by EM2WL | Jun 1, 2013 | Fat Loss / Cutting, Workouts
Torn between whether to lift heavy to build true, dense, muscle — or lighter weights for the temporary “pump” that it provides? You can have them both in this challenging workout.
The Plan: A 4-day, workout split featuring a variation of push/pull with one heavy and one light day for each body part. The heavy days will truly challenge your muscles for growth (hypertrophy), while the lighter days will pull the much needed glycogen into the muscle (providing the “pump”). All sessions will work together spark your metabolism with maximum muscle recruitment. This workout uses dumbbells (or kettlebells) only, making it perfect for those with limited equipment. Working with dumbbells will allow for greater range of motion (deeper stretch and stronger contraction), recruit more stabilizer muscles (especially the core), as well as balance strength, muscular development and overall body symmetry. It is appropriate for reset, cut, or maintenance.
Weights: Begin 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. 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, even on “light” days (although you won’t be completely fatigued) every set should be challenging. Do not perform any “push” (or “pull”) 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 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**
Day 1 – Push (Heavy)
Done straight set fashion. Finish all sets for that exercise before moving to the next. Rest 45-60 seconds between sets. |
Exercise:
|
|
Reps
|
Sets
|
| Neutral Incline Dumbbell Press |
|
12,10,8,8 |
4 |
| Dumbbell Bench Press |
|
10,8,8 |
3 |
Bent Arm Dumbbell Pullover
|
|
10 |
3 |
| One Arm Dumbbell Press (palm in) |
|
10,8,8 |
3 |
One Arm Side Lateral Raise
|
|
10 |
3 |
Seated Rear Delt Raise
|
|
10 |
3 |
Bench dips
|
|
8 |
3 |
| One Arm Tricep Extension |
|
10 |
3 |
| Exercise Ball Pull-in |
|
15 |
3 |
| Reverse Crunch |
|
15 |
3 |
Day 2 – Pull (Heavy)
Done straight set fashion. Finish all sets for that exercise before moving to the next. Rest 45-60 seconds between sets.
|
Exercise:
|
|
Reps
|
Sets
|
| Dumbbell Squat |
|
12, 10, 8, 8 |
4 |
Dumbbell Lunge
|
|
10 |
3 |
Stiff-legged Deadlift
|
|
10, 8, 8 |
3 |
| One Legged Calf Raise |
|
15 |
3 |
One Arm Dumbbell Row
|
|
10, 8, 8 |
3 |
Double Arm Row (palms face body)
|
|
8 |
3 |
| Incline Curl (Alternating) |
|
10, 8, 8 |
3 |
Hammer Curl
|
|
10 |
3 |
~Rest/Yoga/Cardio (opt.)~
Day 3 – Push (light)
Done straight set fashion. Finish all sets for that exercise before moving to the next. Rest 30 seconds between sets. |
Exercise:
|
|
Reps
|
Sets
|
| One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press |
|
15, 12, 12, 15 |
4 |
Incline dumbbell Flyes
|
|
12, 12, 15 |
3 |
Around-the-worlds
|
|
15 |
3 |
Front Incline Dumbbell Raise
|
|
12, 12, 15 |
3 |
Arnold Press
|
|
15 |
3 |
Iron cross
|
|
12 |
3 |
Tricep Kickbacks
|
|
12 |
3 |
| One Arm Tricep extension (standing) |
|
15 |
3 |
| Weighted Oblique Twist |
|
20 |
3 |
| Jackknife Sit-ups |
|
15 |
3 |
Day 4 – Pull (light)
Done straight set fashion. Finish all sets for that exercise before moving to the next. Rest 30 seconds between sets.
|
Exercise:
|
|
Reps
|
Sets
|
| Dumbbell Plie Squat |
|
15, 12, 12, 15 |
4 |
Dumbbell Split Squat
|
|
12, 12, 15 |
3 |
One-legged Deadlift
|
|
12 |
3 |
Walking Lunges
|
|
20 |
3 |
Alternating Renegade Row
|
|
12, 12, 15 (per side) |
3 |
Double Arm Row (palms face rear)
|
|
15 |
3 |
Reverse Dumbbell Curl
|
|
12, 12, 15 |
3 |
Cross-Body Hammer Curl
|
|
15 |
3 |
~Rest/Yoga/Cardio (opt.)~
More of a visual person? Check out the “at-a-glance” options, by clicking on the desired day.
by EM2WL | May 30, 2013 | Testimonials, Transformations
Today marks 365 days of logging into MFP. I haven’t missed a day so it was exactly 1 year ago that I decided enough was enough, got my a** into gear, and changed my life.
Let me back up a bit and explain what led me to that point (but feel free to skip to the pics)
I’ve struggled with weight all my life. About 7 years ago though, I was put on Phentermine and lost about 30 lbs. For one all too brief year, I enjoyed being skinny (I wasn’t in the least bit fit) but after I got married, I got lazy and gained all that weight, and a hell of a lot more of it back.
April 2012, I went to India for 3 weeks on a business trip. During the trip I met many amazing people. One of their favorite things to do was to take pictures, chuckle about how white I was compared to them (I’m Irish-Scottish, I can’t help it), then post the pictures up this side of Facebook and down the other. One night after work, I was back in my hotel room logged into Facebook, and I got an eyeful of just how viral these pictures went… I cried myself to sleep that night and a couple more nights following. Here are just a few of them…
After this, I cancelled my FB account so I wouldn’t be face to face with reality and went on with life.
I got home from India May 5th, 2012 but it took me until May 30th to find and get on MyFitnessPal. Once I did join though, I joined with my full heart. I am lucky enough to have an amazingly supportive husband who when I flipped our lives upside down in pursuit of a healthier life and weight loss, he just said “Okay, what can I do to help?”
I started out with the 1200 calories MFP allotted and lots and lots of cardio. Then I found the group Eat More 2 Weigh Less which had me doing just that. I figured out my TDEE, subtracted 15%-20% and got heavily into weightlifting, starting with the program in the book New Rules of Lifting for Women. After I finished that program, I moved on to Cathe Fredrich’s STS and am currently in the middle of my 2nd round. I absolutely love it and the results are freaking awesome.
I was also very fortunate to develop the best friends list on MFP. I freaking love you guys.
Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way that helped me succeed….
1. The scale is a dirty rotten liar and cannot be the only method of tracking progress. I learned to check and monitor progress by how my clothes feel, how I look in the mirror, pictures and measurements, and not just by the reading on the scale.
2. Setting and sticking to a rigid pound goal didn’t work for me. I originally set my goal to 120 lbs which, come to find out, isn’t what I want because to get there, I would either need to fall into the low teens in BF% or sacrifice lean mass (no thank you). Instead, I’ve focused on a goal BF% of between 18-20% which using the ideal body weight calculator on Fat2FitRadio.com, gave me a pound goal of 130. I started back in May of last year at around 35% Body Fat or more (I’m guesstimating). Today, I’m happy to report after getting my BF% tested in a BodPod, I’m at 20.9%. I’m so close I can taste it.
Here are how a few of my measurements changed:
Natural Waist = 36.5 to 26.5 (- 10 inches)
Thigh = 25.75 to 20.25 (- 5.5 inches)
Chest = 37 to 31 (- 6 inches)
Hips = 43.75 to 31.75 (- 12 inches)
Bicep = 13.5 to 11.25 (- 2.25 inches)
3. I don’t have to starve to lose weight. Thank god because I have a very VERY healthy appetite. I’m very grateful I found EM2WL only a few weeks after deciding to change my life.
Okay, enough blabbing. Here are my progress and NOW pics!
This first one is 25 lbs down…
This one is 36 lbs down, what I thought at the time was my ½ way mark…
This is a difference of 50 lbs… and the pic on the right is somewhere around 35% body fat, the pic on the left is 24.5% body fat…
This is 60 lbs lost…
These are a couple tummy comparison pic from about when I started to this past weekend.
And here are a few more now pics just for fun :)
I remember just starting out and spending a lot of time looking at others success stories. I hope this provides motivation for someone somewhere to not give up, to keep going, to get it done, like so many success stories did for me.
by EM2WL | May 20, 2013 | Main Dish, Recipes
Need some help hitting your protein goals without meat? Try this protein and fiber packed vegan version of a Mexican favorite – Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers. Meat lover? Just add ground beef!
– Submitted by Odette
Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 green bell peppers (tops cut off, sliced in half lengthwise and seeded)
- 2 cups water (for blanching peppers)
- 1/2 cup quinoa (uncooked)
- 5/8 cups broth (to cook quinoa)
- pinch salt
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 Small red onion (diced)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1/2 can black beans (drained)
- 1 tablespoon salsa
- 6 tablespoons corn
- 1 green onion
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons golden raisins
- 1 1/2 dried figs (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro
Optional
Directions
|
|
| Put quinoa and broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer on low for 20 minutes. Remove and place in a mixing bowl. |
|
|
| Preheat oven to 350°. |
|
|
| Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Blanche the pepper halves for 2-3 minutes. Remove and immediately submerge in cold water to stop the cooking process. |
|
|
| In a saucepan, saute onions, garlic and chopped bell pepper tops. |
|
|
| Add rest of ingredients and cook until warmed through. |
|
|
| Fluff quinoa when it's done and add to saucepan with everything else. |
|
|
| Stuff peppers with the mix. Put in an oiled baking dish. Add a few tbsp of water to the bottom of the baking dish. |
|
|
| Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your peppers and how much they cooked when they were pre-boiled. They should take no more than 15 minutes for smaller peppers. If you stuffed the peppers raw, they will need to bake for 30-40 minutes. |
Note
SOME ITEMS NEED TO BE PREPARED AHEAD OF TIME. Optional items: olives, chick peas, cheese, nutritional yeast.
Nutritional Info:
Calories 335.4 Calories from Fat 36 Total Fat 4.0 g Saturated Fat 0.5 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 73.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 62.6 g Dietary Fiber 14.1 g Sugars 7.6 g Protein 15.9 g
Those newer to EM2WL are 0ften in need of suggestions to help them increase their cals, while maintaining some macronutrient discipline. This is where the fam can help out. If you have a fave recipe that you’d like to submit, send it to us (along with pics/nutritional info if you have them!) at eatmore2weighless@EM2WL.com, or in in the recipe section of the forum.
by EM2WL | May 12, 2013 | Giveaways
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the EM2WL Mommies!! 
We hope you all have a blessed day with your families, and enjoy any eats that they choose to pamper you with.
As promised, we’ve also selected a random winner for our giveaway, the $25 Amazon Gift Card:
Emily
We will be contacting you with the details, Emily, and getting that sent to you right away!
Congrats, and enjoy!
by EM2WL | May 6, 2013 | Giveaways
I love my Mommy!
It’s almost Mother’s Day, and we want to spread a little love to the Mommy’s in the fam. So this weekend, we’ll be giving away another Amazon gift card!
The Prize:
Gift Card for $25 redeemable at Amazon.com
Have a few things in your cart, but you’ve been hesitating to click “buy?” Have at it. Been wanting to grab a few items, but waiting until you had enough to get the free “Super Saver Shipping?” Here ya go! If you need some help picking out items (really?!) just check out the site store where we’ve listed our Amazon faves!
How to enter:
Just drop us a line in the comments section below, tell us why your mom rocks!
Let us know: What do you love/remember most about your Mom?
Mom’s rule, but we often don’t realize it until we move away from home, or they are gone. (I know I, personally, was devastated when I had to move 2000 miles away from mine, and I still cry every time I leave her!)
What makes/made your mom the best ever? What do YOU love most about being a mom?
Contest Ends:
Random winner will be chosen May 10, 2013 at 11:59pm EST, and announced on May 11, 2013. Be sure that your comment is linked to a working email address, so that you can be contacted if you are chosen. We will not use your email for any other purpose, but if we cannot contact you, another winner will be chosen.
Good Luck!
Momma’s boy ;)
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