Trying to lose weight and achieve your goals can be mind boggling. There are so many theories out there these days on the best way to ‘lose weight and tone up’. I understand that it can be confusing so I thought I would compile some FAQ’s and try and keep my answers as easy to understand and follow as possible.
1- What is the best and most effective way to train abs and start to see definition?
Nutrition is KEY when it comes to showing abdominal definition. To see abs your body fat needs to be around 10%, depending on body type of course as everyone is different. Eating super clean and cutting out things such as processed foods, dairy, sugars, alcohol and simple carbs will help you immensely. You need to eat protein every 3 hours to keep your metabolism in check and keep your body fueling off fats efficiently. When trying to drop body fat you really need to get yourself a personalised body fat reduction diet, this takes the ‘guess work’ out of it, if you have something to follow you will do it and you will achieve your goal. Speak to your trainer or email me if you are interested in purchasing one from me. I like to train my core 2 x per week. I teach CXworx which is a 30min functional core training class, on top of this I use my XRslide (workout DVD’s coming soon), outside of that I don’t need to train my core anymore than that. I also like compound exercises for core conditioning, so any full body exercises where you are loading your core ie dead lifts, squats, lunges and all olympics lifting movements.
2- What are the best supps to take and when?
I like to keep my supps as minimal and as purposeful as possible. Obvioulsy we need to aim to get as many minerals, vitamins and protein from real food. These are my top 6:
Protein powder and bars- You need to have protein after weight training so if you are limited and can’t have some real food then this is the best time to have a shake or a protein bar. I use Tony Sfeirs Choc pea protein as it is all natural with no artificial sweeteners.
I suggest that you take a greens supplement every morning, it is a super food and keeps your immune system in check, also good to have when you know you aren’t eating loads of green veggies. A good one is Tony Sfeirs Greens boost.
L-Carnitine- L-Carnitine is made in the body from the amino acids lysine and methionine. It increases the use of fat as an energy source by transporting fatty acids into the mitochondria, where they are ‘burned’ to release energy for body functions. In basic terms it helps you burn fat 🙂 Take this in the morning and before training. I use Lean Boost from Tony Sfeirs
Magnesium- Every organ, particularly the heart, muscles and kidneys, magnesium, and if you don’t get enough of it you may experience irritability, anxiety, restless leg syndrome, sleep problems, muscle spasms, poor nail growth and other issues. Magnesium aids in the body’s production of energy and helps regulate the levels of other nutrients, including zinc, copper and potassium. It helps maintain a normal heart rhythm. You may need more magnesium if you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or exercising vigorously. I take magnesuim morning and night.
BCAA’s- Branched chain amino acid (BCAA) supplements are generally made up of three essential amino acids for muscle building:
L-Lucine
L-Isoleucine
L-Valine
By supplementing with these, the BCAA benefits you get can really be noticeable. Now, this isn’t a miracle supplement but it will help you to build and hold onto lean muscle. I drink my BCAA’s during my workouts and after depending on how heavy my training schedule is.
Vitamin C- Great for the immune system and overall health and well being. I take about 100mg a day.
3- How do you have the willpower to keep going and keep achieving?
Willpower is an interesting thing, it is a choice in my eyes, it is a decision you make and once you make that decision you have to back yourself and go for it. You will not go anywhere if your thoughts and self talk is negative and toxic, you have to believe in yourself. The road to acheiving goals can be long and it can be hard but once you acheive something you set out to and you know how hard you worked to get there you will never look back. Always remember that the taste of success is SO much sweeter than anything you eat. Start the ball rolling and make yourself accountable, you only get one chance so get out there and give it all you have got!
4- What is the best way to get into sports modelling or competing?
I honestly have to say the best way to get started is to find yourself a coach or trainer that knows their stuff. It is so much easier for you if you let someone else do all your programming and diets, you really need to seek out and ask for help. It is such a tough journey and you need support from someone who has been down that road and has the knowledge base to assist you. Do your research and find a trainer or coach that suits what you are after. Have a look at websites and read testimonials, there are a lot of people out there who will just ake your money and won’t follow through with their promises, very sad but true. Ask other women and get feedback on the coach that you are interested in. It is your money so make sure you spend it wisely and get the desired result that you are after. Stage presence training is HUGE and makes all the difference to the way you present on stage, so make sure that the coach you select gives you this as part of your package. You want the journey to be as enjoyable and stress free as possible 🙂
5- Is fruit generally ok to eat?
Fruits and vegetables both are very healthy. The differences come with fruits having a good bit of simple sugar (fructose) while the vegetables do not have fructose (a type of simple sugar). Sugar (carbohydrate) is your body’s energy, which answers why you feel more energy after eating fruit. It’s possible that you are getting too many simple sugars rather than the longer lasting complex sugars/ carbohydrates. Fruits provide simple sugar, and vegetables provide complex sugars. It might be easier to lose weight if you decreased the fruits and increased the vegetables because of decreasing the simple sugar. I would recommend only using fruit in your diet before or after training , if your trying to lose weight, this way the natural sugar in the friut will be burned off or used , instead of getting stored by the body.
6- What do I do if my friends and family don’t support me or understand why I am choosing to go after my goal and or lose weight?
It can be hard for others to understand why people they love want to change the way they look, there are many reasons for this. Either they love them the way they are, they themselves might have insecurites and not want to feel left out or feel bad when having pizza and beer. People want to all have a sense of belonging to something or someone so once you start to move against the grain problems can arise. My advice is to stick to your guns and learn to back yourself. Try and educate those around you and tell them why you are choosing to take a healthier path, if they don’t understand that is their issue and you have to let it go. Try and find people that are on the same path as you, make friends at the gym, use social media for inspiration, start to put out into the universe who and what you want in your life and it will happen. Eventually those that love you will see how happy you are and start to understand. Never let anyone dictate to you how you should live your life, why blend in when you were bnorn to stand out!!!!
7- When is the best time to do cardio and does high impact cardio have a catabolic effect on the body when trying to gain lean muscle?
The best time to do cardio is before breaky or after your last meal at night as this will help you burn all your fat stores from the day before or the day. The most effective form of BF reduction cardio is low intensity cardio ie uphill power walking. You want to stay in your Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) — 60 – 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories.. (You can easily find your Target Heart Rate with this simple method. Subtract your age from 220 (226 for women) to calculate your Maximum Heart Rate). Anything more than that and you are tapping into a different zone/energy system, aerobic and Anaerobic where you are targeting cardio vascular fitness and threshold training. High impact cardio is catabolic on your body and can break down the muscle that you are trying to put on so choose your cardio carefully and keep it specific to your goal. High intensity cardio is also very stressful on your body, you really don’t need to smash yourself with cardio, as long as you are spot on with your diet and get in and do some heavy lifting you will drop body fat. RPM is a great class to do as it gets you fit and you burn calories, it is also not that stressful on your body unlike some other high impact classes.
9- Will I get bulky if I lift weights?
Please read this article, it explains the benefits of lifting weightsand NO you won’t get bulky when lifting weights!!!!!!!
http://patrae.com/10-reasons-why-women-should-lifts-weights.html
10- What is the best way to get started with a weight loss goal, either after a baby or just starting out and not sure how?
The best thing you can do for yourself here is invest in a trainer. I honestly believe that if you have guidence and someone to keep you on track and motivated it makes the journey so much easier. A lot of people don’t start because they are scared or embarrassed, it isn’t rocket science peep’s, put your trust into someone else and get the help you need. If you just need a program or diet as you already feel confident in the gym but are looking to mix things up and shock the body into responding then email me. If you have something to follow you will stick to it.
11- How do I gain lean muscle while keeping body fat low?
This is something that has to be calculated, it is too hard to tell you what to eat and how much you need to eat when I don’t know your body type etc. If you are aiming to gain lean muscle while dropping body fat then I suggest you either invest in a trainer who can give you a calculated meal plan or email me. It is something that too many people don’t understand and you can end up in all sorts of trouble if you don’t have a personilsed plan to follow. Be wise with who you choose, there are far too many people claiming to be experts out there so just be careful.
12- What do you eat to stay so lean and in shape?
I like to eat a high protein, high fat, low carb diet. My diet consists of Eggs, Chicken, Veggies/salad, nuts and seeds, fruit, avocados. I eat protein every 3 hours and make sure I get complex carbs into me pre training. When I am in comp or photo shoot mode I drop the fruit and complex carbs but for a normal everyday diet I do not suggest this. I stay away from Dairy, sugars and limit my alcohol. I like to drink at least 3 litres of water a day. I also let myself have a treat meal on the weekend and it is usually something sweet or savory, just depends on my mood 🙂
Some healthy and protein rich snacks that you can eat during the day-suitable for vegetarians:
Strawberries ( if you need something sweet and need to curb the sugar cravings), unsalted nuts/seeds, low carb protein bars, hard boiled eggs, celary sticks with natural almond spread, avocado with cottage cheese.
I hope that I have covered most if not all of what you need to know. For anymore info on training programs and personilsed diets please visit my website and email me with your request. I wish I would help you all and tell you everything you need to know but as we all know time is money, all of my prices and services are on my website so be sure to check it out!
www.justineswitalla.com