I’m feeling hot, really, really hot! I’m entering my first summer in the South. Jay and I moved here to Georgia in October, leaving New York City behind, so I’ve had time to settle in and I greatly enjoyed the mild winter, but now I’m a wee bit anxious about summer. It’s in the mid-90s today and oppressively hot and it only just turned June! And did I mention I don’t have AC in my car? I just got back from running errands in my car/sauna and am enjoying a peach frozen yogurt ice cream cone as I cool down and write this. Yes, at the moment, I am typing with one hand…

More on the heat: I usually do the cardio portion of my workouts outside at least four days a week, doing weight training and toning in my basement, sometimes using the cardio equipment I have at home, and occasionally breaking things up by going one or two days to the gym. I’m realizing that my outside workouts may need to move inside more often if I’m going to get through the summer. This bums me out because I like working out outdoors so much better! Even with SPF 70, a hat, and loose clothing, the sun still feels scary hot on my skin and I come back from my workouts with tan lines that I wasn’t looking to get. I’ve decided that unless I can get my butt out the door before the sun gets too high in the morning, I’ll be ok. Otherwise, I’m going to become a gym bunny for a while. Oh well. That said, I went to a run outside this morning, before the sun was too high, and had a great workout. So, maybe I can make it work if I get out of bed earlier.

Last night I was online, enjoying one of my guilty pleasures, www.perezhilton.com, where I saw a picture of Madonna that was both impressive and shocking.  Here’s the link: http://perezhilton.com/2008-06-05-madonna-gym-caption. It got me wondering what Madonna is doing to achieve her level of fitness. She has unlimited resources at her disposal, so I imagine her workouts change all the time, but I used Google and found that she does have a personal trainer named Tracy Anderson that she’s been with for a few years.

I looked up Tracy Anderson and found a bunch of interviews where she explains her training style and it is unconventional. Anderson advocates toning the body by focusing on “accessory” muscles (small muscles) instead of large muscle groups. She has her clients lifting very light weights (3 lb. max) and do lots of repetitions (about 100 reps per move). She feels that by focusing on smaller muscles and purposefully not building larger muscle groups (with heavy weights) you can achieve a longer and leaner body shape, She thinks tightening up the small muscles will pull in the larger muscles, rather than the larger muscles building up and out like she thinks happens during conventional weight training. She says her technique makes the muscles tone inward, so that the body tightens and shrinks, rather than building outward, as with conventional weight training. The idea sounds good in writing, and in theory, but I can’t see how it has any legs when you stack it up next to everything we know about physiology and how muscles react to conventional weight training. It turns out I’m not alone.

The deeper I researched Tracy Anderson’s technique (I was trying to find one of her workout plans so I could try it for myself) the more I stumbled upon oodles of people calling her a “hack” and disproving her methods. I think that’s a bit harsh – I mean, Tracy’s doing something right because she looks great and is quite successful, but it’s worth noting that many people in the fitness industry do not respect or approve of her training methods. It’s true, some of her theories don’t make sense. For example, working large muscle groups is one of the best ways to burn fat and get lean, and women don’t have enough testosterone to get bulky muscles, so avoiding large muscle groups and avoiding heavy weights, like she advocates, means you’re losing out on major fat burning opportunities.

Nonetheless, Madonna looks great, so I decided to give Anderson’s workout a try today after I finished my cardio. I happen to have some 3 lb. weights at home, so I printed out her workout plan and gave it a shot. Obviously, I can’t say how effective it is after one go at it, but I can say that I don’t feel any different. Usually when I try a new workout I feel it right away, because anytime you move your body in a new way it reacts to the novelty of the new exercise, but in this case I just feel the same. My muscles did develop a kind of warm, almost burning sensation as I got into the high reps on each move, so perhaps I’ll feel something more meaningful when I wake up tomorrow. I’ll try her plan for a few more days and let you know if anything changes. At minimum, this will probably become another workout option I can do now and then to switch up my normal routines and keep my muscles confused. It is widely accepted that keeping your muscles confused does increase your fitness level, so there’s nothing wrong with that! One thing I won’t do, however, is give up traditional strength training anytime soon. My current body is proof positive that consistent cardio and conventional weight training work, so why mess with a good thing?