Toughts on Cardio, Recent Food!

Hey! How is everyone's Wednesday going? Mine is just dandy. I got to sleep in this morning and heading to work for the latter part of the day

I have some delicious food to share with you all from the past few days. I haven't been taking pictures of every single thing I eat 1) because I don't want to 2) because I am super busy these days and don't always have my camera on BUT I do take pictures of the good stuff and of course want to share with all of you, because I know we all like looking at foodie pictures!

This was a delicious salad I made for lunch yesterday. It had baby spinach, red bell peppers, mushrooms, steamed zuchinni, 3oz turkey meatloaf and 4oz butternut squash (cooked by my roommate that was SO good)

I have also been on a kale chip kick (again) lately. I got my roommmate to like them too! She had no idea what I was doing at first and asked if I was cooking seeweed. I told her to try it and she is hooked! 

I made some delicious chicken breast. I think I can say that rosemary is one of my favorite spices to cook with chicken. I have used rosemary in the past many times like in this chicken recipe or in this one

Rosemary Balsamic chicken breast

• 4 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 C low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 packets of stevia (optional)
• 1 T rosemary (I used dried, but can use fresh!)
• 1 T dijon mustard

I combined all of these ingredients in a bowl, whisked it up and let it marinate over about 1lb of chicken breast. I simply cut it up and cooked in it a skillet over medium heat. It was out of this world!

I enjoyed the chicken breast with some roasted broccoli

And a small side salad

A new favorite mustard (and it was only 99 cents!) Gotta love Trader Joes

Oh and if you are wondering why you can't find any coffee Target, its because we bought them all. Seriously, cleared out the shelves. We gotta stock up before its gone!

Another new love, Udo's Oil. Udo's oil is a blend of flax, sesame, sunflower and primrose oil, as well as oils from rice and oat germ. It has a pleasant nutty, buttery flavor and I have been enjoying it as a base for my salad dressings! Bring on those healthy fats!

CARDIO INFO

(source)

Cardio is something that should be part of every exercise plan, but how much is too much and what type and when. It can get confusing and therefore make everyone wonder if they are doing the ‘right thing’ well first let me say that there is no RIGHT way to do anything when it comes to exercise. It is about doing what you love and enjoying yourself while doing it. Don’t run if you hate running, you are not only making yourself miserable and possibly burn out, but furthermore you are just not enjoying yourself! Life should be about pure enjoyment all the time. Listen to yourself, not a magazine or website that tells you what to do-they don’t know you, trust me they don’t

When it comes to cardio there are different training methods that range from very intense and taxing on the nervous system, thus require more recovery time and then there are those that are less intense to the body and require less recovery time

There are 3 methods of exercise that the general population tends to engage in with their workout regimen. Interval training steady state work and strength training

Strength training: ST is key for any exercise program. It helps to build lean muscle mass, build strength  and also increase in resting metabolism. Because of this increase, women who are trying to reduce bodyfat will do so more easily. When done sufficiently and consistently, strength training increases muscle fiber size. Once muscle fibers enlarge, they consume more energy - which boosts our metabolisms.

Lower body workout

Full body workout

AB circuit

Muscular endurance VS strength

High Intensity Interval training: People generally hear HIIT when they are looking for a fat loss type workout OR if they are pressed for time and want to get the most bang their buck — and for good reason. Intervals are indeed many ways superior to traditional steady-state training with regards to fat loss.

Interval workouts are quite intense and should not be preformed by a person just starting out on an exercise program. Due to the intensity of the workouts, the calorie burn is significantly higher than that of steady state work. Another benefit of interval training is that your metabolism stays elevated post workout for hours

Again, HIIT is not for beginners or those just starting out. It takes time to build up to perform HIIT, so ease into it!

With that said there are PLENTY of great options that anyone can incorporate that will make you work hard!

Some HIIT workouts here and here and here

Steady State Work: Many people shun steady state work and see it as a waste of time, but there is a time and place for everything in life. TO have a complete balance, steady state certainly should be a part of your exercise program

The thing with intervals is that they are hard. They really make you sweat, breathe, take everything out of you and for that reason they cannot be performed everyday. Your body needs rest from the demands that are placed on it when it comes to HIIT training

With steady state work you are still able to get a good sweat, and work at a moderate intensity without that huffing and puffing that comes with HIIT training. With steady state work, if you are feeling winded, fatigued or completely out of breathe, you are working too hard!

I would suggest making steady state cardio part of your workout routine 1-3 days a week (depending on your goals) Of course, please consult a physician before starting any sort of workout plan. Anywhere from 20-40 minutes would be a perfect amount of steady state cardio! The key is mixing it up because steady state work can get somewhat boring after a while. Bring a book, put on a good movie or TV show, or even break it up. 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, and try different forms of cardio!

Some ideas

• Incline walking on the treadmill
• Elliptical
• Stepmill, Stairmaster
• Walking outside
• Biking outside or on the stationary bike
• Cross country skiing

HAPPY WORKING OUT!

Question of the day: Favorite type of cardio?