Day 3 – cardio and abs workout

My third day of my 21-day goal to achieve a habit of making healthy health and fitness decisions concentrates on cardio and abs. Instead of going to American Iron Gym, I worked out at home.

I’m going to alternate between working out three days at the gym and three days at home, with Sunday being a day of rest.

We have lots of exercise equipment at home, including an elliptical machine, a recumbent bike, a treadmill, a rowing machine, a folding bench, a set of weights in 5-pound increments from 5 to 35 pounds, a curl bar and a dead-weight bar and weights. I also have a Giant mountain bike and a 28-speed Cannondale road bike.

I’m also concentrating on stretching exercises to get my flexibility in my back and legs up to where it should be. My previous workout resulted in leg cramps in my hamstrings while I was stretching the muscles to warm up.

I’ve been eating healthier, too. Had half a grapefruit and a kiwi and they both tasted delicious. Have a pomegranate, too, and although I’ve had them before I never ate the seeds. I researched pomegranates and found several videos on Youtube on how to extract the juicy seeds without making a big mess on the counter.  Also found out that many people just swallow the seeds either whole or after chewing them a bit for the added fiber. I tried swallowing the seeds and they’re not bad, but I prefer just the juice.

Here’s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qfQ3_N7S6Y

The pomegranite and kiwi also fit into my clean-eating diet. That’s a little too complex of a topic to delve into here. But, my wife has been using Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet books for several years before she switched to adding more natural bodybuilding supplements to her diet.

Here’s a link to Tosca Reno’s Web page:
http://www.eatcleandiet.com/tosca_reno.aspx#.UOicCrZdU1g

Tomorrow, is a rest day and I get to have a cheat meal. It’s very crucial that you allow yourself to eat not-so-healthy crap one time a week otherwise your body goes into a starvation mode and you will resist using burning body fat and start burning muscle. Just don’t overdue it. Tammy and I like to have a pizza and popcorn and watch a movie on Sunday’s. It’s very relaxing and satisfies those cravings.