I am super excited to be in a “maintenance” phase with my body. It took me around 8 months to lose the pregnancy weight I gained with Gianluca.
I did things a lot slower than normal because I wanted to keep muscle on my body plus I am just too old to be starving and killing myself doing cardio…
…OKAY, I lack the motivation — haha!
But I’m glad I did this time around because now I can say YOU CAN DO THIS! It’s not about KILLING yourself, it’s about being smart to not overtrain and set up a system that works for your schedule that you will be more likely to comply too.
I really really had to allow myself to take things one week at a time, one day at a time even.
I started slow after my c-section doing mostly bodyweight. Then I added some light weights, and then advanced from there.
You can see my entire process Here on the blog:
You see, I am not one to take things easy. I like to push myself, sweat and tell myself that if I want to look better than others, I have to do what others aren’t doing.
That’s all fine and dandy but when you have 2 kids under 2, not sleeping through the night and running a business, YOU CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH!
So here I was seriously lacking the motivation to continue, thinking I wouldn’t have my body back and allowing myself to believe that having 2 c-sections may have destroyed my physical appearance.
Even though I may have seemed motived to you, there were times I struggled so so badly.
I AM JUST LIKE YOU
I cried many times. I cried because I hated my body. I cried because I was tired. I cried because I was taking time away from being with the kids to workout.
Hello mother’s guilt. I had that most of all!
But no matter how much I struggled, I knew what would make me the happiest; getting my body back. Not sure why this is so important to me, but it is.
Whenever I didn’t workout, I felt gross. I felt depressed and I hated it. So I set a plan in motion to workout 5 days a week and as of February of this year, I stuck to it.
It didn’t come over night. It didn’t even come 3 months down the road. It took me five and a half months to get there – eight months since I started working out after the baby.
I learned soooo much about myself, so much about patience, so much about my willpower, my nutrition and exercise. I always learn whenever I lose weight. There are always lessons in life where there is struggle.
So, I can now say, “I Love My Body” and I want you to say that too.
Without further ado, here is my new workout schedule. Don’t be fooled by the word maintenance. I only say maintenance because I am not trying to lose weight. I still have to work hard to keep my body lean but I don’t have to do anything over and above like l shared with you in the last email leading up to my photoshoot.
The only real difference from the last workout regime is the decrease of cardio to 2 days a week and the addition of a cheat meal every week, once a week.
If I start to gain weight, I’ll just add in another cardio session and move the cheat meal to once every 2 weeks until my goal is obtained.
Workouts stay the same(ish).
Thanks for reading and for cheering me on. Let me do the same for you.
New Workout Routine:
Monday: glutes & hams
Tuesday: back, chest, abs, HIIT
Wednesday: yoga
Thursday: shoulders, abs, cardio
Friday: glutes & quads
Saturday: bi’s, tri’s, abs and HIIT
This should take me into September shredded with abs & muscle
Note: Cheat day 1x week when goal reached or 1x every 2 weeks until goal obtained
Goal Weight: 113 Ibs with meat on my butt! Right now I am at 116lbs
Day 1: Hams, Glutes & Calves
Exercise | Tempo | Reps | Sets | Rest (sec) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 | Barbell Squat | 3210 | 8 | 5 | 60 |
B1 | Powersquat Deadlift | 2211 | 8 | 5 | 60 |
C1 | Lying Leg Curl | 3012 | 10 | 5 | 15 |
C2 | Weighted Banded Bridges | 2012 | 4 | 10 | 60 |
D1 | Leg Press (feet high and wide) | 3110 | 10 | 4 | 15 |
D2 | 45* Hip Extension | 2014 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
E1 | HEAVY Standing Calf Raise toes pointed in | 1011 | 7-9 | 4 | 10 |
E2 | Seated Calf Raise toes pointed in | 1016 | 15 | 4 | 75 |
Day 2: Chest & Back & HIIT
Exercise | Tempo | Reps | Sets | Rest (sec) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 | Rope Straight Arm Pullover | 3111 | 10 | 6 | 60 |
B1 | Overhead Lat Pulldown Machine w/ Underhand Grip | 3112 | 10 | 5 | 60 |
C1 | Seated Row Overhand Neutral Grip | 3112 | 10 | 5 | 15 |
D1 | DB Chest Flies Flat Bench | 3111 | 10 | 5 | 60 |
E1 | Cable Chest Press | 3112 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
F1 | Barbell Flat Bench Press | 3211 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
*HIIT 20 Minutes (Prowler, Stair Climber or Sprints)
Day 3: Shoulders, Abs & Cardio
Exercise | Tempo | Reps | Sets | Rest (sec) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 | Cable Lateral Raise | 3111 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
B1 | DB Lateral Raise | 3111 | 10 | 4 | 10 |
B2 | DB Front Raise | 3111 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
C1 | DB Shoulder Press | 2111 | 10 | 4 | 10 |
C2 | DB "L" Lateral Raise | 2111 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
E1 | High Cable Rear Delt | 3111 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
F1 | Standing Bent Over Rear Delt With Plates | 3112 | 10 | 4 | 10 |
F2 | Reverse Machine Pec Dec | 3112 | 10 | 4 | 75 |
Optional Cardio – 30-40 minute run when I feel like taking a run 🙂
** I just added some hip raises and cable crunches during my rest periods for lateral raises.
Day 4: Quads, Glutes & Calves
Exercise | Tempo | Reps | Sets | Rest (sec) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 | Bulgarian Split Squat | 3020 | 5 | 5 | 60 |
B1 | Leg Press (Feet Narrow & Low) | 3110 | 10 | 5 | 15 |
B2 | Banded Bridge | 2014 | 10 | 5 | 60 |
C1 | Leg Extensions | 2011 | 8 | 4 | 15 |
C2 | Step Up | 3111 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
C3 | Walking Lunge | 1111 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
D1 | Donkey Calf Raise | 1011 | 7-9 | 6 | 60 |
Day 5: Biceps, Triceps, Abs & HIIT
Exercise | Tempo | Reps | Sets | Rest (sec) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 | DB Seated Biceps Curl | 2112 | 10 | 4 | 15 |
A2 | Triceps Skull Crusher | 3111 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
B1 | Standing Biceps Low Cable Curl | 3212 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
B2 | Staying Bent Over DB Triceps Extension | 2112 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
C1 | Standing DB Hammer Curl | 2111 | 10 | 4 | 15 |
C2 | Standing DB Triceps Kickbacks | 3112 | 10 | 4 | 60 |
HIIT 20 Minutes
** Again I just did some Russian twists off the bench during my rest periods after the hammer curls and standing cable side-bend (little weight) after the extensions.
Both my HIIT sessions this week were right after my workouts on the stair climber. I did 45 seconds at the maximum level, rested for 45 seconds. Did that until 20 minutes was reached.
I’ve followed you for a long time and bought a lot of your programs and cookbook. I value your knowledge and opinion. And btw, great job getting back into shape girl!! You rock!!
My question is, I’m currently in prep for a figure show at the end of August (in Burlington, Ont). When I’m done what is your suggestion to maintain a weight of 118lbs? My stage weight will be between 110-115lbs, I started out at 134.5lbs. I know I can’t stay as lean as I am right now but I just don’t want to go back to where I was.
Would you suggest following your program that your doing now? I don’t want to have to be at the gym 7 days a week either. I’m 47
Thanks!
Hi Cindy,
I would recommend doing a reverse diet. As your caloric intake is probably low right now, after your show start to increase your intake by about 150 – 250. Monitor your body and don’t continue to increase them if you feel you are gaining too much, but if you are still hungry/feel drained increase them a bit more. It is a lot of trial and error but try to listen to your body. Slowly wean yourself off of cardio too so you’re only doing it about 3 – 4x per week. Following the program Flavia is doing now should work out great! Let us know if you have any other specific questions and best of luck to you in your show!!
All the best,
Anna, CPT, FF Specialist
Hey Cindy — I would for sure track your macros and workouts and see what helps you maintain. This will be different for everyone. I usually find that 2 HIIT days (20 minutes) is enough cardio for maintenance and a cheat day once a week. If I find that I am gaining weight I just add a slow cardio day and/or cut some carbs on my off days.
Thank you so much for sharing your workouts!!! I love them! Is there a printer friendly version I am missing?
Hi Christa,
We don’t currently have a printer friendly version. You should be able to screenshot them or save the link on your phone or highlight the exercises and copy and paste them into a word document and print them out 🙂
All the best!
Anna, CPT, FF Specialist
Flavia,
Thanks so much for your workout information. I know about feeling gross when you don’t workout. I get grumpy, tired etc… I will be following you from now on. Do you think you could post a meal plan sometime?
Hi Julie,
Here is a sample meal plan Flavia posted a little while back that is still very similar to how she eats today. https://flaviliciousfitness.com/2012/11/06/curvalicious-meal-plans/
All the best!
Anna, CPT, FF Specialist