Posted in ashley horner, Charlie Mike, fitness, glutes, nutrition, Sweet Cakes

Less than 30 days – my transformation so far

I promised myself to take photo every 30 days to monitor my fitness progress. So as embarrassing as it is, here ya go! My specific goal is to gain some muscle, specifically in my glutes. I have been using Ashley Horner’s Charlie Mike Program (free app) along with her “Sweet Cakes” program ($50). Granted, I haven’t finished certain parts of the program when it calls for extended cardio because I don’t want to lose any weight. For example, today was three rounds of a 1 mile run. No thanks. But I added in 100 walking lunges just to fill in a little bit of the gap I left.  And the other day her Sweet Cakes program asked for 3 sets of Pulsing split lunges with weight x 10 each side (10 pulses on EACH SIDE = 1 REP….). I just didn’t have time for 600 lunges that day.  But I have been following them 80% of the time. This program is a no BS one that kicks me in the gut every time. And the workouts are all DIFFERENT! I get bored so easy in the gym that this is critical for me.

I workout 4-5  days a week. But since I’m older, recovery takes longer. But I’m so excited to build a new body that I keep at it. And I keep my workouts to around an hour. I do make sleep a priority to help with recovery and take magnesium citrate every night. Ill post about sleep hygiene and some awesome sleep tools later.

Now here is the hard part….nutrition. I eat super healthy every day just because that’s how Im programmed. But my macros are somewhere around 2300 calories a day split into anywhere from 60g F 220P 220P to 60g fat 180P 260gC. I’ve had it professionally calculated and also have used several macro tools (bodybuilding.com has a great one).  The common factor is the low fat. I love fat. Not unhealthy fat but the good kind: avocados, olive oil, butter, ghee, MCT oil, cod liver oil, you name it. So eating high protein and carbs is hard for me. I did find a kind of secret weapon to help me: natural weight gainer with only FIVE natural ingredients and a killer flavor filler to make it taste extra delicious.  One serving is 1200 calories, 50g P and 250g C. I use HALF (600 calories, 25g P and 125g C).  It has like 1g F thus the flavor filler! It is made of tapioca, whey AND casein, coconut sugar and vanilla. That’s IT! It costs me about $3 per serving. Not bad.

So, Ill be taking this consistently for the next 30 days and cutting down my fat intake (sigh). Im curious to see what the January picture will look like!

Posted in ashley horner, Charlie Mike, fitness, glutes, Sweet Cakes, Uncategorized

Glutes….

(this photo is not me. It was found under fin.de’s website so the credit goes to them)

In my ongoing goal to build a nice round backside, I have really upped my game in the Glute exercise department. I did another Ashley Horner “Charlie Mike” workout and slapped on a “Sweet Cakes” Glute workout at the end (took me 1.5 hours of constant motion). I am waiting for my weight gainer protein powder to arrive since its clear I am not eating enough. Yes, whoa is me but trying to gain is weight is as frustrating as those trying to lose weight.

I am constantly trying new Glute exercises from credible sources so here is my top picks for you:

  1. One-Legged leg press: this targets the entire leg but I can feel this in my glutes the most.
  2. Barbell Glute Bridge or Hip Thrusters: Go heavier than you think and pause at the top of the exercise. Ouchie.
  3. Weighted rear lunge: Stick with one side for amount of reps before switching to the other. It burns out the muscles.
  4. Plie Squat: go wide and point those toes out. Squeeze as you return back up.
  5. Pulsing Squat: I do 100 before and 100 after my leg workout. Yeah baby.

 

Dont forget to re-feed! Nutrition is most important people.

Posted in cool stuff, fitness, glutes, growth, nutrition

Sweet Cakes i.e. nice glutes

I’ll admit it. I have a flat, sad little butt. Probably from sitting for the last 20 years. To try and inflate it a bit, I enlisted the help of Ashley Horner’s “Sweet Cakes” Glute program. I  am not a fan of the porno pic on the cover (although I am sure the FedEx print guys were super happy) but the workouts are very targeted. Its $50 (a lot, I know) for 13+ pages. But I guess if you shell out that kind of cash for 13 pages, you probably will use it out of guilt.

The workouts are supposed to be used the end of a regular leg day. I would recommend that you don’t do this. They are about 45 minutes of intense work if you don’t stop to gab, look at your phone or lurk at people.  I don’t have 2 hours to spend in the gym so I do these workouts 3 days a week by themselves.

I am halfway through and although my butt looks nothing like the front cover, I can say that my glutes are smoked at the end of each workout. I took my ‘before’ shots (eecchh) and hope to take some ‘after’ ones in about 6 months.  Or sooner…

My opinion? Buy it if you are serious about building your glutes.

And don’t forget, nutrition needs to follow your intense workout. So plan to re-feed your muscles when you are done (20g protein, 20-40g carbs, 5g or less of fat).