It is very important to always keep your body guessing! Mixing up your training style is necessary to see high quality and fast improvement. Here are some ideas for you:
HIIT
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It is a great way to increase fat burning. It’s generally used for cardio in a 2:1 timed interval. For example, you would alternate 20-30 seconds of hard sprinting with 10 seconds of jogging or walking. HITT workouts are intense and effective. You can start out with 15 minutes and work your way up to 30 minutes of this style of fat burning cardio.
Heavy Training
Using heavier weights with lower repetitions will assist in increasing muscle size. It is important to choose a weight that you literally can no longer lift by yourself by the fifth or sixth repetition. If you can keep going on your own, you need to go heavier. It is recommended that you always have a trained spotted for heavy weight days. Be sure you have warmed up adequately before starting.
My advice for women is - DO NOT BE AFRAID OF HEAVY TRAINING! Heavy training will only make you look bulky if you do not train to create muscle symmetry, if you have a genetically gifted body type (mesomorph) that responds to resistance training very quickly, or you are overtraining areas that don’t need constant heavy training and you are not following a fat burning cardio and eating plan. It is very unlikely that you will become bulky from heavy training. What women should be more concerned about is not training heavy enough! To compete, you need to re-create your frame with muscular symmetry, if you are lifting light to medium weights all the time, you will generally not be able to add the needed size to re- create your shape. To give you an idea of what heavy could look like for a woman, here is an idea of the weights that I use on my heavy training days:
Shoulder Press: 40 lbs per hand Ab Cable Crunch: 120 lbs
Leg Press: 3 45lbs plates on each side (I don’t go to max reps as my quads grow quickly) Side Lat Raise: 15-20 lbs per hand
Lat pull down: 170 lbs with a spotter
You have seen my pictures and I am not huge. Hopefully this gives you a little insight as to what heavy may look like for you. It may be lighter or heavier, but aim high and watch your frame change. Pull back as necessary if one area is starting to overpower another. This will help you to get in touch with your body and to get involved in the transformation.
High Repetition Training
High repetition training could be anything from 12 repetitions to 100 or more. Once you pass 50, you are moving into cardio, but, there is always room for creative safe training. On high repetition days I will generally have my clients max out somewhere between 15-30 repetitions depending on the goal that day. The most important thing is that safe form is always maintained.
Keep track of your training
Keeping track of your training is the best way to keep yourself on track and assess what’s working, what’s not working and how quickly you are progressing. A great way to do this is with a training journal. Here are some things that you may want to track in your training journal:
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Fitness Competition Preparation Au Natural 4. Bowel movements5. Bi-weekly photos in swimsuit 6. Bi-weekly measurements 7. Energy level
8. Number each day – how far you are from the show
Any lined notebook can work as your training journal. You can also add inspirational photos and quotes to the journal as you will probably keep it with you at all times.
CHAPTER 9: Diet
Need to GAIN Weight (ECTOMORPHS)
If you need to gain weight for the show you are in the minority. This means your eating plan – unlike plans for those competitors who have to lose - will be much more enjoyable. Nonetheless, be conscious of what you eat. Your goal is to focus on balanced eating with enough calories to support your very intense workout days and to sustain the new muscle tissue.
Your metabolism is most likely faster than someone who needs to lose weight so you probably don’t have to worry as much about food combining or digestive enzymes, unless your stomach gets bloated and heavy after meals; if so, please refer to my statements in the Weight Loss section about food combining and digestive enzymes.
Here is a sample-eating plan for someone needing to gain weight for a show:
Upon waking up:
• 1 cup of filtered water with lemon – wait 20 minutes before pre-breakfast
Pre-Breakfast
• 1-2 pieces of fruit (any kind, but mix it up) – wait 20 minutes before breakfast
Breakfast
• 2 organic free range eggs (Not just the whites. The yolk has most of the vitamins and minerals), one dash of Celtic Sea Salt® (includes natural vitamins and minerals and iodine), fresh group pepper (help with absorption)
• 1 cup (pre-soaked) oatmeal with 1 tbsp flax seeds (hulled or ground for fibre) with 1 tbsp real maple syrup and organic cinnamon (helps with digestion).
Snack
• Fruit salad sprinkled with nuts, seeds, hulled flax seeds, shredded coconut and 2 tsp organic honey (meal includes protein, fat, carbohydrates – high in vitamins and minerals) • 1 cup cooked cream of brown rice with berries
Lunch
• 5 oz chicken • 1 cup broccoli
• 1 cup organic whole rice (red, brown, black, etc) with Bragg Amino Acid® pure narual (flavoring) and ground cumin seed (helps with digestion and tastes yummy), Celtic Sea
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Fitness Competition Preparation Au NaturalSnack
• Fresh squeezed vegetable juice:
- Apple, beet carrot, ginger and kale (a superb leafy vegetable that’s delectable and healthy)
• Nutritional bar. A good brand is the Vega Vibrancy Bars – The Chocolate Decadence flavor is chalked full of good protein, fats, complex carbohydrates and antioxidants to help with muscle building and repair.
Dinner
• Big Salad
- Mixed dark leafy greens, shredded beats, shredded carrots, steamed spinach, nuts and seeds, gogi berries, avocado, chick peas, organic sliced chicken or tofu
- Homemade or organic locally made dressing with olive oil base
Post-workout shake (should be within 20 minutes after your workout)
One serving protein shake – Mix
• 1 cup almond or rice milk • 1 tbsp aloe vera juice • 1 tbsp fish oil or flax oil • 1 tsp bee pollen
• 1 tsp glutamine
• 1 tbsp organic almond butter • 2 ice cubes
Here is a list of healthy foods that should be the mainstay of your diet during the competition preparation phase:
Protein Options
• Skinless organic chicken - buy a whole chicken and take off the skin. You can eat all areas of the chicken.
• Buffalo • Ostrich
• Steak (lean cuts ie flank)
• Organic free range eggs - skip the omega eggs (giving hens flax seed in the feed does not necessarily mean their eggs will be high in omega 3. Such claims are usually a marketing ploy.) Organic free range from a local farmer is preferable.
• Fish – not more than twice a week due to high mercury levels.
• Beans – adzuki’s are the king when it comes to competition prep; they are high in the amino acid tyrosine which stimulates your natural HGH (Human Growth Hormone). Try and mix it up. If you don’t eat beans, start slowly. (To make beans easier to digest, soak dried beans in water and some sea veggies like Dulse overnight. Strain and rinse with water before cooking)
• Tempeh (fermented soy) – not more than three times a week • Nuts & seeds (in moderation)
• Nut & seed butters (in moderation)
Carbohydrate Options
• Millet • Teff • Quinoa
• Oats (wheat free/gluten free) • Natural rice (no white rice)
• Buckwheat grouts (Kasha) *not wheat
Fats
• Fish oil • Flax oil
• Organic butter (only include this if you are not allergic to dairy and are not lactose intolerant)
• Coconut oil • Hemp oil
• Earth’s Balance® (butter substitute for those allergic to dairy) • Olive oil
Vegetables
• All of them
• 4-6 servings a day, no excuses • Dark leafy greens DAILY • Sea vegetables DAILY
Fruits
• All of them