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Full Review: 21 Day Clutch {progress pictures}

So, much to my surprise when I woke up today, it wasn’t Friday. For whatever reason, yesterday felt like a Thursday for me and my week now feels discombobulated.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY

On another note, I’m getting my wisdom teeth out today. TERRIFIED, although I’m sure it won’t be that bad. (right? RIGHT?!) I’ll be sure to fill you all in afterwards (aka, I’ll share my chipmunk cheek photos with you for your viewing pleasure).

21 Day Clutch Review

bodybuilding.com

Photo Credit: Bodybuilding.com

I finished up the 21 Day Clutch as part of the FitLizzio Experiment! I’m soooo excited to give you all the details about this, so let’s get right to it!

The Program: 21 Day Clutch by Ashley Conrad

Program Length: 21 Days

Intensity: Hard

Workouts per Week: 5

Average Workout Length: 45-60 minutes

Overall Score (1-10): 7

Starting Weight: 152.9

Ending Weight: 149.1

THE WORKOUTS

This program had a mixture of lifting days and cardio days, with 2 rest days each week. The lifting days were full body workouts to be done circuit style. The cardio days were HIIT sessions that lasted anywhere from 15-25 minutes with an ab routine at the end.

Success rate: 99%. I stuck to all of the workouts and didn’t miss a single one. I did my own stretching and foam rolling (instead of what was prescribed), and added a barbell to the body weight squats to make it harder.

Likes:

-The workouts kicked my butt. I always left the gym a sweaty mess!

-You can day anything for 21 days. I liked that this program wasn’t something I had to commit to for a REALLY long time.

-While there was a small amount of steady state cardio that was recommended (but as an option), the cardio days were based around doing sprints on the treadmill. I agree with this philosophy and feel that it is the most effective way to improve your cardiovascular health as well as lose fat.

-I plan peppering both the lifting and HIIT workouts into my regular workout schedule about once per week.

Dislikes:

-The lifting workouts stayed the same throughout the entire program. I would have welcomed a little bit of variety.

DIET

I followed the diet to a T for 7 days, but found that it just wasn’t enough food for me. Ashley recommends 1/2 gram of Carbs per pound of body weight (for me, that’s only 75 grams per day!), 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (150g=good), and 1/2 gram of fat per pound of body weight (75g=good). While I had intended to follow this plan exactly, it just wasn’t doable for me. I am up at 5:30am and work 12-13 hour days sometimes. I workout, work, train clients, and chase a dog around throughout the day, so I’m very active. 1300 calories per day and such a low amount of carbohydrates wasn’t sufficient. Instead, I stuck to my own macro-nutrient numbers: 150g Protein, 60g Fat, 190g Carbs per day, with slightly less on rest days.

Likes:

-While the first 7 days I followed the exact foods that the 21 Day Clutch called for, by Day 8 I realized that it was also a macro-nutrient based diet, so I could swap out foods for other foods with similar macro-nutrient values: SCORE! Considering that’s also my philosophy when it comes to dieting, I went with that and made the adjustments I mentioned above.

Dislikes:

-Not enough food. I’m 5’7 and it suggested I eat 1300 calories per day. As I mentioned above, this isn’t nearly enough on a day I’m working out.

-The diet seemed like a “quick fix” type of diet, which I do understand. It’s laid out to be a 21 day turnaround, so to see big results that quickly, requires drastic measures. However, I prefer a plan that leads to a sustainable lifestyle and this didn’t seem sustainable to me. It’s also possible to see results without being too crazy about it (see below).

PROGRESS:

At some points throughout the last 21 days, I felt that my body was changing. Other times, I couldn’t tell. I have had several people tell me my upper body is leaning out a lot, so I figured something must be happening and I just continued to trust the process. I took my 2nd set of progress pictures yesterday and was surprised to see the changes:

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It’s funny how seeing yourself every day can skew your view of changes that are happening. I’m definitely happy with the results!

I haven’t decided what my next installment of the FitLizzio Experiment will be, but I’m going to be scouting that out over the next few days. I’ll likely go back to lifting heavy weights for a few weeks (and incorporating the 21 Day Clutch HIIT workouts, too!) before starting my next experiment.

Question of the Day

1. What programs have you done that you like?

2. Checkout the programs on BodyBuilding.com. Anything in particular you’d like me to try next??

FitLizzio Training Experiment

bodybuilding.com

So I was sitting at home last night after workout perusing the interwebs.

My new apartment has a HUGE patio (in LA, a big patio is pretty much like having a backyard), and I am determined to make it my playground. I already purchased some rubber flooring I need to put down and I have some light dumbbells ready to go.

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My next purchase is going to be a squat rack, olympic bar, heavier DB’s and plates (just so you know, Charlie). I’ve been scouring over Craigslist and other used outlets to see what I can find.

Anyways, as I was perusing, I was being all introspective and thinking a lot about me, myself, and I.

As I was doing so, I started thinking about my many failures with fat loss, specifically. You see, I LOVE working out. I LOVE weight training, plyometrics, and pretty much any type of high intensity training. It makes me sweat, breathe hard, and feel like a total badass.

But when it comes to eating? I like food. I’m stubborn. I don’t stick to meal plans very well. I make excuses. (That’s the key there, the making excuses.)

You see, I’m comfortable in my skin. This is GREAT (especially considering how I felt just a few years ago), but it’s not great for working towards fat loss. It’s easier for me to just say “eh, whatever” because it’s not a DIRE need for me to lose weight and I do feel good and comfortable with my ed-pills24.

Could I stand to lose a few pounds? Sure. Do I NEED to? Nope. I’m at a healthy weight and I feel good.

HOWEVER, I also see my inner self as something completely different than what I see in the mirror. In my head, my ideal is ripped and shredded. I like veins, I like muscles, I like striations, I like it ALL! Now, I don’t necessarily want to BE that lean, but I would like to be something closer to that extreme than I am currently.

SO, anyways. I have been trying to find the inner determination to stick to something long-term (which for me is macro-nutrient counting) and see what changes I can make. I’ve been doing okay, but haven’t been very consistent. No consistency = little to no results.

I also love new challenges and while in the past I haven’t always stuck with them, I know that I am capable of it. Hell, I gave up all added sugar for 37 days. 37 days without gummy candy is no joke people.

So back to perusing the world wide web….I ended up on Bodybuilding.com because I love looking at the various training plans for inspiration, as well as giving myself ideas for my own training + my clients’ training.

If you didn’t know, there are a TON of free training plans on Bodybuilding.com. They make it fun (choose your gender, choose your goals, choose your intensity, etc.) and this is when the crazy/fun idea hit me:

I’m going to slowly but surely work my way through the training plans and review them each as I go right here on Fit Lizzio Fitness!

Here’s what I’ll be doing:

-Taking before/after pictures & measurements

-Doing the daily workouts

-Following the meal plans

-Taking most of the recommended supplements (if I change or don’t take something, I’ll let you know that)

-Checking in here on the blog throughout each program

For the plans that last longer than 2 months, I’ll cut them short (so that I can get through at least a few by the end of 2015). At the end of each training program, I’ll do a FULL review on the blog highlighting my successes, failures, what I liked/disliked about the program, and my overall thoughts on the program from both the perspective of a user and a personal trainer. These will be FULL disclosure reviews (i.e. I will tell you if they flat out suck, although I don’t anticipate that). I think this will be a fun way to keep me motivated, provide some good content and reviews for others out there, and hopefully yield some results that I’m looking for!

So what do you think…am I crazy??? I actually keep texting my friends asking if I’m crazy (they’ve all responded yes, so I’m not sure what that says about me), but they all think it’s a great idea. Either way, I think it will be a super fun experiment and I’m excited to do this!

If you’d like to follow on this journey (or better yet, JOIN ME), I’m starting with Ashley Conrad’s 21 Day Clutch.

bodybuilding.com

Photo Credit: Bodybuilding.com

I’ll have an initial post about this up on the blog as soon as I start to tell you about Day 1 and my expectations. Don’t worry, regularly scheduled blogging will go on as a normal, with just a few posts each week about this experiment, which I’ve titled: FitLizzio Training Experiment

I’ll also be posting on Instagram (@fitlizzio) using the hashtag: #fitlizzioexperiment

P.S. If you are crazy like me and want to join me, e-mail me at [email protected] so we can help each other through the programs!