NOTE

For anyone who is actually interested in participating in the workout routine with me, I will be posting descriptions and images of all of the strength training exercises. I realise that it's probably pretty difficult to do an exercise when you're only provided with it's name. As soon as I can get my scanner working those will be up.

I'll also be posting the "Apple" and "Chile Pepper" workouts for anyone who's is interested.

#1 Rule: No Scales!

If any of you out there are doing this workout with me, that's great! I have one tip, or I guess rule I should mention now. Over the next eight weeks there will be absolutely no more using your scale. Find a great place to hide it from yourself, or better yet just throw the thing out. The whole point of this workout is not only to lose weight, it's to tone the body you have. There's a big difference between weighing a lot and being fat, and weighing a lot and being fit and toned. So PLEASE I beg of you, throw out those scales! The only thing they're ever gonna lead you to is failure. Believe me, I've tried weighing myself in during a diet before, and it doesn't work. If you absolutely can't stop using it, weigh yourself once a week at the most, but that's it! Even that can be a little risky. Because if your weight has gone up that's gonna be pretty discouraging.

So please try and remember this one simple rule, no scales!

Day 2 Results

Well today was definitely a success. I managed to fit in a 40 minute workout right before work. I stuck with my plan and did the 40 minutes on my stationary bike. My average speed was about 13mph, which is pretty good for me, got my heart rate up which is the main thing.

Next time I go on the bike I'm gonna have to remember to bring down a magazine or a newspaper to read, it can get pretty boring when you're cycling in one spot all by yourself. Having a TV in the basement would be great, but unfortunately I don't have one down there yet.

Well that's pretty much all I have to say for today, tomorrow is my first strength training day so I'll let you know how I do. I have a feeling I won't be able to complete all the required sets, but eventually I'll work my way up to it. I haven't been doing any strength training at all lately so it'll be interesting.

Goodnight everyone!

-Ashley

Feeling Great and Ready to GO!

Good morning everyone! The pain in my arms and shoulders has disappeared overnight, which is fantastic or I might have been set off track. As I mentioned yesterday, today is a cardio day. So that means I have to do at least 30 minutes of moderate to high steady-paced cardio. As I said in one of my posts yesterday I'm planning on doing 40 minutes of moderate cardio on my stationary bike this morning before I have to leave for work. I should be fine, it's not like I've never done 40 minutes on my bike before, I'm just gonna try and up the intensity a little more.

If anyone else out there is giving this a go feel free to email me at: ashley.gray@live.ca I'd love to hear how you're doing.

Day 1 - Rest Day

Well today being Wednesday was my rest day, though I can't really say that I rested much. I was busy for most of the day trying to get my room painted. I think I worked on it for at least 7 or 8 hours. It was quite a workout! My shoulders and arms are killing me now, hopefully a good night's sleep will help the pain go away. If not, it doesn't really matter that much, all I'm planning to do tomorrow is 40 minutes on my stationary bike. Thankfully that doesn't require me to use my arms very much. Well night, night everyone!

Weekly Workout Schedule

Below is my workout schedule for the next 8 weeks.



Monday: Strength

Tuesday: Cardio - Intervals

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Cardio - 40 minutes

Friday: Strength

Saturday: Cardio - 40 minutes

Sunday: Rest

The Plan

Well I found this article in an issue of Fitness magazine called 'The Love Your Shape Workout' - Get your best body - at any size- with this customized cardio and sculpting plan. It gives you three different workout options, one for pears, one for apples and one for chile peppers. Since I'm a pear I will be doing the pear workout. For pears it says that the goals are to minimize your hips, butt and thighs, while building your upper body to balance your heavier lower half, which is exactly what I want to do.

The way you build the upper body is by lifting heavier weights with fewer repetitions. To improve your lower-body you want to use lighter weights and do more repetitions. Along with 2 of these strength workouts, it says to also to cardio 3x a week for atleast 30 minutes.

Over the next eight weeks I will be posting to give you updates on my progress, hopefully at the end I will achieve the goals I outlined above. Below I will post the detailed Pear Workout.

STRENGTH: 2X A WEEK

SUPERSET #1: Bent-Over Dumbbell Row, Lateral-to-Front Dumbbell Raise, Dumbbell Flye on Ball (3 sets each, 8 to 12 reps: use moderate to heavy weights)

SUPERSET #2: Lunge With Bicep Curl, Squat and Calf Raise, Rear Leg Lift (4 sets each, 15-20 reps; use light to moderate weights)

SUPERSET #3: Long-Arm Ball Cruch, Overhead Triceps Extension, Oblique Ball Crunch (3 sets each, 8-12 reps; use moderate to heavy weights)

CARDIO: 3X A WEEK

Do two moderate to hard steady-paced workouts a week for at least 30 minutes with the cardio of your choice. Also do one interval routine each week:

Warm-up:5 minutes, RPE 3-4 (easy)
Speed Burst:2 minutes, RPE 8-9 (hard)
Recover: 2 minutes, RPE 5-6 (moderate)
Repeat speed burst/recovery for a total of 5 times
Cooldown:5 minutes, RPE 3-4 (easy)