Body By P: Abs

I get hit up by my friends and family all the time to look at their workouts or make up a program for them. Some people are serious others just think it’s a good look. I suppose I come off as an awesome resource, but after I prescribe my medicine those ones never ask for more.



My number one request is “Can you help me with my abs?!”.

Sheesh Grandma, Isn’t it too late for you.

But I’ll oblige anyone, giving them what I know works for me. My peak season is the month of June, usually in the weeks before Caribana. “By bana time I’m wanna have a six-pack” they tell me.

I usually look them up and down and say: "Only Jesus can turn water into wine".

Kidding. But I suppose I have conjured up some grape juice.

Here's how you can turn your abs of tinfoil into ones of steel:

Watch What You Eat
If you desire a flatter or defined stomach, there are some things you have to do. Forget the crunches or gimmicks to get a smooth torso it starts with your diet. It is impossible to get the kind of belly you want if you eat a lot of processed foods. Foods that don’t grow in the ground or are picked off a tree when you eat them. The ones that are substituted with artificial nutrients and fillers.

Our days are full of them: Lattes, donuts, bagels, hot dogs, chips, white bread, sugar, soft-drinks, cookies...it's endless.

You can do as many ab focused exercise routines as you want, if you don’t lay the foundation with body composition you are wasting your time. All those packaged and low nutrient foods are not conducive to burning fat and toning your body. You get better and faster results if you can cut out most (if not all) of these food, while simultaneously working on your body.

This essential for females because excess fat in the body gets stored in our tummy and thigh regions!

Drink Up
I got to a point where I achieved decent body composition for my sport and genetic build. However I had a slight “Buddha belly”, a round little thing that I couldn’t get rid of and had no clue why. After reading and doing some research I discovered that I wasn’t hydrated enough.



And when you are dehydrated the body goes into a state where it stores water, and for me this showed up in my gut. So keeping hydrated lets your body know there is no drought and it doesn’t have to retain water. Doing this helps you lose weight and trim the waistline.



I also limit my liquid calories, juices, coffee, milkshakes, beer, soda, etc. I try to get a minimum of an ounce of water for every kilo I weigh. (8 ounces equal one glass). Be sure to get your electrolytes and drink water all throughout your day and not all in one sitting. I hate cold water but it burns more calories.

Total Body


The best approach to killer abs is to condition your entire body, spot treatment does not work! That is only doing crunches or ab routines and doing nothing for the rest of your body. A total body workout burns layers of fat and contributes to that definition and flat stomach you desire by helping you lose weight.

I Want Muscles
Cardio is key, but don’t forget the strength component, which is just as important to a balanced program.



I know some females are afraid of the buff look (I think it’s sexy). But toning and sculpting your body builds muscle. And people who have more musculature actually burn more calories when they exercise and do other activities.

My Other Guidelines
*Like any muscles group our abs shouldn’t be worked endlessly, they need rest. So I recommend 3-5 times per week.

*Change your routine up! Add a new exercise each week.

*As soon as an exercise does not challenge you, increase the repetitions or shorten the rest. As far as sets and repetitions here are my personal guidelines:

Easy: 3 Sets x 10 Reps

Medium: 3 Sets x 15 Reps

Chiseled Novice Pro: 3 Sets x 20 Reps

Civilian Solid: 5 Sets x 10 Reps

Olympic Ripped: 5 Sets x 25 Reps

*Instead of sets and reps do your exercises for 30 seconds on/30 seconds off, for 5 minutes or more.

*Get creative, add a medicine ball, a swiss ball, therabands, any weight or resistance.
I.e: Instead of plain crunches, hold on to a medicine ball as you do them, or use a swiss ball for improved balance.



*Don't forget to target all regions of your belly, when you select exercises. Your oblique, or side abs. Rectus abs which are your lower and upper tummy, that gives that six pack look. (The six pack is one entire muscle but connective tissue makes look like segments). Also your transverse abs, which run deep under the rectus and obliques and are not simply engaged by your basic abs exercises.

*I love my ab circuits: pick a select number of ab exercises (at least 4), then choose the number of sets and reps. Get a buddy and get started!

I'll try to post some exercises in the coming days.
Cheers,
P

Grocery Guidelines By P

It’s the end of the week which means, I’ll be looking into my fridge and taking note on what to buy this weekend at the grocery store. I love to shop for food, almost as much as I like to eat it. So here are some of my grocery shopping habits and rules, i've adopted over the years.

Go to the grocery store a few times a week

If you can manage it buy your meats the same day you are going to have it for dinner, or a day or two later. I love to buy my fish fresh from the counter and have it that same night. I also try to pick up a side of vegetables for a fresh salad mix.

Try a new fruit or vegetable each week

Try bok choy or kale instead of spinach. Bake a yam instead of a potato, or try a medley of berries in lieu of the typical apple. Break up the monotony of the same old foods and experiment with tastes.

Shop on the Periphery
As your eating becomes healthier you will be inclined to do the majority of your shopping on the outskirts of any grocery store. There you find the whole foods, and the best sources of nutrients that the body needs. I venture into the aisle only if I need oatmeal, (or I'm feeling weak). Everything in the center is packaged, low nutrient “food-like” items IMO.

The Cart: Our First Line of Defense
This week I pigged out on a whole bag of Pita chips (regrettably). They were on sale for $2 and normally they cost $4.48 at the Walmart. I put it in the cart lured by the deal, all the while knowing I should not bring this home.




So if you don’t want to be tempted by an item, do not even bring it into your home. (Instead open the package in the clothing aisle and eat a few helpings before you leave. Upon reaching satiety, walk away).

Fat free? So What
I used to buy “fat free” and “low fat” everything: milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, thinking it was better for me. Or that I could eat more of whatever it was that had “25%!” less fat. Not true. Fat free usually means more of something else, namely sugars. So because an item is lower in fat, doesn’t mean it is good for your body or a superior product.




Read It
Before I bring any item into my home, I check to see if I should give it that privilege by reading the label. I take note of the small print as if reading a contract. An agreement between this block of Havarti cheese and I! It promises to provide me with the best and I promise to eat it.




But really learn to read the nutrition information for a product, so you can compare and understand what you are getting.

And Rule of thumb I heard a long time ago: If you can’t pronounce it—-don't eat it!

Happy Shopping,
Perdita

BRR it's Chilly Outside and In

My training a partner and I are some G's going outside in wet, driving rain today. We warmed up inside, then went outside to run some hills.

Today unfortunately also warranted an ice bath. Not so bad in July when its hot and sunny. But extremely hard to do on cold and wet days like today.

Today reminded me of this pic below:



Clearly this is for the insane.
Ciao,
Perdita

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!!

Here's to honoring fallen heroes and those that presently keep us safe, and preserve our freedom.

500 Report

This week was my first week back here at base and I didn't know quite what to expect. Looking back the week was magic and I worked my tail off.

If you read the last post, you know I had to tackle hills for the second time this week on Friday. With most of them being 300m long, and one being a 500m hill! Which I have never done.

Friday morning all I could think about was that 500m hill. My training partner doesn't start until next week, so I had to go at it alone. But I brought mental toughness to the session and summoned my inner Paula Radcliffe.

"W.W.P.D ...What would Paula do?”

"H.W.P.B.I...How Would Paul Bring it?”

Were my thoughts as I stood at the base of the hill, as Coach 'Gdub moved pine cones and branches out of my path and reminded me of the route.

My fast twitch muscle fibers were screaming: "We don't have to do this".

I took off, with a steady, confident pace. Remembering what BF said on the phone the night before. Something silly like he always says 'You break that hill, it don't break you!'. It had me chuckling on the line then, but oddly I wasn't grinning teeth now.

I checked my breathing at 150m, and liked the steadiness of it. At 200m it was all good. In fact I felt like a really sexy cross country runner with thick thighs, who happens to hurdle fast on the side.

At 250m I took a right, down the slope and past the maple trees, wishing someone had a video camera, all this elk like gracefulness I was exhibiting, going undocumented.

Waste.

At 300m I contemplated switching from the 100m hurdles to the 3000m steeple chase. Stride so flawless, poetry in motion.

Really, "Had I been in the wrong event all this time? Had I only at 28 now found my calling, my best track event?"

At 399m I got my answer.

It came in the form of a sudden surge of heaviness in my buttocks. Fire invading my lungs, and cold teeth from a mouth gone ajar and sucking air.

“Ahh Dayum”.

I heard Gdub yell out my 400m split. After nearly a decade together, I knew the tone of his voice meant he was OK with this split.

At 415m with only incline left, my mind was flooded with incoherent thoughts: "What is this bring, the hill is breaking me, “P.I.N.T”: Paula I need thee!".

Gdub noticed my abrupt change of pace, the antithesis of runner’s high: spontaneous lactic acid dementia.

He snapped me out of it with a sympathetic shout: “Perdi use your arms, let your arms carry you up the hill!”

I swear an hour later I made it to the top. That final 90m took so long, that I heard nothing from Gdub during it. To encourage me or shout instructions at that point would have been a mockery.

Can't wait to do it all over again next Friday.

Go me!
Perdita

Guess Who’s Back
Man it feels like ages since I’ve blogged. But I have been a busy girl, moving back to my training base last weekend.

I drove my car back and was on record pace for the ten hour drive, based on traffic and no stops. However I was stopped at customs and searched all because my part of an entry document on my visa was MIA.

I looked at the officer and pleaded with my eyes “I haven’t needed this thing in eight months are you really gonna seize me, guy?”.

Buddy sure did.

So I obediently drove my Subaru to parking spot #2.

What’s In A Purse?
I have a massively big purse. I left my vehicle unlocked but took it with me. Big mistake.

This officer with whiskers coming out of his nose (that were long enough to blow in the wind, no lie!) aggressively approached my person demanding where I was going with “that!”.

“Umm?!…I want to know what you guys are gonna do with a bag full of Red Bulls, Vanilla flavoured Bonne Bell lip gloss, and box of flat bread?”

But rather, I threw the cumbersome thing in the back seat. And left them to spill its contents and hope dude found my tweezers, and got a clue.

It’s Me!
Once inside I felt criminal, though guilty of nothing. So I was much pleased while being processed, two men beside me, who were also being processed overheard me explaining, where I live and what I do for a living. Suddenly one of them exclaimed: “I knew it! Perdita we love you!”.



Jackpot!









I winked at officer Johnson. “You see that big boy?--Now Chop-Chop!”.

Then I flashed my signature smile at the men and politely said “Thanks guys”.

















Neighbours Gone Wild
Seven hours and one stop later I was back to my house in Illinois. I found a car in the driveway, so I parked on the street and stayed up waiting for someone to come retrieve their car. I was much to tired from the drive to ring door bells to ask who owned what had to be a 1990’s Celebrity.

Evidently the neighbours were pimping my property as a parking spot. In eight months they had figured out a pyramid system for who got to use it. I was back and they didn't expect me, like a thief in the night.

The gig is up people!

I know this because my training partner lives across the street and had the same woes when she went to Europe to race this summer.


Siphoning H2O
I also found strange hoses hooked up to my front and back water spickets that were not leading to my front and back lawns.

Like really, who steals other peoples water.

Amber Alert For Tree?
As well I have a small tree in my backyard, well I did. It is gone. Yes, my tree is missing and I sure didn't take it with me to Canada when I left.

The nerve of some people, I should go to the home owner's association. My neighbourhood is very safe, but they sure are trifling!

Training
This week we jumped right back into things, no rest or mercy for the weary. Which is part of the reason I didn’t get a chance to up date sooner. I am layed out on the couch by the time I get back from training. Fingers too weak to type, or even open my front door. I find my self rationing energy for the next day.

Tuesday Hills


But I am glad to be back, the focus is better here and so is the quality of each session. The most intense part of Autumn training will be doing hill workouts twice a week. Normally we only run hills on Fridays, 300m long, 6-7 times.

Now I have them on Tuesdays too. Shorter, yes—-but on a Tuesday?! Dude thats sacrilege, can a sista get an ab circuit?!

My butt was burning so much at the end of this past Tuesday’s hill runs, that I wanted a golf cart to take me the near distance to the car. As well have someone drive me home, since I wasn’t sure I could press my car’s clutch.

Friday Hills
And for Friday, imagine my shock when I see a hill run that is 500m long. I have no clue what 500m looks like, where it starts, where it ends, why people use that distance…blah blah blah.

The longest I have ever run was a 400m in 2001 as a freshman and it was the ugliest thing anyone that day had ever seen. It was for testing and the girls on the team can atest to how bad I rigged up at the 250m mark. After that coach never subjected my body to anything more than 300m.

Plus I am certain it embarrassed him.

So what is this 500m thing about? Does he want me to shame him again? Because I am all about the seven-year shame. Not deliberately or out of spite, but by genetic make-up default.

Remember?!

Sigh.
I may complain, I may challenge, but at the end of the day I always do what I am told, and I always do it 100%. So 500m hill here I come…


…like a lamb to the slaughter,
Perdita

History Is Made!

CONGRATULATIONS BARACK OBAMA!!

A historic night for African Americans and America as a nation. My heart smiles at the milestone and the inspiration he is to me and many others.

I cannot vote, but I have lived for nine years in Illinois and I feel like this truly is a wonderful day in human history: Barack Obama 43rd President of the United States and leader of the free world!

Loving it,
Perdita