superlft

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New Progress Picture today! I think I’m making slow progress, the extra cardio and hiit training has been helping shave off some fat from my waist and butt which I’m liking. Just a matter of staying on diet! Wait for me Coachella!  I’m starting to feel good about my progress, I’m looking forward to my abs showing more.  Thinking about changing my blog format to video posts, thoughts? 

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HiiT Training

Hello fitness friends! Today I wanted to talk a little about my goals and how frustrated I was that I wasn’t meeting them. Hopefully this also does some good for you guys too. So I’ve been lifting for the better part of 3 years now and I keep seeing progress is how much I can lift, the weights are going up my muscles are starting to show but I straight out neglected and even looked down on cardio. I’ve gone so long thinking if I just decrease the rest time between sets and lower my working weight I can get a better work out like that and not need cardio. Which just isn’t totally true, sure you can get a great workout out of that format but I just wasn’t seeing the body that I wanted forming. I have a really particular goal aesthetic in mind and this just wasn’t it. Meanwhile, I decided to stop going to my usual gym in LA since I just didn’t agree with where they were headed and I honestly thought $100 a month for a non 24hr gym is absurd. So I’m left with a somewhat below standard apartment complex gym with nothing more than some dumbbells and cardio machines. This is where it all started to make sense. I can totally use this. I’ve pretty much all but abandoned my lifting program in favor of doing HiiT workouts. High Intensity Interval Training works with bodyweight and sometimes light dumbbells in short but intense bursts of exercise. Really gets your heart racing and blood pumping however,  I still need a squat rack for the leg muscles I so desperately crave.  What I realized is that I am not focused on increasing muscle mass, no- I’m interested in reducing the fat that surrounds the muscles I’ve already built.

My cardio is shit but luckily we can change that. Starting out with a 30 day HiiT program, that I merely googled and had countless results pop up, I’m already on day 6. It’s tough though! The mentality of keeping yourself going in a HiiT program is totally different than lifting but I can see the benefits of both. Already I’m seeing huge improvements in my waist and legs, I don’t feel so sore or laid out as I usually do and they don’t take nearly as long. Coupled with a good diet I think I can make some real progress in the next few weeks.

 I’ll be filming some of my workouts for you soon. So here’s my new plan, I should mention that I’ve given myself a deadline since Coachella is coming up and I want to be looking extra fresh for that. I’ll be working with this HiiT program until then but afterwards I’ll likely start doing a mix of barbell lifting and HiiT training for maximum efficiency in achieving the look I’m going for!

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Tracking Macros

So most of us should know by now that working out can only do so much to get us closer to being fitness god/desses. It’s a great way to increase your metabolism, increase energy, lift mood and motivation but it’s just not enough to get to your goal weight. This is what I’ve been struggling with lately. Diet.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a proponent for good food. I’m picky but I love everything that can and will increase my weight. It was also recently my birthday so all preoccupations with food went out the window and I ate absolutely everything I could get my hands on. However, now that celebrations are over I really want to focus on achieving my goal and putting the systems in place to get there. For most of the years I’ve been lifting I’ve always heard about tracking your macros but never gave it much thought, I was more concerned with eating enough to stay alive after a gym session. Now that lifting has become more of a lifestyle than a new hobby, I’ve been giving the idea of tracking macros more thought and I think I see a bright future in it. Remember, I don’t like to be deprived of my favorite foods and honestly believe that deprivation leads to failure. Have you heard about tracking macros? For anyone who might not know what I’m talking about here’s a quick rundown. The idea of tracking macros revolves around the idea of tracking, recording and measuring the macronutrients of the foods you eat throughout a day. Everything you eat will have a make up of protein, carbohydrates, and fats except for water. Go nuts on water.

You have a daily goal of calories and grams of each macronutrient that you should do your best to hit, at least roughly. Currently I’m using a 40/30/30 plan on a 1638 cal/day diet, meaning 40% of my calories/macros are carbs, 30% are protein, and 30% are fats. This isn’t the only plan but after using the IIFYM Calculator  this was the plan that fit my current weight loss goals. This all works out to: Protein goal: 123g/day

Carb goal:164g/day

Fat goal: 55g/day

At first glance it looks like a lot but honestly it adds up pretty fast on a regular 3 meal a day diet. I’ve been using the MyFitnessPal app on my phone to conveniently record all my food intake, it even has a handy barcode scanner for packaged foods, not that those should be a major factor in your diet. MFP also already has many popular food calorie/macro contents in it’s database so it’s been really easy to use. So the idea behind tracking macros or at least If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) is that you shouldn’t have to change your diet but rather puzzle piece it into these goals. If you want pasta just save your carb macros for the day for that particular meal. Want steak or dessert? Just fit it into your macros. However, what I’ve been doing while trying to get in the habit of tracking is not really a drastic change to my diet, or any changes at all really. I’m trying to record a normal day of eating for myself just to see what my unfiltered intake looks like. So far it’s very carb heavy but low in fats and protein, likely because I don’t eat meat. So finding a suitable veggie/vegan protein and fat option will be necessary, like tofu, tempeh, beyond meat or gardien foods. Really it all comes down to tracking and optimizing your diet for the best chance at success, optimization works in every other area of life so why shouldn’t work for weight loss? I’ll keep you guys updated about it, it’s very much a habit building exercise that I want to turn into a long term way of living. If you’ve tried or are currently tracking macros let me know what you think or if you have any tips for new tracking. I’d love to hear your feedback  

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I’m back with some new progress pictures. It’s been about a month since I posted my last ones so here’s a little update.  It’s been a bit of a tough month for my fitness... not because I’ve lost all motivation but because I came back to Canada for a little while and have been out seeing friends since I’ve been back which means all the junk food :’D  Sooo I can’t say I’m proud of my progress because its had a lot of ups and downs this month but I’m still at the gym 4 days a week and you can see just a little progress in my abs which is awesome.  I think I’ve kind of plateaued with my workout though, which works out since I finished the last set of accumulation phase last week which means either find a new work out or go back to phase one with higher weights, which it probably more likely. I like the workout I’m using, it takes under an hour to do and I feel the intensity however my fat burning isn’t happening at the same rate as muscle growth. So I think that’s what I really want to focus for the next few weeks. I added a kettlebell day to my plan this week that I think will help with that and I’ve been trying to do cardio at the end of my workouts but honestly it’s probably a diet thing. Since coming home to Calgary I have totally relapsed onto meat because I’m a weak human who can’t say no but maybe once I’m all settled it’ll be easier. I still hate chicken breast so that hasn’t changed. So yeah... been a bunch of ups and downs lately but still working!  

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Leg Accumulation Day

Alternating sets:

Barbell Squat 5 x 15, 12, 10, 8 reps

Lying Hamstring Leg Curls  5 x 9- 11 reps

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Barbell Step Ups 5 x 15, 12, 10, 8 reps

Back Extensions 5 x 9-11 reps

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Standing Dumbbell Calf Raises 3 x 12

Twisting Garhammer Raises 3 x 9-11

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A Little Explaination

So, I wanted to do a little explaining of what I’m using in my workouts in terms of my workout plan with a little bit of background on my fitness journey.  I’ve been lifting for a little more than 2.5 years, I started with the StrongLifts program (which I loved) and kind of expanded to different programs from there. I’ve been on my current plan for almost 6 weeks and have already seen major results in comparison to my old plans, I switched from a variation on StrongLifts to the plan I’m currently on.  The plan I’m currently on is the one outlined in How To Gain Muscle Mass: The Ultimate Guide by Charles R. Poliquin. Although it’s likely not geared towards thin 20something women, I don’t believe that women’s and men’s fitness are strictly independent, bodies are bodies. Poliquin suggests a 3-4 day plan (I chose 4 days) with an average of 6 exercises per workout with alternating focus on chest/arms and leg days.  One of the things that I’ve found is totally distinct about Poliquin’s ideas from any other plan I’ve been on are the 6 week repeating phases of “accumulation” and “intensification”.  Each phase slightly changes the frequency of reps, exercises and rest duration, I think this is one of the main difference making variables, changing it up and working the muscle to avoid plateauing, I’m no expert yet though so don’t quote me on that. I just know that it works. I think eventually I’d like to add in some short HIIT workouts on off days for extra cardio but right now I’m riding bikes around in DTLA so that definitely helps get a little cardio in here and there. If you’d like to see what each day consists of just check out my previous two video posts.  https://superlft.tumblr.com/post/155704343992/4-of-my-6-exercises-for-legs-intensification

and 

https://superlft.tumblr.com/post/156062611677/chest-and-arms-accumulation-day-top-half-range

Unfortunately, that’s the easy part. You can work out all you want but my goal is to burn fat and replace it with muscle. This means that my diet needed a total overhaul. Don’t get me wrong, I love food so much. Carbs are my favorite followed quickly by fat but I’ve had to really reevaluate what I feel is important to me. While delicious food is important to me, staying healthy, aging well and taking care of my body for my work is more important to me. When I’m older it won’t be the moments of gluttony that I’ll be happy about but the time I took to keep myself healthy that’ll matter.  This doesn’t mean I changed my entire life and I never eat my favorites any more, I give myself cheat days and cheat meals all the time but 80%-90% of the time I’m eating clean, whole foods of primarily pescatarian (sans eggs and lactose) variety. I’ve found that animal products are hard on the digestive system and I’ve chosen to only allow fish/seafood into my life to lessen the chance of me relapsing into red meat or pork, which I still will eat from time to time. A little bit of fresh sushi always makes my cravings disappear. Since making these changes to my diet and watching what I’m putting into my body I’ve also found that my taste has changed and vegetables, meat replacements like tofu or beyond meat have been increasingly more appetizing.  ALSO vegan options at non vegan restaurants are amazing, they usually taste better than the original IMHO. Anyway at the risk of dragging on and on about diet I’ll stop here. I have plenty of suggestions for awesome places for recipes to cook, restaurants to hit up and meat alternatives to add to your dinner.

Thanks for reading!

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Chest and Arms Accumulation Day

Top Half Range Incline Presses: 5 x 4-6 2210 tempo (55lbs)

Band Assisted Pull ups: 5 x 4-6 

Incline Barbell Press: 5 x 4-6 5010 tempo (55lbs) 

Bent Over EZ Bar Row: 5 x 4-6 5010 tempo (40lbs)

Seated Parallel Grip French Presses: 3 x 7-9 3110 tempo (10lbs)

Close Grip Cable Curls: 3 x 7-9 5010 tempo (30lbs)

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First progress picture! Let’s consider this my “before” photo.  It’s not before starting working out, god I wish I had one of those :< but this is my starting point as of starting this blog soooo let’s call this the “before blog”. 

I’m really trying to get control of my eating habits. I love food. Iat  love it so much. I love carbs more than life itself so it’s been kind of tough learning the discipline I need to make good choices. I’ve recently switched over to 80% pescatarian diet sans eggs and lactose. The other 20% of the time I will eat meat and cheeses because they’re honest to god my favorite and I believe that moderation is key to sustaining these kinds of changes. 

Goals

I’m in no way overweight or unhealthy, I’ve always been a pretty active person but my health has been neglected often. I used to have an amazing metabolism and it helps that I’m quiet long in terms of fat distribution. My fat grows in my thighs, butt and belly (literally none going to my chest :’( ), in other words I’m bottom heavy but I also concentrate a lot of my lifting on my legs and glutes. 

Where I’d like to see some improvement is in my waist and muscle definition. I’m trying to work up to visible abs and reducing fat in my core while also decreasing fat in my hips. Also build definition in my legs, butt and arms. 

I think I’m at a good place already but there’s definitely room for improvement!

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4 of my 6 exercises for legs intensification program following 4 weeks of accumulation. Front Squats: 5x5 65lbs

1 and 1/4 Lying Leg Curls: 5x5 21lbs

Bulgarian Split Squats: 4x7 30lbs

Good Mornings: 4x7 65lbs

NOT SHOWN: Standing Calf Raises: 4x10 60lbs

Twisting Lying Leg Pull-ins: 3x12 21lbs 

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Hi friends! So if you’ve found yourself here, it’s because you’ve reached my brand new fitness blog. I’m Tali xoxo, or supertaunt to some, I’ve been a cosplayer for the better part of 10 years, making costumes and props for myself and others. I’ve always loved sewing and crafting but recently (the last couple years) I’ve been getting more involved with my health. I want to be around and looking cute for a long time, you know?

So to give you an idea of what will be happening here, I’ll be keeping a blog of my fitness journey, healthy eating, workouts, and cheat days. Highs and lows and all!