On my foray into that commercial gym last week (have you seen this: RANT: Why Are Some People Such IDIOTS In The Gym?) I saw something else that made me stop and scratch my head in bewilderment.

Listen, I know that some cardio is boring.

But so boring that you must read a magazine in the process? And therefore, let your workout suffer?

Can you really get your upper body working hard if you’re reading a magazine?

Um. No. You can’t.

So why is this gym now SUPPLYING magazines for it’s members to read on the cardio equipment?

And why are people still doing cardio they find THAT boring, when there are SO MANY other options available?

Keep your mind on your game.

If you’re so bored you have to resort to reading magazines, it’s time to change it up and go do something more interesting.

Things that spring immediately to mind include: HIIT (interval training), Weight Training SuperCircuits*, swimming, team sports like soccer …

… heck, even playing with the dog is fun and interesting, and if you’re doing lots of running and chasing games you’re definitely getting a good cardio workout.

So, don’t tune out in the pages of some time-wasting gossip magazine.

Get the MOST out of your workout by keeping your head AND your upper body in the game.

You’re there anyway, right? You may as well get as much out of it as possible!!

*At a loss when it comes to those Weight Training SuperCircuits I mentioned?

Craig Ballantyne has everything you’re looking for in his Turbulence Training Fat Burning Circuits Manual.

It has great and effective Weight Training Circuit Routines especially designed to burn fat that will get your heart racing and your blood pumping, and keep you motivated and interested for a long time to come.

Take a look at it here ==> Fat Burning Circuits

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

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It’s been one helluva day so I’m just popping in for a quick catch up today.

But let’s just say I spent my run today doing a bunch of swearing under my breath at the Vancouver Parks Board.

I mean DANG IT ANYWAY, PARKS BOARD GUYS!!

Do ya really gotta mess with my perfect cardio programs like this?

REALLY?

*sob*

Well, at least they’re gonna force me out of my comfort zone. That’s never a bad thing.

This is what I’m talking about:

That’s pretty much it. Thanks for letting me vent. I’ll get over it eventually (and I’ll get over it for sure once the seawall is fixed and accessible again … lol )!!

In the meantime, let’s liven this party up …

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Workout Song of the Day …

… and this one is very apropos since it’s an AWESOME song for running and also because I now feel like MY world is ending without my beloved seawall to kick it on!

Enjoy!

Information Society – Ending World 1.1

Hey, if you love it like I do and want to add it to your workout collection a quick click on the ‘buy’ button on the player widget above will get you set up in no time.

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

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Oh No! My Hillsprints hill has CLOSED!

Yup, tragedy has befallen me. The Parks Board decided to fence up my favourite hillsprint hill.

No matter … I’ll still find a way to get my hillsprints done …

… but in the meantime, I’m kinda crushed and feeling out of sorts.

It’s almost like being in mourning.

I’m gonna miss that hill. I hope they let it survive the construction.

Don’t mind the tears, ok? LOL

Oh, and if you didn’t catch that post I mentioned about the Healthy Chocolate Pudding, catch it here: Healthy Chocolate Pudding… with Avocado?!

It’s super yummy and really healthy, too. You’ll love it.

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

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Hey gang, I thought I’d share a special interview I just did over on another blog.

Kelly Olexa is the girl who got me started video blogging all so many years ago. She was my inspiration then and is still today.

Thanks for having me on your blog Kelly!! You rock!

Here’s the interview if you’re interested in hearing what I had to say about how I feel about Health, Fitness, Working Out and Nutrition:

==> Girlwithnoname Fitness Interview with Kelly Olexa

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day!
Girlwithnoname

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Clouds today. Again.

Yep, STILL no Summer in Vancouver.

Am I letting it get me down?

Yah… a little. I admit it.

Summer is my season and I’m really missing my yearly bout of running to the beach and back (and running ON the beach), swimming in the ocean and enjoying a little laziness lying around in the hot sunshine (after my daily workout always, just to be clear).

And while it’s been far too cloudy to bother going to the beach, it’s also been flat out WAY too cold to bother trying to swim in the ocean.

Yah, I feel like I’m being RIPPED OFF this year.

However, I had a little unexpected treat today!

Today was a pre-scheduled cardio day and Timed Intervals were on the agenda.

So I grabbed my handy dandy little Gymboss Interval Timer and together we hit the road (errr… the Seawall) for a good hard bout of HIIT (high intensity interval training).

And as I ran, I had a vision and inspiration hit me…

Always keep your eyes peeled for an opportunity to do something FUN that will get your body MOVING!!!

Listen, the REAL secret to getting fit and STAYING THAT WAY is to find things you LOVE to do that keep you moving … and then GO DO IT … REGULARLY!

And it won’t be the same thing for everybody… what YOU love to do might be something someone else HATES to do.

So, don’t use others as your benchmark, just go find the thing YOU love and get on with it …

Love to swim? Go do it.

Love to play soccer? Go… Do… It…

Love to play catch with your kids? GO!! DO!! IT!!

Find something that makes you move that you LOVE to do, and just go do it for pete’s sakes …

And never stop looking for NEW ways to get out there, get moving and have fun with it !!!

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

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Running is a great sport. It’s lots of fun and great for the cardiovascular system as well as being a fantastic full body workout. It’s one of my very first fitness loves.

But if you’ve been a regular runner for a while now it might be starting to feel like the ‘same old, same old‘. If you do something long enough the same way, every time, it could wind up doing two things:

1) boring you

2) no longer challenging you

And, while boredom is one thing, if your running routine is no longer challenging you, then that could be a detriment to your fitness and health goals.

If you’re looking to advance in distance or speed, doing the same thing over and over again is probably going to result in the exact opposite, and that is: stagnation.

So, if you’re interested in continuing your growth as a running, it’s necessary not only to change things up but to make your routines harder, so your body can respond and grow in the direction you want.

Here’s some great ideas for making YOUR boring running routines more challenging:

Incorporate Hills Into Your Route: This is pretty easy to accomplish. Just find a path that has a few hills on it and run there instead of your usual flat path.

Try Some Intervals: Also extremely easy to accomplish. All you really do is run faster and harder than usual for a set amount of time (ie. one minute) then run slower and easier for another set amount of time (ie. another one minute interval).

Or you could do longer intervals of 10 minutes hard running and 10 minutes easy running.

Heck, you can do hillsprints on just one hill. Just find a great hill with a good incline and sprint up it and return to the bottom at a slow easy jog, turn around and sprint back up it. Repeat until you’re feeling thoroughly thrashed.

Run In The Sand: This is pretty easy to accomplish too, if you happen to have a beach nearby. Without a beach this may be more of a challenge.

But, if you can find yourself a good long length of sand at a beach you’ll find running in the sand quite a bit more difficult than running on a hard surface, due to it’s unstable nature. You’ll find yourself digging in and pushing off harder to keep the same pace than you’re your usual path which is probably stable and hard.

Run In The Water: Similar to running in the sand, but it’s the added resistance of the water that makes your run harder. And the deeper into the water you go, the harder your run will be.

You can do this in a swimming pool for a more stable surface under your feet, or better yet get yourself into an ocean. Now you’ve got unstable sand under your feet to make it that much harder. And the deeper you go here, the harder it will get due to the waves.

Of course you could go as deep as your shoulders but I guarantee you won’t really be doing a whole bunch of running at that point. More like swimming! I recommend knee-deep water as a good depth to reasonably increase the difficulty of your runs.

Weight Yourself: Add some more weight to your body before you head out to make yourself heavier and the run harder. But, a word of caution on this one. If you’re going to add weights to your bodyweight before you go running, opt for a backpack or a weighted belt rather than ankle weights. Ankle weights can focus a lot of additional stress on your leg joints so it’s best to avoid that wherever possible.

Any of these tips will help you intensify your runs and make them more challenging so you can continue on your path to improved endurance and speed.

See you on the trail.

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

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Hey everyone!! I have something exciting and fun to share with you today to kick off this shiny new week!!

I’ve got a special interview for you! Robert Martin, the guy that developed the “Look Great Naked At Any Age” system joined me for a chat recently.

Just in case you didn’t know this, Robert is in his 60s and… well, LOOK AT THE GUY !!!

He obviously knows what he’s doing when it comes to getting and staying in GREAT shape.

And, since Summer is quickly approaching, we decided to talk about how YOU can get YOUR body “bathing suit ready“.

PLUS: Is figuring out HOW to get that all-important MINDSET a totally confusing issue for you?

I mean you keep HEARING about how you NEED the right “Mindset” to be able to stick with it and stay motivated and see your dreams turn into realities, right?

But, for pete’s sakes HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Well, Robert Martin KNOWS HOW TO DO IT …

… and he tells us in explicit detail the STEPS YOU MUST TAKE to get your “Mindset” handled and on track so you can stop wishing for it and move on to actually GETTING your body “bathing suit ready“…

So? Are ya ready to learn the important details about Mindset and what else Robert does to keep himself looking so ripped even in his 60s?

Okay then!! Without further ado, let’s hit it:

Click the play button to listen in:

To check out Robert’s stuff and choose between having his DVD shipped to you or getting instantly downloadable videos sent directly to your computer, head over to Robert’s site:

Look Great Naked At Any Age by Robert Martin

And, if what Robert had to say about nutrition intrigues you and you want to know even more, this is the resource book he mentioned. Go grab it for yourself:

The 80/10/10 Diet – by Dr. Douglas N. Graham

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

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Hey everyone!! Wow, its Hump Day again already! Mom was right: The older you get, the faster time goes.

Anyhoo, getting straight to the point today:

I got damn sick and tired of messing up my intervals all the time.

My mind wanders, I forget to look at my watch and before I know it, I’ve either run farther and longer than I was supposed to (not necessarily a bad thing), or walked farther and longer than I was supposed to (the “Cardinal of all Interval Sins”).

So, I went looking for the solution … I looked at a bunch of interval watches but everything I found uses audible beeps to notify the user of the start / end of each interval. Seeing as I wear an mp3 player when I do cardio, I just can’t hear the beeps, so that’s more or less useless to me.

So I kept searching for what I need: something with a vibration function to alert me that it’s time to change speeds.

Yippee, I finally found it. Thank you GymBoss.

So, now that I’m getting my “Intervals Done Right“, I also now have a new personal challenge.

Check it out:

Vibration-mode really is the way to keep me honest and on track with my Interval Training.

Since recording this little rave-fest I’ve also used the stopwatch function on my new GymBoss Interval Timer to time out my Kettlebell sets for exercises like Swings, Snatches and Cleans since I am now working out with my groovy new Kettlebells. And it works GREAT!!

Thanks again GymBoss. Super glad you exist and your little timer is fantastic.

Get Your Own GymBoss Interval Timer Here!!!

Workout Song of the Day

Yep, there’s a tie-in. I figure that now that I have this groovy new Interval Timer to keep reminding me, I can let my mind “Dream” all it wants to, I know I won’t miss my next ‘run’ interval when it vibes to tell me to get “Runnin’“.

See how I worked that out? Tricky, eh? LOL.

Besides, it’s a terrific song to help you crank out a great cardio session.

Enjoy!

Tom Petty – Runnin’ Down a Dream

Don’t forget, if you dig it and want to run down a dream while you’re getting your cardio done, just click on the Buy Button on the Player Widget and Amazon will get you set up asap.

That’s it for today. I’m off to kick my own butt on the seawall with some hard-core Interval Training (was there ever any doubt?) LOL

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day.
Girlwithnoname

ps. hey, if you haven’t heard my Interview with Scott Colby, “My First Six Pack” Creator from a couple of days ago, make sure you head over there, it’s an information-packed discussion that you really don’t want to miss.

Hey everyone. A bright shiny new week ahead of us. So full of possibility, right?

Got big plans? Big WORKOUT plans?

Hope so.

Anyway, had an interesting (and insanely intense) workout yesterday doing some HIIT (high intensity interval training) on the seawall.

So, I thought I’d share my story!

Let’s just say that there’s lots of ways to kick it up a notch …

… even if you just make up a mock competition with a total stranger solely in your own head.

That’s the tactic I used yesterday!

Check it out:

Grab Turbulence Training here and get jiggy with the Interval Training NOW!

< < < Turbulence Training Has Great Interval Workouts

And, don’t forget to check out my Online Fitness Coaching and NEW ‘streamlined’ Power Tools Email Fitness Coaching pages if you’re interested in working with me.

I know what I’m doing when it comes to getting in fantastic shape, right?

We’d have a lot of fun and I’d bet we can get you the results you’re looking for … as long as you do what I say! LOL.

So let’s get to work, shall we?

That’s it for today. Have a fit, fun and fantastic day!
Girlwithnoname

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Hey everyone. Hope you are having a fantastic day.

I’ve got a super special treat today, in the form of a guest post from my good friend Robert Martin. This guy knows his stuff.

Robert is the creator of the “Look Great Naked At Any Age” system and let me tell you he walks the talk. He’s 61 and he is ripped to shreds. This guy knows how to get ‘er done!

Can you imagine: as you grow older, all your friends, colleagues and relatives asking you how you keep looking so youthful (while everyone else just seems to keep aging)??

Listen you guys, working out and keeping fit and healthy really IS the fountain of youth. I get asked that question all the time (you guys know I’m 45 years old, right?)…

But if you won’t believe ME, then you really gotta believe Robert! He’s living proof.

Anyway, Robert is like me, he loves his HIIT (high intensity interval training), and especially hillsprints. However, hills aren’t always abundant for everyone, and during winter it can be hard to get out in that brrrrrrr…. chilly air to get some good hillsprint action done.

Robert to the rescue!! You want HIIT?? He’s got HIIT!

Robert’s got a great indoor HIIT routine that will get your heart racing and your blood pumping and you never have to leave the house.

Good Stuff!!! Thanks Robert!!

AWESOME!!! I think I’m gonna enjoy a good cry after I get finished trying this routine!! It promises to hurt… but hurt soooo GOOD!!

If you want to go check out Robert’s stuff for yourself (and I highly recommend that you do), head over here to see what he’s got going on:

Look Great Naked At Any Age

You can shoot over to his blog from there too, and see a huge selection of more great videos just like this one.

That’s it for today gang!! Enjoy your Indoor HIIT.

Have a fit, fun and fantastic day!
Girlwithnoname

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