We made it! The new year has officially arrived, and with it comes so many exciting possibilities.
Whether you made resolutions or not, it’s the perfect time to start fresh on goals you want to achieve but haven’t been diligent with for one reason or another. I don’t know about you, but I’m stoked to get started.
In my 2017 goals, I declared this year to be “The Year of Fitness” for me, because I want it to be a major focus as I work to be a healthier version of myself. Not everyone may care about working out five to six days a week like I do, but I’ve found it to be an integral part of my overall happiness. It helps keep me sane, stay in shape to do what I love, and feel strong and confident.
Since the month of January is all about starting fresh, I’ve decided to embark on a new fitness journey: bodybuilding. It has always fascinated me, which is why I’m beginning my active year with a 12-week program designed by Jamie Eason that focuses on weight lifting—aka the LiveFit Trainer on bodybuilder.com.
This free online program (edit: it now has a subscription fee) spans about three months, and it entails three separate phases, each one becoming slightly more difficult to keep challenging yourself. LiveFit Trainer is based on a foundation of three components: training, nutrition, and supplementation (or as she refers to it, TNS). They work together in harmony to help you build muscle, lose fat, and develop good habits for life. You’re supposed to follow all three to reach your greatest potential with the program.
For my LiveFit Trainer experience, I will be following all three components for the most part. This is what I’m planning…
Training
Kind of a huge note regarding the daily workouts: I’m doing it without a gym. The whole point of this is to lift heavy so you build muscle and lose body fat. But I don’t have a gym membership and want to do this as close to the plan as possible using dumbbells and other versatile equipment we have at home. Throughout the program, I’ll be researching exercise variations that don’t require gym equipment (but will still be working the same muscle groups).
Nutrition
The purpose of the nutrition plan is to prepare you for the workouts and help you get the most out of them so you see results. I plan to follow the general guidelines without completely changing how I currently eat. Basically, I’ll be cleaning up my diet by eating little, or preferably no, junk and eating more nutritious meals based on the science of the program (like balancing a combo of protein, healthy fats, and simple/complex carbs based on each phase’s rules).
Supplementation
I already take most of the recommended supplements (i.e. fish oil, probiotic, multivitamin, BCAAs), so there’s not much to change there. The point of supplementing is to fill in any gaps with your nutrition, helping you maximize your potential for growing muscle. I’ll just be more strict with all my supplements.
I’ve been researching this program like woa over the past couple weeks, so I have a lot of notes for myself, but I wanted to keep this post somewhat basic to just introduce the program and announce my upcoming attempt at it. The program is pretty interesting, and I encourage you to check it out if you’re intrigued!
When Matt and I completed P90X, we enjoyed having a set program to follow every day (even though we also didn’t follow that to a T). We both saw some pretty cool results, and I’m hoping by following a bodybuilding-centric system, I’ll learn even more about what my body can do and see exciting results! Time will tell.
For now, though, I plan to get serious about the program’s rules and prepare for the nutrition and training…sans a gym. Aka, I need to spend some quality time meal planning and food prepping, as well as go buy some heavier dumbbells because yours truly is not used to actively trying to lift heavier. I think it’ll be an exciting journey!
Have you ever completed a program like LiveFit Trainer or P90X?
What’s one health-related (or other) goal you have for 2017?
