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!

One year on....

The last time I posted a blog was one year and two weeks ago. I cannot believe that for two reasons. Firstly, I can't comprehend how quickly the last year has gone and how much has changed. Secondly, I can't believe I haven't found time to write; I really love writing.

I've made a promise to myself to post at least once a week. Not only is it a good way to keep track of what's happened in my life, it will do me good to take time out to organise my mind and release a little.

This new phase of the blog will most likely just be focussed on fitness and the gym but it's me writing so I'm sure it'll go off on very many random tangents.

My last post was a bit of a round up of my week so I'll follow on with that. I mentioned before that I went spinning before work successfully. Sadly this no longer is an option. I have to be at work for 830am and my gym doesn't offer classes early enough for me to spin, shower, dress and commute to work. Occasionally I get up early enough to go for a little jog before work and I treat it like the rebirth of Christ; it's a miracle and I harp on about it on twitter for at least 4 days after. Soz.

A year on and I'm definitely still a gym addict, with a strong focus on weightlifting still. My problem is that there's not much difference in how I look. I have more muscle for sure but I haven't really changed in terms of inches or pounds lost. The last year was about finding my feet in my new career (I'm an estate agent, please don't hate me). Learning to coordinate my new life and schedule with the gym, I was just keeping my head above water. Time and finances were a big restraint for me so I couldn't afford in either time or money to workout like a lunatic and eat endless amounts of chicken and superfoods.

This year, I'm organised, budgeting better with both my time and pennies and I'm ready to make some real progress with my body. I don't want a dramatic 90 day change. I know it would be far harder than it's worth for me and I would be sad along the way. I just want to be consistent with my diet and training while still allowing time for guilt-free indulgences that life may bring along the way.

I've actually had a whole new bout of motivation in the last fortnight and am fully back on the gym rat life. I work damn hard during the day. I love what I do but between 8 am and 730pm, my job demands every single second of my focus commanded upon it. The second I leave that job, I want to put it behind me and go and focus on earning the body I deserve and improving my health and future self. I want to see the difference month on month and feel myself getting stronger, leaner and healthier. I'm certain I will fall off the bandwagon again but what I do know is that as time goes on, each relapse is shorter and I find it easier to regain control.

I could ramble on here for hours but I must go to bed as I have an early meeting. How riveting my life is nowadays. I promise with all my heart that my future posts will be much more entertaining with many more pictures and links and less waffling. Until next time...I'll leave you with this image that I posted on Twitter a while ago that has made a big difference to my mentality.

Workout Wednesdays.... Plateau Pity and Tabata Training!

I like to keep my blog posts upbeat and positive but I am a human and not always happy. This last ten days I have been really struggling with my lack of progress. I've hit a serious plateau; I'm not losing weight, not gaining muscle and not getting stronger. I know I'm not an actual machine. The human body is unpredictable and life doesn't always go as we want it to. But that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be a little annoyed when everything isn't happening as I planned.

I decided that my body needs a shock to give it a jumpstart and get going again. So I bought the LDN Muscle Bikini Guide V2.

I feel a little as thought I'm starting from scratch again. It's a little scary but it is fun and interesting to learn even more.

This guide is a definite improvement on the original. There's 2 full weeks of training programmes, aimed at not letting your body get used to your routine (which I think has been my problem). There's a new diet guide with comprehensive information on nutrition, supplements and body types. Everything you could want from a training guide is there, bar the voice in your ear telling you to push for one more rep!

Two days in and I've failed slightly on the diet side but I couldn't resist a trip to Yo Sushi! with my friends! I'm so excited to get in the gym today and do my new arms and back workout!

 

I spend a lot of time online researching form and technique and just reading about fitness types. I have discovered I am definitely an endomorph - easy to gain muscle but hard to lose fat! As brilliant as my LDN plan is, I think I would really benefit from incorporating some short fat-burning sessions into my regular sessions.

 

I don't want to be a slave to cardio and I don't want to overtrain so I had a good look around and discovered Tabata Training. Tabata is a type of HIIT created in Japan by Izumi Tabata. Essentially, the premise is a 20 second powerful burst of movement followed by a 10 second rest period, repeated. Some people choose to do this for up to 20 minutes but I think that's a little excessive on top of a mammoth weights session so I've found one that adds up to four minutes!

 

Hopefully this will get my heart going and fat burning quickly without exhausting myself and detracting from my weights training. Below is my little workout that I'm going to throw in halfway through my session today! I'll let you know how it goes!

 

20 seconds High Knees

10 seconds standing rest

20 seconds Jumping Jacks

10 seconds standing rest
20 seconds light Dumbbell Punches
10 seconds standing rest
20 seconds Squat Kicks
10 seconds standing rest
Repeat, done!

Workout Wednesday... Want Want Want!

So this week's post is going to be mostly things that I want for my gym life. It's that time of year where I've spent all my money spoiling other people so don't have any left to splurge on myself. So I'm going to share with the universe the things I desire in the hopes the universe sends them to me!

But first, a little progress update on my LDNMuscle Bikini Guide life. I missed a workout. Maybe two. Fail. And I had one VERY boozy night and nasty hangover day (company Christmas party). BUT.... I still lost 1 pound this week!

How, I do not know. But seeing that difference on the scale spurred me to go back into it all with full effect again this week. Very smug Holly has surfaced.

This week is the last week at my gym and I'm actually quite sad about it. I do, however, get to upgrade as of Friday so I think I'll survive. It's just a strange end of an era.

The new gym (still Virgin Active) is swankier and I feel my gym wardrobe needs a little updating too. Mostly, I am dying to own this [ridiculously expensive] sports bra from Nike.

£50 for a sports bra is a ludicrous amount of money but it's so pretty! I definitely need some new ones though and am struggling to find ones with a good fit. Any suggestions would be welcome!

Another thing I'd like to update is my yoga mat. When I first got into yoga, I bought my own one but it's quite cheap and gets slippery sometimes. I've found this one from Adidas and it perfectly compliments my current colour scheme!

The last thing on this week's Lust List are these leggings from Sweaty Betty. I love the fun pattern on them and they look like a good fit for my body shape.

 

Workout Wednesday... Week one success!

I'm 10 days into my LDN Muscle Bikini Guide plan and with brilliant success!

In a week I've lost 1.5lbs and 0.9% body fat!

I also found better form in some of the exercises I've been doing for months and discovered new exercises and muscles I didn't know I had, let alone how to push them!

I've followed the diet plan almost to the letter and even enjoyed my heavenly advent calendar choc each lunchtime! I even skipped one workout due to generally feeling naff and pathetic but I made up for it with an extra yoga session.

I am insanely proud of myself. Although I've been training for some months now and seen some improvement, I think having a set regimen and diet has really kicked me up a gear. Now that I'm understand more about nutrition and exercise, I'm wanting to learn more and delve deeper into the health world. I find myself browsing Amazon for supplements or workout clothes instead of the usual trashy books and shiny things. I'll never give up shiny things though, don't worry.

I'm also learning how to cook healthily! How to plan and structure my meals according to my macro needs and how to make yummy healthy things. For example, I've adapted a protein flapjack recipe to my tastes (and cupboard contents) with wonderful results!

 

I've started carrying one of these little beauties in my bag for an on-the-go snack to avoid me picking up bad treats in shops or as a substitute for the carbs in my breakfast if I don't make it out of bed in time in the morning!

 

 

Also, my Internet reading has changed. I've discovered http://www.womenshealthmag.co.uk/ which is packed full of articles on everything from beauty and workouts to sex and diet advice! The things that's really caught my eye is the wonderful little #WHUKFitmasChallenge Advent Calendar!

 

Every day on their pinterest account, they're posting an exercise to burn off the amount of calories in the average advent calendar chocolate! Then, they recommend, you add up the week's daily exercise to form an epic weekend workout. What a fun idea! I'm definitely going to start incorporating these into my workouts too.

 

Are any of you taking on any challenges to combat the Festive Fattening?



Workout Wednesday... So far, so good!

This week I started following my new bible - the LDN Muscle bikini guide. Honestly, I thought it was going to be expensive, boring and a struggle. Eating prescribed foods at pre-determined times, 7 times a day? Yawn.

I'd eat my hat if I had one. I don't feel like I'm being dictated to and I'm not bored. I'm eating more than usual but I don't feel gross and full and stodgy. I feel satisfied, have very rare cravings and have a continuous flow of energy. My workouts have more pump and I'm sleeping better.

Technically, I'm not supposed to eat gluten (IBS etc) but often give in and eat it and feel awful. Eating this healthy, natural diet leaves my digestive system feeling happy. Too much info? Sorry.

Having the guide and living by it religiously is a little boring, yes. But it's also making me be creative and research ways to spice up the food, healthy recipes, perfect techniques for the workouts, all sorts!

At first, the food preparation and organising is a little time consuming but as I get into a routine and get more knowledgeable, it'll become easier and more natural, just another part of every day life.

On the 1st December, I took photos of my body as it is now, in my underwear. I'd strongly suggest anyone looking to transform to do this.  Seeing yourself in your least favourable light is inspiration to work hard. Also, it'll be great motivation to continue with the dedication when you start to see results. Or so I hope.

I also recorded my measurements (arms, legs, hips, waist, chest) and will do so again on the 1st of each month and, hopefully, track my progress.

I will weigh myself fortnightly, on the same machine and also track this. I'm not so fussed about pounds or kilos, more about dropping my body fat percentage and how I look.

My aim isn't to be "skinny" or look like a certain celebrity. My aim is to become the healthiest version of me. Whatever body shape is hiding under here, I'll embrace. I'm excited to see my development and become stronger, both physically and emotionally.

Wish me luck!

Manic Monday... A new chapter

I failed at writing a Geography Sunday post again last week. Though I think it would be better as a feature as and when I find somewhere that inspires me to learn and write about it. So it'll be intermittent from now on but I promise they'll be super spangly posts.

Onwards and upwards...

Today is the first day on my new LDN Muscle Bikini Guide. So far I've been successful, in that I've managed to get up early and eat my super organised breakfast and get all my food and gym bag ready for the day. This was my breakfast, plus a protein & oat shake...

I couldn't quite finish my eggs but I feel healthy and full! I'm feeling really positive about my new lifestyle and plan. For the first time in a long time, I genuinely feel prepared to succeed at something!

I have no idea how I'm going to manage to eat so many times a day but I'm determined which is a great feeling to start the week with!


This weekend I wrapped all my Christmas presents. And labelled each one with a number. And wrote a corresponding list of what each present was, who for, and in which order to give them out. I think my OCD may be back a little bit. Though I guess if it's just keeping me organised and helping me, then I shouldn't worry about it too much.

I am so excited to get home to my family and spend some good time with them over the festive period. I can't wait to see everyone's faces as they get their gifts, especially the piglet!

Aside from the diet, I'm planning a few little life-changing projects at the moment, ready to go full steam ahead into the new year and I'm bursting to share them with everyone but I need to keep them under wraps until I'm more certain on things!

In the meantime, fingers crossed for me for the first week of my new healthier lifestyle please!

Workout Wednesdays... A new beginning

 

I have discovered during my fitness journey that I'm really bad at the diet side of things. I'm also bad at remembering what I'm supposed to be doing on each day. I've hit a real plateau in my progression and decided it's time to Eat Clean, Train Dirty and Get Lean.
 
There is so much information on weight training / diet / fat loss / health on the Internet. I've found that's a problem. There's too much information. Too many conflicting opinions. Too many contradicting articles. Trying to learn everything from the Internet with no real guide or structure can be just as bad as not knowing anything, I think.
 
I follow various health and fitness accounts on the different social media platforms and the one that is consistently praised and recommended by the social media fitness sphere is LDN Muscle. Created and run by four (beautiful) young lads, LDN Muscle has it all. Blogs, diet, exercises, apparel, the works.
 
Before you read my rave review of LDNM, please bear in mind, I have not been asked or paid to write this post. The guys don't even know I'm doing it. I've chosen to write about this as part of my Workout Wednesday theme and narration of my life.
 
They also produce and sell a multitude of digital training guides called Premium Programmes. Specifically for men, there are a wide variety, ranging from the Natural Bulking Bible to the Leg Torture Pack. Lads, whatever your aims, they have a pack for you. If you're unsure of which would be best for you, tweet them or facebook them or email them. They're wonderful at replying and full of really helpful information and advice.
 
The thoughtful lads at LDN Muscle have realised that it's not just men who want to train insane. They've collaborated with each other and some of their female guest bloggers to create a pack especially for women wanting to lose fat and gain lean muscle. All herald the Bikini Fit Guide!

 

With 34 pages of intense advice and direction, I think this guide is going to drastically change my training and, hopefully, my body! It has information on: diet, including a sample week menu plan; exercise, with different training types and picture descriptions of all exercises; supplements, including what / when / where / why / how to take!
 
To quote their website:

"The price of your comprehensive ticket to bikini bod glory? Just £29.99. To put that in context, these days that could would buy you;

- A 30-45 minute session with a PT. Once.

- Half a bottle of perfume.

- A top you’ll wear twice."

 

So I figured I had to at least try it. It's payday today and I'm feeling good so I went ahead and bought it. I've glanced through briefly at work but will devour it in full at home.

 

I've set a date to begin my new regime - Monday 2nd December. I'm going to fully embrace every aspect. I'll be sticking to the diet as tightly as I can and training exactly how they say. I'm going to record a before and after of weight / measurements (and maybe even pictures) from Sunday and then after 6 weeks and see what results I get!

 

I'm nervous and excited. I'm always scared of failure, as we all are, but I'm excited to discover what fabulous body I've been hiding for so many years!

 

And yes, I know it's ridiculous to start a new plan before Christmas but if I don't start now, I never will. I'll always find some excuse to prolong it and avoid success!