Sue’s Fitness Diary: Week 4

Hi again everyone! Sue’s personal trainer, Jessi Kavanagh, here!

So we have made it to week four! Suzanne’s progress has been fantastic this week. We have upped the intensity of the workouts and increased her weights slightly. She is getting stronger by the minute and her ability to push through each session is getting better and better!

WORKOUTS

As Suzanne’s lower body is coming on in leaps and bounds, I decided to pay a little extra attention to her upper body this week. Sometimes, due to Suzanne’s schedule, we can’t fit every session in, so when we do, we prioritize certain parts of the workouts. This was one of those busy weeks, so I decided we would do one full upper body day as we could only fit in 2 sessions this week.

We started off with shoulders, separating front, side and rear delts. Then we moved on to some dumbbell shoulder presses to burn out the muscle … Sue’s favourite! 😉

Following this, we worked on some back and arm exercises. I like to warm up the upper body first with bands and slowly progress to dumbbells.

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WEIGH IN

I decided not to weigh or check measurements this week. Why? Well, it was that time of the month! Yes, that week that most of us dread but must endure once a month for most of our lives!

Like most of us, Suzanne suffers from serious bloating during that week. Some women can gain anywhere from 1-3lbs of water retention weight in this time! Of course, it can vary from woman to woman.

Some of us also bloat in different areas. In Suzanne’s case, it’s her tummy area that suffers the most. Some of us girls may also find that the face, feet, ankles, and even the backs of the arms will hold water!

Why is this?

During the menstrual cycle, there is a major fluctuation in estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen is the main culprit for bloating! As this hormone rises and fluctuates, so does our bodies fluid retention. During the week of your cycle, estrogen is at its highest, thus causing this uncomfortable and annoying water retention and bloating!

So what can you do?

Here are a few tips to help reduce bloating and water retention during your time of the month:

1. Avoid salty foods! Salt is an everyday culprit for water retention so if you are already suffering, salt will only make it worse!
2. Drink plenty of water. Try to reach 8 glasses per day. It will make a massive difference.
3. Incorporate some natural diuretics into your diet. Green tea is a fantastic diuretic and will help your body flush out any excess water. Asparagus is another great option and won’t bloat you like broccoli sometimes can.
4. Eat green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach and avocado, and avoid the harder-to-digest options such as broccoli and cabbage.
5. Add Apple Cider Vinegar to 2-3 of your meals per day to aid digestion and avoid any extra bloating in the tummy.

I hope this advice helps a little, girls! Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check back in next week!!!

P.s. To get your own custom online 8 week plan, check out bikinibody.ie!

Jessi xxx