Monday, February 2, 2009

Trainer-to-the-Stars Jackie Warner's fitness tips

In Family Circle magazine, I read about a walk/run regiment touted by Jackie Warner, trainer to the rich-and-famous. She says this workout, which she recommends to all her clients, should be done at least 3 times a week for 20 minutes at a time, and she claims you will drop weight even if you don't change your eating habits.

The Family Circle blurb had more details, but I think it got prematurely put in the recycle bin. However, I went to Jackie's site and found this:

Jackie Warner's walk/run interval workout:

  • Raise ramp to maximum uphill and slow walk (almost a lunge) for 2 minutes.
  • Lower the ramp and run for 2 minutes.
  • Walk for 1 minute to catch your breath
  • Repeat 3 more times (equals a 20 minute session).

    I tried this at the gym on Saturday, and it kicked my butt! I am not a runner, but the running was much easier than walking on the treadmill at the maximum uphill. And doing the intervals makes the time go so fast - 20 minutes was up before I knew it. I am going to keep doing this, along with my weight loss yoga DVD, and hopefully I'll see some results.

    Check out Jackie's page - she listed a bunch more fitness tips here.

  • Weigh In #8: Who are we kidding?

    Mrs.
    Starting weight: 152 pounds
    Current weight: 154.7 pounds
    Pounds lost (gained) this week: (2.7)
    Total pounds lost: (2.7)
    Pounds left to lose: 24.7
    Workouts: 3

    Mr.
    Starting weight: 245 pounds
    Current weight: 240 pounds
    Pounds lost (gained) this week: (2) pounds
    Total pounds lost: 5
    Pounds left to lose: 60
    Workouts: 0

    (Mrs.) Well, I gained big time this week. I feel awful about it. My eating habits stink right now, and it seems so difficult to stop it. I did work out a few times - doing the weight loss yoga video and hitting both gyms I belong to - at work and at home. Working out felt great. I tried to stop drinking fountain coke at work by bringing big bottles of flavored seltzer. (That also worked out OK).

    But, the kids got report cards on Friday, and they both did REALLY well, so we went out for ice cream, and Mr. and I partook as well. I had a huge chocolate shake, and french fries (to dip in the shake, of course!) Then, the Superbowl. I made spareribs in the Crock-Pot, and had lots of other munchies as well. Mr. took a look at my grocery list yesterday and said it was all crap. He was right.

    Really, what are we thinking? Do we think that the pounds will just melt off as we sit on the couch watching football eating cheese popcorn and Oreos? Memorial Day is only 112 days away. We need to be bathing suit ready by then!

    On a positive note, I did make small steps with the exercise and less fountain Coke drinking. I'm thinking I might try to make a couple of small changes each week instead of trying to drastically diet. I'm hoping that when all these small changes are added up, it will mean RESULTS.

    Today I'm trying a Zumba class at work with a friend. I've never done Zumba before. I believe it is a kind of Latin dance type of exercise class. I'm sure it will look very humorous to see me try to salsa or something - a dancer I'm not. But it looks like fun and I've been wanting to try it for a while, so we'll see how that goes.

    So this week, my small steps are: continuing my small steps from last week, trying the exercise classes at work (I've never done that before, I've always just used the treadmill) and just getting eggs in the morning, no breakfast meat.

    Have a great week!