by EM2WL | Apr 24, 2013 | Workouts
The Plan: A 3-day, full body, workout plan for those newer to lifting. It is appropriate for multiple phases (reset, cut, or maintenance). This Beginner Workout routine will allow you to become more familiar with the gym, and get your muscles accustomed to lifting heavier loads. For safety purposes, this plan is mostly machine based. If you are brand new to all exercise, feel free to start with only 1-2 days of exercise, and 1-2 sets of each exercise and take longer rests as needed. Progress to the full amount of days/sets/reps as your body adapts. (“Sets” = the number of times you repeat the required amount of “reps,” or repetitions, per exercise before moving on to the next)
Weights: Begin every weight session with a 5-10 minute warmup on a cardio machine, and 1-2 warmup sets of each exercise (using lighter weight). Then proceed to select a weight that presents a slight struggle for the last few reps. Remember to keep track of your weight selection, and increase weight whenever possible. If you can do 2-3 more reps than specified with your chosen weight, your weight is too light, and it is time to increase. You must push yourself for maximum results, so once you are familiar with the exercise, every set should be challenging. There must be at least 48 hours in between each day in this program. Do not perform any days back to back, due to the nature of the exercises targeting similar muscles. End with 5-10 minutes of stretching, while the muscle is still warm to prevent injury.
Cardio: 2 days of optional cardio included in the plan. If you are accustomed to cardio only workouts, and are pressed for time, skip the cardio options, until your schedule permits. Cardio has many benefits, but so does lifting. Incorporating them both is best, but to get the max from this plan, the weights take priority. Once you see how your body responds to lifting, cardio can be performed as desired for fun or to help aid in recovery. If performing cardio and weights on the same day, opt to do weights first (this doesn’t include the warm-up done before weights). If including more than 2 cardio days, choose to lower intensity every other session to reduce leg swelling. Be mindful, though, that the amount of cardio that you intend on doing is figured into your food allowance.
Food: For best results, eat at TDEE (maintenance) or cut. This is to provide sufficient energy for lifts, yet also maximize fat loss. The EM2WL weight loss calculator (set goal at “lose fat, -15%”) will give you an idea of your best calorie range for losing body-fat, with minimal muscle loss. Attempt to eat 1-1.2g of protein per lb of lean body mass, or 30-35% of your calorie intake, and sufficient carbs (around 40-45% of your total intake), mostly surrounding your workouts. (If diabetic, insulin sensitive, etc., eat carbs as per doctor/nutritionist orders).
**Follow plan for 4-6 weeks**
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Done straight set fashion. Finish all sets for that exercise before moving to the next. Rest 45-60 seconds between set. |
Exercise:
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Reps
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Sets
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| Chest- Machine Chest press |
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10,10,12,12 |
4 |
| Back – Machine row |
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10 |
3 |
Legs –Leg press
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10 |
3 |
Shoulders – Cable lateral raise
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10 |
3 |
Legs -Hamstring curl
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10 |
3 |
Legs – Standing calf raise
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15 |
2 |
Triceps – V-bar pressdown
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10,10,12,12 |
4 |
| Abs – Crunch |
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15 |
2 |
~Rest/Yoga/Cardio (opt.)~
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Done straight set fashion. Finish all sets for that exercise before moving to the next. Rest 45-60 seconds between set.
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Exercise:
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|
Reps
|
Sets
|
| Back – Lat Pulldown |
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10,10,12,12 |
4 |
Chest -Machine Incline press
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10 |
3 |
Back -Leverage Isolated row
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10 |
3 |
| Legs – Leg extension |
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10 |
3 |
Shoulders – Cable Front Raise
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10 |
3 |
Legs – Walking lunges
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10 |
3 |
| Biceps – Machine Preacher Curl |
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10 |
3 |
Legs – Seated Calf Raises
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15 |
2 |
~Rest/Yoga/Cardio (opt.)~
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Exercise:
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Reps
|
Sets
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| Chest -Pec Dec Machine/ Dumbbell flye |
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10 |
3 |
Back – Machine High row
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12 |
3 |
Legs – Lying Hamstring Curls
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10,10,12,12 |
4 |
Shoulders – Machine OH press
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10,10,12,12 |
4 |
Shoulders – Reverse pec dec flye
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10 |
3 |
Legs – Leg press
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10,10,12,12 |
4 |
Triceps – Machine tricep extension
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10 |
3 |
| Abs – Reverse Crunch |
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15 |
2 |
More of a visual person? Check out the “at-a-glance” options, by clicking on the desired day.
by EM2WL | Apr 23, 2013 | Testimonials, The Journey
Most of you know that I started EM2WL at the end of January.
But what some of you don’t know is that I had hit a plateau before that while eating 1300 calories or less and doing Turbo Fire. After joining EM2WL and increasing my calories to around 2000, I broke my plateau and lost 4 pounds. Then I started Stronglifts 5×5 on February 7 and decided to ditch the scale because I just needed a break from it. I started noticing my appetite increasing because of the heavy lifting, so I decided to up my calorie intake. I had been making pretty good progress gaining strength and losing inches, so I decided maybe it was time to jump on the scale. Well, a couple weeks ago, I weighed in and saw that I had gained those 4 pounds back. So I emailed one of my EM2WL buddies and asked for advice. She told me not to worry about it because it was most likely muscle gain and some water weight.
She then advised me to, brace yourself, UP my calories!
Well, I decided when I started this that I am in it for the long haul so I took her advice and upped my calories by 200. She also suggested I download the Happy Scale app and weigh myself daily to track my weight fluctuations, doing this would also help me to find my true TDEE. So 2 weeks ago I began tracking my weight daily. The trend on my reports has been consistently going down, and since I am trying to find my TDEE before I cut, I upped my calories another 200. I weighed myself today and have lost more weight! Since upping my calories by 400, I have lost 2 of those 4 pounds! Is it really possible to eat 2700 calories a day and lose weight?! Well, that’s where I am at. I do Stronglifts 3 days a week and cardio on my off days, if I’m up to it, and EAT 2700 CALORIES A DAY and I am loving it!
I am sharing this because I have several PALS who are frustrated because they are not losing weight, they’ve “hit a wall,” well, I want to tell you folks that sometimes the solution is not to lower your calories, but increase them. I truly believe the reason my body was holding on to those 4 pounds is because of the strength training I am doing. It needed more fuel and I wasn’t eating enough, so it held on to what I had. Now that I’m fueling it properly, it seems like it’s trusting me again and starting to release. I will continue to keep you all updated on this new journey. Again I know it’s slow, but it’s just so much better for me! I am living life, enjoying it, and building strength I never knew was possible!
by EM2WL | Apr 18, 2013 | Metabolism Reset, Q & A, Reset
Q: I lost around 30lbs very quickly by doing over an hour of cardio/day, 7 days/week, and severely restricting calories. When I hit a plateau, I increased cardio further and decreased cals to lose the last 12lbs. Eventually 15 of those pounds came back. I found out about EM2WL, and began a reset, and I’ve gained a LOT of weight. Is being up 20 pounds ‘normal’? Is it normal to lift and not fit into any clothes? Am I eating too much and that’s why I feel so bloated and puffy? I’m just at a loss and feeling pretty down on myself. I’m right back where I started…
A: As much as I hate to be the messenger…yes, it is normal to be gaining weight during reset. Because you were undereating for so long, it takes a while for your body to regulate (which is why we recommend metabolism resets). When we diet using extreme caloric deficits and excessive cardio, the weight that is lost comes not merely from fat, and water, but also from muscle, joints, tendons, ligaments, and brain tissue. We also deplete our bodies of much needed vitamins and nutrients. So when we increase calories, coming from an extended period of undereating, our bodies will often first retain everything, assuming that this is merely a binge. During this period of retaining, your body is seeking to replenish the nutrient deficit, as well as balance out mineral deficiencies. As noted in the Biology of Human Starvation (see our synopsis), a period of OVERfeeding is often necessary before proper balance is restored. Because most people just starting out on a reset are petrified of eating more, this re-feed period is a bit understated. Many will only eat the bare minimum (TDEE) and often undercut/skew that amount, for fear of gaining. But recall that Dr. Keys made it clear that during a refeed, calories must be in abundance in order to rehabilitate properly. This is why many choose to use their reset as a period of bulking, to purposely overfeed and rebuild lost bone and muscle. This gives their reset purpose, and helps them to have something to focus on other than waiting for the cut.
None of this means that the reset process is exceptionally pleasant, although you will surely notice some unexpected benefits. You will feel bloating and discomfort as you retain water while your body is forced to figure out how to gather the nutrition it needs while digesting larger amounts of food properly. Once your body understands that proper nourishment is a mainstay, it will then look to replenish the areas that have been depleted. The rebuilding process is necessary and essential to your well-being. However, weight gain can be less drastic when food intake is increased slowly, and done for a much longer, realistic, time frame. Rushing the reset is often the cause of unnecessarily high weight gain, causing one to quit early, and results in an unsuccessful cut. Skipping the reset altogether is also a reason why you’ll see many struggle in the beginning of their cut.
Treat your reset as a bulk. Put those extra cals to work building muscle.
You are lifting heavier now, in addition to eating more, which will assist in rebuilding any muscle that has atrophied. Exercises that create strong muscles will also increase bone mass. Healing will always be your body’s primary goal (unfortunately, it doesn’t really care about your physique goals), although some fat loss may be happening simultaneously. As the body begins to rebuild the muscle/bone/brain tissue, etc., this will show as “gain” on the scale. But you will have so many things going on that solely judging by the scale will not give you the full story. This will seem very frustrating at first, but you will still likely notice positive changes in the mirror, pictures, and the tape measure during this time. As the rebuilding slows, you will eventually see scale movement as well.
It is most important to remember that what you are dealing with now, is what you would have dealt with anyway, the minute you tried to eat “normal” again. The fact that you are gaining weight on what should be your maintenance level calories, shows that your metabolism had completely slowed to meet the lower calorie level. This is the point of the reset. This is something that you were bound to experience, regardless. In order to keep losing, you would have kept lowering cals and slowing the metabolism further, constantly recreating your maintenance level. This means that anytime your calorie intake exceeded this level, you would gain.
So for some, the first 4-6 weeks or so may bring gain and then a gradual release as the body gains trust. But for those who have drastically undereaten for a length of time, this process can take longer. This is especially true if someone needed a reset, yet refrained from taking one (the body will attempt it’s own reset by simply resetting to the cut level calories being given). We must always remember that when we chose drastic measures to lose weight, there will be consequences. Losing the wrong “type” of weight, just for the sake of seeing the scale move, tears our body down and causes it to lose trust in us. A body that does not trust us is left to it’s own devices to nurture itself, deciding what will stay (fat) and what can go (muscle, etc). It also means that the loss was not true. When a loss is not true, it is essentially temporary, and we can typically expect to gain it all back…and more.
The #1 reason that weight gain during a metabolism reset is surprising for most of us, is because we forget that it’s only ONE phase of the journey. The Reset Phase is about healing, not fat loss (that’s a whole ‘nother phase!). For more info on the 5 phases click here.
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by EM2WL | Apr 9, 2013 | Testimonials, The Journey
I’ve been part of this wonderful EM2WL family for a year now.
I’m nowhere near my goal weight…in fact, I’m actually farther away from my goal now than I was when I joined this group (thanks Christmas 2012!!!)
But even though the scale hasn’t shown much weight loss, my body has obviously been changing…something I failed to see with my own eyes until my daughter pointed it out to me one evening.
When I joined this group, I began strength training and eating more. Lots more. I increased my calories slowly and it took almost 6 weeks for me to even drop one measly pound.
I hung in there though. Through the highs and lows (and trust me, there were plenty of lows).
When I took the picture from today (on the right), I was shocked by what I saw in comparison to my picture from last year at this time (on the left).
How did this happen? How could I have not seen how much my body had been changing over the last year?? Even going by my measurements, I still would never guess I had this much progress in my abs.
This is why you NEED to take pictures! This is why you cannot rely on the number on the scale!! This is why the measuring tape doesn’t tell the whole story!! Trust the process!
Believe me when I tell you that I weigh 6 pounds more now than I did a year ago but I’m obviously much leaner. I would’ve never even realized how far I had come if not for these pictures.
I didn’t do hundreds of crunches or sit-ups. I didn’t log endless hours walking on the treadmill. I’m not one of those people who was blessed with awesome genes.
I’m someone who has had to fight every moment to get to this point. I’m someone who lifted heavy and pushed herself to failure. I’m someone who stopped starving herself, while expecting miracles. I’m a busy mom of 4 young children who works out at home to DVD’s…not someone who spends hours in the gym. I only have 30-60 minutes a day to commit to my workout.
Just trust the process. It does work. Just a little while ago, my weight stalled and I was stuck gaining and losing the same 2 pounds but I took some wonderful advice from the people here and increased my calories from 2000 to 2200 and reduced the amount of cardio I was doing and…BAM…the weight is coming off again.
Granted, I still have a lot of weight to lose but I’ll get there. These pictures are proof that I can and will do it.
And you can too!!!
Oh and TAKE THOSE PICTURES!! Hopefully, a year from now, you will be so happy you did!!!
ETA 10/16/13: Speaking of pictures…we’ve just received another updated one from Helene…with a message!
Have an EM2WL transformation to share? Willing to let us tag along on your journey? We’d love to see it! Be featured on our Transformation/Journey page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
by | Apr 3, 2013 | Testimonials, The Journey
Guest Post from Mommamuscles
Its been about a year since my update on my experience with eating more.
Its funny how much things can change in a year. My goals have been altered quite a bit in the past year and if you had told me that I’d be where I am today a year later, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.
I’d say that the first six months of eating more were really mentally challenging, and there was alot of going back and forth. About a year ago though, I was finishing up my second metabolism reset, feeling great and getting into a really great groove with this lifestyle. I was absolutely confident that I was on the right path. I still had about 20 pounds I wanted to lose, but I figured I would get there, no problem. As my metabolism reset came to an end, I felt great. I had tackled a lot of my food demons and I was ready to tackle the next twenty pounds and drop some body fat.
What happened next was not pretty.
I decided to meet with a trainer to kick up my training a notch. We researched some local gyms, but given that we live in an extremely rural area in Wisconsin, the choices were very limited. We finally settled on a gym that looked pretty promising. Very few cardio machines. Lots of tires, ropes, kettlebells, barbells. The husband and wife team who owned it were into body building competitions (should have been a red flag!!!!), and seemed to know what they were doing. I really enjoyed the workouts. The trainer we were working with pushed us hard and I felt challenged in a new way. When we started talking about how to accomplish my goals, the first thing he told me was that I was eating too much and to cut my calories. He also recommended some supplements (which of course, he happened to sell).
For a while I was able to resist the lure of a magic pill, but eventually I got sucked into some crazy 24-day challenge. To this day, I have no clue how or why this happened, but I ended up gaining like 15 pounds in a matter of weeks.
To make a long story short, I came to the conclusion that wasn’t working, and learned a valuable lesson: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I knew I had found what worked: lifting heavy stuff and fueling my body for my workouts, and as I returned to that, the weight I had gained left as quickly as I had put it on. I felt awesome again. I actually feel pretty ashamed I fell for all that nonsense, but sometimes I think we just need to go through those things so we become convinced we were really on the right track all along.
I continued with my cut through most of the summer, but towards the end of summer I was feeling pretty burnt out. It has been a little over 18 months since I started really focusing on weight / fat loss, and I was just kind of tired of the whole thing. It wasn’t that I wanted to quit or anything, and I still had/have some big goals for myself. I started thinking about setting some new goals, looking back at some of the goals I had set when I started this whole journey. What I realized was that even though I hadn’t reached that elusive number on the scale, I was seeing great things happening. 
My strength was increasing and I was loving that. I felt fit, healthy, and strong. I was able to run around with my kids and do just about anything I wanted to. I was wearing a comfortable size 6 (which was a huge deal to this chick, who used to squeeze into a size 22). I had made my healthy lifestyle a habit. I just kind of knew that this was my new normal. So what if I didn’t reach my goal weight yet? What if I never reached my goal weight but continued to change my body composition? I realized I was okay with that. I kind of abandoned the idea of having a “goal weight.” I still have some body composition goals, but I am confident I’ll get there as long as I continue to train hard and keep my eating on point.
I literally took the scale out of my life for a couple months, and it was great. I really just focused on putting good food in, killing my workouts and not really stressing over it. Around the beginning of fall, I started to think about “bulking”, and thinking I would really like to put some concentrated effort into building muscle. I really did a lot of research and watching this video series from Eat More to Weigh Less was really informative and helpful!
I had a lot of concerns about, the main one being that I was too fat to do this, but I just plunged ahead and trusted the process. I ended up bulking from November to February, and it was great.
Salted caramel pretzel truffles? Yes please!!!!
It was really refreshing for my goal to be something other than fat loss. I really enjoyed the holiday season-baking cookies with my kiddos, not stressing at Christmas parties and such. I had a few bumps in the road-I wasn’t always as consistent with my food as I should have been, and I ran into a few injuries that forced me to tweak my lifting schedule somewhat. There were a few freakouts because I stepped on the scale or because my clothes were getting tight. But overall, I felt like I did pretty well. I was loving my strength gains. I had set some goals for bench, deadlift and squat and by the end of my bulk, I was totally excited that I had met every last one! It was absolutely amazing how heavy I was able to lift with the extra food-especially carbs!
February rolled around and it was time to begin my cut. This was kind of a nerve racking experience. I ended up cutting only about 300 calories off my TDEE (which, by the way I found to have increased after bulking!). I had gained about 12 pounds and about 1% body fat. My measurements had gone up mostly in my hips and waist. My clothes all basically still fit, just quite a bit differently and tighter than I would have liked, especially in the legs and waist.
After about 4 weeks into my cut, I am back to my pre-bulk weight, and have lost quite a few inches and some body fat.
These pics were taken during the first four weeks of my cut. I was thrilled to see some changes in my belly!!!!
I’m back into my favorite jeans, which feels just awesome.
I had been intending to continue to eat at a “cut” for about 12 weeks. Then last week, my hubby came to me with an entry form with a powerlifting meet in our area and told me, “I think we should do this.” Its been kind of a goal of mine for a long time to train for and do something like this, and so we decided to go ahead and move forward with it. It is definitely changing the way that I approach my training and nutrition-definitely will be abandoning the cut for now and eating for strength. I am really excited, and will be sure to be keep my training log up to date.
Becca is a busy wife and homeschooling mother to five children ages 5 to 13. About three years ago, she embarked on a journey to health and fitness that resulted in the loss of approximately 100 pounds. Today, she is a competitive powerlifter and strongwoman who loves ice cream and deadlifts. As an ISSA certified personal trainer, she is passionate about helping women to get started on a lifestyle of strength and fitness.
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