Bikini Guide Version 3

So a year ago in January, I blogged about having bought the LDN Muscle Bikini guide version 2. I'd hit a nasty plateau (both mentally and physically) and needed some new motivation.

I completed the guide but due to my lack of consistency and hectic work schedule my results weren't so great. My strength definitely improved and is still improving but my diet still needs some serious work and my hatred for cardio means I'm not burning much fat. My butt has lifted and my shoulders have a good definition but the troublesome bits in between have made very little change.

Still being an active member of the LDNMLadies and LDNMFamily on Twitter, the next natural step was to move onto the Bikini Guide V3.

I'm three weeks into the Bikini Guide. It's an 18 week plan. It's got a 4 week rotational training programme that keeps things really mixed up and targets all the right types of movements in a contact cycle and, so far, it's not been even a little bit dull. The great thing is that there's a huge emphasis on weightlifting, which I absolutely love. The amount of cardio you do is recommended in the guide but dictated by you. Naturally, your results show which you pick. If you're not looking to cut fat but just to add muscle tone, then you can scale the cardio down, and vice versa.

I've done plenty more research on body types and discovered that of the somatotypes, my body is definitely an endomorph. This means I gain muscle easily but I also retain fat. Endomorphs tend to have long torsos (check), short limbs (check) and gain fat easily (check). Lots of reading (and stressing) has helped me to discover that carbs are not my friend.

I realised that I need to work a lot more on my diet and I need to learn a lot more about macronutrients and what to eat and when. I've reached out to a couple of absolute gems that I've met on Twitter and they're helping me slowly figure this macro business out. My nearest and dearest will all tell you that it's ridiculous how bad I am at maths for a supposed intelligent person; this food maths is going to take me some time to crack but I'm sure it's a big piece in this puzzle so I must be determined and get through.


My learnings over the last few months, mixed with this guide, mixed with common sense has lead me to conclude that I definitely need to incorporate more cardio into my training regimen. Luckily, the guide gives you a ton of options so it doesn't only have to come in the form of an hour bashing away on a treadmill, thankfully!

So, I have my 6 week, 12 week and 18 week alarms set to take progress pictures. I don't expect a huge amount of difference at the 6 week mark due to my diet but I'm hoping to make up for it by week 12.

Wish me luck!

Workout Wednesday... When did this happen?

 

Yesterday I had the biggest grump on. I was in a foul mood all day. I even clocked myself pouting with my arms crossed.

This time last year, if I had been in the same mood, I would have gone home, binged and cried a lot. The bad mood would have hung over me like a dark cloud for days and the last thing on my mind would have been the gym.

I don't know when it happened but I have already made my biggest transformation - my mental one. I have no idea what clicked or when but something has changed and I am in a much better place. In my funk yesterday, I knew it would dissipate once I got myself to the gym and got some endorphins running through me. I didn't come out smiling and bouncing but I did no longer feel like the entire world was against me as I had during the day. I even managed to ring my mum and laugh at my sorry state, something which seemed impossible a year ago.

Earlier in the week, I remember tweeting about joining "the fitfam", the community of fitness enthusiasts on twitter and other blogospheres. I'm not sure at which point I entered the Fit Fam but I'm so happy I did. I'm part of a community of peers from around the world. We're not defined by our gender, our class, race, ethnicity, hair colour. There's no negativity and insulting each other. There's nothing but love and support for each other's journeys.

Searching #fitfam on twitter brings up a multitude of entertainment. It can be motivational quotes and pictures, new exercises, recipes, tips, seminars or a simple progress pic. If you need some fitspiration to get you to the gym, want to check a technique or ask for advice, you need only add the hashtag to your tweet and a strong stream of useful, knowledgeable people will reply in an instant.

Sometimes, battling your inner demons can feel like a long, lonely task. Some days, mustering the energy to even walk to the gym can seem like a painful endeavour in itself, let alone managing to workout once there. You can feel that people you know well aren't noticing your progress or that people around you who don't understand your diet or training regime do nothing but criticise you because it's different to what they know. One quick tweet can release all those negatives and bring light a positivity into your virtual world, giving you the determination to make another success of your day, no matter how small.

For those of you who are fitness enthusiasts, I strongly urge you to use twitter as another training tool. There are a lot of accounts that are "anonymous" and dedicated just to fitness. I decided to not start a separate 'fittie' account and use my main account. After all, the gym and the new love of health and fitness is just another extension of me. Why should I put it in a separate box?! You can follow my waffle on all things in my head at https://twitter.com/23HRH23

I love the Fit Fam!