I aim to OPTIMIZE!
With 15 years industry experience and having spent a great deal of time and effort examining training protocols it is time to share some of the knowledge I have accumulated with, well, anyone who wants to listen!
On day to day basis, I often forget how much of my time is spent answering health and fitness-related questions, whether they come from my students, my clients or my peers. I seem to just naturally fill into the role of advisor and find myself eager to share my knowledge and opinions of what might be a good approach to optimizing one’s health, fitness and physique. The most common questions I have been getting of late are: “Carmen, how do you have so much energy?” “ How do you stay lean all year round?” “ What do YOUR workouts consist of?” “ Who do you see for nutrition advice?”
It’s funny, I never wanted to have any sort of celebrity status as a trainer. And I always cringe when I see new training systems endorsed by good-looking actresses and actors, blessed by awesome genetics, saying you too, can be like me! It all seems so far away, so out of reach for the average gym go-er. Now, don’t me wrong, my idea of health and fitness is far more stringent than that of the recreational fitness bunny. I like to TRAIN. Not “workout.” I said, TRAIN. I enjoy pushing myself and seeing what my body is capable of. I like to fuel my gas tank with high octane fuel rich in nutrients and I will seek out anyone and everyone who knows all about my OPTIMIZATION. So, if you are like me, the type who doesn’t like the status quo, who questions the quick-fixes and is a bit of a sucker for hard work, then continue reading. I will give you a glimpse into how I stay fit…..
O.K., so to answer to the energy question. Well, first of all. I am human. I do get tired too, like anyone, but the real secret is that I am very diligent at going to bed at the same time each night . . .yes, even on weekends (I know, I am lame). I always chill out before bed, meaning no business decisions, no marking papers, no writing articles, I just chill. I aim for 8-9 hours of sleep per night and I have found that my body just naturally wakes up after 8 hours give or take. Once you get into a routine, you just feel sleepy at the same time each day and it is easy to fall asleep. I make sleep a priority as I know it is what allows me to accomplish all of the things I want to, in a day.
Staying lean and maintaining an athletic physique all year round takes discipline as well. I am NOT talking about restriction, just a commitment to myself to eat very healthy and train consistently. We all have choices in life and I choose to feel and look my best. I also choose to seek help from experts in the areas of nutrition and the combination of the Cliff Harvey mantra of: Eat only whole, natural and unprocessed foods, (cliff@humanmotion.ca) plus the personalized supplement prescriptions my naturopath, Dr. Julie Durnin, (she is awesome!)I am in good hands. I only supplement with fish oils, whey protein, calcium/magnesium and probiotics – I traded in my latte fix for these items and it is paying dividends. So, in a nutshell, I have become a bit of a food snob – I will only put high grade fuel into this body, selecting these items on a daily basis: Whole organic oats, berries and whey for breakfast, almonds and plain yogurt for snacks. Veggies at BOTH lunch and dinner, covering 2/3 of my plate, topped with steak, fish, chicken or hard boiled free range eggs. I eat A LOT (ask my husband) and I do eat carbs – just unprocessed ones, like ancient grains. Maintaining a lean physique is more about WHAT you eat, not how much you eat. I never count calories . . .(who has time for that?)
Now, onto my workouts. I do not have a fixed schedule per se. Partly because I squirm when I hear the word schedule and it does take some out of the fun of training, but I do make my training a daily priority. I play flag football 7 months of the year and it is very demanding on my body. I get my wind sprints in at practice and games, so that takes care of most of my short-burst type training and agility work. Some may ask – well do you do agility work outside of practice and to be quite honest, I don’t. I was given some great genetics with quick feet and even at 33, they still shake and bake, so for now I won’t try to fix what ain’t broke! After all my ‘work’ commitments are taken care of, I have about 5 hours per week I devote to my training and of those 5 hours, I work mostly on conditioning and strength & power. And to let you in on a secret – I stopped doing what I call ‘same stimulus’ cardio workouts some time ago and I haven’t looked and felt better!
On Sundays, I hit the gym in the morning, after my Saturday football games. This workout is focused mostly on joint mobility drills, full-range movement exercises like bodyweight lunges and some aerobic work. I get my cardio in a more varied manner by doing long cycle routines with 12kg kettlebells. I do about 10 minutes of long cycle as a flush at a very slow, continuous pace. It gets the kinks out and the blood flowing so I can recover faster from Saturday. Plus, the varied stimulus has a much greater afterburn effect than any Sunday jog will ever give me – plus it spares my knees!
Monday, I train my whole body with heavier strength/power exercises like deadlifts, split jerks, squat to press, box squats and chin-ups. I select full-body exercises to keep the time certain muscles are under tension shorter and so I can use my legs to generate all the power I need. This type of prescription is key for staying or getting lean without gaining size. I can keep my training intensity high as well and boost the levels of circulating catecholamines to help me burn fat for hours after my session. I lift heavy (around 6 reps) and I rest 3 minutes between sets with my deadlifts, squats and pull-ups. Sometimes, on Mondays, I follow the Tabata protocol at the end of my workout, using a squat to press with 12kilo bells. Check it out on my downloads page: http://www.carmenbott.com/training-downloads/
Tuesdays I often take the day off, or have football practice, which is often a lot less demanding than games. I am not a young pup anymore!
On Wednesdays, my husband and I have date night, which is a workout together, then dinner. This is my drop-set day where we pick about three exercises and begin at the heaviest weight we can tolerate. Once we fatigue (not fail) at that weight, we drop to the next weight, then the next, then the next, until we get to the lightest weight. We often use Renegade Rows, Yaw presses and Single Arm Clean and Jerks for this workout. Sometimes I will also do a set of reverse lunges in the same manner, but only if my legs feel great. If not, I give them a rest. This workout is a bit torturous and heavily metabolic, but this is my last hard anaerobic workout for the week as I have to recover for my Saturday game!
On Thursdays, I go light with weights or kettlebells and do a 4 min on, 1 min off (Carmen’s Fave 4×4) workout. It is an aerobic workout for me, but still with varied stimulus – forget the cardio machines – they don’t work if you want to OPTIMIZE! My muscles are always guessing and the movements help my recovery from Wednesday. It is a short and sweet 20 minute session.
Fridays are my game prep workout, where I hit the gym with technique work and lots of foam roller release and some dynamic range of motion exercises. Joint mobility is gain the focus of Friday’s session so I don’t pull every muscle in my lower body on Saturday.
So, there you have it. This is really what my training is all about. It is not about volume. It is not about boredom. It is about challenge and discipline and consistency. Most of all it is a lifestyle. I could not imagine having a job where I am chained to my desk 10 hours per day. I am thankful I have created the life I want to live: One that is filled with fun experiences, competition and physical goals. And one that I share with my husband who has the same values. I have never been able to answer the question of what drives me. There is no scientific response I can come up with to answer this other than I truly do love the process and I think that is key to any level of achievement.
Happy Training everyone!
Coach Carm