Thinking of doing the Jan & Feb '06 rotations

[FiddleFit]

I want to shed about 10 very-stubborn pounds and am considering starting the Jan '06 rotation tomorrow. If that goes well, I may keep on with the Feb '06 rotation. I have a few questions, however. Jan's rotation is all about long, high-intensity cardio, with some total body endurance-focused weight work thrown in a couple times a week. My questions:

1. If I'm doing this rotation to lose weight, will my plan end up backfiring, due to an increased appetite? And if I don't eat to compensate, won't I quickly feel burnt out? How do I balance this?

2. I've been doing heavy weight training for about 16 weeks now (mainly Gym Styles, with some SH, PS, Pyramids and circuits thrown in for variety). I've seen some great improvements in the shape of my arms and shoulders, which I really like. Am I being overly anal in worrying about losing this muscle mass by doing a high-cardio rotation?

3. When she says "500 sit ups", does she mean full sit-ups?? And all done in one session, without breaks?! Do you vary them in any way?

Thanks!!
Sandra

 

[MRSchultz]

Hi Sandra ~

I'm just bumping your thread up because I'm very curious about any input you might get. I might change my rotation up at the end of the month depending on the feedback you get.

Have a great day!

Marcia.

 

[divagirl]

bump

 

[Melclear]

I did this rotation in January, and then part of it again in June, so I'll try to answer your questions based on my own experiences.

1) I did not experience increased appetite on this rotation. I do with heavy weight-lifting rotations, but not here. The only difference for me was that I needed more fuel closer to my workout (so I worked out 60 minutes after breakfast instead of 90).

2) I found that the cardio helped me lose some of the fat covering my nice muscles, so that they actually looked a little better. And with 1 week of SH after this rotation, the definition was totally back. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

3) I did crunches, not sit-ups: 150 standard, then 100 alternating side crunches, then repeated to get up to 500. I was able to do this in 1 session with a short break in between (less than 1 minute).

I will say that this rotation was really hard but very effective at helping get me over a plateau. Good luck!

 

[FiddleFit]

Thanks so much Melclear! I'm glad you saw good results with this rotation. I may do as you did and launch into a SH or GS week before moving on to February's rotation (if I survive January's....).

Cheers,
Sandra