changes in the sculpting of my shoulders and chest during this time. 

What's a Diet? What?

The favorite topic of every bodybuilding enthusiast-- D I E T.

Sometimes when I think of dieting, I want to shoot myself. Well.. not really but some people see it as torture to know you can have great food, but not choose to eat it.

I had a hard time figuring out which diet is right for me. I tried the simple "low carb" diet, IIFYM (If it fits your macros), high protein diet, and I found that it was so hard to stay consistent. 

This past weekend my friend and I were talking about the paleo diet-- one in which you cut out processed foods, and any other food that cavemen won't eat (LOL literally, cavemen). The concept behind this is that our natural bodies are not made to run on processed foods. Our bodies are built to survive, not.. indulge. Back in the cave days, early men and women ate what was accessible to them-- meat, vegetables, nuts, and fruits. These basics were enough to survive on. 

I've been doing some reading, and finding that part of the reason why people are obese nowadays is due to processed foods that are high in carbohydrates, sodium, sugar, etc-- our bodies don't take and break down what we're eating very well, which is why processed foods can cause us to become obese or can lead to cancer.

All of this is based off of brief research I did on the paleo. I know that I myself have a hard time sticking to any type of food restriction, so I decided to personalize my diet plan. 

If you're going to put together a plan for dieting, know what you can and cannot give up. Also make it so that it's doable and is something that won't make you hate your life:

- Know your limits

- Have a clear fitness goal in mind

- Do this with friends and keep track of each other

- Stay consistent-- but give yourself a cheat meal once a week

I chose the paleo diet because I'm not a huge fan of bread and carbs anyway (except for dessert-- so this is going to be kind of hard). It's easy for me to eat healthy and make salads because my workplace offers great salad options (kale, spinach-- none of that iceberg lettuce shit), and they also have unlimited amounts of protein choices. Sometimes I'd swing by the asian noodle/ pho counter and ask for a boxful of shrimp and chicken and it'll be chill. But if your workplace/ school does not offer healthy options, meal prep is a must.

Graciously tossed salad by the salad chefs at my work place. I was able to choose my own ingredients: Herbed chicken, boiled eggs, kale, edamame, almonds, and Zinfandel dressing. Oh and a sprinkle of parmesan (totally not paleo at all). 

Being able to control the source of where you get your food is very important-- so if you're on a specific diet, there will be a lot of meal preparation and cooking involved.

Since sticking with Paleo was a goal set with my boyfriend and my friend, we are able to keep each other accountable for what we're eating on a day-to-day basis. It's also refreshing-- we send each other pics of our food, and it's sort of like a knowledge sharing chat of different things we can eat.

And of course.. cut yourself some slack for one to two meals out of the week. It's hard to eat the same stuff over and over again without anticipating something delicious later on.

Accommodating Injuries - Volume Leg Day

The recipe to that desired big booty is to build mass-- which means for your work outs, increase volume and use heavy weight. I'm accommodating my leg days to the fact that I cannot squat. Check this routine out:

Hip Thrusters
- Bar x 12
- 85 lbs x 15
- 85 lbs x 15
- 85 lbs x 15
- 115 lbs x 12
- 115 lbs x 12

Deficit Romanian Deadlifts
135 lbs x 10 x 4

Leg Press
225 lbs x 12 x 2
275 lbs x 10 x 2

Hamstring Curls 
weighted at 60 lbs x 12 x 5

Quad Leg Extensions
weighted at 55 lbs  x 12 x 5

Curtsey Lunges (These feel SUPER weird to do. But you'd be surprised that it works wonders on your gluts)
20 lbs x 20 x 2
30 lbs x 20 x 2

Walking Lunges
30 lbs on your back x 20 x 3

Bent Over Calf Raises (Body Weight)
Body Weight x 25 x 3

Quite a hefty amount of workouts to do, and quite a lot of volume. But hey, you're not going anywhere with just body weight work outs. Sure you can have a butt, but why not work a bit harder to gain an ASS.

Cheers to n00b beginnings

Hi. I'm new.

New to the blog, not so much new to the fitness game.

Four years into the my fitness journey, I still consider myself a novice. Why? Because it is so important to constantly learn new things throughout the journey to increase workout variety. The variety is what makes your body change and it is what constantly helps your body grow.

I started off bodybuilding and aspiring to achieve an aesthetic build (Think typical girls and their desire for abs and a rockin' booty). I then got addicted to strength and fell in love with powerlifting-- every time I stepped into the gym, it was a rivalry between me at the time, and me the day before. Not only was it fun competition with intentions to be better every time, it was also stress-relieving to throw plates around. It was all good for a year, and then I started to feel pain in my left hip. This searing pain activated when I was in squatting position, with my quads below parallel to the floor.

This pain was sharp, and was an indicator that something was wrong. I went to an orthopedic doctor, whom mentioned that I have a torn hip labrum. To my surprise, he told me that I won't be able to squat again. Surgery won't get me up to 100% either. Well, that sucks.

During this time, I was unmotivated with my work outs, and I stuck to my old routines, but I cut out squatting. At this point, I found no progress in strength nor body building. It was as if my fitness game slipped, and I had no motivation to recover it. Knowing that I will not be able to squat again meant that I won't be able to compete in any powerlifting competitions at my best. Since the squat is an integral workout that helps build muscles to drive the strength of the deadlift, I knew that the deficiency of squats will impact my deadlift strength negatively.

After a couple months, I found the motivation to take fitness seriously again. Sure, I'll have to rule heavy lifting out of the equation, but that doesn't mean all hope is lost. That phrase-- that one cliche-- "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"... what do you do?

When life takes away your squats... you find alternative workouts.

I guess I'm writing this blog to showcase my alternative workouts for not only myself, but for others who experience the same type of body struggles. My intention is to track my routines, and to help me constantly change my workouts to "shock" my body so that it doesn't get used to the same movements.

The well-roundedness of different routines will allow you to build not only a healthy body, but also an aesthetic one.

Mobility will prevent injury and promote better range-of-motion
Bodybuilding will help you build muscles to handle increased strength
Strength will make you stronger as an athlete overall.

These components, along with diet, are what I'm implementing into my life so that I may fill that void until I can powerlift again. Fitness is a lifestyle that I chose, and hopefully I can learn to love what more variety could do for my life.