Why Don't I Look Like a Fitness Model Yet?

By Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
Author of Figure Competition Secrtets

I generally like to write about information that can benefit the reader on more than just a surface level. If you have the facts and knowledge, then you are better equipped to tackle training, dieting, cardio and all other aspects of this confusing and crazy sport called fitness and bodybuilding that we are involved it.

Having the right information is one thing, but applying it is another. Applying information that you’ve learned takes risk. However, that’s one very big part of successful body transformations. Risks allow you to trial and error, and determine what and how your body responds to certain nutrients, as well as training, and cardio.

Since the majority of questions that came to me the last several months applied to figure and fitness body types, this same information also applies to bodybuilders, generally those new to the sport.

Flip through any muscle and fitness magazine and you’ll see fitness models and competitors, figure competitors, and bodybuilders sporting a flawless physique. They display lean and finely detailed muscle, and a present healthy looking tan.

What does it take to acquire such a muscular, yet feminine build?

Often times, when ladies train for that “competitor” look, they are under the impression that lighter weights and more reps will get them ripped, lean, and detailed. This is false.

Other women rely on endless cardio; as much as two hours a day for that polished look. This can be disastrous.

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Finally, the last group of ladies that want the popular “competition ready” body resort to extreme low or no carbohydrate diets. This route is also a serious mistake.

There is no one right way or single method to getting a fit, hard, lean, and muscular body. Such desired physiques required vision, dedication, determination, focus, and effort.

I come across many ladies brand new to the sport of fitness that put in all the above factors. Many ladies diet down from a healthy 18% body fat to a good 8-10% body fat and wonder after all their hard and committed work, why they don’t have the hard and ripped muscles like the top figure and/or fitness models they see in the latest fitness magazine or the flashy personal websites.

This is a very good question.

The figure and fitness ladies that you see sporting very dense bodies that look so magnificent have worked very hard, and often times for several years or more to attain that look.

While you can build 3-6 pounds of muscle in a three months time-span, it takes a few years to build density.

Scenario
You are fairly new to the sport of fitness. You read a few articles and got some basic information on nutrition and training. You may have even been on a fat-loss program for several weeks to see how well you could progress.

Through all your effort and dedication you managed to drop about 7 pounds of body fat and get to a stunning 9%! That’s excellent work. However, you step back to compare your 9% to the fitness model’s 9% in the fitness magazine and find you look much different. You are not as hard and detailed as the fitness model. You lack that certain “look” you were striving for. What went wrong?

The reason you may look dramatically different from the fitness or figure models at 9% is due to muscle mass and muscle density.

The Truth
The finely-tuned physiques you see displayed in the fitness magazines are ladies in “peak” condition. Peaking is a temporary condition in which the body fat is reduced to very low levels, often times dangerous levels, so the muscle detail is predominantly visible. Most ladies in peaked condition are anywhere from 8-10% body fat, sometimes lower. The peaking process involves specific training and dieting methods, and is usually done for physique shows and photo shoots. In addition, a peaked physique is a severely dehydrated physique, posing health risks.

This conditioned look is not something that is usually preserved year around. Granted, many ladies will have a good athletic and lean look all year, but it is difficult and unwise to keep such a low degree of body fat year around.

Fitness competitors put a LOT of work into their physiques. They train all year for muscle size and density, and then diet for months on end to lower their body fat and to get cut. It’s difficult to keep such a low body fat and muscle detail all the time. It's really not a glamorous lifestyle, unless you like continual detailed diet and training. I've competed for 7 years, and it is an exhausting chore to get cut, much less stay that way year around. Low body fat wears on you, puts a strain on your immune system, and leads to metabolic downgrade.

It’s Not an Overnight Process
The underlying factor in why you and the fitness model or natural bodybuilder looks strikingly different at such a low body fat percentage is due to muscle mass and muscle density. These are components you must build over time. You cannot just “bulk” for three to four months and think you have done the necessary work. You have to build the foundation to sculpt the masterpiece.

Sculpt the Body of your Dreams!

Factors that build muscle mass and muscle density:

It can take up to a year to build the foundation you need to carve the shapely body you want.

The Finer Details
Once you have the muscle mass and density necessary to carry you through a taxing dieting phase you can begin to lose fat, and then cut.

What many people fail to realize is that cutting is detailing the muscle. You can’t detail your muscles if you are 18% body fat. You have to first lose the excess body fat and when you are lower you can finely detail the muscle, a process known as cutting.

Cutting is a similar format to building muscle, you just have to tweak your diet and cardio that sparks fat loss and not muscle loss.

Factors that Propel Fat Loss

*	Losing body fat and cutting requires eating properly and eating on time. This means no skipping meals and no overeating.
*	Losing body fat and cutting requires cycling your carbs and/or calories.
*	Losing body fat and cutting requires you to incorporate re-feed days.
*	Losing body fat and cutting requires you eat real food and avoid restaurant food.
*	Losing body fat and cutting requires you to incorporate progressive cardio. This has to be closely monitored to ensure you are not doing too much cardio or not enough.
*	Losing body fat and cutting requires you to be on an outlined program that must be followed.

Conclusion
Losing body fat and cutting is a chore to say the least. It’s not easy, but the rewards are endless. The most important thing to remember is to be you, and don’t compare yourself to anyone else because everyone is different. Various body types and shapes will appear dramatically different, even at the same body fat levels. Therefore, set goals and images for yourself based on what you know you can do.

Fitfully Yours,
Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
MsFit

P.S. Want more advanced muscle building information? Check out Iron Dolls - Women's Bodybuilding Training System. Be sure to look into Figure Competition Secrets to get training and nutrition information for that fit body possessed by some of the top figure and fitness athletes.

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Supplement of the Month
Glutamine

If you train hard and are serious about building and maintaining lean muscle tissue, then you should be supplementing with glutamine. Intense training and stress strips your muscle of this precious amino acid and your body can’t make enough of it when you are training hard.

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body. Although the body can make it, it is not nearly enough to satisfy the body’s needs and demands from training, dieting, and/or illness. It’s the primary transporter of nitrogen into the muscle cells, improving protein synthesis and growth hormone levels. It also lowers catabolism and it boosts the immune system. Glutamine can increase growth hormone secretion, which can aids in shedding fat while maintaining muscle.

During training glutamine is depleted from muscles (where glutamine is synthesized and stored), decreasing stamina, strength, and recovery. Normally it can take up to almost a week for the glutamine levels to return to normal! By supplementing glutamine your cells get re-hydrated faster. This initiates greater protein synthesis, bringing about greater muscle retention and growth. Another little plus is that glutamine enables you to train harder by improving recovery, and by reducing fatigue-inducing acids inside the muscles.

Growth hormone is secreted at night within the first sixty minutes of deep sleep, and even more growth hormone is secreted if starchy-complex carbohydrates are curtailed prior to sleep.

To offset a catabolic state, supplement with 10 to 20 grams of Glutamine a day, divided into 5 gram servings on an empty stomach. Have a 5 gram dose before training and another 5 gram dose within 20 minutes following training to aid in muscle recovery and muscle growth. Other dosages should be 5 grams before cardio, and optional doses between meals, and prior to sleep.

Check out bodybuilding.com's Higher Power Glutamine!

Fitfully Yours,
Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
MsFit

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Are Your Exercises Stressing You Out?

By Chris Green
Conquering Stress

You're right, the headline is a very strange one! Exercise is vital to maintain good health and most of the time, the benefits of exercise far out-weigh the drawbacks. But if you suffer from a stressful or a depressive illness, exercise can actually make you feel worse. But how can this be?

I'm sure you've heard the following statement over and over again: exercise can help you to beat stress, or alleviate anxiety or boost a depressed mind. This is only true in part. Because many exercises can actually worsen these illnesses. And even if you perform exercises that can help,
these exercises will only help temporarily.

The reason many people believe exercise to be helpful in combating stressful and depressive illnesses is because when you exercise vigorously for longer than 20 minutes, your body floods with endorphins. These chemicals give us a buzz, and this is why it is widely believed that exercise can cure stress, depression or anxiety.

If you're suffering a stressful or depressive episode, you'll know that no matter how regularly you exercise, the bad feelings return. The only way to beat these illnesses is to treat the root cause - flawed modes of thinking. Exercise, though great for our bodies, simply doesn't do anything to address modes of thinking.

When my anxiety was at it's worst back in 2000, I exercised 4 times a week. For 2 days, I'd perform weight-training exercises. These exercises are the type of exercise that can actually make you feel worse because you have time to think about all of the issues and problems you have in your life at the time. I'd also warm up and warm down on bike machines or cross-trainers. Again, you can perform these exercises easily so you can think about your problems.

For my other workouts, I'd perform instructor-led circuit training sessions. As you're listening out for instructions and performing sequences of exercises at a high tempo, you don't have time to dwell on your troubles and worries. The problem is that once you stop exercising, you return to the modes of thinking which lead to stress, depression or anxiety.

As soon as my workout had finished, I'd perform the flawed modes of thinking, modes that made me anxious and depressed. Exercising did very little - if anything - to stop me performing these flawed thought processes.

Do be aware of what's happening when you exercise. Exercises that don't require much concentration may have you brooding over your troubles as you perform them. Jogging, walking,
exercise machines, weight-training are all examples of such exercises. Instead, try ones that are more intensive or competitive so your whole concentration is required. Circuit-training worked for me, so did sports like soccer and badminton.

The idea is to give yourself a period of time where you're not thinking about your problems and worries. And of course, you'll do your body a whole heap of good too!

The point here is to understand that exercise can only provide temporary relief. The only way to find permanent relief from your suffering is to understand and address flawed modes of thinking.  And, just as physical exercise benefits our bodies, mental skills leading to better modes of thinking will bring enormous benefits to our minds.

The following quote sums it up in a nutshell:

"Thought can make you, thought can break you." - Swami Sukhabodhanada

Until next time.

About the Author
Former anxiety sufferer Chris Green is the author of "Conquering Stress", the internationally acclaimed program that will help you to permanently conquer stress, depression and anxiety without taking powerful drugs in just 90 days. For more information please click here.

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Sign-up for your online personal training program today and get the body YOU deserve!

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Fitfully Yours,
Karen Sessions NSCA-CPT
aka: MsFit

 

**The contents of this newsletter should not be considered as medical advice. You should consult a physician before starting a fitness program.

This newsletter is protected by copyright, 2006, Karen Sessions, All rights reserved. You may use this newsletter in your e-zine or website as long as the copyright and links remain intact.**