Ready by Shara

Wellness and Nutrition Coaching

Filtering by Tag: Gaining Muscle Mass

"SHEEEEESH"...the story behind it and a friendship that sparked a life changing love for fitness

We end the Month of May with an interview with two funny fellows named Tyler and Josue. Their friendship started just as co-workers and has grown into a bond and love for fitness. I asked them a series of questions about how this all started, what their routines are and what nutrition plan they fallow. They both are honest and thoughtful in their answers and give great advice on how to get started and keep focused. They were generous to give photos of there progress as well. Enjoy!

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How did your fitness journey start?

My fitness journey started around October of 2020. I started going to the gym because around this time I was working from home, working 8 hours at my desk was brutal. I used the gym as a way to pass time, and something to look forward to at the end of the day. I knew I was going to stick with it because it was something I wanted to do for a while. 

How did your partnership come to be?

My partnership with Tyler came to be because we both follow the same bodybuilder, Chris bumstead. He came out with a pre workout and Tyler bought. I asked him to let me know how was it, but that turned into a “hey let’s go hit the gym” 

What is your gym workout plan?
My workout plan is a push pull legs. Push is shoulders, chest and triceps. Pull day is back and biceps. Legs, I like to have a quad focus day and hamstring focus day. 

How do you fit workouts in to your schedule?

The way I fit lifting into my schedule is seeing what time I go in and what time I’m off. If I go in to work early, I’ll go lift after work. But if I go to work late, then I’ll go lift in the morning 

What is your morning routine?
My morning is not too crazy. I usually try to wake up an hour and a half before work and stretch and maybe go on a walk 

What is your nightly routine?
I don’t really have a night routine. I’ll just eat some almonds and a protein shake about 30 min before going to bed. Obviously, brush my teeth too lol 

Supplements?

The supplements I take are creatine, protein shake and pre workout 

What is your diet like?
My diet is the same everyday. Lunch: egg whites, bagel and protein shake. 1st dinner: chicken, white rice and bell peppers. 2nd dinner: ground turkey, white rice and peppers. Snacks: rice cakes, pop tarts, almonds, rice cakes, halo top ice cream. Snacks vary day by day 

What results have you observed from your fitness journey?

Well I have definitely seen how my body has changed because of lifting. I also have noticed that I am more disciplined, not only with eating and lifting but with life overall. I’ve also made a lot of friends through the gym, which is great because even though we are doing different things, we can all relate. 

Advice?

The advice I would give someone about is be patient. Everything takes time. And do compare yourself to others. Everyone has a different goal, all you have to do is focus on yours. Ask for help, everyone is there to help you 

How did the SHEEEEESH sweatshirts come to be?
The “sheeeeesh” hoodies came to be because Tyler and I would always say it. Tyler has done a lot for me, so I thought it would be a great idea to get some hoodies made for the both of us. Why not make a hoodie about a word we always say lol 

What are your future goals with your fitness?
My future goals with lifting is to keep on going and see how far it takes me. At the moment I’m doing it because I really enjoy it and being a able to lift with Tyler is great. It’s helped us get closer as friends. Later in life, hopefully in 2 or 3 years, I would like to compete for a bodybuilding show. 


How did your fitness journey start?
- I started watching a lot of YouTube videos by a few fitness related people, Jeff Nippard, Chris Bumstead, Greg doucette. I’d previously been relatively active in weight lifting, and wanted to get back in to it. I also had some interesting life experiences come around that the gym was a good outlet for.

How did your partnership come to be?
- I came back from my career experience and I totally forget this every time, but somehow Josue and I just hit it off one day. At some point we hit the gym together, bonded over memes and “sheeeeesh”, a weird love for Chris Bumstead, and the rest was history.


What is your gym workout plan?
- I run a pretty consistent PPL (Push, Pull, Leg) split. This would mean that on a Monday I do push related exercises, things like bench press, shoulder press, tricep extensions, etc. On a pull day I’d do seated rows, lat pull downs, curls, etc. On a leg day, I’d do a solid amount of squats, Bulgarians, cardio, lunges, leg press, etc!

How do you fit workouts in to your schedule?
- I removed video games entirely one day, and just decided to focus on fitness, now its more a habit than anything else. You always have some time for fitness, no matter what your schedule looks like. There is always time on a schedule to get to the gym if you’re really about it.

What is your morning routine?
- Depends entirely on if I open or not. If I open, then I try to be up by 6:00 AM to get solid food in. Typically we aim for 600~ calories, and a low amount of caffeine early in the day. If I don’t open, I sleep in until 7:00 AM~ and attempt the same thing, with a gym session early in the morning. If I have a full day off, we sleep until 8:00 AM, open the day with a coffee or tea, read something or listen to a podcast and get everything set up and taken care of. Getting stuff done in terms of laundry, cleaning, meal prepping and etc makes it easy to relax and be in a good headspace for lifting.

What is your nightly routine?
- Check calories and what I’m missing from a nutritional point of view, take my capsules for various supplements, get in some stretching if I really feel like going the extra mile. I love to be asleep by 9:30/10:00 at the latest, sleep is almost more important than anything I do in the gym.

What is your diet like?
- When I originally started it was kind of insane. We pushed to 3500~ calories per day, it was an extremely clean 3500 calories a day as well. Chicken, rice, potatoes, salmon, avocado, whole wheat toast, hard boiled eggs, almonds, coconuts, etc. We removed soda and energy drinks entirely (relatively easy, I don’t enjoy carbonated drinks). Cooking that much food took a lot of time, and was pretty involved, the way I motivated myself was by thinking, “I’m not going to go to the gym and crush my body for 2 hours and then eat like garbage.”

Now I tend to just have it mapped out in terms of what I need to steadily gain, versus rapidly gain. Today for example, we had a protein shake, protein bar, applesauce and two eggs for breakfast. For lunch I had an açaí bowl, brownie, and an undertow. For dinner, I’ll likely have ground turkey, white rice, potatoes, and a veggie medley.

What results have you observed from your fitness journey?
- I gained a ton of weight, and its heavily muscle based. I’m sure anyone that follows me on instagram has seen a progress photo from me at some point, it is very nice and an encouraging thing to go through. I feel as though my goals are constantly being reached, and it motivates me to not make excuses for myself. When I was much lighter, I used to make excuses for not eating right, not working out, etc, saying I had a fast metabolism and I ate a lot. Now I genuinely do eat a lot, and I workout correctly, with intention. It is very nice.

Advice?
- Just start doing stuff. You don’t have to go to a fancy gym, or even go to a gym at all. We have Apple Fitness+, we have personal at home gyms, etc. Start with just eating better, or educating yourself using someone like Jeff Nippard. Figure out what motivates you, and really double down on it, for me its Chris Bumstead, for you it might be a six pack.

How did the SHEEEEESH sweatshirts come to be?
- Josue literally made them with his family and gave me one, G.O.A.T gym partner.

What are your future goals with your fitness?
- Ideally, I’d like to end up sitting around 165 lbs, I’ll go through a bulk phase this winter and attempt to push in to the 190lb range for body weight. A bulk includes putting on a fair amount of fat as well, and working mainly strength related things. Then during the summer you cut down on the fat content and lean out, which I’m super excited for.



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Their energy is infectious and more people have joined in on their quest for fitness. They have quite a SHEEEEESE movement happening. If you are lucky you can join in and be apart of what they have created and most luckily build some muscle, get support and laugh so hard that those dream six pack abs will become a reality.

Happy Wellness Wednesday!

Shara

Eat smarter...

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New Years comes and gym memberships go up and we make resolutions to get in shape loose body fat or gain muscle mass. COVID is making getting shape even harder and going to the gym is more limited and more chancy, but here is news for you! Losing body fat and gaining muscle mass is more about food then anything else! People in both camps need to eat more and a lot more then they think, but eat the right food in larger quantities through out the day. Eating less calories is a 80’s concept that needs to be thrown in the trash and left in a landfill. You actually eat less you gain more body fat because your body goes into famine mode and saves every bit of fat you eat, especially this is true for Women. For some men that have higher amounts of estrogen from being obese this is true as well. Men that work out hard and don’t eat enough of the right food end up using all the muscle they are building for fuel. This is why they become so thin and wonder why they cant put on muscle mass. Your body is a machine and most don’t understand it so with these two podcast you will have a greater understanding. 

First is interview by the Skinny Confidential His&Hers Podcast with Diet Coach Erik Young on how you can manage and loose body fat while eating what you want. This podcast just made so much sense. You will love it! Helpful for Men and Women.
Link to podcast

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The next is a interview by the Wellness Mama with Shawn Stevenson. His book called Eat Smarter goes deep on the science behind what we actually know about food. If you have dieted and lost some weight and it bounced back or have struggled with fat loss or muscle gains this will explain it all. Shawn is a leading researcher in this field and his work will change your life.
Link to podcast

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 I also found this app quite handy is counting Macros to figure out if I am getting the right nutrition as well.
Link to App

I have tried many types and this seems to do what I want without being too complicated.

I have tried many types and this seems to do what I want without being too complicated.

I hope these podcast give you some helpful information and maybe you will think more about what you eat and see some results.

Have a great day!

Shara