THE AILEEN CROWE SHOW: | The Body Coach | 90 Day SSS Plan | Cycle 3

Hey guys!

So here I am at the end of my 90 days journey with the Body Coach!

The time just flew by. The past couple of weeks have been manic with work and getting myself ready for my holidays to New York this Wednesday (eeeeppp) but I did promise you all I would have this blogpost up before I headed away so I’ve kept to my word J😉

If you’d like to read my Cycle 1 blogpost you can click here and for results click here. You can also read my Cycle 2 blogpost and results here.

Meals

So for Cycle 3 it was back to Cycle 1 principles; 3 meals a day + 2 snacks of which two of those meals were from the general menu which were low-carb and then 1 from the post workout menu which would obviously be consumed after a workout and high in carbs. After the carb-up of Cycle 2 I couldn’t wait to get back to having low-carb meals again, but, in saying that, I also missed all the carbs. Such a contradiction I know lol but as much as I hated the bloating that I got from eating all the carbs in cycle 2 I still loved them and missed having them! I was still given the freedom and flexibility to create my own meals using the pick ‘n’ mix principle from Cycle 2 but there were also a whole new variety of recipes in this cycle which I could choose from also. To be honest, I didn’t experiment with the recipes all that much. In fact for the final 2 weeks of the plan I didn’t really do any food prep at all just because I have been incredibly busy lately. Bar my dinners in the evening, I ate mostly from the canteen at work but kept it clean and on plan by having a two egg omelette with chicken, peppers, onions and a huge side salad twice a day every day. So they were my low carb meals during the day and after I trained in the evenings I would re-carb with meals like chicken and rice with veg, tuna melt toasties, poached eggs with toast and veggies and stir fry’s with rice. For snacks I stuck to having nuts either cashew or almonds, natural/unsalted, and protein shakes (no fruit allowedL). I also occasionally had a quest protein bar to curb cravings! Supplements were the same as they were for all cycles. I didn’t take absolutely everything recommended but I did have BCAA’s Pre + Post workout, a protein shake post workout and dissolvable vitamin C and multi-vitamin tablets from Lidl in my water every day.

Sample Breakfast Options

Sample Lunch Options

Sample Dinner Option

Sample Snacks

Workouts

The workouts were ramped up in this cycle, similarly to the other cycles, the body coach’s signature HIIT workouts were combined with a new style of weight training called ‘Pyramid Resistance’ training.

It would be so much easier to actually show what this is rather than tell you as it’s a little tricky to explain without getting totally confused lol but I’ll give it a go! Basically this method of weight training involves high repetitions just like the VRT training in cycle 2 but rather than lifting the same weight with every set you start by doing low reps with heavy weight but gradually decrease the weight and increase the reps on each set. This is done on the first exercise and then you also do it vice versa on the second exercise. So you would start with low weights and high reps and gradually increase the weight and decrease the repetitions with every set - don’t worry, I will give an example below lol

So the structure of the cycle 3 workouts is split into 4 parts. (same as cycle 2)

Ø START: Exercise 1 - Pyramid Sets

Ø X1 round of HIIT (8mins)

Ø Exercise 2 – Pyramid Sets

Ø FINISH: X1 round of HIIT (8mins)

Each training day is then split up into 4 different options per week.

· Back & Chest

· Biceps & Triceps

· Legs & Abs

· Shoulders

Each option was not to repeated more than once in one week. Rest day’s had to be taken 3 times a week and if training for 2 days consecutively a rest day must be taken before training again.

Sample Leg Day Workout

1. Leg extensions

Ø Set 1: x50 reps (low weight)

Ø Weighted Ab crunches x50

REST 30SECS

Ø Set 2: x40 reps (increase weight)

Ø Weighted Ab crunches x40

REST 45SECS

Ø Set 3: x30 reps (increase weight)

Ø Weighted Ab Crunches x30

REST 60SECS

Ø Set 4: x20 reps (increase weight)

Ø Weighted Ab Crunches x20

REST 90SECS

Ø Set 5: x10 reps (heaviest you can do)

2. HIIT (8MINS) Stationary Bike

30secs high intensity followed by 45secs steady x 8mins

3. Dumbbell Lunges

Ø Set : x10 reps each leg (heaviest weight)

Ø Planks (hold until failure)

REST 90SECS

Ø Set 2: x20 reps each leg (decrease weight)

Ø Planks (hold until failure)

REST 60SECS

Ø Set 3: x30 reps each leg (decrease weight)

Ø Planks (hold until failure)

REST 45SECS

Ø Set 4: x40 reps each leg (decrease weight)

Ø Planks (hold until failure)

REST 30SECS

Ø Set 5: x50 reps each leg (decrease weight)

4. HIIT (8MINS) Stationary Bike

30secs high intensity followed by 45secs steady x 8mins

Not gonna lie – the workouts were serious burners!! Especially leg day, dear god all those repetitions were killer. You really feel the lactic acid building up in your muscles. It was tough and not one bit enjoyable haha but none the less I got them done. Each workout took that little bit longer this time around but I managed to get each workout out done in approximately an hour.

My Results

Now for the part you’ve all been waiting for!! J The RESULTS!!

So, I was very nervous about sharing my before and after photos. I was afraid there wouldn’t be that much of a difference. I saw a huge drop in all my measurements and weight after cycle 1 but after the gain in cycle 2 I was worried that I would just be back to square one after Cycle 3. I was wrong J. I am still waiting for my graduation report to arrive from my Body Coach Support Hero however I can still reveal to you my results.

Overall, I have lost a total of 7 inches from my entire body.

· 3.5 inches from my waist

· 2 inches from my hips

· 0.5 inches from my chest

· 0.5 inches from each leg

· 0 inches from my arms

Weight wise I dropped 4kg after Cycle 1, gained 3.5 kg after Cycle 2, and dropped 0.5 kg after Cycle 3. So in total I dropped a mahoooosive 1kg LOL but I’m not hung up on the weight. Any amount of factors can affect the numbers on the scales. What matters is I feel good. The results could have been better yes, but they are still results at the end of the day. I had 3 holidays during this plan where unfortunately I did booze and I did binge but I enjoyed myself and I got straight back on plan afterwards.

So, it may have taken me a tad bit longer than 90 days due to adding on a few weeks in cycle 1 and cycle 2 plus the lay-by time in between cycles but it absolutely flew. I did say I would be 100% committed to it but truth to be told I had plenty of hiccups throughout this plan! Nonetheless I completed it and I did see good results – not amazing but I’m happy I done it. I have learned a lot about food in regards macro-nutrient timing, the best times for the consumption of certain foods and portion control. With regards the workouts, I won’t lie; I’m looking forward to getting back to some heavy lifting again. I lost a lot of strength during this plan. I loved the HIIT training though which I will be incorporating into my workouts in the future as well as some occasional steady state, but come the New Year I will be going IN on the weight training again. In hindsight, I wish I had stuck to my own training plan and just followed the diet (which was an option in the beginning). So that being said I would advise anyone thinking of doing this plan who regularly weight trains to bare this is mind when signing up. But for anyone who is looking to kick-start a healthier lifestyle, learn loads about food and nutrition and overall get leaner, healthier and gain some body confidence I would 100% recommend this plan to you.

And there you have it guys. I hope you have all enjoyed my posts. T minus 1 day until we hit New York City!! Oh the excitement! The food, the sites, the shopping I could literally burst with excitement. If any of you have any tips for me before I go please hit me up.