The WOW, Workout of the Week 9/10/18: “Beginner Freestyles”

The WOW, Workout of the Week at GoodAttitudeFood.com is called “Beginner Freestyles”.

The focus is on fun and easy, but effective exercises, that anyone can do. I ride a spin bike. You could do this routine with a treadmill, climber, or any other machine. Or if you don’t have a machine, just move to the beat. You could also dance to the music this week. I sometimes even shadow box to it. I sometimes add my ringside weighted gloves to add another element, if not spinning. Again the goal of the Benninger Freestyles workout is just to keep moving with the beat.

Speaking of the beat; I am bringing in one of my favorite music programs this week.  We are going to be working out to Armin van Buuren’s radio program, A State Of Trance (ASOT).  You can listen to the program on Spotify and other streaming services, watch it on YouTube, or find more here. Armin is a legendary music creator (does not do him justice). His amazing program has enriched my life, fitness, and mental health for years. Please check out all of his stuff.

I spin on my bike along with the beat while focusing on and practicing controlled breathing. The tempo of the music is perfect for HIIT training. There are many tempo changes in songs. I just try to keep spinning along with the beat. It goes fast but sometimes, but don’t worry, there are slow times too. There are breaks when Armin and others are talking, that allow for recovery time. Do this for half an hour, an hour, whatever you feel like. You don’t have to kill it with the resistance. Add it on it the faster parts and cut it off in the slower parts. Keep the resistance managable but challange yourself some of the time. Try doing two or three really hard efforts.

It has been a while since I have listened to Armin’s progam. Doing the workout this week reminded me that I actually just hit a really big personal milestone; I hit my personal weight loss BHAG – “Big Hairy Audacious Goal”!

Back in December of 2015 I set a goal that I was going to lose 90lbs. I was 245lbs at that time. Last Thursday I got on the scale and it said 153.9lbs! This routine helped me get that goal! Many times I used to crank up ASOT and ride for two solid hours, without realizing it had been that long. The music is transforming and uplifting. The spin bike workout is amazing. The beat is perfect for HIIT training.

I call this workout a mindfulness hack too. A big part of it is the breathing. I really focus my breath; practicing deep, controlled inhales through my nose, and slow controlled exhales through the mouth. This practice of controlling your breathing while doing HIIT training might not be easy right away. It was not for me. I struggled with it. I pushed through it because I wanted to get healthier. I worked at it a little every day. In the process I learned the benefits of breathing and mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness can be done by just trying to control and focus on your breathing. This workout is a fun, fast paced, workout with a bonus mindfulness practice hack. I wrote a post early about how mindfulness is like a super power.

Controlling breath might also help with metabolising fat in the body when we workout. I found a 2014 Article on Medical News Today, that states scientists discovered fatloss happens through the release of carbon dioxide in our breath. These researchers studied the atomic make up of fat and found it is a triglyceride composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Triglycerides (fat in the body) are broken down in a process called oxidation then expelled through respiration. Check out the article for all the facts. Basically, get breathing hard and the body will create oxidation to breakdown fat.

This TEDx Talk by Ruben Meerman talks about the same thing. Please check out this video for more info on this topic.

Breathing will not only help with mindfulness, but according to these people, and others (just Google ‘the science of weightloss’), breathing is how the body breaks down and burns off excess fat, at the cellular level.

If you want some scenery to workout to this video is awesome too. I mute the sound on the video, turn on my bluetooth ear buds to ASOT on Spotify and spin along with this video for a great 30 minute workout.

I enjoy this workout so much I am going to do a version of it each day either in the morning or afternoon.

I will probably try to get out and throw some disc this week too, weather cooperating. In addition I am doing daily yoga to keep working on my back. I am also continuing on my butter coffee experiment; of which I have a new recipe to share too. I drink this as a meal replacement while doing daily intermittent fasting.

There you have it, The WOW, for 9/10/18 from GoodAttitudeFood.com. Thank you so much for reading! Be Happy and Healthy my friends!  Remember you can be the hero of your own story!