As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, I have been working on a calorie restriction and find that it has been working well for me. I am not going crazy, just really watching what I am eating. Now I am going to see what impact less cardio is going to have.

The important thing to note is that I am not going to cut out my regular bike commutes to and from work. I am fortunate enough to live in an area (Stavanger, Norway) that allows me to bike 12 kms to work and 12 kms back at the end of the day. What I am going to cut out is the extra sessions I have been doing for HIIT, particularly the session I do on Saturdays.

Another change I am going to make is to make at least two of my commuting sessions HIIT sessions. Instead of just pedalling away at a constant rate as I usually do, I am going to mix it up and really mash the pedals for anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds followed by 90 seconds of my normal cadence. I think this should allow me to get the heart rate a lot higher for short periods of time and hopefully ramp up my fat loss.

The two primary benefits of doing this as I see it is that I have more free time (that extra Saturday session can be tough with a young family) and I will have more rest time for recovery. I will still do my Turbulence Training (which has been unbelievable – I am actually getting bigger biceps) three times per week for resistance training.

I will report back on this in a bout a month and let you know how it works.

(Photo Credit)

While this particular article had good intentions, I don’t think cardio (especially walking) is an effective tool for weight loss. Consider this, if you are of average weight, you would have to walk 5 miles to burn an extra 500 calories a day. Even at a fairly fast pace, it would take you about an hour to walk 5 miles. That’s a lot of work just to burn 500 calories.

If you kept your calorie intake exactly the same over the course of the week, and managed to walk for an extra hour a day at a fairly fast pace, you may be able to burn of an extra pound of fat per week.

This is assuming that the amount of calories you eat over the course of a week is EXACTLY equal to the amount you need to stay at your current weight. If you were overeating even slightly during this week, then the extra walking would have even less of an effect.

7 hours of exercise for a maximum of 1 pound of fat loss is not a very efficient use of anyone’s time! And, while walking 7 days a week may be possible now, think about what it might feel like during the winter months!

This is why I believe that eating for weight loss and even using short-term fasting for weight loss is much more effective than trying to ’sweat off’ the pounds.

With the proper nutrition plan reducing the amount of calories you eat by 500 calories can be almost effortless.

I have found that the very best, most efficient way to lose weight is to combine a solid weight loss nutrition program with a resistance training program. The nutrition program helps you lose weight by creating a caloric deficit and the resistance training preserves your muscle mass and metabolic rate.

Once you have these two “pillars” in place then you can sprinkle in a little bit of extra walking, but think of this as more of a recovery exercise that helps you clear your mind and de-stress (with a bonus of being able to help burn some calories), rather than counting on it to really make ‘you shed the pounds.’

Brad Pilon strength training and nutrition professional and is the author of Eat Stop Eat.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brad_Pilon

I originally started using the app a few weeks ago but found that I was not committed to doing a full complete pushup. Instead, because I was not being true to myself I was working through the program doing partial pushups. In other words I was only going half-way down instead of creating a 90 degree angle at the elbows and dropping my chest down as far as I could. I used this video for inspiration on how to do one properly:

So, with the strictest of form in mind, I have restarted the program and did the initial test and founds that I was able to just squeeze out 28 good form pushups. Not too bad considering even before I started the program a few weeks ago with bad form pushups I could only squeeze out 12.

My goal now is to do 100 good form pushups.

Stay with me as I continue on – I plan to record some video of my progress as I go along. I also am going to restart the 200 situp challenge and will the associated iTouch app and will write about that here too! Stay with me.

(Photo Credit)

Analysing My Routes To and From Work
I like that each and every day I can look back on my rides to and from work to see how fast I was, what my average pace was, and the distance I travelled. I have two routes that I can travel, and each one has its own challenges. The one route, which is more flat, often gets much more wind which requires more work. I live by the sea and the wind off of the fjord can be quite strong. The second route is through a gorgeous forested area but has a lot more hills. My legs get a stronger workout, as does my heart and my heart rate tends to skyrocket on this route. I try to mix the week up and pick one of the two different routes each way.

Garmin Connect

Garmin has released a new website that allows users to connect their Garmin devices up to their computers and easily upload previous runs and rides for tracking and further analysis. I have been doing this and it is pretty cool. It seems a bit buggy right now, as not everything works all the time, but overall it is interesting. One particular feature is the ability to play a video that highlights the route you did, including data on pace, altitude, time, and distance.

Below is a screen capture of the video that a user can view:

I look forward to continuing to use the Garmin Forerunner 305 in my daily commutes to and from work and in my trek to lose weight and get fit.

To be totally honest, it is a great part of my day.  It totally wakes me up and then allows me to wind down and switch from that intense work guy to fun to be around super dad and husband (most of the time!).

The Route

The route I take is 10.5 kilometers each way which when I first started took me about 40 minutes.  After a year of riding I have been able to cut that time down to between 32 and 34 minutes depending on the wind and how much energy I have.  The best part (although I don’t always think so) is that the route is not flat, but rather has a nice combination of real steep intense hills which require me to mash up out of my saddle and longer hills that brings a wicked burn to the quads.

My Bike

Ahhhh my sweet ride – it is the one in the picture above.  I decided to go with a mountain bike because they are more versatile.  There are a lot of great trails around my house and a road bike or even a hybrid just wouldn’t be able to cut it.  It is a locally made bike by a company called Bike Brothers.  It is light, quick, and very comfortable to ride. I love it.

The Effects on My Weight

My daily rides are all about burning calories and using my heart and leg muscles which I have found to be a positive influence on both my weight and leg strength.  At first I found that I lost a lot of weight with these rides, simply because I was burning all those additional calories every day.  However, now that I do it every day my body has adapted and rather than continuing to lose weight I have been able to keep my weight relatively stable.  I have added running (for a future topic) and some other activities to keep things new and my body guessing.

(Photo Credit)