Colin and I have been cleaning up our diets, avoiding alcohol, and getting crazy shredded in anticipation of our vacation to Mexico this spring. We’re gonna be a couple of hot and sexy kids just like we were for our first trip to Mexico together, just before we started officially dating—cute!
One of the most important ingredients to the recipe for the fitnastiest me is cardio. Cardio, cardio, CARDIO. And not just any cardio, but tough stuff. I’m talking about interval training.
Interval training is a style of exercise that involves periods of high intensity work followed by periods of lower intensity work. Traditionally, the high intensity parts are shorter bursts at all-out physical exertion and the lower intensity phases are lower than your average capacity and may even involve a complete rest.
But fitnasty interval training takes this and flips it on its head: if you’re interested in getting crazy fit like me at the moment, your periods of high intensity are long and grueling, and your lower intensity periods are short and sweet. But it all evens out time-wise, and interval training packs a serious punch in a short amount of time no matter which way you do it. What does that mean? It means that to do a sesh of cardio intervals doesn’t take much time, so there are NO EXCUSES not to do them. 
Because doing intervals is so intense, you not only burn a ton of calories while you’re exercising, but you go on to burn much more after your workout is over. Whaaat?! That’s awesome! This is called the “afterburn effect,” and it is your B to the F to the F when you’re trying to lose body fat.
How I got my fitnastiness on today:
I warmed up by jogging from my house on the southern edge of Capitol Hill to the Convention Center downtown to say hello to my lovely sisters at The Juicy Cafe, then did an about-face and began my ascent back up the hill by nearly sprinting up Pine Street. I ran all-out as fast as my little leggies would take me for one block at a time, and then either walked or lightly jogged to cross each street. The effect: crazily delicious burning in my quads and the feeling that my heart was going to pound its way out of my chest at any moment. Ohhhhh yeeeeeaaaaahh.
Pump up the volume, baby! There’s nothing quite like something new to spice up your workout to make sure it’s a killer calorie-scorcher. Although I would love to buy a new pair of Lululemon Athletica pants every time I wanted something new or different, a rockin’ playlist can be just as motivating…and muuuuch cheaper.
Here are the tunes I used in last week’s Boot Camp for you to download and enjoy. I included the remix names as well as the track times so you can make sure you’re getting the same version of the song—dig in and get fitnasty!
- Born This Way (Bimbo Jones Club Remix) – Lady Gaga, 6:46
- We Found Love (Chuckie Extended Mix) – Rihanna, featuring Calvin Harris, 5:57
- Set Fire to the Rain (Workout Mix) – Anya Tru, 4:36
- Save the Last Trance for Me – Paul Oakenfold, 7:50
- Call Your Girlfriend (Sultan & Ned Dub Remix) – Robyn, 5:37
- Night By Night – Chromeo, 3:45 [**new FAVorite!!**]
- Mr. Saxobeat – Alexandra Stan, 3:15
- Drop It Low – Kat de Luna, 3:46
- Burn It to the Ground – Nickelback, 3:29
- Judas (DJ White Shadow Remix) – Lady Gaga, 4:07
- I Can Change – LCD Soundsystem, 5:56
- Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) – Lady Gaga, 2:55
As a CRAZY busy person, this is one of the most difficult of my own suggestions to follow. But it does make a big difference in the way your body functions, and while you’re on track for weight loss, you want to make sure all your body’s functions are running as smoothly as possible.
Keep in mind that thousands of years of evolution have trained our bodies to put survival at the tops of their priorities lists, and what’s one of the most important things your body has to stock up on if it’s to survive? Fat! So if you’re running your body ragged, it will tweak and change several things going on in your body to protect you from what it feels is looming danger–though that looming danger maaaay just be an overdue deadline.
Here are a couple things that happen when you’re not getting enough sleep:
- Increased fat storage: sleep loss interferes with your how your body metabolizes carbohydrates, which increases your blood sugar levels. This causes your insulin production to go on overdrive, causing storage of your body fat.
- Fake hunger pangs: sleep loss affects your cortisol levels–the hormone that regulates your apetite. Sleep-deprived, you may think you’re hungry when you’ve had plenty to eat. (Check out this Livestrong article about sleep and weight loss!)
Rhythm Nation
Another thing that Madelyn’s World of Sleep dreads is the sound of my alarm clock. That greedy little bastard is always stealing precious sleep from me. But it’s odd: on the weekends, I’ll usually wake up pretty close to the same time, but as long as I wake up on my own, I feel much more refreshed.
Do you ever feel like your morning alarm clock is digging you out of the deepest possible sleep? That’s because, like my weekly alarm clock usually does, you’re being waken up in the middle of a sleep cycle–your alarm is a jarring gong interrupting your body’s natural rhythm.
Enter the most AWESOME website I’ve found this year: www.sleepyti.me, the “Bedtime Calculator”! Simply enter one of two pieces of information: 1) what time you have to wake up, and it will calculate (based on human sleeping rhythms/cycles) what time you should hit the sack, or 2) if you’re going to bed right now, it will calculate what time you should set your alarm clock so as not to interrupt a deep sleep.
Who knew one of my steps to getting crazy-shredded would be so pleasant?? Time for a nap!
Helloooo!
It’s been quite a while since I was posting regularly. And so the longer I went without making a post, the more (imaginary) pressure I felt to have the comeback post be something spectacular, and there hasn’t been anything particularly spectacular happening in my fitnasty world. Until!…
Colin and I attended a charity auction for FSH research, had too many glasses of complimentary champagne, and participated in a bidding war on a 7-day trip to Mazatlan, Mexico.
Time to stop drinking champagne and start getting SHREDDED! Oh yay-yer!
And since I will be taking all the necessary fitnasty steps to get to my most shredded bod, I thought: what a perfect time to share my journey with you! Pre-vacation shreds are also the best to share because I’ll be using a realistic time frame: 2 months.
So if you still have a little bit of sugar cookie remnants hanging around in your fat deposits, now is a perfect time to start shedding your winter layers in time with the coming of spring. Because there’s nothing quite like feeling your best as the Seattle sun comes out from hibernation.
Check back with the Fitnasty Blog for a different step or tip every day to help you along your journey–I’ll aim to fill up a whole month with nutrition tips, workouts and other ways to get crazy shredded.
Although I began my Mazatlan Shred a couple of weeks ago, I’ll start this blog series with the first steps I took. And the best part of me getting a head start on you? Those first few steps have already made a significant and noticeable difference in my physique! Yay:)
As you’re following along, keep in mind that every body is different, and some of the steps and tricks I use and find to yield the best results may not wow you as much as they wowed me. But everything I share with you will be based on several years of experience, experiments and lots of industry-based knowledge, so as long as you stay focused, positive and consistent, you WILL come out of this journey feeling and looking better and hotter than when you started. It all depends on your level of commitment and your resolve to sticking to it!
…sooooo you’re probably not going to like the first step. But this is not only the most important step, but it’s also the one that (for most people) will yield guaranteed results in a relatively short amount of time. So keep that in mind and tell yourself to suck it up:
- STEP ONE: Quit drinking. You don’t have to like, quit drinking forever, but the longer you can go without ingesting alcohol (yes, that includes wine with dinner), the more time you’ll be giving your body to put fat-burning at the top of its priority list. If you’ve just got to go out and have a cocktail, get a vodka- or gin-and-soda with several limes. These have virtually no sugar apart from the alcohol, and will be strong enough-tasting that you probably aren’t in danger of sucking it down. And then, you can order soda water with lime for the rest of the evening to keep people from giving you shit about not drinking! All in all, try to keep adult beverage intake to once a week, max.
Wait! One more thing, and this is important. Check out this blog post I wrote last year about weight loss and alcohol. It breaks down what exactly happens in your body when you drink and is highly likely to give you an “aha!” moment of motivational zen. Just do it!!
See you tomorrow!
-Madelyn
Our healthcare system is f**ked up. I’m pretty sure that’s a non-debatable fact that most of us can agree on. But the big question of “How the heck do we fix it?” is not nearly as easy to agree upon.
I’ve always thought that with large-scale society-based problems like this, the best solution is to start from the very bottom up and change the way we think about the whole system first. That, of course is pretty close to impossible unless you have absolutely everyone on board. For example reducing carbon emissions would require that everyone completely rethinks how they get places, how often they buy groceries, etc. And changing healthcare would be best fixed from the root of the problem–our health.
But how do you get an entire country to change the way they take care of themselves? We need to be a healthier people so that we don’t let problems go so long that we need such massive healthcare. Of course cancer is a bit of a different story, but eating whole, natural and unprocessed foods without a bunch of man-made chemicals buzzing in them will undoubtedly increase our risk of being cancer-free.
Japan is doing something radical. It’s something that many of us think about, talk about in private circles of friends guaranteed not to be offended, and is an obvious solution to our problem. But it’s pretty damn unconstitutional.
My question to you guys is: is this gray area of unconstitutionality worth the massive gain in forcing a change from the bottom up what would radically change the health of our country for the better?
Check it out and tell me what you think:
Everything comes full circle.
The fact that I got to do my whole back operation all over again, with new titanium hardware and a spinal fusion from scratch to boot, isn’t the MOST totally awesome thing to come around again . . . but! The fact that my first time back to teaching MadAbs classes after that surgery in 2009 was for a post-Thanksgiving, 5-day boot camp extravaganza? Now that’s awesome.
Why you ask? Because it’s all coming around again, baby! Two years later, the week after Thanksgiving will mark the first MadAbs classes back after my surgery, and we’ll have an entire WEEK to kick ass every night in boot camps, kickboxing, and the much-anticipated preview of the brand new “Skinny Bitch Barre”!
Not only do I encourage my clients to do so, but I’m also very into pumping up my fitness regimen and zeroing in on cleaning up my diet right before the holidays. This way, I can set myself up to easily avoid any holiday-related weight gain, and, if I play my cards right, I’ll come out on the other side even more fit than before.
And you can do it too! This is the perfect time to get serious about your workouts.
DO NOT WAIT for New Year’s. That’s for amateurs. We’re serious, we’re hard-core, and we put our asses into overdrive the week after Thanksgiving.
And I thought I couldn’t be more excited than I was to finally start teaching again! Here we go, boot campers! I’ve created, just for you, a 5-day, cleansing series of amazing, high-energy classes designed to work together to give you the confidence you need to face the holiday season without fear, and take from you at LEAST one pound off your body, or even an inch off your pants. If you come to class every day during this post-Thanksgiving week, you’re going to walk out of the last class on Friday, December 2nd setting off smoke alarms.
Smokin’ HOT alarms!!
2011 POST-THANKSGIVING HELL WEEK!
Monday, 11/28 through Friday 12/2 of MadAbs classes to cleanse out, clean up, and get your body ripped and smokin’ hot before the holidays can get ya.
all 5 days: $80
choose any 3: $50
drop-in: $20
Paypal option on website coming soon; or bring cash or check to your first class made out to “MadAbs Fitness”.
Monday, 11/28: BOOT CAMP! in the Annex Gym at Miller Community Center (19th & Thomas, map), 6:30-7:30 pm.
Tuesday, 11/29: ”Skinny Bitch Barre” (new!!) in the multi-purpose room at Montlake Community Center (18th and Calhoun, map), 5:30-6:30 pm.
Wednesday, 11/30: Cardio Kickboxing in the multi-purpose room at Miller Community Center, 6:30-7:30 pm
Thursday, 12/1: “Sculpt” in the multi-purpose room at Montlake Community Center, 6:30-7:30 pm.
Friday, 12/2: Climbing Boot Camp at the E. Howe Stairs (10th St. & E. Howe, map), 6:00-7:00 AM.
And there you have it!! I’ve been drooling over my daydreams of finally getting back to teaching, and I’m so excited to go back that I can hardly contain myself! . . . hence the drooling. I’ll probably have that issue taken care of by the time I’m yelling at you to do five more burpees, though
Sign up now!! Please email RSVP with madelyn@madabsfitness.com as soon as possible with your name, how many people you’re bringing with you and who they are, and what package you’ll be choosing and which days you plan on coming. Plus, check this out—–>
THE FIRST TEN TO RSVP CAN BRING ONE GUEST ALL WEEK FOR FREE!!
So get your buns moving and get ready to get fitnasty, exiting class on the last day feeling hotter than you have all year. And that’s no joke.
It’s the announcement you’ve been waiting for all summer! I’m going into the Miller Community Center today to set up some classes for fall. Yippee!!
It’s been 12 weeks since the spinal fusion operation that put me out this July, and I’ve taken the smallest tiniest baby steps ever to get full exercise clearance. But first things first, I need to go into Miller to see what days and times are available for the classes that we want. Plus, MadAbs is expecting a totally killer deal with Living Social to premiere in the next couple of months, so we’ve got to start getting our fitnasty on now!
Here’s the Fall 2011/Winter 2012 Schedule that I proposed in September, and the weekly order that I’m going for. Have comments or suggestions? These are YOUR CLASSES! So don’t hesitate to weigh in on what you want out of them.
Cardio Kickbox/Core Crunch
This high-intensity shadow-boxing class revs your cardio up to a level we rarely achieve on our own–myself included! Cardio Kickboxing is a crazy-fun way to tone your tone your upper-body anddrip body fat all while getting a little agression out, leaving you feeling invigorated, sassy, and a little hard-core. After that 45 minute butt-kicking comes Core Crunch, a 25-minute ab-tastic voyage that brings you miles closer to your dream six-pack every day you come to class.
Cardio Kickboing- 45 minutes
Core Crunch- 25 minutes
Miller Community Center, (19th & Thomas, Capitol Hill)
Sculpt
It’s back by popular demand! This low-impact and lower intensity class uses dumbbells to helps you get your weight-lifting on. Working with weights is essential in reducing body fat, and I’ll help coach you and your form with exercises like deadlifts, back rows, chest presses to tone and sculpt your body. Come to “Sculpt” to tone, and watch your reflection get rock-solid by New Year’s!
60 minutes
Miller Community Center (19th & Thomas, Capitol Hill)
Skinny Bitch Barre
Join Abigail (she’s the “Abs” in MadAbs!) for this low-impact class that will completely reshape your body to make your muscles longer and leaner, and make you more flexible and smokin’ hot than you’ve ever been. Barre class revolves around the traditional ballerina’s bar as a prop for insane all-over toning while helping you focus on balance and breathing.
45 minutes
Miller Community Center (19th & Thomas, Capitol Hill)
The Water Tower Boot Camp
You hate it sooo hard, but no one can deny that the water tower at Volunteer Park delivers one of the most amazing workouts you can get in less than an hour. We’ll do around 10 sets of those infamous stairs to rock your cardio and tone the hell out of your legs, plus do intervals of upper-body and core exercises at the top of the tower using Madelyn’s resistance bands. You’ll love to hate it, but don’t be surprised if you can’t wait to come back for more.
60 minutes
Volunteer Park (Capitol Hill)
Did you read yesterday’s blog post on how to build your own at-home fitnasty center? If you were inspired to get started but lacking in the cash monies department, I have wonderful news for you! Because I’m now an old, old, old lady, I was drinking my coffee this Sunday morning at 7:30 am, reading the Seattle Times and cutting out coupons . . . Yes, I was actually cutting out coupons. I wish I could just turn 30 already and get it over with.
Anyway! That’s not the good news! The good news is that I saw THIS!
Pack a lunch and make the trek to Northgate!
That’s right! All fitness equipment is TWENTY PERCENT OFF! If you need a better excuse than that to get going on your totally awesome hypothetical home gym, then . . . you’re really good at excuse-ing.
Not only is it completely unnecessary to have a gym membership to get in the best shape of your life, but if you have the right equipment, there can be tons of benefits to working out in your home instead of in a gym! Here are a few reasons to stock up on your own equipment like, today:
- If you’re just beginning your journey to fitnastiness, gyms can be intimidating, and being in front of a bunch of strangers while you working out can sound terrifying. When I first began my journey, (I used to be THIRTY POUNDS heavier, y’all!) I locked myself in my spare bedroom to practice my moves—I wouldn’t even let my boyfriend so much as sneak a peek in my direction while I was exercising! That time alone allowed me to work at myself, drop some body fat and increase my fitness level so that soon, I felt confident enough and knew enough exercises to work out in public.
- Save money! Not only do you not have to worry about a monthly bill that you feel guilty about not using sometimes, but purchasing the few, inexpensive pieces it takes to make up a home gym is a great investment that you can have and hold.
- It saves a crazy amount of time. Which, as a personal trainer, is one of my favorite reasons for home gyms—it helps eliminate the ancient and very much hated virus that plagues all fitness plans (and a dirty word in my house growing up): EXCUSES! If your equipment is in a storage container under your bed, it can’t get a whole lot more convenient than to roll out of bed and get a super-quick workout in before your shower or even a 5-minute homework assignment before bed that will put you on the fast-track to your goals.
One of my favorite clients decided to spice things up a bit and so her husband began to join us for our sessions together, and going a step further, decided that they’d love to be able to work out on their own property. So! One dumbbell and medicine ball at a time, we’re turning their garage in to a little piece of MadAbs heaven. *Ahem!* I mean their own personal fitness facility! For them, of course. Of course.
Check out the list of stuff I recommend that they get. It’s a great list to reference because this husband-wife team is in very common fitness-level ground, not too high or low at any extremes, and there are, obviously, both genders involved. Be sure to check out the links to websites with good prices!
- pull-up bar, $20-30; most can easily be inserted in a bedroom doorway without doing any damage at all, and can be removed just as easily. (link)
- woody bands, $15-20; in my opinion, these are essential to any gym, home or not. The band attaches to a pull-up bar and loops below the participant’s knees or feet to give them the boost they need to make a full pull-up without sacrificing form. That way you can strengthen the muscles needed for doing actual pull-ups so that a future where you can really do pull-ups on your own is well within your goal-sight. (get heavier resistance for women and beginners, lighter resistance for men and advanced peeps) (Rogue Fitness)
- kettlebell, $20-$50 (price depends on weight; I recommend a 20# bell for women, a 35# bell for men); this piece of “wonder” equipment is very on trend right now, and it’s no wonder why: you can do a million different exercises with it! K-bells are also great because working with them recruits multiple muscle groups to work together at the same time, especially your core. This versatile little weight is essential to your home gym. (
- Hooverball medicine ball, $35-60+; like the kettlebell, this is a crazy-versatile piece of equipment. The “Hooverball” version is much larger and softer than smaller, harder and usually rubber medicine ball that usually comes to mind. The benefit of having the large version is that you can do so much more with it, like wall balls (a SUPER favorite exercise of mine!! almost as much as burpees!!), pass to other people or slam it on the ground, or even play actual Hooverball, which is like volleyball but way more of a workout. (Amazon) (Rogue Fitness)
- air disc, $13; relatively small and lightweight, these air-filled cushions can be used a hundred different ways to make exercises more or differently challenging by working on balance and stability. They’re a great alternative to BOSU Balance Trainers, which are awesome but expensive and take up a lot of space. (Amazon)
These light-weight balance discs are a great alternative to BOSU balls, and ultra portable, too.
- jump rope, $5-30; jump ropes are instant cardio, and much cheaper than a treadmill! (Amazon) (Target)
- dumbbells, $10+ per set; free weights kick gym machines asses any day of the WEEK, baby! I recommend having a set of 5# and 10# weights for women; and 8#, 12#, and 20# for men, depending on fitness level. Also, I recommend buying these at an actual store, as shipping from an online source is usually expensive. (Sportsmith) (Target)
Thanks for everyone’s patience with my absence during the past few days! I’ve been sick as a dog, roving from bathroom to bed and back again—not fun. But Colin has been taking amazing care of me, so now I’m a rockstar, back from the dead and better than ever, only a slightly bogged-down/ridiculously-busy-because-I-have-been-avoiding-my-ever-growing-inbox-like-the-bubonic-plague-because-it’s-so-scary type of rockstar. Ya know, that type. So thanks for everyone’s patience in waiting for a reply from me via email, and thanks to YOU, darling little Fitnasty Blog readers!
In honor of the ripples of orange, red, and yellow burning through the treetops that comes with the onset of one of my favorite seasons, today I give you a super tasty recipe that will most definitely warm your tum-tum and please your partner.
My Paleo Diet all-star Leah, (and pretty much all-star in general, she’s the one who was doing the dive bombers in the push-up blog a few days back–what a bad-ass!) is always coming up with shockingly scrumptious ways to make meals that not only send your taste buds to heaven but meet the high Paleo cooking standards of wholly nutritional, super-good-for-you food.
In May we enjoyed her Coconut Chicken Fingers with Cauliflower Rice, and now she gives us: “Leah’s Carnita Goodness”! What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!
Leah’s Carnita Goodness!!
What you need:
- Pork Shoulder (Whole Foods and Madison Market Co-Op are great places to get really good pork)
- Chicken broth 1-2 cups
- Spice mix: 1) 3ish teaspoons garlic powder (or I use fresh minced garlic add it when I add the broth), 2) 1 tablespoon cumin, 3) 1 ½ teaspoon crumbled dried oregano, 4) 1 ½ teaspoon ground coriander, 5) 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or one cinnamon stick broke in 1/2
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups chicken broth
The fixings:
- green cabbage to use as tortillas (or you could use tortillas)
- guacamole
- fresh pico de gallo
- fresh cilantro
- limes
Follow these steps to make a very tasty meal:
- Sprinkle all sides of salt. Next coat the pork with the spice mixture. I really massage it in.
- Place the bay leaves in the slow cooker. Set the coated pork on top of the leaves and pour the liquid around it. This is when I add the cinnamon stick.
- Cook on low until it comes apart with a fork, around 8 hours, or more. Turn it over halfway through. OR you can cook it on high for 4 hours (turning halfway through).
You could totally eat it now…but it wouldn’t be as amazing as if you do the next step. Now – this is what makes it B.O.M.B!!!
Turn the oven on broil. Place the shredded pork shoulder on cookie sheet and place in the oven for 4-6minutes until it is nice and crispy. Give it a shake half way through. (you may need to go longer depending on your oven).
Now, make some carnita tacos and enjoy one amazing, Paleo-licious meal!
Check back with me tomorrow for a blog I’m really excited about: “The Bare Bone Essentials for Your Totally Fitnasty Workout Zone in Your Home”!