Natacha Oceane Cut Reload PDF [PDF]

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Cut. Reload Approved by Renee McGregor

Contents Nutrition 5 7

Before we start Eating for healthy fat loss ~ Macronutrients ~ Micronutrients ~ Supplements ~ Tips: get there healthier & happier

14

Nutrition: These 10 weeks

20

A long term approach to sustainable fat loss ~ Increasing your metabolism ~ Changing your body composition ~ Training for long-term results

25

If you’re under-eating ~ Could this be you? ~ The consequences of under-eating ~ Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome ~ A little self love ❤

31

Approved by Renee McGregor

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References: great sources of more info 2

Contents Training 36

How to use the training guide ~ Progressions ~ Picking your weight ~ Warming up ~ Picking your weight ~ If you don‘t have any equipment

38

If you‘re a beginner ~ Squatting & Deadlifts ~ Building your confidence at the gym

40

Injuries

41

Rest days

42

Once you’ve finished ~ Build your own workout plan

3

Nutrition 4

Before we start Hey my friends!! Thank you so much for buying my guide! I’ve put my my heart and soul into making sure you get the most out of your 10 weeks (and beyond) with Cut ❤

The goal of Cut is to set you up for long-term fat loss while helping you feel strong, athletic

and healthy. That’s a lot of goals in one sentence, and 10 weeks can only be a part of that lifestyle, but I know it can make a world of difference 🌎

All the information in this programme, for both training and nutrition, is based on current

leading scientific research into health, nutrition and physical exercise, and is shaped to set you up for successful, sustainable fat loss while protecting your health (and happiness! 😊 )

For that reason, I honestly can’t tell you how over the moon I am to bring you an approach to food approved for the second time by world-leading Performance and Eating Disorder Specialist Dietitian, Renee McGregor, whose achievements are more impressive than I could ever do justice and include working with Olympic athletes over the last two Olympic cycles (more on page 29!)

Time is precious, so the training sessions are smart and efficient, and the nutrition info focuses on the changes that make a difference and give you the flexibility to live life fully ❤

My sporting background started early as a kid when I just wanted to try every sport

available! I later became a track athlete, competing at national competitions for a few years, before I moved onto ultra-endurance competitions and then into resistance and functional training, and more recently calisthenics and freestyle gymnastics.

I’ve seen huge benefits in each style, and this programme takes lessons from each to bring an inclusive, rounded approach to training, just like it does for nutrition.

We hope you absolutely love it, and feel the benefits for years to come! 🤸

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Before we start 😍 g n i z a m a e r ‘ u o Y . P.S

st important a le e h t re a s appearance e v e li e b l il t s I , guide and deserves s e s u lo iq t n u fa is a e is p a Although this rld. Every sh o w e h t to g eeing on in r s b e to w d e t s a u h w e ’r d e an the mould w to in thing about us s it f it t o whether or n r e tt a m o n d e to be lov e. the TV or onlin ple a little too o e p r e h t o to how we look e k ta ll a e w , go: at times n a c it w o h w society. I kno in rt a p g in k ta t comes with s ju ’s It . ly s u io ser lthier, feel a e h e m o c e b u It can help yo l. il p ic g a m a un shine. isn’t s t e fa h t g d in n s a lo l u , h if t g make life beau I prom ise thou ’t n s e o d it t u nfident 🙌 b o c re o m d n a better anyway. Those are true

nd that a s u d n u ro a e beauty all h t g in e e s m in way. a omes fro rt c e c s s a e k in o p p lo a t h r you than jus fo I really believe re o m y a w , which does y d o b r u o y in includes it a better e k a m to u o y out there for ’s ld r o w e h t help you d n n a a c h c r u ie m p p o a s h of ealthier and h , r te You’re capable it f g n li e I hope that fe . y a w n w o r u place in yo go do that. 💛

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Eating for fat loss Before we go into any details and some science, I just want to take a minute to say that food is so much more than the numbers we can track in apps on our phone or a calorie / macro profile. It helps us grow, perform, stay healthy and have energy (and brings so much joy! 😍 ) On a personal note, I can’t tell you how much I believe in that having previously seen things differently! Before we go into the approach for these 10 weeks, and then for sustained fat loss, it’s really helpful to cover some important information which will make the approach a lot clearer, and I’d also love to share some personal tips which made a huge difference for me.

Macronutrients Carbohydrates: Carbohydrate breaks down into glucose to provide the main energy source for our brain, central nervous system and physical activity. Fibre is also a form of non-digestible carbohydrate and helps keep you satisfied after a meal and also helps keep a healthy gut 😉 Large, high-quality analyses of studies comparing low-carb diets with balanced diets show no difference on fat loss if total calorie intake is kept the same. So there’s nothing clearly demonstrated as inherent to carbs that makes them a concern for fat loss. Many carb sources are packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, making them super important for overall health 🍎 🍌 In addition, as carbs are converted to glycogen and stored in our muscles, they are a crucial source of energy. Studies have shown that low intakes of carbs (

•

1.

Wow that was tough! These workouts are a lot more intense than I’m used to! 💦

2.

I train often but these workouts are more challenging than what I’m used to! 😅

3.

Challenging, but very similar in intensity to my usual training 💪

4.

Not as intense as my usual workouts 😳

If you’re in group 1: you may want to increase your calories slightly (100-200 calories) e.g. add in an extra snack and/or increase portion sizes during meal times

•

If you’re in group 2: you may want to leave your calories as they are, or increase / decrease a touch depending on how big the gap to your usual intensity feels

•

If you’re in group 3: although it may feel like a similar intensity level, try maintaining your food intake as it is (because these workouts are designed to get that calorie burn up) or lowering it slightly but by no more than 10% of your current daily intake

•

If you’re in group 4: remember it’s so important to push yourself through each workout, so increase the intensity either by upping your resistance level, fully exerting yourself in plyometric exercises / HIIT, and staying super strict in exercise form. If you feel that the training here is not as intense because there is less training volume than you’re used to, try sticking with this split but really pushing for four super high intensity

sessions (Days 1, 2, 3 & 5). I suggest you try the first week again with this in mind, and then reassess which of groups 1-3 you’re in 😅

Now you have your food intake level, some potential signs that you need to up your calorie intake include: constant tiredness, feeling weak or low energy during training, difficulty focussing, rapid weight loss and changes to your menstrual cycle.

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Nutrition: These 10 weeks Step 4: Follow the training programme and eat as identified in step 3 for weeks 2-5. If you’re not sure how to convert your calorie intake into macros, here’s a suggestion: Protein: 1.5 g / kg bodyweight

Carbs: 5 g / kg bodyweight

Fat: 1 g / kg bodyweight

Each of the macros are so, so important for keeping you going strong and protecting your health, like we discussed earlier. The split above is a guideline and will need tweaking to get into your target calorie intake and to find the split that feels good 🙌 💪

Experiment with the split a little in these ten weeks, but I really recommend keeping each change quite small and giving it at least 1-2 weeks to assess how it works for you.

Step 5: The start of week 6 is a great time to assess how you feel: do you have energy or feel weak? how are your workouts going? how’s your mood?

At this point, we want you to still feel good and like you can workout, with some early signs of physical change (measured how we discussed earlier in the guide)

We’re not after any drastic appearance changes yet - a small amount is perfect because you’ll have achieved it without doing much to your food intake and it’s still early days! ☀

If you feel that you’ve made no change, feel free to reduce by up to a further 100 calories. Trust me, I know the feeling of wanting to go more aggressively but I can’t count how many

people (literally hundreds!) have told me about how any results from doing so would stall and they’d be left having to eat small portions to avoid fat gain, and that’s not what we want!

Because everyone’s so different and I think experimenting a little with macro splits is so

important, I haven’t provided a meal plan. Both Renee & I have recipe guides, which all include macros and suggestions for changing the macros of each meal. Hopefully these can help you adjust your meals to make food work for you! 😊 😘

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Nutrition: These 10 weeks A step-by-step example Jessie’s hasn’t tracked much in the past, so for

Step 1

she lives life as normal, notes

down everything she ate and tracks it in MyFitnessPal at night for a couple of days: her average intake is 2,100 calories.

Week 1 of training with CUT feels tiring and recovery between workouts feels a little tough while her body is still getting used to the style. At the end of the week, her body is starting to adapt and recover better, and the overall intensity doesn’t feel too far from her previous workouts so she puts herself in group 2 for

Step 3. Since it doesn’t feel like a huge step

up in intensity after a week, she decreases her food intake but keeps it within the group 2

guideline and with just a 5% reduction to ~2,000 calories (a 1,900 - 2,100 calorie window is perfect, because not every day needs to be the same.) At the start of week 2, it’s time for

Step 4. For the next 5 weeks, she follows CUT’s

training guide. At 58kg, she roughly aims for the macro guidelines above so ~90g protein, ~290g carbs and ~60g fat and tweaks them to get close to her 2,000 calorie target. In Step

5, at the start of week 7 Jessie feels like her mood is dropping a little bit and that

she can’t give the same intensity that she could at the start. In this case, it’s definitely possible that over time, the high energy expenditure of the CUT workouts were already

putting her in a deficit and the slight food reduction took her a little too far, so she’s no longer feeling as strong and happy. For the last four weeks, she goes back to her original food intake and lets the intense workouts do the rest.

Note: this same approach would work without tracking. Just adjusting food intake in

whichever direction a little, maybe by tweaking portion sizes or swapping one snack for another depending on if you’re trying to increase / decrease calories is great too!

Nutrition: These 10 weeks Sample menu: Let’s make up an example of an individual day of food! 😊 So, Jessie’s put herself in group 2 and decided to aim for just a very small food reduction at ~2,000 calories so most of the deficit can come from the tougher workouts in CUT.

She’s aiming for the 1,900 - 2,000 calorie window and even going a little under or a little over those numbers now and then really doesn’t matter.

Working out after work and before dinner, a perfect meal plan sets her up with

carbohydrates for lunch a few hours ahead of her training so she can really workout with intensity. Also, this is key for ensure her hormones are in a healthy place and that she can

respond properly to the workouts, for example with the production of growth factors which enable her body to adapt.

Here’s an example of what she might eat one day:

Carbs Protein Fat

Calories

Breakfast

Toasted bagel with avocado and poached eggs: 1 bagel, 2 eggs, 1 medium avocado, salt and pepper

60g

24g

31g

599

Lunch

Prawn couscous salad: 125g prawns, 75g couscous (when uncooked), 60g peas, 80g cherry tomatoes, 50g spinach, 150g red pepper, 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 30g feta, veg stock cube

77g

40g

15g

614

Dinner

Stuffed veg: 100g soya mince, 3 large red peppers, 50g basmati rice (when uncooked), 1/2 can chopped tomatoes, 2tbsp tomato puree, 1/2 onion, 1/2tbsp olive oil, 1 garlic clove, veg stock cube

64g

26g

9g

453

Snack 1

Grapes: 150g

24g

1g

0g

99

Snack 2

Protein banana cream bowl: 150g strained greek yoghurt, 1 banana, 1 square Lindt 70% dark chocolate

53g

21g

6g

305

3g

2g

1g

30

281g

113g

61g

2,100

CUT. workout

Extra Totals

1 tea, 1 coffee: with semi skimmed milk

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A long term approach The best results come down to lifestyle. In the previous section we spoke about eating and training for fat loss in the 10 weeks of the programme, but it is possible to continue changing your body composition over a longer period of multiple years through resistance training and staying active. By doing so, you’ll be able to eat more, get leaner and feel stronger too 💪 I really want to stress at this point that none of that means looking significantly different. For example, through this approach over 3 years, I still fit into the same clothes and people rarely notice that I’ve put on a lot of muscle unless I’m working out. So, looking back at the equation for metabolism: TDEE = BMR + PA + NEAT + TEF Total Daily Energy

Expenditure

Basal

Metabolic Rate

Physical Activity

Non-Exercise Activity

Thermic Effect

Thermogenesis

of Food

Looking at this equation, let’s go through how resistance training and a slow increase in food intake can build muscle over time, which will in turn increase your TDEE (the amount of calories you burn every day 🔥 ) 1.

BMR —> the amount of energy burnt throughout the day when your body is at rest: It’s largely driven by your lean body mass (fat-free mass), so as you increase your muscle mass through effective hypertrophy and strength training you’ll be able to increase the amount of calories you burn throughout the day without even working out!

2. PA —> the amount of energy you burn through physical activity: There are a couple of main reasons why this will continue to increase when you do resistance training. Firstly, as you get stronger and can lift more weight, the energy requirement for exerting a bigger force will increase, so you’ll burn more from your sessions. In addition, any cardiovascular training you do will also require more energy to move this additional muscle mass you’ve put on.

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A long term approach TDEE = BMR + PA + NEAT + TEF Total Daily Energy

Expenditure

Basal

Metabolic Rate

Physical Activity

Non-Exercise Activity

Thermogenesis

Thermic Effect of Food

3. NEAT —> The energy burnt in a day through activities not including sports or training eg. fidgeting, choosing to walk up the stairs rather than take the elevator, standing instead of sitting, house cleaning. This is determined by your caloric intake and muscle mass. The more you eat, the more energy you’ll have to fidget around or choose the stairs over the elevator. Then, the more muscle you have, the more energy required to do those movements as explained in physical activity. 4. TEF —> The amount of energy required to process and store the food we eat. The more we eat, the more we burn!

Hopefully that gives you a feel for how the training and nutrition approach in the next section play into metabolism changes over time as we start to build our bodies through resistance training and increased food intake. There are some great papers in the reference section on this if you want to read about it in more detail for all my science lovers out there! ❤ 🔬

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A long term approach Training for long term fat loss Hypertrophy training is the key for a long term approach to changing your body composition and increasing your lean body mass. Hypertrophy workouts are focussed on building muscle size, which will unlock benefits across the TDEE components like we covered above. In this training programme, the lower body workouts on Day 3 look most like a hypertrophy workout, and should give you a feel for what they’re like. You definitely won’t have to do hypertrophy training forever, and once you’ve built the amount of muscle you’re happy with, you’ll find that muscle maintenance requires a lot less effort, so you can move onto whatever you like! ❤ There are so many different hypertrophy workouts out there so I thought I’d put together a list of articles and sample workouts that you can start to use once you’ve finished the guide. •

📓 All you need to know about hypertrophy training

•

📕 A great exercise database 💪

•

📗 If you're looking to increase strength and muscle mass

Even though building muscle mass will help you eat more over the longer term without gaining fat, I really believe that exercise should be something you look forward to 😍 Although hypertrophy is the most effective way to gain muscle mass and change your body composition, you may not enjoy it and that’s totally fine! You can always balance your exercise and blend hypertrophy work into your other workouts, or just give it one or two sessions per week. If you’re interested in how I train as I share on social media, which is more focussed around developing strength, athleticism, functionality and bringing in some calisthenics, you might really enjoy my other training programme MOVE. :

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A long term approach That’s an example of a routine which blends hypertrophy with lots of other styles to bring the benefits of allowing you to eat more while including lots of variety. You can even mix it up with whatever else you enjoy like dancing or volleyball (these just came off the top of my head! 😂 )

There are so many benefits of an active lifestyle beyond changing your body composition like this, and this definitely isn’t the only way to lose fat in a sustainable way. It’s just the approach I personally love to recommend because it helps to create such a freeing relationship with food 😍

Eating for long term fat loss Nutrition will play a huge part in muscle growth as you train. I still recommend eating a balanced and varied diet throughout as mentioned above with some treats thrown in there too to keep you feeling happy and loving life 😊 Eating enough protein will help you build muscle efficiently, and 0.25g protein/kg bodyweight 4-6 times a day will help develop your muscles and progress towards a higher TDEE. As your muscle mass increases, your TDEE will increase, meaning your maintenance food intake will also go up alongside it. You’ll slowly feel more hungry and less able to work hard during workouts, which will be small signs that it’s time to gradually up the intake. As this is going on alongside increases in energy expenditure, it doesn’t mean fat gain. If you don’t see changes in body composition after working with this method for 3+ months, this could be a key sign that you’re still not fuelling adequately - if there’s not enough energy in our systems, our bodies break down muscle for energy which will work against us!

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A long term approach My personal advice is to go for an increase of around 100 calories each time you feel those signs of it being time to increase. Starting slowly and steadily while looking for all those little signals is a great way to find the speed that works for you, which will change over time. The appropriate pace will depend on a lot of factors like how hypertrophy focussed your overall training plan is, how often and intensely you workout and a bunch of lifestyle factors like sleep, stress levels, genetics, general activity, work life, age and more. In my case, I’d say I bumped up my food intake every month or so for the first 5-6 months as

adapting my metabolism was a big focus of mine for a little while so my workouts were hypertrophy focussed. As my rate of muscle growth slowed over time as I slowly shifted to other

training styles and was no longer so energy deficient, I noticed those signs every 2-3 months so my rate of increasing slowed.

This whole approach is exactly how I went from eating 1,500 calories to ~2,700 calories for maintenance (just for reference, I workout 4-5x / week and am not setting this as a target, but it’s just an example!) It takes time to build enough muscle to make such a difference and the journey isn’t a straight line but I promise it’s worth the time and love! 😘 ⌛

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If you’re under-eating The belief that you’ll continuously lose fat if you eat less and train more is a common misconception. Our bodies are super complex and finely tuned, constantly adapting to work at their best. A complicated system of hormonal and biochemical processes, all working together, is in place to keep us fully functioning 💪 but disrupt one, and there’ll be effects on the others.

Before starting the approach in this programme, I can’t explain how important it is to be honest

about where you currently are. If you’re already underweight, or if your relationship with food and

body image isn’t in the right place, the 10 week guide is not suitable for you and may be detrimental to your long-term health. It’s so important to first address these areas before following a programme like this, which is unlikely to bring results in these circumstances anyway!

How do you know if this is you? These questions should help you identify if a different approach at first would be right for you: 1) Do you eliminate entire food groups in an attempt to be “clean” or have the “perfect” diet? 2) Do you feel anxiety over how food is prepared? 3) Do you avoid eating food bought or prepared by others? 4) Do you fear eating away from home? 5) Do you avoid social events involving food for fear of not sticking to your diet? 6) Do you think critically of others who have a more relaxed approach to eating / their body? 7) Do you spend more time and money on meal planning and making food choices than you would like or feels necessary?

8) Do you ever have feelings of guilt or shame when you’re not able to stick to your diet? 9) Do you feel fulfilled or good about eating “healthily” while losing interest in other activities? 10) Do you feel you need to exercise daily to justify eating? 11) Have you noticed feelings of worsening low mood, irrational thoughts and anxiety?

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If you’re under-eating 12) Does your bodyweight define how you’re able to accept and love yourself? 13) Do you weigh yourself daily or even several times a day? 14) Do you feel constantly cold or struggle to concentrate? 15) Is your sleep quantity or quality poor? If you answered yes to 1 or 2 of these, it’s worth staying aware and mindful of that. If you relate to 5 or more, we strongly recommend that you first reach out for professional medical input ❤

If you’re advised to work a little with practitioners in either nutrition or psychology, making sure they have the right qualifications to give you the support you deserve is so important: •

For nutrition: only work with registered dietitian or registered nutritionists, which do not include personal trainers or nutritional therapists

•

For psychological support: there’s lots of evidence that the most suitable help includes behavioural therapy and NLP, so looking for experience in these is a great start!

Should I take part in the Cut. 10-week programme? It’s not yet suitable for you to take part in Cut.’s 10-week fat loss programme if you are underweight or face the symptoms below.

Firstly, the definition of being underweight in adults over 18 years old is having a BMI below

18.5. BMI has had a lot of bad press for not being strictly accurate, but it’s a useful tool towards the lower end of the scale.

For example, eating disorder specialists recommend that anybody with a BMI under 17.5 does

not exercise at all, and that those with a BMI under 16 do not drive or go to work. For Cut., we

strongly recommend that anyone with a BMI under 18.5 does not follow the 10-week programme until they are no longer underweight.

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If you’re under-eating Above the 18.5 BMI line, there may still be cases where your body is not yet in the right place to follow the 10-week programme:

1) If you’ve missed 3+ consecutive periods or your cycle is irregular: this is a sign that your

body isn’t functioning fully at the moment as the threat of starvation has caused it to stop processes considered non-essential for survival (reproduction is one of those)

2) You’re working out hard and being mindful of what you eat, but not seeing changes in your body / muscle development: this could be a sign that your body is breaking down muscle for

energy. This can easily be confused with not doing enough exercise when really it’s the opposite!

3) Your recovery between sessions is slow: this is a strong sign of eating too little for your training intensity, so your body can’t adapt and strengthen between all your hard work 🔥

If you face any of these but you are not underweight according to your BMI, we still strongly

recommend that you don’t follow the 10-week programme here until you have slowly increased your food intake upwards and overcome whichever you’re facing at the moment. When your body is ready to change as intended in the guide, Cut. will be here for you ❤ 😘

The consequences of under-eating Restrictive eating might feel like the right thing to do and to stick with, but if it’s taken too far, it can have a number of consequences on short- and long-term health, including: •

Menstruation: loss of periods (amenorrhea) is most commonly caused by not having enough energy. Skipping just 3 periods in a row can be enough to start damaging bone health and increase osteoporosis risk.

•

Heart health: low oestrogen levels lead to increased cholesterol production

•

Fatigue: increased risk of injury or illness

•

Depression: vitamin and nutrition deficiency has been shown to increase risks of anxiety / depression, while carbs are key to producing serotonin which helps us feel at ease mentally

•

Digestion: digestion is considered non-essential, so it slows leading to constipation/bloating

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If you’re under-eating Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome: In sport, low availability of energy relative to what your body needs to perform at the levels you’re demanding and still function fully is called Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome (RED-S).

RED-S can be intentional or unintentional, but either way, being consistently short on energy has the same impact on our bodies. The possible areas affected by RED-S are shown below:

Immunological Gastro-

Menstrual

intestinal

function

Cardio-

Triad

vascular

Bone health

Relative

Energy Deficiency Syndrome

Psychological

Endocrine

Growth &

Metabolic

development Hematological

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If you’re under-eating In unintentional RED-S, people aren’t aware of their energy (usually carb!) needs or overestimate their intake, which can happen when we factor in total activity levels eg. an active job.

Intentional RED-S is more complex and typically comes from being highly ambitious, self-critical

or anxiety. There’s often a strong feeling of nothing ever being enough - weight not being low enough, training not being hard enough etc. A common pattern is for people to follow whatever is trending in nutrition such as low carb / high fat, “clean eating” and avoiding sugar or gluten🙅

One deceiving component of RED-S is that restricting food intake while increasing exercise to

lose fat or improve health often brings those results in the short-term. Performance can improve and fat can be lost in those first few months, creating a belief in the approach.

When things then start to slow down and don’t work later on, it becomes a matter of thinking you’re not working hard enough or being strict enough. Trying to come away from intentional RED-S often leads to anxiety, especially as stopping training for a while is highly recommended. A typical cycle of thinking for someone with intentional RED-S:

I don’t feel like I’m doing my best

I want to join in but how can they

Everyone else is happy and

they’ll feel good if they eat clean?

Why can’t I be as perfect as them?

enjoying life

eat that stuff? Do they not realise

I don’t understand how my

If I cut out xxx, I’ll be healthier,

friends go out and eat pizza - do

have more energy and more fun!

they not know it’s bad for them?

Nothing has changed - I’m not being strict enough!

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If you’re under-eating In both intentional and unintentional RED-S, seeking out advice on the appropriate levels of complex carbs, recovery options, foods for bone health; essential fats for hormone recovery and micros for metabolism regulation are so important 🙌 🔑

If you’re under-weight, weight restoration is usually crucial to help restore the full set of biological

processes in our bodies. Support from a specialist Dietitian or clinical psychologist can make all the difference in changing beliefs around food, body composition and performance.

Restoring your body back to health takes time, especially with elements like regaining a period, and how long varies for everyone. For some women, returning to a healthier weight will do the trick whereas others need to think about dietary composition, nutrition timing around training etc

If you’ve had issues with bone health, menstruation will need to return before any of the damage

can be reversed - studies have shown that bone health recovers significantly only when vitamin D is combined with healthy oestrogen levels.

If you have any concerns after reading this section, we really recommend you seek advice as

soon as possible 💕 A general medical doctor is a great place to start, and you can ask for a blood test looking at certain biomarkers. A great set to consider are: TSH, free T3, LH, FSH, testosterone / oestrogen, ALT and corrected calcium You have all our love and support - Renee and I both know you can do it 💌 P.s. Let’s quickly talk about menstrual cycles If you have a natural and regular menstrual cycle, remember that hormone changes through the

month impact energy and (in particular carb) requirements. Craving more carbs (often chocolate 😍 ) before your period is because our bodies need more carbs for energy per minute.

So don’t beat yourself up! Try including a small snack of complex carbs and fat or protein, like oatcakes with peanut butter or banana, or a glass of milk with a couple of squares of chocolate to help maintain blood sugar levels and prevent a crash 😘

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Approved by Renee Renee McGregor BSc (hons) PGDIP (DIET) PGCERT(sportsnutr) RD SENr Renee is a leading Performance and Eating Disorder Specialist Dietitian with 20 years’ experience working in clinical and performance nutrition with Olympic (London 2012), Paralympic (Rio 2016) and Commonwealth (Queensland 2018) athletes. She works with individuals, athletes of all levels and ages, coaches and sport science teams to provide nutritiona l strateg ies to enha nce sports performance and manage eating disorders. At the moment, she’s working with a number of national governing bodies including Scottish Gymnastics, the GB 24 Hour Running Squad and The England Ballet company. She’s also the best selling author of the books Training Food, Fast Fuel and Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Goes Bad. Recently, she co-founded #TRAINBRAVE, a campaign raising the awareness of eating disorders in sport, providing resources and practical strategies to reduce their prevalence. Renee also sees on the REDS advisory board for The British Association of Sports and Exercise Science (BASES) and sits on the International Task Force for Orthorexia. She writes for many national publications and is often asked to comment in the national press, regularly contributing to TV and radio, including News Night and BBC 5 Live. For more information on her amazing work and books, which I can’t recommend enough, go to www.reneemcgregor.com

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References Feel free to check out any of these articles if you’re interested in some extra reading 📚 1. Bea JW, Cussler EC, Going SB, Blew RM, Metcalfe LL, Lohman TG. Resistance Training Predicts SixYear Body Composition Change in Postmenopausal Women. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. 2010;42(7):1286-1295. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181ca8115. 2. Benton D, Young HA. Reducing Calorie Intake May Not Help You Lose Body Weight. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2017 Sep;12(5):703-714. doi: 10.1177/1745691617690878. Epub 2017 Jun 28. PubMed PMID: 28657838; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5639963 3. Boutcher SH. High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise and Fat Loss. Journal of Obesity. 2011;2011:868305. doi:10.1155/2011/868305. 4. Byrne HK, Wilmore JH. The effects of a 20-week exercise training program on resting metabolic rate in previously sedentary, moderately obese women. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2001;11:15–31. 5. Campbell WW, Crim MC, Young VR, Evans WJ. Increased energy requirements and changes in body composition with resistance training in older adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 1994;60:167–175. 6. Galgani J, Ravussin E. Energy metabolism, fuel selection and body weight regulation. Int J Obes (Lond). 2008 Dec;32 Suppl 7:S109-19. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2008.246. Review. PubMed PMID: 19136979; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2897177. 7. Helms ER, Zinn C, Rowlands DS, Brown SR. A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: a case for higher intakes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2014 Apr;24(2):127-38. doi: 10.1123/ijsnem.2013-0054. Epub 2013 Oct 2. Review. PubMed PMID: 24092765 8. Hoffman JR, Falvo MJ. Protein – Which is Best? Journal of Sports Science & Medicine. 2004;3(3):118-130. 9. Holesh JE, Bhimji SS. Dietary, Carbohydrates. [Updated 2017 Oct 5]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2018 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/ NBK459280/ 10. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/micronutrients/en/

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References 11.https://www.t-nation.com/training/fix-your-metabolism-with-weight-training 12. Huntriss R, Campbell M, Bedwell C. The interpretation and effect of a low-carbohydrate diet in the management of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2018 Mar;72(3):311-325. doi: 10.1038/s41430-017-0019-4. Epub 2017 Dec 21. Review. PubMed PMID: 29269890 13. Kinabo JL, Durnin JV. Thermic effect of food in man: effect of meal composition, and energy content. Br J Nutr. 1990 Jul;64(1):37-44. PubMed PMID: 2400767. 14. Kirk EP, Donnelly JE, Smith BK, et al. Minimal resistance training improves daily energy expenditure and fat oxidation. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. 2009;41(5):1122-1129. doi:10.1249/MSS. 0b013e318193c64e. 15. Levine JA, Vander Weg MW, Hill JO, Klesges RC. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis: the crouching tiger hidden dragon of societal weight gain. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2006 Apr;26(4):729-36. Epub 2006 Jan 26. Review. PubMed PMID: 16439708 16. Lowery LM. Dietary Fat and Sports Nutrition: A Primer. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine. 2004;3(3):106-117. 17. McGregor R. Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Goes Bad. UK: Nourishbooks; 2017 18. McGregor R. Training Food: Get the Fuel You Need to Achieve Your Goals Before During And After Exercise. UK: Nourishbooks; 2015 19. McPherron AC, Guo T, Bond ND, Gavrilova O. Increasing muscle mass to improve metabolism. Adipocyte. 2013;2(2):92-98. doi:10.4161/adip.22500. 20. Phillips SM, Van Loon LJ. Dietary protein for athletes: from requirements to optimum adaptation. J Sports Sci. 2011;29 Suppl 1:S29-38. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2011.619204. Review. PubMed PMID: 22150425. 21. Phillips SM, Winett RA. Uncomplicated Resistance Training and Health-Related Outcomes: Evidence for a Public Health Mandate. Current sports medicine reports. 2010;9(4):208-213.

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References

22.Pratley R, Nicklas B, Rubin M, et al. Strength training increases resting metabolic rate and norepinephrine levels in healthy 50- to 65-yr-old men. J Appl Physiol. 1994;76:133–137. 23.Ryan AS, Pratley RE, Elahi D, Goldberg AP. Resistive training increases fat-free mass and maintains RMR despite weight loss in postmenopausal women. J Appl Physiol. 1995;79:818–823 24.Skerrett PJ, Willett WC. Essentials of Healthy Eating: A Guide. Journal of midwifery & women’s health. 2010;55(6):492-501. 25.Slavin J, Carlson J. Carbohydrates. Advances in Nutrition. 2014;5(6):760-761. doi:10.3945/an.114.006163. 26.Snorgaard O, Poulsen GM, Andersen HK, Astrup A. Systematic review and meta-analysis of dietary carbohydrate restriction in patients with type 2 diabetes. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care. 2017 Feb 23;5(1):e000354. doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2016-000354. eCollection 2017. PubMed PMID: 28316796; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5337734 27.Teixeira PJ, Going SB, Houtkooper LB, Metcalfe LL, Blew RM, Flint-Wagner HG, Cussler EC, Sardinha LB, Lohman TG. Resistance training in postmenopausal women with and without hormone therapy. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Apr;35(4):555-62. PubMed PMID: 12673136. 28.THOMAS MH, BURNS SP. Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training. International Journal of Exercise Science. 2016;9(2):159-167. 29.Tresierras MA, Balady GJ. Resistance training in the treatment of diabetes and obesity: mechanisms and outcomes. J. Cardiopulm. Rehabil. Prev. 2009;29:67–75. 30.Treuth MS, Hunter GR, Kekes-Szabo T, Weinsier RL, Goran MI, Berland L. Reduction in intra-abdominal adipose tissue after strength training in older women. J Appl Physiol. 1995;78: 1425–1431 31.Treuth MS, Ryan AS, Pratley RE, et al. Effects of strength training on total and regional body composition in older men. J Appl Physiol. 1994;77:614–620. 32.Weinsier RL, Schutz Y, Bracco D. Re-examination of the relationship of resting metabolic rate to fat-free mass and to the metabolically active components of fat-free mass in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 1992;55:790–794.

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Training 35

How to use the training guide Firstly, this guide is intended to be used in a way that fits your schedule. I’ve minimised any complexities and want to focus on four challenging workouts per week, with a couple of lighter days to help you recover well, keep moving a little and get ready for the next big session 💪

Progressions: There aren’t a huge amount of moves that require progressions in this programme, but for those that do (like pull-ups and dips), there are exercises included in the video to help you get to the final move if you can’t perform it just yet 😊 Just let the video play in the app to find a progression at a level that gives you a good challenge. If you’re using the progressions, the best way to advance is to work on the hardest one you can do but also to test out the next one. There are lots of other progressions you could definitely try out if you prefer, but these are what I used myself and what I show anyone who asks (:

Picking your weight: For any resistance based move, pick a weight which puts you 1-2 reps away from failure with every set. We want just a little bit still left in the tank, and to not go to complete exhaustion. This is for hypertrophy and for plyometrics workouts.

Rest times: For HIIT workouts, the rest times are written in the notes section of each workout. For anything else, I always recommend 60-90s rest before every set. If it’s been a super tiring set which has totally put you out of breath, take the full 90s rest with long deep breaths.

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How to use the training guide If it’s a less intense movement and you feel good to go with great form after 60s, go for it! We’re aiming for a rest time that lets you work with the same weight and with good form again. If that’s less than 60s, the sets aren’t intense enough so try upping the weight 💪 Any supersets are clearly marked in the app, so always take a rest before every set unless you see SS1 or SS2 clearly shown (which is just a small proportion of the exercises).

Warming up: People have different preferences for warming up, which I think is really great. I completely recommend going for whatever makes you feel warm, loose and ready to go! For me personally, I like to do some dynamic stretching (stretching and moving to prepare the muscles I’ll be using in the workout) for 10 minutes before working out. But you’ll also catch me skipping, jogging, or anything that gets me moving a little 🤸

In case you don‘t have any of the equipment: Gyms really vary in the equipment they have, I’ve done my best to make sure that all the moves in this guide suit any kind of gym. But if there’s something that you don’t have access to, just go ahead and swap it with a version that’s similar, copying the same set – rep breakdown as in the guide e.g. if your gym doesn’t have a barbell for barbell rows, you can try on a smith machine, or use dumbbell rows.

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If you’re a beginner I can really clearly remember being a beginner to the gym as if it were couple of weeks ago! If that’s you, go through the first week of the guide testing out all the moves. Being new to a gym can feel like a really daunting experience, so just familiarise yourself with all the equipment, understand the moves and take the time to read up on or talk to a gym instructor about the form of any exercises you’re not sure about. Focusing on technique throughout your training, especially at the start, will help avoid injuries and will develop your strength, coordination and functionality way more efficiently. And honestly, from experience, relearning a move down the line is so much harder than learning it right in the first place!

Also, spend the first week writing down all the weights you are using for the different moves so that you can easily find your weights when you go back - the AFLETE app makes it easy for you to do this 👍 . Honestly, I didn’t do this when I first started and I used to spend a good 30mins each workout just thinking about what weight I should be on, so I’ve already made that mistake for you!

Once you’re comfortable with the exercises and the technique by practising them at either bodyweight or extremely light weight, feel free to actually kick off the programme again (repeating week one), but this time actually using the weight that works for you.

Each time you get to a new move you haven’t seen before, again just spend that first time getting used to the technique before doing it for sets and reps.

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If you’re a beginner Squatting & deadlifts: These are extremely great compound exercises that practically use all the muscles in your body. They are really key foundational move for so many reasons, and doing them well definitely takes time! I spent my first three or four weeks of squatting literally just working on my flexibility in the gym and before bed, getting really comfortable sitting in a deep frog squat for a few seconds. Only on my fourth or so week did I actually start adding a small amount of weight. Mobility is important for allowing your body to move the right way, and it’ll take a little time to develop.

That’s pretty true of training in general. There’s a little bit of foundational work that goes in to understanding the movement of each exercise to get tension through the right angles, but taking a few easy weeks up front is honestly so worth it!

Building your confidence at the gym: If you feel uncomfortable at all being in a gym, just remember that you’re there to do such an amazing thing for yourself and that every single person – from Usain Bolt to Serena Williams – was a complete beginner at one point and made so many mistakes along the way! I still make them all the time and it’s not rare to have a gym full of people see me slap the resistance bands back into my own face by accident, but that just means I’m trying! As long as you’re being careful to keep yourself safe, there’s honestly absolutely nothing at all to worry about! ❤

It’s amazing that you’ve started and I’m so excited for everything ahead of you!

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Injuries If you suspect you have any kind of injury, I always recommend seeing a qualified practitioner before anything else. Even if it’s a small niggle, don’t worry about taking some time to recover and continue with this programme when your body is ready so that you can keep the sessions intense as intended 🔥

I’ve pushed myself through workouts with small injuries out of fear that I’ll lose my progress, and the setback of having a worse injury has always been bigger than if I’d slowed down for a moment to let my body recover.

If you’d like to stay active through your injury, try using machines for a while to keep your muscles engaged while protecting yourself from further injury. Active recovery can also be really helpful for the injury as light stretching and very light exercise can increase blood flow to the area which can improve the rate of recovery. Again, if you want to give this a go, I’d recommend clearing this with your doctor first.

If you have any issues with the impact of some of the plyometric exercises (e.g. jumping squats, box jumps), a really great way to mimic this style of training is to perform similar, noimpact exercises but using speed variations to replicate the explosiveness. For example, to get a very similar outcome to a box jump, you can try squatting with a light weight, but performing the negative of the motion very slowly (2-5 seconds), and then exploding up and performing the concentric (lifting) part of the exercise as quickly as you can.

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Rest days Rest days are just as important to overall progress as regular training days. I really recommend being strict on having one rest day a week at least, and eating the same as usual on these days so your body can actually do what it’s supposed to – recover. The idea is that this day can make the other five or six way, way better if you really take advantage of it – better than 7 average or good sessions. I personally do very little physically on my rest days, and try to focus on enjoying the other things that make me happy like spending more time with family and friends because the complete mental break really helps too (:

I’ve built in a day of active recovery (Day 4) but if you prefer to take it off as a rest day then please do! I personally take 2 days rest a week because that works around my schedule and if I tried to do more, I think I’d struggle to juggle everything going on!

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Once you’ve finished The first thing I’d say is it may be helpful to avoid being in a net energy deficit (eating less than your body needs for maintenance) for too long. 10 weeks is already a sustained period of deficit, but if you want to continue for a little longer just stay mindful of the signs of being overtired, depressed, constantly low energy etc. Another option is to move onto the long-term approach to fat-loss discussed earlier. You could even include Days 2, 3 & 5 in this programme as part of your new programme 😊

Build your own workout plan: If you’re not interested in the long term fat loss approach that I talk about here, but you’d still just like to stay active then you could consider my other guide Move. to improve functionality, strength and athleticism or create your own programme. Below is my approach to building one that gives you whatever results you are after: 1. Define the goals you’re working towards: whether it’s strength, explosiveness, muscle building, calisthenics, fat loss or whatever you’d like - even if it’s a mix

2. Identify which workout styles work best for the goals you’ve set: most workout styles will be useful for making progress across a number of goals, but will generally be best for a particular target •

e.g.1: hypertrophy training for muscle building to shape your body and increasing your metabolism to make you leaner in a sustainable way

•

e.g.2: plyometric for improving speed and explosiveness and reducing fat on a relatively efficient but more short-term basis

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Once you’ve finished 3. Design your workout split: firstly, split your muscle groups or training style across days to best serve your goal. After a rest day, I like to put my most intense and important session for whatever my goal is. Another tip is to try to leave 48 hours between muscle building sessions, so you can help recovery and be primed for those workouts. In terms of overall volume, from experience and from working with successful athletes, 4 intense sessions is the maximum to shoot for. Trying to go beyond this runs a high risk of lowering the intensity of all sessions - 3/4 high quality sessions (with another couple of lighter ones if you like) beats 7 average ones! Making the workout split sustainable by building it around your lifestyle was a big lesson for me. I realised that the physical goals I was chasing will take time to achieve, and I can only keep going for long enough if I make my workout splits fit in with else. For example, if you have two particularly busy days where you just can’t workout, don’t worry about it. Feel free to take the two full days as rest and bear that in mind with the other five days, rather than trying to force fit a programme into your life. 4. Creating your individual workout: this will take trial and error, and will also be massively influenced by what your goals are, but there are a few key tips I really believe in which have helped me across all the workout styles I’ve tried: • Within a workout, start with the exercise that is the most important to driving

towards your goal. Generally, this will be the most difficult move, and is usually compound, but it may not be. After, try to keep key moves quite early into the workout as a general rule of thumb.

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Once you’ve finished •

Swap between muscles / muscle groups every 1 – 2 exercises to avoid burnout, unless you’re training in a style where that is the goal like hypertrophy. You’ll see in this guide, on upper body days, I try to move from ‘pull movements’ to ‘push movements’ a couple of times through the workouts generally (some days, not doing this is intentional for other reasons).

•

Including 1 – 2 exercises each workout which are slightly less intense, maybe because they use smaller muscle groups or because they are more skill based, can be really helpful for getting the most out of your intense exercises. You can mix these in, maybe ahead of a difficult plyometric or compound move, to give you 3 – 5 minutes to recuperate and moderate your heart rate before you really push yourself again.

•

Generally, in terms of the overall structure of the workouts, I personally think that 40 – 75 minutes is the window for training duration for the styles of training incorporated here. That will definitely be person dependent, so this is just from my experience. The rest periods I mention above in ‘How to Use this Guide’ are those that I’d recommend generally, but again feel free to adapt to whatever makes you feel ready to go while really challenging you.

•

Lastly, mixing up the number of exercises across your workouts can also be a helpful tool. Some days, I’ll spend almost the entire session really focussing on squats or other foundational moves. Other days, I’ll pack in a massive number of different exercises and just keep working through them all.

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Once you’ve finished 5. Set yourself up to enjoy your training: this isn’t really the same type of tactic as the other four, but it might be the most important one on the list. I’ve trained for a whole number of reasons over the last few years, and I really have learnt that nothing is more important than finding and listening to what you’re in love with doing.

I honestly believe it’s the absolute key to feeling happy and healthy overall, which is the best goal I could ever try to workout for. And the funny thing about just listening to what I wanted to do, even if it meant weird workouts with five different training styles included, was that it made my performance probably the best it’s ever been. Exercising with love and because you’re excited to shape or teach yourself really will make all the difference.

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And that’s it!! Thanks again for buying this guide, I really hope you find this training guide helpful and feel free to tag me in your training photos! I’d love to see your progress over time!!

natacha.oceane Natacha Océane

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