Tag: physical well-being

  • Health & Fitness Tools – Part 1: Bodybuilding.com & BodySpace

    Health & Fitness Tools – Part 1: Bodybuilding.com & BodySpace

    Health & Fitness Tools – Part 1: Bodybuilding.com & BodySpace
    By Chandra Lynn

    Getting fit and losing (or gaining…anyone?) weight is hard and to make it a little easier – and a lot more effective – I rely on technology as tools to support my journey. Here is an overview of what I use and why I like it, starting with Bodybuilding.com. It’s free to join their fitness community on their website, or more importantly, with a mobile app called BodySpace. Some people want to go it alone and that’s fine. Some people even like to use things like these bulking supplements to help them out. However, others prefer having that little bit of extra guidance from someone else. You don’t have to participate in the community, but when you join, you get access to their free programs that are excellent. It’s important to take advantage of these programs. They are the perfect way to test your fitness. Some men have said they have been trying to train and bodybuild for a long time now but feel that their bone strength and ability to develop muscles is not what it should be. One option would be to see one of the many HGH therapy doctors.

    I have completed several of their programs and the mobile app makes it easy to track the entire plan with a calendar that pops up your work for the day. It also allows you to track your weight and reps for every exercise. And if you don’t know how to do something, it gives you a step-by-step guide as well as a tutorial video. These programs are put together by experts and are highly effective. You can choose your program based on the type of results you want to achieve. If you are interested in finding out more about bodybuilding and what you might need to begin, you can find more info here or through a quick Google search.

    My Home Screen homescreen

    This shows me the number of workouts I’ve tracked and how many pounds I’ve lifted in total which is motivational. I set goals to celebrate different milestones. My next one is when I get to 300 workouts tracked…9 more to go as shown here. I can also add photos, managing friends, get inspiration and informational content, track workouts, change programs, and more.


    My Saved Programs image3

    I can research all of the programs they offer and save them in the app for quick access. I choose different programs for different reasons. Sometimes it is to shred, sometimes to build muscle. Other times, my choice is based on the length of time or dependent on which trainer that put it together. Members can also create programs and make them available but I have started with the most popular ones by experts Jamie Eason, Dr. Jim Stoppani, Erin Stern, Ashley Cluth, etc.


    Friends IMG_3256As mentioned, you can ignore the social networking part altogether, but if you want to explore it, you can connect with women and/or men who share their workouts, motivations, nutrition tips and experiences. Unlike other networks, you’ll see a lot of skin and muscles here, but so far no one has been inappropriate. You tell me, would this motivate you?


    Program Overview image7

    This screen lets you see how your workouts are layed out for the entire duration of the program.


    You caimage1n click on any of the days and see the whole workout.


    image10Once you decide to do one of them, you can track your weight and reps. This is helpful to remember where you are and what weight you used.


    Workout Log image2

    Each workout shows you all of the exercises and allows you to track them, learn how to do them, look up previous stats and more.

    image8

    In summary, I would be lost in the gym without following a program on Bodybuilding.com when I first got started. Now, I can go in a bang out a workout but the fine art of weight lifting requires you have a plan that rotates body parts and intensity over time. Having a program that is thought out by an expert makes your results more of a sure thing. If you really follow it and honestly give it your best effort, it will work and you’ll see results.

  • Transformations Take Serious Commitment to Yourself

    Transformations Take Serious Commitment to Yourself

    Transformations Take Serious Commitment…And Are Worth It!
    By Chandra Lynn

    I was raised by a very petite mom and, although I’m small too, I always felt bigger as in thicker or, dare I say, fatter. Although I’ve never been grossly overweight, I carried around the belief that made me refer to myself as the “10 pound overweight girl.” Being the perfect weight and size always seemed just out of reach despite going to the gym and trying different diets that seemed to work for my friends. After having a baby, negative self-talk increased and turned into serious frustration with my body, as if it was separate from me and working against me.

    I felt doughy and full, a quality that a macrobiotic counselor said was from eating dairy. Legitimately, I had eaten a lot of dairy in my life because I was raised vegetarian and it became the substitute for meat. When served vegetarian food, it was always a combination of carbs and dairy (i.e. cheese lasagna, cheese enchiladas, cheese sandwich, etc.). So I cut out all dairy for eight years, got rid of my microwave, and learned how to cook with whole foods and no dairy.

    In truth, I saw some improvement and the puffy quality died down. But, I still felt like I had a higher percentage of body fat than I wanted so I decided to get even more serious and turned to weight training. In the past, I would do yoga and force myself to do cardio, but it just seemed like enough to maintain, not transform. I decided in myself that it was no longer acceptable to despise my body and turn against myself by allowing a negative inner critic to let loose. It just wasn’t working and would trigger depressive episodes of self-loathing. Honestly, I couldn’t understand what was going on with me because it didn’t seem right to do this to myself when I knew men were attracted to me and I was beautiful…not like a model but pretty in my own unique way.

    Enough was enough and I decided to open myself up to working out much more vigorously. I made the scary trek over to the free weights area of the gym and started talking to people that were all much nicer and more helpful than I could have imagined.

    I realized that I really needed a program to follow and didn’t want to spend more money on a trainer because my gym membership is fairly pricey. So I turned to bodybuilding.com and signed up for a free account on their social platform Bodyspace (find me: GlowChandra) which gave me access to some amazing programs put together by fitness models, athletes, champion bodybuilders, and expert trainers.

    On Bodyspace, I saw a lot of average people achieving amazing results. If they could do, so can I. jamie-eason-live-fitI started with Jamie Eason’s Livefit Trainer, a 12-week program which is great for beginners. Jamie is a petite fitness model who is the same height as me so it seemed like a good match. And it was. After completing that successfully, I realized that consistency is the key and that I will spend the rest of my life on a program of one kind or another.

    I went on to do Dr. Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Shred a few times and now I’m doing Dymatize Transformed. In addition to these programs, I have continued doing yoga and they are perfectly complementary. I’ve also added H.I.I.T. (High-Intensity Interval) Training. I’ve also added back some dairy for protein, so I eat eggs, whey, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. I eat some cheeses on occasion but try to stick with low-fat ones like parmesan and manchego.

    jim-stoppani-six-week-shortcut-to-shredThere are endless topics to explore related to health, fitness and nutrition so you can read more about this in future posts. For guidance on what to eat while training, read my post to help you figure out your calorie intake and macros. You can also read about how transformative my yoga practice has been for me.

    What I will leave you with is a general understanding of what all this effort has done for me. I have changed my body a lot. I’ve sculpted it to have more muscle definition and less body fat. And through this emotional process that involves mental and physical exercises, I have come away with a strengthened self-esteem and diminished self-talk. I look more youthful and rarely get sick. I catch a glimpse in the mirror and still wish I had less cellulite, a higher, rounder booty, and longer limbs, but I am really proud of myself and think I look the best I have in my entire life. I am no longer the 10-pound overweight girl. I’m a workout warrior that is motivated to keep transforming myself to glow inside and out.

    BEFORE:

    CL 38 weeks sm copy

    AFTER:

    More resources:

    Bodybuilding.com

    Jim Stoppani’s Official Page

    Jim Stoppani’s 6 Week Shortcut To Shred Review by CheckMeOwt