Month: August 2021

Posted on

How to Learn in a Digital Environment

There are multiple ways to learn. The introduction of Internet technology enables us to gather knowledge online. When I was young, accessing the internet was expensive since we were charged by the minute. I still remember it took us almost 6 hours to download low-grade pictures. Although the internet was more accessible when I was in the university, the students used a hybrid way (library in person or online) to do their academic research. I still can’t forget how excited I was to access academic journals from the online library. By the time I was doing my MBA, most people exclusively used the internet for their research. 

We can gain many types of information from the internet. I do not have to physically go to a library to access journal or newspaper articles. You can quickly learn the name of a capital city of a country. I admit my life changed because of the internet; however, I sometimes fear I skipped a fundamental step of the learning process, such as creating my hypothesis or acquiring foundational knowledge of a subject. I admit that the internet enhanced our lives in many ways, yet I sometimes fear losing something due to acquiring convenience. 

When I was a child, we once had a big argument about why frogs lay eggs over the water surface. Most of us were eight-year-olds. Since we lived in a tiny city in Japan, we knew we could always find frog eggs over a still creek near our school. The argument started with a simple question from one of the children. We used to catch Tadpoles in the water; we all agreed that eggs must be over the water’s surface. But how do all frogs know where to lay eggs? We had an excellent, elementally teacher who encouraged us to discuss a child’s questions. Instead of answering the question, she told all of us to find out the reason. I checked the school library and my father’s library. I pulled out the encyclopedia and looked for the answer. I do not remember whether I found out the answer by myself this time. I do remember how hungry I was to find out the answers. I think the experience impacted me immensely later in my academic life. 

I found out later in my life that my school teacher guided us to understand why a frog lays eggs above the water surface by using Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s Taxonomy elaborates the framework of the six levels of learning stages. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy (as cited in Armstrong, n.d.), we go through six cognitive levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. 

Figure 1. Bloom’s Taxonomy Vanderbilt Center for Teaching

Knowledge: Recognize or Remember facts, terms, or basic concepts without understanding why.

Comprehension: Demonstrate or Understand the reasons behind the facts, terms, or fundamental concepts.

Application: You can apply acquired knowledge to solve problems in a new situation.

Analysis: You can analyze and connect or differentiate the facts, terms, or basic concepts in a single dimension.

Synthesis: You can connect the facts, terms, or basic concepts with multiple dimensions.

Evaluation: You can evaluate ideas or create or plan a new idea or a product from facts, terms, or basic concepts.

It would be easier if the teacher just answered the children’s questions; however, we would have stopped at the first cognitive level, knowledge. A year before, we came up with an identical question with a different teacher. The teacher scolded us for discussing something irrelevant to the subject. I was fortunate to have a teacher who motivated us to think and research. Remembering my early school year learning experience prompted me to question whether current children get this learning experience since they can obtain answers very conveniently from the internet.

Finding quick answers from the internet can easily prevent us from progressing in our cognitive level of information if we are not careful. The use of the internet can make completing our assignments efficient; however, I am not sure of the effectiveness of the learning. I have no desire to quit using the internet since it is convenient; however, we must be mindful of how we integrate technology into our learning process. 

I understand the theory behind Bloom’s Taxonomy, yet, I caught myself getting easy answers from the internet. A YouTube channel shows dropping an ant from 10m, 20m, and 30m. The show was demonstrating terminal velocity, and nothing happened to the ant. I should have known the theory since I learned it in my undergrad. Instead of putting my effort into understanding the idea, I was satisfied finding the terminology. 

My husband, who teaches at a university, told me that finding out “what” from the internet would help us think about the idea or information ourselves. It would be ideal to think about the idea before finding out the “why”. Processing the information with the concept first helps us identify what we need to find out from further research. Now, you have more purposes or objectives, and you can progress into the 2nd cognitive level of comprehension. Of course, we still need to be careful about biases caused by doing so; but it still enables us to progress to a higher cognitive level. 

There is nothing wrong with using the internet, but we must be mindful of how we use it to acquire our knowledge. There are steps I use to prevent my experience of acquiring information from limiting my knowledge. Once I obtain the information, I rephrase the concept within one day. Then, I categorize the idea; then, I link it to other information I acquired previously. I used to do this process on paper with great difficulty. Now I use Zotero, a computer application, to do this process. It is a free app until you become a heavy user. I discovered this software from a book, How to Take Smart Notes from Sonke Ahrens. This made me re-think how I learn. If you get a chance, it is a good book to read.

References

Ahrens, S. (2017). How to take smart notes: one simple technique to boost writing, learning and thinking – for students, academics and nonfiction book writers. [Kindle Edition]. North Charleston

Armstrong, P. (n.d.). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Posted on

The Important Lesson I Learned from Losing Weight Quickly

Background

To improve my physical and mental condition, I decided to work on changing my lifestyle. I started with dancing Zumba on my switch, and I gradually made changes. My goal is to lose weight without losing my muscle mass. I implemented formal strength training offered by Les Mills into my exercise program in June. I have been exercising mindful eating for the last few months. Since the rate of losing weight was so slow, I decided to switch back to the calorie restriction. I started with creating 500 calories deficit per week.

My Exercise Program

 MONTUEWEDTHURFRISATSUN
MorningRestBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPBODYFLOW
Evening HIIT HIIT HIIT 
My Exercise Program (Les Mills On-Demand)

HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) – 17minutes training – generates 40-45 minutes of activity minutes

BODYPUMP – 30 minutes -> generates 22 minutes of activity minutes

BODYSTEPS – 30 minutes -> generates 60-65 minutes of activities minutes

BODYCOMBAT – 30 minutes -> generates 60-70 minutes of activities minutes

BODYATTACK – 30 minutes -> generates 65-75 minutes of activities minutes

Result

The biggest change I did this time was creating 400-500 calories deficits per day to lose weight. I lost a total weight of 4.4lb. (2.8lb, 1.4lb, 0.2, 0.2lb) over the four weeks. I also lost 0.6lb of muscles mass (-0.6, -0.2, 0, +0.2). I lost 2.8lb; however, I also lost 0.6lb of muscle mass. So, I changed my tactic immediately as I am eating too little for the activities level. In the 2nd week, I ate 1,300 calories per day, resulting in muscle loss of 0.2lb. So, I adjusted my calories intake to 1,400 – 1,500 per day, which stopped my muscle loss. I could not measure the muscle mass of the 4th week due to a technical issue with my phone app.

Analysis

If my primary goal were to lose weight, I would have been happy about the result. In reality, I was shocked by the loss of muscle mass from the first week. I have been working hard to gain muscle by doing strength exercises and yoga three times per week.

My immediate reaction was to investigate how much I must eat not to lose my muscle mass. With my level of activities, getting 1,200 -1,300 calories per day was too little. At least I know that 1,400 calories are my current floor for my calorie intake.

I felt a little lightheaded in the first week because I was not eating enough food. Since I was so hungry at night, and I had difficulties falling asleep at night. As a result, my sleep quality dropped. Increasing the calories intakes by 100 calories did not stop muscle loss or sleep quality problems. Rising to 1,400 calories stopped the issues. At least I know that 1,400 calories are my current floor for my calorie intake. The minimum calories intake changes with the muscle mass; therefore, regular monitoring is essential.

Technical Problems

During the 2nd day of the 4th week, my 4-year-old smartphone stopped uploading my digital weight. The only measurement I can take is weight. Therefore, I expect some challenges in controlling and monitoring. I ordered a new phone, and I should have a new smartphone by September 12th. Since I can no longer watch my muscle mass, I must maintain 1,400 – 1,500 Calories per day with the same exercise routine.

Expectation Gaps

I lost weight; however, I was not happy with the result because I lost muscle mass. I conclude what I want is not to lose weight. To discover the output I want, I decided to organize my thoughts.

What I want to Happen:

  • I want to lose FAT %. My aim is 25% for the moment. I want to fit into my clothing.
  • I want to increase my muscle mass to increase my metabolisms and muscle strengths. (Strong).
  • I want to lose weight.
  • I want to improve my cardio endurance.
  • I want to increase flexibility.
  • I want to decrease my stress.

GAP Analysis

With the five items I listed, I care a lot about retaining or increasing my muscle mass. There are multiple reasons why I want to maintain my muscles. Exercise promotes muscle gains, which helps to prevent diabetes and to improve metabolism (McPherron, Guo, Bond, Gavrilova, 2013). I enjoy many outdoor activities, and retaining my muscles is the key to sustain these activities I enjoy. Moderate exercise can prevent Aging. Naturally, we tend to lose muscle mass as we age. We can prevent muscle loss by doing adequate exercises. I wanted the first two items the most. Mathematically if I increase my muscle mass, I should lose my fat percentage. Thus, I think these goals can coexist easily.

The amount of calorie input is a key to recent unnecessary loss in muscles. In the results from this round, I noticed that eating less than 1,200 calories made my weight decrease. I also lost fat mass. After two weeks, I had to make immediate changes since I did not want to lose any more muscle. I increased to 1,400 – 1,500 calories which seems to prevent me from losing muscle mass; however, the rate of weight loss will slow.

Conclusions

I learned an important lesson. Do not rush my weight loss because I can lose muscle mass. Furthermore, I felt lightheaded, and I had no energy with only 1,200 calories. My muscle loss stopped at 1,400 calories. I seem to have enough energy and a clearer head. Therefore, my current minimum calories intake is 1,400 calories.

Due to technical issues, I do not have the tools to monitor my muscle mass until the 2nd week of September. Thus, I decided to maintain my current programs.

Daily Calories Intake: 1,400 Calories

Exercise: Strength Exercise (3 times) and a short HIIT, 2 Cardio, 1 Body Flow

My Exercise Programs

 MONTUEWEDTHURFRISATSUN
MorningRestBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPBODYFLOW
Evening HIIT HIIT HIIT 
My Exercise Program (Les Mills On-Demand)

When you know there are some expectation gaps, it will be good to organize your thoughts. For this round, I realize that I want to gain muscle and lose fat. Those measurements will be my primary monitoring inputs. I continue monitoring my total weight. Regular monitoring activities are crucial so that you can create timely corrective actions. The important thing is that I am improving little by little.

Reference

McPherron, A. C., Guo, T., Bond, N. D., & Gavrilova, O. (2013). Increasing muscle mass to improve metabolism. Adipocyte, 2(2), 92–98. https://doi.org/10.4161/adip.22500

Posted on

The Memo Technique to Remove the Worry

About a month ago, I watched an interesting YouTube video about a memo skill to solve your problems. The video introduced a book written by Yuji Akaba, who graduated from Stanford University and worked as a consultant with McKenzie for 14 years. The direct translation will be zero-second thinking. When I heard the title, I was skeptical. How can we find the solution to a problem in zero seconds because the only thing that can solve a problem that fast is a robot or computer? So, I was listening to the video for my entertainment.

He explains some people are never able to solve their problems. Those people will react to their situations in three patterns:

The first pattern is to ignore and endure the situation.

The second pattern is to sit with the problem with an uneasy feeling.

The third pattern is to think about the solution; however, not acting on it.

Despite there being three patterns, all people who use them sit with the problems. Thus, they all reach the same result – they all sit with the trouble forever.

Akaba explains this. There is an approach to solve our problems.

  1. You receive the information or fact
  2. You have felt toward the information or fact
  3. You contemplate on the information or fact
  4. You organize the thought
  5. You create a hypothesis or find the solutions to the problem
  6. You solve the problem

People with the first pattern stop at the first step. This type of person does not try to understand their feelings or ignores them when receiving the information. So, they stay with the issue. For example, they are told by the doctor that they have a weight problem. They may feel something about it, but they will ignore their feeling. They sit with the situation without doing anything about it. 

People with the second pattern cannot go beyond the second step. They have the information. They acknowledge their feeling about the information; however, they will sit with the sentiment. For example, they are told that they have a weight problem by their doctors. They may be angry at themselves or doctors that telling them they have a weight problem. They may be anxious because they may get health problems. These people worry about many issues; however, they also do not do anything about the problems.

People with the third pattern also cannot go beyond the second step. After they have the information, they acknowledge the feeling toward the information. They think about their problem, but they will stop there. They will think about it. For example, they found about their weight problem. They don’t like it. So, they will think about why they have the weight problem. They may research how to lose weight, but they stop there.

Organizing Our thoughts:

Smarter people can organize their thoughts. After finding out about a weight problem, they go beyond thinking about their weight problems. They identify the root causes of the issue. Then, they create hypotheses that they may be overeating or exercising too little. So, they make a goal to lose weight by creating a calorie deficit by exercising or eating less. They develop strategies to create a calorie deficit. They even think about any possible obstacles they may face. Some people even think about how to overcome those barriers.

Competent people put their strategies or plans into action. These people clear their controllable problems. These people can use the new information to innovate something new.

According to Akaba, we are stuck at the 3rd step because we don’t organize our thoughts. More competent people will go through the subsequent steps. People like Akaba, who a consultant from a vast consulting firm is. I imagine he could be consulted about many issues from his clients. He would need to deal with the problems promptly in the right way. Over the 14 years of working at McKenzie, he developed a memo technique.

If you want to acquire the skill to solve your problem, please exercise the memo technique he invented. If you want to acquire the skill to solve your problem, please exercise the memo technique he invented. There is no need to reinvent the method.

  • You will need the following:
    • A4 or letter size paper
    • Translucent Poly File Folders
    • White Label sticker for the clear file folders
    • A clipboard

Write down the following categories on the label stickers. (I used the below labeling, but you can create your labels. Just keep it to 5-7 categories.

  • Future
    • Communication
    • Teamwork
    • Information
    • Idea

Memo Steps

  1. You will write one idea per page. Put the title in the left-hand corner. Put the date in the right-hand corner. One page can contain one idea. Summarize the one idea in 4-6 sentences. You do write ten pages every day.
Memo Format: A4 or Letter Size (Landscape)

2. Every night, you file them in the clear file folders you made earlier. For example, if you think up a new idea during the day, the page is in the new idea folder.

3. Put them aside and review them in three months and then again in six months.

Important things to Remember

Only one idea per page

It is essential to use a physical paper and write it down. Don’t do this process on a PC or mobile device.

The paper orientation must be landscape so that your ideas can expand easier.

Use A4 or Letter size paper. You can expand your ideas better with a wider page.

Write and draw. Don’t limit yourself to using only words.

Use Large fonts.

Write down the idea as soon as you are able

Spend only 1 minute per page.

When you exercise this memo technique, you start worrying or thinking about the same things – money, Work, Family, Friends, etc. By categorizing your thought, you can push yourself beyond the 3rd step.  When you review the files in three months and six months, you notice that you worked on ideas or issues. You start to see the log of how you dealt with your problems. So, you will gain confidence.

Discussion

When I found out the technique, I thought. “what’s the hell….”.  What kind of person would do thing this every day?

I know I do struggle going beyond the 3rd step. What am I going to lose from this? I will probably lose nothing from doing this.  So, I followed his memo technique. I have been writing ten pages every day.

Initially, it was hard. Writing one idea in one minute was hard. I almost ditched this newly acquired habit once because it was hard. But I am still doing this.

I have not passed my first three months yet, so I cannot tell how I feel when reviewing my files. However, I noticed there are some changes in my thought process. My focus toward the idea and worry has shifted from being passive to being active.

I am more focused on my feelings, something I used to ignore or was oblivious about. Once I started paying attention to the little emotions or thoughts, I used to dismiss, the ideas repeatedly appeared on my page. It is interesting to find out how I continually worry about the same thing. So, I started to find the solution so I can get rid of them for good.

I am going to read the actual book which I just ordered from Amazon Japan. I will let you know after three months and six months.

Posted on

Completing Project Management Principles and Practices Specialization

I have led many financial transformation projects throughout my career. I gained knowledge from years of experience and certification courses provided by companies I worked with. I have been leading much more challenging projects at work last several years. So, I have been seriously considering becoming certified with a PMP certification. The objective of taking this course is to determine if I want to proceed with actual PMP certification.

This specialization consists of 4 Courses:

Initiating and Planning Projects: the key roles and responsibilities of the project manager and project team are to define the objectives for the project is the critical component of a project. In this course, you will also learn how to defines the goals of the projects.

Budgeting and Scheduling Projects: The project budget defines the constraints that can prevent a project team from completing the project. This course teaches you how to plan and monitor your schedule, costs, and any other constraint to ensure the success of your project.

Managing Project Risks and Changes: In this course, you will learn how to manage the risk of projects. You will learn the tools to monitor and manage the identified risks to minimize or mitigate risks for your team and other project stakeholders.

Project Management Project: Capstone course: In this course, you will create several key project planning deliverables using the knowledge you gained from the specialization courses.

Capstone:

  1. A narrative charter statements
  2. Work breakdown structure
  3. Sequence project activities
  4. A Project Schedule
  5. A Project Budget
  6. A responsibility assignment matrix
  7. Project risks and define responses for those risks

This course is offered by the University of California, Irvine. The courses consisted of videos, slides, reading materials, quizzes, and guided capstone for the last course. Additionally, there are optional reading materials:  I obtained the suggested reading materials: a guide to the project management body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) and Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. They are optional reading materials, but those books helped me a lot in completing these courses.  Since I decided to read all the suggested materials, completing each course took longer than recommended.

Paid courses in COURSERA have multiple choice quizzes or Peer graded assignments. The first three courses had quizzes, and the capstone had peer-graded assignments and a guided project. Make sure to read the requirements. I found that it is easier to find reviewers if you submit the assignment on Friday night. Many students seem to work on their course from Friday to Sunday.

You can start a course any day of the week for this course. The good thing was you could begin the capstone as soon as you complete all prerequisite courses. In the past, I had to wait a few months to take the capstone course because it started on a specific day.

Challenges

I did not have a lot of time to study. So, I spent at least 30 – 45 minutes working on this course every day. It can be hard to complete courses if you sorely relied on your motivation. Once I started studying for 10 minutes, I found it was easy to continue for another 20-30 minutes.

The Specialization course in 3 Sentences:

This specialization course teaches the most effective method to deliver the required product or function within the target cost and schedule. You will gain the fundamental knowledge to manage a project after taking these courses. You will produce a project plan that includes the product scope, a work breakdown structure, a project plan, a project schedule, budget, and risk management for the capstone course.

Impressions

Most videos are short; however, they are clear and concise. The videos and reading materials provide essential knowledge, and they are easy to understand. There are two optional reading materials for this course. If you want to take your learning to a higher level, these optional reading materials help. There is no limit on how much you can learn from the courses.

** Make sure to check the current PMBOK edition. This course recommends the 6th edition, but there is the 7th edition. 

How I Discovered It

I discovered this course from Coursera. I have a subscription from Coursera, and I am always taking courses from their website. I decided to take this course because I want to refine my project management skills. I also want to determine whether I want to obtain professional certification.

Who should take this course?

You do not have to own a title in project management to do these specialization courses. Anyone should take this course. We are often working on projects at work and personal life. You can apply the project management skills gained from these courses for your projects, such as wedding planning or home renovations.

I do not think this counts toward the required 35 PMP contract hours; however, the course gives you an idea of whether you want to proceed with the PMP certification.

How this Course Changed Me

I decided to proceed with PMP certifications, and then I will get a SCRUM master certification. Since most project leading involves change management or continuous improvement, I hardly use the SCRUM technique to manage a project. First, it would be better for me to learn the traditional method because the methods used for SCRUM are based on the traditional project management approach.

I found a great project plan that was submitted by one of the students. The project plan was clear and concise. Many stakeholders (especially sponsors) do not want to spend time figuring out the details of the project. I was fortunate to see his assignment, and I applied some of his techniques to improve my future project plans.

During this course, I realized the APA format changed again. Not to promoting my university but use Purdue OWL if you do not know how to style your academic paper.

About Coursera Courses

Finally, I want to mention few things about the courses offered in Coursera. Generally, there are optional reading materials recommended by instructors. You can adjust the depth of learning by reading optional reading material. If you want more intensity, don’t stop at just optional reading—research external academic journals for the assignments. I use JSTOR, Scientific Research, and Academia since I can read some free journals. There are also YouTube courses. Since I have a Skillsoft account, I use it for some business-related research. It takes me longer to complete courses, but I end up acquiring more knowledge than it offers. I have a subscription to Coursera because I can access more courses with the subscription. If you do not care for assignments or certifications, you can audit courses for free.

Interested in taking this specialization course? Check the link below.

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/project-management

Posted on

Does It Matter When I Exercise?

For the last few weeks, I changed my workout time to the early morning, 5:30 AM. On day one of the new exercise programs, I felt all workout routines feel much more challenging than when I do them at lunchtime or early evening.

Since I did not have a good sleep that day, I thought I was just tired. The following day, I did a cardio, BODYATTACK. I felt so pitiful that it was near impossible to bring my heart rate above 140 in the early morning than later in the day. I had 8.5 hours of sleep with a sleep score of 90 the day. So, it was nothing to do with the duration or quality of the sleep. I was curious about this phenomenon, so I continued the morning exercises every single day of the rest of the week and monitored my heart rates. I made changes to the intended exercise, but I wanted to check them all. So, I tried30 minutes BODYCOMBAT (Kickboxing), BODYATTACK (Bootcamp), BODYPUMP (Strength exercise), and GRIT (HIIT).

When I wake up, my heart rate is about 65. Usually, I move around the house for 15-20 minutes before exercising. The interesting part of this morning exercise was that I still felt as if I exercised at 90% of my max heart rate at the actual heart rate is just 135-140. GRIT was the worst one, and I had to give up at 17 minutes. Consequently, my calories output was lower by 100 calories for morning cardio exercises.

After one week of the observation, I made the following hypotheses.

The morning exercise feel harder because

  1. My starting heart rate is lower in the morning. I suspect that that is something to do with my heart rate being so low in the early morning. My resting heart rate is 63-65, and it can be a lot of stress to push it up to almost double.
  1. Since I am on intermittent fasting, my body does not have energy in the morning. I exercised at lunch during the fasting before. I have no problem reaching 90% of my max heart. Thus, the 2nd hypothesis is incorrect. 
  2. My muscles are not ready for a workout. I felt this when I was doing BODYPUMP (Strength Exercise) and GRIT (HIIT). I had difficulties keep my squats low.

I suspect that that is something to do with lower heart rates and stiffer muscles. Since my starting heart rate is so low, it can be a lot of stress to push it up to almost double in a short time. Interesting, right? I put my researcher’s hat on, and I investigated some.

If the primary objective is to have the best performance, the morning is not the right time to exercise.

As I suspected, the primary reason is the lower max heart rates in the morning. Thomas Reilly and his colleagues at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moore University (as cited in the New York Times, Dec 9, 2009) found that our maximum heart rate is lower in the morning. However, the perception of how hard they were working was the same for morning and evening. Our body has a circadian rhythm that controls the hormones in our body to have a regular sleep-wake schedule. Our blood pressure, metabolism, energy level, and heart rates are lower in the early morning.

He and his colleagues also mentioned that our bodies are not as well prepared to exercise in the morning because our muscles tend to be less flexible. The athlete’s best performance is set in the late afternoon or the early evening (as cited in the New York Times, Dec 9, 2009).

Is morning exercise being all that bad? Despite my findings, there are some benefits to exercising in the morning.

Dietary Choices for the day

The people who work out in the morning tend to make healthier food choices for the day. After observing 2,680 young adults for 15-week cardio exercise in the morning, the young adults who work out in the morning tend to pursue healthier dietary preferences and habits (Joo, Willamson, Vazquez, Fernandez, and Bray, 2018). The study did not particularly seek to find the best time to exercise; however, the morning exercise motivated them to make healthier eating throughout the day. Since I started the training in the morning, I feel it has gotten easier to regulate my foods intake for the day.

More energy and higher productivity

I felt dreadful during my morning workout; however, I felt more energy when I did the morning exercises. My heart rate is higher after the training. My body is warmer. I even felt more alert and focused on my work. I usually do 1 hour of continuing education in the morning. I noticed my focus was higher after the morning exercise. The best part was I felt so good the whole day because I did a workout in the morning. So, I was more productive.

The choice is all about what you want to accomplish and your preference.

I prefer to work out in the morning because I must go to bed early at night. I have never liked to wake up early; however, I hated the morning traffic even more than waking early in the morning. For the last year, I have been working remotely. My work would like me to go to the office three times a week soon. So, I decided to adjust my schedule. Furthermore, I enjoyed the higher productivity due to the morning workout.

Discussion

The following week, I found out few things to minimize the loss. For example, a light intensity cardio before the strength exercise can help with the workout. BODYPUMP also has a warmup. After a short, low-intensity cardio session, my body is more prepared to do more strenuous strength training.

The Starting Exercise Program

 MONTUEWEDTHURFRISATSUN
MorningRestBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPBODYFLOW
Evening HIIT HIIT HIIT 

For one week, I did GRIT, BODYPUMP, BODYCOMBAT, BODYATTACK, and BODYSTEP all six mornings to satisfy my curiosity. After some investigation, I modified it a little bit. I kept a short GRIT (HIIT) exercise either on my lunch (when I was working remotely) or in the early evening (if I go into the office as I plan). The addition of HIIT exercises changed made a significant difference to my body weight. I started to lose weight again without losing my muscle mass.

I added a 5–10-minute low-intensity cardio before BODYPUMP so that my strength training has the intended effectiveness. This change is helping my strength workout.

Despite the lower-calorie output, I still prefer some cardio in the morning because of the productivity gain. So, I added another Cardio session on one of the weekends to accommodate the loss of 100 calories.

A New Modified Exercise Program

 MONTUEWEDTHURFRISATSUN
MorningRestBODYPUMP*CardioBODYPUMP*CardioBODYPUMP*BODYFLOW
Evening GRIT – Short GRIT – Short GRIT – Short Cardio

*A 5–10-minute light cardio before BODYPUMP

** GRIT – only short version (15-18 minutes)

What’s next

Initially, I thought of doing GRIT even on a Cardio day instead; however, I decided to add another cardio day on the weekend. I am finding out too much GRIT can cause mitochondria dysfunctions due to the stress caused by its strenuousness. You can reduce the damage by taking mitochondrial regulators and protector nutrients such as 5 grams of Leucine, 5 grams of creatine monohydrate, and 2.5 grams of betaine (Blechman, April 12, 2021). He is citing a lot of journals, so that I will check them out. For now, I am going to keep my new modified exercise program without taking these mitochondrial regulators and protector nutrients.

References

Blechman, S. (April 12, 2021). New Study Says High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Can Cause Mitochondrial Dysfunction.https://advancedmolecularlabs.com/blogs/news/new-study-says-high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-can-cause-mitochondrial-dysfunction

Joo, J., Williamson, S. A., Vazquez, A. I., Fernandez, J. R., & Bray, M. S. (2019). The influence of 15-week exercise training on dietary patterns among young adults. International Journal of Obesity, 43(9), 1681–1690. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0299-3

New York Times. (December 9, 2009). Ready to Exercise? Check Your Watch.https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/health/nutrition/10best.html