2 posts tagged “cardio”

Today I will be doing a split workout or what in sports circles is called a "two-a-day" workout.  I don't do split workouts very often because I usually can't fit two workouts into my days.  I'm NOT an early morning workout person, nor am I inclined to workout after 8pm.  So, 95% of the time I do one workout a day.  Today, I have the time to do 2 workouts.

When I feel like I need an extra fat and calorie burning boost (or back when I was training for half marathons), I do a split workout.

The advantage of a split workout is that you will burn more total calories over the course (and after) the workouts than if you just do a total workout once a day.  For men, the advantage is increased muscle gains (muscle hypertrophy)over a shorter period of time.  If you are a body builder, or are lifting for gaining size on a regular basis then you can take more days off for total rest.  For women, we will burn more fat overall and we girls need that. 

There are a million different ways you could do a split workout.  I won't go into the intricacies of some of the diffferent ways.  I prefer to do my cardio for one workout and my strength training for my second workout. 

If you decide to start doing splits, keep your workouts to about 30 - 40 minutes each (this includes warmup, cool down and stretching).   Also, make sure you have 5 - 6 hours of rest between workouts.

A good way to incorporate split workouts into your regular routine is to do two-a-days once a week, do your regular routine the next day and take the third day off, resuming your regular workout schedule for the rest of the week on the 4th day. 

Give it a try!

Well....I was about half way done with this post when my laptop tanked on me.

And now....

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

for your reading pleasure I will finish this long-anticipated blog about my night at the goth club.

Monday night I went with my friend Aaron (aka DJ Mad Dog Tannen) to the Mercury, one of two goth clubs in Seattle.  You have to be a member of the Mercury to go or you have to go as a guest of someone who is a member.  Another guy I know who runs Musicwerks, a goth/industrial record label, hosts a monthy synth pop and new wave night there appropriately called Blue Monday. 

But instead of Blue Monday it was "Red" something or other night. Blue Monday is next week when I can't make it.  Damnit.

I met Aaron there.  We went in an orderd drinks and sat down to talk.  There was some random techno/industrial/goth stuff playing and a Hello Kitty cartoon playing on the screens.  And then, the I hear the strains of  Air Supply's "Lost in Love" (total soft rock GOLD).  Air Supply is so unmanly it's hard to believe they are from Australia.

...of course when I hear Air Supply I am instantly transported back to 4th and 5th grade when all the cool kids spent every Saturday afternoon at 3J's Skateland skating circles around the rink to the latest cool pop and rock songs, eating nachos and drinking "suicides", and hoping someone would ask you to skate with them during the couples' skate.  Oh and avoiding both Roger Colemen and Jimmy Bush like the plague.  You needed SERIOUS cootie shots if either of them even came within 10 feet of you! 

I was sooooooo cool back then.  I owned my roller skates and didn't have to rent the fungus infested ones from the roller rink.  They were white with red stripes and red laces and red wheels.  I was literally hell on wheels.  Roller skating is good cardiovascular exercise.  Plus my mom would drop me off and leave me there for 4 hours.  It's amazing I didn't get into trouble. (I saved all my troublemaking for the past 5 years - present!)

Anyway, I digress.

As soon as I heard Air Supply I knew I was in for an interesting night!  I went to order another drink while "Lost in Love" was playing and the bartender was LOVING it.  It was cracking me up, this bartender - female, mid-30s, about 6', heavyset, with a dyed kool aid red messy bob. Then the DJ plays something by Heart (ick) and then Journey and I was thinking maybe it was going to be interesting wierd instead of interesting fun.

The DJ played a little Depeche Mode, at my request, and some other newer industrial or goth (there's really no difference these days) and then I hear the first strains of....

Donna Summer's "On the Radio" !!  I practically sprinted to the dancefloor, which was no mean feat being tipsy and wearing knee high black patent 4" platform boots.  But my legs are really strong from all the squats and lunges and deadlifts and stuff I do on a regular basis so I didn't fall or trip on my way there. 

So I'm out there getting my disco on and I'm surrounded by goth people getting their disco on as well.  There was the guy with the super wide leg cargo pants covered in chains and zippers with a slinky tee shirt (not manly) and a chick with a hoop skirt with a petticoat underneath and something wrapped around her as a shirt.  There were other random got people but I don't quite recall what they were wearing.

If you've ever been to a goth club you know that there is a "goth dance" with little to no variation.  (Can we say repetitive motion injuries boys and girls?)  I don't do the goth dance because I prefer to do my own thing depending on the beat of the song and how much I'm feeling it. 

The DJ was smart enough to realize that we were digging the disco and kept playing.  He played "I Will Survive" and several other disco standards.  It was awesome. 

I managed to get Aaron to dance a little bit and then our friend Chris showed up.  He was loving the disco too.  Of course Chris dances more than I do, which is saying something.  He likes to try to beat me to the dancefloor. 

Aaron bought me a drink while I was out on the floor (I had bought him a belated birthday drink when we got there), so I couldn't NOT drink it and I was more than tipsy at that point.  They pour with a very free hand at the Mercury. 

Around midnight I decided it was time for me to head home.  Plus I was tired from teaching 5 boot camp classes and one private client and dancing approximately another hour or and a half.  Thank goodness I have plenty of endurance from all the cardio I do. 

I wished the boys goodbye and thanked Aaron for taking me as his guest.  Then I headed out to catch a cab.  That's when the Domino's Pizza place caught my eye and I realized I was starving.  I'm always starving after dancing.  I burn a LOT of calories!  

As I walked up to Domino's these three guys loitering outside the front of the store stop me and one of them ask me if I believe in liberty.  To which I replied, "Duh. I'm an America" which was apparently the right answer.  Then I asked them if they just hang around outside Domino's at midnight accosting random people and asking if they believe in liberty.  They said "yeah".  So I asked, "If they give the wrong answer do you beat the crap out of them?"   They said "yeah".  (Like I was gonna believe that.)

I left them out there to continue bothering people and ordered a thin crispy crust pepperoni pizza (here's a pizza tip for you: if you insist on eating pepperoni pizza take a few paper towels and blot up the excess oil off the top of the pizza before you eat it.  You'll save fat and calories.).  While I was waiting for the pizza one of the guys from outside comes in and says that the other two guys he was with were crazy.  I suggested that he ditch them.  He said he couldn't because one of them was his little bro.  I suggested he leave and teach the little brother a lesson.  He said he couldn't do that. 

I was shaking my head.  Silly boys.  Then I asked the guy, "So how much weed have you guys smoked tonight?" and he answered "Not enough!"   I had to laugh at that.  By that time his pizza was ready and he left.  

When mine was done I inhaled several pieces on the way home.  Gotta replace electrolytes y'know after sweating as much as I do..  Also some carbs and protein within half an hour of your workout helps speed your recovery.

Dancing IS a workout for me. 

And because I know you haven't gotten enough disco yet, and it's Friday night and because this song describes me when I'm dancing (I really work up a sweat!), I give you Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff".