blacKandi Fitness

Here is a little Sista-Science for ya!  They call the advice I’m about to give to you all about fitness and nutrition, Broscience.  Since I’m a female I’m going to call it Sista-Science.  Sista-Science is basically advice/principles that has no scientific backing (some may do), but when applied to myself it has worked for me or hasn’t worked for me.  I just felt like touching on a few topics or rights and wrongs of nutrition and fitness.  Keep reading.

#1 -  They say you should always do cardio after lifting heavy weight.  I tried this for the first time two weeks ago for two weeks and now I’m back to doing cardio circuits before I go to lift weights.  Why?  Because after I lift weights I can’t get my cardio in because I’m too tired to be jumping and running around doing cardio, but hey, that’s just me.  I find more positive changes in my body doing this my way than I do doing it their way.  Does this hinder my ability to lift more and for longer?  Not for me as I’ve compared my notes.  I get in all of my planned sets and reps in with no problems.  If doing cardio after weight lifting works for you then keep doing it.  Do what works for you.

#2 – Calories in calories out determines if you lose weight, maintain current weight and lose weight period. < This is true because it’s a fact.  Now, how you choose to approach weight loss or weight gain is up to you.  As long as you’re eating well most of the time and watching your caloric intake then you’ll either lose weight or gain weight.  Exercise and a bad diet doesn’t make weight loss happen.  Exercise alone doesn’t make weight happen.  Do what works for you.

#3 – I workout 6 days a week doing different activities and this works for me, but if you want to workout 3 days a week or all 7 days (or however many you like) that’s totally up to you as long as your getting exercise into your lifestyle.  Exercise helps to tighten/shape up your body, gets your feeling better overall, gets your metabolism going and exercise is  good for the heart most importantly.  When your heart stops, you stop.  Do what works for you.

#4 – Some people find the motivation to workout in a public gym, but I don’t.  I also workout alone and find that I get more accomplished when I workout a lone.  For some reason when I workout with others I tend to move at their pace so we can all keep up with each other and for me, that’s not a good way to workout.  I workout at my own pace and there is less distraction while I’m doing it.  I know some people who can only get motivated by working out with others and that’s OK.  I workout with others once I’ve completed my own workout first.  Do what works for you.

#5 – A lot of people give the advice to eat small, balanced meals a day and most of the time that equals to about 6 meals a day averaging about 2-3 hours in between these meals.  If you are just starting out with an eating plan like this or training for something special then I think you should take this advice to get into the habit of eating more often and less.

The comments I see from people (especially those who want to start eating clean) is that eating 6 times a day is time consuming because of food preparation or they find themselves eating when they’re not hungry.  I only eat when I’m hungry period.  It just so happens to come out to 5 meals a day and that’s with snacks included.  I don’t eat every 2-3 hours or anything schedules like that.  When my tummy says it’s time to eat I eat.  No harm.  And when I’m not feeling hungry I don’t eat.  As long as you are eating right and getting your calories in for the day it doesn’t matter at what hour you eat.  And when you workout hard you will eat more no doubt about it.  Do what works for you.

#6 – Continuing on from #5 this also brings to mind another concern where for example, I have to eat about 2500-2700 calories per day depending on my fitness routine for that day.  Some people say say that they find it hard to get all of their calories in for the day because it’s simply too much food.  My advice would be to up your good fats and complex carbs intake to fill in the gaps.  Be careful to not eat too much fat, but complex carbs (on the veggie side) are unlimited.

#7 – I take dietary supplements because I feel that I need them.  Dietary supplements are minerals that the body requires to function properly, but you can get the same dietary supplements from whole foods unless you have a deficiency somewhere and if you do…see a doctor.  I’ll tell you what I take and why.

I know that I am lacking in the Vitamin B (Biotin & Niacin) department because I don’t eat red meat.  I eat a lot of beans which is a vegetarian protein, poultry, but I don’t eat any beef which is an animal protein and that’s where the Vitamin B would come from.

I also take Fish Oil and Flaxseed Oil because I want more Omega 3′s in my diet since I only eat avocado occasionally, egg yolks I’ll eat one once in a while and I use olive oil or any oils sparsely so yeah, I need more of these fatty acids in my diet.

I take Glucosamine which helps with joint health because lift heavy and I’d like to keep my joints and bones pain free.  I’ve been taking this supplement consistently for the past three months and I have noticed that I don’t suffer from anymore knee joint pains and I can lunge all day long now.

I take Vitamin D to keep my bones strong because I don’t drink milk or eat cheese (no dairy in my diet)…if I do eat cheese it’s low-fat feta to be sprinkled on my salad and that’s once in a blue moon.  In the summer, I like to sit in the sun (with sun screen of course) to get some Vitamin D in.   I also read some where that Vitamin D helps to keep hypertension away so that’s a plus!

The body produces CoQ-10 (a chemical that helps to turn food into energy), but I feel like when I take this supplement it helps with my water retention issues.  I can’t really put my finger on how or what or why, but I find my body likes this supplement.

I take a pre-workout supplement (a sport supplement, a performance enhancer – different from a dietary supplement) now which I use before my workouts if I’m feeling like dreading to do the workout or I feel sluggish…lacking energy.  I don’t lack energy regularly, but sometimes I do depending on how much sleep I get, how much I’m working out, how much other daily activities I’m doing, stress…sometimes I need a pick me up.  Before I could just eat a banana and be good, but I find that I need an actual energy supplement that works right away to help me in this area.  I take a whole food veggie based pre-workout which is a very mild alternative – I feel energized, but not to the point where I can go and tear the home gym apart.

Are dietary supplements and sports supplements necessary to take if you workout or live a lifestyle of good health, nutrition and fitness?  No.  It’s a personal preference.  Supplements do not help you to lose weight or to build muscle.  Supplements are just that supplemental to your good diet and consistency in the gym.   Do what works for you.

#8 – A lot of people take supplements to recover from a workout they just finished and make sure they get protein into their bodies within an hour after working out, but I don’t.  Like if you don’t get that protein in within an hour all hell is going to break loose.  I never eat right away after a workout unless I’m hungry.  I haven’t seen any muscles mass reduction or muscle repair issues yet so for me I don’t need to do this.  I don’t wait five hours after either.  If you need to take recovery or get your protein in fast then do what works for you.

#9 – There is a general rule in fitness that says you cannot spot reduce fat on any particular part of your body and it’s true.  For example, I know that a lot of people want the fat off their midsection so that their ab muscles can show through and they will only concentrate on doing crunches and what not.  Well, it’s true that you can’t spot reduce fat and that eating right, lifting weights and doing cardio – basically staying active is going to combat the fat on your body period, but you can focus on certain areas of your body to enhance or change them.  I will use myself in this example to explain this one.

My main goal this year is to burn fat off of my butt, lift it and tighten up my hamstrings.  I know that if I only just work these areas in the gym every time I go to workout that I will not be successful because you cannot spot reduce so I’m just wasting my time and if I do become successful it will be 3 years down the line.  I’m trying to get this done by my birthday this coming June 2012.  Hello!

So, what I’m doing to reach this goal is eating right, doing my weight lifting splits 4 days a week doing variations of compound exercises mostly (legs, chest & triceps, shoulders, back & biceps), doing high intensity interval training (HIIT) 4 days a week (no longer than 12 minutes per workout), warming up and stretching/elongating my muscles every single day for at least 20 minutes through yoga and steady state cardio, and practicing my yoga everyday for 10 minutes at the end of my workout sessions and practicing an hour of yoga on Sundays so I can make even more gains in my balance, strength and flexibility.  On Legs day, I do extra stuff that focuses on  my glutes and hamstrings because it is my target focus.  Some say this is too much which is not because I workout no longer than 1 hour and 20 minutes a day.  If I do anything less than all of this ^ then I will not get me the results I seek in a timely manner.  I found out what my body needs by experimenting, research and time.

My body is leaning up faster this way ^ (I know because I’ve been experimenting for over a year now), I have cuts ya’ll and I’ve never had those before (I started working out seriously in Jan. 2009), my muscles are growing, I move faster, jump higher, my core is strong (working to make it even stronger everyday), my yoga practice has improved dramatically and when I workout this way I see the best results (compare my pictures from back then and now).  I do what works for me so do what works for you.

And #9 leads me to #10.

#10 – Cardio is important and I say it is so, in my opinion.  Some say you shouldn’t do HIIT workouts more than 2 times a week…I say that that depends on the person.  I do 12-20 minutes of HIIT workouts 4 times a week (not on legs day) and it helps me to burn all kinds of fat, helps me to tighten my skin and increases my endurance so I can workout longer.  I only do steady state or traditional cardio when I’m in the mood for it or when I want some fun and that’s usually when I break out a step aerobic or Tae Bo DVD.  For the record, Tae Bo works!   I am also a believer in circuit workouts too and I love them because you get to work your upper body along with your lower body simultaneously using lighter weights (you get to complete a lot of reps this way)…it’s a fat burner and a long-term calorie burner like traditional weight lifting with heavy weights where you do less reps.  The Queens of circuit workouts in my opinion is Jillian Michaels and Jackie Warner.

OK so that’s my 1st edition of Do What Works For You.  You can take in all of the advice you can, but know that some of them will and will not work for you so you have to find out what will.