Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 5

March 30, 2014

Hey everyone!

What a whirlwind spring break week this has been! I had work from Tuesday-Thursday so it really was not much of a break lol. My lovely friend Shivvy who I have known since high school has come to visit me for just under two weeks, so we have been doing lots of fun and tourist-y things. This is her first visit to America so of course we have been sampling all the food. Surprisingly we actually ate quite well save for tonight when we ordered loads at a Japanese restaurant in Lodi, CA called Haru Sushi.

San Francisco (and California in general, but particularly the bay area) is such a fun place to visit! It is great having a friend visit because it forces me to do tourist-y things that I normally wouldn’t do. On Friday, we went to Haight-Ashbury and spent hours shopping and had some lunch at the Citrus Club. They specialize in Asian food and noodles, and attempt to us less oil by substituting it with citrus. You MUST go to Haight-Ashbury if you want a good shopping experience – they have a lot of unique boutique shops and thrift shops. I found the black shirt I am wearing in a few photo’s below for only $8!!

We then went to explore Buena Vista park and took some photo’s.

After that we ventured to Chinatown. I think Chinatown is awesome but OMG the traffic is horrendous, and I swear that the steepest hills in SF are on the way to Chinatown!!! I wish we had just walked from the BART (bay area rapid transit – train basically) but eh, it was worth it in the end. We got some really delicious boba (this is milk tea with tapioca pearls) from Cool Tea Bar. Naaaht healthy haha, but I asked for 50% less sugar so at least you can customize them a little.

Saturday was gross and rainy so let’s just skip that recap haha. This morning we went to the beach; we oohed and aahed at all the sweet dogs and puppies that were also at the beach, and just had fun walking around in general. Naturally I had to show off my yoga skills hehe. Ick, I really need a tan …

Kayla Itsines Week 5

I finished week 5 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body guide, woo hoo! This week set of workouts are definitely more advanced in nature, particularly the arm workouts. I absolutely loved it, although I am not loving the amount of cardio. We have to quite a bit more cardio but oh well .. it is so worth it. I am seeing improvement in my legs and my abs look more toned 🙂 The only thing I wish it would focus more on is the back. I have some really gross fat on my back and although I KNOW YOU CAN’T SPOT REDUCE, it would be nice to have workouts that focused on the back.

I hope you have all had a great week everyone! Please let me know what type of posts you would like to see, or if you have any questions; I would love to hear what they are 🙂

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness

Cardio: How do I know what to choose?

March 25, 2014

I have such a hate and love relationship with cardio (cardiovascular exercise). I know I need it, as cardio has a range of health benefits and makes me feel happier and more energized in the long term. Although cardio should not be abused – too MUCH cardio can stress your body out and can actually cause your weight loss to stop – I personally like to do cardio a few times a week (plus I have to do it a certain amount of times a week since I am following the Kayla Itsine’s Bikini Body Guide).

Cardio Types

An important distinction to make with cardio, is what type of cardio you are doing. There are essentially two types of cardio: HIIT (high intensity interval training) and LISS (low intensity steady state).

HIIT Training

HIIT training involves periods of alternating intense exercise (sprints for example) with periods of recovery (a walk or a slow jog for example). HIIT training allows you to exercise at a higher intensity for longer periods of time than steady state exercise would.

LISS Training

LISS training involves long periods of low intensity exercise which can include activities like walking. You stay at this pace throughout the whole workout and maintain the same level of intensity.

What are the differences between HIIT and LISS training?

HIIT and LISS training both offer benefits and is still a widely discussed topic in the world of health and fitness. Which is better? Should we just do HIIT, LISS, or a combination of both?

Well, HIIT and LISS training are two different types of training, so it depends on what you like to do and what your goals are. I personally prefer a mixture – LISS training lets me catch up on social media and watch youtube videos on my phone (lol), whereas HIIT training is done in a fairly short amount of time. Both leave me dripping in sweat and making me feel accomplished.

Although both types of cardio raise your heart rate, at a lower heart rate (during LISS training) your body prefers to use fat for its energy, thus burning fat. At a higher heart rate, your body starts to use sugar instead of fat for energy, thus burning sugar and tapping into your glycogen stores.

So LISS essentially sounds like the perfect form of cardio right? That’s our goal anyway huh, to burn fat! Not quite so simple .. with anything, our bodies adapt to things really quickly, so at some point your body will get used to your LISS training and you won’t get the results you want and crave. Also a study was done by Pacheco which found that rats that did HIIT training lost more fat than the rats who did LISS training (however rats are very different to humans …). HIIT training has also been found to increase endurance, speed, and your metabolic rate (which may be why it helped contribute to the fat loss in the rats?). What is also interesting is that LISS has been touted as a way to lose fat and keep your muscles (HIIT training has been attributed to muscle loss), whereas other articles state that HIIT actually optimizes muscle strength and growth! Layne Norton wrote an interesting article on it and since hehas a PhD, I really value his input.

So see, there is still a lot of debate as to which is better and honestly I say do what makes you feel good and keeps you interested. And mix it up, keep challenging your body! Try a mix of HIIT and LISS and see how they work for you. Kayla Itsine’s Bikini Body Guide personally recommends quite a lot of LISS training (as she finds this the most effective form of cardio for slimming women’s thighs) and adds in HIIT training towards the end of the program.

I hope this article has been interesting and helpful for you! Let me know of any other articles related to this topic; I am always interested and open to knowing and learning more 🙂

Honestly yours,
Alice
References

Alfonso. (2012). What is LISS cardio? Retrieved from http://angrytrainerfitness.com/2012/06/ask-alfonso-what-is-l-i-s-s-cardio/
Guiraud, et al. (2012). High-Intensity Interval Training in Cardiac Rehabilitation. Sports Medicine, vol. 42(7), pp.587-605.
Itsines, K. (2014). Bikini Body Guide. E-book.
Obadike, O. (2012). Why does HIIT burn so much fat? Retrieved from: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-ripped-dude-hiit.html
Norton, L. (2012). Best form of cardio for bodybuilding? Retrieved from http://www.biolayne.com/contest-prep/best-form-of-cardio-for-bodybuilding/

Image from http://elitedaily.com/life/the-results-from-fasted-cardio/

Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 4

March 23, 2014

Hey everyone!

So, I have now officially been doing Kayla Itsine’s Bikini Body Guide for a month now. Woo-hoo!

Kayla Itsines Week 4

I feel really accomplished, the guide is not easy guys!!! The workout for weeks 2 and 4 were particularly hard for me because there were endless jumping lunges we had to do … jumping lunges are super hard for me. SUPER HARD. I am excited to see my progress at the end of the program, as it is a bit hard to tell at the moment .. although my legs seem slimmer 🙂

This week has been pretty all over the place this week. I literally went to Rubio’s (a ‘fresh Mex’ casual restaurant) about 4 times this week and while I think it is a pretty healthy option, the tortilla chips and delicious beer batter are not something to eat 4 times a week lol.

I also attended a crab feed for my boyfriend’s fraternity Theta Tau on Friday night and of course had loads of crab (which is actually not bad at all) and quite a few of the Portuguese pastries my boyfriend won in the silent auction (… not so good).

Please excuse the lame crab bib!!! It was a necessity ..

The rest of the weekend was spent at my boyfriend’s parent’s house and it was lovely. We had a BBQ on Saturday (by the pool nonetheless, living the good life), and spent a good amount of time climbing one of the ropes attached to a tree. Needless to say my upper body strength has definitely gotten better as I actually managed to climb some of it! Three months ago, it probably would have been a different story. The rest was spent chilling by the pool and finally getting to read Cameron Diaz’s ‘The Body Book’ and drinking fresh squeezed orange juice.

My brother’s boyfriend has a husky!!! Isn’t he cuuute. I love him.

This morning we went to get brunch at the Vintage Press, which is a rather fancy restaurant in Visalia, California. I ordered a delicious shrimp florentine and had some orange juice and a cafe latte. They give you a pastry plate with your brunch and I am sad to say that I had a bit too many but eh, that’s okay. I am planning on trying out a bunch of new salad recipe’s this coming week to help me get back on track. Like I said, I didn’t eat particularly badly this weekend but my body is craving homemade food and more veggies again.

This next week is going to be a busy busy one, because one of my good friends, Siobhan (a.k.a. Shivvy) is coming to visit me all the way from England!!! This is going to be her first time in America and I am so excited to show her everything. She will also be my unofficial Honestly Fitness photographer as well so look forward to some fitness related video’s and photo’s! And just a lot of photo’s in general.

I am also working on making a special cake (try and guess what, I bet you will never guess!!), a savory lunch treat, and will be posting the recipe for the delicious sugar free muffins I talked about last week.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! What did you get up too? Let me know in the comments below <3

Honestly yours,
Alice

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