Examining Cardio

One of the things I'm hearing a lot about is cardio.  How much? How long?  What type?  The list of questions goes on and on.
Let me tell you that I think most people are really doing their cardio wrong and not in the most effective manner.  This leads to frustration because you start thinking "Hey, I'm doing my cardio.  How come I'm not losing?  Let's examine this.
You don't need a ton of cardio to see great results.  You're best body changing results are going to come from lifting hard and eating right.  Please take the time to read that last sentence again. 

In my opinion, for most people 3-4 very intense bike cardio sessions is plenty to lose fat at an acceptable rate.  The key word there is intense and here's the problem: everybody thinks they do their cardio intense.  Put it this way, if I lined up everyone of you doing Dream Team and said "everyone who is doing their cardio hard, please take one step forward."  I bet that almost every single person would step forward.  So you are all working out with the same intensity?  Of course not.  So what you have to ask yourself is are you the hardest working cardio peddler in the gym?  If not, why?  Before you say "Bill, that's insane.  Of course I don't peddle as hard as Blair."  Stop and think.  I said hardest working, not necessarily the person who gets the most miles or goes on the highest level.  There is a big difference. My point here: You get 16 minutes so peddle your ass off!

When to tweak the plan

In the last post I talked about the importance of having a solid and consistent training/diet plan.  From there, you never need to be frustrated because even under the worse case scenario, there is no need to panic because all we have to do is make small adjustments in the plan.  The key word there being small.  I always like to say " use a scalpel to change your diet, not a machete  In other words, once you have that solid meal plan down, you never need to make a complete do over of the diet. 
The next obvious question is, when do you make changes?  Most people want to make these changes way to quickly, I say you need to follow the plan to the "T" for 3 solid weeks first, from there, if you are not seeing changes, you need to set up a time with me and your trainer to evaluate your plan. 
Finally, make sure you a looking at the right number on the scale.  All you should be concerned with is your bodyfat %.  That is the number that not only gets you points for Dream Team, but also the number to coincides with changes in your body.  Your weight can be up or down for many reasons, so focus on your bodyfat and remember what Yoda said:

"PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE my young padawan”

 



Welcome to Dream Team 2014

Hi everyone and welcome to Dream Team 2014.  With this blog I'm going to keep you up to date with what you should be doing.  currently, we are in our 3rd week of Dream Team.  At this point you're main focus should be on two things.
1.) Having a meal plan down.  By this I mean you should have a plan where you basically follow the same template everyday.  You may not eat the exact same food, but each day should look similar to the one before.  Sure the vegetable may be different and the protein source may change, but the times and general plan should be consistent.
2.) Having a workout plan down.  By this I mean you should not be randomly working out.  You should have scheduled times and days where you do everything.  For example, you may lift MWF, do max-ot Cardio on T/Th, boot camp on Saturday and Sunday off.
Why is are these two things so important?  These two things are important because they will allow your trainer and myself help you better.  If you don't have consistent plans down, it is very difficult to accurately help you and our goal is to help you reach your goal!
Accompanied with this blog is a picture of my everyday breakfast.  Look familiar?
best of luck,
Bill