Physical Fitness & Weight Loss Challenge
Week # 5 - Second Workout
Welcome to week # 5!
The theme for this week is to start your second workout routine.
Bonus Reward # 1 - It's Play Time!
After completing week # 4, you definitely deserve your first bonus reward (#1). Enjoy yourself this week and celebrate all the progress you've made over the past four weeks.
Two Short Workouts or a Long One?
This week, we'll start introducing a second workout to the mix for the advanced and moderate tracks.
Having multiple workouts per day was the main reason why I was able to stick with my daily exercise routine while adding more intensity and duration.
I have tried having a single longer workout, but multiple shorter workouts is what worked best for me.
Some experts believe that multiple 10-15 workouts per day are actually better than a single longer workout because they continue to boost your metabolism throughout the day.
It's true that a single longer workout can burn more fat during the workout itself, and it probably does provide a bit more benefits in terms of fitness & endurance.
However, multiple shorter workouts per day may actually help you burn more total fat because of the afterburn effect while you are not exercising.
Let's say that you have two choices of exercise:
Exercise A is ideal in terms of fitness, endurance & fat loss
Exercise B gives you about 80% of the fitness benefits of exercise A
Most people would choose exercise A without even thinking about it, right?
Well, what if I told you that your are much more likely to stick with and actually do exercise B?
Does it matter that 'exercise A' is ideal if you are not even doing it? Of course not...
I don't know about you, but I think 80% is much better than 0%!
When it comes to exercise, it's much better to pick something that you can actually do for the rest of your life, than some ideal exercise that you won't do.
Split Workouts
If you want to follow the routine and split your workouts in two, then just select another time for your second workout.
For example, if your first workout is in the morning, you could do your second workout when you come home from work, or during your lunch break.
If You Only Want a Single Workout
If you don't want to do two workouts, that's fine too! It's your exercise routine. Just add the time for the second workout to your first one and do them together.
Weekly Goals - Week # 5
Start by picking your reward for this week and writing it down on your scorecard.
Level II Intensity
For Tae Bo, level II intensity is still using the same Tae Bo Basic routine (light blue tape) but adding more speed, power, and intensity to each move.
Alternatively, you can try the 8-minute Tae Bo workout (red tape) while taking it easy.
For walking, level II intensity increases the pace to about 110 steps per minute.
Goal # 1 - Exercise Goals
Here are the exercise goals for week # 5 (EG5):
Advanced Track
Workout One
Days 1-6: 2-4 minutes warm-up + 12 minutes Level II + CD
Workout Two
Days 1-6: 2-4 minutes warm-up + 4 minutes Level II + CD
Moderate Track
Workout One
Days 1-6: 4 minutes warm-up + 8 minute Level II + CD
Workout Two
Days 1-6: 4 minutes warm-up + 2 minute Level II + CD
Easy Track
Days 1-6: 4 minutes warm-up + 6 minutes Level I + CD
Day 7 is your rest day on all tracks.
Remember to check the box in your scorecard when you complete each day... and keep going strong!
Goal # 2 - Continue with your small change
Continue with your change from last week. Nothing new to change in your eating habits this week.
Goal # 3 - Continue Renegotiating Your Relationship with Food
As you've gained more awareness about your eating habits and your current relationship with food, what have you learned?
What's holding you back from having the healthy diet and relationship with food that you want?
Emotional eating - Emotional eating is defined as eating because of the way you feel rather than because you are physically hungry.
Emotional eating can occur during meals, snacking between meals, before going to bed (late night snacking), or any time in between.
Some of the more common reasons for emotional eating include comfort from stressful situations, boredom, loneliness, disappointment, or chaos/turmoil.
In other cases, it is a way of filling a void or the sense that there is something missing in your life. It can also be a way to escape something in your life that you don't like.
Awareness is the Key
You can overcome emotional eating by becoming aware of the vicious cycle that produces it. Slowly, you can understand the real reasons that trigger it and develop better strategies for coping with these situations.
It will take time and you need to be gentle and forgiving with yourself, but it's something you can definitely do.
Here are some additional tips to help you overcome emotional eating:
- Self-Awareness - Self-awareness is one of your main tools to overcome emotional eating. Just becoming aware of the reasons why you eat is often enough to change your behavior.
- Food journal - The food journal helps you with self-awareness and understanding the situations that trigger emotional eating.
- Recognize physical hunger - This is another form of self-awareness where you learn to recognize what it feels like to actually be hungry, rather than just eating out of habit.
- Eliminate temptation - If you like to eat certain foods for comfort (like chips, or ice cream) one way to help you overcome emotional eating is to temporarily eliminate these foods from your home and replace them with healthier alternatives. You don't have to give them up forever, just for a while. It's much easier to resist temptation one time when you are at the store, than having to resist it every day at home.
- Stress management - Stress management & relaxation techniques are powerful coping strategies that can help you replace emotional eating with a better alternative. You can learn more about stress management techniques here.
- Consider professional help - If you are struggling with emotional eating, depression, or anxiety, consider seeking the help of a professional counselor, therapist, or doctor. They can provide much better support and individual attention.
Goal # 4 - Complete Your Health & Fitness Vision Board
Try to get your vision board completed this week if you can.
Remember, don't turn it into a chore. Have fun with it!
P.S. If you think this challenge is a good idea, I would really appreciate if you tell you friends, family, and co-workers about it.
This article is part of the physical fitness and weight loss challenge. Click here to learn more and join the challenge.