Sinead MacCana

Sinead MacCana I Guide Women to Achieve the Strength, Confidence & Health they deserve by working from The Ground U

09/06/2026

Lower Body Workout Programming

The best workout program isn’t the one with the most exercises, pulses or variations. It’s the one that prioritizes your weakness, throws in what you enjoy, builds strength & has room for progression & matches your environment, exercise history, ability & goals.

Here’s a real life example of how this plays out in my own workouts - very similar to my clients!

WORKOUT OUTLINE

1-2 PYLO for power & impact training, bone / joint / tendon health

1-2 COMPOUND LIFTS for maximal muscle engagement & strength development

1-6 ISOLATION / ACCESSORY / WEAKNESS lifts based on my timing constraints, personal goals & weaknesses (which will be seen in the lower rep range of my compound lifts)

What this looks like in practice?

A1) Barbell split Stance Jump
3 e/s X Barbell split Stance Jump
3 e/s X 4

B1) Deficit Smith Machine Hip Thrust
5 X 6-8

C1) Barbell Romanian Deadlift
4 X 6-8

D1) Seated Hamstring Curl
1 X X 12-15, 1 X 8-10, 2 X 6-8
*increasing weight each set*

E1) Braced Cable Kick Back (do this variation if you feel your stabilizing leg more than the working leg in standing kick backs)
1 X X 12-15, 1 X 8-10, 2 X 6-8

F1) Standing Resisted Rib Tuck Leg Lifts (for my rib flare girlies, this is for US)
3 X 8-10

F2) Kneeling Rope Cable Crunch
3 X 8-10

It takes me 60 minutes. I repeat it for a minimum 6-8 weeks. I add intensity & progression by increasing weight / range of motion / time under tension before changing an exercise.

Yes. It can be a little boring & repetitive, but it’s what is getting me results & THAT’S what’s motivational long-term.

For online coaching enquiries - DM ‘RISE’ to start working together 🔥

You may think I’m being dramatic 👀 (me?? Never)But the hyper-fixation on looking ‘long, lean, toned’ promotes under-eati...
07/06/2026

You may think I’m being dramatic 👀 (me?? Never)

But the hyper-fixation on looking ‘long, lean, toned’ promotes under-eating, & the consequences that come along if long-term & mis-managed are detrimental & more & more common.

The ‘in’ phase of the ‘Pilates body’ or ‘skinny-tok’ body is not being promoted as being achieved through adequate nutrition with periodic calorie deficits & programmed strength training or even Pilates.

It’s shown as being achieved through low calorie, high fibre diets & sporadic, VERY low impact training with the odd peptide supplementation without education.

What scares me is that the slope from dieting to disordered eating is slippery.

The Minnesota starvation study proved this: behavioral and psychological symptoms of eating disorders can be from the result of starvation.

Eating disorders have the highest rate of death of all mental illness.

The more a ‘Pilates’ body or ‘skinny’ is encouraged, the greater the people we love are at risk of chronic health conditions, or worse.

Pilates isn’t the problem.
The promotion of THINNESS & LEAN as marker of health, & the dis-encouragement of weights for women for fear of ‘bulk’ or ‘inflammation’ is.

If your cost you your life,
What’s the whole damn point of it all?

Prioritise resilience, mental & physical.
And actually give yourself the compassion of consistency & commitment required to achieve a ‘lean’ physique that doesn’t come at the detriment to your social, mental or physical health & most importantly - life.

Need a plan, accountability & empathy? DM ‘RISE’ to work together to achieve health, strength & confidence without constant sacrifice.

03/06/2026

No needed, gimme the rundown babe ###

Happy Global run day!!! I hate to be doomy & gloomy but with the rise in running, you would assume reports of women’s sa...
03/06/2026

Happy Global run day!!! I hate to be doomy & gloomy but with the rise in running, you would assume reports of women’s safety would be increasing??? More numbers on the ground??? Men to protect & all that jazz??? Alas no.

I find it absolutely ridiculous that it’s 2026 & more than once a week I hear stories of women being harassed, assaulted & stalked whilst running.

I personally have been mugged, chased by a motorbikes & cars, repeatedly yelled at, stalked by car, bike & on foot.

Mainly by men from a first world country, who I can safely assume would have been taught respect, laws, & what harassment is & have enough financial security to be driving an N-Max with a fresh fade coming straight from Finns.

Yet somehow, perhaps due to drugs, alcohol, a feeling of ‘laws don’t count in another country’ all of this gets forgotten.

And if we just accept it. Have a ‘boys will be boys’ mentality. ‘Laugh’ it off or ‘take it as a compliment’ then I’m allowing it to happen. That’s disgusting, lazy, irresponsible.

Safety shouldn’t be optional. It’s a right.
WE can do better.

And better isn’t stopping women from running in the dark.

Better is a multi-faceted approach of talking about it, calling it out, having consequences, a firm stance on behaviour & thinking how can we make our environments & the people in it SAFER instead of make women, once again, adjust.

18 months ago I was described as a ‘black cloud’ 🌧️ when I entered the room. That comment hit me hard. I felt awful. Ins...
25/05/2026

18 months ago I was described as a ‘black cloud’ 🌧️ when I entered the room. That comment hit me hard. I felt awful. Insulted, guilty, angry.

“WELL NO S**T SHERLOCK MAYBE ITS BECAUSE IM GOING THROUGH A REALLY FRICKEN HARD TIME & IF YOU JUST ASKED ME THEN YOU’D KNOW, YOU *insert word of choice here*”

I wanted to yell & soooOOo nearly did.

Because I WAS going through a hard time.
And I was finding myself accepting it; indulging in the hardness of it all.

When I was in the dating world, a fun question to ask & answer is ‘what characteristic do you find the least attractive in people’ & my answer was always ‘when people are stuck in a negative story of themselves’

When this person (not Jordan, don’t worry 😅 he’s more tactile) called me out on being a dark cloud, I was caught red handed.

Like shares in her quote: Joy is contagious. But so is sadness, anger, a lack of willpower, slight narcism, shame.

I felt so ashamed of how sad I felt, how much of a fake smile I put on, that when I was at home, I couldn’t hide it. I wanted to soak in the s**tty ness of it all: and I did, but I was forgetting to wash it off.

I was forgetting that life outside of the hardness existed & how I handle my own emotions - DO impact other people.

Fast forward to Jordan & I’s recent thailand holiday. A few ‘black cloud’ days came back. The guilt & shame came back too. But instead of using them to dig a further whole. I dragged my self out. I did the annoying stupid things that take us out of our head.

I made a commitment to myself that I can be congruent with my values; see the bliss in the hard times & that I am the only one that controls the story I tell myself.

Admitting my mindset was a big part of the problem was hard & felt like s**t. But it was the only way I could honestly change my actions to create the life i want, & be the person I’m proud to be.

Lesson? Act as if your emotions are contagious.
Bonus lesson? Feeling ‘black cloud like’ is often due to a difference in your values & how you’re living.

24/05/2026

My reliance on exercise as a coping mechanism challenged my relationship to the point of breakdown. It made me panicked, selfish, short sited. Honestly, a very unreliable partner in crime. To be honest, I’m quite ashamed to admit the impact it had on my relationships & view of my self.

I called it dedication though, because that sounds nicer. But what happens when the event ends, or there’s a scheduled holiday… and I’m still refusing to rest?

It’s hard to say it’s JUST dedication because if I was truly respecting my training, I’d have understood the importance of rest & recovery & off-seasons.

There’s a difference between being dedicated to your routine VS being controlled by it. The easy way to tell what is what, is how you respond to change, new environment & new situations.

Relationships are a great way to force all of those in on you 😅😬🤣

I used my job, passions & stress levels as an excuse to over train. Hard to be anxious when you’re too tired & distracted to feel any emotions.

I share this because I see it all the time; exercise was once someone’s saving grace - and then it becomes their ONLY safety net. It starts to take away from everything else in their life & loved ones, friendships get pushed aside.

It happened to me. And I was luckily enough to have someone brave enough to call me out on it, whilst risking me literally running away 😅💃🏼 (which I did a few times 😬😅🥲 )

For those that relate to me. You already know I’m talking to you. I want you to know that it’s hard, but not as hard as you think & you can get through this. I know deep down, you’d really love to just ‘be normal & rest’.

And to those that are concerned about someone, don’t stay quiet. Be kind but firm. Understand they’re not trying to hurt you. Educate yourself, encourage them & don’t tell them what to do, but SHOW them how much more there is to life outside of food & exercise control 💞

For those with questions or concerns, my DM’s are always open.

Full podcast episode is out on - link in bio ❤️

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