building the bikini body

BUILDING THE BIKINI BODY GUIDE BOOK

1. Foreword by Lauren Simpson.................................................03

2. About Mark Carroll.....................................................................06

3. About Clean Health Fitness Institute....................................07

4. How This Guide Came About.................................................08

5. Why Women Should Train Like Men....................................09

6. Busting Myths on Nutrition and Diet Fads...........................10

7. Goal Setting 101............................................................................12

8. Should I Cut or Build?..................................................................13

9. Fueling the Bikini Body...............................................................16

10. Macronutrient Recommendations.........................................20

11. Finding Balance Through Flexible Dieting.........................22

12. Building a Bikini Body Goal: Building...................................25

13. Building a Bikini Body Goal: Cutting.....................................27

14. Understanding Nutrition Fat Loss Plateaus.........................31

15. How to Structure Your Diet......................................................34

16. Diet Breaks for Body & Mind..................................................36

17. Tracking Your Progress.............................................................37

18. Bikini Body Training Overview................................................40

19. Glute Specific Training Secrets..............................................46

20. Understanding How to Read This Program.......................48

21. Advanced Training Techniques..............................................52

22. Training Templates......................................................................57

23. Conclusion....................................................................................90

24. Exercise Glossary........................................................................92

25. References...................................................................................110

26. Further Reading.............................................................................111

By Mark Carroll

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Building the Bikini Body COPYRIGHT CHFI IP HOLDINGS PTY LTD 2019

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FOREWORD BY LAUREN SIMPSONWBFF WORLD BIKINI CHAMPION

Gone are the days where you will only find women on the cardio equipment and men in the weights room. Gym culture is evolving and females in fitness are at the forefront!

Quotes such as…

These are all common thoughts and messages that were once pushed out by the media and what us as women associated ‘training’ with. I can talk to this first hand… because I was that girl.

I was the girl who only did cardio or group fitness (pump, body attack etc.) classes and who purely went to the gym to lose fat and look ‘thin’. I was very uneducated at the time and assumed what most other girls did... lifting was for guys, and girls just did cardio which were very “old school” beliefs.

In recent years with the rise of social media and the accessibility of quality health and fitness information, we have seen a positive impact and influence on females in the gym and their associa-tion in particular with weight training.

The benefits of resistance training for both body composition and health, as opposed to cardio only was really coming to light and more females started to wander onto the weights floor. The more fe-males I started seeing on the gym floor, the more confident I became to join them there too.

In 2014 when I walked through the doors of Clean Health Fitness Institute in their original Sydney CBD gym, I instantly fell in love with training the moment I stopped working out just to be ‘slim’ and burn calories, but to get stronger and work towards performance goals in the gym.

I now feel so much more confident in myself and it’s such an empowering feeling to push your body to new levels and achieve what you never felt possible.

When I stepped into Clean Health Fitness Institute and looked at these women lifting weights and their incredible physiques. I never saw them do cardio and it was just lifting weights that was getting them in this shape. They weren’t ‘big’ or ‘bulky’. They looked strong, healthy, defined and seriously badass lifting!

“Lifting weights makes you big and bulky” “You will look like a man” “Cardio is the best way to lose fat” “You only go to the gym to burn calories” “I just want to be thin”

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Lifting weights really changed my life. From corporate worker and cardio bunny to now coaching thousands of women worldwide, being the current WBFF World Bikini champion and a competitive natural powerlifter in the IPF (International Powerlifting Federation).

The last few years in particular, Coach Mark Carroll has had a significant influence on me, most recently preparing me for the WBFF World Titles in 2018 where I won and was crowned Bikini Diva World Champion. The focus was on lifting weights and getting stronger on the big lifts to create a strong, lean bikini body which we achieved.

My main message on my social media platforms from the very beginning has always been that girls can lift weights and be strong, yet still be feminine and this is something that I feel Mark does better than any other coach in the industry today.

So, with that being said, now it’s time to get stuck into lifting with this guide book. Remember to work hard, be consistent and trust the process with Mark as I have. You are in safe hands!

Lauren Simpson / 2018 WBFF World Champion

WHY THIS GUIDE

WE GET RESULTS!


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ABOUT MARK CARROLL

In the last year my methods for building the bikini body have been displayed on a global level thanks to the power of social media and more specifically for me, Instagram. Social media has allowed the world to see my results, showcased by the women I train which I am truly grateful for.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with female influencers from around the globe which has contributed to my success and to building my brand. I’m often asked, “what is the Mark Carroll method for building ‘THE’ bikini body?”. Well, this is answered with my favorite phrase these days, “It depends”.

How so? Well because every physique is so different, which in my opinion the key is to build upon our weak body parts whilst simultaneously losing body fat, which will enable you to be able to reveal a more shapely, strong yet feminine physique.

Having said that, when I analyze and really look at what I do with my female clients, I see a common theme and consistencies across all of them which include and are not limited to the following…

The industry I grew up with from a program design sense tended to be very dogmatic. Yes, the basics win out, but variety is the spice of life. So, why not have both? Balance is key and that is what I want to give you with this guide so enjoy!

I get girls strong as f**k

I get girls strong as f**k on the basics, using compound lifts

I also use a variety of rep ranges

I have my ‘go to’ lifts which stay consistent in programs

I use variety for accessory lifts

I aim to tick all the boxes when it comes to potential hypertrophy adaptations

I strive for increased training frequency with legs, specifically the glutes

Lastly, I design my programs to get results but also be enjoyable

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The Mark Carroll Method


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ABOUT CLEAN HEALTH FITNESS INSTITUTE

Since 2008, Clean Health Fitness Institute has been regarded as Australia’s premiere fitness industry educators and personal training organization. Having certified over 10,000 personal trainers and fitness professionals in over 15 countries globally, we have developed a reputation as pioneers in the health and fitness industry worldwide.

Clean Health Fitness Institute was founded by industry titan, Daine McDonald. In 2012, they opened their first high end personal training studio and over the 5 years that followed the company facilitated over 100,000 personal training sessions and developed a global reputation for results and excel-lence.

Since 2008, we have annually coached numerous national and international champions in bikini, fitness and figure competitions across numerous organizations including the ICN, ANB, IFBB, WBFF and NPC.

Clean Health Fitness Institute has featured in other publications such as Channel 9 with Kerri Anne, Fitness First Magazine, Nine MSN’s Health and Well-Being site, along with lecturing at some of the biggest health and fitness conferences globally including Filex, the Mefit Pro Summit and the Australian Fitness Expo.

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http://www.chfiglobaleducation.com/


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HOW THIS GUIDE CAME ABOUT

As of writing this book, I am currently 30 years old and I started training when I was 13 years old and I have loved it like nothing else since. I remember being in the gym every single day, begging my mum to take me with her because I was under 15 and needed a parent to come in. I would go do weights and my mum would swim laps in the pool or use the cross trainer, I just wanted to be big and strong. My mum, like most women at the time, just wanted to be ‘slim’.

Back then, cardio was king, and the gym floor was split into two distinct sections, weights for the guys, and cardio machines for the girls. It stayed like this for years. Occasionally women would venture into “our” domain and it would be like trying to talk to a girl for the first time. It was a strange sight to see.

Thankfully, this culture has changed over the last 10 years in particular. More and more women began venturing into the weights section of the gym, including my mum, which I was thrilled about. But what really changed the last 10 years, was the rise of younger women wanting to get ‘strong’. In high school, (not that I was good at talking to girls back then) I remember distinctly, guys wanted to be strong and muscular, the girls at school wanted to be skinny as possible!

But then something weird started to happen, women started to see the value in resistance training. That the gym was a place not just to be “skinny”, but a place a woman can be strong. Women today want to be strong, feminine and fit and not just skinny like a runway model. I really think Instagram helped usher in the new revolution of strong, fierce women in the gym. Seeing videos and photos of girls lifting weights, heavy weights, yet still looking feminine. Women realizing that resistance training actually accentuated the female physique, rather than their fears of looking more masculine or ‘bulky’.

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WHY WOMEN SHOULD TRAIN LIKE MEN

The notion that women should train like men is not new. I heard it for the first-time years ago and in many ways it’s true. Put simply, men should be doing cardio work as well, and women should be doing resistance work, the generalization is that guys are all about the strength gains and women are all for the HIIT circuits.

Remember, balance is key!

Women really should train ‘like men’ though, because we both want the same thing, which let’s be honest, is to look good naked right? Jokes aside, it is apparent that weight training builds shape our physiques. Women can build the curves and create the shape they desire through resistancetraining, not through cardio alone.

Women tend to believe that by doing cardio or combining cardio in the same session with weights they will get the best results. However, the research clearly shows that if they do weights and cardio on separate days, like most men prefer to do, better body composition results will follow in addition to feeling better due to the increased strength gains.1, 2

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BUSTING MYTHS ON NUTRITION AND DIET FADS

For many years, women and society overall have been made to believe that achieving the ultimate bikini body involves some degree of ‘struggling’. Whether the struggle is from excluding food groups, going on high fat, no fat or low carb diets or doing copious amounts of cardio sessions over the week, the same theme remains.

But in reality, this isn’t true, you don’t need to over complicate it! As I like to say, keep it simple stupid.

My personal goal and a big part of why you are now here is to get women stronger than ever whilst eating more food than ever!

That’s how it should be! The ultimate goal with your training and nutrition is really to have you eating as much food as you can whilst maintaining a lean physique and only doing as much physical activity that is necessary.

Here are my favorite myths to bust for women:

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You don’t need to exclude any food groups. So, there need not be any restrictions of sugar, dairy,

carbs, fats or whatever else you can think of.

You don’t need to go low carb for 12 weeks to get a transformation!

You can have fats, as many as you set your macros to, which I’ll get to throughout this guide.


The term ‘Bikini Body’ is highly subjective and individual for everyone. Having said that, what is ‘The Bikini Body’ we are working for here?

Again, for everyone it’s highly personal. I have clients like Lauren Simpson, bikini world champion who has a lot of muscle, then clients like Instagram super star Hanna Oberg who has an incredible bikini body with less muscle, and more curves.

Both girls lift heavy and train hard, yet their own specific genetics highly dictate how they look at their best. Which is why my goal in this guide is not to tell you how you should look, rather my guide is aimed to help you build the best version of your own bikini body.

Some girls want to be leaner, some want to have more curves, and a lot of you I hope are going to want to take part in the “build” aspect of the nutrition. What I wanted to do with this nutritional component, is share with you what I personally do and believe to be optimal for my clients from my experience. Now I always base my methods on the latest science, but what I believe sets me apart from other coaches is blending that with real world in the trenches experience, designed to get you a healthy and sustainable result. After all, it is important to understand that there are many ways to a great result.

I have many systems and nutritional strategies, which in some cases differ from other super successful coaches. Now I don’t believe it means ones better or worse, as coaches we should be putting our own personality into what we do! My nutrition methods and systems have evolved tremendously over the years. In fact, the last 18 months alone, my knowledge and take on dieting in general has almost taken a complete 180° on what clients do and don’t need to get amazing results!

Further Things You Should Know!

You can’t diet forever and at some stage you need to take a break to restore key functions and prime

the body for fat loss. I’ll coach you through this in this guide book.

If you can’t see yourself doing it 12 weeks from now, you won’t be. I encourage you to be flexible.

Remember, there are no ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods just bad amounts of calories in and energy out in

relation to your goal.

Carbohydrates are a key fuel source for muscle growth, we want them as high as possible over the

next 12 weeks, so learn to embrace them!

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GOAL SETTING 101

First of all, this guide is not a “challenge”.

Now in saying that, there is nothing wrong with challenges, they are a great way to set a goal, however this guide is about educating women on how to build their best bodies for life. You may have a goal to build more muscle or to drop some body fat to reveal more of your shape, or you may have a goal to do both. I want you to make sure when you choose a goal, you are choosing a goal for your long-term benefit and not a simple quick fix.

For example, if you are already really lean and you know that eventually you want to compete and need more muscle on your glutes and shoulders, make sure you choose a nutritional goal that aligns with what you need long term and not short term.

When choosing a goal, I want you to commit to it for a full 12 weeks. If you want to build muscle, then commit to it for the entire time. Don’t freak out after 3 weeks if the scale goes up a kilo or two, It’s normal. On the flip side if you want to lose body fat, it’s not the end of the world if you have a week or two when scale weight plateaus. Again, it’s normal and we can plan for it accordingly.

Recognize there will be great days and bad days in the gym. Some days you will love how you look, the next day you think you’re the worst thing in the world. Again, trust me ladies, from a guy who trains women almost exclusively. Whether you are starting off in the gym or a bikini world champion, you will all have days of insecurity. Joys of being human!

Decide, Commit, Succeed.

Choose your goal, commit to it for 12 full weeks and the results will come!

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SHOULD I CUT OR BUILD?

Ok so which one should you do? Well in typical Mark Carroll fashion I will say this, “it depends”. But let me give you a little guidance on the matter!

Should I choose to ‘Cut’?

If you are more than 5-7kg away from your ‘goal’ body weight, I would suggest doing a cut. Use the 12 weeks to get stronger and build muscle (yes you can in a calorie deficit, albeit not as much as a surplus) but most of all, use my nutritional structure to help you lose the body fat first. The leaner you are, generally the greater ability to build muscle in a calorie surplus.

On the flip side, this means that the higher your body fat when in a calorie surplus, you are most likely to favor or at least balance out fat gain to muscle build ratio. This will mostly be the case due to the lower levels of aromatase activity (present in adipose tissue) that is responsible for converting testosterone into oestrogen, and thus the higher levels of testosterone in a leaner physique.3

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Should I choose to ‘Build’?

I have created this program with the strong intention that you choose build, hence the title ‘Building the Bikini Body’. So, with that in mind I hope you choose this option because my big thing, is teaching women to stop living in a calorie deficit.

Use a calorie deficit to get lean, then get out back to baseline. In this guide, the ‘build’ nutritional approach involves increasing calories whilst minimizing fat gain. Remember, the most optimal way to build the desired shape you want is to increase calories.

Back in 2018 when I started coaching Lauren Simpson, the first thing I did was put her into a surplus for 4 months. This is the year that Lauren went on to become the WBFF Bikini Diva World Champion. In the months leading up to this, Lauren put on 6kg. After successfully completing a ‘building phase’ we moved into an 8-week cut to prepare Lauren for the WBFF Worlds stage in Las Vegas, which she won!

She won because she spent time building the necessary shape to give her physique that pop it needed when she was comp prep lean. Don’t be scared to gain some body fat in the quest to build muscle. I will tell you right now, Lauren hated the way she looked; however, it was for that specific long-term goal I spoke about - become world champion. Short term pain (being uncomfortable) for long term gains!

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NUTRITION

EAT WELL


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FUELING THE BIKINI BODY

So, what is the right type of fuel for you in this program? How many calories should you be on? In truth, this really depends on where you fit in terms of a few key factors:

Once you have this information, you can determine what is relevant calorie wise based on your current goal. This is important because if you want to ‘cut’ you are going to need a lower number of calories, conversely if bulking this will increase.

Now if you have read my ‘Art of Reverse Dieting’ guide book, you will recall that as we diet, our metabolic rate naturally decreases as a part of this mechanism. Now as long as our calories stay lower than our initially estimated energy needs, the calories we expend will stay down, affecting our metabolic rate.

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Establish your current body fat/body weight levels, which will help you calculate your Basal Metabolic

Rate, otherwise known as BMR.

Figure out your Physical Activity Levels (PAL) based on the type of lifestyle you lead, is it active,

sedentary etc.

Establish your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

Understanding TDEE


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TDEE is the sum of our resting energy needs or “BMR” plus the energy we spend for our standard daily activities known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT, the energy spent while di-gesting and absorbing food known as the thermic effect of food (TEF) and the energy spend during structured activity known as physical activity level (PAL).

A simple way to look at is via the following equation:

These four factors can be explained in more detail as…

Basal metabolic rate (BMR): BMR is related to the calories which the body requires to “run” or

function. Running the machine that is the human body is costly and is our greatest contributor

to our overall calorie expenditure. BMR is linked to our bodies’ total mass – the more we weigh,

regardless of it being muscle or fat, is going to lead to greater calorie expenditure in regard to

our BMR.

However, lean mass does require more energy to fuel than fat, which is why it’s always imperative

we preserve as much lean mass as possible to keep metabolic rate as high as possible. In fact,

the BMR typically declines by about 1-2% every ten years after the age of 20, which is attributed

mainly to the gradual loss of fat-free (lean) mass.

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT): NEAT levels are another factor of TDEE which

actually has been shown to be the most variable of factors contributing to TDEE. NEAT includes

actions such as twitching, walking, incidental movement and even talking. Any activity which is

not planned or thought about by the body.

It’s shown that over the course of a diet, neat levels plummet, when NEAT levels fall, so does

calorie expenditure which again directly affects our energy balance. Remember it’s not just

calories in, it’s also calories out which is the crucial component to losing body fat.

Thermic effect of food (TEF): Food digestion and assimilation (breakdown and absorption of

food) costs the body energy. The processes that facilitate these actions are small but still

significant contributors to the calories out component of energy balance. Protein is our most

energy costly macronutrient which makes high protein levels a key to optimizing fat loss success.

A person who eats a diet higher in protein will directly lead to a greater ‘calorie out’ response to

that of an individual with the same calorie intake and activity due to the increased rates of TEF on

protein digestion compared to the other macros. Fats and carbohydrates do contribute to thermic

effect of feeding, but on a much smaller scale to that of a protein which is a more thermogenic

macronutrient.

Physical Activity Level (PAL): This is our planned training, whether resistance training, cardio, or

anything in between. Planned exercise falls under PAL. This, like NEAT, is going to be variable

between people but unlike neat, we can control the calorie expenditure.

TDEE = BMR + NEAT + TEF + PAL

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The relative contribution of the four factors of TDEE will vary according to context.

Generally, though it will look roughly like the below image with BMR being the primary contributor: 4

Remember that when we diet, our TDEE lowers. So strategically building up calories after the diet ends allows us to mitigate how much body fat we put on whilst building back up to our true TDEE. So, hopefully now you understand the concept around the how and why when it comes to setting your calories!

In closing, to work out your TDEE or baseline calories use tdeecalculator.net. Now all you need for this is your weight and estimate of your body fat levels.

Figure 1:

Percentage of Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). REE: Resting Energy Expenditure. This is our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) i.e. the energy the body requires to operate at rest e.g. for the heart, lungs, digestive system and other involuntary processes. NREE: Non-Resting Energy Expenditure. This is the Energy the body requires to perform tasks such as digestion and absorption of food (TEF: Thermic Effect of Food), structured activity e.g. exercise (EAT: Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and non-structured activities, e.g. fidgeting and daily movements (NEAT: Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis).

http://tdeecalculator.net/


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Body fat percentages

If you are unsure on what your body fat levels truly are, use these examples below which should help guide you.


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MACRONUTRIENT RECOMMENDATIONS

If you followed my 12 week fat loss program in The Art of ‘Gen Pop’ Transformations guidebook, you would have noticed that I use a low carb approach initially, and then we begin increasing carbohydrates each phase. There are also diet breaks for the intermediate to advanced client over the duration of their 12-week training block.

Building the Bikini Body is different to a fat loss transformation, so the methods used in this guidebook are different. As always calories are key, but remember macros determine how you feel more than anything. So, for the advanced client, how you feel is crucial to performance at the level we want to take you. For the ‘Gen Pop’ client with higher body fat levels, I believe from my experience, a low carb approach works very well initially as a way of helping stabilize blood sugar levels and also helping with appetite cravings. It does not lead to faster fat loss than higher carb if calories are equal, but empirical data shows that it aids with compliance factors.5

Carbs firstly are delicious and secondly, they contain glucose. Glucose (which is how carbohydrates enters our blood) is our most optimal fuel source for resistance training. Carbs help fuel our training sessions and are also key to feeling our nervous system which is responsible for our strength gains.6

Carbs are our friends for the advanced client. In this guide, I give you my numbers I would put a comp prep bikini girl on for both building and cutting phases. In the end, it does come down to personal preference, however these numbers have proven to work for me and my clients over the last decade of working with women from around the world.

So, what exactly is fiber? Well, fiber is often divided into two categories, insoluble and soluble fiber. Now these two fiber types differ in how they interact with water in your body.

Insoluble fiber does not mix with water and acts mostly as a bulking agent to help form stool and pass it through the gut. This can help with constipation.7

Soluble fiber, such as beta-glucan and glucomannan, mixes with water to form a viscous, gel-like substance that slows down how fast the stomach releases digested food into the gut.8 It has also been shown that eating more soluble fiber can also help you lose belly fat and prevent belly fat gain.

For more advanced clients, my preferred method is the opposite. I want CARBS!!!

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Understanding Fiber

https://www.chfiglobaleducation.com/fat-loss-female-guide/?utm_source=BBB_GEN_POP_FEMALE


One study linked a 10-gram increase in daily soluble fiber intake to a 3.7% lower risk of gaining belly fat.9 Several other studies also show that people who eat more soluble fiber have a lower risk of belly fat.10, 11

So how much should you try and get in from all your food daily? For bikini athletes I like approximately 25-30 grams per day, from experience this is enough to help with overall health, digestion, energy, you name it!


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FINDING BALANCE THROUGH FLEXIBLE DIETING

By now I hope all of you who have chosen to do my program will know I am a great advocate for flexible dieting. This is the approach I use with all my clients male or female.

In the Gen Pop guide, clients were provided with a list of suggested foods to build their daily food plans from, but this proved to be quite the hassle as I was inundated with messages asking why certain foods are not on the list. People, I cannot list every damn food in the world!

So, with that in mind, here is my step by step guide to flexible dieting:

Carbohydrates make up the rest: Choose a variety of carbohydrate sources. Primarily we want sources which are high in fiber and will give us a sustained energy hit. However, sugar is not the enemy. By all means have some sugar. Just ensure you meet your fiber target, which leads me to my next step...

Have a daily fiber target: Having fiber each day from quality choices of carbohydrates will make it very hard to hit your macros from just eating “junk” food. I personally find 30gm per day is a sweet spot for Bikini clients from my experience and something we at Clean Health Fitness Institute have used for years.

Have balance: As always, I want my clients to have balance, this is the purpose of flexible dieting. There are good foods and bad foods, if you want something, have it, but track it first. If it doesn’t ‘fit’ into today, can you make it work tomorrow?

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Hit your calorie goal first: Calculate this

using the TDEE calculator provided earlier in

this guide.

Hit your protein target: Use a variety of protein sources to consume a more

complete profile of amino acids into your

diet. Ideally 5-7 different protein sources

over the week is ideal.

Hit a minimum requirement for fats: Use

a variety of fat sources. We have 3 prime

sources of fats – monounsaturated,

polyunsaturated and saturated fats. Simply

put, have all three. Choose a vast variety of

foods to hit your target.


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My issue with clean eating, is that it inevitably leads to terrible binges or living for the weekend cheat meals and or worse cheat days, hence why although I can see logic in it the reality is most people mentally are going to struggle on it.

Flexible dieting for the win!

One of my friends in the industry, the great Sohee Lee, ate a Snickers bar every single day of her prep to prove that calories are what matters most. Not “good or bad foods”. Sohee was able to include a snicker bar every day into her calorie “budget” and still look incredible. She then went on to win her pro card. I like to look at food in that there are no ‘good or bad’ foods, there are just more micronutrient dense foods, and less nutrient dense foods. This does not necessarily make a food good or bad. Everyone on Instagram these days loses their mind when they see me eat a doughnut each day, especially when I got leaner over the summer here in Australia.

Now I know my daily calorie intake and that I can drop body fat on close to 3,000 calories a day… Yes, it is an advantage being a man when it comes to calorie intake however, that donut I was having each day was around 500 calories. Sounds like a lot, but when your budget of calories is 3,000 a day. That is actually only of my daily calorie intake. Less than 20%!

Now if you are on low calories long term, it becomes harder and harder to fit in foods you love. This is where I suggest rather than having 2 rows of chocolate, you have 1 row, or 2 pieces. By having a little even on low calorie days, it does wonders for not then feeling so restricted, with the need to eat everything in sight.

I desperately want my clients to have a healthy relationship with food. Taking away the good and bad concept is imperative. My suggestion on flexible dieting. Use the 80/20 rule for your calorie budget, devote 80% of the calories you need to foods you enjoy that are very nutrient dense.


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There are two keys here, nutrient dense foods and foods you enjoy. I do not do meal plans because who am I to tell someone what they can or can’t eat. We all enjoy certain nutritious foods more than others.

So, make up 80% of your daily calorie budget with foods you actually like to eat. Remember, build-ing a lean bikini body shouldn’t be a struggle all the time. The nutrient dense fruits and vegetables you enjoy is where we get quality micronutrients and also fiber. Which mentioned previously, is often a crucial but forgotten factor of a healthy diet.

Then the remaining 20% of your calorie budget can come from calories from less nutritious foods you really enjoy. Again, I am not saying go eat all the calories you want on “junk”. I am merely saying incorporate your favorite foods in moderation into your daily calorie intake.

Yes, when you are on 1,800-2,000 calories it’s easier to enjoy more delicious foods. But even when my clients reach low calories just before comp, I still want them to be having at least a bite of foods they enjoy. This dramatically helps them mentally post comp and also feel less restricted.

So once again, have a balance with your diet and use a flexible dieting approach which isn’t about eating as much crap as possible, it’s about removing the restrictions of food choices, and bringing balance to our nutrition.

I want you to have optimal physical health, as well as optimal mental health!


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BUILDING A BIKINI BODY GOAL

I will keep it short and simple here, firstly begin in maintenance calories as you can always build muscle at maintenance. So, if you are not there yet then I recommend you purchase my Art of Re-verse Dieting guide book which outlines how you can get yourself back up to baseline.

Keep the same macro breakdown as we begin with and simply add 100 calories of either fats or carbs. The reason I like an increase of fats or carbs is because research shows that consuming anywhere between 2.0gm (Regular trainee) all the way through 3.1gm (Hypocaloric or more advanced trainee during an increased training volume phase) of protein per kilogram of body weight has no additional hypertrophy benefits.12

You may have heard me say that protein is the key macronutrient and it is, however, it’s dose dependent, so for this reason we want to increase carbs or fats due to their benefits on the body.

Now once there, my recommendations in terms of macros are the following:

Some Macro Stats for You:

How much of a surplus of calories do we need? This is where I prefer a more conservative approach these days. Chances are for most, even your maintenance calories are likely more food you have eaten in a while, so let’s start you there. Now, after 4 weeks this is where I make changes.

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Protein = 2gm x body weight in kilograms

Fats = 1gm x body weight in kilograms

Carbohydrates = the rest of the remaining

calories

Protein & Carbohydrates: 100 calories = 25gm. Remember proteins and carbs have

4 calories for every 1g so 100 calories/4 = 25gm

Fats: 99 calories = 11gm fat. Fats have 9 calories for every 1g consumed so 99/9 = 11gm

BUILDING


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Choose whichever macronutrient you prefer to eat and build from there. Every 2-3 weeks if weight maintains, then add another 100 calories.

NOTE: My recommendation is not drifting more than 300 calories above maintenance in the 12 weeks unless you are a typical “hard gainer”.

When it comes to nutrition with a calorie surplus, honestly, it’s not too complicated. Building muscle takes time. Being in a maintenance or small surplus for an extended period, is the key to creating the hypertrophy adaptations. This is why, if your goal is to use my training program to build shape and lean muscle, then give it a minimum of 12 weeks to keep calories up. Yes, you will put on a little bit of body fat!

But you will also put on a lot more muscle mass than you would without those added calories. remember, think long term goal, over quick fix. Lauren put 6kg on in 4-5 months, then came back to the stage with a better body than ever and became the WBFF world champion!


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BUILDING A BIKINI BODY GOAL

When it comes to getting lean, majority of my audience will know and understand the basics. If you do not, make sure you download my FREE guide book - Top 20 Fat Loss hacks which covers the basics.

In summary, I hope you have now gathered that you need to be in a calorie deficit if you are seri-ous about ‘cutting’ or overall fat loss!

Now, where to start? My goal for intermediate to advanced clients is to lose 0.5 kilograms a week, or roughly 1 pound. This is considered a healthy and safe rate of weight loss. Now from my experience to hit this num-ber, we need to create approximately 500 calorie daily deficit. A pound of fat roughly equals 3,500 calories, so over the course of a week, we want to be in a calorie deficit of 3,500 to lose that pound of fat mass.

Now let’s start with the fundamentals!

First step is obviously working out maintenance calories:

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Calories are king, no doubt you have heard me say this before!

Protein is your most crucial macronutrient.

Fats are integral for our overall hormonal health, but we only need so much.

Carbohydrates are not essential to life. However, when building muscle mass or preserving

muscle mass, I think they are absolutely optimal.

You will not lose body fat if you are not in a calorie deficit.

You will LOSE body fat if you are in a calorie deficit - again, if you are not losing body fat, it means you are not in a calorie deficit.

Cutting

Use tdeecalculator.net which I mentioned earlier on to set activity to moderate (If you naturally do

more than 15,000 steps a day due to work set activity level to high). This is an online tool to calculate

your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). It is the most accurate one I know of.’

Next, we create the calorie deficit by deducting 500 calories. For instance, if your TDEE is 2,500

calories, then your starting point is 2,000 calories - this should theoretically lead to a 1/2 kg or 1

pound of fat mass dropped a week.

Setting your macros – Now if your body fat is on the lower end, I prefer a more carb dominant diet.

If your body fat is higher, insulin sensitivity is not as positive. Therefore, I prefer a mixed breakdown

of macronutrients. Whatever your personal preference may be, I believe the most essential thing of

all is dietary compliance. What do you feel best on? That’s a question I ask more clients in their initial

consult.

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https://www.cleanhealth.com.au/top-20-fat-loss-hacks/?utm_source=BUILDING_THE_BIKINI_BODY&utm_content=BUILDING_THE_BIKINI_BODY_FAT_LOSS_HACKS

http://tdeecalculator.net/


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Below are 2 examples of where I would use for my bikini clients, we will use the 500-calorie deficit as an example benchmark…

Now that we have worked out the essential macronutrients. We have used 1,140 calories of the 2,000-calorie daily budget we have. Therefore, we have remaining 860 calories to be used for carbohydrates, meaning our carbohydrate target would equal 215g, or 860 calories. Using my preferred macro breakdown above and based on the calories and essential macronutrient calculations, her macros now look like this:

Ok so what if you simply prefer lower carbohydrates? Well, this is fine. My personal preference for my clients is to have a more dominant carb split, but I am never married to a macro split. It’s crucial to understand principles over methods.

An overview is as follows:

Why these macro goals?

So, using the above breakdown, caloric stats would be:

Client Case Study 1: A lean woman (under 25% body fat) who loves and feels best on carbohydrates. This woman weighs 60 kg’s with a TDEE of 2,500 calories.

Set calories at: 2,000 in total

Macro Breakdown:

P - 150gm F - 60gm C - 215gm

Protein: 2 - 2.5gm per kilogram of body weight - which end of the number should you do? Well it depends. I prefer higher levels the leaner the individual is as protein is positive for satiety levels but also protein protects against the potential loss of lean mass. We want adequate protein levels always, but the leaner the individual, the potential greater chance of loss of muscle.

Fats: 0.8 - 1.1gm of fats - I don’t ever drop below 0.8g per kg of body weight. Dietary fats consumed become dietary cholesterol which is crucial for the production of our steroidal hormones, this is crucial for women’s health. At times for comp prep, fats for a week or two can reach as low as 0.5g per kg with no adverse issues, but as a general rule of thumb. When fats reach as low as 0.8g per kg, I then recommend taking calories away from carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates - the rest will be carbs, pretty simple! We work out our essential macronutrients first - carbs and fats. Once these are in place, we simply you the remaining calories towards

Protein = 2.5x 60kg which is 150gm and 600 calories

Fats = 1 x 60kg which is 60gm and 540 calories

o Protein: 2 - 2.5gm per kilogram of body weight

o Fats: 0.8 - 1.1gm per kilogram of body weight

o Carbs: - the remaining balance of calories


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The principle for example is to achieve fat loss we need to create a negative energy balance aka a calorie deficit.

Without a calorie deficit, there is simply no fat loss!

Remember, the overarching principle is energy balance! How we achieve a negative energy balance, can be highly personal. I teach in my ‘The Art of ‘Gen Pop’ Transformations’ online course, we need a calorie deficit for fat loss. It does not specify the macro breakdown we need to achieve this. It all works!

Which is why with my personalized online clients, I do have somewhat of a base method with how to do their macros. But this base, can very much be manipulated. The method is not the key, the key to my results are adhering to the principles of energy balance. Personally, I prefer more carbs for my bikini girl’s majority of the time. Now this doesn’t mean some women don’t prefer and feel better on more fats, if that is the case then I give them more fats!

https://www.chfiglobaleducation.com/fat-loss-female-guide/?utm_source=BBB_GEN_POP_FEMALE


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Any overview is as follows…

Using our above client’s example of 60kg client with 2,000 calories for her deficit. A macro breakdown for a person who has a fat dominant diet may look like this:

Again, this is where I would start a client for a lower carb approach - I still prefer carbs above 100g to begin with and generally do shy again from keto unless the client feels better with this macro allocation energy wise.

Client Case Study 2: A lean woman above 30% body fat who loves and feels best on carbohydrates. This woman weighs 60 kg’s with a TDEE of 2,500 calories.

Calories: 2,500 – 500 calories = 2,000 calories

Protein: 2 - 2.5gm per kilogram of body weight

Fats: 1.2 - 1.8gm per kilogram of body weight

Carbs: - the remaining balance of macros

Protein: 60 x 2 = 120gm

Fats: 60 x 1.8 = 108gm

Carbs: x the remaining = 137gm


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UNDERSTANDING FAT LOSS PLATEAUS

For all of those who have dieted previously, you will know very well that initially we lose body fat quite easily. In the beginning, the calorie deficit we use works well. However, for most, eventually the rate of fat loss slows down.

It could slow down after 2 weeks for some (efficient metabolisms), or it could slow down after 8-10 weeks for others (inefficient metabolisms). So, this prompts the statement I get 10 times a day on Instagram “my calorie deficit is no longer working”. A calorie deficit will ALWAYS work! You will always lose body fat in a calorie deficit. The issue lies in the fact that you are no longer in a calorie deficit. I have written an entire 135+ page guide book “The Art of Reverse Dieting” on this topic so you can learn more in depth why fat loss is so hard, and why keeping the weight off long term is even harder.

So, consider this, you are no longer in a deficit... The reason that you are no longer losing body fat is because what you thought was a calorie deficit, is now not. What you are experiencing here is now commonly known as “Metabolic adaptation” or otherwise known as adaptive thermogenesis.

This is when your body activates somewhat of a defense mechanism which lowers our ability to burn energy aka calories. Simply put, the body purposely decreases its energy out component of energy balance, therefore directly affecting our calorie deficit going into a survival mode, thinking that you are starving it!

The less calories we burn, the more that once 500 calorie deficit we used initially becomes small-er and smaller. Naturally, we stop losing weight as quickly as that deficit lessons and lessons, then eventually the deficit is no longer, and we reach the dreaded plateau. How do we fix this? This is where understanding and managing energy balance is key.

So, what are the mechanisms that affect energy balance ‘calories in vs calories’ out?

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Energy in: Calories in, this is your nutrition, food intake and diet, it is the easy part to understand from

an energy point of view. In essence, it is what you put in your mouth!

Energy out: calories burned or expended. This is where it becomes more complicated. So, factors

affecting ‘calories out’ include some key points mentioned earlier on in this book including:

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BMR: Basal metabolic rate

NEAT: Non-exercise activity thermogenesis

PAL: Physical activity levels

TEF: Thermic effect of food

https://www.cleanhealth.com.au/reverse-dieting-guide-book/?utm_source=BUILDING_THE_BIKINI_BODY&utm_content=BUILDING_THE_BIKINI_BODY_REVERSE_DIET


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As discussed previously, we know through metabolic adaptation our NEAT levels will lower. Sadly, we cannot do much about this, because we know BMR will lower even if we do not experience metabolic adaptation. BMR is linked to your total mass or body weight. Remember, even if we are losing fat only, we are still weighing less and less. By weighing less, we burn less calories.

Now that we understand that it is normal to plateau, the question becomes how to break it and keep fat loss going? Well, from my experience the simplest way is to decrease calories for a short period of time.

That’s what I like to do with my clients to combat metabolic adaptation. Remember, I said I want people to begin in a 500-calorie deficit, my suggestion for when you have plateaued for 2 weeks is to then decrease calories. I suggest calorie drops of 100-150 calories at a time. Where do we take the calories away from? Carbs and fats. Do not take calories away from protein. We want to keep this consistent over the entire 12 weeks to preserve muscle mass throughout the journey. Of the 100-150 calorie decreases, we can take them away from carbs or fats, or a combo. It’s up to you. Remember the keys to energy balance though. Calories are king, macros determine how we feel. As long as we create the calorie deficit, we will lose fat, but be sure to choose the macro breakdown that you feel best on. For my clients I generally try to take calories away from fats until I reach the 0.8g per kilogram mark. That’s the lowest I will set fats for my clients as fats are imperative for the making of our steroid hormones, so we don’t want to go too low. Once the minimum fat requirements have met, from there the only place I will take calories away from is from carbs.

The point of all of this is for you to understand that:

It is normal for rate of fat loss to slow down and even stop.

Your calorie deficit isn’t ‘broken’, you simply are not in a deficit anymore.

We need to make changes to keep a negative energy balance (calorie deficit).


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Monday and Thursday are good days as they are spaced apart well. Now to understand if we need to freak out about a scale check in not being down or not. It comes down to normally a 2 week mark I like to give things. If weight is consistent for two weeks with little to no change (less than 250grams) then I will make calorie changes.

So, What About Refeeds and Diet Breaks? Refeeds and diet breaks are popular terms in fitness these days but what’s the difference?

Well there isn’t really a scientific difference in meaning other than people’s personal wording. Both involve increasing calories to take a person out of a calorie deficit. This can be done for a variety of psychological and physiological reasons, which we will get to.

Both are simply getting out of a calorie deficit primarily by increasing calories from carbohydrates. The difference is simply the time frame. Now the way I like to do it is the following:

Rate of Fat Loss? The next question becomes, how long does one have to be in a ’plateau’ or does fat loss need to be stagnant before we know if we are no longer in a deficit? With a 500-calorie deficit, theoretically we should be losing about ½ kg a week, or 1lbs for the North Americans out there.

So, when assessing progress, we need to factor in a few things, the most important being, the scale doesn’t tell us everything. Some days we can weigh less, some days we weigh more, especially for women depending on that time of the month!

So, when it comes to assessing fat loss, my recommendation is to take photos from the front, side and back as shown via example below. We also want to get their scale weight and girth measurements twice a week. This gives us more of a total average than just one day a week.

I am personally a big fan of mini diet breaks of 3-4 days for my clients, whilst other mentors of mine prefer the longer 1-2-week approach. It all works. But the issue is, the longer you are out of a deficit, the longer you are obviously not losing body fat. Diet breaks do slow down fat loss in that period you are out of a deficit. However, this is a compromise we can make short-term as part of the long term-plan.

A refeed is usually a 1-2-day period of increased calories.

A diet break - is a more sustained period of 3-14 days


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HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR DIET

I have a few options that I use depending on the client. In a nutshell, they are as follows…

Option 1: Consistent Calorie Intake

Option 2: 6 days Moderate, 1 day Low or High

My intention in creating this guide, is that this is NOT a one size fits all system.

The reason for this is my clients do not follow a one size fits all approach, so I wanted to share and teach you all some options. The more options we have, the greater chance of success we have because we then find something that works for us as an individual. My clients have a variety of ways they hit their weekly calories.

It is crucial that you understand weekly calories as a whole, you lose body fat over time, not because you ate in a deficit one day but from being in a deficit of calories over the course of the entire week. That means, not every day necessarily has to be in a calorie deficit. Similarly, you won’t gain weight from one day in a surplus as a general rule of thumb unless you go overboard. Remember when I said we need a 500-calorie deficit, on average to lose ½ kg of fat per week? That’s because a ½ kilogram of fat equates to that 3,500-calorie mark roughly. Therefore, over the entire course of the week we need to create a 3,500-calorie deficit to hit that amount of fat loss.

This is my traditional approach to fat loss as it’s the simplest. We create a calorie deficit, then we stay consistent with the numbers each day. If your TDEE is 2,500 calories and a 500-calorie deficit is 2,000, simply hit 2,000 calories every day. Then when we want to come out of a calorie deficit, we will just do a diet break. I have done this with 1000’s of clients over the years and from my experience it works.

So, in short yes, this is my preferred method. I have my clients follow this approach for 2-3 weeks then I follow this with a diet break. I am a fan of mini diet breaks of 3-4 days every few weeks. The longer they diet and the leaner they become, they then diet break either more frequently or for longer up to 1 week.

This next approach is also common, and for a lot of people their preferred method as they have an incorporated refeed day into their weekly calories. Firstly, it’s important to understand a one day refeed does not have the physiological benefits as a diet break 3-14 days discussed earlier. However, it does offer a somewhat of a mental reprieve to the rigors of consistent days in a calorie deficit.

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Consistent calorie intake over the week, every day the same.

6 days moderate, 1 day low or high.

3 days high, 2 moderate, 2 low.

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Now, the issue is with this approach that people make mistakes on is this is:

Option 3: 2 days High, 2 Moderate, 3 Low

Once again, we need a 3,500-calorie deficit to create ½ kg of fat mass lost a week. A refeed day involves increasing calories up to baseline. Therefore, one of those days with calories at maintenance, and we now are no longer at a 3,500-calorie weekly deficit. Rather we are in a 3,000-calorie deficit.

Therefore, to achieve our goal of the weekly 3,500 calorie deficit, we need to lower calories slightly on low days to ensure we still hit the same weekly target. Rather than having 6 days at 2,000 and 1 day at 2,500 calories, you could do 6 days at 1,920 calories and one day at 2,500. Now we have almost the 3,500-calorie deficit for the week (short 20 calories but that’s fine).

So yes, you can incorporate refeed days into your weekly “budget” of calories. You simply need to adjust the calorie intake over the course of the week to hit the numbers accurately.

Finally, this example is a little more complicated again. But it is also a method I use with my bikini girls who ask for it. Note, my preferred method is option 1 – as it is the simplest, therefore achievable. I like to keep it simple when it comes to nutrition.

Using this approach, a weekly average of calories a day needs to be 2,000 for our 500-calorie deficit. Which means we have 7 x 2,000 calories a day to play with = 1,4000 calories for the week. This approach would involve 2 day refeeds, either together as 2 consecutive days or 2 single days, then 3 moderate days and 2 low days.

How I would suggest executing this, is placing 2 of the high calorie days on your lower body days (you will be training lower body 3 x a week) so choose 2 of them. I would then place the moderate days on the other training days.

Then finally, the 2 low calorie intake days, on our resistance training rest days. A weekly overview would look like this using the 2,000-calorie example:

This means for the week we have averaged a 500-calorie deficit. This is great for those of you who feel you need more energy/food on certain days, and also for those who don’t get as hungry on non-training days.

The key theme of all the 3 scenarios is the principle of adhering to a weekly calorie deficit. This is a must. Use which scenario works best for you. The strategy which you feel best both physically and mentally is the key.

In summary they all work! Find which suits you best and apply it.

They think it’s a free for all or a cheat day. It is not.

They do not track it properly when they must!

The calories for the weekly deficit need to still be met, however the refeed day decreases the weekly calorie deficit.

High days = 2,500 (maintenance calories).

Moderate days = 2,000 calories.

Low days = 1,500 calories.

Summary our weekly calorie intake is now 14,000 calories.


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DIET BREAKS FOR BODY & MIND

Over the years I have refined my methods to find what works. So, when it comes to diet breaks, from my experience I have found three things to be key:

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The leaner you are, the more frequent you need to diet break. Reason being, the leaner an individual, the more susceptible you are to metabolic adaptations. High fat mass can actually help prevent the onset of such adaptations, which is why in my fat loss transformation guide, The Art of ‘Gen Pop’ Transformations people with a lot of weight to lose (15kg or more) do not diet break in the 12 weeks in general. But someone with only a few kilograms of fat to lose will diet break twice in the 12 weeks.

The more aggressive the calorie deficit, the more frequent we diet break. If you are dieting on a 10% calorie deficit, chances are you most likely are not losing a lot of fat at a fast pace, which is fine. Now an aggressive deficit, will lead to faster fat loss, but the faster you lose body fat, you open yourself up to metabolic adaptations kicking in quicker. Which is why if you like a more aggressive, short term approach to a calorie deficit, that’s fine but back It up with diet breaks more frequently. Anything below a 30% calorie deficit and I would have a client diet break for 1-2 weeks after 6-8 weeks of the deficit.

The longer you have been dieting, the longer you will need to diet break. This is because leptin levels decrease the longer, we diet, the lower they become, the harder it is to bring them back up. A 3-day diet break after months of a calorie deficit simply will not be sufficient. We will require a 1-2-week diet break to meaningfully raise leptin levels, which stay elevated, once the calories are lowered again. (Which is why I usually suggest after a 12-week transformation do either reverse diet or do a 2-week diet break if you have not reached your goal body weight. Then come back down to a calorie deficit. Do not live in a deficit!

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https://www.chfiglobaleducation.com/fat-loss-female-guide/


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TRACKING YOUR PROGRESS

What I am not doing in this program, is spoon feeding you when to diet break.

I want women all over the world to become educated about their bodies and nutrition. I want to teach you how to fish, not give you the fish. Which is why I am not setting specific weeks or days to diet break. Rather, giving you the knowledge, for you to now be able to understand and assess when to incorporate them.

Biofeedback Assessment

It is always important to listen to your body when it comes to your health and results. Now the term for this that we have coined is Biofeedback, something we at Clean Health Fitness Institute have used with thousands of clients with great success since 2008. You can assess your bio-feedback with the following questions:

These are all integral biofeedback markers which we like to assess weekly, however it is also important to understand these are somewhat natural adaptations of being in a calorie deficit.

Getting very lean, comp prep lean is hard. No matter what you will be hungry and tired at the end. But this is why diet breaks or refeed days can make the process more enjoyable over the course of the diet or prep. Then having a sound exit strategy following the diet is also imperative.

This is where I reverse diet my clients to ensure their results are maintained long term. I explain in detail how to reverse diet in my 12 week program, The Art of Reverse Dieting. I recommend this for you, don’t waste 12 weeks of hard work, get a result and then keep it! Tracking Progress Fundamentals Tracking progress sounds very simple and like common sense. However, the majority of everyday lifters never track anything, from their nutrition, strength increases, photos or weight loss.

People get lazy and don’t track, you cannot intelligently make educated decisions if you don’t have feedback. Tracking progress is an integral part of what I do, so I can analyze whether my clients need more, or less, or simply keep going with what they are currently doing. Here are my tips on tracking progress.

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Weight loss: are you plateauing for weeks?

Energy levels: are you now tired all the time?

Libido: assess your libido, just not feeling your partner the same anymore?

Sleep: are you falling asleep in good time, staying asleep and waking up with energy?

Training performance: are you getting substantially weaker?

Hunger and cravings: are you starting to notice satiety lowering and hunger increasing?

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https://www.cleanhealth.com.au/reverse-dieting-guide-book/


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Photos Photos to me are the most crucial measurement of progress. When it comes down to it, when you are at the beach, or on stage, no one knows or cares how much you weigh or what your body fat percentage is.

You care how you look, which is why photos win. Firstly, always take photos when you begin your journey. These are imperative. To be able to know where you started is always a powerful reminder in the never-ending journey of building your physique.

How to Take Photos First things, first, stop with the selfie photos in the mirror holding your phone! These don’t show you anything. We all have phones that have a self-timer, so put your phone on a ledge, set the timer to 10 seconds and take yourself progress photos.

Always try to take these in a bikini or sports crop and shorts so you have as much feedback as possible. Whole body, the photo should have your feet and room above your head (when you put your transformation photos together, you need room when or they won’t fit properly). Take photos from the front, back and side. Keep your arms relaxed and by your side and simply stand there still in a normal manner. Don’t look too happy for before photos lol.

I suggest taking progress photos every fortnight for those cutting. Then for those who are building. Building takes more time, so progress will be slower. Photos every 3-4 weeks will be sufficient. Remember to use the same location for your house, this helps with consistencies visually. Ideally, the same time of the day paired with the same lighting and same outfit for absolute accuracy.


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Measurements Second to photos, I use scale and also girth measurements to track and assess progress. My advice is weighing yourself twice a week on a Monday and Thursday, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach after using the bathroom.

Also, you must take girth measurements twice a week, such as chest, waist (belly button) and hips. You may also like to take the midpoint of your thigh as well. Body fat testing via calipers, dexa scans and in body scans are all reasonably inaccurate. Use these as a guide, but don’t be married to the reading. It’s just an algorithm.

I personally just use google images “body fat percentages” to estimate a new clients body fat level these days as I prefer to go on the visual as a coach to help my clients.

Please remember, all these measurements are away to asses some form of progress. But when it comes down to it, the best measurements of success, is when you look in the mirror and genuinely like what you see, as cliché as it sounds.


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BIKINI BODY TRAINING SYSTEM

Now it’s time to talk about your program and as discussed earlier, I love getting women strong on the basics and lifting heavy whilst also building muscle with a lot of metabolic work.

Simply put, I like broad rep ranges, and a combination of strength and hypertrophy methodologies as I really think it shows on stage a body which is strong, over a body which just does high rep work with mostly machines.

My vision is to always have the strongest women possible, with as much shape as possible!

The program is split into 4 programs of 3 weeks each. Each program has a specific goal which we will go into. Personally, I like 3-week training blocks for clients as 3 weeks seems to be enough time to develop adaptations and improvement, whilst also keeping things interesting.

Now over the years, I have had clients spend 4-6 weeks on a specific training program, however, the overwhelming theme is, majority like the 3-week adjustments. So, the majority wins when creating a guide for the masses.

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Understanding Periodization

What is periodization?

Basically, it is a strategic way of manipulating volume and intensity of different training programs to maximize training results in record time. Think of it as a process driven way to take yourself from point A to point B in the weights room to increase your likelihood of success in record time!

Undulating Periodization 101 I have used a variety of periodization schemes with clients to achieve tremendous results over the years, however my preferred and go to periodization scheme I do with the vast majority of bikini clients is undulating periodization. Which is a method used by the founder of Clean Health Fitness Institute Daine McDonald and the late Strength Coach and Icon Charles Poliquin with great success. Undulating means going up and down, or in training terms, alternating between phases of Accumulation (volume) and Intensification (intensity). Accumulation is when our focus will be on higher average reps, whilst also more total sets. The aim of accumulation phases with bikini girls is to build muscle. The intensification blocks, the aim is to improve our relative strength.

The intensification blocks will have less reps and less total sets; however, the goal is to lift as much weight as possible. When we are talking intensity, I do not mean how hard are you working? Are you going to training failure? That is where we refer to rate of perceived exhaustion (RPE). Intensity in strength terms means percentage of your one rep max. Therefore, the closer you lift to your max, the greater the intensity. So, if you do 100kg squats for 1 rep, but could have achieved another 3 reps, that set isn’t considered physically taxing right? But a set of 20 reps on 50kg could make you throw up!

However, even though you worked “harder” on the 50kg x 20 reps, the first one, the 1 x 100kg easy set is of greater intensity. Due to lifting closer to our one rep max and stimulating our nervous system. Therefore, the goal of undulating periodization is to work hard for a specific adaptation for 3 weeks, then change focus before we build up too much fatigue or begin to plateau.

In each training block or 3-week program, we have specific adaptations we are shooting for. We smash it hard for 3 weeks then undulate to a different rep range focus. My Exercise Staples Every coach has his or her favorites when it comes to training themselves or their clients. But the longer you are in the game of being a coach (for me it’s 12 years this year), we naturally start to dial in on what we think works and what does not.

For me, it’s not about being narrow minded or dogmatic, rather we become evidence based from working with 100’s and 1,000’s for some of us. This bikini guide is about giving you what I have seen to WORK.

It’s not necessarily going to be using exercises you are going to love or enjoy. It’s hard work doing the basics. But my goal is to build the best bikini bodies in the world. I have already achieved this with Lauren Simpson becoming the WBFF World bikini champion, now my job is to improve you!


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Mark’s Top 3 Lower Body Movements

The Low Bar Squat

The Hip Thrust

The Deadlift

I love squats for building the bikini body. Now if you have followed me on social media over the last year, you will regularly see small, strong, petite and athletic female clients of mine doing 100kg/220lbs squats like there is no tomorrow. I think of the low bar squat as the base building exercise for all my programs. My girls squat, and they squat a lot. In this program you will squat twice a week.

No other exercise I believe has revolutionized the female lifting communi-ty than the Barbell hip thrust invented by the great Bret Contreras. In gyms around the world today, women are thrusting away some obscene weights on the hip thrust and has really helped to popularize the training of the glutes.

Due to the starting and finishin position of the movement, the glutes are taken through quite a brutal stimulus, thus making it an amazing lower body building exercise.

I regularly use many variations of a deadlift, however for this program we are going with the basic and my favorite - conventional deadlift. I do believe from a muscle building standpoint the conventional deadlift is more optimal than a sumo deadlift, so I personally run with it in the majority of my training phases.

We will conventional deadlift 1 day a week, with a deadlift variation another 1-2 days a week such as the snatch grip.

I prefer the low bar squat for bikini girls, due to the hip dominant nature of the movement. A low bar squats bar placement is on the rear felt shelf which forces a more bent over torso. The reason I like this is it becomes more posterior chain dominant. More posterior chain development means more glutes, which are our friend when building the bikini body. The high bar squat leads to greater knee flexion and a more upright torso. Thus, allowing a more quad dominant squat. This does not mean high bar squats are not a great tool, however, our goal of the next 12 weeks is building the bikini body, which all starts with an amazing pair of jean filling glutes!

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Mark’s Top 3 Upper Body Movements

Barbell Overhead Press

Pull Up

Various Dumbbell Lateral Raises

Simply put, I love the overhead press. From my experience, no exercise to me shows more true strength than being able to stand up and press something really heavy over your head. The other great thing is its amazing for building shoulders. Shoulders are a key to building that ultimate bikini body as it gives us that X frame. Building your shoulders up will naturally help give you more of an hourglass look, essential for building a bikini body!

The pull up is my favorite upper body movement to get women strong on. Nothing says a boss girl in the gym like being able to not just knock out body weight pull ups, but also weighted pull ups.

In the program you will be performing pull ups twice a week with a variety of hand positions from phase to phase. For those who cannot pull up their body weight with proper technique, use a band to assist or an assisted pull up machine.

As I said before, the key to a great bikini upper body is shoulders. The shoulders have 3 heads of the muscle, the anterior deltoid, medial deltoid and also the posterior deltoid. These are all key to be developed to bring that X and 3D look of a woman’s upper body.

However, your traditional overhead presses variations primarily work the anterior deltoid and a little of medial deltoids.

With zero posterior, lateral and Y raises will further target these posterior heads of the deltoids to build a pair of shoulders that match the pair of glutes we will be building.

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Mark’s Favorite Accessory Exercises

Lower Body Accessory Exercises

Upper Body Accessory Exercises

When it comes to accessory exercises, these need to build upon the big lifts. The word accessory is just that, an accessory to the big basics which form our foundation. Accessory lifts can focus on different range of motions, strength curves and hand/foot positions to increase muscle fiber recruitment.

Quads - split squats, lunges, hack squats and leg presses

Hamstrings - leg curls. It’s important to understand to fully target our hamstrings, we need to train the muscle through both knee flexion, hamstring curls. Lying hamstring curls in particular are great for that. Then also hip extensions - deadlifts, good mornings and rack pulls.

Glutes - deficit reverse lunges, back extensions, glue bridges, abductor machine, smith machine hip thrust etc. are all great options here.

Pressing Movements: With upper body accessory lifts, I like a variety of different pressing angles and hand positions. A small change in the degree of a bench or going from a neutral grip to pronated grip for a dumbbell shoulder press, can lead to small but valuable changes.

Back: With all my pulldowns and rows, you will notice from program to program hand position will change frequently. Supinated, pronated and neutral grip will all be used as will a variety of widths for the hands on both horizontal and vertical pulling exercises.

Arms: Each upper body workout has a few sets of biceps and triceps. For the bikini body, we don’t need a whole lot of arms, but training them still means they get stronger. The stronger your arms are, the more they can assist with exercises such as your presses and pull up. A little can go a long way!

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GLUTE SPECIFIC TRAINING SECRETS

Now of course, this would not be a complete bikini program without a little bit of information on the glutes as no bikini body is complete without a nice round set of glutes filling out the bikini!

Let’s go over common mistakes women make when training glutes

12 Months 6 Months

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Not training with enough frequency. The glutes are an interesting muscle, which seem to respond quite different to other muscles, but what we know from them is they can handle a lot of volume. I’m still amazed women are doing the old school ‘bro splits’ of 1 leg day a week, wondering why their glutes won’t grow. You will be doing lower body 3 x a week ; from my experience this will ensure we get some tangible results here.

Lifting too heavy on the hip thrust. Okay so this sounds quite different to what I usually say of getting women strong is key and it is. However, the issue is many girls go too heavy on the hip thrust and fail to get a squeeze of the muscle. The weight is too much so they cannot get the glutes contracted to its full potential. The glutes in a hip thrust are primarily overloaded in the end range (at the very top of the rep), half reps don’t have the same benefit. Yes, go heavy as you can, but we must be doing full reps.

Not using a variety of rep ranges. We now know muscle hypertrophy can be achieved in a very broad rep range. 5 reps all the way up to 30 have been shown to elicit almost identical hypertrophy adaptations. What does this mean for the glutes? Well, let’s use a variety of rep ranges when training them. Some exercises work better for low reps (deadlifts and hip thrust dead stops) whilst other exercises I like very high reps ( smith machine hip thrusts, frog pumps and machine abductions.

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My Top Tips for Building a Set of `Bikini Body` Glutes Firstly, the glutes need to be hit from a variety of ways to maximize glutes hypertrophy. Squats were once seen as the king of glutes exercises, however recent work from industry legends like Bret Contreras have shown that hip thrusts are far superior than squats for creating tension in the glutes.

That does not mean squats are a bad choice, just that hip thrusts seem to be more optimal. However, the hip thrust is hardest in the shortened/contracted position, but easiest in the length-ened/stretch position. Therefore, to fully hit the glutes, we want to ensure we overload them in exercises that are hardest in the stretch such as lunges, deadlifts and squats.

As stated previously, rep ranges for building muscle can be very broad. Which is why when it comes to glutes, particularly the hip thrust I use all rep ranges. We will do heavy 5 rep dead stops, 25 rep smith machine hip thrusts, high rep frog pumps and heavy deadlifts and squats. We will utilize all potential muscle building pathways.

All in all, this program is going to leave no stone unturned when it comes to building glutes. We will get strong, really strong. We will do moderate reps, and we will do some horrible high rep work. All angles will be hit, and there will be some very sore bums across the world. Get excited, your glutes are about to become even more awesome!


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UNDERSTANDING HOW TO READ THIS PROGRAM

From working with thousands of clients both in person and online over the last decade, the feedback I know that for a client to get great results, they need to actually know how to use the program. Especially when it is in a guide book format like this.

The importance of knowing the what and the why of the program will always dramatically drive up the success of any routine. So, let’s cover the basics!

Sets refers to the number of times you repeat the same exercise. For example, 5 x 10-12 reps at a 4010 tempo. Would mean that you will 10-12 reps of a particular exercise with a 4010 tempo 5 times in total.

Reps refers to the number of times you will do the relevant movement. For example, if the program said 5 x 10-12 reps low bar squat, that would mean that you do the movement 10-12 reps for 5 circuits.

Tempo refers to the time under tension you lift each repetition with. Each number on the tempo layout also refers to a different component of the lift. A good example would be 4010 tempo on a low bar barbell squat.

Our program is based around supersets, which involve partnering two or more exercises together. This creates more metabolic demand and allows for more blood flow to be pushed throughout the entire body when performing upper body and lower body supersets.

Now in terms of how you would interpret that, let me simplify:

Sets

Reps

Tempo

Supersets

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4 – the first number always refers to the eccentric (lowering) component of the movement. So, for example if you were doing a squat, you would take 4 seconds to lower the weight for each repetition.0 – the second number refers to the bottom position of the movement, which in most cases is the part of the movement where the exercise is the hardest. So, for example if you were doing a squat, the 0 would be at the bottom of the movement.1 – the third number refers to the concentric part of the moment (Lifting) which is generally when you are lifting the weight. For example, in a squat this would be on your way up from the bottom of the movement.0 – the fourth and final number refers to the top position of the movement, which in most cases is the beginning or easiest part of the lift. In the squat example this would be when you are standing in a dead stop position.


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A series is the order of the exercises in the program and to understand what exercises are paired together. E.g. the first partnership will be the A) Series:

A common question I am asked when it comes to executing programs is “how much should I lift?”

Often people expecting me over Instagram to give them exact numbers of what they should be using for an exercise, people I have never met and do not know.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy, everyone is different! I trained Lauren Simpson last year and she squatted 150kg. I also trained a WBFF Pro client Ange Murray to place top 10 in the world, in her case Ange didn’t squat more than 80kg. She was still a pro and one of the best bikini bodies on the planet. So yes, it depends. What I like to do is use a “ramping” method. This involves adding weight each set. For example, the first exercise of the program is a low bar squat. 4 sets of 10 reps. Now what we don’t want to do is do your absolute max weight set 1 for 10 reps, as this leaves you know where to improve throughout your program.

Remember each training block is 3 weeks and the goal is for you to finish the 3rd week on the most weight you can lift for an exercise. The A) series lifts such as the low bar squats, deadlifts and also barbell hip thrusts are what we primarily periodize over the course of the 12 weeks. We then have a variety of accessory variations throughout the additional series / exercises on each day.

These ones especially the last burn out reps we want to go all out. Take it to failure. But the heavy a) series exercises, it’s important to have more of a strategic plan and not crush yourself week 1. This will inevitably lead to lack of progression over the 3 weeks. We will get to how to load the bar each set, but it’s important to understand the RPE scale first, as this is what I like to gauge how hard to work my clients from week to week.

The next series would be the B) Series which looks like:

If an exercise is a stand-alone, e.g. not a superset it is just to be executed back to back alone. It will simply be:

Series

Weight / Load Selection

A1) Leg Press

A2) Shoulder press

B1)

B2)

A) OR B) – just the letter by itself with no number


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For a hip thrust set of 10 reps, an example of adding weight each set may look like this. With the clients max previously being 130kg, week 1 we want to start within this number. Then each week we raise it to the 3rd week, when we surpass our personal best:

Incremental jumps each set is our goal, but note the last set was not taken to failure. It was hard! Probably 2-3 reps left in the tank but that’s fine. We have room to move next week. The next week RPE scale slides up slightly:

As you can see, from the first week to the second week, all the weight has been lifted each set. We want to finish set 4 on a higher weight than we did the previous week.

Which translates to:

RPE refers to rate of perceived exhaustion. Or simply a scale of 1-10 of how hard you worked for that set. A 3-5 out of 10 level of effort, will not signal hypertrophy gains. Yes, you are lifting weights and acquiring training volume, however the training stimulus is not enough to make significant gains - at least the type of results we are after in this guide. But as I said earlier, we do not want to be going to a level 10 each set. This will cap our potential of improving. The way I suggest ramping the weight is using the RPE scale, which I like to do in the following manner:

Set 1 – RPE 7

Set 2 – RPE 7.5

Set 3 – RPE 8

Set 4 – RPE 8.5

Set 1 – 100kg

Set 2 – 107.5kg

Set 3 – 115kg

Set 4 – 122.5kg

Set 1 – RPE 7.5

Set 2 – RPE 8

Set 3 – RPE 8.5

Set 4 – RPE 9

Set 1 – 107.5kg

Set 2 – 115kg

Set 3 – 122.5 kg

Set 4 – 130kg


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Which translates to:

As you can see, the original number was 130kg for 10 reps the clients max was 137.5kg. Now, after a careful and strategic plan to loading the bar, we have surpassed that number in week 3!

Now let’s do week 3. The final week of the training block (we will do 4 x 3-week training programs in the 12 weeks);

Set 1 – RPE 8

Set 2 – RPE 8.5

Set 3 – RPE 9

Set 4 – RPE 9.5

Set 1 – 115kg

Set 2 – 122.5kg

Set 3 – 130kg

Set 4 – 137.5kg


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ADVANCED TRAINING TECHNIQUES

In my program, you will notice I always like to start with a heavy compound exercise, then the reps will ascend as we go, and the time under tension will rise. You will also notice I use terms such as drop sets and rest pause.

These are advanced techniques I use throughout all my client’s programs as a way of increasing training volume through time under tension. Then also just by delivering an amazing pump, it leaves the client feeling amazing. It’s hard work and important to understand how to implement correctly. PLEASE NOTE - all the intensity techniques are only utilized on the LAST set of an exercise. Each set we add weight, so the last set is the heaviest. The last set is when we utilize these techniques!

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Now let’s explain by using a leg press for an example, as we have 4 sets of 12 to do. Our last set we use the max weight we can get for 12 reps. This should be a weight we can only just get. We do 12 reps to failure. We then rack the weight and rest for 15 seconds.

We then un-rack the weight and go again as many reps to failure as possible ( usually about 30% less than the first go) we then rack it and rest another 15 seconds. Then finally we go again tall out failure probably again, another drop of 30% of reps. The weight stays the same. This is not a drop set.

So again, we go to failure on the last set - rest 15 seconds - go again - rest 15 seconds - then go again. In this instance, we use a rest pause method x 2 and I can assure you, it will hurt!

Drop sets is exactly what it says it is, we drop the weight during the set. Again, let’s use the leg press. It’s important to state though when doing these sets, the first part of the rest pause or drop set of reps must be to failure. So how does this look?

Leg Press - 12 reps.

Go to failure and just hit 12.

You then have a partner, or you drop 20% of the weight and then you go again immediately. This is drop set x 1 drop. If its x 2 drop which some are, we then drop a further 20% of the weight off, then go again. Each time we go to failure.

Technique 1: Rest Pause Method

Technique 2: Drop Sets Method


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The key is - the percentage drop should be 20%. E.g. if you are doing 100kg leg press, then drop 20% off after failure (20kg) and continue on 80kg. Drop set x 2 - max reps - drop 20% go again - drop 20% go again. Please remember that these should be hard and if at the end of one of these, you are not hurting, it wasn’t the right weight. Also note, this is for the last set only and only on exercises it is listed on!

On your lower body days, you will see the E series calls for a ‘glute finisher’, choose any one of the below for your glute finisher, I assure you they will be painful, but you will thank me later! Perform each exercise for 30 seconds, no rest inbetween exercises, complete one full round and then re-peat. Click work out name to watch video.

A1: Frog pumpsA2: Banded crab walk (torso

forward lean)

A1: Crab walk (torso forward lean)A2: Lying single leg glute bridge (each leg)A3: Lying side clams (each side)A4: Banded frog pumpsA5: Crab walks (torso upright)A6: Banded

Glute bridge

A1: Frog pumpsA2: Bent over banded kickbacks (Single

leg, then swap)

A1: Crab walk (torso forward lean) A2: Lying bridge hip abductionsA3: Banded B- stanceA4: Crab walks (torso upright)A5: Glute bridge x 30A6: Crab walk

(torso forward lean)

A1: Banded B - stance Glute bridgesA2: Lying banded

clams.

Technique 3: Booty Band Finishers

Glute Finisher 1 Glute Finisher 2 Glute Finisher 3 Glute Finisher 4 Glute Finisher 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRpe7NR-yQQ&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYzRbVcz84U&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JERETfI6vE&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiuLORB8D9Q&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmpoYQVWXhE&feature=youtu.be


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On your upper body days, you will see the ‘E series’ calls for a ‘ab finisher’, choose any one of the below for your ab finisher and thank me later! Perform each exercise for 30 seconds, no rest inbe-tween exercises, complete one full round and then repeat. Click work out name to watch video.

In my previous ‘Gen Pop’ guide, I preferred to go with a LISS method over HIIT. The reason I went with lower intensity, but longer duration was for a simple reason - gen pop clients tend to be very stressed out. HIIT can jack up stress hormones a lot and effect recovery, I wanted again calorie expenditure which did not affect their resistance training.

However, with the bikini guide, I will be coaching many more advanced women. Therefore, my method to the advanced client is generally - do what you enjoy. As long as calorie expenditure is almost equal, fat loss will be equal. But this guide, we will be utilizing intervals! Intervals are a much more time efficient way to generate fat loss. For me, I’m busy, I don’t have time to waste, so let’s get cardio done quickly. I suggest using a stepper, cross trainer or exercise bike for the intervals. Not the treadmill unless you really enjoy running Note - Please do this 2 x a week ideally on non-resistance training days

A1: High to low plankA2: Hanging running man

30 secs on eachNo rest in between

A1: Cable crunchesA2: Lying single leg raises with reverse crunchA3: Russian twist w. weight plateA4: Med ball jack knivesA5: Side plank hold (30 secs each side)


A1: Decline reverse crunchA2: High to low plank


A1: Side plank with pulse (30 secs each side).A2: Weighted sit upsA3: Hanging knee raisesA4: Lying leg raisesA5: High to low plank


A1: Lying leg raise with reverse crunchA2: Med ball jack knives


Technique 4: Ab Circuits

Technique 5: Cardio

Ab Finisher 1 Ab Finisher 2 Ab Finisher 3 Ab Finisher 4 Ab Finisher 5

Weeks 1-3 - 20 minutes - 60 seconds hard, 60 seconds slow and easy

Weeks 4-6 - 25 minutes - 30 seconds hard, 90 seconds easy

Weeks 7-9 - 30 minutes - 45 seconds hard, 75 seconds easy

Weeks 10-12 - 20 minutes - 20 seconds hard + 100 seconds easy + after the 20 minutes have a complete 5-minute rest of the machine. Then come back to a machine and do steady state for another 20 minutes. So, 20 minutes of intervals - 5-minute total rest - then 20 mins of steady state Heart rate at 65% of max Heart rate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7GEGp7DG7c&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1jUMODL6-8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hM0vBVP7i0&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xN96MYT0DI&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqjnh6Q9hRk&feature=youtu.be


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Weeks 1-3 - 10,000 steps



Weeks 10-12 - 16,000 steps

Steps are an artificial form of measuring NEAT levels, however true NEAT is however not something we can periodize. With steps that we are programming, that takes away from the ( Non-Exercise part of NEAT).

However, steps are still an incredible tool I use to keep a client’s “out” component of their energy balance as consistent as we possibly can. Remember no matter what, true NEAT, such as fidgeting will lower the leaner we get as a defense mechanism to losing body fat. Which is why I like to peri-odic steps to counteract the natural decrease of movement. I also still like to use steps for clients who are utilizing the BUILD nutritional over view as movement in general is life. I want my clients moving and using their bodies. However, the movement is just not as great. Steps for Building?

I suggest daily steps of a minimum 8,000 and a maximum of 10,000. We don’t want to overdo the movement as this will negatively impact the increased calories that we are trying to consume to build the new muscle mass. Steps for Cutting?

Just as I did with my ‘Gen Pop’ guide book, I like to periodize NEAT levels here for the 12 weeks. This is an overview of how I periodize steps for one of my bikini clients:

Yes, that reaches quite a lot of steps. However, I prefer my clients getting greater calories burnt from less stressful means of calorie expenditure majority of the time. Simply moving more is a very simple and effective way to burn more calories and lose more body fat.

Technique 6: Steps

TRAINING

LET’S WORK!


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TRAINING TEMPLATES22

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll

PHASE 1: Accumulation 1

PROGRAM: 4 x 10


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SQUATCLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Squat

PROGRAM: 4 x 10

DAY: Monday

Notes: 1 second pause in stretch positio n

Notes: Rest pause method x 2 last set

Notes: Last set drop set x 2



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UPPER 1

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Upper 1

PROGRAM: 4 x 10

DAY: Tuesday

Notes: Use band if needed






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DEADLIFT

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Deadlift

PROGRAM: 4 x 10

DAY: Wednesday

Notes: 2 second pause in stretch position

Notes: Stand on 20kg plate to increase range of motio n




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UPPER 2

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Upper 2

PROGRAM: 4 x 10

DAY: Friday



Notes: Rest Pause method x 2 last set

Notes: Last set rest pause x 1


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HIP THRUSTS

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Hip Thrusts

PROGRAM: 4 x 10

DAY: Saturday

Notes: Elevated Heels under 5kg plates - deep squat

Notes: Do not let bar touch the ground between reps - last set drop se t

Notes: Rest pause x 2

Notes: Last set drop set x 2 (drop 1 level only each drop)


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SQUAT

DAY: Squat

PROGRAM: 4x6 Method

DAY: Monday

Notes: One leg at a time

Notes: 4 second eccentric - Rest pause x 2 last se t




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DAY: Upper 1

PROGRAM: 4x6 Method

DAY: Tuesday




UPPER 1

Notes: Rest pause method x 2 last s



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Notes: Rest Pause method x 2 last sNotes: Bring elbows back on a 45º angl e


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DEADLIFTDAY: Deadlift

PROGRAM: 4x6 Method

DAY: Wednesday

Notes: 1 & 1/4 reps - 1/4 rep at bottom of split squat

Notes: Ensure dead stop each rep, reset then perform next rep


Notes: Last Set - drop set x 1

Notes: Round upper back for greater glutes emphasi s


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UPPER 2

DAY: Upper 2

PROGRAM: 4x6 Method

DAY: Friday

Notes: Use band if needed or add weight

Notes: 2 second pause in bottom position

Notes: Hands just inside shoulder width


Notes: This is a same muscle super sNotes: Last set rest pause x 1


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Notes: last set drop set x 1

0


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HIP THRUSTERS

DAY: Hip Thrusters

PROGRAM: 4X6 Method

DAY: Saturday


Notes: Pause bar on ground each rep - last set rest pause and remove bar

Notes: Rest pause x drop set x 2

Notes: This is a same muscle super sNotes: Last set drop set x 2


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CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


PROGRAM: Heavy Light Method


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SQUAT

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Squat


DAY: Monday

Notes: Stand on 20kg plate and lunge - alternate leg each rep

Notes: 3 x 1/4 reps at top of each rep - Note superset with leg cur l



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Notes: Use a 12 rep max weight - keep to rest periods


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UPPER 1

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Upper 1


DAY: Tuesday

Notes: 1/4 rep at top

Notes: This is a same muscle super s

Notes: Same muscle superse t

Notes: Rest Pause method x 2 last s

Notes: last set drop set x 2


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DEADLIFT

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Deadlift


DAY: Wednesday

Notes: This is a same muscle superset with leg pres s

Notes: 2 second pause in concentric just below the knee


Notes: This is a same muscle superset with abductor


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Notes: Use a 12 rep max weight - keep to rest periods


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UPPER 2CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Upper 2


DAY: Friday




Notes: Rest Pause method x 2 last s

Notes: This is a same muscle super sNotes: Rest Pause method x 2 last s


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0


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HIP THRUSTERS

CLIENT:

COACH: Mark Carroll


DAY: Hip Thrusters


DAY: Saturday


Notes: 1/4 reps in top - Superset with DB RDL

Notes: Stand heels on 10kg plates - superset with lunges

Notes: Alternate leg each rep

Notes: This is a same muscle super sNotes: Last set - Stand feet on 6 inch elevation - sumo stance


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SQUATDAY: Squat

PROGRAM: 5x5 Method

DAY: Monday

Notes: 1/4 rep in bottom.

Notes: 4 second eccentric - last set rest pause x 1

Notes: Drop set x 1

Notes: Drop set each set. 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps = 1 se t


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UPPER 1

DAY: Upper 1

PROGRAM: 5x5 Method

DAY: Tuesday


Notes: 1 & 1/4 reps - last set drop se

Notes: Hands just inside shoulder width


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Notes: Rest Pause method x 2 last sNotes: Last set drop set x 2




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DEADLIFT

DAY: Deadlift

PROGRAM: 5x5 Method

DAY: Wednesday

Notes: Last set drop set x 1 - 2 second pause at to p

0

Notes: 10 second hold in top + 6 full reps + 10 x 1/4 reps at to p


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UPPER 2

DAY: Upper 2

PROGRAM: 5x5 Method

DAY: Friday

Notes: Use band if needed or add weight



Notes: This is a same muscle super sNotes: Last set rest pause x 2 - 1/4 rep


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0

Notes: 1/4 rep at botto m

Notes: 3 second pause at bottom


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HIP THRUSTERS

DAY: Hip Thrusters

PROGRAM: 5x5 Method

DAY: Saturday


Notes: Dead stop weight on ground each set - last set drop set x 2

Notes: 1/4 REP at top + last set drop set x 1

Notes: Stand on 20kg plate - forward step - alternat e

Notes: This is a same muscle super sNotes: B -Stance


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CONCLUSION

In closing, I want to thank you all for taking the time to purchase this book and support not only me with what I do, but also thousands of other women around the world who want to take their health and fitness to the next level.

So, follow the systems and information outlined in this book and go out and start building your bikini body today.

Let’s work!

Coach Mark Carroll#teammarkcarroll

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EXERCISE GLOSSARY

MY COACHING CUES


30° PRONE DB LATERAL RAISES/REARDELT FLYS

45° BACK EXTENSIONS - BB ON BACK

45° BACK EXTENSIONS - DB ON CHEST

45° BACK EXTENSIONS - ROUNDED BACK

Cues

Cues

Cues

Cues

Pull shoulder blades down and back. Take DBs to the sides.Tink out, down & back

Place bar on back in low bar squat positioning. Hinge at the hips.Push quads into the pad on way up.

Focus on hinging from hips.Push quads into the pad on way up.Turn toes out 45°.Hold DB on chest.

Round back. Imagine bringing chest to hips. Hinge at hips. Drive quads into pad.

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EXERCISE GLOSSARY24


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45º INCLINE CURL - SUPINATED

45º INCLINE ZOTTMAN CURL

45º PRONE Y RAISES

65º DB PRESS - PRONATED - PAUSED

65º INCLINE HAMMER CURL

Cues

Cues

Cues

Cues

Cues

Arms straight & keep elbows still.Head back into bench.Curl DB’s upward, angle your pinky outward at the top.

Begin movement with underhand grip and curl up.At top pronate DBs and slowly lower.

Depress and retract scapula. Raise DBs at a 45º angle. Keep hands pronated.

Press shoulder back and down into bench.Overhand grip of DBs, with elbows at 45º angle.Don’t let the DB’s touch together at the top.

DBs in neutral position. Keep elbows locked in to ribs.Bring DB’s up towrds shoulder.Squeeze at the top, lower & lengthen


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B - STANCE DB ROMANIAN DEADLIFT

B STANCE BB HIP THRUSTS

BB BACK FOOT ELEVATED SPLIT SQUATS

Cues

Cues

Cues

Staggered stance, front foot flat, back foot elevate heel. Hinge hips push glutes backwardsKeep your eyes 1m infront on the floor, dont strain neck”

Staggered stance, back foot flat. Front foot toe elevated. front heel in line with back foot toe.Scoop pelvis under to thrust bar upwards, squeeeze glutes at the top.

Front foot on 20kg plate. keep front foot flat, back foot heel elevated. Push front knee over toes and back knee to ground.Keep chest & torso up straight, don’t round shoulders.

BB HIP THRUST - DEAD STOPS - BAND AROUND KNEES

Cues

Dead stop means after each rep you rest the weighton the ground. Band around knees.Keep chin tucked.


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BB HIP THRUST - TRIPLE CONTRACTION METH

BB STANDING BEHIND THE NECK PRESS

Cues

Cues

Perform 3 x 1/4 reps at top, then lower weight all the way down without touching ground. 1 rep = 3 x 1/4 reps at top .Remember to scoop pelvis under.

Pull shoulder blades down and back. Bar begins on traps and we want a full range of motion. Hands should be outside shoulder width.

BENT OVER BB ROW - PRONATED

CABLE BICEP CURLS

Cues

Cues

Hinge at hips, brace your core.Keep torso at 45° angle. Row bar into hips not into chest or stomach.

Use a T bar or straigh bar.Grip bar shoulder width apart with an underhand grip .Keep elbows tucked into sides and curl up.


POWERED BY

CLOSE GRIP BENCH PRESS

DB ARNOLD PRESS

Cues

Cues

Hands inside shoulder width. Shoulders back and down, squeeze together on the bench.Tense everything, drive feet into the ground hard.

Begin with DBs supinated position. Press the DBs and pronated your wrists to allow for the dbs to turn. Mirror the movement pattern on way down.

DB BACK FOOT ELEVATED

DB DEFICIT REVERSE LUNGES

Cues

Cues

Back foot on 20kg plate. keep front foot flat, back foot heel elevated. Push front knee over toe and back knee to groundKeep chest & torso up straight, don’t round shoulders

Stand on 20kg plate and lunge backwards with a big step. Slight forward torso lean.Keep chest & torso up straight, don’t round shoulders.


POWERED BY

DB FESS

DB REVERSE LUNGES

Cues

Cues

Front foot on 20kg plate or step. keep front foot flat, back foot heel elevated. Push front knee over toe and back knee to ground - thnk about lunging forward, not down.Keep chest & torso up straight, don’t round shoulders.

Lunge backwards. Big step. Slight forward torso lean. Drive forward with grounded foot.

DB ROMANIAN DEADLIFT

DEADLIFT - PAUSED BELOW KNEE

Cues

Cues

Hold DB’s in front of body, upper thigh position. Hinge at the hips to push glutes to wall behind you.Keep eyes glancing 1m infront of feet.

Pause deadlift for 2 seconds on way up. Just below knee. Focus on whole nody tightness then explosively finish the rep.


POWERED BY

DECLINE EZ BAR TRICEPS EXTENSIONS

DEFICIT DEADLIFT

Cues

Cues

15* Decline. Elbows stay vertical. Lower back to forehead.

Stand on 20kg plate. Reset weight each rep, allow for bar to pass knees before bending your legs. Shins should be 80% vertical.

DEFICIT LUNGES - FORWARD STEP - ALTERNATE

FLAT DB TRICEP EXTENSIONS

Cues

Cues

Stand on 20kg plate, lunge forwards with a moderate step. Keep torso upright.These are more quad focused!

Keep elbows vertical and parallel.Lower DB’s to side of head.Keep abs on tight and feet flat on floor.


POWERED BY

FLAT DB TRICEPS EXTENSIONS 1 & 1/4 REPS

HACK SQUAT FEET HIGH AND WIDE

Cues

Cues

Keep elbows vertical and parallel.Lower DB’s to side of head.Keep abs on tight and feet flat on floor.Perform 1/4 rep in botom position then finish the full rep.

Place feet high and wide. Toes turned out slowly. Push knees out and rip floor apart.

HEELS ELEVATED GOBLET SQUAT

HEELS ELEVATED HIGH BAR SQUAT - 1 & 1/4 STAND HEELS ON 10KG PLATES

Cues

Cues

Heels elevated under 20kg plates. Hold KB or DB under chin. Deep squat. push knees out.Don’t round your upper back.

Push knees out the entire time.Focus on ripping floor apart for constant tension.Pull shoulder blades down and back.


POWERED BY

LAT PULL DOWN - SUPINATED

LEANING ONE ARM CABLE LATERAL RAISES

Cues

Cues

Shoulder width and underhand grip.Pull shoulder blades down and back or depress then retract scapula. Pull elbows to the ground.

Hold a pole so you can hang to the side. Raise cable with other arm.Do not lower all the way to leg, keep constant tension by pausing directly underneath shoulder.

LEANING ONE ARM DB LATERAL RAISES

LEG EXTENSIONS 1 & 1/4 REPS

Cues

Cues

Hold a pole so you can hang to the side. Raise DB with other arm.Do not lower all the way to leg, keep constant tension by pausing directly underneath shoulder

1/4 rep at the top. Drive hamstrings into pad when performing 1/4 rep.


POWERED BY

LEG PRESS - DUCK STANCE

LEG PRESS - FEET LOW AND NARROW

Cues

Cues

Turn toes out wide and heels in narrow. Feet middle of plate.Lower the leg press by pushing knees outward towards the armpits.

Place heels at bottom of plate and feet inside shoulder width. Ensure knees remain parallel.Abs on tight & head back, don’t push your hands onto your thighs.

LEG PRESS FEET MIDDLE

LOW BAR SQUAT

Cues

Cues

Feet middle of plate.Imagine ripping feet apart.Keep lower back pressed against back support.

Pull shoulder blades down and back into your ‘back pockets’.Push knees out when squatting like you’re trying to rip floor apart.Brace your core, big breathe in at the top - hold it and exhale when finished 1 rep.


POWERED BY

LYING LEG CURL - NORMAL

LYING LEG CURL TOES DOWN & IN

Cues

Cues

Dont throw weight or pull through lower back.Drive hips and quads into the pad.Squeeze glutes - go lighter if you feel you’re pulling through the back.

Toes down and inDont throw weight up.Drive hips and quads into the pad.

LYING ONE LEG HIP ABDUCTION

MACHINE HIP ABDUCTION - 10 REPS LEANING FORWARD + 10 REPS LEANING BACK

Cues

Cues

Lie on side and raise top leg.Keep the bottom leg bent. Keep toe pointing to the ground for more glutes activation.

Lean forward and drive knees outs to the sides.Perform 20 sitting back against the seat, 20 upwards and 20 leaning forwards


POWERED BY

ONE ARM CABLE LATERAL RAISES

ONE ARM DB ROW

Cues

Cues

Hold cable handle on opposing side. Raise to the side.Think out not up.

Front arm on bench. Back knee on bench. Row DB from in line with shoulder to hip.

ONE ARM DB ROW - DEAD STOPS

PULL UP - NEUTRAL - 2 SECOND PAUSE AT TOP

Cues

Cues

Front arm on bench & Back knee on bench. Row DB from in line with shoulder to hip. Allow the DB to rest on floor after each rep.

Hands neutral, pull elbows to the ground and retract scapula.Keep your chin & eyes up towards the roof.Chest up to the bar & pause for 2 secs.


POWERED BY

PULL UP NEUTRAL

PULL UP PRONATED

Cues

Cues

Hands neutral, pull elbows to the ground and retract scapula.Keep your chin & eyes up towards the roofChest up to the bar.

Overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder width, pull elbows to the ground and retract scapula.Keep your chin & eyes up towards the roofChest up to the bar.

REVERSE HACK SQUAT

Cues

Turn around to face the back restDrive knees out. Rip floor apartDon’t squeeze at the top, focus on constant tension

ROPE CABLE TRICEPS EXTENSIONS

Cues

Push elbows into sides as if trying to crush your armpits. Keep elbows locked and extend elbows ripping the rope apart.


POWERED BY

ROPE HAMMER CURLS

Cues

Push elbows into sides as if trying to crush your armpits. Keep tucked in and curl upward bringing the rope ends to shoulders.

ROPE PULL TO NECK

ROPE PULL TO FACE

SEATED OVERHEAD EZ BAR TRICEPSEXTENSIONS

Cues

Cues

Cues

Pull rope to neck height.Think elbows out to the sides, not back.Rip rope apart.

Pull rope to face, in between eyes.Think elbows out to the sides, not back.Rip rope apart.

Sit upright with feet on the floor and elbows vertical.Lower back the EZ Bar behind the head to stretch & lengthen the tricep.Drive the bar up over the head, don’t swing.


POWERED BY

SEATED ROW - ROPE - REAR DELT FOCUSED

SEATED ROW NEUTRAL

SINGLELEG LYING LEG CURL

Cues

Cues

Cues

Rip rope apart.Elbows at 45º.Keep torso upright.

Shoulder blades back and down.Keep torso uprightDo not swing.

Using one leg to curl pad up.Dont throw weight.Drive hips and quads into the pad.

SMITH MACHINE HIP THRUST

Cues

Knees close to body, should make a 90º angle at the top.Keep chin tucked on chest.Hard squeeze of glutes at the top.


POWERED BY

STANDING DB LATERAL RAISES 1 & 1/4 REP

STRAIGHT ARM ROPE PULL DOWNS

STRAIGHT BAR CABLE TRICEPS EXTENSIONS

Cues

Cues

Cues

Raise DBs to the sides, think out not up. Angle thumbs downard and elbows up to the ceiling.1/4 rep at top.

Bend and hold torso as 45º, straight arms bring rope to hip.Ensure a good stretch at top position.Squeeze back and lats at the bottom.

Push elbows into sides as if trying to crush your armpits. Keep Elbows locked and rip bar apart.

SUMO FEET ELEVATED KB DEFICIT DEADLIFT

Cues

Stand on elevation of 6 inches.Feet wide and toes turned out. Hinge at hips and push glutes to the wall behind you.


POWERED BY

SUPINATED UNDERHAND GRIP PULL UP

WIDE GRIP PRONATED SEATED ROW

WIDE GRIP LAT PUL DOWN

Cues

Cues

Cues

Shoulder width grip.Depress then retract scapula.Pull elbows to the ground.

Hands just outside shoulder width.Bring bar to upper stomach.Rip bar apart.

Hands outside shoulder widthChin, eyes and chest up to ceilingPull shoulders down & back to engage lats

BB GOOD MORNING

Cues

Hands in low bar squat positionShoulder blades back and downHinge at the hips to push glutes backwards


POWERED BY

BB SHOULDER PRESS

KB SUMO SQUAT HEELS ELEVATED

Cues

Cues

Tear the ground apart with your feetLock your gllutes and abs on tightShoulder blades back and down

Elevate feet 10cm/4inchesKeep chest up, shoulders back and downSquat down to lower KB below feet


POWERED BY

REFERENCES

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27351384


3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667256/


5. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-and-Carbohydrate-diets.html

6. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-and-Carbohydrate-diets.html







25

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27351384


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667256/


https://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-and-Carbohydrate-diets.html

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/Diabetes-and-Carbohydrate-diets.html








POWERED BY

FURTHER READING

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Copyright © CHFI IP Holdings PTY LTD 2019All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or retrieval, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act), a maximum of 10 percent of the number of pages of the e-resource or chapter, whichever is the greater, may be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the education institution (or the body that administers it has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.Mark Carroll powered by Clean Health Fitness InstituteBuilding The Bikini Body 2019First published & distributed May 2019 by Clean Health Fitness Institute

Disclaimer:The content of this e-book is to serve as a general overview of matters of interest and is not intended to be comprehensive, nor does it constitute medical (or other) advice in any way. This e-book is a compilation of one person’s ideas, concepts, ideologies, philosophies and opinions. You should carry out your own research and/or seek your own professional advice before acting or relying on any of the informationdisplayed in this e-resource. The author, and its related entities will not be liable for any injuries, loss or damage that may arise out of your improper use of, or reliance on, the content of this e-resource. You accept sole responsibility for the outcomes if you choose toadopt and/or use the systems, methods, ideas, concepts and opinions within the content of this e-book.

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