Best Body Bootcamp–Final Thoughts

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Parita

I completed my very last Best Body Bootcamp Round 5 workout on Saturday. I felt…a sense of accomplishment and pride. I followed the plan and worked my butt off (often outside my comfort zone) for eight whole weeks. I didn’t quit – through our move, weekend visitors, busy work weeks, etc. – I kept going. Woo hoo!

The last and final phase of the bootcamp focused on timed workouts (think tabatas). While I love tabatas, this wasn’t my favorite phase. And that’s not because the workouts weren’t tough or anything even remotely close to that. I think my love for true strength training workouts (with weights) has fully blossomed. And now, nothing else will do! But the variety, change of pace, and new moves were more than welcome.

I don’t have any quantitative results to share with y’all. I didn’t weigh myself during the eight weeks, and I didn’t take any measurements. Instead, I tuned into my strength and endurance capacity and focused on the way my clothes fit. With that in mind, I’m happy to report that my weights have increased (I use 12 pound dumbbells for some exercises), I can run farther and faster than ever before, and my clothes are a little bit looser. Oh and knee pain seems to be a thing of the past (knock on wood!). Success!

There is one thing I want to talk about that didn’t go so well for me, and it’s not really related to the bootcamp. Over the past 2-3 weeks, my eating habits have been less than stellar. It’s not that I ate junk food for every meal, but I did eat more than my fair share of dark chocolate. And cheese (in some form) found it’s way into most of my lunches and dinners. Eating out has also been a regular thing for the past 2.5 weeks (last week alone I ate out like 10 times!!), and with that, the wine was also flowing.

Some of the above is work related, some of it is because I’ve had friends in town, and some of it is because we’re not 100% settled yet and won’t be until Vishnu is done with his boards. That’s just life. And don’t get me wrong. I’m super proud of myself for completing the bootcamp and accomplishing what I did. However, I feel like over the past 2.5 weeks, I tried to out exercise a bad diet. FYI…not a good plan.

Now you’re probably wondering how I know this when I didn’t weigh myself or take any measurements. Well, I don’t. All I know is how I feel. And I feel as though I could’ve done a better job with my food choices. That’s all. But I’m not going to beat myself up over it. I truly did enjoy some of the meals I’ve had over the past few weeks. And at the end of the day, each and every one was enjoyed with people I care about. In the grand scheme of things, it’s no big deal. But I do want to clean up some of my poor eating habits moving forward.

So here’s what I think. For the next round of bootcamp, I’m going to focus on the “food as fuel” concept along with the 80/20 rule. Also, I need to go back to my roots and plan ahead, especially when I know eating out is on the agenda.

Overall, the past eight weeks were incredible…life changing even. I learned a lot about myself and what I’m capable of. And I can’t wait for the summer round to begin! Are you going to join?!

Best Body Bootcamp: Phase 3

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Parita

Today marks the end of Best Body Bootcamp Phase 3. And let me tell you – the past two weeks were tough! The workouts didn’t look like much on paper, but the combination of push and pull exercises and heavier weights was intense. And don’t even get me started on the full body high intensity circuit that included tricep push-up to frogger. Eek!

Let’s just say me feet were NOT right next to my hands!

These two weeks for me were more than just about new learning workouts and increasing my weights. Phase 3 actually taught me more about rest than anything else.

When I started BBB, I was so gung ho about following the plan to the very last detail. I was working out M-F and using Saturday as an active recovery day. This meant my only true rest day was Sunday. A day where I cleaned and ran errands…didn’t exactly feel like a rest day to me.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve learned that it’s ok to deviate from the plan and do what’s right for my body. For example, after exercising M-W, my body has no tolerance for cardio on Thursday. So now I rest on Thursday and Sunday. On those days, I’m able to get a little extra sleep and just relax. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I still feel strong, I’m still seeing results, and more than anything, I’m making the plan work for me.

Proper rest makes us stronger, helps our body heal itself, allows us to mentally relax, prepares us for things like frogger pushups (kind of!), energizes us, etc.

Bottom line – rest days should be built into your routine because by going hard every day you’re doing more harm than good – for your body and your mind. And everyone deserves a little rest!

Do you have a hard time resting? Are you a fan of rest days as well?

P.S. Be sure to check out Tina’s blog for new information about Round 6 of Best Body Bootcamp. It will now be starting on June 17th! And Tina’s upped the anti with lots of great new features. You don’t want to miss out!

Also, if you’re interested in my phase 1 and phase 2 recaps, be sure to check them out as well!

Best Body Bootcamp: Phase 2

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Parita

I can’t believe we are halfway through round 5 of BBB. I know I’ve been talking about how amazing this program is for a while now (phase 1 recap), but really, it is! And luckily for those of you who want to give it a try, Tina may be starting round 6 earlier than expected. I’ll update you when registration opens!

So phase 2 was all about muscle endurance. What this means is that we did a lot of pulsing. For example, one of the exercises she had us do was a plié stance squat. Looks simple on paper – 5 reps, then 5 pulses, then 10 pulses, and then 15 pulses. By the time I got to the 15 pulses, my muscles were screaming.

Another brutal but awesome exercise combo was the push press + downward dog pushup (no pulsing for this one). I love push presses because they make me feel strong. However, when you pair them in a set with downward dog pushups, you are in for a treat. My arms were on fire!

At the end of the day, no matter how hard the workouts were, I was so glad to have completed them. Even as I sat in the middle of my living room floor with sweat dripping off of me (pretty picture, huh?!). BBB is legit – I can promise you that.

Now that we’re four weeks into the program, I’m seeing a lot more conversation in the Facebook group about people noticing changes in their bodies, the way their clothes fit, their energy levels, etc. I’m one of those people. While I will never post progress pictures on the blog, I can assure you that progress is being made! It’s crazy what a little bit of consistency + hard work will do for you (right, Laura?).

One of the threads that caught my attention was about seeing positive changes in muscle definition while seeing no drop (and sometimes an increase) on the scale. Personally, I didn’t weigh myself before starting BBB. I didn’t want to get caught up with the numbers because that would lead me down a dangerous path. Even still, it was interesting to read the comments that followed. Everyone talked about how they haven’t noticed much of a difference on the scale either, but their clothes are fitting better and their significant others are noticing a change. I think the group concluded that we should ditch our scales!

So here’s the point I want to make. If you choose to strength train, you may not lose pounds, HOWEVER your body will change for the better. It’s all in the science – 1 pound of fat weighs the same as 1 pound of muscle. Muscle is more dense than fat and therefore takes up less room…which makes for a more lean body. I know a lot of women are afraid of bulking up and looking ‘manly,’ but that is really not possible (at least not with a program like BBB).

I know strength training can be intimidating, especially when you’re first starting out. I also know that it’s hard to get out of the all cardio mindset. I’ve been there! On the other hand, I also get that not everyone has the same fitness goals. Not everyone wants defined muscles and that’s ok too. However, I do think that basic strength training (at a minimum) should be a part of everyone’s routine. Beyond the strictly physical benefits, there are quite a few other long-term health benefits that everyone can reap from lifting weights. Don’t believe me? Do a quick Google search.

Key takeaways:
1. Pulsing is a lot harder than it looks.
2. Muscles > fat, even when the number on the scale doesn’t go down.
3. Strength training WILL NOT bulk you up, but it WILL have a profound impact on both your physical and mental health.
4. Best Body Bootcamp is amazing!

How do you determine how ‘fit’ you are? Have you been able to ditch your scale?