Shortcut to Size: Week 1

Starting Jim Stoppani’s program, Shortcut to Size, has been the absolute best fitness program I have ever been on.

For those of you who don’t know who Jim Stoppani is, let me give you the short summary: He has his doctorate in exercise physiology, and when you finally realize that all the workout ideas you get from Pinterest don’t work, you follow his proven system to get the results you want.

The Program:

The best part about this program, is that it is free to download (See: Here). There are absolutely zero tricks or gimmicks to this plan, and you can sign up for his free weekly newsletter, but only if you actually choose to. I would recommend signing up for the free newsletter from Jim only because: 1. It’s not spammy, you actually only get the e-mail once a week. 2. The videos in the newsletter help you understand what he’s asking you to do.

I won’t go into too much detail about the program, he can explain it better than I can.

My Personal Considerations:

For myself, I have upper crossed syndrome and lower crossed syndrome which is from years and years of writing and studying to get my college degree while sitting at a desk. Basically, my neck leans forward, which created a rounding out in my upper back and for my chest muscles to be shortened and tighter, and my lower back has an arch in it from my hips tilting forward.

Thankfully, this is all reversible, it’s just a matter of tightening and loosening some muscles.

So, I had to take this all into account with this program. I was determined to start this program, since I had seen on Jim Stoppani’s Twitter  how many people were seeing results, but I went through to make small tweaks here and there to get the program to work with my weak muscles. Essentially, for me it was important to not do as many chest exercises as the program has and include some mid-trapezious work along with lots and lots and lots of stretching for those tight muscles.

What works:

The biggest problem for so many females I meet when it comes to gaining muscle is simply this: They don’t eat enough.

I’ll be honest that for myself when I was younger (and ever before working as a trainer) I had the mindset of: If I only eat once, I will lose weight. At the time, I had no idea this would get me all of the exact opposite results I was looking for. It’s such a shame this is the biggest message that goes out to young girls (and boys) everywhere.

For my weight and height, my daily goal range of calories is between 1,800 and 2,000. If you’re a female new to building muscle, I know the first thought you have is that you’ll gain a ton of weight, but let me tell you, you won’t. All of the calories have gone right into my muscles and I have seen tremendous growth after just the first week alone. It’s also fun to be able to eat huge meals and not feel that sinking guilt that so many females have issues with.

The best part about this program is that when it’s shoulders day, Dr. Stoppani has you work every muscle in your shoulders. There are no major muscles that get away with being passed over, let me tell you.

The Results After Week 1:

I don’t know any other words besides: holy crap. I have never gained so many results in such a short amount of time.

Between eating enough calories and the rest-pause on the last set of each exercise, it has been amazing. My quads are starting to pop out (which is a huge deal for me because I have the tiniest upper legs compared to my calves… Thank you all those years of lacrosse), my triceps are definitely showing, my biceps are getting some little definition, and overall I just feel strong and healthy.

I’ve only wrapped up Week 1 and I can’t wait to see what next week will bring!

(Updated! I included a video!)