3500. . .

 It takes 3500 Calories to burn 1lb of FAT. I know that sounds like a lot but don't get OVERWHELMED by that number because there's several ways we can tackle that number and burn that stubborn FAT!. Of course the majority of the population believes when you're trying to loose weight it's cardio, cardio, cardio. . . and trust me cardio will help but there's more to the equation than that. Let's start looking at our Health & Fitness equation as a pie. YEPPERS THAT'S RIGHT I said PIE, but I don't mean a slice of Grandma's Apple Pie or whatever you favorite pie is, but a pie chart. Once we start doing that we will see that there are three (3) very IMPORTANT compents that come together to complete our Health & Fitness pie. They are Cardio, Nutrition, and the most often forgotten RESISTANCE TRAINING. 

Our bodies are furnaces and they are constantly burning calories all day and yes the old equation is true

CALORIES IN - CALORIES BURNED =

WEIGHTLOSS!! 

But we can manipulate that equation to work for us in a more efficient way. For starters you're already gonna burn calories just getting up and going about your normal daily activities. We will assume for arguments sake since you're reading this blog you're concerned about your Health & Fitness and you're doing some level of cardiovascular exercise and at least are aware of where you're at nutritionally (those 2 areas we will revisit later on this week I PROMISE). So with that being said let's talk about Resistance Training . . . Now this is to all my lovely ladies (men you can tune out on this one if you'd like) LIFTING WEIGHTS WILL NOT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A MAN!! There is no way, no how, NOT POSSIBLE. . . without the assistance of something (we will leave what that something is up to your imagination). But there's no way that normal everyday resistance training will having you looking like anything else other than a lean, mean, sexy fighting machine! Now that we've debunked that myth let's move on. As I stated previously it takes 3500 calories to burn 1 lb of FAT and ultimately the more FAT we burn the leaner & healthier we become. But did you know that 1 lb of MUSCLE burns 50 CALORIES compared to 1 lb of FAT only burning 3 CALORIES. Now obviously I'm no mathematician BUT clearly you already see the advantages to building lean muscle. But let's expand on this mathematical formula. If you start incorporating Resistance Training into your daily routine and you gain 10lbs of muscle (over time of course) you would be burning 500 EXTRA CALORIES A DAY. . . . hmmmmmmmmm ok so let's take that a step further. Now I've gained 10lbs of Muscle which now burns 500 calories / day there are 7 days in the week for a total of 3500 CALORIES!!! 

1lb muscle = 50 calories burned x 10 = 10lbs of muscle = 500 calories burned x 7 days = 3500 CALORIES

Now you haven't counted 1 calorie or done 1 long drawn out session of cardio. So think about the outcome when you add those 2 components in. OMG!! You're about to take yourself to a level where you're getting some SERIOUS FAT BURNING going. This now also explains to you how some people are having weeks where they're loosing 3,4,5+ lbs a week. They are like FAT BURNING FURNACES because they're building the lean muscle, they're watching their nutrition & incorporating intense cardio thus allowing them significant weightloss thus reaching the ULTIMATE GOAL of being . . . . 

HEALTHY & FIT!!!

Ok so I've officially ran my dern mouth too much today and I'm gonna say good-bye and let you "chew the Fat" amongst yourself (LOL) and ponder over the information I gave you today. If you have any questions, concerns, arguments or whatever you know as always you're free to comment and I'll always do my best to respond, clarify or partake in some playful back & forth debate if needed LOLOL

As always LOVE YA

KQ

PS. . FAMILY WE'RE TRYING TO RESHAPE THE BODY!! All your first 2 basic components of Cardio & Nutrition will help you change but you throw RESISTANCE TRAINING in and you will COMPLETELY RESHAPE THE BODY!!!! 

Do you have a PLAN?!?!

So far since I landed back in Charlotte this past Saturday from my 18days in CT I have lost 4.5 lbs.

WHAT. . . WHAT?!?!

We're back to 156.5  on CD24 (4 more days until my cycle starts so this weight is good) and I'm happy. I actually told myself this past Sunday I would be at 156-158 by the end of the week no matter what and I've already accomplished that goal with 2 more days remaining . .. YEAH ME!! Now of course I'm still not 100% satisfied but I pleased and this keeps my GAME FACE on. I know where I WANT to be & where I NEED to be and with 6wks & a few days out from my show I'm in a decent position. So I will continue to push on for the remainder of the week and see where I come in at weight wise by Sunday morning which will allow me to set my goals for next week.So it is time to employ one of my FAVORITE motto's

"If you FAIL to PLAN, then you PLAN to FAIL". 

This goes hand & hand with setting GOALS. I have a goal of where I want to be on June 26th so me & and my AWESOME trainer Buffmother have devised a P.O.A. (PLAN of ATTACK) to get me there but in the meantime between time it is a necessity to make small goals to help you attain the BIG ULTIMATE GOAL and those little goals need their own P.O.A. too!! I mean honestly people if you don't know where you're going how in the world are you gonna get there?!?!? Ok, ok, ok get off my soapbox. . . I know I'm gonna sit down and hush and get back to the reason for this blog LOL!!

Soooooooooo anyway all of that is to say I want to be @ 145 or less when I walk across that stage on June 26th and be a lean mean fighting machine. I have even given myself goal measurements for my waist, hips & thighs which will also be truth tellers as to whether I'm on the right path or not. Now I know I've set some lofty goals but I am up for the CHALLENGE. What is life if we don't have Challenges & Obstacles to overcome. If everything was easy and everything came easy then what would we really have to work for. As I said today on my Facebook page . . .ANYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH WORKING FOR! I believe that 110% and that applies to every aspect of my life . . .if I want a well behaved & respectful child, I discipline and teach them the way I want them to behave. . .if I want a good job I get a good education and do what's needed to attain that job so why would wanting a good body be any different. You have to feed it and train it properly and you will reap the benefits and that's what I'm about to do to reach these goals and that's what I want you to do too. 

Set your ULTIMATE GOAL, then create a PLAN of ATTACK and to ensure you reach your ULTIMATE GOAL set some smaller goals and create plans of attack for them too. Remember if you don't know where you're going how in the ham & cheese are you gonna get there?!?! 

Love ya always 

KQ

Today's AWESOME Plyometrics & Olympic Lift workout

MAN O'MAN O'MAN!!! Today's workout was KILLER and something to write home about thus the reason why I'm blogging about it to you guys LOLOLOL!! Since I have an athletic background I love those off the wall functional fitness workouts and that's why I loved what I did today. I know you're gonna think I'm totally crazy but I was so anxious and excited about today's workout I couldn't wait to get to the gym and get my Plyometric and Olympic lift circuit ON & POPPING!!!
As defined by Wikipedia . . . Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance in sports. Plyometric movements, in which a muscle is loaded and then contracted in rapid sequence, use the strength, elasticity and innervation of muscle and surrounding tissues to jump higher, run faster, throw farther, or hit harder, depending on the desired training goal. Plyometrics is used to increase the speed or force of muscular contractions, providing explosiveness for a variety of sport-specific activities.

But PLEASE understand these types of exercises are not just for past & present athletes these types of exercises help EVERYONE. Anyone can do machines all the time or cardio all the time and possibly go from an apple to a cherry. I mean if you look to your left you see virtually the same shape just a different size. NO, NO, NO, NO NO . . .That's not what we're going for. . . WE WANT TO CHANGE THE BODY! As I was once told you can either carve a block of granite with a spoon or a jack hammer. Now eventually we'll get to the same result but obviously one will take longer than the other so we're trying to use these types of exercises and go from overweight Star Jones to Angela Basset or Madonna.

Now Olympic style lifts are pretty standard and don't really change much or have a lot of variations but when it comes to Plyometrics the sky is the limit. You can do so many different Plyometric moves in so many different ways its almost unimaginable. Click here to read over a sampling of different plyometric & olympic lift exercises and still this doesn't scratch the surface LOLOL. So what did I do today you ask . . . well here goes. I superset (Two different physical exercises performed back-to-back, without a period of rest between them) my exercises 

10min warmup - Arc Trainer

• 1 arm snatch 3 x 5 @ 35lbs
• burpees 3 x 20

• Hang Cleans 3 x 5 @ 95lbs
• Mountain Climbers w/Bosu ball

• Push Press 3 x 5 @ 95lbs
• Box Jumps 3 x 20

• Plie Squats 3 x 15 @ 50lbs
• Layup Hops 3 x 20 (for this one I'll have to take a video for you)

• 1 Legged Squats off bench x 10 each side
• Toe taps (I'll hafta video tap this exercise too b/c I can't find a picture for you anywhere)

•  Bosu ball pushup
• Box Lateral Side Shuffle

Now after all of that I'm going to eat some grilled chicken & TONS of green beans then do some abs before I finally climb in the bed. So that was it for the night and if you have any questions you know how to get me

As always BE FREE UNTIL YOU'RE FOOL!!!

KQ!!