Pushtoday
MuscleChemistry Registered Member
James Fell
It’s time to proactively synergize your core competencies toward an optimized fitness paradigm! Or something.Welcome to James Fell's Strategic Fitness series.
Much of fitness focuses on the micro details of sets, reps, nutrient timing, blasting bigger biceps and shredding that last gram of fat from your midsection. I don’t play there but rise above it. I’m a certified strength and conditioning specialist with an MBA, and Strategic Fitness is about the big picture of fitness, health and physical performance. We’ll work on making you pretty from the neck down in a way that takes your entire life into account. In this installment, I spoke with three female fitness competitors to find out what advice they have for guys.
I love my job.
How many people get to have a job that entails interviewing hot women with amazing bodies? That’s what I got to do and I even got paid for it.
When I got this idea, I decided I would interview three different female fitness competitors — the more the merrier, right? I wanted someone who was new to it, someone who’d been around the block a bit and a champion. Make sure you read through all three pages of this article in order to see what each of them recommend for guys looking to achieve a higher fitness level and get a more chiseled physique. Also, you’ll want to make sure you see their photos — that alone should get you clicking through.
[h=3]The Rookie[/h]
Dave Paul
Naomi Sorenson has amazing ab definition, but this was not always the case. The 27-year-old has been a personal trainer for eight years, but after having her first child 16 months ago, she had some trouble getting back into shape. It was a physique competition that motivated her to get her body back.
“I was super-fit before I got pregnant and was exercising hard all through my pregnancy, but then being at home all the time with my son, my fitness world fall apart because it was so hard to get to the gym.”
Naomi’s priorities had shifted, and having to look after a baby meant she needed to find creative ways to get back in shape. The competition was the impetus, but it was her practical approach to training that is most relevant to male readers.
“Don’t let anything stop you,” she says. “You don’t need a lot of money, a gym membership or a lot of space. As long as you push yourself wherever you are, that will do it.” How did Naomi find time to train? She went really old-school and did it at home in a small apartment while her son napped. She had to keep her barbell plates under the bed because space was so tight, did a lot of bodyweight exercises, had a treadmill in her living room, did triceps dips using the corners of the kitchen counter and just focused on doing as much as she could, as hard as she could, with what she had.
Naomi thinks regular scheduling is critical.
“Every time my son was asleep, it was exercise time.” Having a goal is important as well. “For me, the competition was a big motivator, but for a guy, it can be a beach vacation, a high school reunion or training for a race that can push you. You need a deadline to work toward.”
For Naomi, the hard work paid off. She won the novice “figure” category for western Canada.
And it’s important to mix things up. “People get stuck in the same routine and the body adapts. You have to surprise it both in exercise and diet to keep things guessing. I would do multiple different grips of pull-ups, I was always changing the hand and foot positions of various exercises, and I even did some P90X DVDs to switch things up.”
“It doesn’t have to be these long, committed hours in the gym,” she said. “Make the most of the time you have.”
She also explains the importance of knowing that you can’t out-train a bad diet. “I advise more of a focus on vegetables than fruit because they have more fiber, more nutrients and are more filling. You also don’t want to skip breakfast because it will cause cravings that make you eat bad things later in the day.” She’s also not a fan of supplements. “No fat burners,” she says. “Don’t be tempted to take a bunch of ridiculous supplements or steroids.”
On food cravings: “There were a few cheats that I had. It was good from a psychological perspective. Even if you slip up and eat some junk, it’s important to not skip any of your healthy meals in an effort to accommodate for this. You don’t want to get out of the cycle of good eating.”
And, finally, Naomi explained that she’s not a fan of the scale. “The scale lies,” she told me. “Use the mirror as your guide. “You may also want to do measurements of things like waist, chest, biceps, etc.”
[h=3]The Rising Star[/h]
Kris Josef
My friend Michelle Forgeron was the inspiration for this article. I met her, unsurprisingly, at the gym and was impressed with her technique — that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The 34-year-old is more than just a beauty; she's a brain, as well, with a PhD and a job as a chemistry research facility manager. She has run a marathon and done adventure racing, but her focus right now is on weightlifting. Michelle decided to get into figure competitions to see what she could do with her body, and the results are astounding. She was in good shape before, but the competitions really motivated her to greatness —as evidenced by her photo.She's completed three competitions now (in her initial endeavor, she came first in her class), with each one being more competitive than the last, and she's always finished in the top five for the “figure” class. Now she has her eyes on national competitions.
Michelle’s first bit of advice is to get men to understand that, “If it was easy, everyone would do it. It takes an incredible amount of discipline, dedication and determination.” You’ve got to work hard and eat healthy.
She also has a play on words, “embrace the stage.” “Everyone has a different starting point,” she told me. “Embrace the stage that you’re in. It’s one exercise at a time, one rep at a time — that’s how I get through my tough workouts.” Forgeron explains that when you start off, you’re not yet looking like your end goal but you nonetheless need to embrace the moment and acknowledge that you’re going to get there. As far as the other version of embracing the stage, “For a guy not going to compete onstage, you can still embrace taking your shirt off at the beach and being proud of how you look or how well you perform in the gym now compared to before. It’s motivating to realize you’re lifting more than the guy next to you.”
Michelle also encourages you to find out what motivates you and gets you in the zone.
“For me,working out is like work, and I take it seriously. I don’t think about it; I just do it. There is a to-do list, and I’m there to get the work done.” She advises focusing on crossing each item off that to-do list, and, before you know it, you’re done.
Michelle also likes to take inspiration from multiple sources. “I find transformation stories so inspiring,” she says. “Even the regular people in my gym, seeing them slowly transform.” She’s also a fan of following fitness blogs and belongs to online fitness groups. She even likes videos by our final interview subject, Erin Stern. “She’s the ultimate champion,” Michelle says.
She is also a fan of staying away from the scale and focusing instead on how your look and feel, and tracking numbers like sets, reps and amount of weight lifted. When it comes to cheat meals, she wants it to be worthwhile. “I would never waste a cheat meal on McDonald's. It’s not even real food. I would go to a good restaurant and really enjoy it.”
Michelle is also a fan of pursuing quality instruction.
“Bobby Tang is my trainer; I think of him as a sculpture artist. He designed a program and diet plan just for me.” She sees value in using the expertise of others and then executing the plans they provide.
The Reigning Queen
Dan Ray
It seems like every female fitness competitor I know has a girl-crush on 32-year-old Erin Stern. Check out her website for more photos, and you’ll understand why.
Erin is the current Ms. Figure Olympia. ‘Nuff said.
But she wasn’t always the sculpted image of awesome. “I was a tomboy growing up, but I put on 30 pounds after college, where I did high jump, pentathlon and heptathlon.” It was seeing a picture of herself from behind that prompted her to start running track again. She just missed qualifying for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team in high jump, and that was when she got into figure competitions.
I completely endorse and personally live by Erin's first piece of advice:
“Focus on compound movements,” she told me. “A lot of people do a bunch of isolation movements like arm curls and triceps extensions, but with pull-ups and bench press and squats, you’ll get better results, burn more calories and spend less time in the gym. You don’t need to spend hours a day. Thirty to 60 minutes will do it.”
Erin is also a fan of supersets.
“If you combine push and pull exercises, you’ll keep your heart rate up even more and be spending less time in the gym. It’s almost like cardio, but you’re not on the treadmill.”
Stern doesn’t do traditional cardio except to spend some time on a treadmill to warm up and cool down. “I prefer high-intensity training,” she told me. “It’s more challenging and exciting, and it gets more done in less time.” She is also a fan of Tabata workouts, which is 20 seconds of balls to the wall, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 8 rounds. “You can do one, and it’s four minutes total, so it’s a great way to finish off a workout. You can do it with dumbbells or with body weight.”
As for motivation, “Just put your sneakers on and tell yourself you’re going to go to the gym and warm up, and it will happen anyway. Remember the last time you didn’t feel like working out and did it anyway. It’s a great feeling.” I will put my support behind that. Every time I don’t feel like exercising and just suck it up and go, the sense of accomplishment afterward is awesome.
“If you schedule it like a business meeting, you’re less likely to skip it. Don’t put it off.”
When it comes to getting started, Erin advises caution. “Start moderate with a new program. Don’t try to match your PR from 10 years ago right away. Give your body time to adapt. You don’t want to overdo it and injure yourself.”
Erin has some diet advice, too.
“A lot of folks think they need to eat less, but just focus on eating more balanced meals,” she said. “Make sure you get protein with every meal and healthy snacks, like Greek yogurt or a handful of mixed nuts.” Stern prefers to focus on one-ingredient foods, like chicken, rice, vegetables and quinoa.
And on the treat side of things, “It’s hard to resist junk food, and you don’t want to feel like you’re depriving yourself. You have to eat clean most of the time, but I recommend you schedule your treat meals around a heavier day in the gym.” This is because she feels less like having a treat after a really hard workout. There is actual science to back this up — intense exercise inhibits cravings for junk food.
For motivation, Erin cautions about too much focus on vanity, and so do I. “I think vanity helps push all of us, but it shouldn’t be the main motivating factor. Consider the toxic stew that is professional bodybuilding and the words of four-time Mr. Universe Bill Pearl: “The guy left standing on the stage today at the end of a bodybuilding show is probably the guy in the arena who is closest to death.”
That’s messed up. Don’t sacrifice health or performance for vanity.
And Erin is careful not to do anything stupid, even when it comes to competition prep. “A few days out from competition, I cut carbs, and two days out, I cut sodium. This way, you don’t need to stop drinking water. If you do that, you get headaches and feel miserable and your skin gets dry, so it’s important to still drink water.” It’s important to note that this carb and sodium cutting is just for a short period of time in order to look best for competition.
So there you go, fellas. Advice from three super-fit women on how to kick ass in the gym and get an awesome body. Go be inspired.
It’s time to proactively synergize your core competencies toward an optimized fitness paradigm! Or something.Welcome to James Fell's Strategic Fitness series.
Much of fitness focuses on the micro details of sets, reps, nutrient timing, blasting bigger biceps and shredding that last gram of fat from your midsection. I don’t play there but rise above it. I’m a certified strength and conditioning specialist with an MBA, and Strategic Fitness is about the big picture of fitness, health and physical performance. We’ll work on making you pretty from the neck down in a way that takes your entire life into account. In this installment, I spoke with three female fitness competitors to find out what advice they have for guys.
I love my job.
How many people get to have a job that entails interviewing hot women with amazing bodies? That’s what I got to do and I even got paid for it.
When I got this idea, I decided I would interview three different female fitness competitors — the more the merrier, right? I wanted someone who was new to it, someone who’d been around the block a bit and a champion. Make sure you read through all three pages of this article in order to see what each of them recommend for guys looking to achieve a higher fitness level and get a more chiseled physique. Also, you’ll want to make sure you see their photos — that alone should get you clicking through.
[h=3]The Rookie[/h]
Dave Paul
Naomi Sorenson has amazing ab definition, but this was not always the case. The 27-year-old has been a personal trainer for eight years, but after having her first child 16 months ago, she had some trouble getting back into shape. It was a physique competition that motivated her to get her body back.
“I was super-fit before I got pregnant and was exercising hard all through my pregnancy, but then being at home all the time with my son, my fitness world fall apart because it was so hard to get to the gym.”
Naomi’s priorities had shifted, and having to look after a baby meant she needed to find creative ways to get back in shape. The competition was the impetus, but it was her practical approach to training that is most relevant to male readers.
“Don’t let anything stop you,” she says. “You don’t need a lot of money, a gym membership or a lot of space. As long as you push yourself wherever you are, that will do it.” How did Naomi find time to train? She went really old-school and did it at home in a small apartment while her son napped. She had to keep her barbell plates under the bed because space was so tight, did a lot of bodyweight exercises, had a treadmill in her living room, did triceps dips using the corners of the kitchen counter and just focused on doing as much as she could, as hard as she could, with what she had.
Naomi thinks regular scheduling is critical.
“Every time my son was asleep, it was exercise time.” Having a goal is important as well. “For me, the competition was a big motivator, but for a guy, it can be a beach vacation, a high school reunion or training for a race that can push you. You need a deadline to work toward.”
For Naomi, the hard work paid off. She won the novice “figure” category for western Canada.
And it’s important to mix things up. “People get stuck in the same routine and the body adapts. You have to surprise it both in exercise and diet to keep things guessing. I would do multiple different grips of pull-ups, I was always changing the hand and foot positions of various exercises, and I even did some P90X DVDs to switch things up.”
“It doesn’t have to be these long, committed hours in the gym,” she said. “Make the most of the time you have.”
She also explains the importance of knowing that you can’t out-train a bad diet. “I advise more of a focus on vegetables than fruit because they have more fiber, more nutrients and are more filling. You also don’t want to skip breakfast because it will cause cravings that make you eat bad things later in the day.” She’s also not a fan of supplements. “No fat burners,” she says. “Don’t be tempted to take a bunch of ridiculous supplements or steroids.”
On food cravings: “There were a few cheats that I had. It was good from a psychological perspective. Even if you slip up and eat some junk, it’s important to not skip any of your healthy meals in an effort to accommodate for this. You don’t want to get out of the cycle of good eating.”
And, finally, Naomi explained that she’s not a fan of the scale. “The scale lies,” she told me. “Use the mirror as your guide. “You may also want to do measurements of things like waist, chest, biceps, etc.”
[h=3]The Rising Star[/h]
Kris Josef
My friend Michelle Forgeron was the inspiration for this article. I met her, unsurprisingly, at the gym and was impressed with her technique — that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The 34-year-old is more than just a beauty; she's a brain, as well, with a PhD and a job as a chemistry research facility manager. She has run a marathon and done adventure racing, but her focus right now is on weightlifting. Michelle decided to get into figure competitions to see what she could do with her body, and the results are astounding. She was in good shape before, but the competitions really motivated her to greatness —as evidenced by her photo.She's completed three competitions now (in her initial endeavor, she came first in her class), with each one being more competitive than the last, and she's always finished in the top five for the “figure” class. Now she has her eyes on national competitions.
Michelle’s first bit of advice is to get men to understand that, “If it was easy, everyone would do it. It takes an incredible amount of discipline, dedication and determination.” You’ve got to work hard and eat healthy.
She also has a play on words, “embrace the stage.” “Everyone has a different starting point,” she told me. “Embrace the stage that you’re in. It’s one exercise at a time, one rep at a time — that’s how I get through my tough workouts.” Forgeron explains that when you start off, you’re not yet looking like your end goal but you nonetheless need to embrace the moment and acknowledge that you’re going to get there. As far as the other version of embracing the stage, “For a guy not going to compete onstage, you can still embrace taking your shirt off at the beach and being proud of how you look or how well you perform in the gym now compared to before. It’s motivating to realize you’re lifting more than the guy next to you.”
Michelle also encourages you to find out what motivates you and gets you in the zone.
“For me,working out is like work, and I take it seriously. I don’t think about it; I just do it. There is a to-do list, and I’m there to get the work done.” She advises focusing on crossing each item off that to-do list, and, before you know it, you’re done.
Michelle also likes to take inspiration from multiple sources. “I find transformation stories so inspiring,” she says. “Even the regular people in my gym, seeing them slowly transform.” She’s also a fan of following fitness blogs and belongs to online fitness groups. She even likes videos by our final interview subject, Erin Stern. “She’s the ultimate champion,” Michelle says.
She is also a fan of staying away from the scale and focusing instead on how your look and feel, and tracking numbers like sets, reps and amount of weight lifted. When it comes to cheat meals, she wants it to be worthwhile. “I would never waste a cheat meal on McDonald's. It’s not even real food. I would go to a good restaurant and really enjoy it.”
Michelle is also a fan of pursuing quality instruction.
“Bobby Tang is my trainer; I think of him as a sculpture artist. He designed a program and diet plan just for me.” She sees value in using the expertise of others and then executing the plans they provide.
The Reigning Queen
Dan Ray
It seems like every female fitness competitor I know has a girl-crush on 32-year-old Erin Stern. Check out her website for more photos, and you’ll understand why.
Erin is the current Ms. Figure Olympia. ‘Nuff said.
But she wasn’t always the sculpted image of awesome. “I was a tomboy growing up, but I put on 30 pounds after college, where I did high jump, pentathlon and heptathlon.” It was seeing a picture of herself from behind that prompted her to start running track again. She just missed qualifying for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team in high jump, and that was when she got into figure competitions.
I completely endorse and personally live by Erin's first piece of advice:
“Focus on compound movements,” she told me. “A lot of people do a bunch of isolation movements like arm curls and triceps extensions, but with pull-ups and bench press and squats, you’ll get better results, burn more calories and spend less time in the gym. You don’t need to spend hours a day. Thirty to 60 minutes will do it.”
Erin is also a fan of supersets.
“If you combine push and pull exercises, you’ll keep your heart rate up even more and be spending less time in the gym. It’s almost like cardio, but you’re not on the treadmill.”
Stern doesn’t do traditional cardio except to spend some time on a treadmill to warm up and cool down. “I prefer high-intensity training,” she told me. “It’s more challenging and exciting, and it gets more done in less time.” She is also a fan of Tabata workouts, which is 20 seconds of balls to the wall, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 8 rounds. “You can do one, and it’s four minutes total, so it’s a great way to finish off a workout. You can do it with dumbbells or with body weight.”
As for motivation, “Just put your sneakers on and tell yourself you’re going to go to the gym and warm up, and it will happen anyway. Remember the last time you didn’t feel like working out and did it anyway. It’s a great feeling.” I will put my support behind that. Every time I don’t feel like exercising and just suck it up and go, the sense of accomplishment afterward is awesome.
“If you schedule it like a business meeting, you’re less likely to skip it. Don’t put it off.”
When it comes to getting started, Erin advises caution. “Start moderate with a new program. Don’t try to match your PR from 10 years ago right away. Give your body time to adapt. You don’t want to overdo it and injure yourself.”
Erin has some diet advice, too.
“A lot of folks think they need to eat less, but just focus on eating more balanced meals,” she said. “Make sure you get protein with every meal and healthy snacks, like Greek yogurt or a handful of mixed nuts.” Stern prefers to focus on one-ingredient foods, like chicken, rice, vegetables and quinoa.
And on the treat side of things, “It’s hard to resist junk food, and you don’t want to feel like you’re depriving yourself. You have to eat clean most of the time, but I recommend you schedule your treat meals around a heavier day in the gym.” This is because she feels less like having a treat after a really hard workout. There is actual science to back this up — intense exercise inhibits cravings for junk food.
For motivation, Erin cautions about too much focus on vanity, and so do I. “I think vanity helps push all of us, but it shouldn’t be the main motivating factor. Consider the toxic stew that is professional bodybuilding and the words of four-time Mr. Universe Bill Pearl: “The guy left standing on the stage today at the end of a bodybuilding show is probably the guy in the arena who is closest to death.”
That’s messed up. Don’t sacrifice health or performance for vanity.
And Erin is careful not to do anything stupid, even when it comes to competition prep. “A few days out from competition, I cut carbs, and two days out, I cut sodium. This way, you don’t need to stop drinking water. If you do that, you get headaches and feel miserable and your skin gets dry, so it’s important to still drink water.” It’s important to note that this carb and sodium cutting is just for a short period of time in order to look best for competition.
So there you go, fellas. Advice from three super-fit women on how to kick ass in the gym and get an awesome body. Go be inspired.
