I've got 3 weeks of time off work coming up and I really want to have an objective and goal for the time and not just idly waste the time away. I've gone grocery shopping and am stocked with oatmeal, ff milk, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, carrots, lean turkey, more stuff like this. I'm envisioning keeping my routine of a FBWO every other day and cardio 6x/wk, making a total of a 90 minute workout in the morning and 90 minutes at nite, or, 1 hour segments, 3 times a week.

I've got the time, I'm not going anywhere (except swim team practice in the mornings), so I can pretty much schedule what I want.

Here's what I'm thinking on a typical day:

WL day:
Morning-
90 min fbwo
30 treadmill walk

Afternoon/Evening-
Pilates or exercise video (30m)
Walk outside with kids if not too hot (30m)
Elliptical (30m)

Non-WL day:
Morning-
45 min treadmill walk

Afternoon/Evening-
Exercise video
Walk outside with kids
Elliptical
Something else creative!!


Any input or thoughts? Hate to ask what I can expect to see bc I know so much depends on nutrition (striving for 1800 cals a day), but I'd like to feel different afterward if I really put some effort into this "biggest loser-like" bootcamp.

I like your grocery list, if you live in Northern California, I am coming over for dinner,I am especially fond of blueberries and raspberries.What are you planning for your diet? Counting calories? Portion control?WW?SB??? you have given a lot of thought to exercise, how about a food plan?

Hi Bargoo, that's probably the story of my life.....more time spent on exercise than nutrition. BUT, with that said, I am going to focus on calorie counting (1800) and healthy proteins and quality carbs - meaning oatmeals, whole wheat products, brown rices, beans/legumes, an occasional protein smoothie made with whey protein, strawberries, and water is also an option. My typical day would consist of 3 meals, 2 snacks, and center around oatmeal for breakfast, carrots for snack, turkey on w/w with lowfat cheese for lunch and a side dish, red grapes snack, and grilled chicken, brown rice type dinner. Lots of water.

Fran: I love your enthusiasm! If you would like suggestions regarding a fbwo I could suggest the circuit that I started doing this month. It's a little shorter than what I normally do but it is more challenging because there is no rest between the sets. If you have seen this before then I apologize. Here it goes:

20 minute cardio warm up. Treadmill is fine. I usually do HIIT on the treadmill or elliptical. Enough to get a decent sweat going,

10 reps of dumbell squats drop to the floor and then do,
10 reps of pushups, pick up another set of dumbells and do,
10 reps of stiff legged deadlifts,
10 reps of bent over dumbell rows http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/...umbell-row.htm
10 reps of shoulder presses

When you finish that set take a minute break and then do it over again 3 more times with a small break between each set. The third set is the most difficult because you know you have to do it all over again one more time. By this point I am usually spewing sweat from my mouth as I am exhaling and counting out my reps. Not a pretty picture, but effective.

It's a different kind of workout than I've done previously but I think its good to mix this in every once in a while to keep myself from getting too bored. Without the breaks it really becomes a bit more of an endurance challenge for me. Feel free to tweak it with extra sets, reps or other compound exercises. If you like it and have tweaked it somehow, let me know. I'll try your changes too.

Good luck with the food plan. I would try to get in some protein with the snacks as well. Just don't fall into the peanut butter jar like I do in the late afternoon. Do you like hardboiled eggs. I sometimes boil a dozen of them to have on hand and eat four of the eggs whites with some fruit for snack. I also rely heavily upon the cottage cheese mixed with lf yogurt and berries, or two lf mozz cheese sticks and an apple/orange can get me through the three to six o clock hours. I also make turkey meatballs using the leanest ground turkey breast you can buy and keep them in the freezer. If I'm really hungry and dinner is a long way off I will eat three/four of these for snack too. If all else fails and I feel a binge coming on, before I reach for anything else I pour a 8 oz glass of milk and mix in the protein powder and then have another tumbler of ice water. This usually does the trick for me.

Enjoy your three weeks!

This sounds like a good plan Fran, though I would add some HIIT into your cardio workouts. For protein, I almost always have hard boiled eggs around, and cottage cheese with some sort of fruit. Our strawberries are setting fruit, and I can't wait til they're ripe!

Lydia - your circuits sound um, debilitating Really though, it sounds like something I'd like - just need to work up to the number of times through, and adapt it since right now I can't do "real" squats (I do less deep ball squats on the wall).

Lydia - I just read your new program. It sounds great and I just might give it a try...although I'm not sure I could make it through or move my arms after! My only question is with the link you gave for the bent over dumbell rows. I couldn't tell from the video and I couldn't get the sound loud enough...is this an over or under grip, if you know what I mean.

Where did you get this routine? How often do you do it?

Hi Elisa!

The bent over dumbell rows are an overhand grip. Bummer that the video didn't work for you. When I do these I stand with my feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, slightly push the hips back and keep the chin up and chest forward, and shoulders squared like you are about to do a sl deadlift. Instead of the weights traveling close to the shins like a deadlift the weights begin at an angle away from your legs. You'll notice that the weights are over the toes. With the chin up and glutes still pushed back in the opposite direction pull the weights up to the outside of your chest, elbows pointed outward. Focus upon squeezing the back muscles at the top of the rep for a moment and then slowly lower back to the starting position.

The routine was given to me by my personal trainer. I have modified it a little bit with bench step ups and one legged squats. Mostly because I need more leg work after taking the winter off. She gave it to me a couple of weeks ago and I have used it last week every other day while I was at home with DSs. I think its a great routine that I can do at home during this summer. It doesn't take a lot of equipment or room and I can do it outside on the patio first thing in the morning. When DS1 is in day camp which is about every third week I do go into the gym and do an upper/lower body split on those days.

Anyway, give it a try and see how it goes. Today I did it while at the gym and had a little difficulty with the squats. My knee is still really sore from Sunday's run.