Adding In More Cardio

For the past three weeks, Mr. Coffee and I have been consistent in our workouts.  We’ve persevered through illness and low sleep.  The alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. and we get up.  Five days a week, come hell or high water.  We’re very proud of that.  Ok, I’m proud of that.  Mr. Coffee has been known to take off at 3:30 a.m. to run for four hours straight during the summers.  Yet for me, three weeks of consistent workouts is a very big deal.

That said, I feel like I’ve hit my stride, found some momentum…..I’m in the exercise groove.  The past few days, I woke up before my alarm goes off.  I’m still not 100% thrilled to get out of my warm bed but I just do it.  No excuses.

Still, so far, we are a little bit underwhelmed with ChaLean Extreme in some ways.  Overall, it is a fantastic program.  For what it is (a strength/muscle building program) it truly delivers.  It just lacks a bit in the cardiovascular department.  I think it’s meant for a person to add Turbo Fire, Turbo Jam, Turbo SOMETHING on top of it.  However, as a beginning exerciser, I’m not willing to formally workout 90 minutes a day at this point…..or maybe ever.

I continue to retain water in my arms and legs and it’s uncomfortable.  My weight has stayed pretty stable.  I’ve LOST nearly a full inch in my waist yet GAINED a full inch in my biceps and quadriceps.  It’s taking my endomorphic/hourglass figure to a new extreme.  I know “they” say a woman can’t bulk without steroids and that may or may not be true.  All I know is I’m swelling up like Ah-Nold during his Terminator days and bulky cyborg is not a good look for me.

Mr. Coffee isn’t swollen but he’s having some pain in his joints.

We aren’t stopping by any means but we have decided to make some adjustments (more cardio with a bit less weight training).

We looked at our current training schedule (this is the ChaLean Extreme schedule from the book):

Sunday – REST

Monday – Heavy Weights

Tuesday – REST

Wednesday – Heavy Weights

Thursday – Light weights/lots of reps and cardio intervals plus 10 minutes of abdominal work

Friday – Heavy Weights

Saturday – 30 minutes of boot camp drill type stuff and 20 minutes of stretching

So basically, we’re lifting weights four days a week and getting close to 45 minutes of cardio total.

We talked about it (because we are doing this as a team) and agreed to modify things:

We’re going to drop one heavy weight workout a week and replace it with a cardio workout.

In addition, we’re going to mix it up and do other workout DVDs instead of ChaLean Extreme cardio/interval stuff.

We plan to add in some kickboxing, more bootcamp, some Jackie Warner pyramid training, and occasionally we plan to separate.  Mr. Coffee will go out for a 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning run and I’ll do a dance workout at the house (Turbo Jam, Zumba, Barre).  I don’t run and he doesn’t dance.  He tried to dance and I’ve tried to run.  Neither was pretty.

We’re going to keep our bodies moving.  We’re going to sweat more.  We’re going to get our heart rate elevated more often too.

As for ChaLean Extreme, those weight workouts will still get done, just 30% less often.  We’ll continue forward and do the PUSH and LEAN phase workouts, just not all three heavy weight sessions each week.    I still highly recommend these workouts because I can tell I am achieving new muscles and strength.  It’s just a bit too much/too often for us personally.

Our new training schedule will look like this:

Sunday:  REST

Monday:  Heavy Weights (ChaLean Extreme)

Tuesday:  Cardio Only

Wednesday:  REST

Thursday:  Heavy Weights (ChaLean Extreme)

Friday:  Cardio/Light Endurance Weights/Body Weight Exercises

Saturday:  Run for Mr. Coffee & Dance workout for me

We’ll re-assess in three more weeks to see how the increased cardio and slightly reduced weight training is working for us.

As with anything, it takes some trial and error.  Still, our ultimate goal of consistently working out 5 days a week for 30+ minutes a day is intact and going strong!  I think the added cardio will give us a little more energy (at least I hope so!).

As always, please remember…..

I am not a health care or fitness professional.  Before starting ChaLean Extreme or any other type of exercise program, please consult your doctor.   In addition, I’m not a BeachBody coach.