Glute Isolation Workout

I love lifting weights and body building, because I get to be in control of what shape my body takes. Working muscles I would like to grow and not working ones that don't need it as much. Big butts are all the rage now. And I am soooooo on that bandwagon. Ha ha.

Problem is. When working lower body muscles, a lot of them work together. Like during your squat "hey butt I see you strugglin', quadriceps and I we're going to help you out here." Maybe not a bad thing, unless you have quadriceps that develop pretty quickly. And your goals are to tames them, but grow a butt. There is many posts about this so I wont beat a dead horse.

Here is a glute/leg workout I put together to focus on isolation of the glute muscles, plus some hamstrings and calves. Because yeah, I want that curvy shape all the way down.

Good mornings - Target the gluteus maximus and the hamstring muscles, the semitendinosus, bicep femoris long and short heads and semimembranosus.

Barbell Lunges - Target Gluteus Maximus and quads. If you take a bigger step it will focus more on the gluteus, shorter step will focus on the quads. I'm really into doing these heavier weighted on the smith machine at the moment. Lower weight, walking lunges will make you feel the burn to.

Hip thrusts - Focus on gluteus Maximus and hamstring muscles, the bicep femoris (long & short heads). I like switching these up between very heavy and lighter with a resistance band around my legs above me knees. Try both and notice where you feel the muscles.

Cable Kick Backs - Gluteus maximus and bicep femoris. Some variations being the knee bent and kick back or grab a platform (think like step class ones) and step up then you can straight leg kick back better.

Hip Abduction - Focus is on Gluteus Medius. This muscle shows more on the side, giving the round shape. I like these on the cable myself, but you can usually find a machine that works these.

Then I round out the workout with:

Standing Calf Raises - Focus on the triceps surae, the three major larger muscles of the calf (gastrocnemius lateral head, gastrocnemius medial head and soleus) as well as the plantaris.

In the "inner butt" is the gluteus minimus which is an important hip stabalizer. Deep in the minimus is the piriformis. Behind the piriformis is the sciatic nerve. I bet you've heard of that one before. Or felt that sucker when he's angry. So it's important to stretch after working out for many reasons, but I think especially after a glute isolation workout, because if the muscles are all tight and the piriformis is, then it will irritate the sciatic nerve, causing you mucho pain.

Here are some great yoga poses you can do to stretch out those glute muscles and hamstrings.

One legged pigeon

Standing Pigeon

Single Leg Seated Forward Fold

Rock A Baby

My computer hates me and does strange things to my images. Perfect example this clown face thing. (LOL)

Thread The Needle

Always warm up before working out! And take care of your body. Listen when it's telling you you've done to much.

Jen

The Red Dress

In four months I will celebrate my 30th birthday. Not turning 29 for a second time, but fully embrace 30. Guns a blazing. Bicep guns that is.

Match 1st I started cutting calories for a 4 month process of shedding the "extra" I added this winter to see the muscles I've built underneath. Yep summer is less then 4 months away people! Let's get moving and shaking on those short shorts legs and sleeveless shirts.

I'm a very goal oriented person. If I have a goal, I will achieve it. So I set the goal of this beautiful red dress for my 30th birthday. I happened to be in a store looking for new boots and came to pass this dress. I stopped and just had to try it on. It fits, sort of. I can zip it up and all, but it just doesn't sit quite right and shows everything. I think I've ever only owned one of two red dresses in my life and I hardly wore them. Likely because red dresses scream "look at me" and I've always been sort of self body conscious. Lifelong body issues; certainly a post for another day. Red dress fits perfectly for this situation since my birthday is on Canada Day. Be color themed :)

 

So, I have a motivational dress now. A goal to obtain. And a date to obtain it by. Sounds like most of us at any given moment? A bikini filled vacation booked, a wedding, a reunion and so on.

Going back to school days where we learned goal planning, let's see where I sit.

  • Goal - Smoke show for 30th birthday. Ha ha. I have a weight number, but I don't want to share it. Not because I care what anyone knows I weigh, but because MY bodies 100, 120, 140, 160 will look different then yours, his, hers or anyone else's. So make your own approachable and REALISTIC goal. If I can make a suggestion 0.5 - 1 lbs a week is a realistic goal. Expecting to loose 10 pounds in 2 weeks is not healthy for your body or your mind. Sustainable and steady is the way to go. Remember the tortoise and the hare?
  • End Date - July 1st 2015. My 30th birthday. Pick a date, for whatever reason/event.
  • Motivation and Commitment - The Red Dress. Trying on the dress monthly and taking pictures to see my progress. Keep imagining the red dress on the day I don't feel like the stairmill. Pick a motivational dress, outfit or whatever. A physical thing to look at is something I prefer.
  • Reminder to stay on track - Trying on the dress is a good one, but I like my Project people will be taking weight and pictures bi weekly, measurements monthly.
  • Plan - I have a plan for my caloric deficit (better term for "diet") and when I start adding cardio to my current workout schedule. I know this is where a lot of people struggle. They get lost in the "who, what, when and where" of fitness and nutrition. But even if you plan to workout so many days a week and commitment to one or two specific things nutrition wise, now you have a plan. One that you can measure your commitment.
  • Review and assessment - Reviewing my progress regularly (see weight, pictures and measurements) and assessing where I am in relation to my goal. This one can be hard to do for yourself. It may be hard to see progress because we see ourselves every day, and we judge ourselves on our failures a lot, especially when it comes to weight loss. So maybe your spouse or best friend wants in with you? Check in on each other and review progress. Keep each other motivated. (Tip: Can also be your support person at events and functions when people ask have that extra piece of cake or drink etc). Over the course of 4 months, things will need to change on how I reach my goal. As my body changes, I will need to keep reassessing how to stay on course. I still love that quote "Be stubborn about your goals, flexible about how you reach them"

Now my real "secret" to weight loss. I also bought a dress that I feel good in now. One that flatters my current body and I feel amazing in. With no event in the future exactly, but hey, who doesn't need a fun little black dress? But wait, why buy a dress that you likely might not fit soon? Because you need to love your body now. As cheesy as it sounds some of those fitness clichés are good tips. "I work out because I love my body, not because I hate it". Yep. If we view ourselves in a negative light now, do we think loosing a few pounds will be easier? If we have a little bit of self love and view the process as improving on something that's already great, do you think it might be a more enjoyable process? Be a little self centered and point out the good.

Let me know your favorite tip for staying on track with your goals below!

Jen

What's In Your Preworkout?

As much as I am a "push hard, reach your goals slightly, type A" person, I'm also a "be good to your body because you only get one" person.

This past fall I competed in a bikini competition. I pushed myself hard. I also didn't compromise on my believes of how to treat my body. I'll blog about competing another time, but I want to talk about the one thing I didn't do that many competitors and non competitive athletes use. Pre Workout powders.

Let me firstly say that to each their own believes and what you do with or to your body is your own damn business. I'm simply sharing my view and the bit of research I put together. Also, that I am not expert in food sciences. Just trying to help make sense of a product that is confusing.

With that said, I looked into the ingredients of my husband's pre workout powder. All internet research because my nutrition books are packed in boxes for the move, but I will list what sites I used at the bottom of the post.

Preworkout powder in question: Superdrive Pre Training Energy Superfuel. According to my husband "the best stuff".

 

  • Ornithine Malate - So our bodies produce malic acid when converting carbs into energy. MY assumption is this is used in the pre workout powder for aiding in taking whatever carbs/glycogen you have in your body and using that to give you the extra boost of energy.
  • Carnitine Tartrate - An amino acid used to combat muscle fatigue and support weight loss (fat burning). Also says it MAY help insulin resistance. Seems straight forward in it's purpose in a pre workout powder.
  • Microancapsulated Triacetin - This is an interesting one. A food additive apparently. Not sure added for what, seeing as how they use it in gasoline to reduce engine knocking, in cigarettes to plastesize the filters and oddly enough in antifungal creams?!?! Got me beat for a hypothesis on actual purpose there.
  • N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine - This fun named ingredient is not found naturally produced in the human body nor is it found in food. It helps prevent the blocking of a particular amino acid. Also says "effective in the increasing of serum tyrosine levels in the blood". Low serum tyrosine levels are commonly found in those with hypothyroidism. (messed up metabolism)
  • Dimethylaminoethanol Bitarte - And I quote "said to help memory, focus and increase alertness". Big claim. Ethanol part scares me personally.
  • Higemine Hydrochloride - This is a stimulant designed to help some body tissues relax and others; such as that of the heart; to contract, speeding up the heart rate.
  • Citrus Aurantium (Bitter Orange) - Ahhh the cousin of banned Ephedra, claims to have ephedra's metabolism boosting, appetite supressing and targeting certain receptors in fat cells, but avoiding the Beta-1 and Beta-2 that make Ephedra dangerous.
  • Caffeine - I'm sure most of us know this one well. My personal choice for pre workout in the form of the coffee bean. Caffeine is actually considered a psychological stimulant and blocks adenosine (the thing that makes you feel drowsy).

Now for the stuff listed as Other Ingredients aside from their main purpose ingredients.

  • Natural and Artificial flavours - Pretty self explanatory. Flavour is strawberry kiwi if you must know.
  • Lecithin - A thickening agent. I assume during liquid thickening so you can have more volume for less money? It is a business after all.
  • Silica - When used in food products it's purpose is to absorb water. Likely to help when all products are turned into a powder, it's to make sure its completely dry so you don't have a clumpy mess when you open the container.
  • Sucralose - A non caloric artificial sweetener. A whole other blog post, so I wont touch this one.
  • Citric Acid - Adjust PH levels, can help enhance flavour, but likely used for it being a food preservative.
  • Salt - Again another food preservation method.
  • Acesulfame Potassium - Another artificial sweeetner. Which I totally did not know.
  • Radish Powder - used for coloring. Better then Red Dye number 5 right? Ha ha.

Now if you haven't gotten enough of my opinion on the matter, I'm not for using these. This is strictly my own theory but I think about the ones that help with insulin resistance or converting carbs to fuel. These are basic functions our bodies perform. So maybe using something to perform these functions for us hinders our bodies from continuing that function? Like our bodies just go "hey, something else is handling that function so lets turn off, be lazy and put our efforts toward something else that needs our attention?" Most, if not all pre workout powders say on the label not to consume for longer then a certain amount of time consecutively. Maybe that's the reasoning? Or addiction to the fun heart racing items?

 

With all this said, and my personal opinion on them, taking a pre workout for a few weeks or a workout here and there when exhausted I don't think will do excessive damage or anything. Just please stick to the warnings on the label, take a break from it and cycle it and of course listen to your body when taking it.

Have a good workout!

 

Websites use:

Love Your Fitness

I posted this picture on my personal Instagram a couple of weeks ago after a great workout and I loved the shape my muscles started taking. I was talking about loving yourself through fitness. I want to chat about that tonight. Likely because being honest, I feel like I need to take a bit of my own advice today.

As I said in the post, fitness isn't about hating yourself. It's not about hating something so much that's it's enough to motivate you into fitness. Most of us get into fitness with the thought "I just need to loose these X amount of pounds", "If I could just get rid of X". Starting our journey's with negative thoughts about ourselves.

Then somewhere along the lines, one, two or maybe 5 weeks later we stop or slow down. Progress isn't happening, we still hate X so what's the point of all this effort for no reward?

During those past weeks what were you saying to yourself? "Ugh I hate X, so I gotta push through what my trainer said" "Dig deep and one day it will be better"? If we are always focusing on the negative and the things we hate, that thing is sure to stay there. You know when you buy a new car and you see it everywhere? Or you get pregnant and you see pregnancy everywhere? You see it everywhere, because its what you are thinking about. It's on your mind, so you make it come to fruition in real life. Now take that and apply it to actual self thoughts. If you think "I'm fat" or "I feel strong" then that is what you will be.

Fitness should be celebrating what you love. My entire life I hated my legs. Thought I had thunder thighs. No matter how skinny I became or what I did, they were just terrible. What do I love now? My legs. I love the muscle they have, the shape they give my body and the strength they hold for the crazy things I put my body through. I can assure you they are not smaller nor much bigger then they have been my entire life, but I have chosen to embrace them. I found a form of fitness that embraces that part of my body and makes me feel good.

I dare you to go to your mirror now and find at least one thing about your body you love. You may see the things you don't love so much, but that's fine. Accept that thought and move on. Don't stay to long there. Find what you love. Your arms? Are they strong and capable of carrying 35 lbs toddlers? Your shoulders? Are they broad, full of pride and give you beautiful posture? Your feet? Are they wide to keep you sturdy and great for balancing in yoga?  Find something that you love.

Find that something you love and build from there with your fitness. Do you love your strong powerful legs? Try running with them. Squatting with them. Your shoulders and arms feel great? Maybe try swimming or yoga. If we all took the time to work on the things we love instead of the things we hate I bet you we would all come further, faster. The more you work toward that, the easier the rest comes.

That is what falling in love with fitness is about I think. Why some people it clicks for them and can't stop working out. They found that thing that makes it a part of them. Also why people try and it fails. You may not have found the fitness you love yet. The way to move your own body and it make you feel good inside and/or out.

I love weightlifting and yoga personally, but you might like Zumba, powerlifting, swimming, crossfit, pilates, running or a combination! In tise day in age we are in of Groupons for all types of fitness just go and try them all until you find something that works. Something that makes you feel good. That makes you go home and say "wow I could do X because my X"

I'd love to hear what you've tried or what you really love!

Jen

Why Do I Want To Compete

It’s funny how I can’t recall one person asking me why I wanted to run a half marathon when I was training for it. Or I have never thought to ask friends why they want to compete in Crossfit competitions or Super Spartan races. But I’ve had a lot of people ask me why I want to compete in this bikini competition. Is it because it’s basically being judged on your look? Maybe a contemplation for another day, before I get to far into it? I originally planned to write this post after the competition, but today seemed like a good day.

I first decided I wanted to compete in September last year. Original thought process was “that would be cool to do one day”. And it went on the bucket list. But ya see;  the thing with me is sometimes I become fixated on things and I have a  hard time letting go of them. This became one of those things that stuck.

So why compete? Why not? Why be ordinary? Why not do the things that we think are impossible? Why not dare to be extraordinary?  We don’t all have to be extraordinary by selling our worldly goods and moving to India or jumping out of airplanes. If you do those things and they make you happy, then amazing. But for me, smaller odder goals are my thing. That new song about being the life of the party and take your shot, it might be scary…. Exactly. Maybe it’s the scary that attracts me to doing things like this.

I did it to push myself. Doing the uncomfortable makes us grow, makes us learn about ourselves. I never want to look back on life and say I wish I tried this, or I’m too old for this now or whatever lies we tell ourselves to make us feel better about not doing the things we never did. Bring myself to that “edge” as my yoga teacher calls it. Nothing wrong with pushing yourself to the limit. As long as you don’t stay there I suppose.

To self observe, to learn about myself. I remember telling a friend I wanted to compete when I first started thinking about it and was told to make sure I don’t take it out on my kids. I was a little offended at the time, but the more and more I’ve read about people not handling the process, well I understood it more. Lowered calories/carbs, excessive training, meticulous food intake, no alcohol, dehydrating practices or heck even the excessive peeing from crazy water intake would have an effect on anyone. The things I’ve learned about myself are incredible to see. Again, probably another blog post.

To prove something. To break the mold of the “typical” bikini competitor. We see them typically as young, childless cardio bunnies, who eat only chicken and broccoli. Well I saw them that way I guess. I wanted to do it another way.

  • As a vegetarian. I have been a veggie for 19 years and get asked ALL THE TIME, “how do you get protein?” Let me tell you something, all veggies are sick of this question. Especially athletic ones.
  • As a mom. I have two children, 1.5 and 3.5 years old. Being a role model is important to me for my girls. Not role modeling ab out having a lean body. Being a role moel for ssetting goals and sticking to them. Persevering through tough times and being humble when they are good.
  • As natural as possible. Non GMO soy products, no funky heart racing preworkouts, no fat burning pills, and aside from the occasional Quest bars that had sucralose in them, no artificial sweeteners.
  • As a “if it fits your macros” counter. Again another blog post, but google macro counting, it’s pretty cool. I basically ate oreos my whole prep until the last few weeks. Not a lot of them, but better then the none most get. Ha ha. This kind of has a second point to it. I wanted to make sure I maintained a healthy relationship with food. Not look at a carb and cry how it will make me fat, or have an accidental slip on my diet and starting thinking of ways to negate it. I’ve read over and over again how competitors have many eating disorders.

Prove to me? Prove to you? Not sure exactly. Just to see if I could do it differently. Following the road to competing but on my own path, on my own journey.

And finally for the athleticism of it. I enjoy working out. I love weight lifting. Maybe not cardio so much to be honest ha ha ha, but I have become one of those people that loves fitness. It’s exciting, and I will try any type of it once at least. Even if it includes doing deadlifts 3 days a week……… Don’t lie to me, aint nobody like deadlifts.

So on the eve of the eve of my competition I’ve had a nice reflection of why I have done all this. Tomorrow I get my tan and go for my weigh in for Saturday. It’s been one incredible journey. No matter what happens Saturday, first place, last place or flat on my face, I’ve done it my way, learned a lot along the way and am ending with self respect, self love and a whole lot of pride.

(Don't mind the black and white, my suit color is a surprise until show day. You're welcome to guess the color!)

bikini

My Journey To Fit & Healthy

I get asked a lot about how I lost the weight or started eating healthy and so on. So I thought I would write my story so far. I'm going to go back 4 years. Pregnant with my first. I gained 60 lbs, had a large cherry pepsi almost everyday, ate all my cravings and wasn't that active, despite having a personal trainer even.

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After the birth of my first, an emergency c section, I thought I had to loose the baby weight. I was breastfeeding and ate the My Fitness Pal recommended 1200 calories plus 500 for nursing. That didnt last long, I hated it. I tried eating relatively clean with cheats here and there, did the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and a few other videos and lost the weight by 3/4 months PP.

I wasn't too happy with my pre baby weight though, so of course not happy with it then. Never did too much extreme to change it though. The summer of 2012 I trained for a half marathon and ran it at 7 weeks pregnant with my second. Never really shifted my body composition much. (So there goes the cardio looses fat rule!)

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I got pregnant with my second when my first was 17 months old, just two months after I finished breastfeeding. I started becoming really interested in food, healthy eating and holistic type nutrition. I began reading a lot about foods through the internet, books and so on. Especially interested in food knowledge now because I was responsible for feeding my child and I want her to grow up healthy.

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I sadly had another emergency c section. I gained a healthy 26 lbs with my second pregnancy though. Most lost before 6 weeks pp. I was breastfeeding and eating a lot. I forgot how hungry you get after having a baby!!!!

The first picture here on the left is at about 6-8 weeks post partum. I was proud I looked like this so soon after baby by the way. Body pride all along the way. This I believe to be key. Love your body at each stage. Learn to find something about it that makes you happy.

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I spent the time from Mid June to September doing basically cardio. I research more this time and found HIIT to be how to loose that stubborn fat the fastest way. Before googling exactly what that is, I must caution you to actually read about it's benefits and suggested usage. I did it every second day, sometime third. Do NOT do this type of training daily. Sometime I did some HIIT and then a long distance run after it too. I am a runner after all.

treadmill

In my head I had a a number goal. Which I never had before. I wanted to get to 125. Every time I was dying on the treadmill, I just kept thinking, "you can do 10 more seconds. This is for 125" I also had my sisters wedding coming in September in Cuba and wanted to be a hot mama. So I bought and hung in view a motivation bikini. These goals were strong motivation for me. Two kids, one of which was extremely colic and a husband working away mostly I had to dig deep for the motivation some days. Some days running on that treadmill in the basement at 11 pm was my stress relieve.

I reached my goal in September, got a gym membership to change it up (AND DAYCARE!) and stopped cardio and started lifting weights. Mostly high rep, low weight stuff, I was a) scared of getting hurt and b) healing a diastasis recti. Please google Wendy Powell and her Mutu System to find out all about this.

I loved my body in Cuba in November. Still at 125, two months later, and proud as hell to walk on the beach with my two kids. Even post a picture of me in a bikini on Facebook and Instagram when I got back!

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Then I got into heavy weight lifting. And my love of weights began. First goal? Be able to squat with the bar on my shoulders without the pad. I had to build those muscles to be strong enough so it didn't hurt. Second goal? Build my ass I lost from all that cardio. Okay this might have been my priority in September, but was really serious about it now.

This is also about the time I started really thinking about bikini competing. A goal to obtain in 1.5 years. By my 30th birthday. (July 2015) Give my body time to get ready, and also because I was still breastfeeding and planned to until my second was at least a year old. I didn't want to risk getting my body fat too low and loosing my milk before we were both done. I like to make assumingly crazy goals and try my best to achieve them. See above about my half marathon!

I then heard about a competition November 1st and thought to myself, "you can do that. You've been training hard, made great progress. Worst that can happen is dead last, but it's still a win to try".Okay in reality worst that can happen is developing an eating disorder, body viewing issues, a destroyed metabolism, hardened relationships from grouchy hangryness and post show depression. But all things I've researched intensely to be mindful of and avoid as much as possible.

Bringing me to my believes. I still believe in being as healthy as possible, eating whole nutrition rich foods and paying attention to my body and what it needs. I don't like taking fat burners, artificial sweeteners or other strange things filled with chemicals that aren't good for you. All supplements and foods as natural as possible. And vegetarian. Did I forget to mention I don't eat meat?

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I didn't want a coach for contest prep, because I was sure I would never find soemone that believed the same things as me. One that wouldn't starve me on 800-1200 calories, wouldn't tell me to take fat burners or make me do hours and hours of cardio each week. There are things such as macro counting, smart ways of doing cardio and natural supplements that can do the same job without ruining your body. Again please research all of these.

Had some trial and error with macro counting myself. Especially hard figuring it out while breastfeeding, but if you refer to my It's a Lifestyle, Not A Diet Post, you'll understand some things take some time. And they are worth figuring out. Plus of course, the time will pass anyways, make it worth your while and try. Below is a picture of me from about April to June with macro counting, lifting weights and zero-minimum cardio. I of course went over macros a lot, cheated on them lots and so on. I'm human, forgave myself and moved on.

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June 29th I started with my coach. One I researched a lot and read every post on his blog to make sure we viewed how this should go as the same. When I started with him I was basically the exact same weight as I was in September. See the difference in my body though? Weight isn't everything. I gained lots of muscle, leaned out and remained the same weight. This picture is from November to April but the above one shows me in June too. All the same weight.

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Now it's almost 7 weeks later and I'm amazed at myself and what I've accomplished. All my muscles I've spent the last 11 months building are coming out as a I lean out. Here is the difference in the last 8 weeks.

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And 3 weeks.

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And for shits and giggles the difference since starting with coach 7 weeks ago.

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I can't wait to see more. Knowing stage weight isn't something I want to keep obtainable forever too. It's just that, stage/competition weight. I was really happy at 125 and will likely go back up there afterwards. Maybe more to bulk in the winter and grow a bigger booty and shoulders. ;)

The whole process has been trial and error over the last 15 months. Food wise, exercise wise and mentally wise. But I think being told what to do and not knowing why or how it works is something that just never works for me. If I invest the time to research and try different ways of doing things I will find my stride. Which I believe I have. Which is how I hope most people view it for themselves. Find your own journey, in the healthiest way possible of course. Last picture July 2013 - August 2014. The journey may be long, but it's worth it.

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Thanks for reading and good luck in your journey!