The In-Between Stage: Workout Plan

When starting a structured workout plan, there are a few things to keep in mind when entering the gym. First off, start out with a purpose. Come in knowing exactly what you want to do and what you want to accomplish throughout your workout session. Second off, stay focused and only take 30-60 second breaks in between sets/exercises.  Third off, work out smarter, not harder. 

Now that might seem like an easy thing to do, I mean you already came in with a plan and a determined mind-set….isn’t that smart enough? What I mean when I say workout smarter is to know about how your body works.  On average, it takes around 10-15 minutes for your body to warm up and get into the fat-burning zone. If you walk into the gym and jump on a treadmill and start running for 20 minutes and are relieved because you got your cardio out of the way and can now move on to weights, you are actually being counter-productive and are only getting about 5 minutes of productive cardio. By taking this approach you will never see the results you want. The best approach to working out is warming up for 5 minutes which will increase your heart rate and get your blood pumping to your muscles which will prevent injury. Then move on to your 20-30 minutes of weight lifting. Keep in mind that in order to keep your heart rate up, it is suggested that you keep your rests to 30-60 seconds. Then finish with 30 minutes of cardio. By keeping your cardio at the end of your workout, you are already warmed up and are getting 30 solid minutes in the fat-burning zone.

Below I outlined a structured one week (5 day) workout plan.  This plan works on each part of the body and is timed to give your muscles adequate rest.  Remember to use enough weight that you are struggling on the last 2 reps, but not too much weight that you are giving up proper form. (Females: Don’t be afraid to lift heavy! DO NOT WORRY! You will not get big and bulky! The reason guys can put on massive amounts of muscle mass is due to their increased testosterone levels….we females are naturally chemically built to stay lean!)

Day 1: Shoulders/Back – Cardio

Warm-up: 5-10 minutes on treadmill

Superset: Lat pulldown close inside grip (3 sets, 12 reps)

                  Bent over dumbbell row (3 sets, 12 reps)

Exercise : Dumbbell shoulder press (3 sets, 10-12 reps)

Superset: Side lateral raise (3 sets, 10-12 reps)

                Front dumbbell raise (3 sets, 15 reps)

Exercise: lat pull down wide grip (3 sets, 12 reps)

Exercise: seated bent over rear delt raise (2 sets, 15 reps)

Exercise: Arnold dumbbell press (3 sets, 15 reps)

Cardio: 30 minutes sprint intervals (2 min jog, 1 min sprint)

Cool down and light stretching

Day 2: Hamstrings/Glutes - Cardio

Warm-up: 5-10 minutes on treadmill

Superset: Cable leg curls (3 sets, 15 reps)

                Crossover reverse lunges w/ weight (3 sets, 15 reps/leg)

Superset: Seated leg curl (3 sets, 15 reps)

                 Dumbbell Step Ups (3 sets, 15 reps/leg)

Superset: One-legged cable kickbacks (3 sets, 20 reps/leg)

                 Dumbbell side split squat (3 sets, 20 reps)

Exercise: Barbell Deadlift (3 sets, 20 reps)

Exercise: Dumbbell lunges (3 sets, 15 reps/leg)

Cardio: 30 minutes bike interval (3 resistance hills)

Cool down and light stretching

Day 3: Cardio – Abs

Warm-up: 5-10 minutes on treadmill

Cardio: 10 minutes inclined walk (fast enough that you can’t hold a steady conversation, but slow enough that you are still walking without holding on); 10 minutes jog at no incline…repeat for 60 minutes

Abs:

Triset: Stability Ball Sit-Ups (3 sets, 30 reps)

Back extensions (3 sets, 20 reps)

Hanging leg lifts (3 sets, 15 reps)

5 minute Ab Circuit (repeat twice)

                Reverse Crunch – 30 sec

                Oblique Crunch Left – 30 sec

                Oblique Crunch Right – 30 sec

                Vertical Toe-Touch Crunch – 30 sec

                Bicycle Crunch – 30 sec

Bosu ball Crunch with arms extended overhead and weight (3 sets, 15 reps)

Plank (60 sec hold, 30 sec rest, 45 sec hold, 15 sec rest, 30 sec hold)

Stretch

Day 4: Biceps/Triceps/Chest – Cardio

Superset: Dumbbell Press (3 sets, 12 reps)

                  Pec Flys (3 sets, 12 reps)

Superset: Dumbbell Bicep Curl (3 sets, 12 reps – alternating arms)

                  Tricep Cable Pushdowns (3 sets, 15, 12, 10 reps)

Superset: Close-grip Bar Curls (3 sets, 12 reps)

                  Tricep Kickbacks (3 sets, 12 reps/arm)

Exercise: Barbell Inclined Press (3 sets, 12 reps)

Superset: Reverse Plate Curls (4 sets, 12 reps)

                Bench dips (4 sets, 12 reps)

Cardio: 30 min, slow jog on incline

Cool down and light stretching

Day 5: Quads/Legs – Cardio

Dumbbell Lunges (3 sets, 15 reps/leg)

Squat Jumps (3 sets, 12 repetitive jumps)

Leg Extensions (5 sets, 12 reps)

Skinny Squats – Heavy Weight (5 sets, 8 reps)

Bulgarian Split Squats (4 sets, 12 reps/leg)
                Smith machine, feet placement like a lunge with back leg raised and foot resting on bench

Heavy Squats (5 sets, 12 reps)

Cardio: 10 min inclined walk, 10 min jog, 10 min inclined walk

Cool down and light stretching

The In-Between Stage: Supplements and Nutrition

Supplements:
Below are a few supplements that I suggest all people should use when doing a workout regime. The first two are essential to everyone’s diet whether you work out or not. Protein is extremely important after a workout to rebuild your muscles that you essentially just shredded. An example of a food alternative to this would be to eat high-protein low-fat food, such as Greek yogurt or a natural high-protein, low-fat smoothie. A recovery formula is also important throughout your workout because it helps reduce fatigue, increase endurance, and replenish essential nutrients your body loses during the workout.  An example of a beverage alternative would be a sports drink such as Gatorade or Vitamin Water.  Please keep in mind that the food alternatives will not produce the same results as these scientifically produced, high concentrated supplements. Below is a list of supplements I use and have experienced significant improvements with:

·         Multivitamin – taken with the first meal of the day. There are many good multivitamins out there and I don’t think that one is overly better than another.  When picking a multivitamin for myself, I make sure that there is a significant amount of Calcium and Iron (VERY important for females – men, no additional iron is necessary in your diet). Other than that I simply do a cost analysis and make sure I keep an eye out for dosage size. It is very likely that a serving size ends up being 2 or 3 multivitamins.

·         Omega 3 fish oils (1000mg) – taken with the first meal of the day (some suggest adding to each meal of the day)

·         Whey Protein (protein shakes) – taken post work out. There are other forms of protein such as soy protein that many also take. When I pick my protein, I tend to look for a powder that has high protein content while keeping a low calorie and fat count.

·         Recovery formula – taken during workout. There are many different types of recovery formulas out there. I personally like ones that have the main ingredient of Amino Acids.  Amino Acids aid in increased performance, which is my ultimate goal throughout my workout. A popular one that I have used in the past is Scivation Xtend.

Nutrition:

As mentioned before, I want to tailor my diet without making any drastic changes, for I enjoy the social aspect of my life and indulging from time to time. Below are merely suggestions that I am going to follow and are healthy tips that can be found in most places online.  Obviously, the more drastic of a change you make, the faster you will achieve your results, however, drastic changes in diet are very hard to maintain. If even the below guidelines seem difficult to follow, remember that 70% of your physique is your nutrition and only 30% is your workout, so the more changes you make, the more you will see a difference.

·         At least one gallon of water/day

·         Focus on a high protein, low fat diet

·         Limit carbs to slow digestive carbs (yams, oatmeal, whole grains)

·         Focus on adding wholesome/natural foods (fruits, vegetables)

·         Reduce/Avoid:

o   Processed foods

o   Foods high in saturated fats

o   Sodium

o   Refined sugars

If you are looking for more of a structured diet plan, please refer to my blog posts about clean eating. Clean eating is a good guide for everyone to follow, though tends to be difficult at times. Just remember, as is with every lifestyle change (diet), if you fall off the horse, the sooner you get back on, the easier it is and the better you feel. The longer you wait, the more you risk sinking back into that rut.

The In-Between Stage: The workout rut that is slowly adding to your gut

Have you ever gotten to that in-between stage?  The stage where you are not currently training for anything, but you aren’t being a total waste of life at the same time? Are you sitting there asking yourself, how do I get out of this rut? What do I do next? If you are currently asking these questions or have asked these questions before, do not fret….I am right there with ya! For the first time in almost a year, I am not training for anything in particular and I am not sure what I should do next.

Over the past five weeks I have had a lot of big things happening in my personal life, which limited my gym sessions to sporadic at best. I continued to stay active and I maintained myself by watching my diet, however, I had no plan on when I would get a good workout in or what my workout might consist of.  Over the past two weeks, my life has gradually become more consistent and I have made it into the gym 4 times each of these weeks, and I am starting to get into a routine that allows me to carve out a chunk of my day for the gym.  But as I lay there last night thinking, I realized that am still walking into the gym without a structured plan. There has been no method to the type of workouts I am doing and I have no specific goals in which to accomplish.  This brought me to the realization that I am morphing into one of the rest of mankind…a mindless being pilling around the gym.

Since this is not an appealing image and I’m sure many people do not want to be in this category, I have been doing some research in hopes that I can come up with a structured in-between workout plan.  I am planning on posting my plan/results weekly and will be tailoring it as I go, however, here is a little insight as to where I got my inspiration…

There are many top female fitness professionals out there that have their own theories on working out.  The names reoccurring on most lists are Rachel Cosgrove, Neghar Fonooni, and Flavia Del Monte. What happened to Jillian Michaels you ask? Well this is a list of top female fitness professionals, not top GROSSING female fitness professionals, lol.

Why are these specific females on my list? Primarily because their stories and lifestyle is an inspiration to myself. Rachel Cosgrove is the author of the best selling book, The Female Body Breakthrough, and is dedicated to connecting with women of all ages and giving her professional advice to other fitness professionals. Neghar Fonooni is not only a performance training specialist, but she is also a mother and the founder of the movement, Girls Gone Strong, which focuses on both the benefits and the misconceptions of strength and power training. The next on the list, Flavia Del Monte, is someone who I really connected my personal story with.  She didn’t start focusing on working out until her early to mid twenties and really wasn’t dedicated until she started focusing on the nutrition aspect. She suggests many good books including How to Drink While Dieting and Metabolic Cooking; and has even created her own workout system, FULL-BODY-LICIOUS.

Though these fitness females are very inspirational, my research does not end there. There are many components that go into creating a complete fitness plan; Training, Motivation, Supplements, and Nutrition.  My goal (motivation) is to keep up my strength and physique so it is easy to spring back into training mode when I decide on my next challenge. My goal (training) is to keep my workout regime to 60-90 minutes, 4-5 days a week. My goal (supplements) is to aid my workout without breaking the bank and without establishing absolute dependence. My goal (nutrition) is to lean towards the healthy end of the spectrum while maintaining my social lifestyle and being able to indulge in scrumptious food from time to time. It is important to establish your fitness goals prior to starting or creating a fitness plan to maintain motivation and to prevent lapsing back into that workout rut.

Stay tuned for more to come…