[Naomi]

Hi Jennifer- the more you are able to stick with the plan as it is written and organized, the better your chances are of success. I am not exactly following how you are wanting to restucture the workout days, so tell me if I have this right:

So far his week you have already completed Days 1 & 2, then as much of Day 3 (legs) as you could but felt your leg workout wasn’t as good as it could be if you went to the other gym (not Planet Fitness) and you don’t want to continue to short-change yourself on leg day. You did Day 4 (chest) yesterday and are going to do Day 5 (arms) today, then you want to do Day 3 again this weekend and start Monday on Day 4?

I feel the best thing for you to do is what Maureen said, stick with the plan as-is for this week and finish out Day 5 today, then take your full rest days on Saturday and Sunday. For the next three weeks, the rest of Phase 1, if you want/need to get a better leg workout, this is what I suggest:

Day 1 – shoulders/abs
Day 2 – back
Day 3 – chest/abs
Day 4 – arms
Day 5 – full rest/recvery
Day 6 – full rest/recovery
Day 7 – legs/calves (on the weekend, so you can have more time for legs)

* the only issue I see with the revised schedule is that you are doing 4 days back-to-back of upper body, which may cause you to be sore in your upper body, which will make it more dificult to get the most out of your upper body workout with sore muscles.

So your options are to either continue as he plan is orgaized and just not get as much volume/intensity out of your leg workout, or rearrange as suggested above and risk the possibility of major upper body soreness and fatigue, thus not getting as much volume/intensity out of your upper body workouts. Does this make sense?

I hope this helps! Good luck 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Jennifer- it is recommended to stick with the program as it is laid out for best results. Everyone has different preferences, but what is mentioned in the progam is what Nicole recommends.

[Naomi]

Hi Laura- I would count your snowboarding sessions toward your cardio as long as you’re gettting your heart rate up the equivalent of a cardio session. Have fun!

[Naomi]

Hi Jennifer – if you are having serious pain in your abdomen/core area, it would be best to call your doctor and find out what ab exercises, if any, are safe for you to do given your history and the pain you experience when doing ab exercises. Without knowing what issues may be going on I really can’t recommend any core exercises as alternatives in the event they may exacerbate an underlying issue.

[Naomi]

Hi A D – it is best to save the rest days for full rest.

[Naomi]

Hi Rebekah- good for your for trying something new and getting out of your comfort zone! That is a great achievement itself! Breanna is right, the most important thing is hitting your macronutrient ratio goals. This is a process, so you can’t expect to go from not eating this volume or frequency of food to all the sudden eating this volume and frequency of food. Give yourself a little time to adjust mentally and physically, and pretty soon you might find yourself eating all this food and still hungry, lol! 😉

[Naomi]

Hi there- rice and pasta don’t weigh the same and have different macronutrient profiles per serving, so in order to hit your approriate macros you’ll need to have the portion indicated – depending on if you want to have rice or pasta – as indicated in the nutrition plan. Make sure you are food journaling in MyFitnessPal every day and staying within 5g of the target macros 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Rachel- back exercises are some of the hadest to find alternatives for because of the pulling up and pulling down movements. I will try to give you the nest home alternatives I can, but you may need to run to Walmart or Target or a sporting goods store to get a few things, if you don’t have bands, etc. There are some movements that just can’t be repelcated with dumbbells and have the same muscle activation effect:

Pullup – there really is no sub for a pull-up, if you can get an at-home pull-up bar that would be ideal.
Close Grip Cable High Row – You can substitute this exercise using bands or TRX system and just attach the bands or TRX to a secure ancor point.
Wide Grip Pulldown – Two options here would be:
1. bands that have handles attached, just simulate the movement of a lat pull-down.
2. lay flat on a bench or the floor (on your chest, face down) and holding about 2-5lb plate weights, simulate the lat pull down movement.
* neither of these substitutions will allow you to use a heavy weight, but it is replecating the same muscle movement as a lat pull down and working the same muscles, just not working them in the same way a heavy lat pull down would 😉
One Arm Dumbbell Row – this one you can do as-is 😀
Straight Arm Cable Pulldown – this you could substitute with a bench pull over with a dumbbell

I hope this is helpful! Good luck 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Rebekah- the goal is to stick with a weight that you can do between 8-12 reps as outlined in the exercise protocol. Five is too low, and 1 rep is not really a “set” — its a 1 rep maximum movement. A “set” is a set of multiple reps. For the rest of the challenge I would advise sticking with a weight that you can get at least 8 reps and at most 12 reps.

[Naomi]

Just follow the meal plan as close as you are possibly able to given your schedule. If you need to do your weight training followed by cardio all in one session, drink your protein shake after your cardio.

[Naomi]

Hi Nicola- the post-workout protein shake is timed after your strength-training workout to help aid in recover and muscle building from heavy lifting, bot cardio. Cardio is designed to burn calories while heavy lifting is designed to build muscle. In order for your muscles to build, they need protein and amino acids to build from, which is where the post-workout protein shake coes in. You can wait about 30-45 min post workout if you feel like you need to, but definitey consume the protein shake after your weight lifting workout and not cardio. I hope this helps! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Leteia- in your particular case I think it’s fine to switch the order of the meals so that you have the protein pancakes pre-workout, then the pasta/turkey meal after 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Julie- if you go to each individual exercise in the program and click on the name of the exercise, it will take you to a video tutorial of how the exercise should be conducted. Here the video clip for the reverse grip bent over barbell rows.

[Naomi]

Hi Nicole- yes, you can do the seated hamstring curl in place of the lying hamstring curl. As far as the exercise ball tuck, this is a phenomenal exercise that causes your hamstrings, glutes and lower back to fire and engage (also incorporating stability) in a way that I have not been able to replecate with any other exercise. I am a little surprised your gym doesn’t have an exercise ball, as they are not very expensive, extremely common and functional for a multitude of exercises. I would recommend going to Walmart, Target or a sporting goods store sich as Dick’s or Academy Sports and purchasing one, if you would like to do that. I have brought home gym equipment, such as my own personal bands and jump rope, to gyms before to use with my workout. Maybe you can bring your exercise ball to the gym and just let someone know you’re bringing it in so that you can incorporate exercises with the exercise ball for your workout. Good luck! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Carissa- I advise that you stick to the workouts as closely as possible as outlined in the program and not add in anything extra. If yu feel you want more of a challenge to increase your chances of more progress, increase the weights as long as you can still conduct the exercises with proper form 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Stacey- pre-workout is allowed, but really pay attention to the sugars/carbs and additives/preservatives/color dyes, etc. We did not include pre-workouts in the total macros so please make sure you are food journaling and that you add your preworkout in MyFitnessPal to count toward your daily macros. Some of them are really high in carbs and sugars! 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Ann- I just plugged in the numbers for both Phases 1 & 2 for Meal Plan 2 (which is where I fall in the height/weight ratio). This is what the macro % come out to:

Phase 1
Calories: 2,040
Carbs: 210g (41%)
Protein: 165g (33%)
Fat: 60g (26%)

Phase 2
Calories: 1,600
Carbs: 140g (35%)
Protein: 170g (45%)
Fat: 40g (25%)

[Naomi]

Hi Michelle- it isn’t a stupid question, no worries! Actually, the workouts should be done exactly as indicated. These are all just straight sets: for example 4 sets back-to-back with 1-2 in rest period in betwen. Good luck!! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi Andrea- Phase 1 is focused on muscle-building so I would advise against fasted cardio right now regardless 😉 Fasted cardio is designed more for a leaning out. Absolutely you can do weights, then cardio after weights if that is what works with your schedule. Just make sure you have either Meal 1 or at the very least have some BCAAs (just mix 5g of BCAAs in a water bottle) before your workout. You don’t waint to workout on an empty tank, especially if you are doing both weight training and cardio in one session. God luck!! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi Jessica- yes, that is fine 🙂 Just make sure you have either Meal 1 or some BCAAs before you weight train. You don’t want to lift weights without any fuel in your tank! 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Michelle- this may be a little trial and error and tweaking on your part in MyFitnessPal to get the macros within 5g of your goals, but you can enter this bread you are thinking of replacing Ezekiel bread with and see how it fits into the macros.

A trick you can do to see what foods will work as replacements is to go ahead and enter in all of your food in MyFitnessPal for the day tomorrow. Then instead of the Ezekiel bread, replace it with the bread above, and gp from there. I hope this helps! Good luck! ?

[Naomi]

No, there is not another execise – it is just the exercises here

Six shoulder exercises and three ab exercises.

[Naomi]

Hi Jennifer- that looks great to me! Yes, you will do fine with this schedule 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Erika- this may be a little trial and error and tweaking on your part in MyFitnessPal to get the macros within 5g of your goals, but you can enter foods in from the protein portion of the food exchange list to see what will work for you as a replacement for dairy.

A trick you can do to see what foods will work as replacements is tp go ahead and enter in all of your food in MyFitnessPal for the day tomorrow. Then instead of the dairy foods, replace them with some of the other protein options and check to see which foods fit best so that you can stay within a close range of your macros. I hope this helps! Good luck! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Monica- yes, everything should be counted toward your daily maco goals. You need to food journal everything you consume and aim to stay within 5g of your macro goals 😉

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