When I was younger I was not the athletic type of person to say the least. I never competed on sports teams, the most I did was swimming. When I was around 14 I started doing little home workouts after discovering the miracle that is YouTube but most days I would only do one or two Blogilates videos and that was it for my exercise.
Going into sixth form I wanted to put on weight by gaining muscle and so I started the gym. All over the media was the growing appeal of girls with curves and butts, so I signed up to my local gym and started going regularly. Since joining the gym I have gone through many phases. I first started out by only doing leg day and training my booty. I did this by light weight squats and using the machines that were provided. When I started the gym I was very intimidated by the guys in the free weights area, so I stayed away.
As I became slowly stronger and more confident at the gym and going more regularly, I tried out new things. I started hypertrophy training by doing free bar squats and deadlifts in sets and I got my schedule down. Now, I train lower body twice a week and upper body twice, sometimes I do cardio once but very rarley (I am not much of a runner) but if I do it is a short inclined walk. I tend to do either sets of 8 or 10 depending on the weight I am using. Recently other than hypertrophy I have incorporated more hyperplasia training which requires doing less reps and has longer rest periods but using heavier weights and forces you to train your muscles harder. For example, I have started squatting 5 sets of 4/5 at my maximum weight where as before I would have done 3 sets of 8 at a lighter weight. I have found this has helped to prevent my muscles plateauing.
I use the gym as my me time, I put on my music and block out any anxiety or stress I have and put it all into my workout. When I up that weight a little each session I get that little bit of pride in myself knowing I am becoming stronger. Going from a girl who was scared to eat or workout because it would make me 'curvy' to a girl who strives to lift heavier each session and fuels herself with good food is something I am really proud of.
My Routine
1 x back and biceps
1 x leg day (butt focused)
1 x chest, shoulders and triceps
1 x leg day (hamstring and quad focused)
My Favourite Exercises
Free bar squats (5x5)
Deadlifts (5x6)
Push Presses (5x8)
Shoulder Press with dumbbells (3x8 or 10)
Cable chest flys (4x8)
Leg press (5x8)
Bulgarian split squats (4x6 per leg)
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