feeling deflated and defeated.....

[GabrielleD]

I first wanted to say that I love your exercises - I found you through FitTV and I am extremely happy! I was an avid TaeBo fan, and even tho I still enjoy doing those tapes, your exercises have helped me increase my stamina and see defination in areas I never thought possible..especially at my age! I am 40 years old and have only been doing your exercises for 6 months.

The reasons why I am feeling deflated and defeated is this. I contribute at least 1 hour a night, 6 days a week to exercise and yet I am noticing that I am not fitting into my clothes! I have noticed that my tiny belly is not getting flatter - no matter what the exercise I do for the lower abs. Yet, I am seeing defination in my upper abs!

My rearend has become lifted and my thighs have incredible defination - sleek not muscular, yet my skirts are tight in that area!

I am between 117 and 120lbs and 5'4". When I started this routine was between 112 and 115lbs.

I don't know what to do ~ I feel deflated and defeated. I have added your Cardio and Weights to my exercise routine in hopes that the cardio might help.

My routine includes the a 3-4 mile run on treadmill or, weather permitting, a run outdoors.

My Routine is this:
Mon - Body Blast - Legs & Gluts
Tues - Run Or Treadmill -
Wed - Cardio & Weights series
Thurs - BootCamp series
Fri- Cardio & Weights series
Sat - I may either take a day off or do something such as abs and legs
Sun - Slow & Heavy series

*Of course I am not reglious to this schedule - they do change depending on my mood. But it is bascially the tapes..


Thank you Cathe - for inspiring so many women to look good!

Gabrielle

 

[clareMc]

Gabrielle:

it seems to me you are doing too much.

You do weights on Weds, Thurs and Friday, without a day off for those msucles to recover. You do an awful lot of leg work on Monday, when it would be better to shift Legs & Glutes to a different day and call it quits after Step Blast or stick to upper body training, or core training.

You do need an absolute rest day, at least one per week. You have to let your muscles and body recover. It is during rest that the body repairs itself and strength gains are made. You are not giving your body this time.

Tell me that you are not doing all three S&H workouts on Sunday!?!?!?! That is way too much. It's way beyond excessive.

What you need to do is not exercise yourself to death, but train smartly and get adequate rest with enough calories in your diet to fuel your workouts and nourish your body. Cutting down on exercise may in fact help you lose some weight, whilst helping with strength gains and definition. ALso, if you cut your calories below your energy requirements for this amount of activity, the body goes into starvation mode and hoards every fat cell possible. The body also cannibalizes its own muscle to fuel the workouts and keep your basal metabolism going.

Suggestions: Cut your cardio from 5 to 4 sessions per week. Make one session an interval workout: vastly improves cardiovascular resistance and burns more total calories than a steady state workout. Make one workout a low impact: Cathe's new hardcore Low Impact step is fabulous and will give you a run for your money while challenging the lower body. That way, you can cut down on your isolated leg weight training, doing Legs & Glutes once per week. This will allow you to spread your upper body weight training throughout the week, ensuring 48 hours rest between sessions for each muscle group. So, if you are serious about building strength, separate out the upper body sections across 2 or 3 days, and if you want, add an endurance upper body session in once per week, in the form of Cardio & Weights, if you like.

Good luck,

Clare