Short Sweet an to the Point!

The half-hour workout that took me from 180 pounds post pregnancy to an overall figure champion  in only 12 months!

    “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” Emily Dickenson

    Life is a startling thing.  The terrain changes with every step forward. With every change you have to be flexible to move with it and manage to stay on your feet. To do that, is seems like time gets sucked away from you. There are never enough hours in a day, never enough of you to go around. How to balance everything is one of the biggest challenges that we are presented with. Unfortunately in our society, health has become one of the first things to go. But don’t worry about it because there is always a new pill to take that will take care of the problems. Unfortunately, there isn’t a pill to actually make you fit and healthy both mentally and physically. That takes work. But where do we fit that work in to our schedule?
This question became very present for me when I had my daughter.  This new addition brought lots of laughter and smiles and a lot less time. The miracle of life is amazing, however, it definitely changes a woman’s body. I had worked to stay fit through out the pregnancy, eating well and staying active. None the less it was time to address the stretched out belly and widened thighs. I knew that I needed to get into gear because it was one of my worst fears to forever lose my body to pregnancy. The next question was how was I going to fit it in!
    As a competitor before my pregnancy, my goal was to get back on stage. With a new baby and having to go back to work, my time was limited. I needed to fit my workouts into a half-hour a day. So I developed a specific combination that triggered fat loss while shaping my muscle with weight training. It worked! By only weight training four days a week and two other cardio days, I was able to step back on stage when my daughter was 12 months old and take first and overall. If I could do it, so can you! If you can manage ½ hour a day and a healthy eating plan, you can see major changes in your body in the matter of a few months.
How could this possibly work! It’s simple. During weight training you put small tears in your muscles. Your body then works to heal the tears. When it heals them, you get stronger muscles.  Often when you do a workout you get really sore. This is because the tears are larger and it takes a longer to heal. Instead, with this method, we break down the muscles just enough to trigger the body to heal, but not enough to make you so sore that you can’t work that muscle out again in a few days. You can hit the muscles more often and recover quicker.
The program looks like this: Day one is upper body, day two lower, day three cardio, day four upper body, day five lower body day six upper body, day seven rest. Some of the lifts are heavy so have someone spot you if you can. If not, use a weight you won’t drop on yourself!

Day one: Warm up on a cardio machine for 5 min.
Chest- Choose 3 exercises. Example- Chest press, incline chest flies, push ups
Warm up on the chest press with a weight you can do 15 times pretty easy. Repeat if you don’t feel warm.
Now choose a weight you can do 5-8 times for the chest press
A weight you can do 8-10 times for the flies
Then pump out 15 pushups, as many as you can on your toes then drop to your knees to finish.
The goal is to have zero rest between each set and completely exhaust the muscles in a short time. You know you chose the right weight if you can’t do any more than you are supposed to do!

Cardio burst! This is where we keep you moving. Jump on a bike, a treadmill, grab a jump rope etc. Now go three minutes as hard as you can!

Back- Choose 3 exercises. Example Lat pull downs, Seated Row, Reverse grip pull downs. Warm up on the Lat pull downs with a weight you can do 15 times .
    Now use a weight that you can do 5-8 times on lat pull down
    Move directly to a weight you can d 8-10 times on the seated row
    Back to the pull down to a reverse grip you can do 12-15 times.

Cardio burst! 3 minutes as hard as you can!

Shoulders- Choose 3 exercises. Example shoulder press, side raises, front raises
    You should be warmed up by now so go right into the first exercise
    Shoulder press with a weight you can do 5-8 times
    Side raise with a weight you can do 8-10 times
    Front raise with a weight you can do 12-15 times

Cardio burst! 3 minutes as hard as you can
Biceps: 3exercises Example- Straight bar curls, hammer curls, dumbbell curls
    Straight bar curls with a weight you can do 5-8 times
    Hammer curls with a weight you can do 8-10 times
    Dumbbell curls with a weight you can do 12-15 times

Cardio burst!  3minutes!

Triceps: 3 exercises Example- Rope press downs, overhead dumbbell extensions, bodyweight dips off of bench
    Rope press downs for 5-8
    Overhead dumbbell extensions 8-10
    Dips for 12-15
(the more you bend your knees the easier it is. Use this to find the resistance that is right for you!)

        Cardio burst! 3 minutes last one!

Day 2: Warm up for 5 min.
    Legs: The fist group is going to primarily hit the quads, the second will focus on the hamstrings

    Quads: 3 exercise example squats, lunges, quad extensions
        Warm up with some light squats.
        Choose a weight you can do 5-8 times
        Move to lunges, hold weight you can do 8-10 times each leg
        Extensions for 12-15

Cardio burst! 3 min as hard as you can. A fun mix up here is to add plyos! Pop squat for 1 minute, Step up for 1 minute, then pop lunge for 1 minute.

Hamstrings: 3 exercise example Romanian Dead Lifts, machine hamstring curls, ball hamstring curls.
    Warm up with light RDL’s
    Use a weight you can do 5-8 times on the RDL’s (Versa grips help!)
    Machine hamstring curls for 8-10
    Ball hamstring curls for 12-15

Cardio burst! 3 min as hard as you can! Pop squats, soccer drills on medicine ball, jump rope!

Abbs: 3 exercises example weighted decline crunches, v crunches, leg lifts
With abbs you can’t quite fit it in a rep number. So instead push each exercise to exhaustion before moving to the next!

    Cardio burst! Last one! Pop lunges, pop squats and mountain climbers!


Day 3 Just cardio! Incorporate the HITT principle here you get done in ½ hour and get a killer workout!
    Warm up for 5 minutes
    Now push yourself as hard as you can for 1 minute
    Slow down to a moderate pace for 2 minutes
    Push yourself again for 1 min.
    Repeat this until you have 5 min left then slow it down and cool down.

    You can do this cardio anywhere! Use a treadmill, bike, elliptical etc! If you prefer to do it outside, run for a min, walk a min. Even in your living room, jump rope for a min, then walk in place etc. The possibilities are endless!
Day 4: Switch up the exercises, this time do:
    Chest: Incline press, flat press, cable flies
    Back: Bent over rows, modified pull ups, one arm rows
    Shoulder: Upright rows, bent over rear delts, barbell press
    Biceps: Cable curls, wide grip barbell curls, supination dumbbell curls
    Tricep:  Dumbbell kickbacks, reverse grip pull downs, v bar push downs.
   
Day 5: Dead lifts, walking lunges, ball extensions
    Good mornings, one leg hamstring curls, decline bench hamstring curls
    Abbs- Hanging leg raises, scissor kicks, oblique twists

Day 6: Hitt cardio again!


    That’s it, it is that easy. If you push yourself you should be fatigued by the end! Now you can fit your workouts in only minutes a day and get the results you want