Diet week 1 update

It has been exactly I week since I start my diet and new training routine as a part of Michelle Brannan's Shape Team. 

As I already mentioned on my Facebook page, for 3 months I will be working with Showgirls Fitness and see how are my results and motivation level after. If after 12 weeks I will be in a reasonably good shape, I might think about competing in bikini fitness :) 

my coach Michelle Brannan at last Olympia contest

My 12 weeks started exactly week ago, on Tuesday. 

I have to admit that first days were the hardest day dieting I have ever in my life. Calories restriction killed me and together with very, very busy working scheldue I was terrified how I am gonna survive that next 3 months.

favourite meal of the day - breakfast :)

The is only onre reason it was that hard and it is ME only. 

meal prep in full scope ;)

I was tottaly unware that I get into trap I was alarming every one of my clients: eating too much because of tiredness and active lifestyle. I was counting my macros but I relied to much on listening to my body. And my body was sending me signals about hunger when it was not only hungry, but tired and stressed. It all result in eating too much and too often. 
When I got my meal plan and eat according to eat, for the first days I couldn't adjust. Hunger I experience was indescribable.
Luckly, during that days I was in still contact with my coach Michelle. She reacted very quickly on each of my strugglings. After few days we adjusted little my calories intake and make things easier. 

Now every day required a lot of planning. I have to do meal prep at least every second day. But on the other day, during day I don't have to think what to eat to meet my goals, everything is ready so I just have to grab a fork and eat it. 

one leg press exercise

Training-wise I am thrilled. 
I have 5 day split training and I train legs a looot! 
I thought I was keen on almost every resistance exercise, but still tried some few new for me, like one leg press. 
This exercise literally killed my ass ;)
 
Beside resistance training I have my cardio workouts. Luckly, Insanity classes count as a one of them, so only with no-Insanity days I have to do something additionally. Cardio will be definately that big change if it comes to my training since I wasn't do much cardio during winter time.

On Saturday I had my first cheat meal/free meal. I had some of them before, but that time I wasn't dieting that strictly. This time it was tottally well deserved meal.

I didn't choose anything fancy, just a toast with double cheese and ham together with some corn nachos and rice cakes. Carbs mostly ;) Nothing sweet. Again, I just realise that I don't have necessar a sweet tooth ;)





The feeling of happines while eating my toast was soooo big. I don't want to build wrong realtion with food (and junk food), but I needed that carb loading.

Now I've just send my stats and pictures to my coach and wait about her comments about how well or bad I did during my first week. 
My current form pic (I dropped 2cm in waist, and 2,5cm in hips so far):

7 days done, 77 days to go :)

Fresh start

Back in London with a good energy

Everything I know I learn from my own experience. I didn't have any coach or mentor. I've chosen the way which is harder and more complicated, with lots of ups and downs. But in the end I learn for life and then I know that as a trainer, I share only the knowledge which is proven by myself. 

beautiful Toruń by night

As you probably noticed I have been off for one week which I spend in Poland.  Main focus of my visit was to spend quality time my family and friends, but secondly I went there to recover. 

Before my short holidays I found myself in a place where my body was tired, my soul was tired and I was n a bad state of mind - suffered from lots of indigestion problems (due to lactose and dairy intolerance) and then from terrible lower back pain due to constant over train. I had to STOP.  

So I took 8 days off from training, sport supplements and take care over my body. Had two 180 minutes massages, walk a lot and eat naturally (with some nice treat meals) food. But, most importantly, I get the connection with my body&mind again. 
There are lots of people who say that you have to love your body in order to see change but I really can say this is true!

After charging my batteries with love, friendship and rest, there was a time for some change with my training approach. 

from my first run this year in Victoria Park

This s what I learned this time: don't focus only only on training, recovery is a important part of a training process. What does it mean in practise? I reduced weight training to 2 split trainings. I will have pull and push days. The rest will be dedicated to Insanity training (twice a week) and cardio. Plus long stretching sessions at least 2-3 times a week and sauna session once or twice a week. More time for cardio and flexibility. And maybe some massage from time to time :)

back to food prep after some time of rest from lunchboxes

Now I feel more in balance with my own body and I hope that my new approach will show results quickly :)

Insanity UK

By the end of December 2013 I had an opportunity to become one of the first certificated Insanity instructors in UK. My gyms, Soho Gyms, were the first ones in England to introduce that format to their clubs.

With every week more and more people sign up because they want to do Insanity training. I am more than thrilled! And I can definitely say that this course was a milestone in my fitness instructor's career.

What is Insanity?
It is a high intensive interval training where you use your own body weight to do specific moves for exact amount of time with some short breaks in between.
Training itself is based on home DVD series made by Beachbody. It was that popular, they decided to introduce it to clubs as well. 

What can you achive?
This is the type of training where you definitely go out from your comfort zone. You work on your stamina and endurance but improve your strength too. As I often say to my group - you hate it during the process, you think it is too much, but when you're done you feel amazing and you have that endorphins kick! Check the video:

And here you have some moves you can expect during the class:

Is Insanty for everyone?
Class is designed for everyone, on every fitness level. You can always do low impact modification of the move.You can move in your own pace and this is not a class where you exercise to music. 

But definitely not everyone will goining to like that tempo. If you have hearth and serious back and knee injuries, you should not take it. But you still might consult your instructor before class, so he/she can help you with finding some other variations of the moves. Or propose some other suitable form of training.

Can you join anytime?
Yes. This is the main difference between DVD series and class in a fitness club. I introduce new moves and keep them changing a lot, but there is nothing like day 1 or 60. Even if you already know some of the moves, there is always room for improvement. 

Where and when?
Try class (as a guest if you are not a Soho Gym member) at one of my classes at Bow Wharf (East London). Wednesdays 7:00 PM and Sundays 10:00AM! :)

Here you have a timetable for all Insanity classes at Soho Gyms.

Free from...

Internet is back! Now I can blog again for real! :)

find me on instagram: majanordic

With previous Faceboook post probably you have noticed that I was forced to try gluten and lactose free diet. 


For couple of weeks (or even months) I've been feeling bad. Always bloated, with water retention, with huge problems with indigestion. For a person who works in fitness industry (but as well as for any other person!) this was a nightmare. Imagine coming on a class and your instructor have a belly like a 3 month pregnant woman! ;)

I started to look for some reason of that and accidentaly saw that at Stratford they make allergic tests. I took one of them and the results were obvious: highly intolerance for wheat gluten, intolerance for dairy (milk, yoghurt, cheese), yeast, leek, onion and chive. 
The only think to do for now is just to try avoid those products.

my test's results

But what is exactly a problem with intolerance of gluten and lactose? 

  
Gluten is a protein from wheat, rye and barley. 
Some people tolerate it good, some can't have anyting with gluten (one who suffers from celiac disease) and others have gluten sensivity. I am in the third group. 

If you experience bloating, pain in your joints and bones, 'chicken skin' in the back of your arms, dizzines, chronic fatique, you might suffer from the same condition as I. 

With dairy intolerance is even eeasie to explain. Most of the people has very little lactaze enzym which digest lactose, sugar from milk. But there is group of people who tolerate it even worse than others and  after consuming milk products they get bloated, sometimes diorrhoea, winds and stomach pains.


Luckily nowadays we have lots of gluten and diary free products. Not mentioning all the natural ones like vegetables, fruits, meat and fishes. However, I love yoghurts and kefir and there were always the best snack for me, so I will have to look for some other snacking choices..

even with gluten and lactose intolerance, you can still eat lots of food, just be creative!

If you also can't consume gluten (in my case only from wheat) and diary, you can still have:
* gluten free oats
* pure whey protein with little carbs in it (the less carbs - the less lactose in it)
* rice
* lentils 
* groats
* coconut, hazelnut, almond milk
* vegetables
* fruits
* starchy vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes and so on
* eggs 
* soups (watch out for ready ones, they are often with flour)
* pastries from sesame, oats, rye or buckwheat flour
* nuts and peanut butters
* rice and corn cakes 

story of my life! cottage cheese I miss you!

Stay away from:
* bread, rolls
* yoghurts, creams
* souces
* cheeses
* tortillas
* crispbread
* cookies, muffins and pastries
* beer (contain gluten!)
* pastas 
* supplements like gainers (they have lots of carbs, with lactose included)

now we can find a big range of gluten and lactose free products! ufff!

Keep focus in December

Time flies and we already have December! 

When shops are getting busier, gyms seems to be more and more quiet with each day.

People tent to concentrate on Christmas preparations, buying gifts and splurging with food and warm winter drinks. It is natural, I think, but I still believe that keeping yourself on track during December will results in better energy and attitude when exact Christmas time will come. 

I plan ahead my cheat meals

Don't postpone your fitness training til January:

* you will have more energy on your trainings from some additional calories from Christmas treats

* you will feel better with yourself of eyou know that you won't binge every day in December 

* you won't have so much work to do in January because you won't gain so many kg's in December 

My strategy for December is to plan my cheat days in advance, keep on my training going and do some circuit training instead of cardio between resistance training days. 

Hello

Finally I came back from the dead. 
I've got tooth inflammation as bad that my whole body was affected and in high fewer for last days. Finally I half fixed my problems and I am getting back to form. 

I shyly had a first gym workout this week. Unfortunately this week I will be able to train only today and tomorrow. That is why I decided to do 2 split routine. 

My this week training routine is:
split 1: front of body - chest, abs, quads and biceps
split 2: back of body - back, triceps, glutes and hamstrings

Thanks to that I will be able to at least train each part of the body this week!

My women inspirations in fitness world

If it comes to inspiration, there are few woman physiques whichI admire. That doesn't mean that I want to look exactly like them, but these women give me power and motivation when I need some positive kick.

Christina Strøm Fjære

Christina is current (and last years) IFBB Bikini World Champion
 

Norwegian. Christina won twice, but - what is more important - he has great post competition form as well. Gorgeous on stage and off stage!

Pauline Nordin
www.fighterdiet.com

He has her own method of keeping herself in low body fat all year long. I don't follow her principles in 100% but I admire her dedication. Discipline your dedication is her quote.

Lone Norås
www.lonenoras.blogg.no

And this is video which is my biiig inspiration. You will find there Lone Norås. She won Nordic Championships in bikini in 2012 and Norwegian Championships this years and she is only 18 years old!

As you see, 2/3 of my woman inspirations are Norwegian. Nordin is Swedish. I think that Scandinavia is a country of strong and interdependent women where weight training is not only reserved for men. I learned everything I know about weights in Norway. So maybe because of it I admire the physiques I got to know during that time :)

Thank you ladies for big amount of inspiration I have from you!

And who is your fitness inspiration?

Terrible blogger

I admit sincerely. I am terrible blogger recent days/week. 
It is all due to the fact that we are still not settled down in here, in UK. We still don't have our own apartment and share place with my man's kind family. I hope this situation will change somehow soon and I will be more dedicated to my blogging.

warm up at roing machine

If it comes to work and training, it couldn't be better. I started my own routine consisted of 3 heavy lifting sessions and 2 hiit cardio days in between. 

daily lunchboxes

I am not so strict with my diet as well, I still track my macros. I keep my carbs quite high, but I have to admit, that my body react very positive for that. 

friday flex

My current training split is: 
* back/biceps
* legs/shoulders
* chest/triceps
(I did ABS on my class and sometimes with chest day)

Beside that I have 2 cardio workouts, which are normally hight intensivity interval ones. In practice they are no longer than 25 minutes. 
Sometimes I did hiit on treadmill, sometimes by doing 15 reps of different exercises like clean up, burpees, push ups, kettelbell swings and so on. After one full month of that routine I want to track my progress by doing bodyfat percentage measurment :)

current form

Have a nice Sunday!

First week at Soho Gyms

I am thrilled that I've changed workplace. My new gym and role is way more accurate with my interests :) (I am a Full time Fitness Instructor right now).

my new super comfortable uniform

I've been working for Soho Gyms Bow Wharf for the few days in a row now and I am more than happy that my duties are creating training plans for clients, doing the measurements and guiding them at gym floor.

 
I have time for my own training in between working hours and the weight section is exquisite. 

happy girl at her work

And I work in one of the most comfortable uniforms I've ever had! ;)

Happy!

New role, new gym

new workplace - Soho Gyms Bow Wharf

Today I had my first day at new workplace - Soho Gyms Bow Wharf.
I will be a fitness instructor there. My new role would be all about taking care over our clients on a gym floor - from doing induction hours and taking measurements for designing training programmes.

new outfit ;)

This is the club where I had one of the best trainings in London ever, so I am very glad that I will spend there more time :)

and new neighbourhood

Soon I will start a new training routine, since I know where and how I work. Yupii! :)

Busy days diet survival

As I started my work at LA Fitness West India Quay, my days become extremely busy. 

I was having my old good rotuine once in Norway, but these days are no longer here! 
In London everything is busier and more intense.

I quckly found that with no proper preparation adn dedication, I could become easly lost in that London's rush, eating crap and miss trainings.

Here are 6 easy to follow tips which are helping me to stay on track, maybe you can incorporate them to your life as well :)

1) plan your food and trainings ahead

use 5 minutes from your day to plan ahead and spare another 60 minutes during the day for either running in order to find some food store/restaurant or collecting your training clothes in a rush

2) scheldue your training as a first thing on your today to-do list

if you don't do your training first thing in the morning, belive me, you will din't thousands of excsuses to pospone it during the busy day, you won't have energy to do it at the end of your day either
to lazy to woke up in the morning? believe me, good sweat in the morning, will work better tan 2 cups of coffee

3) have a healthy snack with you

I like to have mini barbel light cheese with me and some sugar snap peas, portion of whey protein works good too, as well as an apple. 

I try to be careful with protein bars, because they are still a treat, not a meal (they are processed and high in carbs, so they are just healthier version of normal chocolate bars).

4) take only these food which are prepared for that day only

If you already bought yourself a pack of nuts - good for you! 
But don't take all pack with you, because you will eat all of eat and you will never notice when! so devide everything into portions and just don't let yourself get into a quantity trap (you can eat 'good' foods and gain weight as well!)






5) don't follow the other peoples diet/eating routines

even if people in your office eats lots of fast food, or your company delivers it to you for free, it doesn't mean that you have to use each opportunity for eating free food only because it is for free!

different people have different goals, do not compare yourself with the others - you don't know what they eat before and after work. 
If a huge guy will eat 2 slices of pizza and stay lean does not mean that you will stay after eating one. 
Have your lunchboxes with you and eventuality take your free food home with you or customize the content of it that it would suits your macros (take croutons out from salad, have a dressing on a side and so on)







6) eat when scheduled and determine hunger from cravings

 
take a minute to see the rule of your eating at work - do you eat when stressed? or differently, you don't eat anything during the day and splurge in the evening? 

If you answer is 'yes' for one of this question, it means that you have to work on your habits.

 If you are an emotional eater, try to find something which you could do intead of eating when stressed. Maybe drink a tea or have a 5 minutes out from office just to breath a fresh air? If you still in a need of eating sth, give yourself 20 minutes. If it lasts after 20 minutes, maybe you are just hungry. So eat. But ask yourself a question "would you eat 0,5kg of broccoli right now?" If yes, that means that you are hungry, if no, it is most probably craving. 


If you eat nothing during the day and almost can't go our from kitchen in the evenings, that means that you don't eat enough during the day.

 Although not always eating many small meals if good for everyone (research shows that for good fat burn it is more about macros, not frequency), but think about sipping some meal replacement/whey protein shake during the day to keep your hunger over control later in the evening.

Is one of problems mentioned above describes you as well? What is your problem then?