Fit & Fabulous

TRAINING PROGRAM

4.1Phase 1

During the first four weeks, we will lay the foundations. If you have never trained before, you will learn the necessary movements and exercises during this time. And if you already have some training experience, you can use this time to familiarize yourself with the new program and, if necessary, improve your form and optimize your nutrition.

In Phase 1, you will do three training sessions per week, training the whole body in each session.

Your weekly schedule will look like this:

NOTE

You don't necessarily have to start every Monday. You can choose the day that suits you best. However, do not change the order of the training sessions and always take a day off between your workouts.

Each training session is structured as follows:

1.You start with a warm-up, which prepares your body for the workout ahead. A warm-up is mainly about mobilizing the different joints and your spine and warming up the muscles. This helps you to work out more efficiently and reduces the risk of injury (Pérez-Gómez et al., 2020).

2.The warm-up is followed by the main workout block, which consists of various strength exercises. In Phase 1, we train the entire body in each training session.

3.The last block, after the main workout, is the cool-down. The goal is to come to rest after the strength training and to stretch and relax all muscles. Too often, this part is far too short, but it is not less important than the warm-up or the workout itself. The cool-down will help you speed up your recovery after a workout and reduce muscle soreness the next day. In addition, light stretching after physical activity can help you release tension and prevent the muscles from shortening. Thus, it can prevent various injuries (Apostolopoulos et al., 2018). If you don't have time, you can still quickly stretch the whole body or the muscles trained on that day. It doesn't have to be long because even a brief cool-down is much better than none at all!

4.1.1 WEEK 1

Welcome to your first training week! Before we start the program, I would like you to define your main goal as precisely as possible. You can do this as follows:

1.FIRST, UNDERSTAND WHAT EXACTLY YOU WANT

What do you want? Lose weight or fat, build muscle mass, or just add some exercise to your daily routine and feel stronger?

Do you want to see a certain number on the scale? What number do you want it to be? Do you realize how long it may take to reach that number (see section 3.2.1)?

Do you want to achieve a particular physique? Which one exactly? What do you want to change? Is this realistic?

Do you want to improve your diet? What exactly does that mean to you?

Keep asking yourself different questions until you have a clear vision of your goal and understand how long it might take to achieve it.

2.FIND YOUR TRUE MOTIVATION OR UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WANT TO DO THIS

You have defined and understood precisely what you want in the first step. Now it's time to uncover why you want it. To find out, you can use the "five whys" method. Believe me, the result can surprise you a lot.

The idea behind this method is to ask "Why?" at least five times, always basing your next question on the previous answer. Here is an example:

"I would like to lose weight."

"Why do you want to lose weight?"

"I feel uncomfortable in my body and not attractive."

"Why do you feel unattractive?"

"My old clothes don't fit me, and I don't like what I see in the mirror when I'm not wearing clothes."

"Why is it so upsetting that you can't fit into your old clothes and don't like your reflection in the mirror with no clothes on?"

"My husband and I went out on dates much more often in the beginning of our relationship. Now we do much less together."

"Why does it bother you that you do less together?"

"It feels like there's not much spark between us anymore."

"And why does that bother you?"

"I miss our intimacy. I'm worried that my husband doesn't find me attractive anymore. And I want our relationship to go back to the way it was back then."

And now, within a few minutes, you have found your deeper and true motivation, your very own "Why." It is worth noting that you do not necessarily have to ask yourself "Why?" exactly five times. Keep asking until you find out the real reason behind your goal.

3.TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

If your goal is to change your body composition, lose weight, or shape your body, I recommend that you document where you are now before starting your training program. Even though it might be a struggle for you at first, believe me, you won't regret it later! It is always helpful to see where you started on the days when you don't feel as motivated. To do this, you can take the following measurements right after you get up and go to the bathroom but before you drink or eat anything:

Use a scale to track your weight.

Take body measurements with a measuring tape and note the circumference of your chest, waist, and hips. In addition, you can also measure the girth of your biceps, thighs, and calves on each side and your waist girth at the level of your belly button. This will give you a good understanding of your current state and any changes that will happen in the future.

Take photos of yourself: Stand relaxed in front of the camera so you can be seen from head to toe, and take three pictures, one from the front, one from the side, and one with your back to the camera. Wear something light to make your body shape visible, such as a bikini or underwear. Here is an example of how you could take your photos:

If you can or want to take only one of the measurements, that's fine too. However, you will have a more accurate picture of your progress if you have all three. I will tell you how to interpret them at the end of the program in section 5.1.

If your goal has nothing to do with your external appearance, I recommend keeping a kind of diary in which you can record your feelings, well-being, and actions or thoughts. For example, you can regularly write down what and how much you did on a particular day, how you felt that day or in a specific situation, what you ate that day, and so on. Because maybe you didn't reach the targeted number on your scale, but you feel more comfortable in your skin, stronger, and simply better. You shouldn't underestimate such little things!

MONDAY - FULL BODY 1

Congratulations on your first day of training! I hope you have set your goals and tracked your current stats (weight, body measurements, feelings, photos, etc.). Now let's get started with the workout!

NOTE

Throughout the book, I will use the notation "3 x 15." This means three sets of 15 repetitions per exercise. "5 reps each side" means one set of five repetitions for each side. "5 reps" represents one set of five repetitions.

Your warm-up routine will not change during Phase 1 and Phase 2. Since you will be training the whole body, you should also prepare your entire body for the workout.

Please perform all movements slowly and in a controlled manner.

ARM CIRCLES p. 304

5 reps each direction
(forward and backward)

STANDING CHEST OPENER p. 311

5 reps each side

THREAD THE NEEDLE p....