Please check out the great interview which Christian Duque from Strength Addicts hosted, and in which I am the featured guest! We talked about a lot of topics, and I covered a lot of ground on my background, my contest journey, and my philosophy on training, diet and competing. Check it out and please LIKE and SHARE! Thank you so much!
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This 94-Year-Old Grandmother Is A Champion Powerlifter
I am utterly shocked and completely impressed by this lady! Read on to find out how she got started at the age of 91. This totally proves that you are NEVER too old to lift weights!
Original post can be found at:
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-22172/this-94-year-old-grandmother-is-a-champion-powerlifter.html
by Emi Boscamp, MBG Editorial – October 16, 2015 5:25 PM
A 94-year-old woman can dead lift 135 pounds. What did you do today? (Yeah, I didn’t do much of anything either.)
Floridian Edith Traina is a grandmother — and that’s an accomplishment in itself — but she’s also a champion powerlifter. She started doing it at the tender age of 91 and has since become addicted to the competition, reports FOX13 Tampa.
“(My friend) dragged me kicking and screaming to the gym, and I figured I’d keep her happy for a while and get her off my back, but I got hooked,” Traina (which, by the way, is the most fitting last name possible) told FOX13 Tampa.
Since then, the self-described “champion” has competed in more than a dozen competitions, is the only person in her age group, and hopes to be able to lift 200 pounds by the time she hits 100. Though it may be good for her health, she does it because of how it makes her feel emotionally.
“With this, I just walk up, lift it, put it down. I get all these applause — great for the ego,” she said.
Watch her do her thing below (and prepare to feel like a bum). Keep on trainin’, Traina — we’re rooting for you!
Nutrient Timing
If you are at all interested in optimal fitness, you need to be aware of what nutrients your body needs in order to build muscle and metabolize fat as well as optimize performance. This is better known as nutrient timing. Proper timing of the foods you eat will support hormone function and promote a lean and muscular physique, while eating the wrong foods at the wrong time will trigger fat deposition, loss of muscle, and longer post-workout recovery times.
When nutrient timing comes into play, the goal is to shift body composition so that fat loss and muscle gain are optimized and glycogen stores are maximized. Such shifts have long-standing health benefits which can effectively prevent development of major diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. One caveat is that consuming excessive amounts of food will result in fat gain regardless of nutrient timing.
During training days, you should consume higher amounts of protein and carbohydrate and decrease your fat intake. The general rule is to consume about 1 to 2 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight, with most of your carbs consumed post-workout. On your rest days, you should consume higher fat and protein while dropping your carb intake to about 0.5 grams per pound body weight. The rationale behind this is that you want to encourage higher insulin levels post-workout, but lower insulin levels at all other times.
You may want to bump up your carbohydrate intake a bit throughout the day if you are looking to gain muscle, since insulin stimulates growth or anabolism. You can also ingest carbs throughout the day if you are already lean and just want to maintain. However, if you are looking to lose body fat, you need to consume most of your carbs during and post-exercise, and consume mainly protein and fat during all other times.
So Excited For Everyone Competing At NPC Nationals This Weekend!
The NPC Nationals will be taking place this weekend, with over 1,000 competitors! This is the largest NPC National event in history. The best way to get a glimpse of what is occurring in Miami this weekend, I have included a video introduction here from J.M Manion. For those of you who don’t know who this awesome man is, here is his Twitter profile description, which I absolutely love:
Professional Photographer & Journalist for NPC News for 30 years. Owner of multi-media company J.M. Manion Productions, Inc. & Jedi Master
Yes, indeed! He IS a Jedi Master! Or wait, isn’t he Batman? Those of you in the loop will get the reference!
Best of luck to everyone competing!
Getting Back On The Horse: Returning To The Gym
Please check out my latest article for Sports Nutrition Supplement Guide! Please read original post and see the site here:
Perhaps the ebb and flow of life has thrown you off your fitness routine, and you are ready to return to the gym. It might be that you are post-partum, or had to nurse an injury or illness. Or it could be that you have been moving at such a frenetic pace in your life that you got sidetracked from your “every damned day” gym schedule, and need to get back into the groove. Whatever the reason is for putting consistent gym visits on the back burner, the good news is that you can re-establish a consistent fitness regimen. In order to ensure the greatest success with your efforts, here are some suggestions which will motivate you and keep you on track.
Set Goals
I bet some of you may have forgotten about the power of setting specific goals for yourself. It may be that you have been away from the iron den for a long time, so you might want to set strength gain goals in which you move up in your 1 rep max every two weeks, increase the number of free dips or pullups you can perform every few weeks, or even increase the amount of time you hold a plank.
Another type of goal you can set for yourself is to increase muscle mass in a measurable way, perhaps a one inch increase in your calf girth over a 6 week period, for example. Instead of meandering back into the gym and having a general objective, like just getting back in there, make sure to hang a carrot in front of you so that you are even more motivated to stick to the program.
Be Realistic
Thank goodness for muscle memory, because it enables those who are at a high level of fitness to regain their muscle mass and strength rather quickly after a period of inactivity. However, those who were at a lower level of fitness at their baseline will lose muscle and strength pretty rapidly, after even as little as two weeks of not lifting weights. Depending on what your degree of muscularity or strength was before your setback, you will have to give yourself some time to build back up to previous levels of muscle mass and strength. If you find yourself with more padding around the midsection, glutes, or thighs than what you had when you were hitting the weights consistently, make sure that you target fat loss with your training and food intake.
Eat Properly
You can’t expect to achieve stellar results just by hitting the weights like a fiend, while putting junk food in your body, so make sure to establish healthy eating habits to support your return to lifting weights. If your eating habits have gone by the wayside, incorporate a consistent meal plan which provides your body with clean macronutrients and supports your weight training. Throw out the forbidden foods which may be lurking in your kitchen, such as sweets, crackers, chips, and ice cream. Stock your kitchen with whole foods like lean turkey, chicken breast, salmon, eggs, green vegetables, sweet potatoes, brown rice, almonds, walnuts, and avocado. Confine cheat meals to one evening on the weekends.
Don’t Overtrain
Make sure to give yourself time to get back into the swing of things, especially if you are returning after an injury or illness. You MUST take it easy, otherwise you run the risk of injuring or re-injuring yourself, causing an even bigger setback. If you were very fit before you took your break, your muscle mass and strength should both return to their previous levels within a couple of weeks.
Pushing Through – Dealing With Troubling Times
Life is not about how hard you can hit, but how much you can get hit & still keep moving forward. -Rocky Balboa
It is commonplace these days to hear people say that times are tough, and indeed they are. Truth is, there will ALWAYS be something we will be forced to contend with. At times those challenges can be so trying that they threaten to break our spirit and obscure the light at the end of the tunnel. However, it is imperative to push through those trials and tribulations while remembering what our goals are.
Your goals may be long term and centered around a career aspiration or the pursuit of an avocation for which you have great passion. Perhaps you have a weight loss goal or want to improve your general health. Or maybe you compete and are chasing after that elusive Pro Card or Olympia qualification. Chances are that any challenges which hit unexpectedly have no direct correlation to these goals, so why allow them to push you off course? You may get knocked around a bit, but the important thing is to get back in line with that prize you have set before you.
It always amazes me to hear patients and clients describe how they abandoned their meal plans and exercise regimens, and thus their fitness and health goals, when they were forced to deal with stressful life events such as divorce, legal issues, job loss, or family illness. What goes through my mind when I hear such things is that these people are doing themselves a disservice by dropping a regular regimen which has immense long term payoffs. A thread of stability is established when there is consistency with food intake and exercise which can actually lessen the impact of life stressors. Energy levels are boosted, depression is minimized, and an individual can assert his or her own personal needs in the face of adversity.
So if tough times are getting you down, remember to put the oxygen mask on your own face and take care of your own needs. Those who persevere will be rewarded after the storm passes. Hang in there!
You Got This!
In keeping with the fact that we are approaching the last NPC Pro Qualifier contest of the year in November, I figured it was a perfect time to talk about envisioning your goal, whether it be the attainment of a Pro Card or some other coveted prize. The key is to adopt the attitude that you have already reached your goal, because such an attitude carries immense power and forces you to adopt an “I won” attitude. I chased after a Pro Card for five years, and I honestly believed that it was only after I had adopted the attitude in 2013 that I already WAS a Pro that my energy truly changed.
Focus is not enough. In order to truly draw the proper energy, you need to envision already reaching your goal. You can always tell when a competitor is “on” because he or she will throw off sparks of “I got this” confidence. There is a glow about that person onstage which sets him or her apart from everyone else. It has less to do with a great suit or great posing (though those things help too) and everything to do with owning that “I won” attitude. I have seen it repeatedly and I also know I had that glow when I won my Pro Card.
So if you have been hitting the stage or the gym with a “Please pick me” attitude, you need to scrap that and truly own the attitude that you have already locked down the win. Even if you don’t nail down a Pro Card spot, you can take that attitude with you to future events and maximize your chances of getting high placings with your confidence.
Staying Lean Through The Holidays – REPOST
Here is a repost of an article I wrote last November. It’s that time of the year again for holiday foods, so beware!
It seems that I will continue to uphold my yearly tradition of making my incredible (and incredibly UNclean) fudge for the holidays, as well as my signature turkey stuffing. Since the holidays come only once a year, it seems reasonable to indulge a bit, right? Well, if you’re a fitness fanatic and you have competitions coming up like several of my friends do, you can’t exactly throw caution to the wind and consume whatever you want. However, you CAN still indulge in small amounts of rich foods which are not considered clean as long as your other foods are healthy and clean. This means that your abs don’t have to hibernate during the holidays!
There are a few tricks to minimize the amount of bad foods which you may be tempted to devour. You can consume a small amount of lean protein right before you have a carb cheat. This will slow down digestion so that the carbs aren’t stored as readily. Another trick is to drink at least eight ounces of water before you indulge in a decadent treat. This will help to fill you up so you consume less food afterward. When you are aware that you will be at a function in which tempting foods will be around, make sure your meals beforehand are kept clean and that you you eat every 2-1/2 to 3 hours to ensure that you won’t be ravenous come party time.
A newer tactic which can often work wonders for some people is to practice an intermittent fast the day before in which you consume a small number of calories, say 400-500, then go to town on turkey day, consuming your maintenance calories then. This seems to work better if you ramp up the week before with a series of intermittent fasts in which you consume your food (maintenance calories +10-20% on training days, then drop to -20% of maintenance on rest days) within a 4 to 8 hour window, then fasting the rest of the time. If you do this, crank up your protein intake so that it is at least 1 gram per pound of body weight. I personally love this diet approach and my body responds well to it, plus I can enjoy all the goodies on Thanksgiving without remorse.
There are food choices which are cleaner than others during the holidays. Though common holiday foods are rather calorie dense, here are a few food items which are lower in calories and fat:
- Roast turkey breast
- Green beans without butter
- Mashed potatoes made with whipped butter and Greek yogurt instead of milk and regular butter
- Pumpkin Pie
I know some of you are assuming that my cats join in with holiday feasts, but I always put them in my bedroom and lock the door. There are several reasons why I keep my felines away from the holiday table:
1. People food can often be hazardous for animals
2. My cats will run underfoot and probably trip people
3. My cats will suddenly forget the rule about not jumping onto tables and will create an unsanitary environment for guests
4. My cats will turn into pesky little beggars
Some of you may also be wondering what I am planning on cooking and eating, so here is my Thanksgiving menu:
- 16-18 pound turkey
- my secret stuffing recipe which has lots of goodies in it, but is relatively low in fat and calories compared to other exotic stuffing recipes
- mashed potatoes made with light butter and sour cream
- green bean casserole
- my homemade fudge
- whole cranberry sauce
- turkey gravy
- wine
- store-bought pumpkin pie
Obviously there are some items on my menu that fall outside of my “clean food guidelines”, but since the holidays only come once a year, I have no qualms about it. This is the time during which we should count our blessings and spend quality time with the people we love without getting anxious about what we are eating. However, this does not mean you have free license to go nuts on bad foods for the next month! If you end up indulging in other foods, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, enjoy the feast and resume healthy eating the next day.
Happy holidays!
Stage Shots From My Final Regional NPC Contest, April 2013
These images were taken by Dan Ray during the NPC Metropolitan in April of 2013. The NPC Met was the last amateur regional competition I took part in before I went off to NPC Team Universe and attained IFBB Professional status.
Personal Fitness Training Is 90% Motivation
I will never discount the value of a skilled fitness trainer, because I know the importance of having a strong foundation of knowledge in exercise principles and the ability to demonstrate proper form on exercises. However, all trainers must develop the ability to motivate their clients if they are to maintain a certain level of success in taking their clients to the next level and helping them to ultimately reach fitness goals.
I have to laugh when I see trainers who are basically just really good at counting when they are with their clients. One trainer I know of spends the entire session time blabbing on and on about all of his personal business, never instructing his clients, putting them on no-brainer machines, then interrupting his boring personal stories to count out reps. IMMEDIATELY after the client is done with a set, the trainer continues with his story! This has occurred, without fail, every single time I have been near him when he was at the gym training a client. In addition, he is seriously overweight! At least he recently began working out at the gym from time to time (not consistently), because he went for years without training at that gym, and it definitely showed. It blows my mind that he even has clients, because he does absolutely nothing whatsoever to motivate them. In addition, his clients NEVER transform. His physique doesn’t transform either. Sorry, but no trainer should look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
A trainer should be a cheerleader for clients, encouraging, motivating and challenging them. It isn’t enough to hold clients accountable for showing up for training sessions. Great trainers motivate clients to continue with consistent healthy choices both in and out of the gym. Great trainers also lead by example, and focus on their clients instead of wasting energy during a training session by talking about themselves. Whenever I am training a client and the client asks me personal questions, my answers are brief and punctuated with, “I’ll tell you more after the training session is over”. How can I expect my clients to focus on their workout routines if I spend time gossiping about my personal life? I honestly think that there should be a veil of mystery when it comes to a trainer’s personal life in order to preserve the trainer-client relationship. Though the trainer-client rapport is very important, I firmly believe that the focus should ALWAYS be on the client. After all, the client is the one paying for the expertise of the trainer, and deserves to be the center of attention for the 55 minutes allotted.
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