8 week run down - trying to get bikini-fit!

Glowing

Hi all,

I’m on the run down to my wedding in about 8/9 weeks and am trying to get bikini-fit in the mean time.

I’m less than 8.5 stone, and 5”5 ish and am in reasonably good shape, but I want to reduce my bodyfat a little more and have a more defined shape.

I’ve been doing (and LOVING) up to 3* 1 hour bootcamp sessions a week for the last month – jogging, sprinting, pushups, abs work, circuits etc, and have been doing 1 hour of horseriding a week also – I have time for maybe one other session a week, and am thinking I should probably fit in a weights session or two?! (thought the thoughts of hitting the gym in this gorgeous weather is killing me!!)

Would it be more beneficial to do 2* weights sessions and 2* bootcamp? Or is one weights session a week enough over what I’m already doing?

Thanks in advance!!!

Khannie

Well....First off....good luck with the wedding and congratulations. I hope you have a long and happy marriage.

Sounds like you're pretty slim already. Can you give a bit more detail on that boot camp thing? How long it goes on for. How many press ups you'd do. That kind of thing.

Mostly I'd say to achieve what you want it's probably best to look at your diet. Weights are going to help too alright. I'd also consider adding walks in the evening (depending on how much you're walking / on your feet already).

Lastly: What's your target weight? Like how will you know you've achieved what you wanted to achieve?

Glowing

Thanks a lot Khannie

I don't really have a target weight - I'm not trying to get lighter as such, just to look a bit tighter and fitter. I suppose when I can see my abs, I'll be happy :P

The BC classes are an hour long and I'll be doing these probably right through the summer - the classes vary in intensity and focus - some days we jog/run for the majority of the time, other classes are focused on circuits. We'd generally do 2 or 3 sets of 25 pressups (girlie ones for me ) - and the same amount of situps. We'd do 2 circuits of these with squats, burpees, tuck jumps, star jumps etc broken up with sprints.

I had never really thought about walking as an option - is that purely for the fat loss aspect? My diet is fairly okay I think, am trying to cut down alcohol to one glass of wine a week, and reduce my diary & sugar intake (i'm a terror for sweet tea) - lets just say I'm glad easter is over!

I have porridge for breakfast, sandwich for lunch with fruit (probably could be improved here), and generally veg & brown rice/pasta with fish or meat, or a stir-fry for dinner - I try make everything from scratch.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions ...

Khannie

Glowing wrote: »

I suppose when I can see my abs, I'll be happy :P

Not sure if you're joking but that's very very difficult for women to achieve. Much harder than for men. But fair enough...I get your point....you want to look leaner.

Glowing wrote: »

The BC classes are an hour long and I'll be doing these probably right through the summer - the classes vary in intensity and focus - some days we jog/run for the majority of the time, other classes are focused on circuits. We'd generally do 2 or 3 sets of 25 pressups (girlie ones for me ) - and the same amount of situps. We'd do 2 circuits of these with squats, burpees, tuck jumps, star jumps etc broken up with sprints.

Mostly that sounds like a fairly decent work out but given what you want to achieve I'd suggest trying for the 2 x weights and 2 x boot camp. At least for a while (maybe 4 weeks) and re-evaluate then. BUT, if you think you'll enjoy 3 x boot camp and 1 x weights more well then you should do that (IMO).

Glowing wrote: »

I had never really thought about walking as an option - is that purely for the fat loss aspect?

Well....and I may get jumped on for it, but I've found walking in conjunction with calorie control (and other exercise) very helpful with fat loss. If you only walk off 150 calories extra a day, well, that's 1000 a week and so on. It all adds up. Also, walking doesn't really take any toll on your body.

Glowing wrote: »

My diet is fairly okay I think, am trying to cut down alcohol to one glass of wine a week, and reduce my diary & sugar intake (i'm a terror for sweet tea) - lets just say I'm glad easter is over!

I have porridge for breakfast, sandwich for lunch with fruit (probably could be improved here), and generally veg & brown rice/pasta with fish or meat, or a stir-fry for dinner - I try make everything from scratch.

Sounds like your diet is pretty good to be honest. The only things I'd consider lowering would be the bread and / or rice / pasta. Easier said than done (huge fan of good bread myself), but they're basically empty calories. Try replacing with extra veg. Maybe upping the protein content a little would help too.

I wouldn't sweat the glass of wine here or there. Personally I think it's really important to have stuff like that. As for sweet tea: Maybe try a sweetener. If you're having 3 teas a day with 2 sugars in it then switching to sweeteners will save you around 100 calories a day. Again, it all adds up. I find Canderel the closest tasting to sugar but the lidl ones are ok too (and very very cheap).

Lastly...This helps me: Setting a junk budget for the day. So I like a little something with my coffee. Biscuit or whatever. If I put the packet of biscuits in front of me I'll eat...well....a lot. If I set myself 3 biscuits at the start of the day and set them aside in a lunch box or whatever well then I'll probably stick to that.

Hope that helps.

discus

Khannie wrote:

Well....and I may get jumped on for it, but I've found walking in conjunction with calorie control (and other exercise) very helpful with fat loss. If you only walk off 150 calories extra a day, well, that's 1000 a week and so on. It all adds up. Also, walking doesn't really take any toll on your body.

I think a few people have mentioned this on here. Sure look at it as a moment up walking ISN'T a moment spent sitting on your ass

And having said that, I walked around 6km to the gym today, and was knackered.

Glowing

Hi, thanks for all your comments.

I'm resurecting this because I need help with a weights plan which I can use at the gym over the next month and a half. I'm still with the bootcamp which is giving me a good cardio workout, but I'd like some advice on some really effective abs workouts plus perhaps some tricep and shoulder work, and also some leg strenghtening stuff! (about an hours workout would be perfect)

I'll realistically only get to the gym for one weights class a week (on top of what i'm already doing) - so any of your advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks