Thinking of the beach!

[Jul]

Hi Cathe and Everyone!
I am already thinking ahead to this summer. My family is going to the beach with my husband's family who I really like to spend time with. My only trouble is I have that dreaded body image problem - especially when it comes to swimsuits! My super sister in law also looks like Ms. America - thin, beautiful-you name it! Since I have a few months to tone up,what is the ideal workout? I have tons of workout videos including 7 of Cathe's. I can spend 45 min. to 1 hr. 5 or 6 days a week. My weight is okay (although I certainly wouldn't mind losing a little!!), but I want to tone up my upper body and see more definition in my legs. Cathe-if you tell me what to do, I will do it! I guess I am really asking which strength tapes to rotate & how often with my cardio. Also how many days for strength/cardio etc. Is it possible to ever feel good about yourself in a swimsuit? I feel great in shorts, but a swimsuit -YIKES! thanks!! Jul

 

[kellyeli]

Bathing Suits... Arrrgh!

Hi Jul! Don't have an answer for you re a good rotation, but as someone who was in the mall just yesterday looking for beach wear for my trip to Hawaii next week, I can totally relate. I recently dropped 12 pounds (good cross training and really watching the food is responsible) and went yesterday to find shorts and swimsuits. Trying on the shorts and cute little tank tops was soo great, love that 'buff' look. Then came the bathing suit part. I felt like I was back at square one. How utterly depressing trying on those things can be! I guess it's cause the places that the last bits of fat hang out (and they're the hardest to get rid of) just aren't hidden by those skimpy suits we'd all like to wear. We won't even talk about the stretch marks, and my youngest is almost 6 years old. I guess if they haven't dissappeared by now, I'd better accept them as a fact of life. Good luck on your rotation and enjoy the beach this summer.

Elizabeth Kelly

 

[LB]

Hi Jul

I haven't conquered the swimsuit thing yet either and I am very small. So you're not alone.
On the workout. I can share with you what I do and the results I've gotten. I do 3 cardio workouts a week plus 3 strength workouts. I only do specifically legs 1 day a week because I do step once or twice a week and that seems to be sufficient for me. I would imagine this is not enough for most people, but Cathe can help you there. I alternate Cathe's MIS with Karen Voight's Great Weighted Workout. I have seen amazing results from this. For me, Cathe and Karen's workouts complement each other wonderfully because they each hit different areas of the legs and you end up getting a very thorough leg workout. When I started this I had been doing 5 days a week of cardio and about 20 minutes of toning 5 days a week. I was doing no strength training and when I started with the Cathe tapes and the Karen Voight tape, I noticed a change in my body within a week. I hope this gives you some ideas.
Laura

 

[gamber]

What works for me

I discovered long ago that bathing suits are only for people with perfect legs. You can't fool anybody with high-cuts or little silly skirts around them. The jiggly parts are there for all the world to see. So what I have done since I was 18 or so is to buy dark-colored shiny lycra shorts that are sold for exercising. The really short ones, like Cathe wears, are perfect. Then you just buy a matching skimpy top, and voila! You look great. You are basically in great shape, so by strapping down and covering up that embarassing flesh at the top of the thigh, you can go to the beach with pride. No longer at the mercy of swim-suit designers! And this also conceals stray "bikini" hairs that you would otherwise have to deal with constantly, and you never have to keep tugging on the shorts to keep them in place. I hope you can use this advice. It has made me very relaxed and comfortable.

 

[Jul]

WOW! LOVE IT!

This is a wonderful idea! I think I could feel "sorta" comfortable dressed like this! You would think at age 32 I'd stop worrying and just enjoy! I LOVE to hear people's workout schedules, it gives me plenty of ideas and lots to aspire to!

 

[Ness]

Healthy approach!!!!!

Thanks Gamber! I love your attitude. It seems no matter how hard we work, we'll never be quite comfortable enough, huh? Now, is that a consequence of our heads or our bodies? (Our heads, I think.) One thing that makes me feel more comfortable in a swimsuit (besides wearing one of those sheer little skirt coverups) is doing an honest assesment of the other women's bodies. Excepting one or two 16-year-olds, very few women are even toned. How about we all give ourselves a break this summer? I bet we all look pretty damn good!

 

[Sabrina]

Bathing suits

Boy, Can I relate to this, just when I think I am looking great, feeling great, I think to myself yes now I'll try on bathing suits. Then I leave the store all depressed because I don't like what I see. Last summer I thought I looked not too bad, I then saw a picture of myself in my black bikini, I did't look as good as I thought. I am 43 now and I workout hard I think. I also think they are making suits smaller!!!

 

[renae]

The shorts are a great idea!

In fact, I love those suits that come with boy-leg short bottoms that have gotten so popular the past few years! Those are all I wear anymore. I have a big rear, and the skimpy bikini bottoms just don't cover it! I'm not even overweight, it's just that I'm naturally big in the rear....anyway, those short-type bottoms are fantastic--they make you feel much more confident and they make you look great because you can show a little skin but not go overboard with it. I don't think I'll ever go back to a regular bikini again! (OK, unless I suddenly drop about 10 pounds of fat and start looking like Cathe!

Yeah, in my DREAMS!)

Renae

 

[Sue Tomasso]

Ever Try "Land's End"?

<center><font size="1" color="#ff0000">LAST EDITED ON Feb-22-00 AT 11:56AM (EST)</font></center>

I love the swimsuits in the Land's End catalog because they're sporty, stylish and they come w/ COLOR COORDINATED NYLON SHORTS! But you have to order early because the nicer styles sell out quickly and then they have to back-order the shorts which takes longer (I'm speaking from experience here). Just for practical reasons, I prefer having shorts on while bending over to fill a kid's sand bucket or picking up a frisbee!

 

[SusanR]

To Sue

Iam with you, Sue. I always wear a pair of shorts over my swimsuit and rarely take them off. Last year I bought 2 pairs of the board shorts. Even though my rear isn't all that big I can't stand the thought of it hanging out!

Thanks for the info on Lands End. Iam going to check it out.

SusanR

 

[Sabrina]

Big Rears

That's too funny, I have alway's had a big rear and hated it!! I tried the shorts long ago and they did nothing for me, althought I was heavier, and it doesn't help to have a tummy that sticks out as well as a big butt!! I have tried and tried to get rid of this tummy that I got from 3 kids ago and 3 C-sections. I am wondering if it will ever go!

 

[LB]

boy-leg shorts

I agree with Ranae. I bought a swimsuit with the boy-leg shorts 2 years ago and I love it. Plus, as was mentioned earlier, you don't have to worry about shaving that dreaded bikini line as close. I've also found that the waistband tends to be more loose fitting than on regular shorts, so it doesn't dig into your abdomen and give you that bulge over the top. That was the deciding factor for me. I would never wear a regular suit now.
Laura

 

[Leela]

Lands End!

I got an amazingly beautiful tankini there. I am 13 mos post partum, and still have a tummy bulge (not to mention other bulges). Sigh. But I love this bathing suit (in Admiral blue - which looks cool with my coloring - my folks are from india)

Leela

 

[Ranae]

dreaming of summer

My family and I are spending two weeks in San Deigo in a beachfront condo. I have already been eyeballing the swimming suits. I like the high cut-high waisted--full bottom coverage bikini with a halter style (padded) top And a short wrap around sarong. The nice thing about the bottom is it hits right above the belly button so if you have any pooch at all it does not hang over--the sarong only comes of if I'm in a lounger tanning. I see these suits at Mervyn's and various other stores and they are reasonable. Also, you can mix and match solids with florals and polka-dots. Ranae

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Jul!

Although everyones body responds differently to exercise, I can give you a suggestion. I would suggest shocking your system with a whole new workout plan and eating a very balanced and nutritious diet. I know that you hear that over and over again but when you truly put your mind to it and keep your focus and consistency, it really does work. The key is to come up with a game plan ahead of time both for exercise and diet, write it out, and stick to it(thats the hard one).

Lets start with exercise: I don't know what you are currently doing but I would say to do 4 DIFFERENT and aggressive non-consecutive cardio activities per week. For instance if you don't usually run, ease into a running program. If you have never tried indoor cycling, perhaps you can look up a local gym and give it a try. If you like it, you may want to consider getting a home indoor cycle bike as well as an indoor cycle workout video. If you have never tried kickboxing, ease into this as well. These are just a few examples of aggressive cardio workouts. When your body gets too comfortable with these 4 different cardio workouts, select another four(or altleast two). At this point its okay to return to a couple of the ones that you did before. Oh, and I strongly suggest that one of your 4 workouts always be an interval workout. My recommendation for this is Intervalmax.

Now for strength training, I would do my MIS tape two days a week on the days that you are not doing cardio(cutting MIS shorter where ever you like to meet your one hour format----just don't cut out the warm up). Or you can do the upper body portion of Bodymax(its the last section of the tape) on one of the strength days and MIS on the other strength day. Again, just like with cardio, when your body no longer feels challenged by this, switch it around. Another suggestion would be to do PS legs for one strength day and increase the weights for the upper body portion of MIS on the other strength day(you may have to pause your VCR and do your reps more slowly with this extra weight).

Finally, factor in one total rest day per week.

For Diet: I will not get specific here but make sure that you eat enough nutritious food to match the amount of calories you burn. If you drop about 500 calories from this amount you will lose one pound a week(ignore this reduction if you are not interested in losing weight). Do not drop more than 500 calories per day from your diet plan. If you do you will reverse the effect of shocking your system. It will be shocked negatively and you will actually store body fat. Drink 8 to 10 (eight ounce)glasses of water per day(have one during your workout by consuming small sips at a time). Get lots of sleep and stay positive. If you really put your mind to it and design(and stick to)a plan that kicks your butt, you'll knock em' dead this summer

! Good Luck and keep us posted!

 

[gamber]

I certainly agree with all that!

That is excellent advice and I am working very hard to do those things. In the meantime I simply cannot tolerate the fat on my butt/thighs/inner thigh and so I use the boy-shorts. My stomach is nice and flat, so all I need to strap down is the upper thigh/butt area. The bathing suit boy-shorts are too short to work for me. They end before I do! So, I need to buy the lycra fitness shorts for doing aerobics. Otherwise the short cuts the buttly-lump area in half and makes it look even worse. Seriously. This works. It makes a huge difference in my appearance and willingness to wear bathing suits.

 

[Joanna]

I knew I was in trouble when...

...a few years back my youngest had never seen me in a suit and offered me hers (she was about 4 at the time

). Since then I have not lost the philosophy that swimsuits are for other people but I have healthier view of myself. I eat right, exercise a lot, and what you see is what you get. I tend to (I think) get some understanding since I have five children...the key is to have them all around when I actually put a suit on

.

Anyway, I hope to have the freedom as I grow older of wearing or not wearing, and especially not caring what others think. I'll let you know how I do!

Joanna

 

[susan p]

Joanna you are TOO funny!!

Yes, always make sure you keep your kids nearby at the pool. . . or if they've run off and are swimming, yell at somebody else's kids!! Anything to make it obvious that you are a MOTHER, multiple times! It helps a lot too if your honey looks a lot older than you are. . . Hold his hand at the pool and everyone will think that you look really good considering you're HIS wife (my honey is rapidly growing a paunch, bless him, AND getting gorgeous WHITE streaks in his pitch black hair, so I look like quite the young bunny when we're together!). -susan p (mother of only three, is that enough of an excuse??)

 

[Debra]

Interval clarification

Cathe, truly appreciated your recommendations. It's quite timely with spring catalogs arriving in the mail. Would you please clarify interval workouts. It seems like the term is used to describe 2 types of workouts. First it describes Fartlek work, where one works at both ends of the training zone. But it also seems to describe workouts with time at 80% or more of max hr (anaerobic threshold training). You recommend limiting the interval training to once weekly. Does that mean the AT type of workout? What is the downside of too many AT workouts?

Thanks for your help. It seems the more I research heart rate training, the more baffling I find it.

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Debra!

I understand what you mean about interval confusion. We have actually addressed this confusion back in October. This post discussed Interval training and the different perceptions of it. I also talked about Fartlek training. The thread title was called "Interval Training....how much is too much?" and it was posted by Anne L. I'd like to suggest that you read that and then post back if you still have any questions. You can retrieve that post by running a search. To do this: Simply press on the "find" icon at the top of the page. Now you will see a screen that asks for a keyword. Type in "fartlek". Then select the "ask Cathe" forum. Then select "all fields". And then it says "select how many days in the last...click on the down arrow and select "year". Then you will see Anne L's post dated on Nov. 1st. This is the one you want to read. Read both of my responses(the one to Anne L and the one to Kay). The one to Kay addresses fartlek training. Have Fun!