![]() I don’t have time to workout. How do you have time to make all of that food? I’m just so busy. I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard those phrases. It is truly incredible how many people are amazed by the simple fact that I make time for things that are important to me. That’s it! I make my nutrition and my training a priority. Why? Because it is important to me. I feel better when I eat nutritious foods. The funny thing about it is, that I have more time when I take the time to prepare my meals for the week. It takes 2 minutes during the week to grab my food out of the fridge and microwave it. Less dishes and less work when all done at once. When it comes to my workouts I’m lucky. I don’t have to think about it because it is a set schedule each week. I train with my powerlifting team three times a week: Sunday at 12pm, Tuesday at 7pm and Thursday at 7pm. My workouts are part of my weekly schedule. Which is what I recommend that my clients and everyone do. Come up with a schedule for your workouts that works with your life and stick to it. I understand sometimes things come up and you have to reschedule, but like anything in life, if you make it a priority and plan ahead you will achieve your goals. A great time is first thing in the morning. Very few people are awake at 4 or 5am. Therefore, less distractions and chances of you missing a workout. You just have to get up and get after it. If you have any questions or would like help with nutrition and/ or training programming feel free to shoot me an email at: ashleynewmanfitness@gmail.com
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These days with social media and smart phones everything seems to be recorded. For me this has been amazing! Social media has been a great tool for me to use to document my daily habits and to share and teach others how to live healthier lives. One of my passions is cooking! I love to eat and can eat ALL day long. If you know me, then you know that I ALWAYS have food on me. I have been practicing this lifestyle of eating every two to three hours for the past 9 years!!! When I was younger I was always hungry and would be so frustrated. Now I work with my body to feed it proper fuel depending on my training. I eat foods that will help me lift as much weight as possible!
When you start looking at food as fuel and what it can do for your body then it becomes easier to understand why you need to eat certain foods at certain times throughout the day as well as in certain amounts. Understanding the molecular breakdown of food and physiology of the body is something I find fascinating. I won't bore you with the details, but I have spent years studying the human body and reading up on how to properly fuel it to achieve my clients desired results. Whether that is lifting as much weight as possible or looking fabulous at the beach! Everyone's body is different and responds differently to food. So find what works for you and what YOU like to eat!! Thanks y'all! If you have any questions feel free to shoot me and email or DM! XOXO ashleynewmanfitness@gmail.com @ashleynewmanfitness "The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence." ~ Confucius I started running in 8th grade. I started a running club, ran road races and then ran in high school and college because I enjoyed running, but also because I wanted to lose weight. I ran miles and miles and even ran a full marathon, but did not achieve the athletic muscular look I wanted. This was due to not only my diet, but also my training styles. Running does not build muscle, especially distance running. When it comes to building a physique you want to do as little cardio as possible.
I always tell my clients to start off with a moderate amount, perhaps 3-4 sessions per week, at 20-25 minutes each AFTER you weight train. Monitor your fat loss and muscle maintenance progress week to week, when things start to plateau, think about changing your diet and/or increasing your weight training routine. You do not want to do 2 hours of cardio a day, 7 days a week. The problem with doing so much cardio is that you don’t leave any tricks up your sleeve for when you do plateau and it can wreak havoc on your metabolism, training, and ability to hold and build muscle. Once your nutrition is on point and you are weight training 4-5 times per week then consider adding in 20 min low intensity cardio sessions after you weight train, like walking on a treadmill or walking outside. Once you hit 3-4, 20 min sessions per week and are plateauing, look at increasing the durations in 5 or 10 minute increments at a time. Your results will depend on your goals, timeline, and metabolism. Remember, 1 pound of muscle burns 30% more calories than fat. You also continue to burn calories throughout the day after you weight train. So when looking to build a muscular physique or lose weight I always suggest weights first and then cardio! For more information on strength training, nutrition and cardio email me: ashleynewmanfitness@gmail.com Thank you everyone for all of your well wishes, help and support the past three weeks. It means so much to me. The past few weeks have been extremely challenging both physically and mentally. Y'all know I am a very independent and strong woman. Going from being able to deadlift 451 pounds to not even being able to lift myself off the couch on my own has been quite the mental challenge to say the least. I am just finishing week 3 of recovery and doing great! One more week and I can officially get my heart rate up and start back training!! WOOHOO!!! I had a sub-muscular (under the pec muscle) Breast Augmentation about 4 years ago, December of 2012. I was 120 pounds of lean muscle and wanted some boobs to go with my physique! Growing up I was always an athlete and never had much in that department. LOL. I was an A/ B cup on a good day. I absolutely loved having my breast implants and fell more in love with bodybuilding than ever! I loved lifting weights and training heavy. However, when you have sub-muscular implants you are not supposed to train chest because your pec major and minor grow. OOPS! I trained heavy and became very strong. About two years ago I found powerlifting and fell in love. I get to train heavy and I don't have to diet?? Hell yea!! Sign me up! I competed in two meets and became a nationally ranked powerlifter. During my second meet I suffered partial tears in my right hip flexor and right glute medius, but did not realize it until after the adrenaline wore off that night! I took a few months off and moved back to Atlanta to help my family, recover from my injury and pay off medical bills. November of 2016 I started training with Steve Goggins and in 4 months was stronger than ever! I squatted 402 for two sets of 3 and I deadlifted 451 pounds. However my bench was still at 225 pounds. It may sound like a lot, but girls I compete against bench around 300 pounds. I also had a lot of pain while benching and my left implant was pressing on a nerve. After many sleepless nights I decided to have my breast implants removed. I had 5 consultations with plastic surgeons in one week and decided to go with Dr. Wang Ashraf at Artisan Plastic Surgery. She specializes in breast cancer reconstruction and was very supportive and understanding of my concern for the integrity of my pec muscles and goals as an athlete. She really listened and took the time to walk me through everything. March 14, 2017 at 1:00pm I had an Explant Breast Implant Removal Surgery, Capsulectomy and Mastopexy. Surgery went great! I loved having my implants, however in order to achieve my goals as a top powerlifter I had to have them removed. If you are considering breast implants please do lots of research and pick a well known surgeon. If you have any questions I would be happy to share my experience! Email me: ashleynewmanfitness@gmail.com ![]() One of my clients sent me this meme and I thought it was absolutely hilarious and very applicable to how it feels when a new client first starts with me. It can be daunting at first all of the meals, measuring out the food and the grocery list, OH MY! It will get easier I promise. Like anything in life, starting something new is a process and can be difficult in the beginning. Stick with it! Think of the first three weeks like the beginning of a romantic relationship. You must build trust first and take it slow… we are getting to know each other. You must make a commitment to the process. It takes 30 days before you start seeing changes and the process becomes a part of your daily routine. Like anything, the first 30 days are the hardest! Be patient with yourself. How do you balance your regular life with fitness? You need to be committed to changing your body. You have to stick with that goal and do what it takes in order to achieve it. There will always be another party and another slice of pizza. Ask yourself, is it worth it? Will this help me to achieve my goals? Remember, coach Ashley has eyes everywhere! LOL. Your body wants to fall back into being the weight you were at... That was comfortable and you must fight to change it. BE PREPARED. You must always plan ahead and have your meals prepared. LIFE HAPPENS. We all have emergencies that come up and things that are out of our control. I always like to have “emergency” meals with me such as protein with oats and almonds or a Quest bar. This is not ideal as your food has a more thermogenic effect, however this is in case of emergency and I would rather you eat this than miss a meal. Ok, now onto PEOPLE. People will always have an opinion and ask lots of questions. Questions I often get are: "YOU'RE EATING AGAIN?!?!" “Why aren’t you eating ____” “You look amazing already… a little bit won’t hurt you!!” “Fruit is healthy!!” “I ate _____ on my program…” You may find yourself having to defend your program. When it happens to me I just refuse to discuss it or say something like: "That's great! This is what I am doing" OR you can blame me! COACH ASHLEY SAID SO!! YOU need to reach deep down and remind yourself why you are doing this. Funny how when you are eating junk food no one says anything but if you pull out your chicken and rice all hell breaks loose. If people deem themselves worthy, you let them in your life. Your first priority is to yourself. Whatever you want to do, get your health on track and remember your only obligation is to yourself. For more information email me: ashleynewmanfitness@gmail.com ![]() Questions I get a lot especially from female clients: Why am I eating so much food? Can I just use a diet in Cosmo Magazine? Why does she get more food than me? Think of your body like a fire. Your metabolism is the flame and the food is the wood. You want to build a strong flame, so you use a lot of wood, however you don't want to put too much wood on the fire as you will put the flame out. At the same time you do not want to put too little wood on as the flames will starve. This is a delicate balance and everyone is different. Everyone processes food differently. This is why everything is custom with me. No two diets are alike. Whenever I am working with a new client the first month is a learning process. I am learning how their body works and what foods their body "likes." This enables me to help the client achieve their goals quickly. Lots of communication and building up the metabolism. I am not like other coaches. I do not give cookie cutter diets like the ones in magazines and I do not just lower calories. I have never and will never give a client metabolic damage. I work with the body and do not force anything. Before I got into fitness I suffered from Anorexia. I followed a diet in Cosmo Magazine where I was eating only 500 calories a day! I was literally starving myself to death. I will never put a client through that. I was pre-med in college and earned my BS in Biology. I have a deep understanding of the human body and how it works. I work with the body to lose weight not against it. Hence why you get a lot of food in the beginning! Don't complain as it will not last forever! Never hesitate to contact me if you have questions! Clients often ask me: what is the best fat burner? Water!! Proper nutrition and water intake are most important before adding any other supplement.
The human body is composed of 65% - 75% water. Therefore, the body needs water to function properly. However, water also does several other things that are beneficial to the body, especially when dieting. Drinking water satiates you. When dieting I drink water as a way to help with my hunger. Before meals, during and especially after/ in between meals I drink water to help my stomach feel full even though I am not eating a lot of food. Feeling full helps me to stick to my diet and makes me less cranky when dieting. I like to put my BCAA's in my water or squeeze fresh lemon to change things up and give me a little treat when dieting. Water also helps fat pass through your system before it can be stored and helps with fat oxidation (fat loss), which is why it is so effective as a fat loss supplement. In addition, water aids in transporting necessary nutrients throughout the body. It is important to take your vitamins daily, but when you are dieting it becomes even more important. You are consuming less food and usually are not eating as many fruits, because of the sugar in fruits. Therefore, taking vitamins and supplements are important to fill in those gaps that your nutrition is not providing. A good indication that you are getting enough water is your pee. You should be peeing frequently throughout the day and it should be a very light yellow/ preferably almost clear color. Don’t worry however if your pee is bright yellow a few hours after you take your vitamins, some vitamins cause your pee to be a bright yellow. I know it is tough at first to consume a gallon or two or three a day when dieting, but your body will thank you. Take is slow and progressively add more and more each day! Happy clients, happy life!! I love to see my clients happy. Health and fitness are my passion, so it makes my day when I see my clients happy and passionate about their goals!
When working with my clients I take a lot of time to get to know them and what their goals are and why they have that specific goal. This enables me to create custom programs that help them achieve their goals, without them feeling too deprived. My nutrition programming is flexible. If a client doesn't like almonds, then I will substitute something else in. These are not cookie cutter diets. They are based on my clients weight, goal weight as well as their weight loss and/or sports performance goal. Nutrition for athletes is different from a client that wants to lose weight. Sometimes clients want to do both. They are an athlete and also want to lose body fat. Everyone is different and their body processes food differently. Therefore it is important to understand what their goals are and to take the time to get to know their body. I also don't want clients to eat food they do not like. Or if a client gets tired of eating eggs, I change it up. If you get tired of something you will not want to eat it! However, this does not mean you get cake on your diet if you want cake. You still have to eat clean, but you should enjoy your food. Unless you are in contest prep for a bodybuilding show... then I may have to tell you to suck it up and eat those damn egg whites!! For more information email me at: ashleynewmanfitness@gmail.com All relationships require good communication to succeed. When working with a coach whether in person or online, it is very important that you communicate with them. They are not in your body and do not know how you are feeling. Your coach doesn't know if you are feeling sick, if you got enough sleep, if the food isn't digesting... etc. I tell my clients the more information you can give me the better. In order to best help you achieve your goals I need to know these things. For example: how you are feeling? do you cramp up? does a squat hurt your knees? All of this information enables me to put together a program that is custom for you as well as prevents injuries. Everyone is unique and everyone's body works differently, that is why communication is key. The texts shown above are from my CrossFit client. He just competed in the open and won. A concern of his was cramping up during the competitions. He communicated this with me and I was able to come up with a plan the week before to prepare his body for the competition. I gave him specific things to eat and drink at specific times to load the muscles and prevent them from cramping. Had he not communicated this concern I would not have been able to give him what he needed to do in order to win. The first month of our relationship we will talk a lot just like any friendship or romantic relationship. That first month I am learning your body. What it responds to, what it doesn't like and what is the optimal workout for you. Once I learn your body, just like any relationship we will know how it works and it will require less effort. Don't be afraid to ask questions! That is why I am here. I love helping people achieve their health and fitness goals. So ask away! |