If you can join a Gym do it... avoid the classes for now... unless it is Pilates or Yoga. Remember you wan to stay in the lower heart rate area (look through previous posts here so you can see why)

I was worried that my week off exercise while I went on a trip with my parents was gonna mess me up, but maybe not!.. according to this Shine article, How Long Does It Take to Fall Out of Shape, a week-long break can actually be good for me... I'll just have to jump back in & see how it goes...

Thanks for some great info, y'all, while I was away...

hugs

"Secret shortcut: Cardio levels decrease faster than strength--the magic of muscle memory. To take advantage of this phenomenon, during hellish work weeks, do just one set of five strength exercises--studies show that 50 to 90 percent of your strength gains come from your first set (though when your schedule eases up--to build muscle and ward off bone loss--go back to 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 exercises 2 or 3 days a week)."

another reason I HIGHLY recommend strength training ;-)

what we were taught is that when you are doing High Intensity cardio then with a week off it would be challenging to go straight back to the same... as in you lose some of it.... seeing as how we are NOT supposed to do all of that I think you will be more than fine. For muscles as you read, it takes longer to lose that.

A break can be good to kind of shock the system into things again...but not as much if you take breaks quite often LOL

you will be just fine, just keep going and your body will adapt

not necesarily exercise related but I thought you all could appreciate this tid bit of information....

Prof. Dr. Carlos Alexandre Fett Faculty of Physical education at UFMT with masters in nutrition at UFMT Laboratory of Medical fitness and Metabolism -

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FINISH DRINKING A CAN OF SODA **

First 10 minutes: 10 spoonfuls of sugar strike your body, 100% of the recommended total daily allowance. You do not vomit immediately from the extreme sweetness, because the phosphoric acid cuts the taste.

20 minutes: The sugar level in the blood explodes, bringing about an insulin spurt. The liver responds transforming all the sugar that receives into fat (which is a lot at this particular moment).

40 minutes: The caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, the blood pressure raises, the liver responds pumping more sugar in the blood current. The receivers of adenosine (not sure if that is the right word as I translated this article) in the brain are blocked to avoid dizziness.

45 minutes: The body increases the production of dopamine, stimulating the centers of pleasure in the body. (Physically, it works like with the heroin.)

50 minutes: The phosphoric acid pushes calcium, magnesium and zinc to the large intestine, increasing metabolism. The high doses of sugar and other sweeteners increase the excretion of calcium in the urine, that is to say, you are urinating your bones, one of the causes of the OSTEOPOROSIS.

60 minutes: The diuretic properties of caffeine go into action. You urinate. Now it is guaranteed that you will eliminate more calcium, magnesium and zinc, of which your bones would need. As your sugar high drops you will undergo a sugar shock. You become irritated. You will already have eliminated everything what was in the refreshment, but not without first also eliminating things which your organism will need.

And this is what some give their children? This is why diabetes and obesity exist at such young ages, AVOID giving sodas as a reward for finishing his food (hamburgers, hot dog, pizza, etc) especially coke. Do you really love your children? Think about this before drinking sodas.

as long as you are working DIFFERENT muscles you may, Otherwise I would probably not do it.

Try to do 10 mins of cardio in the am to warm up just before the weights and then finish AFTER the weights with more cardio... I find you have more time and energy that way

That's pretty much how my workout goes... I've found that if I do some cardio after strength training, I'm not as sore the next day... something about burning off/using up lactic acid???, I think... keeps the cardio from being quite so boring too... plus, if I don't have time for the whole workout, I've at least gotten the most important part done, the weights (kettlebells, in my case, which also provide some cardio)..

btw, I bought a new 25 lb. kettlebell today... I've been using a 15 lb... haven't tried it yet, so tomorrow will be the first day for it... probably will be able to do only swings with it to begin with, but if it's like all the previous weights, it won't be long before I can do other stuff too... when I first started using the 15, I thought it was way too heavy, now it's feeling pretty light... I never much liked dumbbells, but I love kettlebells...

Yoga, however, remains my favorite part of the day... I've learned the postures well enough that I don't have to watch Rodney Yee in his tight bike pants anymore!!!.. I can just listen to his soothing voice & that makes it all much better & more effective than trying to twist my neck around to see what the heck he's doing...

hugs

Today was my first day back on workouts after being gone all last week, & wow, was that article right about cardio levels decreasing faster than strength!.. couldn't quite make it through my regular cardio time, but got in all my kettlebell (KB) workout... tried out the 25 lb. KB, 3 sets of 10 swings each... I think I could've done more, but didn't want to push it too hard the first time & raise my heart rate too much... after that, the 15 lb. really seemed light!.. funny how that works!.. yoga was delight as usual...

hugs

Thanks Elizabeth. Like your new picture/avatar.

Yeah the cardio falls off really quick...believe me, I have felt it myself!

What work out are you doing with the kettle bells? I only ask because another trainer I know pointed out a Jillian Michaels video on his Facebook where she is instructing on Kettle Bells and all of us trainers about died when she kept saying to lock the knees... HUGE no-no...it was painful to watch and honestly I was SHOCKED to see her advising that...be careful!

Well thank you so much... I am working on my weight loss too so I update them now and again LOL.

Ok. I'm sure this is answered somewhere already, but I can't find it.

I'm rather steadily losing lean muscle mass instead of gaining it. I picked up the amount of exercise I'm doing weekly last week in hopes to see some rise in the percentage, but nothing happened. In fact, it dropped a little.

My coach suggested adding in an additional pack (for a total of 5 daily) and see if that does anything. I can't afford 5 packs a day.....

I was thinking maybe some light weights or something? Apparently my 2 mile jogs are doing the opposite of what I intended for them to do.

Help?

You answered yourself right there...too much cardio and no weights... you will be losing muscle mass that way. Do resistance training for sure! We all need it to protect our bones... and don't freak out over the scale when you do... look at the inches more than anything...Look back on this thread so you know what I am talking about

WEIGHTS WEIGHTS WEIGHTS!

No, I'm not using Jillian's... I had already read bad things about it before I ever got my first KB... I actually started with a 5 lb. Danskin & it came with a DVD, Gin Miller was the gal on the video... so I learned with that, plus watched gobs of online videos... since then, though, I've developed my own workout & don't use the DVD anymore, but I still check out videos on the Internet pretty regularly... it really is hard to believe Jillian would advise locking the knees... you're right, huge no-no!..

hugs

I know one or two other people on the board were in the same place as you. They were told to add real protein not a packet. I was told by my coach I could substitute for the packet: 2 egg white or 1 whole egg or 3oz chicken or fish. Maybe your coach would allow for this.

I am sure he is concerned about you getting the most out of your protein. (packet protein is 96% + bioavailable) where the other real food proteins are 65 to 70% bio available. It means you get more bang out of the packet. HOWEVER if you can't afford it, you still need the protein so, discuss your real food options. You can't build healthy muscle without the tools. You need protein and amino acids. Try using the jelly and blueberry drink more often as a 4th packet.

I agree with Carla... do get some protein in you but also add resistance training to help further loss