Cass Martin, Rising Star

Cass Martin is a fitness superstar with a work ethic that has brought her over two million Instagram followers. Here’s how she eats, trains and thinks to excel…

Maintaining Motivation

“Something I always tell people, and I constantly have to remind myself of as well, is to be patient” explains Martin. “In my opinion, when setting a goal for your health and fitness you should always set a long-term goal. Another thing is to find a training partner who has similar goals to you because it will definitely help you with accountability. There will be some days you won’t feel like giving it your all, but that’s where your partner comes in to help push you and uplift you. Make your own journey enjoyable and fun. When I first started, I always had my husband there to help push me past those days I was just not into it, and him being there helped so much. I also would watch training videos of Ronnie Coleman, who was my favorite bodybuilder, and that always made me want to go the gym right away. I admired the way he put everything into every rep and it really inspired me to want to be better and do the same.”

High Value Training

“I have found the best results by incorporating a mixture of different training styles,” she says when asked about her approach to exercise. “My goal was always to build muscle and be lean, but once I started training, I realized I enjoyed pushing myself to lift heavy weights. I have used a method that is a traditional bodybuilding style mixed with powerlifting elements. I have always stuck to your old school movements such as T-bar rows, squats, bent over rows, bench press and deadlifts. Using these staples, I have always combined higher rep schemes for size with really low rep schemes for certain movements to build strength.”

Life Challenges

“One thing that I struggled with was not having enough time to get my workouts in” she explains. “My husband and I used to flip homes, so we were always working 10-hour days of manual labor on the job site. After work we found ourselves wanting to go to the gym but were exhausted, so we started missing days. We decided that in order to make the changes we wanted we had to first make a huge effort in getting up and getting our workouts done first thing in the morning. This meant after work we would not have to worry about anything else or feeling guilty for not going. It ended up being the best decision we’ve made because that’s when I really started to notice changes in my physique. It was difficult at first but once I made the decision to make time for the gym and be consistent, that’s when I saw major changes.”

Do What You Hate

“I would say if you have a certain exercise or body part you do not like to train, always do it first to get it out of the way,” she explains when pressed on how to find love for a move you don’t like doing. “Whether it is the first exercise for that day or even the body part that you hate to train, get it done in the first part of the week so that you don’t dread going. For example, if you always hate doing leg day, do it Monday to start your week off. I always feel like some people dislike working out because they might not feel like a certain exercise is their best or they struggle to do it. But trust me, the more you do it, even if you hate it, the better you’ll get at it and you’ll start to love those exercises. Train yourself to have a mentality where you turn your weakness into your strengths and then training will become fun. I remember when I first started lifting and I was really bad at bench pressing and hated doing it, but I kept on pushing and today it is one of my favorite movements.”

For a full breakdown of Cass’ workouts and diet plan, you can read the full article in TRAIN for HER issue 88 with a free subscription on us! Click here to get access to the mag.