High Protein Shakes | Searching for Happy

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Conclusions

May 132012

Well, my first conclusion from this is that I need more whey protein powder. Between this week’s Tabatas Training experiment and my High Protein Shakes experiment, I’ve been going through this vanilla bean why protein powder like nobody’s business!

The high protein shakes I will be drinking for this experiment.

This week’s experiment has been Tabatas Training, which is a type of high intensity interval training that makes use of of shorter intervals than I had used in my previous HIIT Training experiment. However, in my previous experiment with high intensity interval training, I found muscle pain to be a serious issue. So, I’m adding in the whey protein shakes that I drank during my high protein shakes experiment in an attempt to lower the amount of muscle pain I feel.

To see how this experiment has been going for me so far, check out yesterday’s results in Tabatas Training.

Tabatas Training Conclusions

In the beginning of this experiment, I asked 2 questions:

1. Can I feel a significant increase in health, fitness (or a decrease in weight) over the course of a week.

2. Can the high protein shakes help me do this experiment without feeling like I’ve been beaten up?

After a week of performing this experiment, my weight is down 0.2 lbs, which is really insignificant, I might have had a glass of water before my last weigh in. However, considering that I’ve put in about 30 minutes of exercise this week, any weight change is impressive for the little amount of work I put in. I do feel like my muscles are growing stronger, but that’s hard to provide measurements for since I didn’t set a baseline measurement at the beginning of the experiment.

The big discovery of this week was how the protein shakes impacted my muscle pain levels. If this experiment demonstrated anything to me, it’s that while I consume enough protein on a day-to-day basis, I consume insufficient protein to promote quick muscle recovery when I’m doing high intensity interval training. This is why I had such bad muscle pain in my HIIT Training experiment. While the protein shakes didn’t completely eliminate the pain, they brought it down to a level that was entirely manageable.

Lesson learned, if I will be adding more strength training to my life, I need to also be adding more protein to my diet.

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 6

Experiments No Responses »

May 122012

This week I’ve been working a combination of two previous experiments, HIIT Training and High Protein Shakes. The idea is that the strengths of each might balances out the problems I had with each experiment, and so far things are working out well!

Tabatas Training is a form of high intensity interval training, but it uses shorter intervals and shorter recovery times.

To see how this experiment has been going so far, check out yesterday in Tabatas Training.

Tabatas Training Day 6

Today, my exercise of choice will be shoulder work with free weights. At my hot yoga session this week I got to see people doing some absolutely AMAZING moves that blew my mind.

However, I don’t have the arm or shoulder strength to do those moves… yet.

This is the first step to getting that strength. Time to get to work!

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 5

Ponderings No Responses »

May 112012

If you’ve just found this blog today, my happiness experiment this week combines two of my previous HIIT Training experiment and the High Protein Shakes experiment. Each of these experiments had their on pluses and minuses. I’m hoping that through combining them, I can maximize the benefits of each and limit the negatives in this week’s experiment on Tabatas Training.

Tabatas Training Day 5

Today, I’m still feeling that my core could use some work, so I’m doing bicycle abs. I couldn’t find a video for that on Justin’s site, but I’m sure I’ll find one if I poke around a bit after I finish writing this I’ll be able to find one.

The benefits of the high protein shakes continue to astound me. How is it that I can perform these HIIT Training routines daily and not feel as beaten up as I did last time?

It can’t be the timing of the intervals. To be honest, the 2o and 10 second intervals seem MUCH harder than 30 seconds on and 30 seconds resting. The only other difference is the high protein shakes.

Perhaps I consume sufficient protein for normal exercise, but too little for my muscles to recover from HIIT Training exercises. These whey protein shakes seem to really be doing magic for my muscles!

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 4

Experiments No Responses »

May 102012

If you’re just joining in now, this week’s experiment is a combination of my previous HIIT Training experiment and the High Protein Shakes experiment. The idea is to discover if the two experiments combined together can overcome the issues they each faced separately.

To see how this experiment has proceeded so far, check out Tabatas Training Day 3.

Tabatas Training Day 4

I’ve continued working with the exercise videos from Justin at Limitless365.

I’ve had a chance to work my legs and arms a lot this week, but I feel a bit like my core has had a weaker week (so to speak). So, today’s tabatas training session will focus on one specific exercise, the steam engine:

These really hurt worked my hips and lower abs. I’m hoping that, as hard as I’ve worked them today, the high protein shakes continue to work their magic and let me bypass the muscle pain that would normally follow high intensity interval training sessions such as these.

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 3

Experiments 2 Responses »

May 092012

As you might already know, this week’s experiment is a combination of my previous HIIT Training experiment and the High Protein Shakes experiment.

The goal of this Tabatas Training experiment is to discover if the protein shakes can help moderate the muscle aches of high intensity interval training, and to see if the higher intensity has any benefits for me.

If you want to see how it’s gone so far, check out Tabatas Training Day 2.

Tabatas Training Day 3

I had so much fun working with the exercise videos from Justin at Limitless365 that I decided to continue on with them.

Today I’m doing wall push ups:

and Bench Dips:

As usual, please undertake all precautions before undertaking any exercises and check with your doctor. I’m the only one who should be stupid enough to jump into these things.

Three days in, my muscles are tender, but I lack that general, overall ache that seemed to be a constant companion in the earlier HIIT Training experiment.

Day 3 and I’m still smiling. I’m even managing to put together happy thoughts for the day posts. This means I must be doing something right!

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 2

Experiments No Responses »

May 082012

Lesson to be learned, do your research, but I digress.

Before I dig any deeper into this, check out yesterday in Tabatas Training.

So, back to my progress in the tabatas training experiment.

There’s good news and bad news.

Let’s start with the good news. These high protein shakes appear to be working (at least so far). While I feel that my muscles are definitely tender from the pushups yesterday, they feel less tender than they might otherwise if I hadn’t consumed enough protein. Yay for whey protein!

Now, on to my lessons learned.

By the end of my pushups yesterday, I was sloppy and pitiful. I’ve done some research and I have some answers.

Basically, the goal of any kind of high intensity interval training is to completely burn the glycogen in your muscles in an anaerobic exercise. Alright, that mission was accomplished yesterday, but my form still suffered. So, I needed some more thought in this. A bit of looking online found that there were other people facing that problem.

There were two different theories I found on the web. One suggested that Tabatas training should be done like circuit training intervals. This means you burn all the glycogen from multiple muscle groups. The other theory is that I should start with doing cardio exercise, as it’s crazy to start with weights until you have the physical conditioning necessary to do it properly.

Well, I have a reasonable amount of physical conditioning. I see the logic of the cardio angle, and I wish I’d thought of it before my previous HIIT Training experiment. However, I think I’m committed now. If you are starting this from a low-level of fitness, starting an experiment like this as cardio and working up to weights in a couple of weeks makes sense. As usual, I don’t recommend you follow in my footsteps. I’m crazy, you do what you do at your own risk *grin*

Tabatas Training Day 2

Today, I’ve decided to go with the circuit training today because I found that Justin at Limitless365 has an amazing section of exercise videos.

I’m always up for new things and fun challenges. This seems to be a great way to learn new exercises while trying my experiment. Today I did the bent over row (I love how he shows the move with different equipment):

and the inchworm (it looked fun):

Justin, you have given me the tools to make this experiment fun. Don’t get me wrong, today still hurt, but I was smiling at the end of my last race around as an inch worm.

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training

Experiments 2 Responses »

May 072012

This is an experiment I’ve talked about doing for a while now. Let me tell you the route that got me here before I go into detailing what I want to experiment with.

My first experience with high intensity interval training exercises was when I did Happiness Experiment 21. HIIT Training was a love-hate relationship for me. I came from a position of skepticism, but despite the tiny amount of time I was spending exercising, the muscle aches told me a different story.

Quite frankly, in just a few minutes of exercise, I was kicking my own ass. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. While it seemed dubious that I was getting the exercise I needed, I can’t argue with what I felt.

However, the “hit by a truck” feeling was a bit… unmotivating. Sure, you get results quickly, but the feeling of having endured a general beating isn’t terribly cheerful. You pay in pain for all that gain, and you pay a large bill.

This is where the next step comes – high protein shakes. While I didn’t find that the whey protein shakes were fundamentally changing my health or happiness, I did find that drinking them seemed to limit the pain I felt from exercise.

So, add it all together, and you get Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training!

Tabatas Training Experiment

Created by Izumi Tabata, the Tabata Protocol is a popular version of high intensity interval training. But what else can I tell you? Well, when it comes to explaining something, it’s time to dig out the old Wikipedia. Wikipedia defines the Tabata Method as:

A popular regimen based on a 1996 study[2] uses 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles).

From my work on the HIIT Training experiment, I learned that the shorter the intervals, the more intense the exercise is.

So, a 20 second interval with 10 seconds of rest is SIGNIFICANTLY more intense than the 30 seconds on/30 seconds off interval I had worked on before.

This week I’ll be testing two things:

1. Can I feel a significant increase in health, fitness (or a decrease in weight) over the course of a week.

2. Can the protein shakes help me do this experiment without feeling like I’ve been beaten up?

This week, I’ll be also going back to the Tabata Timer that I discovered earlier.

Day 1 is pushups. That hurt, but that’s unsurprising.

Happiness Experiment 23: High Protein Shakes Conclusions

Experiments 2 Responses »

May 062012

Well, it’s been a vanilla week, but not in the usual way you’d hear that expression.

This week, I’ve been drinking vanilla bean flavoured high protein shakes to see if they have any positive impacts on my health, happiness, or anything else.

If you want to see how this experiment started, take a peek at day 1 of High Protein Shakes.

So, 7 days later, I’m at the point of stating my conclusions. However, if you missed my last discover, check out day 6 of high protein shakes.

High Protein Shakes Experiment Conclusions

While the conclusions on this experiment aren’t particularly profound, I’ve discovered quite a bit over the course of the last week.

Firstly, you need to mix this whey protein powder up REALLY well for it to taste half decent. If you manage that much though, it can actually grow on you.

Secondly, I hurt less in my recovery period after exercise when I was using the protein powder. I suppose that it’s possible I was just working less hard, but I don’t believe I was. Given the intensity of my exercise, and how long it had been since I had last gone to hot yoga, I would have been entirely within my rights to hurt like hell. I didn’t. Ergo, this is a pretty interesting discovery. I wish I had known this on my HIIT Training experiment!

Thirdly, if I drink the protein shake first thing in the morning and I don’t have any additional breakfast with it, I’m not hungry until lunch. This might explain why people drink protein shakes as part of weight loss regimes. It doesn’t reduce my cravings for food when I drink it in addition to my normal diet, but it seems like it CAN replace breakfast without any consequences for me.

A lot of small pieces of information that can be powerful. I’m still contemplating if next week will be a week of Tabatas Training, but if it is, you’ll see many of the things I learned this week brought into use!

Happiness Experiment 23: High Protein Shakes Day 6

Experiments No Responses »

May 052012

In case you missed it, you can check out what happened yesterday in my high protein shakes experiment.

High Protein Shakes Day 6

I’ve already established from the last few days that protein shakes would be perfect for moderating the pain of HIIT Training or Tabatas Training.

However, in the spirit of science I’ve been playing around with the individual circumstances and seeing if I an get a greater benefit.

Today, when I drank the whey protein shake in the morning, and skipped breakfast otherwise. It turns out, I made it through to lunch without any hunger pangs for less than 200 calories and a whackload of protein.

Perhaps, the diet benefits from protein shakes come from lowering calories by not feeling hungry between breakfast and lunch even though you had a tiny breakfast!

Happiness Experiment 23: High Protein Shakes Day 5

Experiments 1 Response »

May 042012

If you’re just jumping in joining me today, or want to refresh yourself on what happened yesterday, take a peek at day 4 of the high protein shakes experiment.

High Protein Shakes Day 4

Well, I’ve been keeping track of how I’ve felt today because I know that muscle aches typically hit me worst two days after I exercise.

Two days ago, I did hot yoga for the first time in ages. I expected to feel like I got hit by a truck. However, it seems that thanks to these whey protein shakes I’ve been drinking, I seem to have escaped with just a bit of tenderness in my joints.

While these whey protein shakes are not themselves seeming to create any fundamental changes in how I feel on their own, they might be the solution to the muscle recovery issues I was feeling in my HIIT Training experiment. I do think that this will be something I work into a subsequent experiment in combination with tabatas training.

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