Before & After pictures (Day1 "vs" Day28)

XAVI

KAISA

MIM testimony (Kaisa):

I've been a personal trainer for 11 years now and have been more or less fit always but not necessarily lean until the last few years. I lifted intensely in college but since grad school I've been doing weights in an unstructured manner and without a proper goal and had hardly been to a weight room in the last year. Instead my workouts have been circuit types and outdoor intervals and that seemed to maintain a decent level of fitness for me.

I had never tried "on-line" training or on-line programming and really have always thought it would be hard to be motivated. I was so wrong! The MIM experience is probably the most motivated I have ever been and I really enjoyed the on-line training component and community. It was great to have other people to keep me accountable and posting photos and blogs was a great way to keep myself on top of the trainings and the nutrition.

It took me 3 weeks to organize my calendar and reserve time for all the workouts. This was probably the hardest part of the entire program! Not knowing how long the workouts would take and not being able to match the long workouts to my easier work days complicated my life quite a bit.

The first week was pretty aweful. The workouts left me destroyed and the first two days (weekend) I had to take a nap. All week the soreness was so bad that I could hardly sleep. Then my body adapted and I hardly had sore muscles the rest of the time. Or maybe I just got used to the soreness and liked it. :) At first the results were frustrating because I got kind of thick. Then in the second week I started to lean out and my guns started growing like crazy! At the end I almost started skipping arm workouts because I didn't want my biceps any bigger!

The final results were just as promised: more muscle and less fat. I gained 2.5kg of muscle and lost 1.5kg of fat. I gained 3cm at my shoulders, 1cm at chest, and 1cm at each bicep (relaxed). I lost 2cm at my waist, 1cm from my buns, 2cm from each thigh. As you can see from the pictures I became a lot more defined. In addition to the body transformation benefits, I also gained a lot of strength and best of all, I feel really accomplished. I stuck to this plan 100%. I didn't miss a single workout. I did all the workouts with high intensity. I stayed on the diet 100%.

I would recommend the Muscle in a Month program for people wanting fast muscle gain and definition. However, it is a program for people who already have a base level of fitness and a good handle on technique and a desire for pain. This program is REALLY HARD. It will kick your ass. You will hate Dax Moy during the workouts but you will love him when you see the results. I would also recommend doing the program with a partner or participating in a forum to help stay motivated. If I hadn't made a public commitment to this program I would have given up on the first day. This program is also time consuming. You will need to manage your time well and schedule in your workouts. You will need to sleep more and eat a lot. Even though it is intense and time consuming, the results are worth it and really, you can do anything for 28 days. It is a short time to sacrifice for awesome results.

Thanks Dax!

Day 28 - S'ha acabat!!!

Per fi el patiment s'ha acabat! Bé, no del tot... s'han acabat els entrenaments llarguíssims i intensíssims però encara hem de mantenir la dieta una setmana més. A finals de setmana ens farem les fotos finals i podrem ensenyar-vos l'abans i el després.

De moment us hem preparat un petit video perquè pogueu veure el què hem hagut de patir per arribar a tenir els "modelets" que tenim ;)

IT'S OVER, almost

All the hellish trainings are DONE! The last day was an "easy" one with just low back and a GVT set of triceps and biceps. And I even put in 7 sets of HIIT (high intensity interval training) on the bike while waiting for Xavi to finish.

At midnight of the last day I had some chocolate cake at my friend's bday dinner. It was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. Ooooohhhhhh.

Now the trouble is that we have to do the after pictures at the end of the week, after the required rest... This for me is harder because we still have to watch the diet but it's not necessary to be so strict. This is harder for me because I'm an all-or-nothing type... I don't know how to have just one piece of chocolate. I eat the entire box. Now that I have tasted sugar again, I am like an addict. I want MORE! It's pretty much like going back to the first few days of the diet where you have cravings and it just sucks. But the worse part is that since we're not training this week we need a lot less calories... So for me, this week the diet is much harder.

To motivate us and to help me stay on the diet, we've scheduled a professional photo shoot for Friday. Hopefully this will help me stay on top of the nutrition. :) I guess we'll see how the pics turn out!

Day 27 - Muscle in a Month

Farewell to shoulders today. :) It was the last long workout and I'm glad it's done. I don't want my arms or shoulders any bigger. I'm already impressed with the 3cm I gained at the shoulders.

We did a dredded German Volume Training set of chest and back. Starting with those just kills my motivation. Went up on all weights significantly. Cool! Then we did a holistic set of shoulders and abs and finished with legs including the 4x40s of squat jumps. Glad to be done with those as well!

Diet:
BF: rye flakes, oat milk, almonds, fruit
Snack: mandarine, rice cakes with tahini and apricot puree
Lunch: spinach salad with tuna, egg. Ground chicken with onion, spinach, zuccini.
Snack: corn cakes
Dinner: gatpatxo veggie soup with ground chicken, rice cakes with tahini and banana

Day 26 - Pics and Measurements

XAVI

KAISA

Day 26 - Català

Avui ha estat el dia més dur de la meva vida! No perquè l'entrenament fos molt exigent sinó perquè avui és St. Josep i a l'institut hi ha molta gent que es diu així. Doncs resulta que s'han posat d'acord per portar brunyols i bombons. La sala de professors semblava una pastisseria! I precisament avui... els dijous aprofito per treballar a la sala de professors ja que tinc unes quantes hores lliures entre classes. Doncs ja us podeu imaginar... en Xavi entre muntanyes de brunyols i bombons sense poder-ne menjar cap!!! Tothom anava passant pel costat agafant-ne un darrere l'altre i fent... mmmmmm.... que bons. He de reconèixer que he tingut temptacions, però gràcies a l'angelet de l'espatlla dreta que ha estat més insistent que el dimoniet de l'espatlla esquerra i m'ha convençut de que no valia la pena espatllar tot un mes de sacrificis per un parell de bombons. He resistit com un campeón!!!

El dia es resumeix amb aquesta imatge:

A part de la tortura psicològica a la qual he estat sotmés tot el matí a nivell físic he tolerat força bé l'entrenament d'avui. Ara sembla que els entrenos que abans em costaven ara ja em comencen a semblar fàcils... aixeco més pes i descansant menys.

Dieta:

Esmorzar: papilla multicereals sense gluten amb maduixes i plàtan

Snack: torrada d'arròs i pera

Dinar: gazpacho, macarrons sense gluten amb carn picada, mandarina

Snack: batut

Sopar: macarrons sense gluten amb carn picada, suc de pinya

Day 26 - Muscle in a Month

The last of the difficult Thursdays is almost done! Thursdays my schedule is not very long workout friendly and I despise getting up early just to workout when I'm already a bit worn out from the week. Well, despite all my grumbling this morning, I dragged off to our studio, alone, for a workout. I am SO much less motivated alone there. I must be a bit vain and get motivated by other people in the gym.

Since I grumbled too long in the morning, I didn't have enough time to finish the whole workout... and must stay after the last class tonight at 9:30 to finish... Uuuffff. Thankfully I only have about 20 min left.

today's workout is hamstrings, bis, and tris. I liked the ham supersets of straight legged dead lifts (lifting 60kgs!), harrup curls (still suck at these), and swiss ball ham curls (no problems doing all 4 sets of 40s with no rest). Probably one of the reasons I couldn't get motivated this morning was because I knew part of the workout were the multiple sets of 40 repetitions of bicep curls that I just HATE. Good news is tonight when I'm done with them I NEVER have to do them again. :)

Here are the results up till now:
Weight: up 1kg
Body fat: down 2%
Shoulders up 3.5cm!!!
Chest up 1.5cm YES! Grandma was right. :)
Waist down 1cm
Hips down .75cm
Gluteal folds up up .5cm and the other down .5cm (at least now I'm even!)
Thighs down 2.5cm each
Calves up .5cm each (DAMN, the last thing I need are bigger calves!)
Biceps up .5 and .75cm unflexed. Too bad we didn't measure them flexed because they are HUGE now.

Diet:
BF: yogurt and hazelnuts
BF: (after workout) yogurt with brewer's yeast, goji fruits, pear, hazelnuts
Snack: walnuts and a mandarin
Lunch: rye bread with smoked salmon
Snack: 1 cup of gaspatxo soup (cold veggie soup), rice cakes with tahini and banana and a little agave (super delicious!)
Snack: 1/2 lara bar
Dinner: salad with tuna, rice cake with tahini and banana

Day 25 - Muscle in a Month

Great day! We got to sleep in until 9 and I slept like a rock for those 9 hours. Must have been doing some serious muscle building. :)

Then I enjoyed a walk around the lake (about 7km) with Marta before meeting Xavi at the gym for a quick workout. It was refreshing to be done in less than an hour. :)

We have made some friends at the gym which is nice too. There are definite regulars that I will start to miss as these workouts come to an end.

But I will be SO HAPPY to be done with this program to enjoy the fabulous spring weather and getting exercise OUTDOORS before it gets too hot. Xavi and I both are just itching to get on our bikes so on Sunday as our reward for finishing the program, we'll go on a leisurely bike ride. This area is amazing for biking. In fact, the routes are so great that Lance Armstrong trained here for many years!

Today's workout was strange: 10x10 incline bench. That's it! I did end with 5 series of HIIT on the bike which left my legs like jelly.

Diet:
BF: rye and oat porridge made with oat and rice milk, egg, brewer's yeast, berry powder, hazelnut paste and strawberries
Lunch: fish, rice, peas, onion. Fruit salad with pineapple, banana, and kiwi
Snack: rice cakes with hazelnut paste, rye cracker with gomasio
Dinner: spinach salad with muscles, tuna, white fish and lots of veggies; pineapple and strawberries

Day 24 - Català

Només queden 4 dies!!! Sembla mentida que ja hagi passat gairebé un mes. Ara, que pensant-ho bé i desprès de l’entreno d’avui m’alegro d’arribar al final d’aquesta tortura.
No ho havia fet mai però avui em saltaré el secret de sumari i us explicaré l’entrenament…

4 sèries seguides de:

Clean & press (4-6 reps)
Shoulder press (10 reps)
Elevacions laterals (40 reps)

4 sèries seguides de:

Arrancada (4-6 reps)
Dominades (4-6 reps)

4 sèries seguides de:

Rem inclinat (8-12 reps)
Lumbars invertits (8-12 reps)

4 sèries seguides de:
Dorsal politja (40 reps)
Cobres (40 reps)

10 sèries seguides de:
Bíceps (10 reps)
Tríceps (10 reps)

Total 56 sèries!

Veieu com no exagero, això és una bestiesa!
Jo no sé si es nota que estem passant per aquesta agonia però jo quan em miro al mirall em veig més fort i definit…Què penseu vosaltres?

Dieta:

Esmorzar: Formatge fresc amb compota de fruita

Snack: torrada de pa negre amb pernil de pavo

Dinar: Pèsols amb peix i suc de pinya

Snack: tortita de blat de moro, maduixes i mango

Sopar: Arròs amb pèsols i tonyina, truita de llenties amb tomata i formatge feta, suc de pinya

Day 24 - Muscle in a Month

Feeling good today! The workout was fun: back, bis, tris. We did pullups which are now my favorites! I was able to do all sets (6,5,4,4) without assistance. :) I'm feeling GI Jane worthy. Dax did put a dreaded German Volume Training set of bis and tris at the end. Those make the training feel never ending. Today I had to push Xavi around a little to get him to finish. He was ready to quit early. Then as a reward we booked massages for next week. Sweet!

Food:
BF: Keifir, rye flakes, brewer's yeast, berry powder, kiwi
Snack: dried dates and figs and a few walnuts (this was during training as I ran out of juice toward the end)
Snack: rice cake with hazelnut butter, corn cake with apricot-almond puree (this was after training with the 5 minutes I had to stuff something in my mouth)
Lunch: peas and onions, fish filet, plain yogurt with delicious ripe strawberries and apple sauce. Yum!
Snack: rye crackers with gomasio, rice and corn cakes with hazelnut butter
Dinner: omelette of eggs (duh), lentils, tomatoes, feta; strawberries

Day 23 - Català

Avui l'entrenament ha estat curtet... nomès 1 hora! Ara els entrenos de menys de dos hores em semblen curt! Mare de Déu a on hem anat a parar... Hem treballat una combinació de cames i abdominals. He d'admetre que treballar cames m'agradava però amb aquest entrenament les estic avorrint. Els exercicis em són molt durs, fer squats, lunges i acabar amb 40 repeticions de salts em deixen les cames de xiclet. Fins i tot un cop estirat a terra fent els abdominals les he hagut d'estirar de la cremor que sentia... auch! Només de pensar-hi em tornen a fer mal.

Sort que està valent la pena, sinó mireu quines cuixes que m'estan quedant!!!

Day 23 - Muscle in a Month

Day 23 already!? Wow, suddenly it feels like this month has gone by fast. :)

For those of you who are reading for the first time, I'll do a little recap of the torture.

Xavi and I are participating in a 28 day challenge to build muscle and lose fat designed by the leading personal trainer in England, Dax Moy. It is a super intense program he uses to get moviestars in fabulous shape extremely fast. Now he is making an online version of this program and asked us to be his guineapigs (we must provide him with pictures and write in this blog every day).

Well, it's working! So far I've dropped 2.5% body fat from 20% to 17.5%. My weight is up a half a kilo so I've build 2kg of muscle and dropped 1.5kg of fat.

The program consists of heavy duty weight training with the intention of OVERtraining. It's called "planned overtraining". The idea being that your body can handle it for 28 days without going into a breakdown mode. This means that we are paying a lot of attention to our diet (whole foods, no supplements, no processed food, no gluten, no milk products except for live yogurt, no sugar, no toxins like alcohol and caffeine) and rest.

Now we are down to just 5 more workouts before a whole week off training for supercompensation. We are suppose to see big gains in the rest week when the body finally has an opportunity to truly recover.

Today's workout seemed short, just squats, lunges, and squat jumps all supersetted with core exercises. We are also allowed this week to add some HIIT (high intensity interval training) so i did 5 rounds of boxing and running for 30 seconds work and 60 seconds rest. It was kind of fun in a sick way. I was able to do all squat jumps without resting which was totally impossible when we started this training. They even seemed kind of easy so I did them all down to touching a bench and jumped a little higher too.

Diet:
BF: keifir with rye flakes, home made applesauce, flax seeds
Snack: 2 mandarines with a handful of mixed natural nuts
Lunch: oven fish with onion, tomato, and a half a potato
Dinner: lentils and quinoa, fish filet

Day 22 - Català

Ja només queda una setmana!

Avui per primera vegada he pogut entrenar sense presses. Fins i tot quan he acabat he tingut temps per prendre una mica el sol. El dia ha acompanyat i no he pogut resistir la temptació de banyar-me a l’aigua encara glaçada de l’estany. Per cert, ja ho vaig comentar una vegada, banyar-se en agua freda és un dels millors mètodes per recuperar-se d’una bona matxacada.

El resum de l’entrenament d’avui:






I cap a dinar a casa dels pares!...


Dieta:

Esmorzar: iogurt amb compota de fruites del bosc i avellanes
Snack: batut, fruits secs i una pera
Dinar: pèsols amb sofregit, peix al forn i pastis de formatge (aprovat per la dieta depurativa)
Sopar: amanida variada amb tonyina, remenat de carbaçó i pastis de formatge

Day 22 - Muscle in a Month

We are starting the last week tomorrow! Yes! And today I am feeling less thick and more defined. Let's see how the pictures and measurements turn out.

Today's workout was tough as usual: chest, bis, tris, core. This time the dreaded 4x40 cable curls were not part of the plan. Thank God! I've already counted how many more times we have to do those and we are down to just 1 more. We did however suffer through 120 barbell curls and 120 tricep extensions... AND the 4x40 pushups were part of today's torture and I am happy to say I am no longer doing humiliation pushups! Sweet! I could do all of them on my knees. :) I'm still not GI Jane enough to do them "manly" style (because they are after bench and flyes...). I am looking forward to testing myself after this overtraining business is done and seeing how many full pushups I can do as the new stronger me.


Diet:
BF: keifir with apple-cranberry puree and oats
Snack: rice and corn cakes with nut butters and berry puree
Lunch: delicious peas and carrots and onions, fish, green tea (I even said no to dessert!)
Snack: rye, rice, and corn cakes with nut butters and berry puree, 1/2 apple
Dinner: scrambled eggs, tuna, and veggies; apple sauce

Day 21 - Català

En primer lloc vull demanar disculpes als milers de seguidors del meu blog per no haver escrit res durant els últims dos entrenaments. La veritat és que entre la feina, estudiar i aquests entrenaments tan llargs no he tingut temps per penjar cap comentari. A més, no hi ha hagut massa res a comentar. Els entrenaments han seguit la tònica general de ser molt llargs i durs.
Pel què fa a l’entrenament d’avui es pot resumir amb dues lletres i una imatge. Són aquestes:

Avui he de reconèixer que desprès de 20 dies de lluitar i superar dificultats i entrebancs les adversitats i l’entrenament han pogut amb mi. El dia ha començat a les 7:30 del matí agafant el cotxe per anar a Barcelona on tenia un curs d’oposicions. A part d’aguantar 8 hores de teoria sobre la programació didàctica i les competències bàsiques de la Llei Orgànica d’Educació, quan ha arribat l’hora de dinar no he pogut menjar res! En el menú de la cafeteria no hi havia res sense gluten, làctics o que no estigués fregit per tant no he pogut dinar! Sort que portava unes figues seques en una bosseta.
Un cop s’ha acabat el curs tenia unes ganes boges de tornar cap a casa però l’univers s’ha confabulat contra mi una altra vegada i he quedat atrapat en un embús de trànsit a les rondes durant quasi una hora! Quan per fi he pogut arribar a casa ja eren cap a les 9 del vespre... Tot i això he reunit forces per canviar-me i anar a entrenar. Per variar l’entrenament era duret. S’ha de reconèixer que he fet tot el què he pogut però cap a la meitat de l’entreno no he pogut més... he començat a veure llumetes i fotogrames de la meva vida que passaven per davant dels meus ulls. En aquest moment he decidit que valia més plegar i anar a sopar per poder-me recuperar per l’entrenament del dia següent que és més llarg que la llista de la compra!

Avui aniré a dormir amb l’orgull ferit... espero recuperar-lo demà aixecant un bon grapat de quilos! :)

Dieta

Esmorzar: mató amb compota de pera
Snack: 2 galetes d'arròs i figues seques
Dinar: --------------
Snack: figues seques dàtils i nous
Sopar: tonyina a la planxa i amanida d'arròs

Day 21 - Muscle in a Month

Results are showing! So far a 2% drop in bodyfat and I am up a kg in weight. Did the math and came out with 2kg gain in muscle and 1kg loss in fat so far. Now I need to lower a bit the calories to lean out but the trainings make me so damn hungry! My biceps and triceps are getting enormous and I think pretty much the 2kg are all there, 1kg on each arm. :) All the clothes I bought over xmas in the states are baggy and I am no longer a medium in Nike pants. This is exciting but I bought 8 pairs of black workout pants to wear at the studio everyday.... Now they look like I'm wearing diapers! Well, thankfully today was 22 degrees and sunny and it's time to buy spring/summer gear anyway. :)

I liked today's workout. :) It was back, shoulders, and hamstring. Oh and core that I have yet to do and have to go back for tonight... I'm looking forward to this training to finish so I can go back to a resonable workout of less than an hour... These training are just way too long for my attention span.

Today I did awesome in pullups! Before today I could do 4-6 on the first set and then maybe 1 or 2 on the second set and then the rest of the sets were asisted from the get go. Today I did a set of 6, a set of 5, and set of 4, and a set of 3 all by myself! And I felt strong. It was way cool!

Straight legged deadlifts were great but then on the harrups my hams were dying a slow painful death... I really struggled on the 3rd and 4th sets and my calf even cramped in the middle of the last set. Then I forgot to bring a physioball (or really, I couldn't imagine carrying it across town) so I had to improvise for ham curls. I tried with the foam roller and it worked slightly with very short range of motion. Then I tried with big boy dumbbells. That worked pretty good until a big boy stole my dumbbells while I was doing pulldowns. The only hard part of "hanging on" to the dumbbells with my feet and toward the end my calves were on fire probably more than my hams. And I left the gym with soreness in a very strange spot on shin.

Diet:
BF: rye oat porridge with 1 egg and 1 eggwhite and rice milk, pear puree
Snack: rye bread with chicken breast, avocado, tomato, and lettuce
Snack: tea, rice and corn cakes with nut butters
Dinner: large salad, chicken breast strips (a few left over pieces) and tune steak

Day 20 - Muscle in a Month

Yes!!!!!!! We're into the twenties. Now it seems like the end is in sight. :)
;
Today the workout was just legs and low back: dead lifts, squats, lunges, reverse hypers, squat jumps, and prone cobras. Not too bad. :) I was able to do all 4x40 squat jumps without resting! Progress. :)

Diet:
BF: yogurt, melon, strawberries, kiwi, oats, rye flakes, berry powder, flax seeds
Snack: pineapple melon fresh juice, walnuts
Lunch: salad, veggie omelette, lentils, fish, eggplant; pineapple and kiwi
Snack: 2 rice cakes with hazelnut paste and apricot paste
Snack: banana, hazelnuts
Dinner: chicken filet, rice, tomato veggie sauce, salad; pear puree

Day 19 - English

Make it stop already!!!!!!!! Today is one of those days that I really wish I hadn't committed to this program. If I hadn't promised and sworn to doing all 28 days perfectly I would not have gotten up after sleeping way too little and dragged my buns to the gym (alone!) to pound my already sore and tired body with more and more intense weight training. I would have stayed in my cozy and warm bed instead. Plus today I feel thick, very thick. My biceps are getting huge and I really don't want them this big. I am hating trying to cut calories and I just want some CHOCOLATE CAKE! :)

Well, on to some good news. Xavi's grand mother said (in the middle of family dinner) "Kaisa's boobs are bigger." So, if that is one of the benefits of this program, I'll take all the suffering. :) Xavi did tell me it was just the bra I was wearing that day. (Did he have to burst my bubble???). So, I went to see the grandma again yesterday with my most UNpush-bra and she still told me the same thing. Ha!

Diet:
BF (before workout): rye bread with almond butter
BF (after workout): natural yogurt with pineapple and kiwi,
Lunch: rye bread with salmon, avocado, cucumber and lettuce; ground chicken, corn, pear
Snack: 2 mandarines, hazelnuts
Dinner: scrambled eggs with tuna and potato, red bell pepper

Day 18 - Català

Un descans inesperat! Avui no hi ha hagut entrenament....

Un dia ens maxaca fins a rebentar i el següent ens deixa respirar. Aquesta tècnica a Guantànamo es deia esfixiament simulat i es considerava tortura!

Bé, a preparar-nos per la tempesta de demà... Si vull acabar l'entrenament que hi ha programat hauré d'anar al culb directament des de la feina i sense dinar. Uffff, que Déu ens agafi confesats.

Vinga, cap a fer nones que demà s'acosta una tempesta! :s





Dieta:



Esmorzar: Iogurt amb plàtan i maduixes

Snack: batut i fruits secs

Dinar: Arròs amb pollastre a l'ast

Snack: mandarina, fruts secs

Sopar: amanida variada amb pollastre

Day 18 - English

What?!?!? Another rest day? Strange. He did tell us that there will be no more rest days for the reminder of the 28 day program...

Did a nice walk around the lake to get some blood flow and increase mobility to my sore body.

Now for the last 10 days I need to actually diet. The horror! It's been a long time since I have dieted, as in purposefully decreased calories. The diet on this program just specifies that we can't eat processed food, gluten, lactics (except for fermented stuff like yogurts), sugar, alcohol, or caffeine. This is pretty easy for me because I generally avoid this stuff anyway. In my normal life I might eat from these groups 3 or 4 times so cutting them out wasn't too difficult. Now, I actually have to watch the amounts I eat too... Sucky. I will be controlling more the portions of nuts and eliminate dried fruits. I will also decrease sligthly the portions of carbs (rice, potatoes, etc). Let's see if this will help bring out my 6-pack! Currently it's a 4-pack and only visible when flexing...

And I have already chosen my next challenge for when MIM ends. We will first do a 1 week recovery week and then I will start a 12 week conditioning program also designed by a personal trainer friend from London. More on that in the days to come!

Diet:
BF: yogurt
BF 2 (after 8km walk): rye bread with butter and salmon
Lunch: chicken breast, pineapple, strawberries, queso fresco
Dinner: salad with a variety of veggies, strawberries, chicken breast

Day 17 - Català

Aquest programa d’entrenament és un infern! Això és la guerraaaaa!!!
Només els més forts sobreviuran!





Per primera vegada en dues setmanes he hagut de dividir l’entrenament en dues parts. L’idea original era fer-lo tot al matí però desprès d’estar-me al gimnàs gairebé dues hores i quedar-me sense forces ni ganes de continuar, he decidit plegar i acabar-lo a la tarda.

Jo que deia que últimament els entrenos em semblaven fàcils... doncs m’he hagut de menjar les meves pròpies paraules amb patates!!!

L’entrenament estava format per supersèries d’espatlles i isquiotibials, un munt de sèries d’esquena, infinitat de supersèries de bíceps i tríceps i si això no era suficient al final un fotiment d’abdominals. Tot i portar aigua, figues seques, dàtils i ametlles per anar menjar i poder recuperar una mica d’energia entre sèrie i sèrie no n’hi ha hagut prou... he de reconèixer que avui l’entreno ha pogut amb mi.

Dieta:

Esmorzar: cereals finlandesos d’aquells raros de la Kaisa amb nous i maduixes
Snack: fruits secs
Dinar: amanida variada amb tonyina, arròs i pollastre, meló
Snack: fruits secs i batut
Sopar: patates i mongetes tendres, peix i pinya natural

Day 17 - English

The hellish trainings are B.A.C.K!!!!! Today's was so bad that we had to save a part of it for tonight... We spent 2 hours at the gym and didn't even finish the workout! Holy exhaustion. We had to tank up with some banana and figs during the workout because we just ran out of steam.

Today started with my favorites of cleans and presses and straight legged deadlifts. :) And I deadlifted my bodyweight! Finally! Next came back, also a favorite, and I am up to 6 chin ups! Sweet! Well, that was the first set... second set only 3 full ones and the last two sets all were assisted. But I'm making great progress. Then came huge sets of shoulders and hams including my other favorites, the harrup curls. Then it all took a downhill turn... Stinking biceps and triceps... I DISPISE doing biceps. How badly I hate the last sets of 40. Uuuufff. Then we called it quits before attacking core. I will do that tonight before teaching.

I was so tired from this workout that I had to change my class plan because I just didn't have it in me to do a Corepole class. Planned a circuit instead so they got to sweat while I didn't have to move much... :)

Diet:
BF: rye & oat porridge made with almond milk and egg, mandarine
Snack: banana, figs
Snack: hummus on rye crackers
Lunch: mix veggie salad with shrimp, anxovies, tuna; melon
Snack: corn, walnuts, raisins
Dinner: hummus with rye crackers, a carrot, rice with ground chicken; melon, walnuts and raisins

Dia 16 - Pics & Measurements

XAVI

KAISA

Day 16 - Català

Dia de descans!!!

NO m'ho puc creure! Tan queixar-me de que aquest entrenament era tan dur, que ja n'estava fart,... i avui que no he hagut d'entrenar ho he trobat a faltar! Serà que m'estic tornant un bigorèxic?

Dieta

Esmorzar: torrada de pa negre amb pavo, 2 torradetes d'arròs amb melmelada d'ametlles i fruits vermells, potito de fruita

Snack: 1 mandarina

Dinar: amanida variada, arròs integral de verdures amb tonyina, 1 mandarina

Snack: plàtan, fruits secs

Sopar: arròs amb pollastre i cigrons, fruits secs, batut de fruites

Day 16

How strange to have a day off. In a sick way I actually missed the training today! Kind of like people who've been kidnapped who start to like their kidnappers. :)

Diet:
BF: yogurt, fruit puree
Snack: 2 mandarins
Lunch: lentil veggie puree, egg, rice cakes with nut butters, melon
Dinner: lentil veggie puree, egg white, hummus with anxovies on rye crackers, golden raisins and walnuts

Day 13, 14, 15 - Cap de setmana SPA

Cap de setmana a un súper SPA de luxe! Acabem d’arribar d’un fabulós cap de setmana lluny de Banyoles per desconnectar una mica de l’estrès de la feina i la rutina. Aquesta sortideta era el regal que li vaig fer a la Kaisa per Nada... fins ara no havíem trobat un cap de setmana lliure per poder-ne gaudir!

Divendres em vaig aixecar aviat i vaig entrenar abans d’anar a treballar a l’institut. L’entreno va consistir en unes sèries interminables d’espatlles i d’esquena. Tot i això sembla que el meu cos s’està acostumant a entrenar dur ja que cada vegada tinc menys cruiximents J. Un cop vaig arribar de la feina la Kaisa i jo varem dinar i fer les maletes per marxar ràpidament cap a Ribes on ens esperaven dos dies de relax al Hotel Spa “Resguard dels vents”.

Dissabte varem fer una mica els ronsos abans d’anar a esmorzar. Al restaurant de l’Hotel hi havia un mega súper bufet lliure amb pilons de menjar (pa amb tomàquet i embotits, pastes i pastissos, fruita...). Com que part de l’entrenament és també seguir una dieta sense gluten ni sucre ja us podeu imaginar que varem poder menjar de tots aquells “manjares”, no? Una mica de fruita amb un recuit L. Mai més torno a organitzar una sortida quan estiguem fent la dieta! Després d’esmorzar havíem d’entrenar però... no hi havia gimnàs!!! Com que ja m’ho imaginava, abans de marxar de Banyoles varem agafar unes gomes i unes peses per poder fer l’entrenament i no saltar-nos la feina. Aquí teniu la prova de que no ens varem saltar l’entrenament. Cal dir que hi ha alguna modificació ja que al no haver-hi màquines de peses varem haver de posar-hi imaginació. La tarda va ser un no parar de “jacuzzis”, saunes, dutxes i massatges! Per acabar el dia no podia faltar un sopar romàntic al restaurant de l’hotel amb un sortit de verdures a la brasa amb salsa romesco, una espatlla de xai (xavi) i lluç amb guarnició (Kaisa) i un mousse de iogurt amb gers.

Diumenge varem marxar aviat ja que havíem d’arribar abans que el Club Natació Banyoles tanqués. L’entrenament era de pectoral i espatlles. Li estic agafant una mania a les sèries de pectoral que no us ho podeu ni imaginar... les últimes són les sèries de 40 flexions que et deixen els braços com si fossin de plastilina! Aggghhhh.

Sort que demà tenim el dia de descans!!! L’únic dia de repòs en 28 dies d’entrenament s’ha d’aprofitar.

Weekend at a SPA!

What a fabulous weekend we had away from Banyoles enjoying a well deserved mini break at a Spa. This was Xavi's xmas present for me and it took until March for us to find a free weekend!

Friday's workout was pretty short, just shoulders and back. I had to do the workout at our studio so chin ups were a bit challenging but did them with the help of a giant 1 inch tubing.

Friday after lunch we headed for Ribes, a tiny village in the Pyrennees, for 2 nights at a 4-star spa. Just what we needed at the half-way point of the MIM challenge. Our bodies were feeling sore and tired and we needed a little pick-me-up. :)

Saturday we slept in and had a fabulous breakfast of yogurt made from the cows we could see grazing on the hills from our room windows, and incredibly fresh and juicy fruit. Then we took a little nap and got ready for training. Thankfully Xavi had the mental toughness to make me do the workout. I was already trying to bribe him into skipping the day's beating... We went to a garden, unloaded the Select Tech dumbbells and tubes we had brought with us and got to work. It was sunny and we were next to a flowing river so it wasn't too bad. It did take forever since we had to share weights.

For a long time I have wanted Xavi to give me piggyback rides and he has always refused. This weekend he made up for it! Check out the video for a snapshot of the 10 sets of 10 squats he did with me on his back. :) Wife carrying contest in Finland here we come!

Then we spent 2 relaxing hours at the spa soaking in the tubs, sweating in the sauna and steam room, getting our feet massaged in the relaxing foot path of rocks and water sprays, taking naps on the heated marble slabs, and enjoying the variety of specialty water treatments. And if things couldn't get any better we got massages. Aaaahhh. Perfect for our sore and over trained bodies. After the massages we got pretty and had a delicious Elimination approved 4-star dinner. We had the most amazing grilled vegetables with an almond sauce. These veggies tasted incredible. Yum. Xavi had a half of a lamb and I had fish for the main course. Then it was my turn to keep us on track with the project. Xavi tried to convince me to share a chocolate valcano for dessert... It was really tempting but we're not quitters. Instead we had a super yummy rasberry yogurt mixture. :)

Today (Sunday) we packed up early to make it back to Banyoles before the gym closed. Today's workout was chest, shoulders, and abs. I finally managed a whole set of 40 pushups on my knees... still it was embarrasing but it's getting better.

And guess what?!?!? Tomorrow is a FULL rest day! Sweet! :)

Day 12 - English

A nice and easy training day today. Only windmills.

Diet:
BF: quinoa puffs, oats, rye flakes, goji fruits, almond milk
Snack: walnuts, raisins
Lunch: hummus with rye crackers, rye bread with sardines, rye bread with salmon, yogurt with fig paste and hazelnut paste
Dinner: salad with cottage cheese, tomato, sunflower seeds, chicken breast, rice, and lentils

Day 11 - Català

Bé, ja tenim un altre dia a la butxaca. La veritat és que ho vaig passar molt malament la primera setmana. Ara muscularment ho estic tolerant força bé, on noto més la fatiga és a nivell psicològic. Per exemple, avui hem entrenat pectoral, bíceps i tríceps. L’últim dia que vam fer aquest entrenament no vaig poder acabar ni una de les sèries de 40 flexions. En cada sèrie vaig haver de posar els genolls a terra i semblava un musulmà resant a la meca. Avui he aconseguit fer la primera sèrie sense posar els genolls a terra… estic súper orgullòs ;) La fatiga ve per la part mental, aquests entrenaments tan llargs requereixen de molta motivació i voluntat sinó pots caure una mica en l’avorriment. Això és el què m’ha passat avui. Sort que demà toca un dia fácil, només 100 abdominals! Yippppiiiiiiii. Serà bufar i fer ampolles!







Dieta

Esmorzar: cereals finlandesos d’aquells raros de la Kaisa
Snack: torrada de pa de centeno amb pernil de pavo
Dinar: Macarrons de blat de moro amb tonyina i un tros de peix, fruita
Snack: iogurt amb compota de pera i avellanes
Sopar: amanida súper variada amb tonyina, peix i fruita amb iogurt

Day 11 - Pics and Measurements

XAVI

KAISA