PIBA x STREET STYLE

PIBA has released a brand new collection with a whole new concept. Weeehhh! Well those who follow me on my Facebook-page may already know that.

The previous PIBA collections were all colorful, bright and playful, thus Mel (from PIBA) thought to launch a whole new concept. The new prints are the hallmark's of the new collection. These prints make it possible to wear your comfy gymtights also outside of your second home. Hence the conecpt amount to darker, urban-street-style prints instead of colorful and bright prints. 

As the leggings were produced by a new manufacturer , the overall quality is a million times better and has some new and improved features like: 

• super strong and durable flatlock stitchig
• new, high quality fabric, which is even more durable and soft to the skin
• a compression-like fit, so perfect for your legsessions (#squatsproved)
• comfortable, flattering waistband with encased elastic
• crotch gusset. 

In the new collection you can find prints like the bandana (c.f pictures), b/w anaconda, red lynx or white combat/camouflage. I am definitely a fan of the bandana print as it reminds me of the 90ies where everybody wore bandanas around the neck, in the hair or as a bracelet.

If you want to treat yourself with a pair of awesomeness, you also have to know that the weblink changed to www.piba-leggings.com , plus you get 10% off your purchase using my special promo code >> JEN10%OFF <<. Be sure to also use the hashtags #iwearpiba and #physiqueint when showing-off with your fancy gymwear.

 

 

Sponsored by...

The past two weeks have been such a crazy roller-coaster ride and I still can't believe which wonderful opportunity has opened its doors to me.

This achievement marks a huge milestone in my (still ) little competitor career and I couldn't be more grateful.

But before I'll start bursting the big bubble, I want to thank every single one who supported me,whether in real life or on my different social media channels. You guys are such a huge motivation for me and it makes me overly happy to be able to give so many of you the same motivation.

Now drum-rolls please!

I am officially sponsored by Powerfood's J-M.B!

Isn't this absolutely beyond limits?

Jean Marie Bermer, founder of Powerfoods' JMB announced these incredible news during his closing speech at his annual jaarmarkt with every single athlete on stage, and as I was completely unaware, I was overwhelmed to the point that I had tears of joy in my eyes. But I was not the only athlete who was offered a sponsoring contract; Olivier F. a great athlete and teammate is now sponsored by Powerfood's J-M.B as well, congratulations!

This definitely made the perfect ending to a perfect day at Powerfood's JMB annual jaarmarkt.

Thank you Jean Marie, not only for being my coach, but also for always being a great supporter and friend.

I'm so lucky to consider myself part of this awesome team and with every event it seems like we all grow together even more and I am also pleased to say that we got another new team member, who is also a very good friend of mine. It was about time that I got some active support as the only girl in the team.

I never thought that I would get a sponsoring contract after only one year of competitions.

That's definitely the best gift and thing that could have happened to finish this awesome season with my team.

Emotional Speech by Yannick for our coach

Team Powerfood'S J-M.B at a Télévie Charity event

#pumpingfairy

Wow... that was quite a short week for me... 

On Monday I had a day off and yesterday too since it was Ascension Day.Oh I wish weeks would always be that short. 

What have you been up to yesterday?

As for me, I got up a little earlier to hit my fasted cardio. I decided to do this at the gym because it was a little fresh yesterday morning and I seriously don't want to risk a cold or something.

In the late afternoon I went back for my leg session, the 2nd for this week, and of course another cardio session on the bicycle to finish this workout. I think it would be a good idea to rent a little room in the gym and live there for the next two weeks, so I don't have to drive from my home to the gym twice a day. Would be very time-saving , wouldn't it?

I am so glad that I am on holiday next week and until the world championship is over so I can focus on nothing but my preparation: Train. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. That's what my next two weeks will look like. I will also take advantage of my free time to go tanning or to the sauna to relax and lose a bit more water too. 

I really hope that you stay as motivated as I am because I saw a lot of great transformations lately on my Instagram news-feed. With 37 days out of the summer beginning, we still have plenty of time to dig deeper to reach our goals for summer 2015.

In hopes that you are about to experience a marvelous weekend here are my 9 favorite pumpingfairies of the week.

1. erdin_la_vida_loca smashing a badass mirror selfie

2. flouwelsch playing basketball to get a study break

3. healthyme_cn had a tunasalad with detoxwater for lunch

4. kimpinky 's lunch was bellpeper with wholegrain pasta 

5. alixgaspar had an early-morning check-up at our coach's. 

6. pia_fit03 and m.egan__ working their butts off. Keep up the good work girls. 

7. jimmy_nutella doing some cardio

8. caro_rouge hitting some biceps and triceps 

9. li.aah enjoyed her fresh breakfast today, namely coconut yoghurt with fresh mango, oat crunch and chia seeds.

Be supportive.

Focus on the finish

When a friend or a family member has made the commitment to start competing, he/she is about to make an incredible lifestyle change and believe me or not, it's everything but easy.

Being a competitor myself , I can give you one advice: be supportive as a friend or family member. I experienced this during my first prep myself, I had ups and ,mostly, downs and I had a lot of mood swings, like being that cute little gismo gremlin and a minute later I was the 3rd generation gremlin, being all grumpy and angry.

To prepare for a contest you are pushing yourself beyond your limits, physically and mentally. So what you say to a competitor-beginner can have a very negative or a positive impact on your relation, during the preparation or after the contest. Therefore I made a list of things you better keep to yourself.

1. 'Don't build up too much muscle': 

This one is as old as the hills. I can't hear it myself anymore.

Before saying this to your friend, ask your friend to explain his new passion to you. I'm well aware that when someone tells you that they start competing in bodybuilding contest, you are likely to think about Arnold Schwarzenegger or about the real bodybuilding women, right?

No worries: If it was that easy too build muscle in such a short period, oh heaven I think everybody would be a bodybuilder. It takes decades of intense training and dedication to reach such a level.

Whether you like it or not, a strong women is beautiful too. I respect every athlete and every category of bodybuilding competitions because in every category you have to work hard to reach the physique you want.

And you should respect every athlete too, since they all have to work off their butts. 

2. 'You are training too much' :

Oh my... I don't even remember how often I was told this.

It may sound crazy when your are told that someone is working out for hours, 5 times a week and dedicating their spare-time to training, cardio and meal preparations. It sounds like a huge sacrifice, but for a competitor it's not. For them it has turned into a lifestyle that is everything but average. 

Before I started competing, I was partying every weekend once or twice, went to bars, restaurants or to the movies almost every weekend. Now, the last time I was at a restaurant was for Christmas, which was also the last time I went to a club. (Plus, we left very early as I wanted to workout the day after...)

So don't molest your friend when he/she doesn't want to go out to be fit the day after in order to hit an intense training routine.

3. 'You have become too skinny':

Funny how fast the coin can flip...

Before the prep you said that your friend shouldn't become too muscular, now you are telling them not to become too skinny. 

The closer a competitor gets to the D-Day, the more body fat they are about to lose and it seems like they have become super skinny. But no, they have just become leaner, and they will lower their body-fat percentage even more the closer the show comes. 

Usually a competitor only remains that lean (or skinny how you would call it) for a short period of time, namely for the show day and sometimes for photo shoots post-contest. In the 'off-season' they are more likely to have that 'healthier' look again, except for some fitness models.

4.'Come on, One bite won't kill you':

Well yes, it will.

One bite will just lead to another tiny bite and another and another...

Pretty fast your friend can get completely 'off track' , lose the focus and all the previous weeks and months of training and dieting will be lost. So yes, one bite can 'kill'...someones goals.

When you enter a contest-prep it's all or nothing. When your goal is to push beyond the limits, well then you have to change your priorities. A first time competitor will learn that food is fuel and that the connection they once had with fast food won't be so powerful anymore.So instead of forcing them to have one bite, support them and don't give them no bite at all, even when they are about to get really mad. You have to stay supportive (and strong) to resist.

And here some words to my kindred spirits:

Bodybuilding competitions are challenging and with continuous effort you will grow strength. You are about to learn what is good and what is bad for your body, you will try out different types of diets and training routines. Always keep in mind that it's a journey. You will be criticized by people so often that a supportive and motivating surrounding becomes very important for your journey.

When you are competing, it doesn't matter what other people say or think about you and your physique. You will always find yourself with people that don't accept your lifestyle. 

Wishing you a successful continuation.

How I spend my Friday evening instead of going out

No bite! Stay strong!

Gymselfies: Fitspo or Shitspo?

some weeks ago

Ever since social media became even more popular, there has been an explosion in the use of taking selfies, and, in my world, especially gym-selfies. 

On Instagram you get an infinity of results once you enter the specific hashtags that lead to #gymselfies. You get to see muscular, healthy and defined people of all ages who are proudly sharing their amazing body with you.

Personally, I am happy to post such selfies to share my excitement about another transformation of mine, which is basically standing for the work I put into myself at the gym over the last weeks. So the main idea behind gym selfies should be to inspire and motivate other people by showing that if you can reach that physique, everyone can reach the shape you desire.

I also love to scroll though my Instagram or Facebook news feed and have a look at all the amazing bodies from people that trained like hell in the gym and stuck to their diet, which I know can be very tough at some point. I think it's very inspirational if you look at 'normal' people that have reached an amazing physique, people like you and me. The only thing that differs them from everybody else is their dedication and motivation that keeps them going to get what they want. 

But can such gym selfies also harm us? Or even discourage us? 

As several psychologists showed in a research, fitness selfies can lower our self-esteem and we can easily become obsessed with our own appearance as we are constantly striving for perfection instead of progress. Although, this also depends on your character... if you get intimidated easily, well, then I would advise not to look at fitness selfies, because there's a risk that they might lead to a loss of your self-image and get you to go the unhealthy way in order to reach the physique of your role model. 

Actually fitness, or progress, photos exist for as long as personal trainers exists since they also take pictures of their clients from the first week, the 4th week and so on... but with another aim. They take these snaps to make their clients see the progress and to keep them motivated.

So while you are logging your progress, remember also to take before&after pictures. I do it myself and every time I see another transformation it simply motivates me to keep pushing. 

What are your thoughts about fitness selfies? Do they motivate you or discourage you sometimes? Or do you think that it's nonsense and annoying?

#pumpingfairy

Hey guys, how was your week?
Have you been productive or just doing the usual stuff?

My week was like always... lifting heavy in the gym, meal prepping and going to work. And I even had a rest day this week, on Wednesday. Normally I don't rest during the week and take my rest days on the weekends,as the it's the only time I can do other things than working, mealprepping and training.

But this week I had to, because my boyfriend and I are going to hit a gym-session with out coach.. and guess when...On Saturday...Valentine's day. Thus, instead of going out for dinner, which wasn't really an option as I have to stick to my diet-plan, and Ken has a night-shift that starts at 9pm already, we are going to have a badass 'romantic' heavy weightlifting session at our coach's personal home-gym in the early afternoon.

I think I will need a walking support for the whole next week as I am going to hit my second leg-session, which is already heavier than the first one. I am going to die...

Even though, I am already looking forward because I want to know if I am training heavy enough or not, and if my form is always propper or if there are still some tiny improvements to be done. 

So while I am all of a dither and curious about our 'valentine's session' , what are your plans for the day of love this weekend? Hitting the gym with your beloved, going out for dinner, preparing a beautiful candle-light-dinner at home...?

I also thought that it would be kind of a cool idea to have a special  #pumpingfairy edition. Therefor, instead of the usual #pumpingfairy hashtag I ask you to use the valentine's hashtag #lovefairy to create a special valentine's day edition for next Friday. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you that we can welcome the first BOY , Stefan l. , in our little army which seems to grow slowly.

Spread the word my lifting fairies.

1. Flouwelsch 's post gym selfie 

2. Stefan2186 on a late night training session

3. Sarah_48612 is happy to have a small gym at her working place

4. Myveganlife85 at 7am in the gym. that's what I call motivation.

5. Xeniia_93 won her fight against oreo cookies. That's a really tough battle, I am proud of you hihi

6. Lauragetsfit.14 is visibly progressing. Keep up the good work girl!

7. Aline_janie created some delicious protein pancakes. nomnomnom

8. Mary__b preparing her meals for the week. That's how it works. 

9. Alexscastle has been on a new 'diet' since last weeks and her results speak for themselves. great work honey.

#pumpingfairy

Another week has passed and the start of the new season is getting closer and closer... 

This year it will be a very long season which will start on the 28th of March in with the 'Top de Colmar' in France , then the J-M.B Open in Differdange (Luxembourg) which is also a qualification for the World championships in Warsaw (Poland) and, hopefully, the Miss FIBO Power Beauty-contest (you can vote HERE for me once a day ).

After the FIBO-competition I can carb up a little up before shredding again for the West-German Qualification for the International Championship in Rheinbach (Germany), which is on the 10th of May. If I get to qualify, I have to bear up until the end of May. So to sum it up, this season will start on the 28th of March and finish the 30th of May, 2 months of shredding... Challenge excepted!

Therefore I am more than happy to have such a great fit-army who supports and motivates me in every possible way. If you are not on holidays at the beginning of April, you are cordially invited to come to the J-M.B Open championship to support local athletes. You can already reserve your tickets at the Powerfood's J-M.B shop or send him an email (contact here). 

Oh... by the way, here are my #pumpingfairy favorites of the week. If you need motivation or support on your journey , feel free to join us by hash-tagging your fitness&health-related posts on Instagram with #pumpingfairy and get the chance to be featured on my Facebook-page, Instagram-account and of course here on the blog. 

Have a great weekend and enjoy your cheat-meals ( I see everything *sneaky-laugh*)

1. My super yummy and delicious selfmade potato-chips, spiced with Flavor God seasonings

2. xeniia_93 on her way to the gym

3. travel.jill doing some exercises on the ball, looks like a lot of fun

4. sarah_48612 had a little workout again after her cold. Hope you are feeling better by now.

5. sopheylicious 's 'what's in my bag'. I love your pink shoes, so pretty.

6. aline_janie sharing her heavenly red-berries-brownies with us.

7. lauragetsfit.14 had instant oats with strawberries and some apples for breakfast along with a cozy tea.

8. alexscastle 's oatmeal, made with almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla protein powder and of course oats.

9. pia_fit03 had a little curd-ball as a cheat on Sunday. Mhhm how I love those pastries around the carnival season.

#pumpingfairy Fitspiration

It's Fitspiration time again. 

After a while I finally recognized that my fitfam got a little more active since the festive days and hold on to the good intentions of working out more and eating healthier. If anybody hasn't told you this, I will do it now: I am proud of every single one of you who kept up the good work. I know it has been only a little more than a week now, but every new beginning can be hard and I know that supporting and motivating each other is very important to reach the goals easier.

Therefor, if anybody of you is in search for mutual motivation and fitspiration, you are always welcome to join our fitfam by using the hashtag #pumpingfairy for every fitness&health related post on Instagram. Hereby I also welcome all the new members who joined in a few days ago and of course everyone who is yet to come. I am really happy that our little fitness-family is growing and sticking together. 

1. xxbeliieberxx doesn't need a gym to stay fit and healthy
2. fashionbarbecue 's fancy and sporty christmas-gifts
3. lauragetsfit.14 enjoying a delicious dinner
4. t.vani08 doing a LISS session with her fluffy ball
5. lowcarb_bymanu 's ass-ome 2month transformation (congrats!)
6. pia_fit03 flexing them muscles
7. caro_rouge 's pre-crossfit selfie
8. sarah_48612 and her smoothie-love
9. keepcalm_workhard showing off the best supplements in the world, namely Powerfood's J-M.B (great choice!)

#pumpingfairy 2015

I hope you all had a great start in the new year 2015. I stayed at home with my love and enjoyed our last cheat-meal before my preparation starts again. Yes, it's preparation time... The next season won't be long in coming and I am aspiring to compete in several shows, nationally and internationally. Hence I have to get back on track after all those delicious and cozy family feasts over the holidays... Hands up who's guilty too, whoops.

As far as I am concerned, I am highly motivated to reach my goals and I really wish that you stay as motivated as I am. That's why I cordially invite you , if you haven't already, to join our little fit-army to motivate each other so that we can all stick to our good intentions for this new year and reach the goals we set on New Year's Eve. Simply use the hashtag #pumpingfairy for every fitness and health related post on Instagram and get feature on my blog and on my personal Instagram account every Friday.

1. lauragetsfit.14 couldn't resist when she was walking along the Oxford Street in London ( I totally feel you)
2. pia_fit03 gets back on track
3. veronique_xxx enjoys a great tennis-game
4. clairshess on a sunday morning run
5. fashionbarbecue having a colorful breakfast when she was in Düsseldorf
6. xeniia_93 won a personal training with Barbie Bee , congratulations.
7. laurali173 being all proud about her curves
8. nillesjulie had a tomato-salad with tuna and cottage cheese for dinner
9. My new training shoes... Sorry not sorry, I had to share them again. ( @lifting_fairy )

#pumpingfairy movement

Fitfam, you made it through another week... weeeeh. 

Have you planned anything special for your weekend?

As for me, I am taking two pole-dance workshops tomorrow with the beautiful Véro Vegas. She used to live in Luxembourg but moved to Innsbruck (Austria) some years ago to open one of the first pole-dance studios. I can't wait for her classes tomorrow morning, 3 hours of pole dancing, that's insane.

When browsing Instagram the past days, I realized that quite a few people joined our fit army again. I am happy to welcome you and I invite every woman or man to enter our growing community. It's such a pleasure to see how you guys keeps fit even during December, because usually people skip the gym during the festive month because it makes no sense to them anyway due to Christmas eve, Christmas, Sylvester etc. 

I feel confident that over the next week more than a few will meet in our gym-army to whom I would accord a hearty welcome.

1. xeniia_93 proudly presents her transformation. She lost 22kg, we congratulate you!

2. dowhatyoulove_loveyourlife loves her salad at her favorite pub.

3. veronique_xxx transformed too, great work!

4. nillesjulie had chicken,broccoli, carrots and rice-noodles for lunch along with sriracha.

5. alexscastle takes her workouts to a new level.

6. b_lume has a delicious salad for lunch.

7. sophieja96 kicks us with a motivational butt-kick!

8. the.lovely.four have a new post on their blog: healthy apple sauce muffins.

9. flouwelsch has done a great cardio workout.

Always remember to dig deeper and enjoy your weekend!

#pumpingfairy united

Finally it's Friday and finally we also arrived in Hamburg. Now we just have to check-in, register our participation for the competition tomorrow and then we have some spare time to explore Hamburg or simply relax in our rooms.

Therefor the post will be a little shorter. As every Friday now, I am featuring my 9 favorite fitspo pictures from our #pumpingfairy movement on Instagram. I am happy that since last week some more people joined our community, our fitfam is growing bigger and bigger.

1. Ladymanu86 's transformation
2. Urbanvalyou Starting her day with a great booster by Powerfood's J-M.B
3. Anneloesch working out in her fancy nikewear
4. Manopopeye_ sharing her lunch with us: sweet potatoes, low-fat yoghurt & cinnamon and chicken asia style
5. Sophieja96  hitting the gym again after 2 weeks
6. Kleneet25 enjoying a fit salad for lunch
7. Lauragetsfit.14  doing cardio and an arm routine
8. Alexscastle 's healthy bolognese with a bit of parmesan
9. Latanyha2209 showing off with her awesome abs, go girl

Fitfriday: 1 Step closer!

Hey fitfam!

Finally, it's Friday! Which means week-end! Awesome! Have you already planned something for your weekend, or just recovering from the week's workout, or are you still going to workout?

I had to take a break from training because I caught a cold. Dammit! I can hardly breath, so no gym for me since Wednesday...

Even though I feel a bit miserable, Ken (my boyfriend) and I had our first check-up at Jean-Marie's yesterday and it was better than expected.

First of all , what I like most about him is that he is 100% honest, in luxembourgish you would say ' From the lung to the tongue'. Which means if he thinks that you still look flabby, he says it outright. This made me a bit timid when I first met him, so for yesterday's check-up I was kind of , let's say, 'nervous'.

I didn't know what he would think of my current form, but worst of all what would he tell me?!

So when it was time to check my form he was quite satisfied, even though I wasn't sticking to a concrete diet or training plan. He thinks that my overall muscles are very proportional and that there won't be any problem to be ready for this year's winter season competition in 'bikini class'. Already, wow! This motivates me even more! ( Ego booster hehe)

That's Jean-Marie, he looks quite scary but he is such a nice person!

I think you can have an awesome coach who will prepare you very well for your competitions, who will give you a great training and diet plan by which you can achieve great progresses. But I think it is also important that you feel comfortable with your coach. Most coaches aren't interested in what you have been eating before or how you have been training before. They simply ask what your goal is and then they develop a program for you, mostly in the gym. I mean how 'personal' is that...?

J-M is the one on the left. 

But J-M. is different. He asks you in advance to write down your eating and training habits for one week and then hand it to him. On this paper you list everything you eat and how you train, which supps you take, how often and how much each day.

Then, when you meet again, like Ken and I , he asks you to visit him at HOME! That's what I call personal!

He goes through the list and again asks you exactly if you have sticked to this or not. He takes care of your eating preferences(like; I can't eat raw or cooked paprika), how your working shifts are and when you have time to hit the gym.

J-M during a competition! Great form!

I am honest I couldn't imagine a better coach than J-M. He has a lot of experience in coaching athletes for competitions as he has been competing too and while he is the president of the NAC Luxembourg federation, he is well informed about the criteria and the judgments for the several competition-classes.

I finally got my License! YAY!

So now that I finally got my license for the competitions, I can't wait to get my diet & training plan, which J-M will set up now, to get started. Looking forward to rocking the stage with a badass form in winter!

Stay tuned!

Breakfast, important or not?

Hey my dear!

How do you usually start your day? Do you like having breakfast or do you skip your breakfast because you don't have the time, or just because you are not hungry in the morning? I love to have breakfast, for me sleep is like a time machine to breakfast, awesome! It's my favorite meal of the day , not only because you can eat so many delicious things but it is also the most important meal of the day!

But why is breakfast the most important meal of the day, you may ask now? 

Let's have a closer look:

• Having breakfast in the morning is important because if you eat breakfast, you are most likely to lose weight. And with 'breakfast' I don't mean having breakfast at Mcdonald's or having a piece of cake at Starbuck's. I mean having a REAL breakfast, like wholewheat toasts with salmon, chicken-breast, an egg, peanut-butter, honey and so on. If you need some ideas for a HEALTHY breakfast click HERE.

• Having breakfast is a good way to get your metabolism working better for the day. If you eat in the morning, your body tells your brain that you are going to need to start working to digest it which wakes up the system and warm ups your metabolism. So you are ready to steady!

• If you skip breakfast, your body still thinks that it needs to keep its energy because it isn't getting any through nutrition which actually slows down your metabolism , which then results in a decreased amount of calories burnt during the day. 

• Plus, if you don't have breakfast, you are more likely to fail through the day because if you don't feed your body for several hours, like from 8am to 12pm, you maybe turn into a grumpy-cat and already get hungry early in the day. Then, when you are going to have lunch, you mostly choose something high in fat and calories to satisfy your cravings. And again if you then can hold out until dinner without eating anything, you are more likely to snack the whole evening.Not good at all!

• I don't know how you feel when you haven't eaten for breakfast, but when I have to skip my breakfast I can get really grumpy and pissed off, especially as long as I don't get to eat anything. So by having a good breakfast it is a bit easier to stay in a good mood as you don't crave for some fatty foods or whatever. So by having a healthy meal in the morning, you help your body to control your blood sugar levels through lunchtime, which plays a vital role in your mood. Believe me! When I skipped breakfast and went right to school I was so damn grumpy until lunch time and I could hardly concentrate in class!

• So now you may be saying, ' But I don't have the time to get up and have breakfast' or ' I am working shifts , I don't have the time or I can't eat '... Well how do you think bodybuilders or fitness athletes are supposed to eat enough and balanced? RIGHT! They prepare their food and put it in boxes! If you are searching for such boxes click HERE. 

• Now that you have no excuses at all, get your little butt up a little earlier than usual and prepare yourself a healthy meal! 

• If you really don't have the time to prepare something the morning itself,prepare yourself a smoothie the day before, which you can drink while driving to work or to school, but don't cause an accident, that would be a very unhealthy breakfast!

Have a nice day and enjoy your breakfast !

Motivation kicking ass!

Yo, Whatup!?

Today I am a bit 'rude' , just as this awesome Instagram profile @thugkitchen.

I love scrolling through this profile as it is funny to read but motivational and informative at the same time.
Usually you see beautiful pictures of perfect dishes with 'social' quotes and sayings,but this profile is just straight and simply gonna kick your ass!!

I think I let the pictures speak for themselves and you will understand what I mean!

Have a nice f***ing day !!

FitFriday Experience : 21Day Clutch Cut

Hey Fitfam!

It's Friday! woohoo !

Yesterday was one of those days where I simply had no free time at all, driving from one point to another and I didn't even find time to publish an article.
Today, I am going to share with you my first week's experience of Ashley Conrad's 21-days Clutch Cut program.

Before we start I will tell you why I actually started with this program: 

As you may know from my Facebook page, I got my first license for competitions a couple of weeks ago, which means that I am part of the Powerfood's J-M.B NAC International Team of Luxembourg, pretty cool huh?

As JMB ( My coach, Jean-Mari) is a very busy man, he didn't have time yet to meet up for a check-up to develop together an adequate training program and a personalized diet.
I will therefore receive my own personalized program in a few weeks,
but I just wanted to get things started. It's not that I dont't see any results so far, but they come sooooo slow, which by time started to slow down my motivation. To keep me going I decided to get a program from www.bodybuilding.com until I get my own program.

Let's talk a bit about ClutchCut itself: 

Ashley Conrad developed this program to give people ,who are short on time , a chance to workout and see awesome results in only 3 weeks. She already trained people like Bradley Cooper, Kate Hudson, P.Diddy and so on.
Clutch Cut is about getting lean, mean and cut in only 21 days. I really wanted to get trough this program and started last week.

My 1st Week of ClutchCut:

First of all, before I started this program, I had a quick look at the food list and the diet-plan to get a slight idea of what I need to buy to get started. I bought 500 grams of meat ( fish and chicken) , some veggies like kale, broccoli, asparagus and APPLES! 

After I did my grocery shopping, I was so ready to start! 

The program says that you should take your rest days on wednesdays and sundays, but as I prefer to have two rest days in a row, I decided to do the Shred Lift on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the Shred Cardio on Tuesday and Thursday. Which means that my rest days will still be on Saturday and Sunday. 

• Monday, Shred Lift:

I started with an easy incline walk of 5 minutes on the treadmill to warm-up.

I skipped the stretching, if you wanna know why click HERE . 

Then I did the Sprint Workout which was pretty easy.

You walk for about 30sec, then you jog at a moderate pace for 30 sec. and then you sprint the hell out of the treadmill for 30secs again. You repeat this circuit for 4 times which gives you a nice little 6-minutes-HIIT warm-up, before you get started with lifting weights. 

I think this program meets everyone's needs as you can choose the way you wanna do the HIIT. 

For example if you don't go to the gym, you can do this little HIIT workout outside with jogging , inline-skating or bicycling. If you have a cross-trainer at home or a stair-machine,you can also do it on these machines. Up to you.

Personally I won't do this HIIT on the treadmill anymore, as you have to set the tempo yourself which can be quite annoying when you have one hand on the screen and still have to run. I decided to do this HIIT whether on the stationary bicycle, the stair-machine or on the cross-trainer. 

For the Shred Lift you perform one circuit between 3 to 6 times, depending on your fitness level.

I decided to finish every exercise before I got to the next one. I really didn't want to block the majority of the spots and equipment at the gym, because you have to perform 13 exercises. 

The program states that you should perform each exercise with maximal exertion, which means that by the last rep you should be gasping for air. I like! 

After having done the first exercises, Clean&Press, I was already so exhausted! Which actually motivated me even more to do the next exercises. 

As I was in a little hurry I did some supersets so I always made a 1-minute-rest in between. ( Normally you should do 30secs rest between each set) 

I was so damn exhausted and tired afterwards,I couldn't believe it myself! But it felt so good! 

To finish Shred Lift I went on the treadmill for a cool-down-walk for 5 minutes.My legs felt like jelly and I could hardly walk on the treadmill. Awesome!

I also skipped that finishing stretch and went straight to the changing room , took a nice warm shower and returned home for a 5 star sleep.

• What about Shred Cardio:

Fitfam, Shred Lift was NOTHING compared to Shred Cardio! I swear!

As I really don't like cardio, these two days were the hardest, probably also because I already suffered a bit from muscle soreness from the Shred Lifting. 

You start with a little warm-up, a 5-minute walk on the treadmill, or a slow ride on the stationary bicycle. 

After that, stretching, which I skipped again. 

I went right to the HIIT Training.

You start with a moderate walk for 1 minute, then you jog at an intermediate pace for 30 sec and finally you sprint the hell out of the treadmill for about 1 minute. 

Repeat this for about 10 times and you got a 25-minutes HIIT workout! 

Here again it's up to you : You can either do it on the treadmill (which isn't that comfy as I already explained) on the cross-trainer, on the stationary bicycle, on the stair machine, or simply outside! 

After the HIIT Training you cool-down for 5 more minutes, you stretch ( I skipped stretching again) and if you think you're done by now..ha ha ha. There's even more to come.

You still have to do a whole Core-workout that consists of 8 exercises which you have to perform once until failure:

- Jack-knife Sit-up

- 90-degree Crunch

- Weighted Bicycle

- 90-degree Toe Taps

- Elbow Walk

- Army Crawl

- Exercises Ball Crunch

- Isolated Crunch

NOW you are done and can take a shower !

After this first week my motivation got a real push. I already feel better and more energized.

The only thing which was quite 'heavy' for me was to stick to the diet-program as it is very strict. But if you want to see awesome results in only 21 days you gotta stick to it. 

I have to admit, the training was quite tough but sticking to the eating-plan was even harder for me.

Before I started the program I measured myself to see the results , so I just let the numbers speak for themselves:

      31.03.2014                         07.04.2014

Weight: 57 kg                           56,2 kg !!

Neck: 31,5 cm                          31,5 cm 

Biceps: 28 cm                           28 cm

Thorax: 68 cm                          68 cm

Waist: 66 cm                             64 cm !!

Hips: 86 cm                              85 cm !!

Quads: 52,5 cm                        52 cm !!

Calves: 35 cm                          34,5cm !!

I know those aren't big changes, but this was only after 1 week! 

Next week I will share my experiences and improvements of the second week of the Clutch Cut! So stay tuned!

For those who want to experience the same sweat-dropping work-out, click HERE to download the FREE E-Book of Ashley Conrad's Clutch Cut program !

Have a nice weekend an FOCUS!