The deal.
In 19 days I will stand at the alter and make a pledge to love and honor my best friend for the rest of my life. In its purest context, this day is about the linking of two people for the duration of a lifetime. However, if you extrapolate the rest of the elements, such as the dress, the cars, the cake, the flowers etc. it really befits an aesthetic and shallow occasion. As such, I now (less than 3 weeks out) have a burning desire to be as lean and healthy as possible in order to look the best I possibly can on the day that I make my pledge.Now, keep in mind that I have seen this person almost every single day for the last three-or-so years. He has seen me at my best and at my worst. But rather than try to analyse the psychological anomalies associated with this situation, I am going to give into the whim and seek the help of my performance coach and friend, Nathan Barker.
Our conversation went something like this:
Me: ‘Nathan, do you think it is possible to get super lean in 19 days, or have I left it too late?’ Nathan: ‘It’s never too late…’
And it began. For the next 19 days I am going to start training like I’ve never trained before. Every choice that I make is going to take my body composition into consideration. From what I put in my mouth, to each and every rep I perform in the gym or on the field. At each cross-road I face I will ask myself ‘what would future Kristine (i.e. Kristine in 19 days) say?
My training history and current status.
I should probably give you a bit of background. I have been training in a gym for the last ten-or-so years. Throughout my training practice, I have experienced a series motivational ebbs and flows and my body composition follows the same pattern. I am by no means overweight; I maintain a healthy weight through rigorous training, good meal choices and positive way of life. I teeter around the 60kg and 17% body fat mark. However, for the last few months I have been lacking in motivation and as such, have a little bit extra body fat than I’m comfortable with. I am guessing that I’m on the upwards of my average right now, possibly 18-19%. I feel my best when I’m around 15% - this will suffice as my goal.How will my training change?
Nathan explained that so much of the pain we feel is in the mind. When we reach the point of ‘oh no I’m going to fail!’ a certain sense of panic sets in and blocks our rational mind (much like the rational ‘pre-wedding’ mind…) and we immediately shut down. The path to dramatic changes in body composition requires you to find solace in the panic. You must master your temperament and work thought the pain and failure in order to truly reach the other side. In my case, the other side includes a banging behind and defined arms for my big day.It beings…
Once we’d covered all of the mind stuff, we started with a high-intensity weight program. Nathan had me perform:- 6 x 8 reps of low and controlled back squats – superset with – 6 x 8 reps of slow and controlled preacher leg curls (knees slightly elevated from the bench in order to ensure strength and stability is practiced throughout the glutes and trunk
- We finished with 3 x 30 reps of leg press, each 10 reps decreased in weight.
It doesn’t look like much on the page, however believe me, it was outrageous! The entire time I had Nathan on one side, and ‘future Kristine’ on the other saying ‘make it count!’… Oh, the profanities.
By the second set of the last exercise I looked a little something like this:
And shortly after that, I looked like this:
And that is how I stayed for a good 5 minutes. I finally managed to crawl to the gym common area to collect my belongings and sneak out the door. This is how I plan to leave the gym for the next 19 days. I will participate in up to four weight sessions and three metabolic sessions. Only 1 day off per week.
As for the diet? As I mentioned, my diet is already pretty balanced and nutritious. However, according to Nathan, with this kind of training it is important that I get my carbs in at the right times and plenty of green veg and nutrients. I will speak more about this tomorrow.
