Ab Workout

The most common question I get asked by my friends is "how do I get abs?"

Firstly, I would just like to point out that we all have abs! Just hidden underneath a layer of body fat. So the best way to get abs would be to change your diet first and foremost- follow a clean eating plan, cut the processed and sugary crap and don't skip your cardio sessions! (I will be bringing out a form of guidelines of clean eating in the coming weeks).

As for ab exercises, there are so many versions and crazy exercises you can do, my best advice is to keep it simple and make sure you are feeling the abdominal muscles activate when doing the exercises. It's all well and good if you can do 200 crunches, but if the muscle isn't tearing- you aren't building!
The aim is to build abdominal muscles, whilst eating clean to shred back body fat.
You also want to incorporate a variety of exercises that target all of the abdominal muscles: upper, lower and obliques. There are far more muscles each with scientific names, but these are the 3 main groups i target (see diagram below).

So what exercises do I do for a good abs workout?
Below is an example of a workout you can try incorporating the 3 main muscle groups:

Upper:
Crunches on stability ball
Too easy? Hold a 5kg plate
Ab pull down using tricep rope. One of my faves, it may look like you are praying to the Gods, but it works. See diagram below.

Lower:
Hanging leg raises
Reverse crunches
Both very simple, yet effective.

Obliques:
Cable wood chops
Russian twists with medicine ball

Essentially I have included 2 x upper, 2 x lower and 2 x oblique exercises.

Aim for 3 rounds of this circuit of 15-20 reps per exercise :)

Any questions email me: jennableakleyfitness@hotmail.com
xx

My weekend at a glance

Good Afternoon!

I hope you have had a fabulous weekend!

I have been super busy this weekend and have accomplished so much!

Friday night, after work, I spent my evening cooking up a storm in the kitchen. I made grilled snapper with a mango and avocado salad and for dessert I tried out a new CLEAN berry cheesecake! See the recipe below!

RECIPE:
Ingedients:

60g almond meal
4 Tblspn Almond milk
200g Low fat Cottage cheese
125g Greek Yoghurt- No or Low fat.
1 Tblspn Stevia
2 Egg whites
1/2 Tblspn vanilla essence
180g Mixed frozen berries

PROCEDURE:

1. For the Crust. Mix almond meal and almond milk together and press into a round baking tray, bake for 10-20mins on 180C. Set aside.
2. Add cottage cheese, greek yoghurt, stevia, egg whites and vanilla essence and blend together until smooth.
3. Pour mixture over almond base.
4. Bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, until centre sets.
5. Place frozen berries on top of cake and allow to sit in the fridge/freezer until cold.

Saturday morning, I was up early for my usual morning run on the esplanade. Warm Summer's morning and glassy water made it perfect! I jogged 8km, taking me just under an hour.
I managed to squeeze in a sneaky 30 minute leg session at the gym, I trained alone and incorporated a lot of traditional 'girly' leg exercises- now I call them 'girly' as I am yet to see a male doing step ups :p I have included my workout and a couple of gym shots below:

JENNA'S 30 MINUTE GIRLY LEG WORKOUT

1- Cable Kick Backs. 3 sets of 15 reps. Increasing the weight by 2 plates each set.

2- Barbell side lunges. 3 sets of 15 reps each side.

3- Smith machine lunges. 3 sets of 15 reps each side. Increasing by 5kg each set.

4- Dumbbell step ups with 10kg DB's. 3 sets of 15 reps each leg.

5- Wide legged smith machine squats (targets inner thinghs) 3 sets x 15 reps.

 

With training out of the way, I helped promote a new Adelaide supplement store "Supps N More" at Lorna Jane Marion- sampling D-fine8.
Supps N More will be opening in March, South Road St. Marys in SA. Stocking a large range of the best supplements on the market. Stay tuned for more details on the opening- Website will be coming soon, you can find them on Facebook! www.suppsnmore.com.au/


Left: Sampling Define8 with Supps N More!!
About D-fine8:

MuscleWerks D-Fine 8

Designed to bring numerous weight loss benefits

May reduct appetite

May boost metabolism

Increase energy

Help Define the new you with D-Fine 8

 

MuscleWerks D-Fine 8 may be used to:

Help sustain your energy; Assist fat loss and weight management; Help reduce appetite; Speed your metabolism.

MuscleWorks D-Fine 8 is great for:

Any athlete, sports person or individiual wishing to burn more calories and speed metaboism, to assist with weight management; Any individual wishing to sustain there energy for workout purposes or daily tasks.

Right: Supps N More training tank! Loving it :)

Saturday evening, I let my hair down and went out for dinner with a colleague. I had the salt and pepper squid thai salad and a couple of glasses of sav blanc to unwind! It's all about balance!
I highly recommend The Wharf at Holdfast Shores, Glenelg if you are in South Australia. Very pleased with the quality of food and service!

Below: Dressed up! A rarity to see me out of gym clothes on the weekend.




Below right: The marina at Holdfast Shores. Very lucky to have this within walking distance to my home!

What a super weekend!
And today (Sunday) I spent at a fitness seminar, lunch at the Organik store & cafe on Broadway with a friend and dinner with mum and dad!

I would love to hear about your weekend, please feel free to email me: jennableakleyfitness@hotmail.com

Xxx

Cheat Meal

Sticking to a regimented diet all week takes it's toll on both the mind and body.
Cheat meals allow you to stay focused on your diet, by allowing you to occasionally enjoy the 'forbidden foods'!
As I am fairly strict with my diet during the week. I can stick to it is because I know there is 'light at the end of the tunnel'! CHEAT MEAL!

Cheat meals are more than just an excuse to purge, there are various benefits of cheating on your diet, which in turn can help get you closer to achieving your ultimate body.

1) When strict dietting, you are probable to have low muscle glycogen levels, which can make you feel weaker and tired during your workouts. A cheat meal will help to replenish your stores and give you a lot more energy the next time you train.

2) Because you are limiting your calories intake when dietting, your metabolism rate will decrease (slow down). When you shock your system with a sudden calorie/carb overload, you will kick start your metabolism into gear.

3) Your body won't get used to running on a low calorie intake, which makes getting lean easier.

4) You won't feel deprived of the foods you love and will be less likely to stray from your diet.

5) It keeps you sane, clean eating can be bland day in, day out.

Above: Chicken and broccoli, great for leaning up! However, it is important to me to have my cheat meal once a week, keeps me sane and also keeps my body guessing!

Training heavy and the associated benefits

New week, new goals and another opportunity to train harder and heavier than last week! That is what Monday's are all about, right!?
This evening I had a big heavy shoulder session with my housemate Arek.
Tonight's workout incorporated exercises:

1- Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
2- Army shoulder press
3- Upright rows with bar
4- Dumbbell lateral raises
5- Dumbbell front raises

I like to train heavy. There are so many benefits to heavy weight training, yet so many women are still under the impression that weights equate to bulky, manly and muscularity! This is one of the biggest misconceptions and sees countless women avoiding the weights room and opting for cardio!

I would like to share with you the benefits of heavy weight training and why it will NOT make you look like the incredible hulk.

Why you will not turn into a man:

1) Women do not have the testosterone levels to put on the kind of size men do when weight training. Testosterone is the primary muscle-building hormone in the body. Unless of course you plan on taking anabolic steroids, I wouldn't be concerned about getting too big.
2) Building muscle and bulking up are not the same thing. Adding muscle actually makes you look leaner not bigger. Muscle is a lot denser than fat.
3) Weight training reshapes and sculpts the body. Yes, cardio will burn calories, but it won't change your body shape.
4) Bodybuilders eat A LOT to bulk up. Women typically don't consume enough calories to get huge.
5)The more lean muscle, the higher your metabolic rate.
6) It will improve your posture. My shoulder used to 'slump' forward a lot more before weight training. Exercising my back muscles has pulled my shoulders back.

Now that you know the truth about weight training, get in the gym and starting lifting ;)

xxx

Above: Doing a pull up for my back :)

Metabolism

Diet and nutrition plays a huge part of my life. Cliches such as "you can't out exercise a poor diet" and "abs are made in the kitchen" haven't been developed without reason! They are true! Food is fuel for your body; if you put in bad fuel you are going to perform poorly, not only in the gym physically, but you will find you are also mentally drained and tired.
Some girls try to 'not eat' in a bid to lose weight. What happens when you stop eating is your body will go into starvation mode and slow down your metabolism. Your body will then naturally burn through lean muscle before fat stores as the muscle provides better fuel than the fat.
Personally I eat 5-6 even meals a day. A typical day (including a desk job) will look something like this:

6am: 1 scoop of Define8 with acetyl L-carnitine. Define8 kick starts my metabolism and also wakes me up for my morning jog. Acetyl L-carnitine is a supplement used to assist the body to metabolise fats as energy.

7am: Breakfast: 40g rolled oats, 1/4 granny smith apple with water cooked in the microwave. Once cooked into a porridge I add a scoop of chocolate whey protein.

10am: 150g soleil brand yoghurt  (no fat, low sugar) with 8 almonds. 1 hard boiled egg. I also have a green tea about this time. Green tea is great for increasing your metabolism rate, you can also purchase green tea extract in tablet form from your health food store.

1pm: Lunch: 100g protien- chicken/kangaroo, 1/4 avocado, large serve of vegetables or salad.

4pm: 95g tin of tuna with 2 vita wheat wholemeal crackers.

6pm: This is when I train weights. I will have a pre-workout supplement beforehand and a Whey Protein Isolate shake after.

7-8pm Dinner: 120g protein chicken/kangaroo with a large salad or cooked vegetables. Once to twice a week I'll switch this up with an Atlantic salmon steak.

Key tips to speeding up your metabolism:

1: Eat smaller meals and eat frequently. Every 2-3 hours is ideal.
2: Weight training!! Muscle tissue is metabolically active. Even when resting muscles use energy.
3: Drink Green Tea. It speeds up the metabolism and is full of anti-oxidants.
4: Do NOT skip breakfast. This is the most important meal, it kick starts the metabolism for the day after fasting while sleeping. You don't want to become catobolic.
Note: There are two categories of metabolism:
Catabolism: breaks down organic matter/food components - ie your body eats your own muscle
Anabolism: uses energy to construct components of cells - ie uses the food you eat
5: Chilli and pepper will also speed up the metabolism. Add spices to your chicken
6: Eat good fats! Good fats not only boost metabolism, but also immune function. They also assist in the absorption of minerals. Good fats include avocado, almonds, nuts/seeds, olive oil, and tuna/salmon.

Above: My dinner tonight. Salmon with lemon juice, cherry tomatoes & mushroom sauteed. Mesculin lettuce mix and cucumber, 91g lentil & chickpea salad.

Below: Keeping lean with a good diet! I will continue to post progress photos, watch me sculpt and change!

Factors that affect your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

• Body size - larger adult bodies have more metabolising tissue and a larger BMR.
• Age - metabolism slows with age, due to a loss in muscle tissue but also due to hormonal and neurological changes.
• Growth - infants and children have higher energy demand per unit of body weight due to the energy demands of growth and the energy needed to maintain their body temperature.
• Gender - generally, men have faster metabolisms than women because they tend to be larger and have less body fat.
• Genetic predisposition - your metabolic rate may be partly decided by your genes.
• Amount of lean muscle tissue - muscle burns kilojoules voraciously.
• Amount of body fat - fat cells are sluggish and burn far fewer kilojoules than most other tissues and organs of the body.
• Hormonal and nervous controls - BMR is controlled by the nervous and hormonal systems; hormonal imbalances can influence how quickly or slowly the body burns kilojoules.
• Dietary deficiencies - for example, a diet low in iodine reduces thyroid function, which slows the metabolism.
• Environmental temperature - if temperature is very low or very high, the body has to work harder to maintain its normal body temperature; this increases the BMR.
• Infection or illness - BMR increases because the body has to work harder to build new tissues and to create an immune response.
• Crash dieting, starving or fasting - eating too few kilojoules encourages the body to slow the metabolism to conserve energy; BMR can drop by up to 15 per cent. There is also loss of lean muscle tissue, which further contributes to the drop in BMR.
• Amount of physical activity - hard-working muscles need plenty of energy to burn. Regular exercise increases muscle mass and ‘teaches’ the body to burn kilojoules at a faster rate, even when at rest.
• Drugs - some drugs, like caffeine or nicotine, can increase the BMR.
  http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Metabolism_explained