It's April and we are well on our way to better fitness, my fabulous bootcampers! Can you believe we're already on our 3rd week of bootcamp!? Time sure does fly when you're having fun, right?! C'mon, you KNOW you are having fun! You're just afraid to admit it fearing I might kick up the intensity on you. You guys are doing such a great job showing up, working hard, and getting fit!

Give it up for Brenda (pictured above) workin those mountain climbers--great form! Lookin good, girl! Thanks for allowing me to take ya'll's pics and post them on here. I promise to bring out my real camera so I can get some quality stuff. And I will feature you all at some point or another if there are no objections.

I hope you are doing your part at home with your diet/nutrition. If you start making only one change per day you will start to see improvements. Make this your goal that you will start today (if you haven't already): to choose one healthier food option per day that will get you one step closer to your lean body.
Here are some guidlines to remember:
~Remove as much sugar from your diet as possible
~Try to have protein with every meal aiming for up to 1 g per pound of bodyweight
~Have atleast 3 servings of fruit per day (sticking to high-fiber fruits such as apples or grapefruit and high-antioxidant fruits such as berries) & 3 servings of green vegetables
~If you eat according to the guidlines 90% of the time, you can cheat 10% of the time and still make incredible body changes!

And how many of you have tried out a cardio interval workout? What are you waiting for?!? Me and my cool timer to get you through it? Hmmm, maybe we do that one day at bootcamp--a 20 minute interval session. But there is an open, standing invitation to come with me on the weekend for one...seriously. Let me know if you are interested. I'm sure my inbox will be overloaded with takers. Wait, my phone is ringing--who's the first to take me up on this amazing offer?!?!
But back to my point..interval training is superior to slow, steady cardio for fat loss and post-exercise calorie burning. It is more effective and more efficient to use short high-intesity interval training workouts than to use slow, boring, long cardio sessions.

Here's an article on fat burning cardio from Holly Rigsby, author of Fit Yummy Mummy
******************
Fat Burning Cardio - By Holly Rigsby

The news has spread, Interval training is the most effective form
of cardio when fat loss is your goal!

The formula for Maximum Fat Loss is....

Crank Up the Intensity - Reduce the Time

It takes intensity in EVERYTHING you do to lose weight, lose inches
and burn MORE fat.

However, our amazing body quickly adapts to any exercise routine we
out it through, and each time we repeat a particular workout, our
body has changed to meet the demands, becomes more EFFICIENT at
performing the workout and thus ends up burning LESS fat and
calories.

You MUST find a way to Challenge your body each and every workout.

Time to Break out of your Comfort Zone!

You know you need to break free when...

~ You can hold a conversation
~ You enjoy the show that is on TV
~ You are reading a book or magazine
~ 20 minutes has passed and you could go for 20 more

Challenge Yourself!

It can be as simple as the next time you perform your interval
routine, check your previous session and stretch yourself just a
tad to beat it. Either go a little longer, a little further, a
little faster, etc.

So give it a shot! Start slow and work your way up. Here are some of the things you can do:
Walk/Run treadmill or outside
Stationary bike or road bike
Eliptical
Sprints
Jump Rope
Burpees
Jumping Jacks
Body Weight Squats
Squat Press (Ask me for demonstration/instruction.)

And once again, here is an interval workout to try:

Interval Workout A
• Warm-up for 5 minutes getting progressively more intense with time.
• Perform an interval by exercising for 30 seconds at a very hard pace (at a subjective 9/10 level of effort).
• Follow that with “active rest” for 90 seconds by exercising at a slow pace (at a subjective 3/10 level of effort).
• Repeat for a total of 6 intervals.
• Finish with 5 minutes of very low intensity (3/10) exercise for a cool-down.

Minute by Minute Type Intensity Level
1 Warm up 3 out of 10
2 Warm up 4 out of 10
3 Warm up 4 out of 10
4 Warm up 5 out of 10
5 Warm up 5 out of 10
6 (30 seconds) Hard 9 out of 10
7 (90 seconds) Easy 3 out of 10
8 (30 seconds) Hard 9 out of 10
9 (90 seconds) Easy 3 out of 10
10 (30 seconds) Hard 9 out of 10
11 (90 seconds) Easy 3 out of 10
12 (30 seconds) Hard 9 out of 10
13 (90 seconds) Easy 3 out of 10
14 (30 seconds) Hard 9 out of 10
15 (90 seconds) Easy 3 out of 10
16 (30 seconds) Hard 9 out of 10
17 Cool Down 3 out of 10
18 Cool Down 3 out of 10
19 Cool Down 3 out of 10
20 Cool Down 3 out of 10
20 minutes total