Six Quick Things

As you may have read in my last post, I’ve been working out a lot lately in hopes of getting a bangin’ body for my cruise in June! So here are six things I’ve learned recently and wanted to share with y'all  about working out, eating, and being happy.

1. Did you know that doing cardio for 20 minutes only burns through your short-term energy storage? That means that if you want to burn fat, aka long-term energy storage, you need to work out for over 20 minutes! That’s why most workout will tell you to do cardio for 30 minutes, because those extra ten minutes are what burns fat! So lately, I’ve been doing about 40 minutes of cardio a day, along with about 10-20 minutes of weights!

2. You know all those pictures on machines that tell you your target heart rate? Okay well turns out that stuff is actually important! When doing cardio, you should be at your target heart rate (maybe a little above) to burn fat! To calculate your target heart rate, subtract your age from 220, and then multiply that number by .7! For example, I am 20 years old, so I take (220-20) which equals 200, and then multiplied by .7 is 140! So when I am on the elliptical, I’ll put my hands on the metal part that detects your heart rate every few minutes to make sure I’m above 130 but below 170.

3. I think I’ve made it pretty clear in previous posts that I am not a runner. However, sometimes the treadmill can be of use to me. For example, I will walk at a fast pace (about 3.8-4.0 mph) and at an incline (anywhere from 5.0-8.0). Then every few minutes, I’ll set the incline back to 0.0 and the mph to 1.2 and do lunges for 2 minutes! I switch back and forth between lunges and walking for about 20 minutes and that gets most of my cardio out of the way! I love doing that exercise along with stairs on leg day!

4. Eating well has always been a struggle for me. I have such a big sweet tooth and I am not ashamed! Being in college it’s so easy to just run out to Taco Bell or Wendy’s when you are even the slightest bit hungry. Lately, I’ve decided to spend my drive-thru money on bags of baby carrots, apples, and red bell peppers! They’re pretty cheap if you consider how quickly fast food can add up. I keep my bell peppers cut and bagged so they’re ready to go in my fridge! It’s quick and so easy to just grab an apple or my bell pepper slices before class!

5. Just a quick public service announcement… fruit juices like orange juice and even the Naked Juice brand are not actually that healthy. There is so much sugar in that stuff. If you really want the benefits of fruit juices, just squeeze your own orange just or eat the fruits in the Naked Juice.

6. You know those "Pinterest" workouts? The pictures that have a Victoria's Secret model's abs and tells you do do like 10 moves to get a flat stomach? I'm not gonna lie, I pin that stuff. But I do it knowing that I need to do a little more than 15 crunches and 10 pushups to get that kind of body. Anyway, on nearly every single one of those pictures and Pinterest workouts, it is going to tell you do PLANK. Ladies and gents, planking is where it's at. I plank for about 1-2 minutes in the morning during my quick stretching time and then I plank at least 2-3 times when I workout at night! I love it. You'll love it. Plank.

Have a great weekend! Feel free to leave comments below!