So I've been working with Kris and Virginia, my online personal trainers, for a little more than a month now, and I thought it was time to do a recap of the first phase of the program.


Wrapping up an EP Fitness Prep workout

The program that I'm doing is three months in total, so each phase is about four weeks. My first phase was focused on building a strong strength base and cleaning up my diet. You might remember when I first talked about the program in December, I wasn't too keen on the whole idea of a diet plan.

In general, I don't like diets so I pretty much operate on an everything in moderation mentality with a focus on whole, healthy foods most of the time. But I promised Virginia and Kris that I would give the eating plan a try, and I have to say, I really like the way I feel while eating this way.


Protein-packed breakfast

The diet focuses on increasing the amount of protein I'm eating and focusing on high quality carbs, while timing your meals around your workouts so you get the most bang for your nutrition buck. The timing part has definitely been tricky for me, but I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it.

I'm struggling a little bit with the amount of food Kris and Virginia want me to be eating. It's lots of little meals throughout the day, which is pretty different from how I normally eat. So I'm definitely still adjusting, but I notice that I have a lot more energy, and I'm a lot more alert with the major increase in in protein and veggies.

In terms of the workouts, the first phase focused on all of the major muscles groups. I did lots of squats and deadlifts for my legs.

And then I became best friends with the cable machine for my upper body.



That was a pretty huge deal for me because I've always been pretty terrified of the cable machine. It's overwhelming and there are a million things you can do with it, and I would just look at it and be confused and not no where to start.

But walking into the gym with a solid plan every day, I know exactly what I need to do. I know what settings to put the machine on and what weights to use.

Kris and Virginia also give me a spreadsheet to track my food intake from Monday-Wednesday and all of my workouts during that time as well so they can monitor progress and address any issues I might be having.

We email back and forth each week, and they both check in on how the program is working, how it's impacting my running and if I'm having any problems.


Slowly getting faster

I definitely could see a little bit of muscle definition popping up after a month of solid strength training, and I'm really excited to continue to improve and gain strength as I move through phase two!

If you have questions or want to learn more about the online personal training that I'm doing, you can check out EP Fitness Prep's website.