Angeleno Femme

Fitness Friday

Some of my favorite fast, healthy recipes + recent tech-savvy discoveries after the jump.

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Fitness Friday

Hi hi, my second post for anyone tagging along on my health journey…

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Anonymous asked: Question about your weight routine- do you do a set of each, aka set of bicep curls, followed by a set of tricep, etc., and then repeat, or do you do all of your bicep curl sets and then move on to triceps, or whatever? Also, can you please give me an idea of how many sets you do of each and how many in each set? Thanks, going to use you as my workout inspiration!

Eh, depends on the day. Sometimes I do biceps then triceps then biceps then triceps (etc.) just to keep me entertained. My main mantra though is being consistent with the muscle groups I’m exercising each week. I’m not that hardcore about what order I do it in.

I do 8-10 reps if it’s a “heavy” set, 12 if it’s a light. Right now (since I’m just getting back into things), 10 lb free weights is a light set for me. I’ll work up to 12 and then hopefully to 15 when doing curls down the line. When I’m doing seated leg presses, my normal weight range is about 170 lbs (right now), though I can press up to like 250. Also, if you’re looking to make your treadmill time more interesting, do hills. I do whatever the hell I want for either a set time or set distance. I like to put the incline up as high as it can go and walk backwards at a slow speed — burns so good!

PS: glad to be an inspiration! Blogging about my routine is keeping me motivated. :) let me know how things go for you. Lifting weights is AWESOME.

Here goes nothing! Fitness time.

So, my first “fitness journey” post (skip this post if you DGAF). I suppose I’m doing this because I’ve always had an open, honest line of communication with my readers and who couldn’t use a level of accountability with their efforts at being healthy? Knowing that I have people following my progress will definitely keep me from the In N Out drive-thru line.

First of all, I’m sore today because it’s Day 3 of hauling myself to the gym, and I workout with weights. I had that moment where I sat up in bed this morning to check the time and my abs screamed at me. But, this is a good thing — I’m a firm believer in the exercise mantra that if you aren’t sore, you aren’t doing enough.

What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Well, currently I’m on the “heavier” end of the spectrum of my weight — you know how you tend to have like an 8 pound range of what your weight falls at? I’m at the higher side of that right now, and not enjoying it. My clothes aren’t fitting right, and I just don’t feel too stoked in my own skin right now. Granted, I can make it “work” in this weight, but I don’t want to feel like I have to hide something whenever I get ready to go out, and I miss certain pants and such that fit me! The weight is totally due to holidays and drinking/drunk-eating (I loooove to eat if I’ve been drinking). I’m already not drinking this month, so why not really get my body into better shape by working out and eating right? I promised myself I’d go to the gym 5 days a week this month, so I’m 2 workouts down, 18 to go.

Now, when it comes to my weight: I’m not going to post a specific number on here, but here’s the number loss that matters…8 pounds till I’m at my good “fit” weight, 13 pounds till I’m at my “whoa I’m feeling lean!” weight. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be down the full 18 and weigh what a lot of girls my height (5’2”) weigh. If I dropped the 18, I’d be one lean, mean, workout machine. But I’m hesitant because that number seems unattainable. We’ll see.

What am I doing?

Cardio:Right now, I pound out 1-2 miles on the treadmill to get my heart rate up and a good sweat going. Down the line, I’ll increase my time on the treadmill. But right now I’m kind of lazy and getting used to working out again sooo…1-2 miles it is.

Weights:Weights are myjam. I get SO tired of hearing girls say that they don’t want to work out with weights — and heavy weights, specifically — because they don’t want to “bulk up” like a guy or “add muscle.” Ladies, unless you’re juicing with steroids and what not, it’s impossible for your body to put on muscle the way a guy’s body does! And adding muscle is one of the BEST things you can do for your body! We are built completely differently and respond to weights differently! When I initially started working out with weights, I noticed that I was having a hard time dropping lbs. I was so frustrated! But people kept asking me, “AJ, have you lost weight?” As it turns out, I was cutting fat but replacing it (essentially) with muscle. The muscle weighs the same as fat (common misunderstanding that it somehow doesn’t) but is denser, and creates a leaner look. Also, the more muscle you put on in place of fat, the faster your metabolism will be, meaning you can burn more calories at rest (since muscle burns calories and fat doesn’t).

My mom recently started P90x and appears to have lost a good deal of weight. However, as it turns out her weight has not changed at all during the whole process. She has cut loads of fat and put on muscle. So, though her weight is the same, her clothing fits differently, and she looks much leaner and thinner. This is why it’s important to not get too hung up on weight when working out. I know I have a certain “goal number” in my head, but I’m trying to just stay focused mostly on healthy habits.

What do I do with weights? I switch off upper body and lower body throughout the week so that my muscles have time to recover between workouts. On Monday-Wednesday-Friday, I do upper body: bicep curls with free weights (right now I use 10 lb weights), triceps, chest presses (I use the machine for this), lat pulls (gotta work out your back and shoulders!) and incline sit ups (my story on this is I wasn’t seeing enough change in my abs when I was working out back in 2010…the solution? Start working out like my guy friends. I began doing incline sit ups with a weight hugged to my chest and BOY did I see results.) On Tuesday-Thursday, I do lower body: seated leg presses, calve presses, sometimes I do hills on the treadmill, hip abductors (the machines for inner and outer thighs), sometimes free standing squats with weights. Saturday and Sunday will be my off days unless I miss a workout.

Soooo yeah! Welcome to my journey! It’s about becoming a more healthy, confident me. “Before” photos after the jump.

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