A new town... The same me; university

It happened! I've moved out and down to the south west. I'm 170 miles away from home and my first week of university has been, well.... Interesting!

For many many months I'd been looking forward to move out and as the day finally came I was so very excited. I just wanted to get in the car and get out in a new town, no offense to my family but my time had come to flea the nest. I hate to admit that saying goodbye to my mum and brother after enjoying a delicious steak at the restruant over the road from my halls was pretty emotional, but it was! I crossed the road back over to my new flat and it all felt very real and very strange! I just thought to myself 'shit, I'm on my own now'!

Obviously first things first after unpacking all my clothes and belongings I chatted away with my new flat mates and some of there parents, I then had the important task of joining the gym, made the 5 minute walk to The Gym and signed up without hesitation, having already looked at my options online I just couldn't beat the convenience of a 24 hr gym 5 minutes walk away from the flat!
Although the families are not up there with the gym at home, it'll do! They've got dumbbells, barbells and a power rack - what more can a girl possibly need, right?! 

One week in:

FOOD IS SO DAMN EXPENSIVE! 

Having always had mum cater for my nutritional needs, I never got to understand how expensive food is, and the real cost of living a healthy lifestyle. It is ridiculous. Chicken is so expensive and for a girl like me who loves her meat I can't help but think that chicken will soon be turning into a treat.

My main diet staples at university so far have been:

Quark - I've been substituting my total 0% Greek yoghurt for quark. Still containing no fat and more protein than total Greek it curbs my yoghurt cravings perfectly! Have been mixing it with my protein impact whey to make deserts and with frozen berries

Porridge oats - should be a staple in every diet, we all know why they're amazing!

Sainsburys frozen white fish - a bag of 6  white fish fillets for £1.70, sounds too good to be true right? No, I've pretty much been living off of these, so easy to cook just chuck in the oven for 25 mins and your ready to go! Super good macros and they go with anything! 

Eggs - I use one egg white in my porridge every morning to give it that extra volume and protein hit, I know i couldn't live without eggs 

Broccoli - undoubtedly my favorite vegetable of all time, broccoli is just amazing, I find it goes perfectly with ketchup too! 

Spinnach - all of the amazing health benefits aside, Spinnach has been a staple in my fridge since I got here, one bag has lasted me the week and it hasn't wiltered or gone manky like many of the other pre packaged salad leaves which as a student is great meaning it'd not going to get wasted and is always readily available to chuck in with any dish!

Canned Chopped tomatoes - I add these to any meal if im feeling like I want a sauce, clean and healthy and not too carb heavy! 

Kidney beans - I just love kidney beans! These are not going to break the bank at around 70p a can depending on what super market your in and add a good amount of protein to, salads or, rice or, anything really! 

Sugar free jelly - at 6kcal and 1c per pot these make the perfect snack. When your lying around the flat bored this is the perfect guilt free snack. And at 25p per pot you can't go wrong! 

Frozen fruit - tesco frozen summer berries and the frozen smoothie mixes from sainsburys have been saving my life! As I'm not a massive fruit eater It would be silly for me to buy fresh fruit it would go off and be wasted. This is the perfect way I can get those nutrients into my diet without being wasteful, it's so easy to just chuck in my porridge or quark. And the temperature has rewlly been helping my saw throat! 

University diet:
My diet since being here has been pretty damn perfect! Started off the week not feeling very hungry at all, which Is an emotion I don't think I've ever experienced before! My meals were smaller and filling me up - it must have been the excitement or nerves! After a few days I caught the dreaded freshers flu and I'm still suffering now  which meant I was trying to get more fruit in than I usually would and make sure I'm getting all the nutrients and healthy fats I need to recover. I was still hitting my macros every day and haven't gone over or binged since I've been here which is the main thing.
All of my flat mates have been saying how jealous they are of my meals and almost always comment on how good the smell is and how delicious they look. It's great to get these complements and makes me feel kind of smug! 

Leading a healthy lifestyle should not be a chore, I personally love creating my meals and planning ahead on what I'm going to be eating for the day. I think I would really struggle for a day if I wasn't going to count my macros, Id feel lost!

Anyway, to wrap this up now - university is amazing. So far so good (minus the freshers flu), I've coped living with strangers and can already tell I'm going to be making some amazing friendships this year! I'm more motivated than ever, I just need to shift this flu and start making some gains!
lectures commence at 9am tomorrow morning, wish me luck!!!

Extremely easy to make Mini Protein ZERO fat cheesecakes!

So, I've been having the worst cheesecake cravings for a few weeks now and thought, its time I tried to make my own, clean lean and delicious mini cheesecakes!
it was a success!
I looked at a few other recopies off of Pinterest and based my own on these.

method
1) Preheat oven to 190-200 degrees
2) I used a small silicone cupcake tray to make mine but theres nothing to stop you using one small dish.  i then sprayed with cooking oil.
3) Smash up the bran flakes and then layer the bottom of the pods in the tray.
4) in a bowl, mix cream cheese, yoghurt, egg white stevia and protein
5) spoon mixture on top of the bran flake base
6) bake in the oven for around 20 mins
7) chill in the fridge for as long as you can resist them! (a few hours if you can)

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Kelloggs - All Bran - Flakes, 15 g	54	10	0	2	155	3
Kraft - Lightest Philidelphia, 30 g	29	0	1	0	0	2
Tesco - Finest 0% Fat Greek Yoghurt 500g, 80 g	44	3	0	7	0	3
Eggs - White only, raw, 25 g	13	0	0	3	42	0
My Protein - Impact Whey Protein, 10 g	39	1	1	8	0	0
Add Ingredient

---------------------------------Total:	179	14	2	20	197	8
Per Serving:	22	2	0	3	25	1

This made me 8 mini cheesecakes, but would also make one good individual portion size also.

I topped mine with Cacao nibs.

my favourite training pants

I have a favourite training legging.

these are the holy Nike Legend 2.0 (tight) is my absolute favourite.

These leggings have never let me down. They sculpt your legs so that they look absolutely flawless. The higher waist band is so flattering especially when your wearing a tight gym tank, definitely no muffin top. They make your ass look like you've been squatting 100kg everyday of your life 

and most of all, they do not show ass sweat! yes its embarrassing, but i'm not gonna pretend it doesn't happen... we all get sweaty bums! and these tights have never shown any booty sweat from my bum! 

you have a full range of movement in these tights which I love, I've worn other leggings and wanted to rip them off because of poor flexibility, but nope, not in these tights! 

although they are a little pricey I think they are worth every single penny. 

Happy lifting! 

Motivation

having been lifting for nearly two years now i have learnt so much about myself, so much more than I ever would from originally joining the gym to loose a few pounds!
I can honestly say that the whole time I have been lifting I have never once stopped being motivated, yes we all have those sessions once in a while where we are exhausted and can barely push one rep let alone ten. but i don't think of this as losing motivation. this is just temporary and you know your still motivated because you feel shit and disappointed leaving the gym after a half assed workout knowing you should have pushed through, but this docent matter because the fact is, that because you think this way, this proves you are in the correct mentality to be a lifter!

having had friends dip in and out of fitness and nobody around me seeming to be as dedicated to fitness and wanting to be strong as much I as am has made me want it even more. I would say this is one of the main things that motivates me, I know that when I walk into that gym I want to be the strongest woman in there and i want the men to be surprised at what I can lift, for me the feeling that i get when I see a girl curling the 2kgs knowing that I can curl the 12kgs makes me feel motivated, this makes me feel better than them (in a lifting sense, I am a very nice girl really) I do enjoy healthy competition and not knowing any girls who are really into lifting means I am always measuring up against guys, this means I set myself very high goals!

having friends join me in the gym a few times and then give up very quickly made me realise that this is something I have a real passion for, I could never just stop going to the gym, i'd feel bored, fat, lazy, and depressed.

Another way I like to motivate myself is by using social media such as Pintrest, Youtube and Instagram to keep up with the fitness scene and keep seeing images and videos of these beautiful strong women busting there asses and thinking, if they can do this so the fuck can I! I will then go to the gym and smash a great workout! thinking "yes one day my glutes will be as beautiful as Michelle lewin's!"
some of my favourite youtubers to watch include
1) Lex Griffin & Lainey
2) Nikki Blackketter
3) Wedges and Weights
4) Haiyen ( thecrazyasianchick)
5) ChealseaLifts
6) Nics Nutrition
7) The Diet Kitchen
and more...

Anyway, i started writing this post about motivation because I think so many people don't know what it is that even motivates themselves!  I believe the key to staying focused is when you find out what really motivates you. when you find the real reason you want to be at the gym, the real reason why you want to be great at whatever it is your doing, you'll stick to it.

You may want to lose weight, you may want to look like a fitness model, you may even want to be a fitness model, but you need to know what to keep reciting to yourself as your doing those last few reps, or as you are about to have a heart attack on the treadmill. you need to know why your here and you need to believe in yourself.

Happy Lifting!

my current training split

recently I've been following a new training split. i like to separate my weight training and cardio if i can, i feel like this means i can fully smash my weights and my cardio and i don't have to worry about saving myself for cardio at the end of a session, this is just what works for me meaning i the best out of both!

my split goes as follows;

Workout A: lower 

Workout B: upper

Workout C: lower

Workout D: upper 

Rest and repeat

SESSION A: (lower)

Barbell Back Squat – 5 sets of 5 reps
Barbell Hip Thrust – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
Reverse Dumbbell Lunges – 2 sets of 8-10 reps each leg
Leg Curls- 2 sets of 8-10 reps superset leg extensions 2 sets of 8 -10 reps
Calf Raises on leg press – 3 sets of 15 reps
Weighted Plank – 2 x 1 min
Three ab excersises 2 sets 20 reps

SESSION B: (upper)
Barbell Bench Press – 5 sets of 4-6 reps
Chin-Ups – 3 sets of  5-8 reps
Alternatic bicep curls - 3 sets of 20 reps
Seated DB Press – 3 sets of 5-8 reps
Barbell Row – 3 sets of 5-8 reps
EZ Bar Curls – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Lat pull down - 3 sets of 10-12 reps superset Upright row 10 reps
Close Grip Press Ups 2 x 20 drop to knees at failure
3 ab excersises 2 sets of 20 of each

SESSION C: (lower)
Barbell Deadlift – 5 sets of 5 reps
Sumo deadlift - 3 sets of 12
DB Split Squats – 4 sets of 8-10 reps each leg
Pullthroughs– 3 sets of 10-12
Seated Calf Raises – 3 sets to failure (around 20 reps)
Standing dumbell drops - 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Cable kickbacks 10 reps each leg superset with jumping lunges x3
3 ab excersises 2 sets of 20 of each

SESSION D: (upper)
Incline DB Press – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Inverted Rows hanging on smith machine – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Incline Press Ups drop to floor at failure – 3 sets of 10 reps
DB Rows – 3 sets of 12-15 reps
DB Curls 3 sets of 10-12 reps each arm
Cable Pushdowns – 2 sets of 10-12 reps superset with dumbell overhead extensions
Seated row dropset 6+ drops
3 ab excersises 2 sets of 20 of each

this is the current plan i have created, this is the first plan I've ever made/followed which docent completely isolate one muscle group per day, I've never followed a split where you'd have an upper and lower day i always created a "shoulder and tricep day" or a "Glute and ham day" but i must say i am really enjoying the variation of having all of the different exercises on each day. 

five days a week i will do fasted morning cardio, this usually takes me about 25-30 mins and is killing me, for this i have been doing the same routine Hiit followed by Tabata on the treadmill, this is; 

2 min walk 

15 - 20 rounds of 30 seconds on (9.5-10mph) and 30 seconds off (5-6mph) 

10 rounds of 20 seconds on (10-10.5mph) 10 seconds completely off (standing on the edge of the treadmill) 

stretching 

This is really intense first thing in the morning and gets my heart rate going like crazy, this usually adds up to about 3 miles in total and around 300 Kcal burned. 

If i don't have time to do a separate cardio workout i will do 10 rounds of Tabata as a warm up for my lifting. 

Although i do follow this training split as strictly as possible i do train at a strongman class on thursdays and saturdays. on saturdays we do events training such as farmers walk, yolk, tire flips, duck walk and many more. on thursdays we do mainly conditioning. 

if you have any questions, feel free to ask me and send me a message. i didn't want to ramble on too much 

Happy Lifting!

Where better to start, than a progress update!

Having completed my first ever bulking season. I felt strong, fat and horrible. I was at the biggest I've ever been and I hated it, I finished my bulk at 65kg In May. during this I was following a 4 day split with GVT methods included.
Workout A: arm day
Workout B: leg day
Workout C: back day
Workout D: chest day
Rest and repeat.
I would usually chuck in two or three ab circuits at the end of each workout and maybe 30 mins of LISS a week. Safe to say I hated this. I have never wanted to do cardio so much but my training partner wouldn't let me on the treadmill. In terms of diet I was eating clean about 80% of the time. I was eating a shit load. And a lot of carbs including brown rice, Rye bread and oats. I won't lie, I made incredible strength gains during this phase. And I don't think I'd be anywhere as near as strong as I am now if I hadn't trained in the GVT style.

At the beginning of the summer we finished our bulk and I couldn't have been happier. I invested in a new tub of no explode and was ready for some High intensity lifting sessions to get rid of this bulk!
The first few weeks felt amazing as they always do, the fat was dropping off and I was tracking my BF% and weight every week. I set goal weights and smashed them every time. I went from 65.5 in week 1 to 63.9 in week 3 to 61.9 in week 6. After week seven I could see I was on track and stopped getting my measurements taken. I don't usually believe in weighing myself. But it was just interesting to see the progress written down!

As I stand now I'm getting happier and leaner! I like to stay around 58-60kgs. I have decided i won't be doing another "bulk" for a long time, if ever. I believe in staying as lean and as strong as is healthily maintainable, all year round. I enjoy watching my diet and trianing hard, it keeps me on my toes and it's what I'm passionate about,  some may see it as a chore but for me I love it!

welcome!

So i'm new to this, I should probably start with a bit about me and what sort of content i'm going to be posting

a little about me & what to expect here;
My name is Casey I'm from a small town in Hampshire, I'm 19 and in exactly one month today i am going to be moving out (thank god) too go to university. I am going to Plymouth University to study Computing.
As I'm writing this I'm standing at 5'6, weighing in at 58Kgs and around 21%BF (estimation).
my favourite style of training is strength training, i have been lifting for nearly two years now. i split my workouts up into groups depending on my short term goals.  as well as training in the gym 6-7 times a week I also train at a strong man and powerlifting facility and i am competing in my first strong woman competition in september (wish me luck!).  In terms of cardio i try and find the perfect amount of cardio which will keep body fat low and result in no muscle loss. this will also depend on how much free time i have. for example now that I've got 5 free days a week on these five days i am going to the gym fasted in the morning for 30-40 mins of cardio, this includes HiiT and Tabata training and then hitting my weight training sessions in the evenings;
I've created this blog out of passion, and boredom, mainly boredom. I've found myself with a lot more free time on my hands over the summer before university and i need to find something to occupy my hands before i literally eat all of the food in the house.
i hope to be posting content from my workouts, updates on my progress and training splits and to help me track my progress. i will also probably be posting a lot about food, as i bloody love food!
having followed clean eating for over a year i found that i was not making the progress i wanted, and started to research more about tracking macros and how to get the most from your diet, i have been tracking my macros for over 100 days now and i can see how much progress i have made.
i will be posting some of my favourite macro friendly treats and recipes as well.

where else to find me;
Instagram; http://instagram.com/caseynpxo
Twitter; https://twitter.com/Caseyphilips1
facebook; https://www.facebook.com/caseyphillipss