Sunday, December 7, 2008

Going to Booty School



Is that not an awesome hiney?? Holy cow. Maria Kudla and the awesome roundness of her glutes.

So, the DH and I were working out the other day (our return to the gym together) having a pretty awesome upper body workout (can't remember which one) and he is giving me major props for how my arms look. He hasn't "witnessed" me working out for awhile and so wasn't expecting me to really look like I had been working out. :)

Anyway, we were talking about how I want to make sure my arms are still shapely and toned while preggers and he was like: "heck yeah, just keep blowing up on your upper body" and then I had an epiphany. Insert angels singing noise here.


My lower body has always been my challenge area. I cannot lose fat right now....I can lessen the amount of fat I put on by making healthy choices and eating good food but I cannot lose fat at the risk of harming the little baby I carry in my belly. When you get pregnant (for those of you who DON'T know) you gain fat stores so that your body can access them if you go too long without food or if the baby needs additional nourishment. I hope to provide a steady stream of food every 2.5 to 3 hours so that my body doesn't feel the starvation factor often and puts on minimal amounts of fat. Regardless, my focus right now is maintaining my muscle mass (if I put on a little bit of extra mass during 1st and 2nd trimester bonus but I am not counting on it) and staying healthy.

Anyway, back to the original story...my epiphany is that I need to use this time to really work on my lower body. Now, as I stated already, I can't lose any fat right now but I can keep the muscle in my legs, work on shaping the muscle that is there and keep my legs toned and tight. And yes, still keep focused on my upper but really focus on the lower.
I came home from the gym and went immediately to my huge 3 ring binder of workouts I have pulled from years and years of collecting magazines and tabbed to the lower body section. It was there I found: Booty School with Carla Sanchez. For those of you who don't know Carla, she is with Performance Ready and she is pretty awesome. The article was in the Oxygen Glutes issue from Spring of 2007 and her permise is basically this: women carry fat in hips and thighs and therefore have to work extra hard to keep it tight and toned. She said that women should make sure that their cardio is very glute specific and work legs more often than upper body. Anyone else remember this article?

For contest prep she recommends 6-7 days of booty work. Here's how it works:
  • Monday: Glute Focused Cardio
  • Tuesday: Strength & Conditioning Circuit
  • Wednesday: Glute Focused Cardio Thursday: Strength & Conditioning Circuit
  • Friday: Glute Focused Cardio
  • Saturday: Strength & Conditioning Circuit
  • Sunday: Optional Cardio
She doesn't think women can truly get over trained doing these 30-45 minute workouts once you work up to them. Her recommendation is to start with three a week and then add one a week as long as you aren't overly sore.

Last night I did my first Booty School Workout....I am going to post it because it is search and reapply and it was publicly printed. :)

I warmed up with 3 sets of 25 reps on the smith machine - 80lbs racked

Three rounds of the following (I did the following straight through and then repeated twice):
  • 50 reverse lunges each leg off of a step with one riser (with or w/out weights) - 15lb dumbbells
  • Step Mill - 200 quick steps (I don't have a step mill at the house - YET :) - so I just walked on the treadmill at the highest incline
  • Hamstring curls - stability ball - 20 reps
  • Jump split squats - 20 reps each leg
  • Sumo squat - 20 reps - 60lbs
  • Straight leg dead lifts - 15 reps holding 20lb dumbbells
  • Jumping jack squats - 20 reps

Then I ran Pablo for 30 minutes. Great workout!

I will post other booty school workouts as I do them. My plan is to do three this week. The cardio workout is basically a combination of jump rope, step mill, treadmill, etc.

Hope you all had a great weekend!! I have no baby updates other than I got nothin. Everything is totally normal and I feel great. Boobs are bigger, have gained about a pound, maybe a pound and a half and clothes fit fine. I am a little paranoid b/c I haven't made the official announcement at work and I DO feel like I have a little pooch.

Have a great week everyone! Keep your goals and your dreams in your sights!
Jess

P.S. I ran the lake today with Amber and Pabs - awesome!

9 comments:

Kelly Olexa said...

Hey Hey Girl!!

Glad to hear you are doing great!!
;-)
what is booty cardio? Treadmill and stairs??

duh?

K

Jessica said...

I think I call it out in there - pretty much the following: Walking on a steep include, jumping rope, stairs or step mill, sprinting. The usual. :)

Glad you are feeling better!
Jess

Krissa said...

I made your turkey burgers last night. Yummy. Those will be made frequently now. Thanks.

I made 6 burgers out of 1 lb or turkey so there is not many calories in it at all since I used 99% lean turkey.

I remember this article. I need to go to booty school too. Last night I was thinking about my current workout plan and how it really isnt working for me right now. I think since I am going for FAT BURNING then I need a routine like this. Blast the lower body 3 days a week (and do just enough upper body) to induce fat loss and do cardio on the off days. I think I will go dig through my Oxygen mag tub and find this article again. I love pictures.

Good plan :)

Unknown said...

Hope you don't my popping in here, since I was asked to:

This part:

"women carry fat in hips and thighs and therefore have to work extra hard to keep it tight and toned. She said that women should make sure that their cardio is very glute specific and work legs more often than upper body."

This implies that there is such a thing as spot reduction, which we all know there is not.

You're not going to lose or minimize fat gains in one specific area of your body due to any one specific type of cardio - again, because spot reduction does not exist.

To the workout - same thing. It can't possibly help with localized fat loss or minimizing localized fat gain. Why? Fat and muscle are two separate entities.

You're doing lots of work for the glute MUSCLES which is fine, but that has nothing to do with any localized bodyfat hanging on to your glutes.

Make sense?

And if one were after bigger, fuller, rounder glutes, there are better ways.

Erik

Visionquester said...

Sorry Jess,

Had to bring in the "big guns" on this one.

~C.

Jessica said...

Erik and C,

A couple points of clarification from my post:

1. Diet is always key to what one is trying to achieve.
2. I, me, Jessica, mother of the future little Jody, is not trying to lose any fat. I am just plugging along trying to keep my body in as good of shape as possible during the pregnancy.
3. I understand the IMPLICATION that this program is about spot reducing. I don't understand it to be about spot reduction but rather focus on conditioning the lower body. It is my humble opinion that higher repetition, plyometric leg circuits with weight bearing activity and explosive movements like sprinting create leaner, tight conditioned legs and glutes IF and only IF one's body fat is at a level low enough as a result of diet and additional cardio. I DO NOT believe in spot reduction however I do believe that conditioning by emphasizing your lower body with additional lower body workouts or cardio that focuses more on the lower body (and yes, there is cardio that does just that) can create a leader more conditioned lower body. Spot reduction is reducing the fat on the glutes or inner thighs - this program is about overall conditioning of the lower body.

I started a little firestorm today with this post and so I wanted to clarify. If any of you out there thought I meant spot reduction, I apologize.

I wanted to post the program because I wanted to share. If you don't share the opinion or beliefs in the article, GREAT! I am so glad so many of us have our own opinions and beliefs.

Having great discussions about exercise and fitness is one of my joys in life! It is so much better than arguing over Crisco or Butter or Bud Light or Miller Light. So keep on bringing it on and I look forward to any and all responses!

Jess

Krissa said...

Hmmmm...interesting. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this workout, Jess. As one who needs to put in some extra effort on the lower half, I can surely appreciate what you are talking about here.

Cathy said...

Hey Jess!

Mari Kudla has an awesome behind! I was so happy to see you post a pic of one of the original figure queens!
Those initial Figure Pro's were the best!
Also...if you are interested....there is a great Monica Brant glute training video...I found it on Fitness Rx mag online site.
The butt is not my problem area and I truly believe that besides genetics...the years I spent sprinting and competing on a national level helped to develop them.
You can't spot reduce but you CAN shape muscle!
xo
Cathy
Team Tight Curves