It’s been a while since I did a weekly recap series (not since the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon over a year ago)! I’m not officially in half marathon training YET (that starts in August…which is right around the corner!) but I thought I’d do a weekly recap of my experience with the new LIIFT4 program and how I’m mixing it into my training right now.
For those that are unfamiliar, LIIFT4 is a new program from Beachbody that is 8 weeks and just 4 days a week with a focus on weight training, HIIT and core work. Each workout is 30-40 minutes and is unique so there are 32 distinct workouts in the program. The nutrition plan is similar to 21 Day fix – no food group is off limits, but this time it comes with a weekly cheat day! I always recommend that my challengers have one cheat meal a week to help them stay motivated to keep up the nutrition plan long term (especially for longer programs) so I like the idea of the cheat meal. Read more details on this program here.
LIIFT4 launched on Beachbody on Demand for those with VIP Access on July 16th. I have a special challenge group just for LIIFT4 participants this month and the energy is incredible as everyone is so excited to be experiencing this program for the first time. It’s been really motivating to me and I’m absolutely loving the format of the workouts so far. My husband Mike is also doing the program which is exciting too! We only got the chance to do one workout together this week but hoping we’ll get to do more together in the future.
LIIFT Week 1 & Running Recap
Monday: LIIFT4 Chest and Triceps. This workout is a 50/50 workout which means that we did 3 sets of lifting, 2 moves each, followed by 3 sets of HIIT, 3 moves each. Every workout ends with 3 sets of 2 core moves. For example, we did 10 reps of a chest press immediately followed by 10 skull crushers (triceps). There’s a short break and then we repeat that sequence three times. The goal is to lift heavy enough that you are struggling to complete the 8-10th reps. By the end of the third set like this my muscles were shaking and I was grunting! After the strength portion we moved into the HIIT (60 seconds for first move, 45 seconds 2nd move, 30 seconds third, hardest move, repeat 3 times) and finally core.
Tuesday: LIIFT4 Back and Biceps. This workout was a Circuit, which means that there is not HIIT portion (but still core). My best friend Asia, who is in town for a couple weeks (she is currently living in Mexico City), joined me for the workout and we had a lot of fun! I was really sore from the previous day’s workout but still felt like I was able to push it for this workout.
3.5 mile run. That afternoon Asia and I headed out for a quick run together!
Wednesday: 80 Day Obsession Booty (Week 2). I’ve been working with a PT for postpartum recovery and one of the things she noticed was that my glutes and hamstrings are weaker than my quads. I’ve been trying to do one flute workout per week to strengthen it (and hoping this will improve my running as well!). As my running mileage goes up and I add a 4th run to my week, I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to get this one in but for now I’m going to do it whenever I can!
Thursday: 4.5 mile run with Asia.
Friday: LIIFT4 Shoulders with Mike. It was so fun to do this one together! I loved the format of this workout – it’s called LIIFT Intervals. We did two back to back shoulder moves followed immediately by a 1 minute HIIT interval. Then we rested and repeated for 4 different sets.
Saturday: 6 mile run with Asia!
Sunday: LIIFT4 Legs. This was another 50/50 workout – we strength trained legs in the same format as Day 1 and then did HIIT and core.
One thing to note is that I have been modifying the core moves – I’m still not doing any crunches so I do the moves that my PT gave me (I do not have diastasis recti) whenever there are crunch moves. I do the plank moves if there are any though!
Total Miles Run: 14
Total Strength Workouts: 5
LIIFT Week 1 Nutrition
I did well with nutrition this week! As I always do because I’m running along with the program, I put myself in the plan just above the one I calculated for myself which ended up as Plan B. I also add an extra fat to support breastfeeding. When I drink my Recover shake after a workout it also doesn’t count. I made a goal of not eating after dinner and that really helped me with the mindless post dinner snacking/dessert. The program allows for one full cheat day – you can do whatever you want this day, and I had a girls day planned on Saturday with Asia and a few other friends. We enjoyed breakfast burritos and champagne by the pool and then Asia and I brought beers back home to Mike and ordered pizza. Oh and then Mike and I made S’mores…so I definitely took full advantage of the day, but then my stomach hurt. Definitely not going to go as overboard next time!
The cheat day definitely reminded me of how much better I feel when I’m eating healthy and drinking my shake every day. While I’m all about balance, it’s probably better just to do one cheat meal instead of a whole day.
LIIFT Week 1 Weight Loss
In the first week alone I’ve already lost 3 pounds! Even with the treat day (I really prefer to call it this over cheat day, it’s a lot more positive), my body is responding which is great! And for those curious, as someone who is mostly pumping, I have not seen any decrease in milk supply.
This first week already beat my expectations from this program and I’m really excited to see what week 2 brings!
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Is it ok to do a quick 15 min run after the workouts or better on the recovery days?
Thanks for input.
yes for sure!