Grey's Anatomy 6, 7, & 8 :)

Cardio ... dun dun dun... am I right? For most it is DREADFUL!! Yes we have some who just "love to run" and for those of you: I just stuck my tongue out ;) I'm not saying I'm not happy once I get into the groove, but for most getting back into the groove IS NOT FUN!

It's a necessary evil for most in order to facilitate fat loss. Now I'm not going to get into specific amounts, levels, intensities, durations, time of day, etc... people get so wrapped up in these "magical numbers". Those pieces to the puzzle do get more important as you have reached a certain level, when your body fat is lower and you are trying to be more specific to goals and restrictions of diet, but they can vary GREATLY for each individual. Your goals shift to not only burn fat, but preserve as much muscle as possible. For most that doesn't really start until 12 - 10 weeks out. Even if you start your prep further out, the real "crunch" of cardio scrutiny doesn't start until then. In the beginning phases it is JUST GET IT DONE!! I am in THAT phase. I am not any amount of weeks out... I am at the nutrition's on point, lifting's on point, and I would like to get my body fat down to see what I'm working with and "if" a show prep could be in the future phase... Remember I told you small goals for now? Well for now I just wanna be able to put on my two piece and not be pissed off for about an hour after doing so lol That is my mini goal! ;) Keepin it simple :)

Cardio TV... GOTTA LOVE IT?!?! It almost feels like cheating... not too long ago cardio meant layering up in as many clothes as possible and sweating it out. No TV, lucky if you had a fanny pack with a CD player and headphones, and in some of the old school gyms NO AIR! Talk about torture!

But now... with a water bubbler 5 feet away, an ipod with all the latest tunes, a personal TV attached to your equipment, with your own headphones and over 30 channels... how can we possibly COMPLAIN?!?! Seriously... its almost like cheating. There's no way cardio should be this "easy" (well relatively speaking).

60 minutes on the pre cor elliptical, 612 calories later, burning and tingling in your legs, intervals, sweat dripping, and it just FLEW BY! How is that possible? I'll tell you how. Because you were glued to the TV. Eyes wide, mouth open, jaw dropped as you watch these amazingly gorgeous doctors find that the swollen, red, inflamed testicles on this man brought into the hospital was not an STD that he got on vacation with his mistress, but instead it was a CANDIRU FISH that swam up his urine stream into his urethra, through his penis and got logged in his bladder. Yes you learn this slimy, slim, little parasite, cleverly nicknamed "the penis fish", has spikes that grows backwards and can only be removed by surgery.

Now ask yourself after watching all that unfold, how on earth could you possibly complain about cardio? How could you possibly glance down to worry about how many minutes are left when a fish is in a man's junk? The female doctors laugh and say it serves him right for cheating on his wife. While the male doctors turn pale and almost vomit at the thought of that little slimy guy in their jewels. And the mistress and wife sit side by side waiting for the man who's lying to them both.. Now ask yourself again, is cardio really that bad? :)

As a mom of three, and a wife of a Call of Duty addict, how many chances do you think I get to sit down for a full hour and watch whatever I want on TV without interruption? Now how can I complain about my cardio? I can't. Grey's Anatomy 6, 7, & 8 I have NO EXCUSE!! Just GET IT DONE!

Maybe TV's not your thing, then how about a book, learning a language on CD, good music, find a buddy, take a spin class... FIND A THING... your thing, and get it done! In the early phases that's all that really matters, getting there consistently. Now don't be a sally just because your watching TV, doesn't mean you can't play with intensities and intervals. Push during the commercials, break a little during... pre sets intervals, you won't even notice that all of a sudden your on level 7, or just get on the stairs! Do it up, Get there and get it done :)

How many facebook updates do you see... "settling in for LOST", "BACHELOR TIME", "can't wait for Desperate Housewives", "about to watch the Celtics game"... Be the one who writes: "sweating my booty off, getting my body right while I watch____________ fill in the blank with guilty pleasure TV." You get the idea... just another reason why exercise MUST FIT into your life!

And remember I touched on all the cardio rules, regulations, specifications. I will leave you with only ONE for now that I live by no matter what stage of the game you're in. NEVER EVER EVER do cardio before your weights. I wholeheartedly believe and there are many studies to support that it is so counterproductive! The only reason I even mention it is because I have noticed many fitness enthusiasts recently saying that this is not an important rule. It seems its becoming more popular and the argument is some people like to do cardio first to warm them up, or get them mentally ready for lifting. I am a firm believer in working smarter not harder, and this is just backwards in my opinion.

Do your research, and figure it out for yourself. It's a topic that could take a whole other blog and as I get my body to a point that needs tweaks and specifications on my cardio maybe we'll discuss more then, but for now... I'm just getting it done!

So to recap 3 morals from this blog
*Cheat on your wife and a fish will infest your genitals
*JUST DO YOUR CARDIO... enjoy it (okay you don't have to really enjoy it, but fake it) embrace it, we're lucky to have it the way we do now in "luxury"
*Never do cardio before weight training
*AND this is not a only cardio, pro cardio bunny blog. CARDIO is a tool with diet and weight training, but I focused on it because after diet it is usually the least favored and often neglected aspect of the puzzle.