How to look like a Fitness Model

The Fitness Model, Bikini and Glmour Classes are certainly taking the stage by storm lately. And why wouldn’t you want to look those gorgeous girls on stage. They’re toned, got great abs, butts to die for and most importantly look fit and are the picture of health.

So how does one train to look like the babes on stage?
Simple answer. By hard work.

Fitness models train like a regular female figure or bodybuilder. However the main difference between the classes usually comes down to genetic factors and muscle mass that separate fitness model to figure and physique.

While the fitness models generally do not need as much muscle as other classes, they still need to do weight training to show off their athletic curves.

Lucia has squats at
the centre of her leg
training

Depending on your fitness and weight/condition of your body, 3 days of weight training and 4 separate cardio sessions should be plenty to get your started on your fitness model body journey.

A training split for beginners would look like this:
Monday: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Tuesday: Cardio or aerobic class
Wednesday: Legs
Thursday: Cardio or aerobic class
Friday: Back, Biceps
Saturday: Cardio or aerobic class
Sunday: Cardio

Exercises
* Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

There's nothing like a good set of shoulders to frame your figure and set your symmetry on the right path. As a beginner, training chest and shoulders will provide good base to your frame. For upper chest, incline dumbbell bench presses set at a 60 degree angle, flat dumbbell bench press is great for mid/lower chest development, and the flat dumbbell fly is great for outer chest growth.

For your your shoulders, you can do front dumbbell raises, side dumbbells raises, bent-over dumbbell raises for rear delts. Finish your workout with standing tricep pushdowns and cable kickbacks to shape your triceps.

* Legs
Often many fitness/bikini comps are won from the rear and that is why leg and glute work is crucial to round off your great figure. Legs are often the hardest part to get lean in females so it figures that you need to do twice the work to get the desired results. As a beginner, legs once a week is enough to get things moving but ideally once you get into the groove of training, you should do legs twice a week.

left: Nats has legs - glorious legs!

Barbell squats should form the centre piece of your butt shaping programme, then add/exchange all sorts of lunges to shape your glutes. If possible, you should also walk stadium stairs or hills once a week to accelerate your glute develpment.

* Back and Biceps
Getting that upper body "V-Shape" also important from the back. If you are just starting out, I'd recommend you do lots of wide grip pulldowns or chin ups to add width to your back. Close-grip lat pull-downs will hit the the mid and inner lats while seated cable rows will work the middle part of the back.

Sets and Reps: Beginners should begin with 3 sets x 12-15 reps per exercise done with good controlled form. As you get more experienced you can begin a more advanced strength training plan to increase your muscle mass.

Make sure you get along to the NZIFBB Auckland Champs on 10 Aug and NABBA WFF Pan Pacs 17 Aug
to get inspired by the hot babes on stage.

Or give the Fitness Model class a go yourself at the Go Figure Bodybuilding Spectacular on 1 Sept.

Cardio
If you're a beginner and just getting into a training lifestyle, then I'd recommend just 4 separate 30-40 min cardio sessions would be plenty. This can be done on the treadmill, bike or cross trainer at separate time to your weights so you don't exhaust yourself. You don't need to go 'gangbusters' with cardio either. The first 20mins can be of a higher intensity, then follow the next 20min with a steady heart rate or hop on the treadmill and do incline walking.

Intermediate gym bunnies, ie have been training for a good 1-2 years you can add 30min cardio before breakfast on your weight training days to accelerate your lean body plan.

Nutrition
Ofcourse, no matter how hard you work out in the gym, you won’t get anywhere without following a good clean healthy eating plan. A Fitness model and every athlete should also supplement with the basics such as whey protein, multivitamin/multimineral, and a fat burner to keep you in tip top health.

Below are some guidelines that might help some of the novice athletes with getting started on a clean eating plan:

Eat every 2-3 hours
Drink 3 litres of water per day
Consume around 20-25gm of protein at each meal.
Consume 2 to 3 grams of carbs per kg of bodyweight each day
Consume an ample amount of good fat from salmon, almonds, avocado
Supplement with a multivitamin/multimineral in the morning
Supplement with a fat burner in the morning and before lunch
Supplement with whey protein post-workout

Eating good clean healthy food like Go Figure Low Carb Pasta and having good food preparation is
key to creating a great figure!

Lisa with the babes
Lucia and Kate

Summary
The Fitness Model/Bikini Classes is a great class to aim for as the look is achieveable and attainable with hardwork. Results can happen within 6 months depending on what your present condition is and how focused you are to achieve your look.

The first step to getting your body is to find a good trainer and/or nutritionist to get you started. Then make a date for when you want to achieve that goal. Whether a contest or an important date you want to look good for.

Good luck and look forward to seeing lots of hot babes grace our stages!

Lisa
Go Figure

How to look like a Fitness Model

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