[Naomi]

Oliverbinns3 wrote:

Hello!!!

Would fasting be recommended if each of the meals are still eaten and the post work out meals are ate immediately after training?

Hey there- fasting is not incorporated as part of this challenge, but if that is something you personally would like to incorporate then that is totally up to you. The daily nutrition/meal recommendations are outlined in the nutrition portion of the program, so as long as you follow the nutrition recommendations outlined for daily intake, you should see results 🙂

Best of luck with the challenge!

[Naomi]

jESSICA ESTENES wrote:

Is goat cheese 1oz acceptable ? Also light laughing cow cheese would that be ok too?
I have no cheese and these are my two options

Yes and yes, those should both work fine 🙂

[Naomi]

zeewray wrote:

Is canned pure pumpkin purée Allowed?

As long as the ingredients are just pumpkin then yes 🙂

[Naomi]

Cathleen wrote:

Hi,

How many grams is 6 egg whites?

Thanks,
Cathleen

3 egg whites = 46g so it would be 92g for 6 egg whites 🙂

[Naomi]

toni.partin wrote:

Can you use low calorie bread as an alternative to Ezekiel bread? Thanks!

Toni

Hi Toni- I would recommend using a healthy bread alternative such as Dave’s Killer Bread. Ezekiel Bread isn’t necessarily lower in calories than regular bread, it just has healthier, whole ingredients 😉

[Naomi]

Stephanie wrote:

The exchange list says to measure all vegetables cooked except lettuce, but there are some veggies I’d rather eat raw (probably not going to eat a cooked cucumber 😆🤢). I sometimes like to eat raw peppers or raw green beans, etc. Anyway I was wondering if I should increase the measurement for raw veggies slightly? Like by 10 or 15%?

Hi Stephanie- just to be safe, I would eat the indicated measurement even of the raw veggies. I am not sure what the conversion of the cooked veggies to raw veggies would be, so I don’t want to tell you incorrectly, so better to play on the safe side and just measure out raw what the measurement is of cooked, even though there will be some difference because of water loss in cooked veggies.

Bets of luck with the challenge! 🙂

[Naomi]

eschellenger wrote:

Unable to consume dairy, would it be ok to substitute a fat here or prefer or another alternative? TY!

Hey there- you can choose any of the other meals (except the post-workout meal) that doesn’t have dairy. The meals are roughly the same calories and macros, so they are interchangeable and you can eat a meal more than once, so I would recommend choosing any of the meals that don’t contain dairy.

Best of luck with the challenge!

[Naomi]

toni.partin wrote:

Does anyone know the size of the scoop that is in the Npower Protein Powder? I have some whey protein powered i am going to use up and need to make sure the scoop size is the same.

Thanks!
Toni

Hey Toni! I would highly recommend measuring out the protein in grams on a food scale instead of using measuring scoops, measuring spoons or measuring cups. These aren’t always accurate, so if you measure out 26g of your protein it won’t matter what scoop you use. But the calories and macros may also differ between the protein powder you have an the nPower protein, so the serving size may need to be different anyway in order to try to match the calories and macros in one scoop serving (26g) of nPower Protein Powder. Does that make sense?

[Naomi]

Oliverbinns3 wrote:

Hello!!!

I am returning back to jiu jitsu training and it will be solo drills during the duration of the challenge. Is the additional cardio unproductive for the purposes of the challenge or is it ok if I keep my heart rate relatively low?

Hey there – it should be OK if you keep your HR relatively low, or the drills could also be considered as one of your interval cardio sessions depending on how high your HR gets and how long the drills are.

Best of luck with the challenge! 😀

[Naomi]

brandyhamel20 wrote:

So I’m probably over analyzing this but I want to truly understand the difference between the the hiit and interval cardio. I like to use a HR monitor to keep on track when doing cardio. I’m well aware of doing proper hiit, but I’m a little confused as to how the other interval training differs. So I guess my specific question is heart rate wise what should I be looking for on interval days that’s different than hiit? Thank you!

Hi Brandy-

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is when you are going as hard as you can possibly go for the high interval segment during HIIT. It is literally super high intensity interval training, so your HR should be at about max capacity during the high interval. This is also why HIIT is typically shorter duration — you should physically be incapable of going for very long because the intensity is so high.

Interval days aren’t as high intensity as HIIT, which is why you are able to have longer durations of cardio. The high interval isn’t as intense as the high interval is with HIIT, so you should be at about 60-75% of Max HR during your “working” interval segments. You shouldn’t be at Max HR as you are with HIIT.

I hope this makes sense and help you understand the difference between the two better 🙂 Bets of luck with the challenge!

[Naomi]

Maria wrote:

what is the best app to use where I can add the one minute rest?

Hi Maria-

A really god interval timer app is actually called “Interval Timer” and you can just search for it in your App Store.

Goo luck with the challenge! 🙂

[Naomi]

Alison Padovani wrote:

Summer Shred Challenge

Yay, it looks like it’s working! Or at least you are able to post, so hopefully challenge participants are able to also :-/

Thanks Alison!

[Naomi]

kaylacroman wrote:

Quick question on the menu. This is my first challenge so I’m still navigating it all 🙂

I’m prepping for my first week’s grocery trip and for Meal 2 and both options list protein powder.

I assume that option 2 is a shake where the ingredients are blended together, and if so should I be adding water/almond milk to it?

For option 1, is it suggesting a protein shake along with the meal or blending it with the other ingredients to put on the bagel?

Hi Kayla and welcome to your first challenge! We are so happy you are on board!

Unless the meal plan specifically says to add almond milk, you will add water. You can consume the ingredients in the meal plan however you like! You can blend everything in a blender, or you can find other creative ways of preparing it. We have quite a few creative challenge participants who post very interesting ways of prepping, cooking and baking some of the meals, so use your culinary imagination and enjoy! 😀

Best of luck with the challenge!

[Naomi]

lcarice28 wrote:

I don’t think the nutrition area is working on the forum. I cannot post anything.

We’re on it! We’ll have that up and working asap, sorry for the inconvenience!

[Naomi]

Stephanie wrote:

Hi! Sorry for adding this here, I’ll be more than happy to delete and re-write it once the nutrition section is opened up.

I have a homemade tomato sauce, literally just tomatoes, onion and calorie free spices and herbs. Should I treat that as a vegetable serving? Thank you so much.

No worries! We’ll get the nutrition forums link working soon 🙂

Yes, you can treat that as a vegetable serving, absolutely! Good luck with the challenge!

[Naomi]

Dara wrote:

Hi! If I do a kickboxing class a couple days a week, should that replace cardio for those days or be in addition to?
Thanks!

Hi Dara- it depends on how long the kickboxing class is and how high your HR gets up, but I would imagine it could replace either the HIIT or Interval cardio depending on the length of the class and intensity of your HR.

Good luck with the challenge 🙂

[Naomi]

Karen Gillen wrote:

I reviewed the workout programs, and they don’t have many back exercises. I have a lot of muscle and am wondering whether this program may result in a deterioration of muscle. Realizing that everybody is different, do you have thoughts on whether it might make sense for me to add an extra back exercise on upper body days? Thank you.

Hi Karen- this Challenge is a “shred” challenge, so it is geared toward leaning out which could result in some muscle loss as well as fat loss. If you personally would like to add exercises to the program based on what your individual goals are, that is totally up to you 🙂

Good luck with the challenge and reaching your goals!

[Naomi]

ca_nada86 wrote:

Hi!
I was looking at the cardio and want to go on an actual bike ride instead of being in a gym. How can I modify it so that I can get my cardio in, but outside on my bike? I don’t have any way to track my RPM on my bike.

Thank you for your help! 🙂 I’m excited about this challenge.

Hey there- no worries! As long as you stick with the time/duration of the cardio outlined in the program and your HR is within the range required, that will be in line with the cardio for this program 🙂

Good luck with the challenge!

[Naomi]

narby67 wrote:

Hi, I would like to know for the slice of cheese what I need to look on the macros for the cheese, because on the exchange list dairy doesn’t say the amount of protein/carb or fat

Thanks in advance

Hey there- you can just choose any full-fat cheese slice that you like. If it doesn’t specify “low fat” or “fat free” then choose “regular” or full fat. So, anything like: muenster, aged cheddar slice, American cheese, etc.

Good luck with the challenge! 🙂

[Naomi]

Gina wrote:

The cardio workouts that involve the track.(The End Zone, The Effort Zone) It says 800m (1 lap around track) isn’t one lap 400m?

Yep, you are correct! I will email the team and get this corrected, thank you for noticing that and letting us know! 🙂

[Naomi]

karlmorris wrote:

I am doing your challenge for the first time and I am unable to access or locate the various sections of the Challenge and therefore the various graphics. This may be because I do not know where to look for them but they do not seem obvious to me. I am logged into my account as directed by the home page for the Challenge. I presume that is where the videos for the workouts are located?

Hey there- can you please email your question to: [email protected] and they can see what technical issues might be going on there? Thank you, and I hope it gets resolved soon! 🙂

[Naomi]

Becky Martin wrote:

Hi Nicole, could please post videos for the dumbell sumo squat and dumbell sumo deadlift. Thank you!

Dumbbell Sumo Squats (fast forward to about 5min 45 seconds into this vide): https://nicolewilkins.com/fix-your-form-5-cable-pullover-triceps-pressdown-sumo-squat/

Dumbbell Sumo Deadlifts (you will hold dumbbells in front of you the same way Nicole is holding the barbell, you will just have a dumbbell in each hand instead of the barbell as shown in the video): https://nicolewilkins.com/exercise-demo-sumo-deadlift/

Whenever Nicole has a video demo using a different piece of equipment, the exercise is the exact same, it’s just you are holding a different piece of equipment such as dumbbells instead of a barbell for example. I hope this helps! Good luck with Phase 2 🙂

[Naomi]

mhopey wrote:

Are the dumbbell squats done with dumbbells at the shoulders or below the knees ?

If you scroll down below the PDFS of the workouts, you will see that most of the exercises have a video demonstration 🙂

Here is the video demo for the DB Squats: https://nicolewilkins.com/exercise-demo-dumbbell-squat/

[Naomi]

Ursula wrote:

Hi!
I hope everyone is doing well in this crazy time.

Are we doing hiit cardio on leg days?
The Hiit days fall on the leg days for phase 2.

Thank you
😀

Hi Ursula! I hope you are doing great, it sure looks like you are killing it! 😀

Please read below for Nicole’s recommendations about cardio. The sample cardio schedule she gives is just an example, so feel free to rearrange your cardio schedule for Phase 2 to avoid HIIT on leg days 😉

Like I mentioned on the Program Overview page, I am not assigning cardio-specific days for this program, because I want to give you some freedom to be able to choose the days you do cardio. However, here are a few rules to go by:
• If you can only train one time per day and are doing your cardio and weight training in the same session, this is perfectly fine. Just make sure to always do you cardio after your weight training workout. You want to push yourself when you weight train, and doing cardio before will sap you of some much-needed energy and you won’t be able to lift as heavy.
• Try to avoid performing HIIT cardio on leg days. These cardio workouts take more of a toll on your lower body, so I recommend doing your interval cardio workouts here.
• It is ok to do cardio on one of your rest days, but make sure to take at least one complete rest day every week.

Sample Cardio Schedule For Phase 1
Monday: Day 1 HIIT Cardio
Tuesday: Day 2 Interval Cardio
Wednesday: Day 3 No cardio
Thursday: Day 4 Rest/No cardio
Friday: Day 5 Interval Cardio
Saturday: Day 6 HIIT Cardio
Sunday: Day 7 Rest/No cardio

[Naomi]

Jane wrote:

Hi! Phase 2, Day 1 at home workout has Sumo Deadlifts listed twice. Is that correct?

Thank you!

That is correct, yes 🙂 Have a great workout!

[Author]

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