It’s official…August 18th and 19th…6 weeks to prep!
NO PANIC ATTACK- A notable difference from the last time I booked my photo session.
In fact, I’m experiencing the exact opposite because the changes I made in March were sustainable, healthy, fit my schedule, and gave me results. Now for a bit of “detail” work so that I feel at ease in front of a camera.
Here’s what I’m focusing on…
Phase 1: Clean up and Recovery – 2-3 weeks
Food: While I eat clean on a regular basis, I’m not food obsessed either. I do eat “junk” on occasion. I will absolutely need to make sure that my snacking is packed w/ more nutritional value. In other words, less white cheddar popcorn and more fruits. I also get lazy with my water intake so a visible difference will how much I’m drinking. My vitamins and protein shakes are still coming from Isagenix. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
1. 100 oz of water/day MINIMUM
2. 12-14 hour fasting. In other words, if my last meal is at 8pm then breakfast is no earlier than 8am the following morning.
My day:
1. Wake Up, coffee + almond milk + morning vitamins
2. Isagenix IsaLean or IsaPro shake
3. Post Workout- IsaPro plus starch – probably oatmeal or sweet potato but if I have a hankering for bread, I’m not afraid of it 🙂
4. 20-40g Protein + veggie + fruit
5. Afternoon snack: 2 eggs+2whites and avocado or Quest bar or whatever delicious protein based mini meal is easily accessible. I may be at home or on the run.
6. 20-40g Protein + veggie dinner (or shake if I’m not at home)+ evening vitamins
*my goal is to stay ahead of my hunger so if my body is asking for a carb towards the evening I’ll have a bit. I know myself well enough that if I deny then I’m setting myself up for disaster later. Some of my evenings are really active evenings and others are chill. It’s more important to navigate through my circumstances than to follow a set plan to a “t.”
Training: DECREASE metabolic training. I’m going old school Vain. Why? I can tell my body needs the break. At some point last week, I began not sleeping very well and my energy levels fluctuated from normal to tired almost at random. That’s my body’s nice way of saying, I’m ready for a break. From experience I know that if I “heroically” push through this I will be tired more often than energetic, my workouts will lack intensity, my cortisol will continue to rise and cravings will increase with it. I will without a doubt GAIN FAT this way.
As I’ve coached many men and women at Sweat, more exercise does not necessarily equate to more results. Oftentimes, LESS is BEST. Practicing what I preach…
1. I’m increasing recovery activities like leisure walking to make sure cortisol goes back down. No less than 4 hours of walking/week. This is NOT power walking. This is walk the dog, put on a podcast, and meditate style walking.
2. ZERO CARDIO. That’s right! No burpees, jump squats, jump lunges etc. Heavy leg day, heavy arm day, abs, and one heavy full body day which I’m crazy excited about…only 4 movements. Push Ups, Pull Ups, Front Squats, Deadlifts. We will do it in Vain sometime next week!! It’s going to be awful and amazing!!
Phase 2: 3-4 weeks
I’ll reveal details later. I can tell you that this is when I kick workouts back into high gear and I will add in metabolic training again. Higher reps, lower weights. I can’t detail quite yet how I will change my food choices, however. I need to see how much I am able to shred during Phase 1.
