Saturday, January 14, 2012

100 Calorie Guide to nuts and a 30-minute strength + treadmill interval workout

I fueled for my workout this morning (yes I know I'm insane for getting up before twelve on a Saturday morning) with 7 almonds and a teaspoon of all-natural peanut butter. Nuts are a great pre-workout snack because fats hit the bloodstream quicker than protein and carbs and give a great burst of energy. Plus they're heart-healthy and good for you! However, you should watch the portions because a handful usually adds up to well over 100 calories. And even though I don't count calories (except for what nature gives us, most low-cal foods on the market are high in sodium and filled with artificial crap that gunks up your system and actually makes ou want to eat more) because calorie counting gives me a headache and I get too obsessive over it, but knowing portion sizes just makes it much easier to control.
A quick 100 calorie guide to nuts:
*14 whole raw or dry-toasted almonds
* About 8 walnut halves
*4 and 1/2 whole brazil nuts
*About 10 pecan halves

Anyways... onto the workout!
I'm quite the cardio junkie, but I'm also a huge proponent of interval training. It burns a ton more calories than steady-state cardio and also helps build endurance. As I usually don't have more than 30 minutes a day to work out, I usually do 10 minutes of strength moves to get my body into fat-burning mode, 10 minutes of super intense intervals to burn the maximum calories, then 10 minutes of moderate/less intense steady-state cardio. If you're strapped for time, you can cut the steady-state cardio to 8 minutes and give yourself 2 minutes of slow walking and stretching to cool down.

30- Minute Strength and Treadmill Interval Workout

Strength: (repeat 2 sets or as many sets as you can get in 10 minutes)
*1 round of pivoting pushups- do pushups in a circle around one point 360 degrees
*1 minute of donkey kicks

*30 seconds of lunges on each leg
*20 chair dips


*30 jumping jacks

Treadmill:
*2 minutes of high intensity running, 8-9 on the intensity scale, followed by 30 seconds brisk walking at 4 mph. Repeat 4 times
*10 minutes of steady-state cardio; 5 minutes jogging at 5.2 with incline set to 4.0, and then 5 minutes of hill-walking at 4.0 with incline set to 8

*Stretch and cool down.

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