Monday, September 9, 2013

Getting off Track / Workouts

Sometimes things happen.  Maybe they're within our realm of control, maybe they're not.

But we're human. 

Last weekend, I was terribly sick with the flu.  I came down with it Sunday afternoon around 2:30 pm and didn't get out of bed until Monday evening around 6 pm.  I never get sick like that, and it was horrible.

Then on Wednesday, my youngest son - who has a serious health condition as it is - came down with the same flu virus, but his lasted up until last evening.  Four miserable days of a sick little guy, and being up between 4 and 5 times a night checking on him.

Needless to say, I didn't do so awesome of a job of getting to the gym last week.  I was recovering, then just plain exhausted.  Along with my exhaustion came a lot of worry about my sweet little man, which led to a little bit of emotional eating, I'm not even going to lie to you.

Sunday 09/01
REST DAY - as is my routine. 

Monday 09/02
No Gym - so very sick.

Tuesday 09/03
No Gym - trying to recover.

Wednesday 09/04
Core and Ab Work, though my head was still pounding every time I moved.
30 minutes on the elliptical.

Then, the dang flu virus attacked my Jameson.

Thursday 09/05
No Gym - home with Jameson, and up several times in the night.

Friday 09/06
Legs
15 minutes at 7.1 mph, 1.5% incline
15 minutes elliptical
(Up several times in the night)

Saturday 09/07
No Gym - up several times in the night with Jameson.


So as you can see - not great.  But like I said, these things happen.

It's never an excuse to say, "Well, I've screwed up, might as well just take this week off as well."

I can imagine how easy it would be to completely fall off the bus.  I got right back at it this morning.  I had over a quart of water in me before leaving my house at 7:15.  I had a great arms/chest workout, followed by a 3.31 mile run.  I had a healthy morning snack, and am about to eat some protein for lunch.

Life happens.  You have to keep your goals and priorities in the forefront of your mind, and go out and get what you want!  You've got this. :)

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Body Fat Percentage

If I've learned anything in my intense research and my following of fitness accounts on social media, it's that the real way to measure your physique is by body fat percentage.  Weight is a number.  Height is a number.  BMI is a number.  They don't mean jack squat.  Really, they don't.
 
A 4'9" girl who's in the gym every day and weighs 150 pounds because she busts her ass and has wicked muscle definition is going to look quite different from her 5'3" counterpart who weighs the same, eats what she wants, and hasn't been to a gym once in her life.  Would you not agree?
 
About five weeks ago, I ran with a couple girlfriends, and one of them brought a body fat percentage calculator with her for the other two of use to use.  I was super excited to get the result of 20.5%, as I thought I was closer to 22%.
 
Today, I was in the gym and decided to use the gym's calculator to test again, to see if I'd improved at all.  Today's result was 21.5%.
 
Now, I don't think I've gained a percentage point in body fat in the last five weeks, but I also don't think I've lost any.  I think it's a case of lack of conformity between the two different brands of body fat calculators.  My best guess is that I'm somewhere between 21% and 21.5% body fat. 
 
So that got me to thinking, what's average?  I found a couple of sources:
 
Average body fat percentage for women in the USA
34% - Source
 
 
8-15% = athletic
16-23% = good
24-30% = acceptable
31-36% = overweight
>37% = obese
 
10-13% = essential fat
14-20% = athletes
21-24% = fitness
25-31% = average
32%+ = obese
 
So that being said, what kind of goal do I set for myself moving forward from this point?

I do feel that I've "fluffed" up a bit in the past month or so.  I know I've eaten more calories than I've been used to, but I've done my best to make them healthy.  I'm going to continue to work towards a body fat percentage of under 20% by Thanksgiving, and hopefully somewhere around 18% by next spring.

Do you know what your body fat percentage is? 

Do you have any body fat percentage goals?

What kind of workouts do you do?

Do you lift?
 
 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Workouts: August 25 - 31

I can't believe August is over already!  What the heckballz happened??

Sunday 8/25 - Rest Day, as usual

Monday 8/26 - Arms + 30 minutes HIIT on the elliptical

Tuesday 8/27 - 3.60 miles + legs
(Leg day AND running in the same day?  I'm crazy, yes.)

Wednesday 8/28 - 30 minutes elliptical + a few random ab exercises
My gym finally caught on to the fact that my two week free trial ended three weeks ago.  I was locked out. :(

Thursday 8/29 - 3.35 mile run + arms (I have an actual gym membership now, no worries.)

Friday 8/30 - 30 mins HIIT elliptical + leg day

Saturday 8/31 - 10 minutes treadmill (7.1 mph @ 1.5% incline) + 20 minutes HIIT elliptical + core work

Miles for the week: 8.28
Miles for August: 41.53
Miles for 2013: 338.29