Mark Sindayen and Lauren Irick entered Max Muscle's Best Beach Body contest last year and won! Not only did they take home $1,000 in prizes but they were awarded their very own cover of Max Sports & Fitness. Find out a little more about them and check out the workouts they shared to help YOU get ready for summer! 

 

Lauren Irick, 27, of Portland, Oregon struggled with weight issues for years. She had an eating disorder that kept her on the way-too-skinny side. A trip abroad packed on some pounds then she shed it in an unhealthy way. She was tired of feeling trapped in the hell of her eating disorder, and of not feeling healthy and strong. 

 

In 2013, she decided to get in great shape – the right way. This meant she had to lift more and stop the cardio madness. She found trainer Amber Fokken (then Orton) and her life began to turn around. In 2014, she got her nutrition in order (thanks to Fokken's guidance) and decided to enter her first bikini competition. She did High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for her cardio and hit the weights hard. It wasn't long before she earned IFBB Pro status, something Lauren is really proud of to this day. 

 

Lauren's typical weight training regimen goes something like this: legs/glutes three times per week, shoulders twice, back once, and everything else she targets along the way. Plus, she does one day per week of conditioning. When she's not training herself, she's training others as a personal trainer.

 

She picked the workout she shared with MS&F readers because “it's suitable for all levels of intensity. People really determine how hard they want to work by how they spend their time in the interval,” she said. “The exercises I selected recruit some of the largest muscles in the body and will get your heart rate elevated.” In short, this workout burns some serious fat and builds lean, hard muscle! 

 

On winning Max Muscle's first ever Best Beach Body contest in 2015 (and the cover of this month's magazine!), Lauren said, “I was excited and just surprised! I knew there were a ton of applicants. My friends even joked it was hard to find me on the voting page because there were so many! Lots of beautiful women to pick from (and many I knew!), so it was really flattering to be picked as a finalist and an honor to take the top spot.” 

 

 

Tip: To keep the momentum of the workout up, count the number of reps in your head for each interval. (For example, for 30 seconds squat and press, you may get 25 reps in the first round. Shoot to hit that 25 reps each round!) 

 

With your hands on the bench, perform an incline pushup. At the top of the pushup, lift a single leg and squeeze the glute. For each pushup, alternate the legs. You can make this more difficult by performing the exercise on top of the flat bench or by performing a decline pushup where your feet are on the bench and hands on the floor.

 

From standing position, step one foot up onto the bench, bringing the opposite knee up. Make sure to alternate your steps! You can increase the difficulty simply by jumping up onto the bench with both feet. For advanced, start with a burpee; instead of jumping straight into the air, jump onto the bench instead.

 

Put your right foot backwards onto the bench in an elevated position. All of your weight should be on your front leg. Sink into that leg as if you were performing a squat. Do not let your knee go past your toes. Make it more difficult by holding dumbbells. Do 30 seconds for each leg. 

 

Standing next to the bench, hold two dumbbells. Squat down parallel to the floor, with dumbbells at shoulder level. When you stand, press the dumbbells overhead in one movement. 

 

Grab the bench and stand to one side. Your weight should be in your upper body as you push from the floor and hop over to the other side of the bench. A good substitution for these would be mountain climbers. MS&F