Mackenzie Ludwig Program Design

Hi, it’s been a min 🤍

Someone on insta posted a few weeks ago and said “it’s okay to take a break if something isn’t serving you in the moment” so I took a hiatus from snapping tons of pics and posting on here every day 👏🏽

The first pic—I’m pregnant and don’t know it yet. And that’s is my favorite physique I’ve ever had. I worked hard as a m**o through an 8 month bulk, and then an almost 5 month slowwww cut and was ~pumped~ to consider competing next year

The second picture is this week—24 weeks pregnant with my leeeetle girl! While I am over the moon excited, there are still days I mourn the fact that some of that physique *must* drastically change to be a healthy home for a little human to grow big and strong.

Also, the hormones make my type 8 exterior a little more emotional than I’m comfortable with so it’s been a WEEK 😂

Our bodies can do incredible things, I’ll be the first to tell that to anyone that will listen.

It’s also okay that it’s really hard to see them change so rapidly.

Pregnancy has been hard 🤷🏽‍♀️ my whole mindset in the gym had to shift a bit, I really miss sprinting and pick up soccer, my pelvis straight up feels like a pile of broken Legos most days, my belly button is just something else entirely at this point lol, and mentally we’re preparing for a humongous life change.

It doesn’t have to be pregnancy—whatever big life decisions and shifts you have going on might cause a mindset shift. Or an “off” week. Or a good cry when you reach max capacity for stress 😂

Find a way to fill your cup this weekend. Get a good latte, go outside (if it’s not sub zero and snowing), find a way to pay it forward.

Make your soul feel good 🖤 @ Cincinnati

The female body is bananas 🍌

Women get fed subliminal messaging daily about all the ways we need to fix our bodies and make ourselves look.

Sometimes those messages aren’t subliminal, and they’re straight up on the covers of magazines or being spewed from another undereducated celebrity cashing in on a paycheck.

We don’t spend enough time admiring the things our bodies can do, have done, & will do.

This body played year-round sports for nearly two decades.

This body crushed fitness tests, scored goals, and played division 1 college soccer for four years—all while coping with the pain of a golf ball sized mass stuck under my knee cap

This body recovered from two knee surgeries & a torn ligament in my ankle when I kept playing soccer after college.

This body has been all around the world.

✨It has surfed on the Gold Coast
🌟It has swam in the Great Barrier Reef
⚡️It has walked the streets of London
✨It has felt the magic of a Broadway show
🌟It has been beaten, and bruised, and broken and healed every damn time when I told it that I had to keep going
⚡️It has done double unders till I swore I would faint
✨it has fallen in love and walked down an aisle

This body is literally growing a full-ass human being. I mean sometimes I can’t wrap my head around it, and then I FEEL her tap-tap-tapping inside my belly reminding me she’s there.

We spend a whole lot of time wishing our bodies would change, look a certain way, lift a heavier weight.

Today, spend some time thanking it and remembering all the crazy, awesome, borderline magical things it does, has done, and will do.

Coffee & sunshine & fresh air was good for the soul this past week 🙌🏼

Do something that makes you feel good, take a deep breath, and relax today 🤍

That is all

Probably my favorite body comp I’ve ever worked toward, and didn’t even know I was pregnant 😂

When I told my coach there was a baby on the way, she was like hell yeah it’s growing season 😈

It’s funny, I had just ordered my stage heels and started practicing my posing when life threw me a curve ball

The timeline may have been pushed back, but the comeback is going to be so much sweeter with my little angel on my hip 🤍

Let’s build some shoulder boulders 💪🏼

Add this triset to your next upper body/shoulder day:
1A: Y Press: 3 x 8-10
1B: Front Raise: 3 x 10-12
1C: Shoulder Press: 3 x 8-10

Complete all three exercises without rest between 😝

Your shoulders will be SHAKINGGGG (if you choose the right weight👏🏽)

Save this for later, lemme know how it goes! @ Cincinnati

Do you hate cardio?

If you answered yes, do you actually just hate running?

Because there are soooo many forms of cardio—the options are endless👏🏽

Want to incorporate cardio? Get your heart rate up and get a little sweaty in the middle of winter?

You don’t have to run!

Here is a non-exhaustive, small list of some other options that I just noted off the top of my head 🙌🏼

Pick one of these, or hit up a group exercise class, or drop me another option below 😘 @ Cincinnati

Not all goals have to be about changing the way your body looks 🗣

Before anyone gets up in arms, you can have aesthetic based goals, but it’s important that you look outside of those as well!

This can be:
☑️hitting a PR
☑️increasing mobility
☑️going to the gym 3 days a week
☑️having FUN in the gym
☑️not running mile after mile bc you think you *have* to
☑️adding more veggies to your meals

These don’t even have to be fitness related 👏🏽

I have some goals that I’ve pivoted, adjusted, and gotten excited about:
👉🏽get into the gym 4-5 days a week and have fun
👉🏽grow a healthy baby
👉🏽eat more veggies (now that they don’t make me physically ill)
👉🏽grow in my biz

It’s not all about the skin sack we walk around in every day, and we should give that body some more credit for the miracles it works for us at all times without us even thinking about it 🙌🏼

Got any non aesthetic goals? 👇🏼

Horizontal growth 👇🏼

If you’re like... wut are you talking about?

I mean literally growing horizontally 😂

For the first time in a long time my goals have to shift dramatically and include growing larger in more ways than just growing muscle tissue

Now, I’m growing a whole ass human 🤰🏽

And while I know this is literally one of the most miraculous things the body can do 👉🏽 it’s hard to shift away from some very lofty, specific athletic/aesthetic based goals that I’d set for 2021

Those goals have shifted, I’m elated to bring a little girl into the world, but I’ve also been doing my best to accept the weird middle ground of not yet having a “clearly” pregnant belly 🤷🏽‍♀️

The reality of rapid body changes and the miracle of life, I suppose.

Just here to share my thoughts, tell ya you aren’t alone if you’ve had a bad week (or tow or three), and goals can shift/grow/change and be just as wonderful 🤍

So, here’s some pics a pulled from my stories today. Dat belly is growing a baby, and at the end of the day the excitement outweighs the self conscious thoughts 👏🏽 @ Cincinnati

What’s it mean to be gritty?

It means you GET 👏🏽 BACK 👏🏽 UP 👏🏽

One of my clients told me in her check in today that she absolutely failed one of her sets of squats. But the next set she hit all TEN reps 🙌🏼

She failed. But she got back up. Because she’s gritty.

That’s what sets her apart. Her willingness to look failure in the eye and then try it again.

Her willingness to get back up 👏🏽

So, go out and get gritty this week. @ Cincinnati

Small habits make a big difference

This doesn’t just apply to lifting/exercise, but can help you prepare to fit your exercise into your schedule if that’s something you struggle with!

Sunday’s are my weekly prep day:
▫️gym
▫️grocery
▫️meal prep
▫️laundry
▫️general tidying

This calms my mind, allows me to start the week with a clean house and a plan for my meals, and this way I don’t have to try to fit in exercise around other necessary errands—they’re already done!

Find a couple small things you can do to calm your mind, prepare for the week, and set yourself up for success 👏🏽

Already do this?! Lemme know your Sunday routine suggestions 👇🏼

My favorite saying👏🏽

I’m a big believer in *really* listening to what your body is telling you.

This means paying attention to:
🔘stress
🔘sleep
🔘hunger
🔘quality of training
🔘recovery
🔘digestion

HOT TAKE: your body is smarter than your brain.

Why? Because your brain is trying to protect you from the things you don’t want to hear/see/do, and your body may be saying something you don’t want to hear.. like, “plz stop pumping me full of caffeine and staying up all night thank you” 😂

And when we ignore this signals, or when we ignore bad digestion, or poor sleep quality, etc, our body AND brain will suffer.

So, when you’re stiffer than the tin man, slept like poo, digestion is off, and you had a bad day...it’s not the end of the world when you finally recognize you NEED an extra day of rest.

It’s freeing 🙌🏼

Let go of the “I have to workout 6 days a week and run and do abs and be all the things for all the people.”

Instead—do what’s right for you. Today and every day 😘

The pyramid of importance:

When my clients send their check ins they spend A LOT of time telling me about their biofeedback:
▫️sleep
▫️hunger cues
▫️stress
▫️digestion
& more!

Why? 👇🏼

Because these paint the bigger picture of what’s going on with the *entire* system and not just *in* the gym.

The goal is to improve as a whole—this means paying attention to what your body needs and what it communicates to you!

We start with biofeedback, work our way down the line until finally we discuss the actual workouts and the next weeks protocol 👏🏽

We’re a team.

We work to improve all aspects of health and wellness.

We have to build a strong base (plz picture a triangle again 😂), before we can work our way to the top top!