In February 2011, I did a fantastic photo shoot in Melbourne with the amazingly talented, Jennifer Stenglein. Jennifer is a freelance fashion and portrait photographer who is based in Melbourne and works with lots of international brands. I’ve worked with her three times now, and find her to be incredibly artistic, creative and edgy. She’s also very professional and a really cool chick who just happens to also be from Perth :-). In fact, the makeup artist, Elle, and the stylist, Robbie Mance were both from Perth too!

Choosing A New Goal And How I Set Out To Achieve It

Around October 2010, I decided I needed a new fitness goal. I had already achieved my  goals of improving my endurance and strength, but I wanted something else to work towards. So I decided to book in a shoot with Jen, as I needed some new pics for my portfolio (since becoming a blondie!) and I knew this would be a great motivator! The brief I gave her was “sexy but tasteful body shots and some beauty shots both on location and in a studio”. I also wanted to send some pics into Women’s Health Magazine – another great motivator!

At this point I was training on my own and occasionally with some of the other trainers at Fitness First Melbourne Central (where I used to work when I was in Melbourne).

But I wanted something more structured, so initially I had a program written for me by the ex editor of Iron Man Magazine, Peter Miran. He also gave me some guidance on nutrition and supplementation timing. I then started training with Mark Sketchley from Results Based Training, who is a fantastic trainer! Yes, even personal trainers need trainers from time to time! I love being trained and not having to think about it for a change! I’d been doing mostly circuit training prior to being trained by Mark. Circuit training is fantastic for building fitness and endurance and losing body fat. But it was time for a change. We both decided I should get back to some good old fashioned hypertrophy and strength training to really sculpt my body and build lean muscle mass which is imperative for dropping body fat. And as you can see by these pics, I did not bulk up!

This Is How I Trained

By the time I did the photo shoot, I changed my program 3 times with each program lasting between 4-6 weeks. I started out with the hypertrophy phase (volume/neural association, fat-loss). My body-parts were broken down into 3 separate days, aka ‘split progam’. During this phase I trained one day on one day off.

Here is an example of how I trained:

Day 2 –  GLUTE/HAMY

Step Ups   10-12 reps  3 sets

Barbell Walking Lunge  10-12 reps  3 sets

Hamstring Curl  6-9 reps  4 sets

Stiff-legged Deadlifts  13-20 reps  3 sets

QUADS

Front Squat  10-12 reps  3 sets

Leg Press  13-20 reps  3 sets

ABS

Decline Weighted Sit-Ups  13-20 reps  3 sets

Leg Raise  13-20 reps  3 sets

The next program was strength and fat-loss and was broken down into 4 days, and I trained 4 days on 1 day off. This was rather grueling! I remember being quite tired at times but I never got sick as I was supporting my immune system the whole way through with the right supplementation.

 Here is an example of how I trained:

 Day 4 – BACK

Deadlifts  10-12 reps  2 sets

Lat Pulldowns  6-9 reps  2 sets

Bent-over Barbell Row  10-12 reps  2 sets

Seated Rows  6-9 reps  2 sets

Hyperextensions (no weight)  13-20 reps  3 sets

TRICEPS

Pressdown  6-9 reps  3 sets

Lying Tri-Extension  6-9 reps  3 sets

My third and final program was the conditioning phase (body fat-loss, maintaining muscle integrity) and this was my favorite program! It was split over 3 days, and I trained 3 days on 1 day off. Each session was immediately followed by 4 minutes tabata training on the cross-trainer.

Here is an example of how I trained:

Day 3 – DELTS/ARMS

Dumbell Front Press  10-12 reps 3 sets

Upright Rows superset w/ Side Raises  10-12 reps 3 sets

Front Raises superset w/ Bent-over Lateral Raises  10-12 reps 3 sets

Ez-bar Tricep Extensions superset w/ Ez-bar Barbell Curls  10-12 reps  3 sets

Tricep Pushdown superset w/ Cable Curls  10-12 reps 3 sets

 

Nutrition And Supplementation

This is clearly a massive part of anyone’s fat-loss goals! I had never really followed a strict nutrition and supplement protocol prior to setting this goal for myself. And I must admit, even though I was advised on how many grams of meat I should be having per meal, I still never weighed my food up until the fat-loss detox I embarked on recently! I kinda just went with the ol’ ‘rough estimation’ trick! Not that I’m necessarily advising this, but I already had a good understanding of how much 100 grams of chicken was.

My meal timing wasn’t essential, however my overall caloric intake per day along with the correct macronutrient breakdown (protein, carbs and fats) per day and week, was extremely important. A vital component was Peri (in and around training) nutrition and supplementation, which on the contrary, had to be at the specified times.

The supplements I took included:

• whey protein isolate
• glutamine
• branch chain amino acids (BCAAs)
• vitamin C
• vitamin E
• glucose
• multivitamin
• fish oil
• flaxseed oil

 

How I Train Now

I must admit that during this time, my body shape changed for the better! I enjoyed training this way and was absolutely stoked with the outcome of the photo shoot I did! These days however, my training is based around moving like our ancestors did which I wrote about recently. You can read about it here. I still train with weights, but only 2-3 x week and it’s more focused on full body workouts. I also do intervals such as tabatas a couple of times a week and I practice yoga when I can. I’m also about to start pole dancing! Will definitely do a post on my experience with this! Hehe. I’ll probably go back to a more structured body sculpting program when I feel I need to spice things up a bit, but for now I’m enjoying the variety. I definitely believe in changing it up a bit, and your body will love you for it to! I’m also looking forward to running my bootcamps in the summer which will be at the beach…oooh yeah!!!

 

Please do not copy or otherwise reproduce any content or images without crediting and linking back to this blog. All rights reserved. Images photographed by Jennifer Stenglein.