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How to Prep for a Figure Contest

Posted in Fat loss and Fitness Tips on March 6th, 2011 by admin – Be the first to comment

A figure show is a competition produced by the NPC for ladies who want to present their muscle detail in a feminine way.  The figure competition is a subcategory of female bodybuilding.  Figure contests comprise months of preparation involving structured figure competition diets, workouts, cardio sessions, posing, etc. 

The bulk of a figure competition involves posing in a posing suit and posing heels on stage in various rounds and compared with other figure competitors.  The rounds consist of fourth part turns and various model poses.  Figure competitions do not include dance or gymnastic movements. 

Figure athletes display their physiques to a panel of judges and spectators. Figure competitors are judged on muscle tone, balance, proportion, and personal appearance, presentation, posture, professionalism, and confidence.  

Figure contests have exploded by leaps and bounds in the recent years, and everyone from total newbies to season athletes are contending in figure contests and winning awards and even top placements.  If you are among the eager ladies interested in entering a figure competition these are a couple of tips to prep you. 

It is suggested that you workout at least a year before attempting to prepare for a figure competition.  This allows you time to build a good muscle base.  This extra allotted time let’s you mentally and physically prepare for the high-powered months of preparation necessary for a figure competition. 

Many figure competitors find it useful to hire a figure coach to assist in outlining a structured figure competition diet and workout agenda to get better results faster.  A figure competition diet is rather rigid to retain the muscle tissue and to melt present body fat.  Figure contest meal plans involve high protein, decent carbs as well as essential fat to provide the vigor and nutrients required for high-impact workouts. 

Your figure competition workout must consist of weight training and aerobic training to enable you to make a complete body transformation that will earn you a high placement and even win your figure competition.  Training each muscle group once a week is recommended and training your weaker body parts up to twice a week is a bonus.  General workout guidelines involve working each body part with 3-4 sets of 8-15reps to target all the muscle fibers. 

Not only is your figure contest meal plan and workout important, but also your posing suit style and color as well as your posing heels.  It’s critical that you choose a figure competition suit that accentuates your strong body parts and minimizes your weak body parts.  It’s also vital that you select the right figure competition suit color to compliment your skin color and hair color.  The right posing suit and shoes can determine your placement, therefore select wisely. 

It’s no doubt that entering a figure contest requires prep time, but if you use the correct info you will look striking on your competition day, place well, and even win. 

In fact, Karen Sessions has released some of the best-kept figure competition secrets and how to win in her best-selling book, “Figure Competition Secrets”.  I reviewed it, implemented the tactics, and won my very first figure competition!  It is a valuable tool …   Check it out for yourself at http://www.FigureCompetitionSecrets.com 

Healthy Eating and Exercise Tips

Posted in Fat loss and Fitness Tips on March 3rd, 2011 by admin – Be the first to comment

Are you a woman who is interested in losing weight?   Well no worries, you are not alone   In the US most women worry about their health and beauty, especially weight. True is it easier said then done, however you can lose weight naturally   If you are interested in losing weight “naturally,” without the assistance of weight loss pills, you will want to continue reading on.

What you need to know about losing weight naturally is that it requires quite a bit of hard work and restraint on your part.   Now you’ve heard this a thousand times, the key to losing weight is exercise and eating healthy.   Without these two components of weight loss, there is a good chance that you will not lose any weight, in fact, you may keep on gaining more.  

When it comes to eating healthy, there are many people who don’t know where to start.  One of the first things that you will want to do is start looking into healthy foods and healthy recipes.  You can do this by either using the internet, which should be free, or by buying a collection of healthy eating cookbooks. These healthy eating cookbooks are typically available for sale in health stores, department stores, and book stores, both on and offline. Once you know what to cook, you can then start eating healthy.

You can’t continue to eat the sam unhealthy foods over and over again Unfortunately, many women end up getting bored with eating the same foods again and again. This is often what leads many people off of the healthy eating path. This is a mistake that you do not want to make. Perhaps, that is why you should buy a collection of healthy eating cookbooks or take the time to research healthy eating recipes online, as it gives you a larger selection of foods to choose from.

As previously stated, exercise is the other important component of losing weight.   If you are interested in seriously losing weight, it is important that you start exercising.   When it comes to exercising and working out, you will find that you have a number of different options.  For many individuals, exercising means hitting their local fitness center, but it can also mean going for a morning walk or run. Whether you put in an exercise DVD at your home or decide to lift weight at your local fitness center, this exercise is important to you, your health, and your weight loss goals.

As with eating healthy foods, you may want to think about spicing up your exercises and workouts as well. This will help you stay excited about losing weight and exercising. A great way to stay motivated is to included your family and friends. Nothing will keep you on track than other people around you doin the same thing.

In short, the combination of healthy eating and exercise is sure to spell success. While it does take a lot of hard work and determination to lose weight, you will likely be more than pleased with the results.

These exercise tips are brought to you by Zoey Scott. Zoey is an ex wedding planner who now provides wedding planning tips on her blog. Some people want to look their best during their wedding, so Zoey provides great tips on exercising and eating healthy. You can get more tips on wedding planning in Zoey’s wedding planning guide and wedding planning books.

Ditch the Boring Weight Loss Menus

Posted in Fat loss and Fitness Tips on March 2nd, 2011 by admin – Be the first to comment

The term “weight loss menus” may bring up images of canned tuna covered in mustard and soy sauce, one of the diet staples from the biggest weight loss program in the 1970s.  I ate it, drank diet sodas, drank milk, and counted calories to no avail.  In fact, I felt worse than I did before I ever began dieting. 

Admittedly, I lost a couple of pounds, but the weight didn’t stay off and over the years I continued to try just about every new diet which came along.  It took a while to realize that no menu would give me the fat loss I desired.  I had to find a way to learn how to eat properly.

Eat to Live not Live to Eat

When you get into the cycle of roller coaster dieting, you feel like you’re trapped on a merry-go-round which never stops.  You become so obsessed with what to eat, when to eat it and how much to eat that you actually never stop focusing on food. 

Unlike a tobacco addict who can walk away from cigarettes again and never “need” one again to live, diet addicts cannot simply walk away from food.  A life changing shift in thinking needs to take place so you can create a healthy relationship with food again.

The first step in this process is realizing that yes, you have to eat to live, but food does not need to be the focus of your life.  That doesn’t mean giving up in resignation and eating whatever you want.  It means setting yourself and your home up in a fashion that will allow you to make healthy eating plans with a minimum of stress so you do not have to worry about your meals all the time.

Eliminate the Negative

There are foods which we’ve long been told are fine to eat while on a diet that are actually disastrous.  Refined carbs are perhaps the worst thing you can eat when you want to lose fat, but so many standard diets say things like pasta is okay.  Refined carbs turn on your insulin response and insulin turns that sugar into fat as fast as it can to balance out your blood sugar levels.

Not every oil is created equal.  Stick to olive oil and coconut oil, exclusively.  Coconut oil has an unjustified reputation as evil.  It isn’t; in fact, it’s very high in lauric acid, which is turned into monolaurin in the body, a compound that fights numerous viruses and bacteria.  It also contains short and medium fatty acid chains which help remove excess fat and boost the functioning of the thyroid and reduce the work of your liver.  Coconut oil is used for frying and olive oil is for everything else.

Accentuate the Positive

The majority of people like proteins, and they’re really very good for you.  You want to focus on whole organic eggs, grass fed meat, wild caught fish and organic chicken. 

If you must have milk products, don’t consider it as part of your protein needs and stick to raw, unpasteurized milk products.  They still include the digestive enzymes that are natural to milk and they will not have the chemical load that comes along with commercial milk.  If you can’t get raw milk, stick to organic milk products. 

Get your calcium from dark leafy vegetables, stock up on raw nuts, nut butters, and organic produce of any kinds.  Use sea salt instead of table salt, use stevia and raw honey for sweeteners and any deli meats need to be nitrate and nitrite free.

Try to tell me that does not sound a lot better than canned salmon with mustard?  It takes effort to make these changes, but this is just the beginning.  Learn how to eat properly, not according to some strange weight loss menus, and you will come to enjoy eating again, and lose weight to boot.