First workout on the new plan yesterday.....:)

So Bret Contreras (the Glute man.....I love that!!) gave me my new workout plan sooooo fast after I sent him my detailed answers to his questions about my fitness goals and experience.  The plan looks amazing, 3 days of total body lifting and no cardio!  I love it!  He wants me to watch my leanness through my diet, which is the best way in my opinion, and frees up even more time for me to be productive doing other things.  I'm in constant email communication with him so I can report how much I'm lifting etc.....this is going to be fun!

Stay gorgeous and healthy!  Megan

Treadmill workout....

My workout for today was fast and effective.  I set the treadmill at an incline of 12.0 and speed of 4.0, this gets your leg and butt working!  I did twenty minutes total, 45 seconds on.....then stepped off to rest for 15 seconds, get ready to sweat.....and burn just as many calories as you would running at around 6.5 miles per hour.  This is soooo much easier on your knees, and will lift your bum!

The calorie count on your cardio equipment is LYING to you!

Have you ever done an hour on the elliptical, and seen the count of 900...or something close to it....calories and thought:  wow,  I just worked off sooooo many calories, I'm going to have a nice little treat!  Something to keep in mind when you're at the gym:  The caloric estimates on most of the equipment is wrong.  Manufacturers increase the numbers of calories burned so that you will feel good using a certain piece of equipment, and you will keep going back to it again, and again.  If you run very hard for an hour, you can burn about 620 calories.  The treadmill at the gym will actually give you a number that is quite close to this, so it will give you a sense of accuracy.  Note that if you work out on the treadmill and it says 1200, you probably don't feel as though you didn't work as hard, and guess what?  you also didn't burn as many calories!  Look up a calories by the hour burned site on google, and you'll start to get a sense of approximatly how much you are really burning:)

Jumping rope 101

First things first,  buy a jumprope of your own.  I buy my ropes at www.buddyleejumpropes.com they are the perfect weight for jumping, they sell a few different options, depending in whether you like a shorter or longer handle ( I like the shorter to start) and you can customize the size by trimming the rope.  This is actually quite easy, and it only takes about two minutes.  It will keep you from tripping over the rope more frequently than you might otherwise.  The rope is also attached with ball bearings to the handle, and you won't believe how smooth the action is on this jumprope.  After you try it you'll wonder why you ever used another kind!  I love having my own rope and throwing it in my bag, so that no matter where I go, I can get in a quick....and effective workout.

By the way, when I went on the site today I couldn't resist adding the rope at the top to my collection!  Can't wait to get it:)  xoxo

Feel free to comment with your questions!

Jumping rope, and getting out of the gym fast.

Today I had a conversation with my sweet friend Maria.  She talked about wanting to jump rope, and was asking me for some tips after seeing a video of me doing a workout with a jumprope.  There is so much to say about jumping rope, and I will get into more detail in posts to come.....but here are some things that I think are important:

1.  It's a fast workout, that you can do (almost) anywhere.  I pack my rope when I go on vacation, or to visit my family.  When I train at the gym, I often jump for 30-60 seconds in between sets.  It's so nice to fit in a little cardio during the workout so you can be in and out...fast!

2.  It takes practice to jump rope, and it's important to be patient with yourself and know that it's not easy!  When I picked it back up a few years ago it felt so awkward!   I was tripping over the rope left and right, but with practice....I'm like a little Rocky now:)

3.  The equipment (rope) you use makes a huge difference.  If the length is off, or the quality is not great....you are making things much harder on yourself.

I'm going to break things down in future posts, and hopefully you guys will have some fun with jumping rope too.  I take mine out by the water when it's nice, or blast the music in the boxing room at the gym when it's cold.  Once you get the hang of it, it's great.  Give yourself some time to learn and I bet you will too!