Warp Speed Fat Loss - Days 9 and 10 of 28!

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." - 1 Peter 4:12

For me, Tuesday is always one of the hardest days on the Warp Speed Fat Loss program. The lower carbs and small meals make me feel like I'm starving all day long. The meals and snacks don't seem to hold me over, and many times, they do nothing to curb my appetite as soon as I've eaten.

Stacey seems to be doing fine with all the meals and even the lower carb days. The difference is that she didn't eat consistently prior to the start of the program and the decreased carbs and calories is not too drastic of a reduction for her. For me, I'm consuming about half of what I normally eat each day. So it is a much more drastic cut, and I can tell the difference on some days more than others.

During yesterday's intervals, Stacey felt great and really pushed herself. She likes to run/sprint, as she was once on the track team in high school. Although her current conditioning is not as good as it was then, she can see and feel herself improving each time we perform the intervals.

For me, the interval days are brutal. I'm much stronger than Stacey in the weight room and much faster than her when we sprint. I also have much more experience training and am at a much more advanced level. That means that I need more recovery time than someone still "new" to training.

Since we began, my hamstrings have been constantly sore, and performing intervals does not give them a chance to recover. During last night's sessions, I was unable to run my sprints at full speed because my hamstrings felt as though they were going to cramp up or rip right out of my leg. Although the overall session went great, I wasn't able to push myself as much as I wanted even though we had an extra set of intervals this week. But I did manage to keep my intensity higher during the 20-minute steady-state cardio session.

Normally, today would be another low-carb day (10% of total calories) along with our weight training session. However, I have a huge work-related event this evening preventing me from training. We decided to adjust the workouts by one day and made today our no-carb and no training day (instead of Sunday). That means that we will perform today's workout on Thursday, Thursday's workout on Friday, Friday's workout on Saturday and Saturday's workout on Sunday.

The only bad thing about this is that we now will be training 10 days straight before getting a day off next Sunday. I just hope that I can recover from the workouts each day and not be held back by my hamstring soreness/cramping.

Luckily, even though it's a no carb day, I do fine with the menu choices as I find protein and healthy fat foods to be much more satisfying. Today also gives me one extra day to rest before we go for the long stretch.

Warp Speed Fat Loss - Day 8 of 28!

"I am in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me." - Psalm 69:29

Time for another update on Warp Speed Fat Loss. Day seven (Sunday) went fairly well considering it was a no carb day. Luckily, we didn't have to train, so not having any carbs was not as bad as it could have been. I'm glad we didn't have to train because we were both very sore, tired and dealing with some minor knee pain from all the lifting and sprinting the previous week.

At the end of the first seven days, Stacey is down two pounds after originally gaining a pound. So that means she actually lost three pounds. Although she hasn't lost much weight in the first week, she can tell the difference in how her clothes fit.

My weight is holding steady which is fine with me since I'm trying to get leaner without losing much weight in the process. I have already noticed more definition in my delts, arms and serratus after the first week. If things go well, I will not have much of a change in my overall weight, but I will be significantly leaner. This means that I will have gained muscle and lost fat at the same time - no easy feat!

Day eight was very similar to last Monday. The meals were filling and satisfying throughout the day and the training session was brutal yet again! Prior to the workout, both of us were still dealing with muscle soreness, but Stacey was also having some knee/hamstring pain in one of her legs. She managed to get through the workout, but she was unable to add weight to many of the movements this week and the pain became more intense. I was also experiencing knee pain after the workout and as I write this. However, I was able to increase weight on several of my exercises during the workout.

I do think we are at a disadvantage with the Warp Speed Fat Loss training sessions compared to others using the program for a couple reasons. First, we train in our garage gym and don't have access to cardio machines for the interval portion of the workouts to add variety. Second, we are using sprints and intense conditioning exercises such as burpees and barbell complexes for the interval workouts. This causes a lot of wear and tear on the joints and body.

I believe this may lead to some overuse injuries by the time we are finished with the 28-day program, but we are determined to continue with the workouts despite some of these issues. We'll continue to ice any sore areas, use cold and hot showers and use NSAIDs such as Aleve to help with pain and inflammation.

After following the program for the first week, I would not recommend it to beginners or those with less than a year's worth of serious training. You have to be fairly fit to follow the workouts as they are written while also using heavy weights for the strength exercises and the circuits.

Also, I am under a huge amount of stress. It would have been better to follow this program a month earlier or even a month later, as I have been swamped with work, planning a huge event, making plans to attend the Perform Better Seminar next week, other commitments, normal household chores, a relationship, not getting enough sleep, etc.

All of these issues don't help with my recovery and make it very tough to stay on track each day. But I am determined to follow the meal plans and training as written despite not having ideal conditions. Besides, life is rarely ideal, so if the Warp Speed Fat Loss program can work for someone in my situation, then there should be no excuse for anyone else.

Stacey is also very busy, as she's been juggling three part-time jobs along with commitments at church, helping with the meals, household chores, etc. Her schedule changes on a daily basis, so it takes even more for her to stay on track, as she has no set routine like me. She has done an excellent job so far and has learned quite a bit about portion control and more while following the program.

More updates to come soon! This week is a bit hectic since I have my event on Wednesday night and will need to shuffle around the training days and meal plans this week.

How To Perform Interval Training

"Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge." - Proverbs 18:15

There are a number of ways to perform interval training. If interval training is new to you, or if you would like to incorporate it into your weekly training plan, I've listed some suggested ways to progress along with the most effective exercises to use.


Weeks 1-4:

Warm-up for 3-5 minutes (I use a circuit of bodyweight exercises. You can also perform a fast walk, light jog, jump rope, jumping jacks or other type of exercise.)

Beginners: Perform 3-4 rounds (1:2 ratio = 60sec "hard" interval and 120sec active rest/light activity)

Intermediate/Advanced: Perform 6-8 rounds (1:2 ratio = 60sec "hard" interval and 120sec active rest/light activity)

Cool down for 3-5 minutes (I use a circuit of bodyweight exercises. You can also perform a fast walk, light jog, jump rope, jumping jacks or other type of exercise.)


Weeks 5-8:

Warm-up for 3-5 minutes (I use a circuit of bodyweight exercises. You can also perform a fast walk, light jog, jump rope, jumping jacks or other type of exercise.)

Beginners: Perform 4-6 rounds (1:2 ratio)

Intermediate/Advanced: Perform 8-10 rounds (1:1.5 ratio = 60sec "hard" interval and 90sec active rest/light activity)

Cool down for 3-5 minutes (I use a circuit of bodyweight exercises. You can also perform a fast walk, light jog, jump rope, jumping jacks or other type of exercise.)


Weeks 9-12:

Warm-up for 3-5 minutes (I use a circuit of bodyweight exercises. You can also perform a fast walk, light jog, jump rope, jumping jacks or other type of exercise.)

Beginners: Perform 6-8 intervals (1:2 ratio)

Intermediate/Advanced: Perform 10-12 rounds (1:1 ratio = 60sec "hard" interval and 60sec active rest/light activity)

Cool down for 3-5 minutes (I use a circuit of bodyweight exercises. You can also perform a fast walk, light jog, jump rope, jumping jacks or other type of exercise.)


Frequency: Start out with 2-3 intervals per week for the first 8 weeks and increase to 3-4 interval sessions per week during the last four weeks (if fat loss is your main goal).

Use a variety of interval methods to prevent boredom, overuse injuries or adapting to the exercises.

The best methods for interval training include (in order of most effective to least effective):

Hill sprints
Sprinting outside
Treadmill sprints
Strongman type exercises/medleys (car pushing, sled drags, clean and presses, farmer's walks, etc.)
Bodyweight or Kettlebell circuits (burpees, jump squats, pushups, swings, snatches, etc.)
Hybrid and weighted exercises (thrusters = front squat/push press, front squats, sandbag clean and presses, etc.)
Bike sprints
Rope Jumping
Elliptical

Remember that a "hard" interval means an exertion level of 8 or 9 out of a possible 10 (the hardest you could possibly go). Your active rest/light activity should be at a level of 4-5 out of 10. Your cool down should be at a level 3.

For a beginner, a "hard" interval at level 8 or 9 could be a fast walk or light jog. For someone who is an intermediate or advanced, it could mean sprinting 400 meters while wearing a weighted Xvest! You have to adjust intervals to your level of conditioning and increase/improve over time.

As mentioned many times before, the first and most important step to achieving your fat loss, health and fitness goals is your diet. Read my previous blog posts for some good tips and information.

Good luck!