Love Island’s Tasha’s before & after results from this 6-week plan

Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri is the show’s first deaf contestant. She uses a cochlear implant to help her hear, and upon sharing the detail with her fellow contestants, she called her deafness her ‘superpower’. Love that for her.

Before entering the villa, she took to IG to explain how the implant helps her hear: ‘I have a sensory loss which means the small hairs in the cochlear were missing and damaged when I was born. We still don’t know why.

‘The implant has small fibre optics pushed into the cochlear to replace the missing hairs,’ she added, explaining that these ‘send intelligent messages to the brain.’

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‘When the outer piece of my device is taken off, I cannot hear anything. I feel beats and vibrations. People sound a little robotic, but my brain has adapted to it, and I also rely on lip reading and body language.’

The use of an implant, lip reading and body language signals combined mean she’s also able to crush some serious workouts. As a pro dancer, she’s a big fitness fan (she’s even got an Instagram highlight dedicated to gym vids), and she previously trained with Joshua Kempton, a PT (and former Love Island star, don’tchaknow). We caught up with Josh for the lowdown on the 6-week workout programme Tasha followed, how she adapted her nutrition to complement her workouts, and his top workout tips.

1.Find your weak points, and focus on those

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‘Tasha’s goals were to get stronger and be the best version of herself both physically and mentally,’ Josh tells us.

The exercise side of things came pretty naturally to her, by virtue of her dance background. ‘She’s got strong mobility and a disciplined mindset to progress with training,’ Josh explains, while it was the nutrition element that Tasha needed most guidance with. ‘She struggled with it, but she was eager to learn, and she always adhered to my tips.’

Decipher whether it’s exercise or nutrition (or factors of both) you need to nail, then go from there. We’ve got plenty of guides to help you make any changes you need, but always seek help from a professional, such as a PT or strength and conditioning coach for more individual advice.

2. Make your workout routine attainable

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Here’s an example of a weekly workout routine for Tasha, courtesy of Josh.

• Monday: Lower body workout, hamstring focus
• Tuesday: Upper body and core workout
• Wednesday: Cardio
• Thursday: Lower body workout, glute focus
• Friday: Rest day
• Saturday: Full body and core workout
• Sunday: Rest day

Workout splits were clearly important, to help her muscles recover and grow (which we’ll come onto in more detail below), while they employed progressive overload by upping the amount of weight Tasha lifted each week. As for how long each workout would last and what time of the day Tasha would work out, Josh says, ‘We had no strict timings, it was more about fitting workouts into her busy dance and modelling career.’

As we always say, the routine you’ll stick to is the one you’re able to maintain. There’s no use scheduling in five hour-long workouts per week if you know that’s not possible. Worried you won’t see results without them? Fret not, my friend. One study found that performing micro workouts of 10 minutes or less throughout the day could be just as effective as spending an hour at the gym, for both weight loss and improving endurance.

3. Don’t restrict yourself

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In the same way that there’s no use in plotting in an unachievable workout routine, Josh is a strong believer in ‘moderation’ when it comes to nutrition. Incorporating all food groups, with as many varieties of fruits and vegetables is a non-negosh. Josh is also an advocate of allowing yourself a ‘treat’ every now and then, but try not to attach certain foods to a ‘cheat’ rhetoric. No foods are ‘cheats’ – if they’re not fuelling you or nourishing your body with the nutrients you need, they’re probably bringing you a whole load’a joy. Win win.

4. Tailor your nutrition around your training

Tasha’s workout routine is centred around strength training, and one of Josh’s only mandatories was that Tasha managed at least four weight sessions per week (even if they’re just 20 minutes). To complement that, Josh advised that Tasha adopted a high protein diet, to help her muscles recover and grow, with 1.7g of protein per kg of bodyweight.

It was also important for Josh to see that Tasha was eating enough carbohydrates for energy. ‘Without them, she’d never have sustained and recovered the workout routine we set together.’ Josh is a big fan of complex carbohydrates, like sweet potato, chickpeas and oats, since studies have proven that they offer a slow release of energy, so you won’t feel a ‘crash’ so soon.

5. Train hard, recover harder

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We’re forever harping on about the importance of recovery, whether it’s rest days, the use of a massage gun, doing a few yoga stretches, or practicing your mobility, and Josh is right there with us. ‘Tasha and I focused on optimising sleep, managing stress, and listening to her body,’ he says. ‘She’d do breathwork or read before sleep, and we always made sure to allocate long enough rest periods within each set of exercises.’

Several studies have shown that neglecting rest days and overtraining can cause an increase in cortisol (the main stress hormone in the body). This can lead to a reduction of growth hormone (GH) release, which is related to reduced muscle mass and strength. Had Tasha not taken any rest days, she wouldn’t have built more muscle or got stronger. It can seem contradictory, we know, but it’s something you should definitely keep in mind. Rest is most definitely not for the wicked.

Tasha’s hamstring workout

We hit Josh up for Tasha’s complete hamstring workout. Thank us later.

Mobility:

• Side lying thoracic mobilisation x 10 each side
• Glute bridge march x 10 each side
• Moving cat stretch x 10 reps
• Inchworm x 10 reps

Movement prep:

40 on 20 off – x 2-3 rounds:

• Plank with alternate leg lift
• Single leg glute bridge
• Cossack squats

Main session:

• Single leg hamstring curl x 10 reps each side x 3 sets, 3:2:1 tempo
• Barbell reverse deadlift x 12, 10, 8, 6
• Increase weight with every set

Superset:

• Side plank clams x 30 seconds each side
• Dumbbell glute bridges x 6-10
• Every 2 reps, 5 second hold at the top
• Bulgarian split squats x 8-10 each side

Triset:

• Back extensions x 12-15
• Opposite v ups x 20
• Hollow hold rocks x 30
• x 3-4 rounds

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