Fall Challenges (Workout and Diet)

Hello guys! It's been a while. I took a little break, but I'm back and I'll be posting more. Especially for my clients and people who want to see workouts and clean eating recipes. I'd love to help! So what's new with me? Well I've taken the fall season off from competing so I can have a life and not have to be so strict on myself. It's fall! Time for pumpkin flavored everything, cuddling with hot chocolate, maybe some bonfires, and relaxing without worrying about being so strict. Well... that was the plan. Last week Bodybuilding.com released a new challenge called Shred vs Bulk challenge by BSN Supplements. Contestants have 6 weeks to either present the best bulk or the best shred. Both winners will win $10,000! So yes I have started that. I just can't stay away! From the end of August until now, I have been having cheat days more frequently however, my diet was about 80% clean. My brain and willpower won't let me overindulge. I have goals for next year and I'm not trying to gain weight and ruin my chances. My goal is to kill it next year! I have a great chance, I just need to tighten my glutes even more (I'll get into that later with coverage of the Tahoe Show).

So I started this shred at 130lbs, 7 pounds up from competition weight August 23rd. No big! Nothing I can't handle. The great thing about competing this year and doing prep on my own is that I have gotten to know my body so well and how it reacts to every little thing that goes in it. I know exactly what to do to get rid of my extra water weight. I know exactly what foods make me bloated and what foods flatten me out. I know what not to eat the day of a shoot, event, or show. So I'm excited and I know I'm going to look amazing by November 30th (the end date of competition), but wish me luck! $10,000 would be freaking amazing right now! Especially when supplementing my business Lifting Ladies. I have a lot planned and am super excited about it. Money would help kick start it a lot!

Anyway, I've been doing more of a balanced diet style for this cut so I can enjoy the fall while keeping my bikini diet. It's more of a 90% clean, 10% cheat diet. My days look something like this:

Meal 1: 1 cup of oatmeal (half of my carbs for the day except Wednesdays which is no carb day and rest day)
Meal 2: Chicken, 2tbs avocado, baby carrots, mozzarella cheese (I don't cut dairy because I don't cut things I love :) )
Meal 3: Chicken, half sweet potato (2 eggs on Wednesday instead), 1tbs Peanut Butter
Meal 4: Shrimp, 2 cups broccoli
Meal 5: Ground turkey tacos, 2-3 eggs,(on Wednesday I make a GT bowl with eggs, cilantro, and salsa)

Calories: 1430-1600 Friday: 2000+

Friday I have a cheat meal because it's my super cardio day and I have to load up on calories, Saturday and Sunday are the same as Monday-Thursday. This is important guys! ONE cheat day a week, not the whole weekend because you're "rewarding" yourself for the hectic week you had. You have a week every week, do you think you need to be "rewarded" EVERY week? Reward yourself with an awesome body! :)

For my workouts I'm trying a new circuit style training by Ashley Conrad on Bodybuilding.com  (click link for complete plan). It's a 21 day cut, which I'm following the workout but not the diet. The diet is a little boring for my taste. If you want to survive in eating clean all the time, you need to be able to customize it to your liking. You don't need to eat bland boring food everyday to be fit, that's silly. This doesn't mean having cheat meals of course, it simply mean find a healthy alternative for each undesirable factor in the plan. If you enjoy following diet plans, then by all means, follow the plan word for word. Anyway, the workout plan looks like this:

Monday: Lift
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Lift
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Lift
Sunday: Rest


Lift days are a circuit in which you repeat the workouts below in a row with a 30 second rest in between. Once done, repeat the circuit 3-6 times depending on physical abilities.

1. Clean and press
2. Overhead medicine ball throws
3. Dumbbell rear lunge
4. Push ups
5. Bench dips
6. Sprint in place
7. Body weight squats
8. Wide grip lat pull down
9. Medicine ball jumping jacks
10. Incline push ups
11. Dumbbell bicep curl
12. Lateral dumbbell raises
13. One arm dumbbell row

Do each workout for 12-15 reps and repeat cycle for desired times. It's a great workout! I would definitely try it, especially if you're in need of something new. That's why I'm doing it instead of writing my own workout for the cut. I put in my own workouts to better fit my needs. For instance, instead of the medicine ball throws, I do kettle bell swings, Instead of rear lunge, I do walking lunges. I replace the incline push ups (because there is a ridiculous amount of push ups in this circuit) with stiff leg dead lifts or hanging leg raises for abs. I try to put more leg stuff in singe my goals are in my legs.

For cardio day: 
Interval training on treadmill:
Walk (level 5) 60 seconds
Jog (level 7) 30 seconds
Sprint (level 10) 60 seconds (dead sprint as hard as you can!
Repeat 10 times (25 minutes total)

Cool down: Incline walk 5 minutes.

If you only do one thing in this blog, do the cardio! It's great! I'm in week 2 now of 6 of the shred. It's going well and I think I look great so far. cleaning up my diet from 80 to 90% has done wonders in just a week. It's awesome! I think it's cool that Bodybuilding.com can release a challenge with 3-4 days to register pretty much saying "hey everyone, I know it's the fall and Halloween and Thanksgiving are coming up but we'll give you $10,000 if you drop everything and lean out or bulk up for the next 6 weeks!" And everyone drops whatever they're doing, joins the challenge, and starts cutting (or bulking). It's crazy to me, awesome, and inspiring. Good luck to everyone who joined!

As always, thanks for reading!


Mel
BodiesbyMel.com <--- Live in SoCal? Need personal training?

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!

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

Another Dead Day

OMG today was such a drag! Of course there are going to be days that are down, days that are hard to push through, days that make you feel like you can't go on, but always power through. I know yesterday I had the same situation, but today was worse. I was so excited though because of leg day. I'm so determined and motivated to mold these legs into what I want to see in myself. So nothing can hold me back, not even some stupid period pain. I have really bad and painful periods, like numbing pain in my stomach and back all the way down through my legs. No cramps, just ringing pain. So if I can get my ass off of the couch and lift some weights, you can definitely do it. Especially if you're a guy and you don't have to deal with this monthly crap.

Anyway, despite my day of sitting on the couch, eating every two hours, and drinking a gallon of water, I sat on Instagram all day searching hash tags, looking at physiques, workouts, getting motivated. I went through #fitfam on Twitter to get motivated. So it was a great motivating day and I never fell into the slump of "not wanting to work out". Of course I didn't feel like going, but not going was not an option.

Leg Day- Hamstrings and Inner Thighs

I started out with a 5 minute warm up incline on the elliptical. Then 25 reps of 45lb of Good Mornings to get the hamstrings warmed up.

Lunges
115lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets

Stiff Leg Deadlifts w/barbell
95lbs x 15 reps x 2 sets
115lbs x 10 reps x 2 sets

Super Sets
Wide Sumo Squats w/ dumbbell
35lbs between legs x 20 reps x 4 sets (My legs were way further apart than this video)

Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlift
Holding dumbbell the same way as sumo squat, bring legs closer together, bend down with dumbbell with back and legs straight.
35lbs x 8reps x 4 sets

Lying Down Leg Curl
40lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Adductor Machine
50lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Sitting Leg Curl
50lbs x 8 reps x 4 sets

Cable Kickbacks
40lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets on each leg

Hamstring Roll Ins w/foam roller
3 sets of 8

Something like this, but with a foam roller. GREAT hamstring workout. And great way to end your workout lying down lol. That's it! No HIIT today.

Now I'm going to eat my shrimp and chicken bowl and watch something on TV. I know my hamstrings and inner thighs are going to be sooooo sore tomorrow and even worse the day after. Cardio day is tomorrow so I'll be limping in there lol. 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

Dun Dun Dun...LEG DAAAAY!

Today was leg day and I have been looking forward to it all weekend. Finally, it has arrived! I know, I'm crazy lol I just really want to see results in my legs. My leg workouts are split in two days: day one is quads and glutes (and outer thighs). Day two is hamstrings and inner thighs (maybe calves depending on how I feel. I usually do calves with back day though since I took out biceps). Today was "day one" and it was a good one.

PEOPLE! Have you done the hip thrusters with a barbell at the gym? Seriously, DO IT. Who cares if it's awkward and if people look. It has to be the best butt workout. It just burns the entire time omg. Great!

Leg Day

Okay so I had a plan and it all went out the window (well not ALL) when I go to the gym. It was PACKED! No squat racks open, nothing open for me to work legs, and no machines. Except the hack squat which I don't usually do, but I did it today so here we go! Also, I did "low weight" high reps today to change it up a bit from the norm which is lifting super heavy starting with 10 reps and adding the weight and lowering reps.

Hack Squat
90lbs x 15 reps x 5 sets

Step Ups w/ dumbbells
Step up on high "stool", this stool went up to just below my bellybutton. My butt and quads were on fire! Do one leg consecutively then switch to other.
0lbs x 10 steps one leg then 10 steps on other leg x 4 (add 15lb dumbbells for sets 2-4)

Leg Extensions
25lbs x 12 reps x 4 sets

Lunges
50lbs (+whatever the smith machine bar is) x 8 reps on one leg then 8 on other x 4 sets

Hip Thrusters w/Smith Machine (DO THESE!!)
50lbs (+whatever SM bar weighs) x 10 reps
70lbs (+bar) x 10 reps x 3 sets

One Leg Leg Press
100 lbs per leg x 12 reps x 4 sets

Abductor Machine
60lbs x 15 x 4 sets

I ended with some functional body exercises. I always try to add a body weight exercise workout at the end whether it be push ups for chest day or dips for triceps. Today I did butt kicks and side leg raises. You're on all fours on the ground, kick one leg back with either leg straight or bent at the knee at a 90 degree angle. I did the bent knee. Do this for 25 reps. Go right into the side leg raises. In cheerleading we called these "dog peeing" because that's exactly what it looks like lol. On all fours still, bend leg o the side with knee bent at 90 degrees. Do this for 25 reps. Your butt will be burning, it should be the opposite leg you're swinging that is burning. You can do these at home any time! Even right before bed to get that butt nice and toned. Very effective!

That's it! Thanks for reading! BTW my abs are SOOOORE! :)

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

Wednesday- Cardio Day

Wow is all I can say about todays workout. But of course I will just have to say more! Seriously, what just happened? Today, instead of kickboxing at 6:30, I had to go to the earlier. Why, oh why would you miss kickboxing class?! Well because tonight was my second tattoo appointment to finish my rib piece. Ah! So amazing, I love it! So early gym session and a make shift hour cardio session. Have I mentioned how long it's been since I've done cardio on a machine for an hour? It's been forever! Let me tell you about me and cardio. I hate it. It's boring and all I think about when I'm doing cardio is when I'll be lifting next. It's essential so I must do it! So here I am at the gym, no plan really, just playing by ear and how I feel along the way. So here's what I did:

Treadmill: 
5 Minute warm up
20 Minute workout: Intervals on incline, every 30 seconds running and the next 30 seconds "speed walking" for 20 minutes straight. No rest.
5 Minute speed walking (catching breath), then adding more incline every minute.
10 minute incline walking (to get that booty!) Nice slow burn on the glutes

HIIT: 
Same concept as Tuesday's HIIT, only this time it's 4 workouts done 5 times. I'm crazy I know. It was intense! I wanted to die afterwards, no joke.

1. Kettle bell swings (down into squats and back up)- 1 minute
2. Lateral box shuffles- 1 minute

3.Exercise Ball sit-ups- 1 minute

4. Jumping Jacks- 1 minute

*30 second break*
Set 2- repeat
Set 3- repeat
Set 4- repeat
Set 5- repeat- Full out! Give it all you've got!!

And die.

Just kidding, please don't die. Please don't do this workout if you don't feel you are conditioned enough for it. You can also adjust the rest period to be longer if you need to. I burned about 600+ calories with this workout. I have a heart rate monitor (and you should get one too if you're serious about anything involving calories, aka life) and when doing cardio, I always make sure my heart rate is at or above 140 rpm the whole time. As long as I do that, every minute of my cardio time is worth it. With that said, have a great workout! Comment below, tell me how it went :)

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Tuesday-Back & Calves Day

Alrighty so yesterday was back day.It went well, but I had to do it later than usually because of work because I was sooo tired. I didn't want to take pre-workout because I didn't want to have trouble sleeping. Blah! So needless to say I was exhausted, but powered through and got a great workout! Below is what I did, play by play, and how much I lifted. I'll be lifting heavily as well as doing cardio everyday (6 days) as well as hitting my calorie goals everyday. This is the perfect formula for ME to come out successfully on top, in my opinion of course, on how I look. Hopefully the judges agree! :)

 Back and Calves Day 

Five minute warm up, 18% incline on elliptical. Stretch.
Warm up pull ups to engage the back. 3 sets of 5.

Seated close grip row (on cables)
120lbs x 12 reps
130lbs x 8
140lbs x 5
140lbs x 5

Calf Raises on hack squat machine
180lbs x 15 reps x 4 sets

Leverage high row machine
90 x 12
140 x 8
160 x 8
180 x 8

Seated calf curls (works "shin" muscle)
50lbs x 15
70lbs x 15 x 3

One arm lat pull down (Great Isolation!)
50lbs x 8 reps per arm x 4

DEADLIFTS! 
135lbs x 10
185lbs x 5
205lbs x 2
225lbs x 1

Reverse grip bent over row with barbell
90lbs x 5 x 4 sets

Calf raise on stairs 
25 reps x 3 sets

Leverage iso row (machine) one arm at a time
45lbs x 10 reps per arm
70lbs x 8 reps per arm
80lbs x 5 reps per arm
80lbs x 5 reps per arm

*All workouts are done 4 sets, 45 second rest between each set. Don't let those muscles heal all the way! By this time I'm totally dead, but time for some cardio! I had my boyfriend come up with a HIIT workout for me. So 5 minutes working, 1 minute per workout, rest 1 minute, then do it all again. Death lol. But here goes!

Front Box Jump- 1 minute
Sit ups with medicine ball throw (throw to partner, partner throws back, catch it top, go down into sit up, throw back to partner on the way up. Ab killer)- 1 minute
Burpees with dumbbells (jump up when you stand up, push up when you go down)- 1 minute
Kick punching bag (High kicks)- 1 minute
Punch punching bag (jabs and hooks)- 1 minute

*1 minute rest*

Repeat top five workouts. 

Protein shake. Go home and crawl in a ball.

Had great sleep last night lol If you try these workouts, please be aware of your physical ability. Know when to stop, don't sacrifice form for reps, take your time and get correct form, have fun!

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