Five Weeks Out and New Updates!

What's new? Lots! Let me start with my upcoming bikini competition. I'm competing in the Tahoe Show again this year on August 22nd in Lake Tahoe. Let me just say that this show is the most amazing NPC show I've ever been to! They put so much love into their production and it shows! They take care of their competitors and it's evident that it's about more than money for them. This is important to me so I don't mind traveling to the show to support them. My boyfriend and I decided we're driving there instead of flying to save the $700+ it would take to fly. It's a 7 hour drive so ROADTRIP!!! And meal prep lol. This is good though because I can now pack whatever I want without worrying about it fitting in a suitcase (like my own weights to pump up in my hotel room). See I told you I'm still cheap. :)

I'm five weeks out from the Tahoe Show which means strict strict strict! Up until now, I have done the IIFYM approach (in a clean way, not adding donuts and oreos). I eat a lot throughout the day and work out and burn A LOT of calories and there are a lot of different elements about this prep than last year's. For instance, last year's preps were 100% clean, no cheats, no "maybe this can fit", nothing that wasn't a whole food, grown, or natural. Which there's nothing wrong with that approach at all! It worked greatly, but I wanted to try something different. This prep I had a cheat day every Friday which included eating whatever I wanted with no guilt. Needless to say, this prep has been pretty easy for me. It IS my first show this year so I'm not burned out yet, thankfully! In my opinion, five weeks out is the time where you should be where you want to be despite water weight and final tweaks. At five weeks out, you essentially have three more weeks to be 100% stage ready (which pretty much means cardio). At two weeks out, you need to be stage ready. If you're still trying to make tweaks or build muscle, it's too late. Keep in mind the peak week strategies that can make or break your stage presence. Peak week can be approached in many ways, personally I will be cutting salts, sweeteners, extra fiber, and protein shakes because I know how my body reacts to these things. Water I'll slowly cut towards the end of the week, I'm not going to dehydrate myself all week. I'm very excited and feel that my progress and body looks way better than last years! We'll see how the show goes! 

Of course there will be way more posts about my prep for the next 5 weeks, but guess what, I started a YouTube Channel! Oh yes! So you'll get to see my Vlogs as well in case you don't feel like reading. :) Of course the two say different things but hey, people have their preferences. Please subscribe if you like my videos and want to see my progress and show coverage. There will also be workouts, full days of eating, and bikini prep tips! Here's my intro video I posted a couple of hours ago. 

I'm also a day out from launching my online training platform (BodiesbyMel.com). Right now I'm a personal trainer in Orange County and train my lovely clients in person one on one. However, if you don't live in sunny California, I can train you online. No matter what your goals are, I can help get you to your dream body. We'll have a consultation call or Skype at first so we can get to know each other and we can go from there. OR if you'd just like to buy the plan, by all means, buy away! 

LiftingLadiesFitness.com is now live and more to come from there. I went fabric shopping last weekend for fabric for.... LEGGINGS! That's right! I'm starting  legging line because I'm so tired of buying leggings that show my ass when I bend over. Also, having leggings for girls with big butts, bigger thighs, and little waists who don't want to resort in wearing high waist all the time (I'll have high waist designs too). This will branch off into jeans I'm sure. Isn't it so hard to find jeans having a 36 inch butt and 26 waist? Solutions are coming! Lifting Ladies is the platform for online training and merchandise (t shirts, sports bras, leggings, crop tops, launching soon!). Custom bikinis are also in order. So head over to my sites, check them out, subscribe, like, and thanks for following my fitness journey! 

Mel

6 Days Out!

Wow guys I've been SO busy! Sorry for leaving you in the dark. My competition is SIX DAYS AWAY!! I can't believe it! I'm so excited that it's finally here. I have some things I still want to work on as far as my physique, but that will come after the show. For the show, I am ready. I am SO ready. I'm ready to rock that stage, I have my posing down, and after this final week of prep I have confidence my body will be exactly where I want it to be. Besides the glutes. As you guys know, I WANT bikini pro glutes. I have amazing glutes but I want pro glutes lol. That will take a little more time than I have for this particular competition, but for sure within the next month or two, I'll be where I want to be. That's right, after the competition I am continuing training and eating clean. Why on earth would I do anything else? Before the prep I always ate clean and had one cheat day a week, I trained heavy and hard too, so this won't be a problem or too strenuous on my body.

Depending on the results of this show, I'll for sure be doing another show within the next couple of months. If I place top 5, I'll be doing a show in June (so I can have time to perfect my glutes). If I don't place, I'll be doing it again in May. I hope I place! A lot of girls do this to do it for the experience. I'm in it to make a name for myself and a career out of it. I'm hoping to get sponsored and move on to get my pro card. Post shows I'll be training girls who want to take this journey too! It will be fun!

Okay so my diet and food these last six days. I've researched far and wide and have found out that either you don't change anything for bikini, or you go on an even stricter diet. For me, I'll be going on a stricter diet. For the whole prep, I never cut out carbs (which I'm not ashamed of AT ALL), so this week I will be having carbs for breakfast only and then the small carbs in my veggies and sweet potatoes throughout the day. I'll be pretty much eating chicken one meal, ground turkey the next meal, and fish the next meal, all with veggies (asparagus) or a salad. A lot of people have been doing this the whole prep, but I don't believe in eating the same thing every single day for 10 weeks. That's ridiculous. Just eat clean, count calories, count macros (to the T), and work out hard. Then get rid of water weight the last week. My workout schedule will go as follows:

Today (Sunday)- Leg day (glutes glutes glutes!!) + Posing
Monday- Abs- Shoulders- Cardio + Posing
Tuesday- Back day + Posing
Wednesday- Cardio + Posing
Thursday- Shoulders and some body weight glute workouts (don't want to be sore)
Friday- Rest
Saturday- COMPETITION!! (I'll be pumping my shoulders before I take the stage)

I'm taking diuretics and using the sauna this week (HATE the sauna) to get all of the water weight out. I had my period this past week so I am way fuller than I want to be which is daunting. I'll also be taking thermogenics, fish oil, and I'm not cutting protein shakes like a lot of people do. I'll  be bronzing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Competition day I'll be "glazing" to make it all shiny and pretty. OMG my suit! I haven't even told you! I totally made a new bikini. EVERYONE has red. I hate it. So I went and got fabric a week ago and have been making a new one. It's almost done, I've been doing it little by little since I've been super busy with work. I'll make a different post about my bikini. One last thing! I'm only doing bikini open class. It's $120 each category and I just didn't want to spend that much on entry fees. My boyfriend and I are moving into a new town home at the end of the month (yay) and would much rather spend extra money on our place. :)

I'm sure this week will fly by! I can't wait for it all! And I can't wait to meet the awesome ladies at the show. As always, thanks for reading and don't hesitate to comment below :)

Mel

Three Weeks Out!

Oh em gee guys! My competition is actually less than three weeks out! I can't even believe it. It's awesome, exciting, amazing, CRAZY! I heard that this is the biggest competition of the year or season. So that means there are going to be TONS of people and competitors there. It kind of makes me nervous! At the same time, I'm a very confident person and don't get scared easily. Don't get me wrong, I WILL be feeling those butterflies, but not enough to scare me away from the competition. I can't wait to meet all of the girls who have been training these past few weeks as well. We're all going through the same thing, we all prepped, we all gave it our all, and we're all doing it together. It should be pretty awesome.

So, update on my body. I look great! I LOVE my body so much. However, for the competition I want to lean my legs out mooooore. That ass man. It just doesn't want to get hard lol. So I've intensified my leg day workout and leg pretty much is full glutes day. I add in hamstrings as well and quads are worked inevitably. Hopefully it goes well, I'll still look good on stage either way. Just not perfect in my eyes in the butt area. For the next 3 weeks I'm doing morning cardio pretty much everyday. I wasn't doing it every day before, but I need to now to clean my legs out. I have also decided to keep my calories around 1550-1600 despite my workout calories burned. This will help to lean out a little more. I have to be careful with my abs because they're definitely coming in full six pack. I love it! But the judges won't love it lol. My mid section is pretty much perfect right now. I'd rather go up there with a six pack than nothing at all. Ugh I sound so cocky. Don't take it that way, it's just something I do. You have to love yourself and be confident and just hope for the best. I have no idea what the other girls look like and how I will compare to them. All I can do is try my best and go up there looking my best and hope for the best! There's no point ever in being self conscious.

I practice in my heels and they hurt my feet so much! Ugh I hate them. Believe me, I broke them in! They just squeeze my toes in together so much lol it sucks. After going through the previous two competitions, EVERYONE is wearing red bikinis. If you know me, you know I HATE being like everyone else. I can't do it. I went and bought some fabric to make a new one. It's going to be amazing. I'll have to surprise you with the color. Guess what color it is!

You can always comment below, follow me on Twitter, Instagram, ask questions, whatever you'd like! Thanks for reading!!

Mel

Update! Final Four Weeks Plans

Omg guys it's been five days! I feel like that's a long time. Some things have changed in terms of goals. So I'm FOUR WEEKS OUT NOW! So crazy and exciting, I can't even contain myself. I seriously have been researching, watching videos, and obsessing over competition prep. Constantly looking for something I may have done wrong or may be doing wrong. It just seems so easy, I feel like it's TOO easy lol. I'm certain that prepping for figure would be WAY more intense. I guess it's because I've been living a "prep lifestyle" for over a year now by working out 4-5 times a week and eating clean. With the exception of one cheat day a meal of course. I was totally fine with that lifestyle, and now with no cheat days, somehow it's been fine. Weird. So naturally I've been researching to see if I'm doing everything right. It turns out I am! lol I'm totally fine and am freaking out for no reason. My body looks great and I could step on stage today. I'm very confident and excited!

With that said, as far as my own goals go, I still want to lose at least 1-2% of body fat and my butt still jiggles more than I want it to. I have some back fat associated with my ridiculous ass and my abs aren't completely exposed. They're there but not like I want them to be. So for the next four weeks I will be switching up my diet. Let me explain how my diet is set up right now. My macro split is 40/40/20, 20 being the fat. In all honesty it really ends up being around 42/38/20 with carbs being high. I love carbs lol and I find it hard to imagine life without them. I have been eating scrambled egg whites with my veggies and chicken instead of brown rice. My calories per day is set at 1580. If I don't work out that day (which is Saturdays or Sundays), I take in 1580 calories. If I work out that day, I take in the extra calories I've burned. So If I burned 500 calories that day, I need to take in 2080 calories to make up for the deficit. Why? Because my calories eaten are set at a -500 calorie deficit per week which is one pound per week. 3500 calories= 1 pound. -500 calorie deficit per day= 1 pound loss per week. If I burn those calories working out without eating them, that would put me at a net calorie (total calories per day) intake of 1080, which is too low! The deficit of the day would then be 1000 calories and loss of two pounds per week.

So now knowing the above, my next four weeks will go as follows. I'd like to take a more aggressive approach with the cardio in the morning. I haven't been doing the fasting cardio, I've just been doing it at night after my workout or having cardio days at night. So for week one I'll be doing morning cardio every day. For those days I'll take in 2000 calories for the day assuming I'll burn around 500-700 calories for the day. This might be on the low side, but I'd like to try it to see my results. If effective, I will continue to do that the second week. I've been doing low sodium for the most of the prep because I got tired of being bloated. For the last two weeks, no salt, and I'll be carb cycling. I'm thinking one day 150-180 carbs and next day 80-100 carbs. Something like that. My protein is always between 120 and 180 which is awesome so we'll keep that. Fat never goes above 40.

I've looked into tanning and have decided on just using bronzer for the show. I'm going to buy some this weekend to try it out. I'll show you guys the before and after photos. For all of you black competitors out there, I hope to help out with the tanning aspect. My take on it is that if girls are tanning to be MY color, why on earth would I tan to be darker? It makes no sense to me. I do agree that the dark skin helps with seeing those beautiful muscles!

I've been practicing walking and I've gotten very good and confident at it! I havlol. Oh well, I'll power through.

e to say, my feet still hurt in the shoes. My toes just weren't made for those shoes

In addition to my prep, I've been working on a pretty big project with Lifting Ladies. For those of you who don't know, I'm trying to make this a big thing. Even thinking of making a competition team! It's going to be great so stay tuned. In the mean time, please support by following Lifting Ladies on Twitter and Instagram, LIKE Lifting Ladies on Facebook, and stay tuned for many awesome things to come!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

The Mel Movement :)

Hello there! So I've decided to take yesterday and today off. It's been an intense and good week of lifting and cardio. Next week is going to rock too! I am SO pumped for this competition! I love it. Okay this is going to sound mean, and you're going to learn that I am a very confident, competitive, outspoken, person who is not modest at all. With that said, I should have done the contest this past weekend. When I started my prep five weeks ago, March 8th seemed WAY too close! Well after seeing the results, the line up, and the winners of the contest in LA, I should have done it! I totally would have placed. I wish I could talk to all of the girls that competed to hear about their experiences and how they prepped and stuff. A lot of people approach it differently and have different goals. I know that some girl who might not look the best may look the best in her opinion and through her journey and that's all that matters. As in, maybe she weighed 200lbs before and now she's competing for the experience, that's great! As for me, I'm going up there giving it MY all. I cannot say I don't want first place. I WANT FIRST PLACE! "And if I don't get it I'll be happy for the experience" blah blah blah, all of that cliche stuff you say when you don't win. No. If I don't win top five, I'm doing another competition two weeks later. If (when) I do place, I'm competing a month later for my pro card. I want to do this and my goal is to somehow become sponsored soon as well. I'll try my best! I'm really excited, and once I'm done, I'm going to help other girls train to become the best versions of themselves, become confident, and get that first place too. We shall call this, The Mel Movement :) Stay tuned!

Loving The Process

Hey everyone! Things are going so great, I love it. I feel like I'm not even prepping for anything because it's become such a lifestyle. I don't even think twice when it comes to eating healthy food. Going to the gym isn't even a second though. The thought of skipping the gym is so far from my mind it's crazy! I can't even imagine a day without going tot he gym. My rest day last weekend consisted of practicing in my heels and googling fitness info. There are a lot of warnings and precautions about cheat day after the competition. It's so funny because I cannot even see myself not living this lifestyle. I love it!

So yesterday was back day and I made a video of me squatting 205 for three reps, yay yay! Watch, like, enjoy! Yesterday morning I also did 30 minutes of running when I woke up. I had a banana and a half a cup of coffee so it wasn't completely fasted cardio. I feel like my lungs are getting better and my stamina is increasing. I can run for longer without getting super tired which makes running more fun and doable. When I first woke up and did cardio I felt like shit all day, no joke. It was so tiring and just daunting on my whole day. Now I feel like I can conquer the world! lol So I will continue doing the morning cardio every other day, opposite of night kickboxing cardio. I'm hoping cardio will get rid of the fat in my lower back. My ass is so ridiculous it's going up my back lol. I know a lot of you will be like, what fat? It's there, I see it and know it's there! So I'm going to run it all off. Speaking of things I need to work on, my ass. Again, a lot of you will be like "whaaat? I love your ass!". Yeah it's great, but I'm disappointed. It still jiggles and it's annoying, it's just not where I want it to be at all. So commence "butt day" twice a week for the next five weeks. That should do it! Other than that, I'm very confident about my physique, I love my body, and cannot freaking wait for the competition.

A recent discovery: Egg whites are amazing! By themselves: blah, with other things as a main or secondary ingredient: amazing! Omg. I have been making egg whites and salsa for the past couple of days. That's it, no other ingredients! Try it, it tastes way too good :) I eat it as a brown rice replacement on low carb day.

Today I did three tricep super sets before my hour kickboxing class. 

Tricep and cardio Day 

1. Tricep cable push down (light weight)
35lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Tricep reverse grip cable push down
25lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

2. Dumbbell overhead extension
30lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

One arm overhead sideways tricep extension 
10lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

3. Machine Tricep dips
50lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Body weight tricep dips
12 dips x 4 sets

1 hour cardio 

Thanks for reading guys! If you're not following me on Twitter yet, please do so, that would be awesome :)

Mel

Progress Bikini Photos!

Oh hey guys! Exciting things tonight! Progress Photos! Yay!! lol I'm super excited to share them because I love the way they look and the way I'm looking lately. I'm not super bloated anymore all day so I actually got to take some good pics mid-day. One of the weird things is that I have gained three pounds, which is crazy because of the deficit of calories I take in every day. Either I gained muscle or my body is trying to get used to actually hitting at least 1500 calories a day. At first, before prep, I wasn't eating enough. Now that I'm eating a lot more, I feel like that contributed a lot to the bloated-ness and weight gain. Either way, whatever, don't care, I look awesome! I have six weeks (42 days) left so I will really be focusing on cardio, cardio, cardio to lose that extra fat in my lower back and legs. You'll see what I mean in the photos when I say my upper body is "bikini ready", but my lower is not.

A lot of people are telling me I'm too critical of myself and that I look great (which I do), but I am "comparing" myself to the pros. I LOVE the way they look! The muscular, yet feminine sexy physiques, that's what I want. I've seen a couple of bikini competitions in real life and the girls look so flabby and not muscular at all. I understand the bikini girls aren't supposed to be muscular, but don't tell me that and then put those muscular bikini pros on stage and expect me not to train as hard as them lol. Example: Nathalia Melo. She is crazily muscular, won 2012 Bikini Olympia, and looks amazing. Yet, everywhere we read about bikini stipulations, it says no definite muscle. Watch this video though and admire her amazing glutes! Wow.

Amazing right? I was watching the Arnold Classic today and she kind of seemed like she was in 4th or 5th place or so. The girls above her were a lot less muscular and of course looked great! It's just so difficult to understand what the judges want.Trial and error will be a good test though. I haven't seen who won yet though. We shall see what happens! Okay here are my progress photos. Let me know what you think!

So exciting! Okay so for the bikini, it's not completely ready yet. After watching the shows today, again with the rules, these girls are wearing thongs. Three fourths coverage my ass lol. So I need to take my suit in a little and make more skimpy. The back I have right now is not completely full back but definitely three fourths coverage. It needs to be a little more cheeky. I also am going to add some jewels to the middle part and up the other part of the triangle. I just haven't found the jewels I want.

So yeah my goal still is to tighten up my butt and let these hamstrings come through a little. That would be so awesome! I really am going to work very hard and maintain this great thing I have going on. Eating has been great, working out has been great, progress has been great, I have no complaints. Then again, I did start out pretty lean in the first place, but hey I can still celebrate! Seriously though guys, don't be afraid to comment or contact me with any questions or comments or anything. I love doing this and I love inspiring! Today was rest day by the way.

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Thermogenics and Back Day

Hey hey! Today was back day and it was awesome. Man, I love thermogenics! I'm currently taking LIV, a fat burner/ thermogenic and it's the second kind I've taken. It gives me energy all day long and just makes me feel so powerful. I take it around breakfast (10-11am, hard life, I know:) and still feel a "pump" at 6pm-7pm when it's time to work out. I don't even need a pre workout, it's great. For those of you who don't know what thermogenics or fat burners are, educate yourself on them before you consider them, but they are pretty much caffeine pills. Plain and simple, caffeine makes your heart beat faster, thus burning calories, thus burning fat. There's a science behind it of course so read about it for yourself.

I took time today to practice posing and walking in my heels. I have to say man, my body is looking amazing! I love it. My calves have gotten so much better, my legs are harder, my arms are great I just want to work on lateral shoulders a little more. I just look great right now! I can't believe I have a little less than seven weeks left, it seems so far away! I'm still waiting on my abs to come through, but I see the separation when I do ab workouts. It's so amazing! I'm so excited! It's amazing how much of a work of art your body is and how you can literally carve it into what you want it to look at. I'm telling you guys, no matter where you start, you CAN do it. I don't have a success story or any crazy transformation, but I have dedicated my life to fitness and could not be happier. If you know me and you have me on Facebook and you've been looking for motivation, message me. I'll help you out. I don't care if we haven't spoken in years, I love inspiring people and helping them reach their goals. Most importantly, I love making people love themselves, to be confident in themselves. It's great! Even if you don't know me, I'm here. With that said, today was back and calves day.

Back and Calves: 

Warm up pull ups- 3 sets of 4

Close grip cable machine rows
120lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets

Calf raise machine
70lbs x 15 reps x 4sets

High Iso row machine
90lbs x 12 reps
110lbs x 10 reps
130lbs x 10reps x 2 sets

Reverse calf machine (works out shin muscle)
50lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets

One arm lat pull down
50lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets

Super Set
Calf raises on stairs
25 reps x 4 sets

One arm bent over row on bench  w/ dumbell
25lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Weighted calf raises
90lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

DEAAAAAADLIFTS
135lbs x 10 reps
185lbs x 5 reps
205lbs x 3 reps x 2 sets

Super Set
Barbell bent over row
80lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

One leg calf raises (body weight)
4 sets of 10

Wide grip row machine
90lbs x 10 reps
110lbs x 10 reps x 3 sets

Chin ups 
3 Sets of 4

Done son!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Those Legs!

So today was leg day, gotta love it. Okay so a lot has changed in terms of my workouts and plans. My legs are getting ridiculous. I'm getting progress and gaining muscle way too fast. I need to completely stop lifting heavy and do all high rep workouts, low weight. Same for arms, my guns are getting too big. Which goes to show I SHOULD be prepping for figure, but I want to do a bikini show. I'm definitely a figure girl at heart though, I love lifting heavy. I've found that high reps are boring since I have to count up so high and blah blah blah. It's tiring of course and a great workout no matter what, I just prefer low reps. Unfortunately, I can't do the heavy weight anymore which makes me feel like a weakling at the gym lol. I'm so used to people looking at me like "wtf, that girl is lifting SO heavy". Oh well! I have 7 weeks to trim or maintain these legs, I can't afford to make them any bigger.

I'm also carb cycling now. My macros are set now to 40/40/20 (40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fats) putting me at at least 158 grams of protein a day, around 158 grams of carbs, and 35 grams of fat. The fat isn't hard for me since I don't eat fatty foods anyway. I literally did not have to cut any foods out of my diet for prep, which is awesome! Well, I switched from buttery popcorn to kettle corn if that counts. Carbs, carbs, carbs. I love carbs. Everything I eat has carbs and it's just crazy thinking about lowering them lol. So I've been trying some low carb dinners which pretty much consists of a large amount of chicken, shrimp, or lean ground beef, lots of veggies, and egg whites. It's not bad, it's actually very good. It's nice to have a change from the brown rice. I get so tired of the brown rice, it's so boring. I love trying out new foods and switching up the ingredients. Yum yum! Seriously though, everything I eat is whole grain and carbs. Wheat Thins, bread, oatmeal, popcorn, peanut butter, yogurt, tortillas, I don't understand how or why on earth people would want to cut our carbs. It's silly. And unnecessary. You NEED carbs! Not just because they are good but because they are good FOR you.

So besides carb cycling, calming down my legs with high reps, and switching up my diet, I'm on track and excited for my competition. SEVEN MORE WEEKS!! It's going to fly by, I already know. So exciting.

Leg Day- Hamstrings, Inner thighs

Super Set
Dumbbell one leg stiff leg deadlifts
25lbs x 15 reps per leg x 4 sets

Super wide sumo squats with dumbbell in middle
25 lbs x 20 reps x 4 sets

Lunges on Smith Machine
135lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Stiff leg deadlift on Smith Machine
135lbs x 10reps x 4 sets

Wide stance 45 degree leg press machine
90lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Lying down leg curls
40lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Adductor Machine
40lbs 25 reps x 4 sets

Sitting leg curls
45lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Close and high stance leg press machine
90lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

6 Minute HIIT
1 Minute of wide stance kettle bell swings
1 minute of shuffles on short platform
Repeat three times

Wow I did a lot lol GREAT workout!!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Fasted Cardio

Happy Tuesday! I ran out of protein last night and I was hoping my protein I ordered would come! It said it shipped at 6AM, and literally took ALL day to get here. But I got it! So yay! I have realized that my protein (Beverly International UMP Chocolate) comes with 30 servings which is one scoop. I take four scoops a day. Therefore that's one container (2lbs) of protein a week! WTF lol. So I need to get a different protein that has more in it. Beverly should sell 5lb containers or more, but they don't. So I think I'm going to go with the Optimum Nutrition protein. It's high rated and has the same stats as UMP except it has 4 extra proteins. Winner! So on Sunday I'll be ordering that. I also ordered some BCAAs to take before and after my workouts. That was missing from my diet so I added it.

Today was back day, and it went well. Of course. I'm feeling very confident about my physique and am very excited for the competition. 53 Days!!

Oh yeah! How could I forget? Today I woke up and did 45 minutes of cardio. After reading about fasting cardio last night, I felt I should try it. Why not? At first I was totally against it since I am always starving when I wake up. There have been many debates about whether fasting cardio is good for you, and there's definitely a scientific backing behind it. Are you building muscle? If yes, fasting cardio might and most likely will break down your muscles. Or you can simply eat before you workout. A protein shake, a banana, something to burn through before getting to the fat "essentially". What fasting cardio does do is effectively burn fat, according to studies. It's not some secret ingredient to lose a bunch of fat, but it's effective depending on your goals. Now, I'm never one to knock anything until I try it myself, so I'm trying it out. Also, since I'm in this awkward phase of muscly and fatty, the fasted cardio will most likely be perfect for me. Although, I hate it. I'm going to try it out doing it every other day, so Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I know my results will be amazing, simply because of the ridiculous amount of calories I'll be burning doing two a days. I hit like 700+ Calories today, ridiculous.

Back & Calves Day

Cable Rows
120lbs x 12 reps
130lbs x 10 reps x 2 sets
140lbs x 6 reps

Calf Raise Machine
80lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Iso High Row Machine
90lbs x 15 reps
110lbs x 10 reps
130lbs x 8 reps x 2 sets

Dorsiflexion "Machine"
50lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

One Arm Cable Lat Pull down
50lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets per arm

Super Set
Calf Raises on Stairs
25 reps
Bent over one arm row on bench
22.5lbs x 15 reps per arm x 4 sets

Deadlifts
135lbs x 10 reps
185lbs x 6 reps
205lbs x 3 reps x 2 sets

Bent over row w/barbell
80lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets

Row Machine over hand (pronated) grip (One side at a time)
45lbs x 12 reps each side
55lbs x 10 reps each side
65 lbs x 8 reps x 2 sets each side

Chin Ups
3 sets of 4

I ended with leg raises on parallel bars (25 reps) and then oblique leg raises on parallel bars. I also did some oblique leg raises while lying on my side and then side crunches. I'm not sore from my workout yesterday so I wanted to work my obliques a little more. :)

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you try the fasted cardio too.

Mel

Hating At The Gym + Cardio & Abs

Today went well. No craziness, fatigue, and not too much pain. So yay! Today was cardio an ab day and it went well. Did some obliques and super sets before my kickboxing class. I realize my blog is going to get a bit redundant considering I do almost the same thing every week so let's talk about something.

Hating on People in the Gym

Why? Why do you care what other people are doing? Why do you care that that girl is over there snapping photos of herself? That that guy is over there flexing and checking himself out in the mirror? That that guys form is sooooo bad (totally guilty of noticing this)! That that person is texting while on a machine. Who gives a fuck? You should be focused on YOUR workout and no one Else's. Unless of course that person is hogging a machine you're waiting for and they're taking super long breaks. Honestly though, just put on some head phones, get in your zone, and forget everyone else. One thing I don't understand, is that in this world of people trying to better themselves and people who aren't, why on earth are you judging the people who are trying? I commend every person who is in the gym working on their bodies whether it be lifting, cardio, basketball, racquetball, whatever, go you! It's so awesome! I love seeing people doing good for themselves. Yeah they might be doing the wrong form, but what can I do about it besides go help them? Which I'm not going to do because I don't want to stop my workout to help someone who needs one on one attention. Commend them, at least they're at the gym.

LADIES: stop hating on each other for... anything and everything. Always remember that girls hate on each other, women empower one another. Same for men of course, but girls are so notorious for this. Tell a girl she's doing a great job at the gym. Smile instead of giving dirty looks. Competition is fun, but it's great to have teammates too! Remember that.

On to the workout!

Abs

Super Set
Weighted side bends
35lbs x 15 reps 4 sets

Alternate Heel Touchers
Lie on back and sway back and forth touching heels, works obliques
15 reps x 4 sets

Super Set
Cable pull down crunch (middle)
10 reps x 4 sets

Cable pull down left to right
10 reps x 4 sets

Weighted side twists
15 reps x 4 sets
(4 sets of the super set)

Super Set
Bench leg lifts
Middle, left side, middle, right side, middle, left. Do this for 10 reps x 4 sets

Side plank
30 seconds x 4 sets

Super Set
Leg raises on parallel bar
15 reps x 3 sets

Oblique raises on parallel bar
10 reps x 3 sets

Hour of cardio.

Fun fun! Burned about 630 calories.Tomorrow I'm going to go running in the morning so I won't have to do it after back day. Those deadlifts man, they'll kill ya! Thanks for reading! :)

Mel

Powered Through

Omg I am dying! Ladies, it is THAT time of month. Which means it's the hardest time of the month to get motivation to go to the gym. Ugh. Don't worry, I didn't skip the gym today, I went, but I was in pain the entire time. I did cardio, shoulders and abs. In a whole, it was a great workout! I was SO glad to get out of there though. I'm always proud of myself after a workout when I'm on my period. Go me for powering through instead of crawling in a ball on the couch all day. Go me.

My back is SO sore from back day. Back day went well. I deadlifted 205 pounds for three reps and two sets. I could have gone up, but I didn't feel like doing a one rep max. I also did calves that day, much like last back day. Pretty standard. I changed some of the workouts up a bit by doing higher reps with lower weight.

Valentine's Day was wonderful! I spent all day with my love and it was amazing. He's a personal trainer and had to train two clients in the morning so I didn't see him until after noon. I made sure I got my workout in so that it wasn't a surprise rest day (there's no such thing as surprise rest day lol). I did some cardio and stretching and then got ready for the day. He surprised me with flowers and brand new surround sound headphones to use at the gym. I love music and love being surrounded by it, especially during a workout. This whole time I've been using the headphones that came with my iPhone, LAME. You can literally hear everything and the music is background music.  Now I can just get lost in my music and train like no other. I love it! He's so amazing. It sounds silly, but it's great. We shopped and went to the movies and went out to eat all day. And no it wasn't a cheat day and there were no cheat meals. Although, I'll be honest, I DID have a bite of a biscuit at Red Lobster. OMG SO GOOD! But other than that, it was a good eating day.

Today I did super sets for shoulders and abs. It was pretty killer and I had to take a bunch of breaks because of my horrible back pain, but I powered through. I also did biking for 10 minutes before my workout and 10 minutes afterwards doing interval hills.

Super Sets
Alternating front dumbbell raises
15lbs x 10 reps on each arm x 4 sets

Side lateral dumbbells (both arms at same time)
15lbs x 10 reps x 4 sets

Overhead Press (Smith Machine)
45lbs x 10 reps
65lbs x 8 reps x 3 sets

Super Sets
Barbell Shrugs (Smith Machine)
95lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Leg raise on parallel bars
15 reps x 4 sets

Super Sets
Bent over side lateral raise (one arm at a time)
15lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Sit ups on exercise ball
30 sit ups x 4 sets

Overhead dumbbell Press
25lb dumbbells x 10reps x 4 sets

Super Sets
Lying down leg raises 
Front, then side, then front then side, 10 times.

Machine crunches
90 lbs x 8 reps

10 minute intervals on bike. Ended at about 400 calories.

I'm going out tonight for my friends birthday! Not drinking but going to have a good time. Just because I'm prepping doesn't mean I can't go out :) Don't need to drink to have fun. Thanks for reading!

Mel

Week Two Monday!

Ah so today's workout went well! Of course, it was abs and cardio day. Abs kill me but I can do abs all day long! I guess because it's great gratification for me and I love seeing results. I guess I can say that about every body part. I woke up today craving leg day. I just want to do it everyday and I want to see results NOW! I have to be patient though and I have plenty of time to get to where I want to be. I can't wait!

So ending last week, I went all out. I did cardio each day including a 20 minute death HIIT session. Waking up Saturday morning with the intention of another HIIT session, I knew my legs could not do another day. My inner thighs (for lack of a better term) were fucked! Omg I could not even walk lol but that's good. I had a great week and I took Saturday and Sunday off. I went shopping Saturday for new workout clothes and got a bunch of cute stuff. Ladies, if you have no other motivation, new workout clothes will help. It's so exciting wearing new workout clothes!

For my workout today I did 30 minutes of an supersets and finished with an hour of kick boxing. I burned about 650 calories.

Abs: 
Set one:
Leg lifts, front and both sides. Lie down on bench with handle or just grab on back side of bench. Lift legs up, back down to the left, and middle again, then right. Do this ten times.
Five leg circles- circles legs around five times really crunching those abs at the top.

Weighted side bends (45lbs)- 10 on each side

Then back to leg lifts. Four sets of this.

Set two: 
Woodchoppers with weighted cable (30-50 pounds) from bottom up. 10 sets on each side.

Plank for one minute set one.
Side plank for one minute set two.
Other side plank for one minute set three.
Middle plank for one minute set four.

Four sets of woodchoppers switched off with planks.

Set three: 
For the last workout I did three sets of 15 70 pound sit up curls on a machine.

There's a lot of abs in kick boxing so this is a good warm up for the class. You can feel the burn throughout the workout and always know and remember that every time your legs go above your belly button you're working those abs. So get those kicks high! Alright, I'm going to go cook dinner now.

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Monday: Day One Prep Workout

MONDAY: CARDIO/ ABS

So since I'm focusing a lot on cardio for this prep, I'm doing kickboxing three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and sprints and HIIT (High intensity interval training) on opposite days with Sunday rest day. Today I paired abs with my cardio. I generally do abs everyday, at least one ab workout at the end of every workout. Today I focused on obliques (side abs) and did a little of the main core.

Oblique Static Holds: Lay on one side of your body with your back completely straight and slowly crunch your legs towards your torso. Really squeeze your side/obliques. At the peak contraction point, or the point where you’re squeezing the hardest, hold it there for 45 seconds. Don’t worry if you’re unable to get 45 seconds right away, hold it for as long as you can and slowly build up to 45 seconds over time. Repeat for the other side. 

Side Crunches: Side crunching while really squeezing the abs at the top. It really gets those obliques. Alternate super set style between these and oblique static holds. 3 Sets.

Oblique Cable Crunches: While on your knees with hands above head on rope (or bar) attachment, bend over squeezing the abs all the way to the floor first straight down, then to the side, then to the other side. 3 Sets, 70 pounds.

Cable Wood Choppers: Grab the pulley handle far enough away that you can feel a nice stretch in your obliques and lats. Fully extend your arms and powerfully swing your arms across your body. Hold for 1 second at the end of the movement and slowly return to starting position. Here's a great video to show the motion! 3 Sets, 50 pounds.

Side Plank W/Legs On Bench: Put your legs on the bench with your elbow on the ground in side plank position. Do 8-10 dips/bends downward. Switch sides and do it on the other side. 3 Sets. 

Standing Barbell Twist: Place a barbell on your shoulders, twist your waist back and forth to each side 15 times. Next, bend abs to the side back and forth 10 times. 3 Sets. No rest. 


Cardio Time! I take the kickboxing class at my gym Turbo Kick. It's great, very high impact, and a great group setting. Of course you can just go run on the treadmill for an hour, but this is way more fun. The class can be fun and after time you might get used to the moves, just make sure to always go full out and execute all of the moves. Even OVER execute the moves. Always make sure your heart beat is elevated the entire time, at least 140rpm. Get a heart rate monitor so you always know for sure how many calories you burn. I do take LeanOut by Beverly International which is a fat burner and makes my heart beat faster thus, burning more calories. I take this every day before my workouts. Which reminds me, I need to make a supplementation article. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading! Try these workouts out!

Mel