Workout Week 9.–15.12.2013

In Workout Week posts I will tell you everything about my last week’s workouts.

Monday: BodyPump. A new program after 3 months! It is pretty intense on arms and shoulders but in general I liked it. Took a little weight off in some tracks as the instructor recommended. A good decision: I could concentrate more on technique. I’ll add the weights eventually.

Tuesday: strip aerobics. The same routine as last time but now I was smarter and found a way how to not kill my knees and rub skin off. Enjoyed the class very much!

Wednesday: BodyPump. I was a little sore so it was a difficult workout. Before we started chest track, Maris (my instructor) put her 1 kg weights by my step bench. So naturally I had to use them and pushed them on for the last part of the track. Oh, it burned but felt so good! Program 88 in general is more challenging to me. 

Thursday began with an 8 AM core workout. I was tired and didn’t have enough rest (less than 12 hours between two workouts). It was pretty hard and my abs were on fire. But I did it and then could sit on the bus and go back to my real home for the weekend. In the evening I enjoyed a walk with my dog. 

On Friday I got up bright and early again. It takes me ages to get to the pool (the bus schedule is just killing me here!) but I was in the water by 8.30 AM. I did 500 metres of breast stroke, 500 m of front crawl and 500 m of backstroke. I just got myself a waterproof watch I ordered from eBay for like 7€ and it worked great. Now I can start measuring my swimming better 🙂 When I got home, I went for a walk with my dog and it was killing us because the storm had hit Estonia at night. The wind was seriously incredible and I had to really work my leg muscles.Saturday morning began with a run. 7K and 50 minutes: a normal run, not too slow, not too fast around 7 min per kilometre. But it sure was cold outside. After running took my dog for a walk.Sunday started with swimming: 500 m of breast stroke, 500m of back stroke and 500 m of front crawl. Improved my time with the crawl, stayed the same with breast stroke and was a little slower with back stroke. Later had a walk in a winter storm with my mom and dog.

In total:

2 hours 45 minutes of muscle training
2 hours of walking
1 hour 30 minutes of swimming
1 hour of dancing
50 minutes of running

An average week. Haven’t had a proper rest day for quite some time now but I’m also not missing it that much… Am I weird? Next week will also be a “normal” one but aftet that I’m coming home to have my Christmas and winter break. Since I’m doing all of my exams in December, I won’t have any in January so I’ll have 7,5 weeks of no school (except I will be working on my bachelor’s thesis). But: I don’t have a normal sports club around my rwal home like I do in Tartu. That means NO group workouts (BodyPump!!! 😦 ), doing muscle training alone at home, running and swimming more and doing Zumba with my friend.  Things are going to get interesting.

Body analysis results: still a LONG way to go

Yesterday I wrote on my blog’s FaceBook page that I’ll be doing something exciting this morning when it comes to weightloss. The exciting thing was a body analysis test. 

tervisliku elustiili klubiI found out there was an option to get it done for FREE in Tartu (by Tervisliku Elustiili Klubi) some time ago and finally decided it was time to take it again. Ofcourse when it’s free, there has to be a catch. The catch is that you’ll hear some Herbalife advertising. But the guy taking the test was actually nice: he understood that I have my own nutrition plan and didn’t start pushing anything. So if you don’t mind a little advertising, I would recommend taking the test there. He even told me I can come back in some time and get it done again if I want to and that he is interested in finding out when I reach my goals. That was nice 🙂

I took my first ever body analysis test at Narva Energy Run exactly 4 months ago. I have to tell you: I was beyond shocked when I got the results. But the results from August aren’t that reliable: at the run they didn’t have a steady floor to put the machine on and the people there told us that the results are not that accurate for that reason. 

This time we had a normal surface for the machine but do take into consideration that the results are from 2 different analysis machines. So you can’t compare them 100%. As much as I have researched, these body analysis / body composition machines tend to be pretty inaccurate. People who have them at home have tested themselves a few times with 5 minute intervals and gotten results varying even by 10% (a lot!). But still: I can get an overall picture.

The machine I was weighed with. From tanita.eu
The machine I was weighed with. From tanita.eu

Weight: –7 kilograms. I don’t really believe that. The weight that got marked down in Narva was too big. So I would say I actually have lost 3–4 kg.

Body fat percentage: –3,3%. A good result but my body fat % is still too high, I should get it down by 3% to be within the normal range (18–28%), 6–8% to be around the ideal percentage.

Body fat: –4,7 kg. Considering the initial weight result was wrong, this result is also not accurate. I think my actual fat loss is between 3–4 kg, the same as my overall weight loss.

According to this I'm "healthy". From heidi.tarkpea.ee
According to this I’m “healthy”. From heidi.tarkpea.ee

This says I’m right in the “average” category. From heidi.tarkpea.ee

 

Visceral fat aka fat around my organs: normal. The two analysis have different measuring methods for visceral fat but on both tests the result was normal/good. Happy with that.

Lean body mass aka muscles: –1,7 kilograms. What the hell?! I have lost muscles?! Well, it might be the difference of the machines because I can see how all of my muscles have grown since starting BodyPump in September. I cannot believe I have lost muscle, that’s just not possible.

Biological age: from 23 years to 29 years. I’m actually 21. The guy at the test explained to me that it’s calculated from the ratio of body fat % to muscle mass. My high fat % causes the high biological age. Not happy about that but also not that disturbed.

Body type: from “overweight” to “standard”. I thought I would get something a little more on the athletic side but “standard” is also fine by me.

Theoretically I look like the woman in the middle. From nowloss.com
Theoretically I look like the woman in the middle. From nowloss.com
 

The initial test at Narva Energy Run had a lot more other (not that important) results presented but the one I took today only gave those results. In general I can be happy: weight and body fay percentage have decreased and visceral fat is normal. But I still have such a long way to go! Need to get the body fat down by 6%…

The next time I go there to get the analysis, I can compare the results better because the machine will be the same. I think I will have the next one done when I reach my goal that right now is about 2,5 kilograms away. But I know getting there will be tough because of the holidays coming up (staying low-carb but in general eating waaay too much) and I’m travelling and not being strict with my LCHF in January for 3 weeks. I’m actually terrified about coming back home at the end of January and stepping on the scales. I know they’ll give me crushing results… 

scale-cry

So realistically I won’t get to my goal before spring. But I will get there! That’s the only thing I’m 100% sure about.