https://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news.atomRefined By Iron - Weight Loss2024-03-28T12:07:10-05:00Refined By Ironhttps://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news/fat-spot-reduction-fact-or-fiction2024-03-28T12:07:10-05:002024-03-28T12:14:15-05:00FAT SPOT REDUCTION – FACT? OR FICTION?cityboocs AdminMore]]>
Ever had an area on your body that you wish you could “blast away”? We’ve all seen those blog posts “Stomach Blasting Diet”, right? Of course. Not to mention that my feed right now is absolutely blasted with so-called fitness influencers claiming that you can actually fat spot reduce with some magic drink of unicorn hair and olive oil.
Okay, maybe not actually unicorn hair. But, you get my point.
So, is fat spot reduction a myth? Can you actually ‘blast’ fat away in one specific spot? Is fat spot reduction obtainable?
Short answer? No. Long answer? Keep reading…
LET’S START AT THE TOP, SHALL WE?
There are certain areas on our bodies, especially for women, that in the words of the many women I have trained over the years, “trouble areas”.
These are the areas at the hips (not so affectionately called the ‘love handles’), the stomach, and our bums.
These problem areas typically stem from un-balanced hormones. Women and our dang hormones, amIright? It is what it is, but we need to realize that fat loss comes from a wholistic approach.
We also need to realize that sometimes what we see in the mirror is our literal uterus. It may not actually be unwanted or unhealthy fat. This is where you will have to decide for yourself what you think it is that is staring you in the face :-)
Anyway! Let's continue. Where were we? Oh yes, wholistic approach...
You can’t do 800 crunches and expect to get abs. It’s just not going to happen.
Fat loss will come with a holistic approach and when done properly, will come off of all of the areas of your body over a span of time.
Real fat loss that is maintainable doesn’t just come fromgoing on a crash diet.
We’ve all been there, right? Where we think, oh gosh, I need to lose a quick ten pounds. I’ll go on 30 day cleanse and then I’ll be set.
Well, 30 days after your 30 day cleanse, your 10 pounds will be back, if you lost the 10 pounds at all. Plus, chances are, the area in your middle that you wanted to spot reduce is exactly the same size.
OUCH, RIGHT?
My dear sister and friend, I am not trying to be rude. These are simple facts that arerooted in science, not my opinion.
So let’s dig into the science a bit, shall we?
TARGETING A WEAK AREA VS. TARGETING FOR FAT LOSS
I think it’s time for a quick disclaimer. You gals are smart, so I know that you will take this information and use it properly. I’m a trainer and not a doc, plus, I didn’t conduct the study that will be mentioned, I’m simply providing you with information from the study and with info, what I have learned and appliedwith my clientsover my time as a trainer.
First, let’s chat about targeting weak areas of your body to strengthen them, vs. targeting areas for fat loss.
Simply put, you cannot say “I’m going to just lose weight in my stomach”. The brain does not subconsciously think that way.
The body will burn unneeded fat on a proper wholistic diet and workout regimen over a period of time. There is absolutely no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to true sustainable fat loss.
It’s a lifestyle of learning to eat good foods and a proper workout routine. All of whichdoes not have to be boring.
On the flip side of that, we can undeniably target areas to gain strength. Which I absolutely recommend and encourage!
For instance, our core muscles tend to be weak because of underuse. This means that you can do workouts to tighten up and strengthen those muscles and to make them stronger and more useful to you and your everyday life!
This does not mean that you are “spot reducing fat”. It simply doesn’t work that way.
ISOLATED VS. COMPOUND/COMPLEX MOVEMENTS
Let’s dig a little bit deeper into targeting these weaker areas.
There are two main types of exercises – compound (sometimes referred to as complex) and isolation movements.
Compound Movementsare movements that require multiple muscles to complete the movement. Examples would be a squat, a bench press, a push press, a lunge, etc.
Isolated movementsare exactly what they sound like – movements that are isolated to a certain muscle group. Examples would be bicep curls, leg extensions, tricep extensions, hamstring curls.
For my beginner girls,
I recommend more isolated movements as you learn what your body feels like and how it reacts to your workout regimens.
My intermediate to advanced girls,
I do a mix of compound and isolated movements.
The compound movements help burn more calories and create better body awareness and coordination. While on the other hands, the isolated movements make those weaker areas stronger and tighter.
Again, when targeting a certain area, will make it stronger, but it will not increase the speed of fat loss ONLY in that area. But don’t take my word for it…
TARGETED FAT LOSS STUDY
There is a study that was done which you cancheck out the full study herewhere it was attempted to disprove spot reduction.
I’m not going to go into a crazy amount of detail because I know that you can read the study for yourself but I’m going to summarize it for you.
With an average age of 23, seven men and four women training their nondominant leg for 12 weeks at 3 times per week. These workout sessions included using the leg press for 960-1,200 reps!
Holy Moses that is a crazy amount of reps, amIright?
However, they only did about 10% of their one rep max, so the weight was not very much.
After they did this for 12 weeks, which believe me, after that, I would probably never look at a leg press again. I need some variety in my workouts, know what I mean?
Anywho, after it was all said and done, the conclusion was that the fat mass reduction in the upper body was significantly greater than that in the lower extremities.
SAY WHAT?
Didn’t they just blast the crap out of their lower extremities?
Yep, they sure did.
Here is their quoted conclusion
“In conclusion, the training program was effective in reducing fat mass, but this reduction was not achieved in the trained body segment.”
Well there ya go. Science does it again. You can’t target only one area and reduce fat only in one area. Nope. Can’t do it!
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
Should you even give a crap?
Yep, you should actually and here’s why..
The internet is absolutely saturated with this fad or that diet or this workout, or this diet pill or “celebrity approved” fitness nonsense. The Instagram and Pinterest feeds are FULL and I do mean FULL of quick fix promises of certain drinks and potions.
I’M STEPPING ON MY SOAP BOX SO BUCKLE UP
What the heck do celebrities know about diets and fitness routines, anyway? They aren’t the experts. They are the ones that have hired experts that give them their targeted calories and workouts and… yeah, if you see “celebrity approved”, run away.
Not to mention a lot of the 'fitness influencers' you see do not have any sort of credential nor done any personal studying on the matter. Don't get me wrong, there are legit trainers out there, but a lot, and I do mean a LOT are not.
Anway! Back to why you should care. You should care, because it is your health and your body, and knowing what is proven by science and what is not will be what gets you to your health goals.
THE SCIENCE OF FITNESS AND STRENGTH IS SIMPLE.
Fuel your body with good food,stay within your target calorie rangespecific to YOUR body, have a plan of action in your workouts that hits all areas of your body, stay consistent, and the results will take care of themselves.
KEEP IT SIMPLE.
HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO TARGET SPECIFIC AREAS
If you have an area on your body that you simply don’t like, my suggestion would be to dig a little bit deeper into that.
Why don’t you like that part of your body? Is it abody image thing? I’ve struggled with that in the past, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Or is it because that part of your body is weaker and you need to strengthen it because it effects everyday living?
Or is it because you would like to reach a certain workout goal (ie a pull-up) and the muscles that require that movement are weak?
Just remember, that working a specific area does not mean that there will be fat loss in that area.
Work your whole body and eat good food. Again, the rest will take care of itself.
A QUICK BLAH BLAH ON CALORIE DEFICITS
Yes, I said blah blah.
Anywho, just a quick little blurb on weight loss and calorie deficits. You simply cannot lose weight without being in a calorie deficit.
Being in a proper calorie deficit for a period of time then building your calories back to baseline is what help you lose weight properly.
Again, a completely different post, but that is the basics.
SPOT REDUCTION? JUST DON’T TRY IT. IT’S NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.
Again, for the love of dumbbells, do not go on a crazy crash diet for just trying to lose weight in your belly or on your thighs, or whatever the case is.
If you do have extra weight around your middle and you’ve been eating good foods at a healthy level of calories and you’ve been consistent in your workouts, I would recommend getting your hormone levels checked by your MD.
For more on that,here’s a great article written by Dr. Sara Gottfriedwhere she talks about hormones and weight loss in the belly. Simply put, hormones CAN have effect an on your weight in your trunk. We’re women and it’s totally not fair, but hey, it is what it is and knowledge is power.
So when you’re out and about on the lovely interweb and you see “Celebrity approved diet pill!” or “10 day belly blast juice fast” run away as quickly as you can. No matter how good it sounds, it’s not worth it.
Nope, you can’t fat spot reduce. The body simply doesn’t work that way. Your body is a unit that works together as a whole.
Meeting fitness goals for your overall health is a daily process over the course of your life. It helps you live your best life. Not some crazy juice cleanse.
There is no magic pill. YOU are the magic pill. Hard work, consistency, a plan, and eating real food.
Yes, it really is that simple.
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https://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news/eating-to-get-shredded2023-04-24T06:00:05-05:002024-03-25T17:04:42-05:00Here's How to Eat To Get ShreddedAmber George
Anytime that you hop on the Internet asking for the answer to a question, you will undoubtedly come across just about anyone who thinks that they’re an expert.
While this is true for any niche, it's especially true for fitness.
When you are working to sculpt and build muscle, your overall nutrition is extremely important and directly affects your results.
The information that is on the interwebs regarding this topic constantly conflicts each other. So much so that women have gotten to the point that they don’t know what to eat so they simply won’t eat.
What is the answer to that question? What DO you eat to get shredded? First of all, to simply not eat is an entirely different subject than the topic we are tackling today. However, it’s important that you do eat and not just skip meals or snacks.
Let's dive in to how to eat to sculpt muscle.
First of all, protein is your friend. Protein is quite literally the building block of your muscle. Approximately 80% of your muscles are made of proteins. That number goes back-and-forth depending on what study you look at, but the actual number is around that percentage.
Based on that information, you can see that your daily nutrition will need to be heavy in protein. But how much heavier than the other macros? Hang with me, we'll get there.
Before that though, let’s talk super fast about the Thermic Effect of Food.
Protein has the highest satiety rating of all the macros which means that it helps you feel fuller longer.
Thermic Effect of food also discusses how your body breaks down the food and how it is utilized in your energy balance. Translation? It's vital to overall energy output. The other macros of fat and carbs do contribute to this, but it is not as high as proteins.
Keeping all of this in mind, how do you split up and balance your food so that you have that optimal output without losing your mind trying to hit those numbers?
Chances are, if you counted macros in the past, you have probably sat at your counter at 9 o’clock at night with 20 more grams of protein to eat and 10 more grams of carbs and you are wondering what random concoction you’re going to put together to perfectly match your macros. It's madness and unnecessary.
So, how do you split and reach your target without going nuts?
First thing's first- you are going to need to know what your specific calorie target is and then I will tell you how to split that up.
Unless you are specifically looking to put on weight, you are going to choose the maintenance calories option. For the sake of this post, we're talking specifically about sculpting the muscles, therefore maintenance will be the choice. Take that calorie target and come back here.
Utilizing this maintenance number, it will be your ultimate target for the day. Example- if your target calories are 2100 that is ultimately what you want to reach that day. That is priority #1.
Your ultimate goal for each day is to eat whole and complete foods while working towards hitting this number. This number does not mean that you want to eat as much junk food as you possibly can while staying at or under this number.
This is because those foods do not provide quality nutritional value. Choose Whole Foods as close to nature as you can get. Some days this will be super easy and some days it will not. Your responsibility is to not freak out and obsess.
Do your best and it WILL get easier each day!
Your second goal per day will be to hit your protein target. Remember, how proteins are the building blocks of your muscles? This is why it’s second priority.
Why is it not first priority? Because eating enough overall is even more important!
Generally, my recommendation for a target for protein will be 1.5g per body weight. Example- if you weigh 140 pounds your protein target will be 210g for the day.
Third, you’re going to want to hit your fat target.
The minimum fat target for a woman based on hormones and other needs is 60g.
You would be amazed at what other trainers recommend for fat targets to women who want to build muscle. I've seen fat targets as low at 15g per day. This is atrociously low.
With our cycles and other hormones we must eat a minimum of 60g of fat per day. For a point of reference, my fat targets are anywhere from 75g to 95g depending on where I am in my cycle.
This is the point where you are going to want to play with your targets a little bit. Figuring out where, your body feels best on what split between fat and carbs. What split helps you to feel full and satisfied? Keeping in mind that this can and will change based on where you are in your cycle.
Simply keep that minimum target of 60g of fat and adjust as necessary as your body is telling you what you need.
From there you’ll fill in carbs. Carbs are not our enemy, carbs are our friend. They provide us that quick energy that we need and fats providers that longer-term energy that we need.
I have had women that have had a pretty even split of macros. I’ve also had women who have had a super high proteins split and a really low carb split simply because their bodies didn’t handle carbs as well based on their medical needs recommended by their doctor.
There have even been women who have had a super high carb target even almost with protein.
The important thing here is to start with 1.5 g target protein for body weight and to adjust as your body feels the need.
It's important to remember that your protein target should always be higher than your fat or your carb targets when the focus is sculpting of muscles.
From here, some trainers would say that you need a fiber target. However, because I encourage women to eat whole foods as much as they possibly can they will get most of, if not all the fiber that they need.
How do you apply this information? What do you do from here?
First thing Go to the TDEE Calculator link and put in the information and figure out your maintenance calories.
From there you’re going to take your body weight and multiply it by 1.5 and that will give you your protein target.
Then you will take your fat at a minimum of 60g and adjust as needed until you find that sweet split your body feels best on. Past that, you'll fill in the rest with carbs.
I highly recommend taking pictures as you go, keeping in mind that your body will look a little bit different as you go through the phases of your cycle.
It’s very possible that you have eaten so little for so long that you will need to reverse diet, which means to slowly build back your calories.
If that is the case, you have one of two options, simply dive right in and jump those calories up to your target or slowly rebuild your calories at 100 calories per week until you reach your target maintenance.
Remember to not obsess. This process can be extremely fun!
You will learn so much about your body and how it works, if you will simply roll with things and not obsess over what you are putting in your mouth.
Simply be aware and apply your knowledge, but don’t obsess. I'll leave you with one last piece of information...
This process can take months and even a year or more. This is a lifestyle this is not a crash course. Anybody that claims to you otherwise is lying to you. Don't fret! The time will pass anyway so enjoy the process. Apply this process over the course of time and your body will reward you. It will be difficult at first but as you go, it will get so much easier.
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https://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news/training-to-sculpt2023-04-22T12:58:31-05:002023-04-22T12:58:31-05:00Training for Sculpt Vs. Training for MassAmber George
If I've heard it once, I've heard it 100 times. Women wanting to train to "tone" their bodies. When I ask them what they mean by this, they will describe a bubbly butt, shoulder caps, and sculpted abs.
At this point, I always want to make sure we're on the same page. Because of this, I will ask her to show me a picture. She will often show me a picture of a woman that looks amazingly healthy, has sculpted arms, and sick abs. Ya know, sick in a good way.
Which, by the way,
I'm loving the trend of women pushing to be strong vs. being skinny as possible. (I'm looking at you, early 2000s toxic environment.)
The next part of this conversation typically goes with "I want to lift my heavy weights, but I don't want to bulk. I want tone."
Which, the word that they are looking for is typically 'sculpt'. She wants muscle, but she doesn't want to turn into no-neck.
My guess is that this is you because you're still reading this story.
Here's the good news
You’re not just going to magically bulk. And here's why...
Women have different hormones than men. Our muscles are not going to naturally get as big as theirs are.
A healthy young male secretes 15 to 20 times more testosterone, than women that are of similar age.
Testosterone plays a huge role in muscle building, which means that you’re not just going to just all the sudden bulk and not know what happened.
This is true, no matter how much weight you’re lifting. Your muscles will grow, but it will not grow as fast as the male will, because he has more testosterone.
Because of this, bulking is not something you have to worry about, unless you purposefully bulk.
Now that we have that out-of-the-way,
let’s talk about what your training program should look like if you are wanting to sculpt.
The way that I program to sculpt muscles is a mixture of low rep and high rep over a course of time. To be clear, when I say over the course of time I do mean over the course of TIME. This isn't a 12 week sprint here. But, that's a different topic.
Here’s what I mean in regards to rotations of low vs high reps. For the first four weeks I might do a 4x10 then for the next three weeks do a 5x6 then for the next four weeks do a 3x15 then I go back down to 4x8.
During these rotations, we are doing a mixture of weightlifting and weighted cardio.
The cardio piece is not as heavy as the weight lifting piece. I include cardio because it is a integral part of a healthy program. But since we need are looking to sculpt muscle, this is why we utilize the weights while getting the benefits of cardio.
It's important to know that the cardio we will be doing is not HIIT level training, but it is also not LISS level training. It is right there in the middle of those.
Now that we’ve got rotations and wraps out of the way, what about exercises?
Let’s split it up talking about weight training days first, then weighted cardio days.
On weight training days, I always start the workout off with a compound movement. The rest of the workout is based off of that compound movement. I will either choose other exercises that compliment and progressively overload the muscles that were utilized in that initial compound movement. This means that there will be a mix of antagonistic or protagonist super-sets, single sets, or tri-sets.
Now, mind you, those are not all done at once. Everything compliments that initial compound movement. The compound movement chosen will not always be the same. Meaning, we will not always start with squats, nor will we always start with a thruster.
The exercises that I use across the programming are very similar because we are working specifically on muscle sculpting and not just doing a workout to do a workout.
NEVER FEAR!
That doesn’t make the workouts boring. Because there’s about 5,672 ways to create sets and different exercises to get maximum benefit.
What about nutrition when training to sculpt?
This is an excellent question that I get quite often.
Unless you are underweight, I have my clients eat at baseline level for sculpting. What that means is I figure their calorie target based on their individual markers and have them eat at that maintenance level.
Maintenance level is the level of caloric intake that you would take in to maintain exactly where you are weight wise.
If a gal is underweight or if she does want to build a bit more muscle and not just sculpt; I will have her eat in a bit of a surplus.
Typically will do this in 3 to 4 week segments and then come back to maintenance.
Each person’s nutritional target is so different from another that I can’t just say eat 2000 calories a day because some women have target calories of 2100 or 2500 cal per day while other women that are smaller may have 1900 to 2100 target calories per day.
It is so individualized that I will not put out specific numbers. But, here is what I will say. You as an individual will need to eat at maintenance calories for where you are at this moment.
So, how can you apply all of this information to what you are doing right at this moment?
First thing:
Are you following a specific plan or are you looking up free workouts on Pinterest? If you are not following a specific plan specific to your goals, it’s time to buy one.
Whether it is my Refined By Iron Method, which is specific for garage gym owners; or working with me one-on-one you need to buy a program that is specific to this goal.
Next, check out your nutrition. If you work with me one on one or are you buy the Refined By Iron Method, you will learn how to address your nutritional needs at the level you are currently.
If you want real sculpted results which you can get without selling your soul by the way. You need to be following a program that is specific to these goals because there is a right way and a wrong way to do that.
Want a plan that gives step by step instruction to get the results you're looking for in your garage gym? Head over to the Throw in your email in the box at the bottom of this page and I will send you a 25% off code!
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https://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news/growing-glutes2023-04-12T18:21:42-05:002023-04-12T18:21:42-05:00The Top Two Mistakes While Trying to Grow GlutesAmber George
"I do all the glute exercises that I see trainers and coaches do on Instagram and Pinterest, and yet, my glutes still will not grow. I want to grow my glutes and fast"
This is a phrase that I have heard time and again from women. That they are 'doing all the right things' and still 'not seeing results'.
These are women who are focused on their fitness and are looking and working towards real sculpted results.
So, what's the problem? Why weren't these women seeing booty results before tackling my programs?
Top two reasons:
They weren't eating enough
They weren't lifting heavy enough.
Let's start with the number one mistake women are making in regards to growing their glutes.
Mistake #1 with trying to grow glutes quickly - not eating enough.
The women I tend to work with (myself included) grew up in the age of Brittney Spears and low rise jeans. We saw washboard abs and size zero pants and were force fed the idea that this was the beauty standard.
This was something that became engrained in our brains and now that we have healthy body standards, we still sometimes struggle when it comes to eating properly for the kinds of workouts that we do.
It's not that they're purposefully eating less than they should, it's that they almost feel like they're eating too much, because we went so long with eating just enough.
We still tend to fall short on the target calorie needed to have beautifully sculpted muscles and a squeezable butt. From my experience, it is actually a subconscious thing that is extremely difficult to overcome.
Because, these women (again, myself included) love the look of sculpted and strong that isn't bulk. We have overcome the idea of "skinny" being the goal. We want health and we want strength.
So, how do you overcome this issue? Because, this is a big one! I recommend, at least starting out, that every woman count calories. Not because we're being obsessive, but because this gives you a live and real example of how much food you should be eating.
But how do you know how much you should be eating? You would figure your own target personal calories.
Each and every single woman has their own specific target calorie and macro count for their body. Knowing what that target is, and counting calories for awhile and taking note of what eating enough feels like. Knowing what YOUR portion size looks like, sets you up for a lifestyle of being able to mindfully eat.
Because, let's face it. The portion sizes that we as early 2000s teens thought were proper portion sizes, are not proper portion sizes. It's simply not enough.
Mistake #2 with trying to grow glutes quickly - not lifting heavy enough
In short? Stop using the booty band so much.
Wait. Wut.
Yep, you read that right. You can over utilize the booty band. The booty band is an accessory to your glute workout regimen, it should not be the core part of your glute building program.
And, please, for the love of creatine, do not just walk with a booty band around your legs. Yes, I have seen this done. That is not what the booty band is for.
Fix this mistake by lifting heavy weight.
How heavy? Look at it from this perspective.
The glutes are the strongest muscles in your body; and they should be treated as such. This means that using a booty band as the nucleus of your glute building program makes zero sense.
What does make sense is to lift heavy weight while doing hip hinge movements. These include (but are not limited to)
Hip Thrust
Romanian Deadlift
Low Bar Back Squat
When working with clients on their hip thrusts, their first target is their body weight. This means that if they weigh 140 and they have been hip thrusting 125... It's time to bump it up there, sis.
The next target is 1.5 times bodyweight for 2-3 reps, then from there, 2 times body weight for 1-2 reps.
THAT is how strong your glutes are and you can now see why death-by-booty-band is not the answer for some sculpted glutes.
Does this mean that you should always lift that heavy? No. It doesn't.
Let's take the hip thrust movement as an example for a second.
There are no less than 20 different ways that a hip thrust can be programmed. Ranging from full normal reps to 1 1/4 reps, to slow tempo, to fast tempo, high reps, and low reps.
The weight you choose all depends on how the program is written and how many reps and sets there are. The point is, you should be lifting many times more than the weight that you would use for your arms.
So, let's recap.
It's a pretty easy re-cap. You have to make sure that you're eating enough food! This is SO important! Because if your body is not getting enough fuel, then there will be no fuel to go to the glutes. Your fuel will all be used for survival and not for anything extra.
Next up.
Hang up the booty band for awhile and start doing hip hinge movements with heavy weight. Keeping in mind that 'heavy' is relevant to where you specifically are in this journey. Your heavy could be 175 pounds while another gal's heavy is 95 pounds.
I know that you're not afraid to lift heavy weight. That's obvious! It's simply that you didn't have the right information to be able to apply to get those booty gains that you're looking for.
You've got this. Now go take a pic so that you can look back in 30 days and see some progress!
Want a plan that gives step by step instruction to get the results you're looking for in your garage gym? Head over to the store and grab The Strength & Purpose Method! Throw in your email in the box at the bottom of this page and I will send you a 25% off code!
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https://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news/mistakes-to-avoid-while-building-muscle2023-03-29T17:26:53-05:002023-03-29T17:40:57-05:00Mistakes to Avoid While Building MuscleAmber George
So, you're trying to build a squeezable butt and some killer legs, buuuttttt you're not seeing the results you're looking for.
Super frustrating, right?
Before we go forward, let's talk about what you're looking for to make sure we're on the same page and I'm providing proper information.
If you're reading this, you're probably looking for some sculpted legs, a squeezable butt, strong and toned arms, coupled with some strong mental health. Right?
Sound right? Keep reading then!
There are some really common mistakes that gals make when they are trying to build muscle; we're going to go over the most common ones. Plus! We'll address how to combat each of these.
Mistakes while building muscle #1 - Not eating enough
Number one mistake is not eating enough. When I am taking my clients or myself through a muscle building phase, I have them eat in a surplus and encourage them to count calories to ensure that they are eating enough.
Until reaching the 'maintain and sustain' stage, I always encourage counting calories. This gives us a controlled view of what we're doing to reach our fitness goals.
To grow muscle, there has to be enough protein and overall calories. I know that eating in a surplus messes with the brain of women everywhere and I 100% get it. I really do.
However, eating in a surplus while trying to build muscle is absolutely vital to your success.
Here's an example of why..
If you are trying to drive somewhere, but don't have the gas in the car, you're not going to get anywhere. The same goes with our food. Food is fuel, the better the fuel we have, the quicker and better we will build muscle.
To further that analogy, if you are traveling a distance, but only have 1/4 of a tank, you're going to gas out on the side of the road.
Now apply that concept to your food in regards to muscle building. If you do not have enough food to actually GROW the muscle, and not just maintain it.... Then you're going to gas out on the side of the proverbial fitness highway.
Mistakes when building muscle #2 - Not lifting heavy enough
While this one may sound pretty obvious, you'd probably be amazed at how many gals don't lift enough. Yes, even those that have their own garage gyms with all the bells and whistles.
Now, working out in your garage gym, there will be times that you're working out by yourself which is where those safety features of equipment come in. Also keeping in mind to be smart while lifting heavy weight.
Let me tell you a story.
I had a gal who said she wasn't getting muscle results she was looking for. She was being consistent and following a plan (it wasn't mine, but she was following a plan) and she said that she wasn't seeing the glutes she wanted nor was she seeing the arm and ab results she was looking for.
Come to find out, she was using the same weight on her legs that she was using on her arms. Her reasoning was that she "felt it" still in her legs, so she had to be doing the right thing, right?
While I saw where she was coming from, I told her that I can feel my muscles work in my legs when I walk, but walking isn't going to give me that squeezable butt.
If you are using 15# for your bicep curls, you need to be using more than that for your legs. The muscles in your legs are bigger than the muscles in your arms.
Make sure that you are lifting heavy enough relevant to the muscle group that you are working at that given moment.
Mistakes building muscle #3- No Rest
I would dare say that proper rest is just as important as your workouts. This includes de-load weeks every 6-12 weeks.
There are different types of rest, which is a post all in itself; but, ensuring that you get proper rest days as well as de-load weeks will catapult your results. The reason that these two types of rest are important is because it allows your muscles to recover and recover in different ways.
Rest days are days that the most workout you would do would be to go for a walk down the road.
De-load weeks would be where you cut your weights by 1/4 or even half. This gives your body movement in the muscle building movements, but it gives them a break in the strain of heavier weights.
Bottom line?
Allow your body to recover by doing proper rest. Don't worry, you won't over rest. I know my garage gym gals well enough to know that they won't overly rest.
Mistakes Building Muscle #4 - Hydration
Yes. Not being properly hydrated can have an affect on your muscle building. While it is not top 1 or 2, as you can see, it's in the top five.
Your body needs water. It's made up of a lot of water. With your workouts, you sweat and lose a lot of water, right?
You need to not only replenish that water that is lost, you need to surplus it a little bit.
My rule of thumb for water intake is to take your body weight in ounces and cut it in half. It's an easy rule of thumb that is relevant to you.
I know a lot of coaches that push for their clients to drink a gallon of water per day. Dare I say it? Yes, I do dare. A gallon of water is not necessary. It's simply unnecessary. Take your body weight in ounces and cut it in half. Voila, there's your target water intake.
Look here.
Listen closely. There are ways to get the muscle results you're looking for. That sculpted bad mama jama look that you're going for without selling your soul or eating boiled chicken.
Don't do that. Give your soul to Jesus and grill your chicken instead. :-D
Anyway! These mistakes are so common that we don't even realize we're doing them. Take each of these in order seeing which one applies to you and go from there.
Hover over the image to Pin to your favorite board!
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https://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news/failproof-steps-to-get-shredded-in-your-garage-gym2023-03-25T08:53:01-05:002023-03-25T08:53:01-05:00Failproof Steps to get Shredded in Your Garage GymAmber George
CoaHave you ever stood there looking at the equipment in your garage and think, "gosh. I'm not motivated today. I'm not getting the results that I'm looking for and since I'm not; I am just not motivated."
Then, you either A. don't workout or B. find a workout graphic on Pinterest that looks so hard, you choose it because you think, "yeah, this is killer, this will definitely get me some kind of results and results fast."
You're probably sitting there like, girl don't attack me like that, we just met.
Totally not attacking you. It's a common thing!
You spent this money on this equipment and you're now wondering what in the world to really do with it to actually bring forth the muscle results that you're looking for.
Those glutes aren't going to build themselves, right? But how?
First off, stop using free plans and random graphics off of Pinterest.
We all like free, right? I mean who doesn't like free? Pinterest is awesome in that you can hop on there, type a few words in and with a little bit of technology magic, you are now starting at a world of recipes, home décor ideas, hilarious pictures of dogs and cats, and people claiming to be fitness experts.
Not all free on the internet is bad, I give away free stuff all the time! However, when it comes to your fitness and wanting to get visible and sustainable results, you need a real plan.
And, not just some random 30 day workout plans here and there hodge-podged together. You need a plan, created by an expert who knows what they're doing, has experience AND results to prove their process and methods work.
The proof is in the pudding, sis.
Because, to grow those glutes or to finally do a pull-up without assistance or to get the coveted shoulder caps, there has to be a plan in place with increased intensity over time.
Let's take building glutes for a quick example -
your glutes will not grow if you are not doing heavy weights on them and eating enough.
That's the basics.
To dig deeper into that analogy, you're going to need compound plus accessory movements. This is to hit those big muscles all together and then target each glute (max, med, and min) individually.
This type of specificity doesn't come from random Pinterest workout graphics nor does it come from a free workout plan you got in exchange for giving them your email address.
Not only that, let's be honest, your weird neighbor down the road who hasn't seen the light of day since 2004 and comes out only at night to get their mail could very well have created the workout that you did this morning.
Get a plan. Don't just get a plan, get a plan from someone who has the credentials AND the track record.
Now that you have The Strength and Purpose method, now what? Well now, you gotta do the work. Because the plan is only as good as the work that you put into it.
Which, you're a hard worker, so this step will be easy. The first step is the hardest because it sucks to have to come to the realization that what you're doing wasn't working.
Working the plan includes scheduling your workouts at times that work with your current schedule.
Being a muscle mom is 100% doable and doesn't require selling your soul, I can promise you that. The workouts that I put into my methods and with my 1:1 clients can be done in 30-40 minutes. We don't do that hour+ nonsense around here. Because, quite frankly, we don't have the time. AmIRight?
We don't have time to drive to the gym. Which is why we have the garage gym, right?
Schedule those workouts in where it works in YOUR schedule. Doing this will set you up for success.
Third and final step - be patient.
While you can get quick small results, the bigger results such as glute growth takes a bit of time. That is the harsh reality.
It's like having a garden, right? You plant the seed, but it could be weeks, months, or even years before you see the fruit of the work put in.
The best results you will ever see will be small habits that you build over time. The seemingly mundane and unimportant tasks are what make your fitness routine habits and a lifestyle.
And as totally corny and cheesy as it sounds, enjoy the journey. it is SO much fun.
The patience thing is really hard. I totally get it. I want to see results right away too and not have to wait on them. The harsh reality is that real, visible, and sustainable results take time and work.
The good news is that the time will pass anyway!
While it may sound that having a plan is the ultimate take away; keep in mind that the plan is only as good as A) the trainer who created it and B) the amount of effort that you put into it.
It's a help me help you type of situation.
Let's drive this point a little bit further home...
It's like cooking, right. If you want gooey brownies, you're not going to get apples out and start peeling them while making a pie crust.. Course not. That's what is happening when you pick random workout plans off the internet. You're trying to make brownies with apple pie ingredients.
How's that for an analogy on a fitness website? :-D I'll leave you with this. The results you're looking for are there to be created, it's simply a matter of following the right recipe.
If you found this post helpful, I'd be most grateful if you shared this post on social media! Then! Let's connect through social:
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https://refinedbyiron.com/blogs/news/this-is-my-complete-experiment-on-how-i-fixed-my-diastasis-recti2022-05-23T12:00:01-05:002023-03-28T16:35:46-05:00My Complete Experiment on How I Fixed My Diastasis RectiAmber George
Diastasis Recti. I’ll be honest, until recently I didn’t know much about it, let alone doing anything about it.
135 days ago I decided to start an experiment, and keep a ‘diary’ or journal if you will of everything I’ve done to help fix it that includes exercises, progress photos, and even my personal thoughts and mental state through the process.Other than the exercises stated, I kept up with my normal workout routine.
As you read, keep in mind that I wanted to keep this as real as possible, so there will be changes in ‘tense’ of wording (ie. has/had, feeling/felt, etc.). This is because each section was written at different times.
After I had my little boy, I started looking into diastasis recti and as I’ve gotten my certifications and continued my education, I’ve learned more and more about it.
Wouldn’t you know it? Recently, I discovered that I personally have diastasis recti.
I have lost the weight from my pregnancy, but there has been an area in my lower abdomen that would never “go away”.
And since we’re being 100% honest, I tried to ignore this spot for a long time because I thought that I was just being too vain. And, diastasis recti really never entered my mind.
Take a hint from me, if something bothers you and it is effecting your day to day image of yourself, don’t ignore it, address it face on.
The reason I didn’t think I had it was because, in studying this condition and reading on it, the pictures were always really exaggerated and the place in my lower abdomen is not overly exaggerated.
Well, last night, I was looking in the mirror, and I noticed that area really was rounded and the thought, “I wonder if diastasis recti is what that is”?
SO I DID THE HOME TEST, WHICH IS THE FOLLOWING:
Lay on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat
Place two fingers on your belly button Lift your neck and head and press down.
Do you feel a gap? If not, you’re good! If so, keep reading…
Repeat this test above your belly button and below your belly button. If there is a gap, then that’s the diastasis recti.
Guess what? I had a gap. A fairly decent sized one too and it was right below my belly button.
What about above my belly button? Nice and tight and abs sewed up.
Below? A gap.
Guess what? I was actually relieved!
Which you’re probably saying, what? You big weirdo, why would you be relieved??
Because I had an answer. And with knowledge, comes power.
But, how to fix diastasis recti? Let’s dive into a couple of the basics, first.
During pregnancy, the growing uterus stretches the muscles in the abdomen. This can cause the two large parallel bands of muscles that meet in the middle of the abdomen (rectus muscles) to become separated by an abnormal distance — a condition called diastasis recti or diastasis recti abdominis.
– Yvonne Butler Tobah, M.D. , Mayo Clinic
Basically, your ab muscles can quite literally split up the middle. Which, sounds super painful, right?
To be honest, I don’t remember the exact moment of this happening. It’s possible that it happened over a period of time during my pregnancy.
You might be more likely to develop diastasis recti as a result of pregnancy if you have carried multiples or a large baby to term and are of small stature and fit or are age 35 or older.
– Yvonne Butler Tobah, M.D. , Mayo Clinic
IT’S ABOUT TO GET REAL. READY? 🙂 HERE IS DAYS 1-14.
I normally speak without any fear of judgement, but this process is a little uncomfortable to me.
I can lift heavy, run far, and have great arms and legs, but anytime I’ve been in a two piece bathing suit since giving birth, I’ve been really self conscious.
BUT, THE REASON I’M DOING THIS, IS IN HOPES THAT THIS WILL HELP YOU.
As well as help me continue to remember that my body is just as beautiful post birth as it was pre-birth.
My hope is that it will help you overcome your body image issues for one, and for two, if you have diastasis recti, hopefully help you overcome it.
Well, these past 12ish days have been pretty interesting on this journey.
I’ll say this, when I realized that I had diastasis recti (here on out referred to as DR), I was honestly super relieved to have an answer as to why that one spot on my belly wouldn’t “go away”. It wasn’t fat, it was, well, an injury I guess you could say.
OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, I HAVE HAD TO PUSH MYSELF A BIT IN WAYS I HAVEN’T HAD TO BEFORE.
What I mean by that is, that this process is super hard for me from a mental perspective. I am hyper aware of the way my body looks and sometimes I am harder on myself and the way I look physically than I should be.
It’s true, there’s nothing cute about my post workout selfies!
Before I had my sweet baby boy, my abs were one of the things I was the most proud of, and in all honesty, since I’ve had him, I’ve had a hard time being a two piece bathing suit.
I’ve still worn one, but I wasn’t as confident as I had been. This process has humbled me and made me realize that I’m not only doing this for me, but if it can help you, then that’s all the better.
Taking pictures of my belly in what is considered an unflattering way to show the realness of overcoming this injury, is not exactly the most comfortable thing!
THIS PROCESS HAS PUSHED ME TO GET OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE TO BE OF HELP TO MAMAS THAT WANT TO TRY TO OVERCOME THIS INJURY NATURALLY.
Remember, I’m not a doc, I’m simply a trainer and coach doing an experiment on myself and sharing my results. Sometimes DR needs surgery to be fixed, it’s up to you and your doc to decide what’s best for you.
LET’S START OFF WITH MY PROGRESS THROUGH THE PAST TWO WEEKS AND THEN WE’LL DIVE INTO WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING.
This is me on day one of starting this experiment and on day 12.
You’ll notice that there is already more of a flatness to my stomach like those muscles are “sewing” themselves back up.
I can definitely tell a difference in my ab strength in this process just 12 days in.
NOW THAT YOU’VE SEEN MY PROGRESS, LET’S DIVE INTO WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON THE PAST 2 WEEKS.
First thing I did to start this experiment, so that I could start as close to the solution as I could, was think about those muscles, how they operate, what they are supposed to be able to do, etc.
Then I went through exercises in my head that would target those muscles and here’s what I came up with to start:
Heel drops
Bird Dogs
Supine Hip Abduction with Band
3 Things I’ve found that are specific to my experiment with DR:
Slow and controlled is better – this means that with every single rep on these exercises, my focus is not on just getting to my target number of reps, it is focusing in on those muscles and going nice and slow to keep them engaged. Going quicker caused me to let go of those muscles more easily.
Twisting exercises did nothing to target that lower part of the belly – what I mean is, an exercise like a Russian twist, I could not feel in my lower abdomen. Those I could feel in my obliques and my upper core. Which means I will not be including any twisting exercises in this experiment
This is not going to happen overnight –as with all things health and fitness, there is no quick fix. Even if you made the decision to go to your doctor and have him or her perform surgery to fix your abdominal wall, you would still have the time of prepping for surgery, the surgery, and the recovery time. It takes time. So, this process of working to fix it naturally will take time and effort. Not only that, I will need to continue to put things into my workout routine moving forward that will continue to strengthen and form those core muscles.
LET’S START WITH HEEL DROPS
Here is an example of what a heel drop looks like. Legs straight, feet flat, legs together, and lower your heels to the ground while keeping your core pulled in and together.
Remember, work on pulling your abdominal muscles towards each other and not just “sucking in” towards your back.
Only lower your heels as far as your abs will let you before they release from the braced position.
Once they release, the exercise, in my opinion and experience, is considered mute. It will not have done you any good. So, take it right up to the edge of those muscles releasing, and then pull your legs back up.
NEXT UP – BIRD DOGS
This exercise looks very unassuming, but when done properly, I assure you that you will feel it all through your abs.
Get down on the floor on all fours and put a mat underneath your knees for comfort.
Make sure that your shoulders are directly over your arms and hands and your back is flat and not arch or dipped.
Engage your core by “buttoning up” your abdominal muscles just like we talked about for heel drops. Then take your right arm and reach it straight out in front of you while simultaneously reaching your left leg out behind you (pictured below). Reach that hand for the wall in front of you and push your leg away from you towards the opposite wall.
Hold for just a few seconds while breathing through this.
Then come back to starting position and repeat on the opposite side, left arm/right leg.
Like I said, this exercise is very unassuming and doesn’t look like much, but it will surprise you at how you can feel it through your abs.
Here’s a quick tip –
If you are unable to keep your core engaged raising both your arm and your leg at the same time, then don’t sweat it. Do your arm only, then your leg only, and repeat for all of your limbs.
Once you get the hang of that, work up to doing both your arm and your leg at the same time, even if it’s just for a few reps at a time; then, as you get stronger increase your reps.
SUPINE HIP ABDUCTION WITH BAND
Now, this one might have you wondering what it has to do with DR and I’ll admit that this exercise was truly an experiment.
Allow me to quickly explain my thinking, mama.
The supine hip abduction with band works on the glute and the outer parts of your legs and hips. Which are sister muscles to the lower abdominal wall. If my hips and glutes (which are highly effected during pregnancy from stretching out and a growing baby), are strong, then that would inadvertently effect my lower abdomen.
I think I’m onto something because as you saw from my progress picture, there is progress being made.
For this exercise, sit down and put a band around your legs, right above your knees at the curve of your quad muscle. Then, lie flat on your back, engage your core, and press your legs out against the band and back in.
That’s it. That’s the extent of that exercise.
NOW, YOU’RE PROBABLY WONDERING ABOUT SETS AND REPS, RIGHT?
Personally, I have been changing it up to see what works best. I’ve done 4×10, 3×12, 5×8, etc.
Here’s what I have concluded that is specific to this experiment:
Your rep number and set will depend on the strength of your abs and the ability to do the movements well and efficiently.
Example: on the heel drops, if you can do 6 solid heel drops, but you start to lose form on that seventh rep, then do several sets of 6.
As you feel yourself getting stronger, increase your reps and lower your sets.
Example: 3×12, 3×15, 2×20. Once you reach a 2×20, I would say that we could increase difficulty of exercises, which will be talked about in post three.
OVERCOMING DIASTASIS RECTI: DAYS 15-28
It’s officially day 28 of my experiment and it’s been a bit of a roller coaster.
The emotions that go into this are quite something. I’ve always been an emotionally sensitive person, but to be honest with you, I have never been as emotional as I have been since I had my son 3 years ago.
I’m pretty sure it’s the hormone changes and your outlook on life completely changes once you have kiddos, which I know you know what I am talking about.
ALRIGHT – REAL TALK. READY?
I hadn’t been doing my DR exercises everyday like I did for the first two weeks. In fact, I did them about four or five days each week and that was it.
DAYS 14-28 WERE CRAZY HARD FROM A MENTAL PERSPECTIVE.
Ready for more real talk? I struggle with depression. In fact, when I went through postpartum depression, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through. I didn’t want medicine (not that there’s anything wrong with medicine should you and your doc decide that’s what is right for you), I wanted to overcome it naturally, if I could.
While I did get over the worst of it, I still have highs and lows. Ebs and flows of the mental status. How do I personally do it? Lots of weight lifting, running,and a whole lot of Jesus.
This is where I found myself for about a week since my last update. Days 14 through about day 23 were really tough. I mean REALLY tough.
There were days that I had a hard time getting out of bed let alone doing my workouts, but I did because I have a family and clients depending on me. I finally snapped out of that dark week about day 23 or 24 and was back on track in the mindset area again.
With all that said, I was really scared to take my progress picture yesterday because I was afraid that not doing the DR exercises everyday would set me behind.
I was wrong.
Take a look at this progress pic. On the left is day one, and on the right is day 28. I was stunned when I put them side by side. It really did throw me for a loop because I wasn’t expecting there to be such a difference with the decrease in the amount of exercising I did.
There is a specific different right below my belly button, which is where my muscles had separated. This is real progress and I’m thrilled that what I’ve been experimenting with is working.
SO WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?
If you’ll remember, at the beginning of this entire process, the first thing I did was think about those muscles, how they operate, what they are supposed to be able to do, etc.
Then I went through exercises in my head that would target those muscles and here’s what I came up with to start which is what I did for days 1-13:
Heel drops
Bird Dogs
Supine Hip Abduction with Band
EXERCISES FOR DAYS 14-28:
Heel Drops: increased reps and added in an 10# hand weight
Bird Dogs: increased reps
Plank Toe Taps with band: low reps as my abdominals wouldn’t hold strong for more than about 6 reps
Cross Body Mountain Climbers: I can do about 10 solid reps on each leg.
MORE ON THE EXERCISES IN A MINUTE.
Here are the 3 things I found out on Days 14-28:
Mixing up tempos make a difference. On days 1-13, I focused on slow and controlled. Days 14-28, I mixed up the tempo. This means that on my heel drops I’d do 4 counts on the lowering motion, and one quick pull back up to the top. Then I would do 2 counts down and 2 counts up. Mixing it up changed the intensity.
Plank toe Taps are harder than they look. I could do a regular plank with no issue, even with an injured abdominal muscle wall. But when I added in the step out while in a plank position… That changed everything. To be honest, I couldn’t do more than 6 reps at a time.
Less is more. The exercises didn’t have to be done everyday and still make great progress. Less is definitely more in this instance.
NOW, LET’S GO OVER THE EXERCISES I DID THESE PAST FEW WEEKS.
Overcoming Diasatsis Recti Exercises – Heel Drops
[If you didn’t read my blurb on heel drops the first time, here it is again.]
Here is an example of what a heel drop looks like. Legs straight, feel flat, legs together, and lower your heels to the ground while keeping your core pulled in and together.
Remember, work on pulling your abdominal muscles towards each other and not just “sucking in” towards your back.
Only lower your heels as far as your abs will let you before they release from the braced position.
Once they release, the exercise, in my opinion and experience, is considered mute. It will not have done you any good. So, take it right up to the edge of those muscles releasing, and then pull your legs back up.
This round, I switched up the tempo and some days I did 4 seconds down and one quick pull to the top and other days I did 2 counts down and 2 counts to the top.
Overcoming Diastasis Recti Exercises – Bird Dogs
[If you didn’t read my blurb on bird dogs the first time, here it is again.]
This exercise looks very unassuming, but when done properly, I assure you that you will feel it all through your abs.
Get down on the floor on all fours and put a mat underneath your knees for comfort. Make sure that your shoulders are directly over your arms and hands and your back is flat and not arch or dipped.
Engage your core by “buttoning up” your abdominal muscles just like we talked about for heel drops. Then take your right arm and reach it straight out in front of you while simultaneously reaching your left leg out behind you (pictured below). Reach that hand for the wall in front of you and push your leg away from you towards the opposite wall.
Hold for just a few seconds while breathing through this. Then come back to starting position and repeat on the opposite side, left arm/right leg.
Like I said, this exercise is very unassuming and doesn’t look like much, but it will surprise you at how you can feel it through your abs.
HERE’S A QUICK TIP –
If you are unable to keep your core engaged raising both your arm and your leg at the same time, then don’t sweat it. Do you arm only, then your leg only, and repeat for all of your limbs.
Once you get the hang of that, work up to doing both your arm and your leg at the same time, even if it’s just for a few reps at a time and as you get stronger increase your reps.
Overcoming Diastasis Recti Exercises – Plank Toe Taps
Band is around your ankles Come up into a plank position and step your foot out then back to center, then the other foot out and back to center. Keep your core in nice and tight.
As soon as you feel your abdominal muscles give way, then drop to your knees and rest, then go again.
If your abs are not being held solid, then the exercise, in my opinion, is considered mute. (These will also target your glutes!)
Overcoming Diastasis Recti Exercises – Cross Body Mountain Climbers
Putting something under the feet that will slide across the floor, come into a plank position.
Engage the core and pull the knee up to the opposite side of the chest by sliding the foot across the floor.
Return that foot to starting position and repeat with the opposite foot.
This one is crazy hard! I did ten reps each leg before my abs gave way. My goal is to increase that the next two weeks.
WHAT ABOUT REPS AND SETS?
The first few weeks I changed it up with different reps and sets. This time, I really focused on form and changing up the tempo, which meant changing up the reps because I wasn’t able to do as many on some.
While on others, I was able to do more.
I was able to not only increase reps on heel drops, I was able to add in a weight. For bird dogs, I was able to increase reps which is awesome, and for mountain climbers and toe taps, my reps were lower.
Like I said,
Days 14-28 were hard with the mental stuff I was working through, and to be honest, I debated on including it in this blog post, but I am sharing because I truly believe that being honest and letting other mama’s that struggle with these thoughts that they’re not alone!
Failure means that you’re trying and you’ve simply found a way that didn’t work.
EXPERIMENT PROGRESS DAYS 29-44
In days 29-44, my depression was much better. However, I am currently training for a half marathon, and my left calf muscle and my left hamstring have been having trouble with Charley horses.
If you’re not sure what a Charley Horse is, it is basically a severe muscle cramp. Girl, I am talking it feels like your muscle detaches itself from your bones and it rolls up into a ball.
WELL, IT REALLY DOESN’T DETACH ITSELF, OBVIOUSLY BUT THAT’S WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!
This means that I took a five day full rest from working out, running and everything that involved my legs because I needed to focus on getting that leg better.
BELOW IS MY PROGRESS PIC FROM DAY 1 TO DAY 44.
My progress is getting there, but it has slowed down a bit and I am a bit bloated in this picture due to hormones and having taken this picture after having a few meals that day. Day one pic was taken before breakfast.
I did my DR exercises 4 days a week. I got rid of just heel drops and I added in heel drops with overhead reach with a weight, I did cross body mountain climbers, and I did plank step outs.
THOSE WERE THE THREE EXERCISES THAT I DID THESE TWO WEEKS.
The reps that I did were 5 rounds of 8 because with these exercises either being new to the mix or I advanced them based on my progress, that was the number of reps I could do with solid form.
To be honest, with the five day hiatus, I feel like I took a step backwards, but I have to remind myself that sometimes we take a step backwards to be able to take 2-3 steps forward.
LET’S BREAKDOWN THE EXERCISES I DID:
Overcoming Diastasis Recti Exercises – Heel Drop with OH Reach:
Lying flat on my back, I would raise my legs straight up over my head and keeping the bottoms of my feet flat, I would lower my legs and reach up overhead with the weight or the ball at the same time.
I couldn’t go as far down with this one because my muscles would give if I went any lower.
It was super important that my muscles didn’t give and if that meant that I had less range of motion, then, that is what it meant and I was okay with that.
The weight that I used or the ball, I kept nice and light because the opposite (and at the same time) motion made things pretty difficult.
NEXT UP, I DID CROSS BODY MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS WHICH I INTRODUCED RIGHT AT THE END OF THE LAST ROUND.
A cross body MC is bringing the knee up towards the chest, but crossing the foot under the body and under that planked leg. It really grabs those obliques and lower muscles and made a huge difference in my soreness factor.
I was able to up the reps to between 15-20 reps at a time which was a positive for sure.
LAST EXERCISE THAT I DID THESE FEW WEEKS WAS THE PLANK STEP OUT.
Getting in a full plank, I would step one foot out nice and wide, then I’d bring that back to center, then repeat with the opposite leg.
This one is killer and I was only able to do between 6-8 reps per leg.
With being on my stomach, it can make keeping that core from puckering quite a challenge as well. This is also why I kept the reps nice and low. There is the option of using a band around the ankles as well.
This journey so far has been quite a trip.
One of the things that I have really learned over the past several weeks is to listen to my body.
Fatigue has been a real struggle for me and sometimes having to rest like I did for those several days was a very hard pill for me to swallow!
I’m super competitive, and not really with other people, but mainly with myself because I always feel like I could have done better. Which, may or may not be the case.
WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT THIS PROCESS SO FAR FOR ME IS THAT IT REALLY HASN’T BEEN TOO TERRIBLY SLOW IN REGARDS TO THE GAINS.
Do I think this could work for everyone? While I would love to think that, I’m not sure, honestly, because this experiment has not been fully scientific, it has been based off of my knowledge that I have from my current education and I’ve done it on myself. There isn’t anything to compare it to.
HOWEVER, I DO THINK THAT IT WOULDN’T HURT A MAMA TO TRY THIS PROCESS SHOULD SHE LIKE TO GIVE IT A GO.
Because, as long as you’re cleared to workout by your doc, these exercises are right in line with things that would be considered “normal”. They’re nothing crazy or super out of the ordinary.
PROGRESS UPDATE DAYS 45-51
It’s been 51 days since I started this experiment and it has absolutely flown by. 51 days ago, I started an experiment on myself to see if I could overcome diastasis recti naturally.
This experiment started with some research through medical journals and papers put out by MDs to see if this was even possible.
While there is some conflicting information on whether or not is it possible to naturally help those muscles sew themselves back together, I wanted to give it a try to see if I could help those muscles heal in my lower abdomen.
It has been quite a ride and it has not been easy at all. In fact, it’s been quite hard, both mentally and physically.
This experiment has been hard from the physical perspective because those abdominal muscles are so weak that it makes the abdominal exercises extremely hard.
HOWEVER, OVER THE COURSE OF THE PAST 51 DAYS, I HAVE REALLY MADE SOME GREAT STRIDES IN STRENGTH OF MY ABDOMEN.
I did some thinking on this and I really think that a lot of it had to do with the fact that my picture was not taken in the morning, I had two meals in my belly, and I was a bit hormonal at the time which caused some bloat.
Also, this is why I’m doing a progress pic so quickly at day 51 (just did a progress pic at day 44). Because I’m no longer hormonal and I had no meals in my belly.
HERE IS MY PROGRESS PIC FOR DAY 51:
You’ll notice that there is a marked difference from day one to day 51. Each picture was taken in the morning time before I had breakfast or a lot of water.
If you’ll look closely at this picture, you’ll see that you can see the outline of my abdominal muscles and then some baby abs and the extremebeginningsof a 6 pack.
And, I believe I have made a difference in that injury. At the very least, my abdominal strength has a marked improvement.
Here’s what I do think – I do think that if a mama decided she wanted to try the same experiment on herself that I did, and follow what I did, then, as long as she is cleared for exercise from her doc, I don’t see what it would hurt.
If you do decide to dive into this and you want to try what I’ve done, then you will need to realize that this process is going to be slow and it is going to be a hard process.
JUST LIKE ANYTHING ELSE WORTH HAVING, YOU MUST WORK FOR IT AND BE PATIENT.
I do believe that DR can be improved (maybe not cured, but definitely improved) with specific exercises to the affected area.
DO I THINK THAT IT CAN BE FULLY FIXED NATURALLY?
I’m not entirely sure. Because, again, I’m not an MD and this wasn’t a fully scientific experiment/study. This was just something I wanted to try on myself.
My Diastasis Recti improved immensely over these past weeks. I do believe that the gap in my muscles is smaller and that it might continue to improve as I keep these exercises and the others I’ve done in my routine.
I KNOW THAT ABDOMINALS IS ONE AREA THAT MAMAS FEEL REALLY CONSCIOUS ABOUT.
It’s where we carried our littles for 9 months and our bodies take quite a beating during this process.
As hard as it is, I really want you to work on seeing yourself as beautiful.
Yes, even while you’re unhappy with how your abdominals and body looks. Really look at yourself in the mirror and work to see beauty that is staring back at you.
YOU’RE STRONG AND YOU ARE TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH AND LIFE AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT IS WORTH CELEBRATING.
I’ve found that with my clients, those that are looking to lose weight, focusing on other goals other than just weight loss has really helped them overcome and work through body image issues and feel beautiful.
Believe me when I say I can feel you in regard to being self-conscious about the way your body looks.
It has been a real struggle for me to share these pictures with you because my abs were once my pride and I’d run in a sports bra, or I’d have no worries walking around in a swim suit.
Because they don’t look the same as they used to has been a really hard thing to overcome. But you know what?
IT’S COMING ALONG.
LET’S FAST FORWARD 84 DAYS… HERE IS MY STOMACH ON DAY 135:
CRAZY, RIGHT?
It’s called progress. And you’ll notice that says day one hundred and thirty five. Not day 30. Not day 90. Day 135.
Remember, reaching fitness goals takes time, effort and commitment and I’m thrilled with the results of this experiment.
No, my body doesn’t look the same, but I’m stronger than I ever have been and my son is healthy and strong. And, my husband likes the way I look so that’s what matters, right?
I hope this experiment has helped you, mama.
YOU’RE AN INCREDIBLE WOMAN! YOU’VE GOT THIS. Be sure to pin for later!