Shred Program

Good evening sweethearts.

Today my lovely boyfriend and I had our first ''shred-check-up'' at our coach's. Well to start with, I didn't made any big progress as we haven't changed that much concerning my diet plan and my training plan. But... my form improved a wee bit more. Sometimes it's better to get a little butt-kick that reminds you that only hard work pays off and that you can't make something out of nothing.

'' No pain, no gain'', right? 

So, concerning my diet-plan... We reduced my protein- & carb-intake a little on low-carb days because we have to decrease my calories a tiny weeny bit to get rid of the last water retentions and body-fat. As far as my carb-days go, we also cut down the carb-&protein-intake, meaning that we replaced the spelt bread with quinoa-puffed-rice-crackers and less quinoa for lunch. 

In terms of training.. pheeww... That's going to be rough for me. I will tell you why: 

Usually I hit a 40-min-HIIT workout after every gym-session, which was already exhausting to be honest. NOW, I have to do a 30-min-HIIT workout right after getting up and BEFORE having breakfast. I don't like that kind of stuff haha. I am such a grouch when it comes to cardio, especially in the morning, and on an empty stomach. So I absolutely have to pull myself together and get through those morning cardio sessions. 

And as if this wasn't enough already, I have to hit a 10-minute warm-up before every gym session (fortunately we reduced the warm-up by 5-minutes) and additionally a 20-min-HIIT after my gym-session. Pooh... Things are getting pretty tough from now on. 

I am already looking forward to the next check-up. I am convinced that I will show better results again now that my program has become even stricter. I will keep you up to date of course. 

Have a great new week and make it big. xX 

Cardio Myth #2

Hey people! 

That's me before my very first workout session! It was awesome!

Sorry for not posting any article recently but I have been very busy since I started my preparation on monday and I am not that used to plan my cookings...

So since we haven't been myth-busting for a long time, let's talk about the myth that if you want to get lean you need to do a lot of cardio! 

How many people have you seen in your gym that spend hours and hours doing cardio and yet never get shredded and people never doing cardio being lean as hell?! How is this possible you may ask yourself now? 

Well, people still think that only doing cardio will help you to get lean while lifting weights is just for growing bigger muscles. That's not really how it works... fortunately, because I hate doing cardio! 

Your body fat percentage is primarily determined by your diet. 

I know that doing cardio burns a lot of fat , but if you still eat way too much, your body will simply replace the fat you lost, with the excess calories you are giving it. Weightlifting burns about the same amount of calories per hour as a low-intensity cardio routine.

But, bare in mind, weight-lifting burns more calories AFTER the workout! Let's call this the 'post-workout-burn'. Meaning, that if you build a muscle, it will help you to stay lean as it increases the total amount of calories that your body burns while resting.

Don't get me wrong now, I am not saying that you should skip doing cardio! Cardio has a lot of health benefits (which we will discuss in another article), but if you are ready to follow a strict but healthy diet plan, you still can get ripped without even bothering with cardio. Awesome, isn't it?!

Always keep this in mind:

'' Abs are made in the kitchen''