Christmas JUMPer SHRED- Week 6

The final week of Shred saw us repeating the tests carried out in week 1 to check for progress over the last 6 weeks and an increase of calories to maintenance levels.

Despite having not done all training sessions over the last five weeks I’ve found my lifts increasing slightly across the board and despite probably (ok definitely) not being in a calorie deficit every week across the Christmas period I still discovered I’d lost almost 2kg in that time. Not only that I feel like i look stronger (not leaner just a little more muscle definition)

To me this just goes to show that it isn’t hitting a gym plan as hard as you possibly can or measuring every morsel of food that passes your lips that gets you results. Instead it’s just training consistently around your life and eating well without restricting yourself. The fact I am going into Christmas Day having eaten practically every Christmas food going on a seeming loop for the last 23 days yet still feel fit, healthy and in decent shape shows what the power of just making positive choices as and when you can has.

Will I need to reign in the eating a bit in January? Yes probably, I know I’ve eaten less homemade food and fewer vegetables the last few weeks and I won’t feel great if that continues for much longer, but that’s about as much of a change as I feel I need.

Are you going into January feeling like you need an overhaul or like you are already on track? Hopefully it’s the later, but if it isn’t I would urge you to assess how you plan to approach your diet and training in the new year and to find something that allows you to feel in control regardless of how hectic life gets in 2020.

Christmas JUMPer Shred – Week 4

Week 4 contained two main challenges- wave training and increasing my NEAT. Week 4 didn’t happen.

I’ve actually been working on increasing my NEAT anyway recently, but the way my week fell meant I not only did way fewer steps than normal (as opposed to actually increasing them) and didn’t fit a single one of the training sessions in.

On Monday night I headed to Edinburgh, which meant I wasn’t able to train Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday I had a PT session in the one hour slot I could have trained in and I drank far too much on Thursday meaning that there was no way I was going to be able to train Friday! Essentially the break from my routine and increase in long distance travel meant I didn’t train as much as normal and definitely walked less. It also meant I ate more fast food and ended up in a calorie surplus.

That’s not to say I had a terrible week. I did still get four short training sessions in. Knowing that I would not have the time to fit in the five shred workouts which all require around an hour, I instead did four short sessions designed by Ricky (between 15-30 minutes each), so I still moved and felt good about those sessions. I also enjoyed my food, even if there was a lot more of the Christmas stuff and takeaways than intended, just being mindful of what I was eating probably meant that I still ate less than i would have otherwise.

Some weeks you will not be able to get everything you want done, some weeks you will eat more than you intended. The key for me is not letting one week that didn’t go to plan throw me off track. I could look at last week as a failure, a week I didn’t complete of the Shred (in fact I’ve been maybe 60% on this 6 week Shred so far, which is what I planned), I could say fuck it and decide to just start again in January.

Or I could do what I’m actually doing. Look at this week as an OK week, a week where despite not training as planned or eating well I still did get some exercise in, I made the best of the time and opportunities I had and I didn’t let it throw me completely off kilter.

December is not the month to decide to do some kind of strict, I will be perfect plan. Equally December doesn’t need to be the month where you just let everything go and never train and eat and drink every single thing you see. Throughout the year I’d encourage the use of moderation in training and eating and in December this becomes all the more important (and harder to do due to the amount of temptations out there).

So week 4- outstanding success? No. Did it keep me accountable enough to not feel like I’ve ruined all the progress I’ve made this year/ Also no. That’s why I would always encourage taking part in programmes like the Shred- the accountability to yourself and others that it brings.

Jump Shred – Week 2

Week 2 focused on getting on with some training, focusing on our protein intake and practicing gratitude.

As I had some training sessions already that I wanted to do I knew I’d struggle to plan in an extra five visits t the gym (there are five sessions a week, with the aim of doing at least three). I therefore decided to do some of the body weight workouts, meaning I could slot them in at home when I had a spare half an hour.

This is one of my key learnings over the last couple of years. I’ve always been a little all or nothing, so if I don’t complete exactly what I planned I viewed it as a failed week. This week I viewed my additional three body weight workouts on top of my existing training as an added bonus. I did more than I normally do, so even if it wasn’t what I’d ideally wanted it was a win. This is a great mindset tool for keeping yourself on track and not letting perceived failures lead you to quitting.

In addition I also carried on increasing my protein to 2 x each kg of my body weight. Now I’ll tell you straight off, that’s a lot of protein – I was aiming for around 170g per day. I actually ended up averaging around 180g a day. I felt full and satisfied and found myself eating a lot less processed food throughout the week, leaving me feeling good.

I’ve been practicing the gratitude challenge for a while now- recording every day what I’m grateful for, what went well and who I complimented. It’s a quick and easy way to encourage yourself to look towards the positives and overtime it starts to become a more automatic reaction to situations.

Overall this week kept me focused on the positives, got me to move a little more and eat food that made me feel good. A great week from making just a few tiny adjustments, demonstrating small changes done consistently can make a big difference.

JUMPer Shred – Week 1

I’ve written previously about the fitness programme for group exercise instructors and enthusiasts which I’m involved in and have also completed myself, Jump 4.2. For six weeks across November and December Jump 4.2 is holding shorter 6 week Christmas Shred (the Christmas JUMPer shred- get it?). So given that I think it’s always tough to stay on track with your training and nutrition at this time of year (I work in an office with never ending mince pies, chocolate and meals out over Christmas I thought it would be great to try and do the Shred alongside everyone taking part.

We started last week (well we technically started on 11th November when everyone got access to their learning platforms and lots of videos to watch introducing the Shred, how everything would work and covering some basics on training, nutrition and goals.

Week 1 then commenced with some ‘testing’ exercises to do (in other words some key exercises to do and record where we currently are with them) which I mixed in with my normal training for that week, calculating how many calories I should be aiming for (now I normally use an online calorie counter so calculating using the traditional calculation method was an eye opener as I came out with a lower amount than the calculators provide) and adjusting how many calories I was eating to fit in with this new target. There was also some mindset videos to work through focusing on being productive with your time. That’s going to come in useful over the next few weeks as I try and fit up to five workouts into my week at what is (as I suspect it is for most of us) one of the most hectic periods of the year.

Already after one week I feel good. It’s always rejuvenating to refocus and I’m looking forward to getting some tough training sessions in, seeing if I improve with any of my weights (I’m not that competitive so this is something I struggle with normally) and hopefully using the accountability of the group to keep my mince pie consumption to normal person levels (note to self a whole box of mince pies and a family sized yule log is not a small daily snack even if it is Christmas!).

I’m going to keep you up to date over the next six weeks, partly to keep my self accountable and partly to hopefully inspire some of you to stay focused whilst still enjoying Christmas.

If you have any questions about what I’m doing or think you might be interested in taking part in Jump 4.2 in January let me know and we can have a chat about it.