Starting anew.....Again!

[sds]

Hi Cathe and everyone!

I was doing great on my exercise/diet regime until Thanksgiving....at that time I only had TWO lbs. to lose. However, I stopped exercising regularly and returned to old eating habits. Consequently, I have gained 15 lbs since November. I was doing CTX from August till November. I had such great results! My questions are:

1. Due to my two year old son, and my job, I am inclined to do the cardio portion of CTX every morning, five days a week. I was thinking about doing some strength training one day a week (was considering the weight segment from body max??) and either rest or walk/yoga on the seventh day. Is this enough? And since I was doing CTX last fall, should I do something else now or has a long enough period passed that my body won't "remember" ctx? And one last question...I have been thinking about just doing whatever tape I felt like doing that particular morning...should i have a rotation, or is it okay to just do whatever type of cardio I want, depending on my mood? (I know I should vary my cardio every so often...)

Thank you in advance for any suggestions you might have!

 

[Aquajock]

Hi, SDS - I'm not Cathe by any stretch, but I wanted first to offer my congrats on jumping back on the health / fitness bandwagon! I think we all know how it feels to climb back on the horse after being off of it for awhile - it ain't easy!

Couple of comments / suggestions: #1, go real easy on using the bathroom scale as a progress measure, especially if you are, very wisely, going to incorporate strength training. With strength training you build dense muscle mass; when combined with the excess storage fat loss from cardio work AND from metabolically active muscle, you've done yourself a double-triple good, BUT the scale is just going to say you haven't lost any / much "weight". Go by your performance improvements, your perception of your energy level, and by how your clothes fit rather than the bathroom scale.

#2 - I think your body will "remember" the CTX workouts you mastered last fall; you may have lost a bit of heart and muscle conditioning from your spell away, but the neurological pathways you developed in learning and performing these routines consistently will not have been lost. I think you've got the right idea on starting back with workouts with which you're familiar, choreographically speaking - since you don't have to learn new choreo, you can more quickly get to the work in the workout!

#3 - you may want to consider 2 strength training sessions per week as opposed to 1 - that is in accordance with ACSM guidelines, and strength training is such an enormous energizer, you'll get hooked on the feeling!

Go for it! I'm rootin' for ya!

Annette

 

[donna]

HI, I'm not Cathe either, but I caught something she wrote a couple weeks back on a similar question. I glomed on to it right away, and it is working for me. Cathe made a suggestion to another poster to change her routine to four days of cardio/two days of strength (instead of 1/2 and 1/2).

I can identify with what you are saying about starting over. After 18 months of darn-near inactivity due to the side-effects of a medication. The medication helped me but a side-effect is complaisany and fatigue. I stepped down from the med since the problem had been resolved and I got back in to my rotation with a vengance. Sooooo, congrats to you and your great effort. WELCOME BACK TO BOTH OF US!

I hope Cathe does answer your question. As always, I'm interested in what she has to say, also. What did we do before Cathe? LOL

DM

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi SDS! Congratulations on taking the bull by the horns and getting back into shape again. Having a job and a two year old can provide numerous distractions and I'm happy to see that you are not letting the situation take control of your well being. Kudos to you!

Now, I know you are eager to get started again but you have been away from working out for 5 months and diving back into a 6 day program (5 of which would be cardio) is a lot. Give yourself a two to three week acclimation period. In this period do only 3 cardio every other day and one total body weight workout(modify these workouts whenever needed). By week three or four increase to four cardio and two total body weight training per week. By week 5 or 6 increase to your fifth cardio and try to keep two weight training per week. I strongly encourage one rest day per week so if you go on this 5 cardio two weight day program, one day would have to be a double session for you (cardio/weight). If that does not work for you time wise, then I think you will be better off cutting back to four cardio per week and sticking with the two total body weight workouts per week.

Generally speaking, it does not matter what order you do your cardio in but it is important(for safety reasons and to prevent overuse) that your muscles get cross trained with a variety of cardio modes.

So remember, ease in to acclimate, gradually increase intensity and focus week by week, incorporate two total body strength training sessions (and work HARD), and vary your cardio workouts. Additional reminders, allow recovery time, stretch thoroughly after your cardio and weight workouts, drink extra water, sleep well. Good Luck!