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Wedding Week Part 1 – Wedding Weekend Workout
This past Saturday, I married my best friend. I married the person that, even when he makes me so mad I want to punch him, I still want to run to him to make it better.
I married a man who accepts me completely – He accepts me in all of my Type A-ness, which sometimes even includes an inability to let go of work (this is honestly the longest I’ve gone without posting since the inception of Man Bicep AND I have still texted clients who’ve told me to stop texting them and get back to my vacation.)
I just love what I do…And he accepts that because he is AMAZING.
He even accepted (and took pictures in fact!) that I needed to teach a little wedding bootcamp at the house the day before the wedding. Which was a TON of fun!
Taught everyone some new moves they could do at home with no traditional equipment. (Monkey Knuckles, one of my best friends and a client from Boston, was even there. Miss you Juliana!)
With the workout, we got a good little sweat going and had some fun in the process (plus I think we ended up cleaning the floor with our towel moves!)
Here is our fun little workout if you want to give it a try! (Wouldn’t usually do so many different exercises, but wanted to give them lots of new stuff to leave with!)
Wedding Weekend Workout:
Post workout bicep pose!
Warm up (stretches for calves, hamstrings, glutes, hips, shoulders and back)
Circuit #1:
3 rounds:
8-12 reps Towel Glute Bridge with Curl (Do a single leg curl to regress)
3-4 Circle Crawls each way
Circuit #2:
3 rounds:
15-20 each side Towel Mountain Climbers (Do not use a towel under your feet to regress)
8-12 reps each side Single Leg Deadlifts (3 count lower down)
5-10 reps Gorilla Crawls forward
Demonstrating!
Circuit #3:
3 rounds:
8-12 reps each side Curtsy Lunge on Towel (Take out the towel to regress)
30 second Scapular Hold
8-12 reps Push Up (5 second lower to progress. Incline to regress)
Best move ever!
Circuit #4:
3 rounds:
20 second holds
Front Plank
Side Planks
Plank Hip Dips (Hold front plank and rotate side to side touching the hip down on each side)
This is a great total body workout you can do with no equipment. The workout doesn’t take very long and you can also easily simplify it if you are shorter on time!
And the best part was, everyone was challenged no matter their fitness level or exercising experience!
Stay tuned for more wedding week posts to come shortly!
Pre-workout workout…practicing walking in heels…And in case you can’t tell…They are wonder woman heels!
My wedding heels.
Pinterest Weddings
So Pinterest is great if you need inspiration for planning anything, even a wedding.
It also can provide you with inspiration to get in shape for your wedding.
BUT it can’t actually make you do it. And it can’t help you get results or stay on track.
However, a proper plan can!
First, set a goal and a target date. This date shouldn’t be the day of your wedding. It should be a few days before your final dress fitting.
If you don’t know how long you have to accomplish something, you won’t be able to set realistic goals OR set up a program that will lead you to success.
Once you set your long-term goal and have a clear timeframe in which to accomplish your goal, you need to break that goal down into short-term goals that will help you track your progress. An easy way to do this is to set target weights based on your dress fittings.
Now you have to figure out HOW to accomplish your goal.
Do some research and think about WHAT WORKS FOR YOU…Not what your friends say work or some magazine says is the key to success…Think about what works for you…And what DOESN’T work for you.
Do you enjoy working out at home more? Or will you not do the workout if you don’t have an appointment with someone and go out to a gym?
Do you need guidance or will you keep yourself dedicated and motivated?
Have you dieted and had success in the past? Or do you need diet recommendations?
There are some people who can go it alone and once they have a goal set will stay committed. However, there are also people out there that need some outside motivation.
The question is, which are you?
Once you know, pick a program.
In terms of workouts…Find an in home workout program that will help you reach your goals or meet with a trainer to have them design a personalized program for you.
Of course, I’m biased but I think that it is always best to have a program designed specifically for you. Even if you want to go it alone with the personalized program, getting something designed FOR YOU by someone trained in the fitness field may just help you reach your goals more quickly and efficiently.
No matter where you get your program, it should go through a progression. You shouldn’t just be going at 100% the entire time.
There should also be some weights, some slow long cardio and some short intense cardio intervals. You can’t ignore any of the pieces of the puzzle! Just running or doing cardio for hours won’t get you there!
HOWEVER, when picking out your own program or talking to a trainer, you also want to consider the types of activities that you enjoy doing. (If you enjoy running, don’t stop doing it, BUT do add in some strength training. It will not only make you look better on your wedding day, but it will also help your running!)
Don’t only consider your workout progression though, also think about how you will use your diet to reach your goals.
Read some of the great information out there about different diets and look at studies. Don’t just believe what mainstream media says!
At the beginning of your diet even experiment slightly, varying your diet. High carb, low carb. Gluten-free. High fat, lower fat. Vegetarian.
When you pinpoint something that has some success, stick with it. Develop good habits and stick with them. Then at points go a bit stricter.
You don’t want to deprive yourself. Yes there will be points during the months leading up to your wedding that you will want to be stricter about what you eat, but you never want to feel fully deprived.
Just like with your workout program, plan out a progression so that you are eating to promote great workouts while working toward your goal.
So now you have a timeframe, a long-term goal, short-term goals to check up on your progress and a clearly laid out program with a clear progression.
Now implement it! 🙂
If you need any help creating your own plan for your wedding (or any goal that you may have), let me know or contact a gym in your area.
If you happen to be anywhere near Costa Mesa, stop in to the gym I work at called Innovative Results.
Also, I’m going to start writing Bridal Transformation blogs for the site so if you want more help to get you ready for your wedding day, check them out!
Wedding Dress Fittings
So last night I went with one of my friends/clients for her final dress fitting at Mon Amie.
I have to admit…I was kind of not looking forward to it.
I wanted to see her looking beautiful in her dress….
BUT I HATE WEDDING DRESS STORES!
I walk in and am overwhelmed with all of the puffy white frilliness. I feel like my head just starts spinning and I just want to leave.
I’m completely overwhelmed by the idea of looking through them for my own dress.
Anyway, I went with my friend/client for her final fitting and she looked absolutely stunning. Her dress was perfect for her and she looked wonderful in it.
She was also shocked to find out that over the last month she had dropped even more weight!
Her dress was even looser and she felt great about how she looked in it. She even decided not to wear those spanks that we ladies sometimes want to wear to make everything look even smoother!
The point is – She looked great and she felt good about how she looked.
Her happiness was infectious and she really got me to thinking on my way home.
For one, I thought about how probably some of my best friends EVER started out as clients.
Two, I thought about brides and looking beautiful on their wedding day.
I’ve said numerous times that you can’t just start working out two months before your wedding and hope to look exactly the way you want unless you are already almost at your goal.
But it isn’t about just reaching your goal on the exact day of your BIG DAY. It is about reaching your goal right before your final fitting.
If you can look perfect on the day of your final fitting, you will feel confident about how you’ll look in your dress. Also, you can make sure your dress is perfectly fitted to your dream body.
Plus, if you still have a month or so to go after your final fitting before your big day, you’ll give your body even more time to adjust to your new-found leanness, which will only make you look better! Then the last month you can just focus on maintaining instead of stressing over cutting off those last few pounds!
So after attending my friend’s fitting, I’ve decided that the main focus of the new bridal workbook I’m designing is DRESS FITTINGS. Short-term goals should be set based on wedding dress shopping and fitting dates because the best way to make us feel confident about how we will look on our wedding day, and relieve a lot of stress, is to have us be at certain targets while we are finalizing our dress.
So while you start working toward your wedding dream body, consider when you are having dress fittings. Mark them down and set short terms goals that will have you looking perfect by your last fitting so you will be stunning on your wedding day!
P.S. I’ve decided that maybe I will eventually brave a wedding dress store to look for a dress myself….Just not yet….haha
What women want….
To look like on their wedding day….
Toned arms and shoulders, a slim waistline with just enough curve into toned hips, butt and legs.
How do most women get there?
By doing chronic cardio, starving themselves, and lifting light little barbie weights only a month before their wedding.
But is this really the best way to have the arms, waist and butt of your dreams on your wedding day?
HECK NO!
If you really want to look lean and toned you can’t just do cardio and you most definitely can’t starve yourself.
You need to lift challenging weights, eat the RIGHT foods and start working toward the body you want early on.
I tell my clients (and plan to do the same myself) to plan to have reached their goal weight or body composition the week before their final fitting, which is only a month or so out from their wedding.
The last month or two should only really be maintenance.
The key throughout your workout progression toward you BIG DAY is to do compound movements. Don’t waste your time with the bicep curls, shoulder presses and tricep extensions that most programs recommend. While those can be good if you are a powerlifter looking to really isolate and strengthen weak muscles, those moves really aren’t giving you that much bang for your buck.
They don’t have a whole heck of a lot of calorie burn AND they are only working on one muscle group when you could be hitting 3 or 4 with a compound movement.
For instance….the deadlift…It works just about everything. Want a great backside? Want a toned upper back, butt and thighs?
DO DEADLIFTS!
Or any other powerlifting move for that matter. Or you can use kettlebells, resistance bands or the sled
There are a ton of different strength training things that you can do! Find some that are fun and that get you results efficiently AKA compound moves!
Also choose the compound moves that target your trouble areas.
While we can’t spot reduce areas, we can build up proper muscle tone to make our problem areas look better. Eating a healthy diet and later the added cardio we do during cutting will reveal that beautiful muscle we built up even more!
And while I LOVE lifting heavy and think that it is key to the body that you dream of having on your wedding day, cardio does become a more important part as you are trying to become more lean and toned.
That doesn’t mean you just stop lifting and start logging in tons of miles.
It means sprints, some long distance JOGS for some slow fat-burning cardio AND still an intense heavy lifting routine.
Of course once you up your intensity during the final few months before your last dress fitting, you will need to remember to take time to rest, foam roll and release some stress! Working out though can be a great way to make sure that you are still getting enough “me time” BUT that doesn’t mean you can just start living in a gym and not practice proper recovery!
10 Key Moves to Get the Body We All Want on our Wedding Day! (So many move I love, but these will give you a huge bang for your buck!)
- Deadlifts – Deadlifts are a full body move. They are perfect to tone your upper back, butt and hamstrings. Plus they are a real fat burner because they work so many big muscle groups! (I LOVE YOU DEADLIFTS AND MISS YOU!) One new explosive deadlift move I’ve started using is a rotational deadlift. I set up the bar in a t-bar row hold and put weight only on one end. So I deadlift up the end with weight and rotate toward the stand as I stand up. So if the weight is on the right as I stand up, I rotate to the left pushing the weight out and up until my arms are straight.
- Kettlebell Swings – Another great way to get a great toned hips, butt and thighs! This move may be just as good as the deadlift. It is, however, just a bit harder to master. Make sure that if you want the butt toning effects of the swing that you aren’t squatting down so much as doing a hip hinge! NOT A SQUAT! More of an RDL…but still not an RDL.
- Kettlebell Snatches – Another tough move, but a full body one. Develops explosive power, which means more muscle power! It is great to develop power in your legs, tone your core (lots of rotation and stabilization) and strengthen your shoulders.
- Pull ups – I LOVE PULL UPS or any variation of them! (You can even do a pull up and hang if you want some extra core work!) They tone your back, biceps and core! Get great arms while benefiting from the extra calorie burn of working a big muscle group like your back! (And a toned back looks pretty good in a strapless wedding dress!) Plus, if you strengthen your lats, they will help your waist look slimmer by creating more of an hour-glass figure!
- Push ups – Strengthen your chest, triceps and shoulders just to name a few muscles. Lifting heavy can sometimes just mean lifting yourself! If you want to make them even more challenging, make them explosive. As you push up, come up off the floor! They make the push ups that much harder.
- Medball Pass and Shuffle – Honestly, one of my favorite new moves. Cardio because of the shuffling back and forth. Plus it is a great move to develop lean POWERFUL muscles. Best when done with a partner. Perform a chest pass with a heavy medicine ball with a partner while shuffling down and back.
- Sled pull/push – So by pulling I mean pulling a sled toward you with a rope. Great leg, core, back and arm workout! And then if you push it back to its starting place, you get to work the entire posterior of your chain – everything from your shoulders down to your calves!
- Crawls and all variations – You can pull a chain, crawl on a power wheel, or crawl using sliders. How ever you do it, it is a great workout for your shoulders and legs. AND the more you keep you butt from going up in the air, the more you work your core. If you do use a chain, you can work your legs and butt even more. Or if you use a power wheel or sliders, you can focus more on your shoulders and core.
- Battling Ropes – A great way to get the lean ton muscles you want. Depending on which wave you make, you can focus on different muscle groups. You can work your back, your shoulders, your arms, your core and your legs. Shoot rotational waves kill your core!
- VersaClimber (or really any sprints) – These are a great way to maintain muscle and BURN TONS OF FAT!
Man Bicep 