Training at 10 weeks in

Recently we looked at the critical importance of exercise for healthspan, plus an overview of strength and cardio training. This post is about my own experience working up to this kind of training program over the past 10 weeks. It covers:

• 10 reflections

• My weekly training and how I make it work for me

10 reflections at 10 weeks in 🪞

1. Fitting in the number of workouts I am currently aiming for each week is a bit challenging, but achievable (6 short workouts plus 1 yoga). It’s helped to consciously decide that this is one of my highest daily priorities, making it clearer when I need to decline other discretionary activities.

2. 30 minutes a day used effectively can have a massive impact on your life. 
   

3. I think I’m now getting a decent ‘minimum effective dose’, though I’m not yet training as much as I’d like to. In particular, I’d like to do more ‘zone 2’ cardio.
   

4. I quickly became ‘addicted’ to exercise, within 2 weeks. In the prior year, my commitment to exercise was more casual and sporadic and I easily let myself off it. Now, keeping my commitment is a must. I attribute this to a combination of the good hormones that exercise is releasing into my brain, the satisfaction of being aligned to my values and the feeling of making progress.
   

5. I’ve already made significant progress with my strength. I notice it in all sorts of aspects of daily life, including lifting my 23 kg worth of wriggly children. It’s a powerful feeling. I’m less sure of progress on the cardio front, which took me longer to figure out and get into.
   

6. Regardless of progress, every day with exercise is a good day.
   

7. It’s been super valuable to use a wearable device to monitor my heart rate. I found that I was both under-estimating and over-estimating the heart rate level that I was reaching during different forms of exercise. I highly recommend using one if you can afford it (second hand from people who always upgrade their gadgets is a good option)
   

8. Last week, I felt surprisingly fatigued in some of my workouts. It has made me curious about my rest and recovery. Could I be overtraining or not getting my nourishment right? I plan to tinker with a few things.
   

9. With exercise as in other domains, women who are pregnant or early postpartum are suffering from being left out. It’s just easier not to provide these women with great advice because there has been insufficient attention and research. One notable exception is the pregnancy chapter in Dr Stacy Sim’s excellent book ‘ROAR’. My guess from personal experience is that a lot of pregnant and early postpartum women could benefit from more exercise than they are encouraged to get. Do better, please world. More on this topic another time.
   

10. What’s way more important than having the ideal workout program? Having a workout program that you actually do consistently over the long term because it fits with your life and you like it. For me, removing friction by having workouts I can do at home without taking too much time is key at this stage in my life.

If you’re interested in the training I’ve been doing myself so far, read on!

My training week

I’ve worked up to my training today over the past 10 weeks, following the birth of my daughter 13 weeks ago. Some elements are quite new to the program. Currently I’m managing:

• 2 x strength workouts

• 2 x high intensity cardio workouts

• 2 x low-medium intensity cardio workouts

• 1 x Ashtanga yoga class

Strength training 🏋️‍♀️

‘Strong’ is my word of the year for 2024 and I’ve been working on it for the whole 10 weeks. 

My workout looks like:

• Circuit of 6 exercises, 10 reps each, aiming to cover the major muscle groups. 

• Repeat 4 times, with a 90 second break between each circuit. All up it takes about 35 minutes. 

• Same workout twice a week, about every 3 days

• Done at home using a few kettlebells. Currently the 8, 16, 24kg kettlebells are the mainstay of my circuit, with a 32kg beginning to be introduced. 

• In case you’re interested, the specific exercises I currently do are squats, calf raises, overhead tricep extensions, clean & press, front plank and farmers carry.
  

What’s working for me:

• Kettlebells are awesome. My partner Carlos likes tell me “the kettlebell is an ancient Russian weapon against weakness”, quoting Pavel Tsatsouline. I reckon you only need 2-3 kettlebells for a great full body workout. In addition to targetting specific muscle groups, all kettlebell exercises engage your core muscles, strengthen your grip and improve your balance.

• I can do it without leaving home and it’s super efficient.

• A circuit structure is great for me mentally and practically. I know I can go hard for 5-6 minutes. If I really have to, I can also endure a baby crying for 5 minutes, knowing that I can give her a cuddle in the break.

  

  Kettlebells and sleepy kids for the win

Any signs of progress? 

I reckon I’ve made material progress already. Some ways it shows up for me:

• I’ve been able to increase how much I’m doing. First I increase reps, then I graduate up a weight

• I can now pass the Peter Attia tests mentioned in my last post - I can hang for 1 minute bearing my bodyweight and I can carry 80% of my bodyweight while walking for a minute (just)

• I feel much more confident lifting and carrying the kids, both at once, uphill, with groceries etc. I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that I’m better able to help and protect them and less likely to injure myself. 

• I no longer pass the sticky jars to Carlos to open. 

• Carlos tells me that I look stronger and I’m noticing some more muscle tone. 

Pretty cool for just 10 weeks. 

Looking ahead, I’d love to:

• Get a DEXA scan to better understand my body composition (coming soon!)

• Incorporate greater variety and increase to 3 sessions per week

• Work with a personal trainer on goals and a program. In the meantime, I’m loving YouTube and more recently ChatGPT (thanks Fleur!).

• Lift closer to max weight. One drawback of kettlebells is that it’s tricky to lift your maximum weight because of the dangers of dropping it.

High intensity cardio 💓

I’ve only properly incorporated high-intensity cardio, where I’m reaching >80% of my max heart rate, for 3 weeks so far. My VO2 max test and using a heart rate monitor has given me a much more precise understanding of what ‘hard enough’ is.

My workout looks like:

• 2 workouts per week

• Norwegian 4x4 on an exercise bike is my core protocol, which I do once or ideally twice a week. Following a short wam up, it goes:

  • 4 minutes where I aim to sustain minimum 85% max heart rate and ideally hit 92-95% of max heart rate sometime in the final 2 minutes

  • 3 minute low intensity recovery period, aiming to recover enough to go hard for the next high intensity period

  • Repeat 4 times in total.

• Sometimes, I’ll substitute one of the following once a week. It’s either:

  • HIIT workout - 4 exercises per circuit (e.g. mountain runner, high knees). Each circuit takes 4-5 minutes and I have a 3 minute break in between

  • Running up and down the ‘stairs of pain’ by my house (pictured). 2 mins up and 2 mins down. Ouchy and satisfying.  

Behold my neighbourhood ‘stairs of pain’. All 145 of the rascals.

What’s working for me:

• Not gonna lie, part of me dreads this workout because it’s uncomfortable pushing the heart rate up. The internal narrative goes:

  • Before - God, not looking forward to this

  • During - At least this doesn’t take long. Only 3 to go, 2 to go, 1 to go

  • After - So stoked with myself for doing this, feeling bulletproof.

• All over within 30 minutes and I can tend to baby during the recovery breaks if needed

• Uses my one piece of cardio equipment, an exercise bike which I picked up second hand. 

• Norwegian 4x4 is clear and scientifically backed.

Any signs of progress?

It makes me feel good (afterwards)! It’s easier to get up the stairs of pain. Aside from that, no, not yet. 

If anything, my Apple Watch is registering a slight decline in my VO2 max (boo!), but that’s within the margin of error. At only 3 weeks in, it’s simply too soon to tell. 

Looking ahead:

I’m new to this, so planning to stick with the Norwegian 4x4 for 3 months minimum. After that, there are plenty of other protocols to try.¹

Low-medium intensity cardio 🏃‍♀️

Ideally, I’d be doing at least 3 hours worth of low-medium intensity cardio workouts. I’m only doing 90 mins a week so far, choosing to prioritise getting my minimum doses of strength and high-intensity cardio in first. Why I am making this trade off?

1. I’m heeding Dr Rhonda Patrick’s advice that high intensity cardio exercise seems to have greater healthspan benefits. While both types of cardio are good, she cautions people who train for less than 10 hours per week against reducing vigorous exercise in favour of more low intensity.

2. I get a bunch of lower intensity cardio incidentally, including through my strength training, walking around my hilly neighbourhood while carrying a baby and Ashtanga (all high zone 1 to zone 2). 

My workout looks like:

• Exercise bike 45 mins, twice per week

• Heart rate consistently near the top of Zone 2, 65-70% of max heart rate

What’s working for me:

• Super straightforward, hard to get wrong

• Can do it from home and, if necessary, with baby

  

  It’s not always glamorous, but I’m getting it done. Guess there was no time to put on shoes that day.

Any signs of progress?

Not a lot just yet. As with high intensity, I’ve only been more conscious of the target zone for 3 weeks. I realise I don’t have a great metric for monitoring improvement here, so I might start recording watts output from my bike.

Looking ahead

I’m going to get bored of too much exercise bike. What I’d love to do is run and I’m working towards being ready with a pelvic floor physio. I’d also love to play more tennis. All in good time.

Gotta go

I’m due for a weights session today and I have to get to it! How is your exercise going? I’d love to hear from you.

xx

Toni

1. Ranging, for example, from 20 mins continuous zone 3-4, through to sprint interval training.