Burn Baby, Burn!

Hello workout fans!
The promise this week from personal trainer Rodney Filer ... turning our bodies into a fat burning machine. Sound good? Duh.

"It gives you more bang for your buck!" That's how Filer describes interval training. He says you can burn nearly double the number of calories through this workout compared to steady cardio.

"You wanna get your heart rate to be raised and lowered as many times as possible in a set time," says Filer. He used interval training to help biggest loser contestant Rebecca Meyer drop nearly 150 pounds!!! And Rebecca says she only hit the dreaded plateau one time during the three and half months she was back at home after leaving the ranch.

Another plus is that interval training can be done almost anywhere without a lot of fancy workout equipment. We use Reebok Steps, but you can use the steps in your own home and those at Gray's Lake! Then all you do is alternate between an active phase and a recovery phase. The active phase can be as long or as short as you like, but you'll probably be surprised at how long twenty seconds can feel after a few rounds.

Repeating each sequence of work and rest for an hour or so will improve your heart health and the best part - boost your body's metabolism!!!

If you'd like to try training with Rodney, call 279-0242.

Have a great week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com

Irasshaimase!

In case you're wondering ... that means "Welcome" in Japanese. This week's workout is karate, and we were given a very warm welcome at Dojos Family Martial Arts in Ankeny.

Neither Sonya nor I expected this to be a killer workout. Fun, yes. New, absolutely. But grueling? No. Boy were we clueless.

Master Instructor Jeff Wilber was awesome to work with. He is a high energy, super positive guy who made our workout really fun, even if we were dying during parts of it. "We like to have fun, exciting classes that are very positive," says Master Wilber, "this is not your traditional karate class!"

We started with a pretty basic warmup... some running, knee strikes, kicks and arm swings to get the blood pumping. Then the small target bags were added to the mix. Pretty soon we were doing full kicks down into lunges while punching the bag on the floor. It didn't take long for us to break a sweat during this drill and it was the first one! Master Wilbur uses the "Tabata Protocol" - you do twenty seconds of high intensity exercise, followed by ten seconds of rest. In this class, we did three rounds of each exercise. What made this really brutal was the way we constantly went back and forth between cardio work and ab work - and a lot of ab work that was really full body work. There were a few plank exercises that had every muscle in our bodies begging for mercy! All the while Master Wilber was screaming things like, "Your attitude determines your altitude!" and "If it hurts just smile more! big smiles!"

And you know what? We WERE smiling. This class was a blast and we were sorry when it ended. We worked really hard but had a really good time doing it. It's easy to understand why Master Wilber says, "I recommend martial arts for everyone between the ages of 4 and 104 ... anyone can do martial arts training and benefit from it."

If you want to give martial arts a try, contact Master Wilber at 963-9989 and check out the website at www.mydojos.com.

Have a great week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com

Whip it Good!

Hey friends!
Thanks for stopping by the workout blog. Sonya and I keep thinking we're going to run out of ideas for this series, but the new forms of fitness routines just keep flowing into our inboxes. Thanks to all of you for contributing!

This week we're doing rope training with Barb Mendoza from Fitness By Design. "I like to say there's a big fitness toolbox," says Barb, "and this is one tool." Barb has been a personal trainer for twenty years, so she's seen it all. She says she likes these new, weighted ropes because they're a form of "functional training" - which means we're mimicking a lot of movements we perform in everyday activities.

This turned out to be another workout that's a lot harder than it looks. The ropes are long, heavy, and anchored to the floor at one end. We have to hold on to the free ends and then do the moves Barb tells us to... whiping the ropes up and down and side to side takes a lot of strength and coordination. "The heart rate goes up, the legs get tired, the core and the arms are very engaged," explains Mendoza.

It doesn't take long at all for our biceps to start burning. Soon Barb has us start doing jumping jacks while holding the ropes, and then our hearts are thumping. The break from the cardio involves ab moves on the floor and we realize this is a total body workout. Throw in more toys like disks and a BOSU and soon we're working muscle groups we didn't even know we had!!!

This workout was a blast and Barb is a great trainer. If you're interested in trying the rope workout, contact Barb. 277-9721 or info@FitnessByDesignDM.com.

Here's to a happy and healthy week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com

Derby Dames

Hey everybody! Welcome to Workout of the Week. This week you get an honorary roller derby name ... "Fitness Fiends". In case you didn't know, there is an international registry for roller derby names and it's serious ... so don't even think about ripping off great ones like "Bloody Mary" or "Amber Waves of Pain."

Sonya and I have tackled quite a few fitness challenges so far, but none of them required helmets and knee pads... this week's does! We need the protective gear because we're lacing up roller skates. This is practice with the Des Moines Derby Dames. Our coach is Showstopper and she's all busienss. "I'm pushing them to go beyond what they think their limits are, really..." she says with a grin.

We're just struggling to skate, and then we learn there's much more to this workout on wheels. Wall squats and planks follow sprints around the rink and we're convinced this is the longest two hours of our lives. "You gotta skate past the tired," says Showstopper, "it's a whole new level."

We spend more time on our rear ends than our our skates - keep in mind it's been at least two decades since we've even taken a leisurely spin around a rink. We aren't even thinking about hitting and blocking, but for some on the team, it's second nature. "Yeah, they call me Shoulders, but my real name is Elbow. But you can't use your elbow ... it's a foul." Elbow MacFearson loves the fierce competition, and the workout. "I'm horrible about the gym. I have a membership I never use. I need someone ordering me around like Showstopper does." And there's a reason we won't be taking part in the scrimmage. Elbow's suffered a broken hand and ligament damage! "I've seen it all, " she says, "compound fractures, blood on the rink. Hot Lips broke her elbow, it was bad!"

We decide we'll stick to stumbling around the rink like the rookies we are, even though the Derby Dames insist we could join the team ... eventually. "If you can train well and you're willing to be coached," says Showstopper, "you can do anything!"

You can catch the Des Moines Derby Dames in action this Saturday at 7pm at the 7 Flags Events Center.

In the meantime... check out some derby names I came up with ... :)

Sonya Hitshusen
Sonya Slam Master
Sonya Make U So Sore
Heitshusen the Hitter

Erin Blockavich
Erin Go Bad
Erin the Exterminator
Kiernan the Crusher

EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com