If I tell y’all this lifestyle change was easy, I’d be lying.

If I told you I’ve never reverted back to my old habits, I’d be lying. 

If I told you I’ve never enjoyed two desserts at dinner, I’d be lying. 

If I told you I’ve never stolen Andre’s fries at a restaurant, I’d be lying. 

If I told you I’ve never gone to bed starving, I’d be lying. 

If I told you I’ve never felt nauseous and lightheaded from sugar withdrawal, I’d be lying. 

I say all that to say this, This shit is not easy and it probably never will be. 

For 23 years I could eat anything I wanted and nothing happened. Throw age, a baby, life after college, FORMER student-athlete, and adulting in there and here we are; on a journey I thought I would never be on. As I sit here taking a break from editing my Youtube video I realized I left out the most important aspect of this journey…

The THREE WAY Internal Conflict

I love analogies. So let me see if I can break this down for you. This three-way internal conflict is a never ending combat between your:

SENSES (smell, taste, sight), your BODY, and your MIND.

Your senses are always going to tell you how amazing that craving will be. You know, when you walk passed Cinnabon or Mrs.Fields in the mall; I know y’all know what I’m talking about. It literally happened to me yesterday. Next thing you know, you’re scarfing down a dozen mini chocolate chip cookies. Now, you’re at home watching TV and a Dunkin Donuts commercial pops up; you find yourself in the drive through at 11 pm at night. I get it, I’ve been there too.

On the other hand, Your body will always tell you the truth because whatever you put into it, it operates off of that. Whether your weight fluctuates, you feel bloated, you feel nauseous or fatigue, your body will tell you.

Here’s the kicker, your mind will never ever pick a side. Some days your mind will be all “buddy buddy” with your tempting senses and some days your mind and body will be on the same team to remind you what you’re working for. Moral of the story, you have to get your mind to be ACQUAINTANCES with your senses but SOUL MATES with your body. I’m six months into this excursion and my Mind and Body are now friends with occasional benefits, lol. I really hope all these weird analogies are making sense. 

I’m not going to go into too much detail on this post because, well, that’s what my 20 minute attempt of a Youtube Video is for. What I want to do in this new blog category is simply give you tools and resources. 

MY GO TO GROCERY LIST/MEAL PREPPING

Programming your OWN workouts for Beginners:

The Push & Pull Workout Program

Do you want to learn how to program your own workouts? 

Don’t have time to workout every single day?

Don’t have time to workout longer than an hour?

Do you leave the gym feeling unproductive? 

Do you feel like you aren’t making progress?

Is Injury Prevention important to you?

Are you interested in knowing what the heck a Push & Pull Workout Program is?

If you answered “YES” to at least one of these questions, keep reading! If not, you can dismiss yourself and go watch my Youtube Video. 

 The Push & Pull Workout Program is a simple but effective way to get a balanced workout. During my time as an SPS (Sport Performance Specialist) I learned how to program workouts based on the Push/Pull Workout method. I was trained and educated by Ivi Casagrande, the current Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Orlando Pride Pro Soccer Organization, She’s such a badass! I never really understood what this approach was until I did it myself. To break it down in simple terms, PUSH means the work is done when the muscle contracts as you push (push ups, squats); PULL, is the opposite, the work is done when the muscle contracts as you pull (curls, deadlifts). 

When someone says, “yeah, I lift”, we often think multiple days in the gym consisting of biceps, triceps, chest, back, abs, and the dreaded leg day. Although that is the traditional way to lift, dividing muscle groups into separate days, although not bad, may not be the best for your lifestyle and for your body. For the everyday person, it can also be time consuming and even cause injury. For example, it can cause imbalances by over-training one area over another, especially in contrasting muscle groups like chest and back. If this is a concern for you, you can try a workout regimen that will address all your muscle groups in order to create a full balanced body that will help you move better, see results, and see your own improvements. This can all be achieved through the Push and Pull Workout Program where you will incorporate upper body push, upper body pull, lower body push, and lower body pull followed by ABS ABS ABS. The best part about this is that you only need to schedule 3-4 days a week MAX using this approach. If you’re a beginner, and you want to set realistic goals, start with 2 days a week! 

Before creating your own workout, here are FIVE things to remember:

1. This can be done 2- 4 days a week
2. It is recommended to do a TOTAL of 5-8 different exercises in a workout day
3. Three rounds of each exercise is ideal, however, somedays, you may only have two rounds in you, and that is okay, just finish strong! 
4. 8-15 Reps of each exercise will ensure that your muscles are getting the work they need. Also, use a weight that is challenging but not too heavy to where you can’t finish ALL of your reps while maintaining good form. 
5. Always record the weight you are using so you can increase your weight or reps each week. This will allow you to see your progress on paper. 

Okay I’m done jabbering, now it’s time for you to get hands on! :

Here is the Exercise Bank we are going to be working with; I will add to this list, but for now, here are some exercises to add to your sheet. You can also head on over to google and search “lower body push exercises, etc” to deposit into your E-Bank. 

Here is a color coordinated program sheet that you can use for a reference, print out, and fill out on your own! I will be creating more in the future, but this is a rough draft for now. She’s not cute, yet, but it’ll do for now.

When filling out your sheet, here is what you need to know. You can start with ONE exercise from each of the FOUR categories. Place two in Block 1 (A/B) and two in Block 2 (A/B). For Block 3, withdrawal three core exercises from the Exercise Bank. It’s that easy, your Day 1 is now complete. It is also important to note that for my workouts, I only use dumbbells and kettlebells. If you’re doing these workouts at home, be creative, look up exercises from these categories that don’t involve equipment, or even use your baby (please use good judgement for this, babies are not the ideal object for kettlebell swings lol). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orIaVWUCgRQ