So as I mentioned earlier this week when I launched Bridal Biceps, Ryan and I have started planning for our wedding.

We are doing a small wedding in Hawaii followed by a large reception in Southern California. Details….well they are in the works and I don’t want to bore you by listing out all of my plans (but heck if you are interested or want to commiserate about your wedding, feel free to email me!).

I actually signed up for a few wedding websites, including The Knot.

The Knot is actually pretty awesome. They have a ton of information and ways to plan. They’ve even helped me find some local vendors so that  I can get a dress and plan out the reception.

After finding a ton of information about planning out your wedding, I then searched the site for fitness information.

There was barely any to be found. They have whole pages dedicated to the color of your wedding and such but no easy to locate information about getting in shape for your wedding.

I was super surprised.

And then…I received the following email from them.

I like pink, but this email made me want to barf.

“Size down your gown in 90 days.” – AKA Starve yourself and overtrain for 90 days in an attempt to look good on your wedding day.

Ok. At least this program does tell brides they need 90 days. That is better than a lot of the “look good” tips I found…like don’t eat salty foods right before so you don’t look bloated.

But still!

Why does it have to look so wimpy!?!

Why does all of the stuff that bridal sites advertise have to be so fad diet?

Why can’t they start the brides planning their diet and fitness programs as soon as they have them start planning out everything else!?!

Here is my recommendation to brides-to-be:

1. First ask yourself some few basic questions about what you want (just like you are doing with your wedding) What areas of your body do you want to tone? Do you want to lose any body fat? How do you want your body to look on your big day?
2. Then if you aren’t currently on any regular exercise or diet program, start doing some research. How much time do you have each week to dedicate to a program? What foods do you love and could never give up? What types of diets have worked for you in the past?
3. Then as you are plotting out when you will be doing food tasting and traveling and working and taking on dress fittings, think about what diet and fitness goals you will want to have hit at each stage. (For me I want to be at my final goal right before the final fitting. I then just want to be maintaining for the last month or so. Plus the longer I just maintain my final goal, the better I will look on my big day AND the easier it will be to stay toned and fit when I’m binging on my honeymoon! :-))
4. Now seek out help. You have a basic timeline. You have thought about what diet and exercise programs could work for you. You know your goals. A trainer is always great (and of course I’m biased) but they will know ways to help put together the three previous steps into a program that works for you. Or maybe you seek out guidance from friends and family members you trust. BUT whatever you do, you take your outline/timeline and start working toward your goals ASAP.

Why do you start ASAP? Because like I’ve repeated numerous times, everything is an experiment. Unless you’ve actually looked exactly the way you wanted to before, you probably don’t know exactly what it takes to get there and you may need to tweak your program as you go along.

That is why you don’t want to wait till the final 90 days before your wedding to start getting into shape…because if you do wait till the last minute, YOU ARE PUTTING ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET!

And what if that 90 day program doesn’t work!?!

Then you are screwed.

Great way to stress yourself out! HA!

Anyway, start planning NOW! Know if there are any vacations or holidays in the meantime that may derail your diet. Know your fitting dates so that you look the way you want to for your final dress fitting so that your dress fits perfectly on your big day.

Plan out your exercise program so that you have some “me time” during what can be a slightly more stressful planning process!

And if you need help, I’m always here! (And in this case, also working on my own bridal biceps!)

Here is the beginning outline of my program:

Right now, I’m beginning a “healthy, unstressful phase” of my bridal bicep program. I’m doing slightly more carbs and training hard. I’m taking one cheat a week and basically just focused on maintaining.

It isn’t that I’m not always trying to look better, but I’m not stressing about it now. I’m just staying healthy and instilling healthy habits so that over the holidays I don’t lose ground.

In the weeks around the holidays, I will become a bit more strict to compensate for enjoying the holidays (since I’m not one for the stupid “holiday weight loss tips.”). Following the holidays I will go into an intense cutting phase. Followed by a month of maintainance. If I’m not yet at my goal, I’ll go for another shorter cutting phase before my final maintainence phase.

And guess what!?!

Throughout all of this, I will be lifting heavy! During cutting phases, I will do more cardio than during my maintenence phases, but that doesn’t mean I’ll become a cardio queen! No long chronic cardio for me! Remember cardio isn’t the key to weight loss….lean muscle mass is! 🙂

AND I won’t do a bazillion bicep curls or tricep extensions to have toned arms – I’ll do push ups and pull ups and lift heavy weights during compound movements. (Check out one of my worst nightmare workout programs….I guess at least they have brides working out for 6 months…Although this just looks so boring and not at all efficient!)

Anyway, join me for some “bad-ass” bridal biceps!

For a wedding workout consultation, feel free to email me at manbiceps@gmail.com!