Building a bikini and fitness body that will win shows
When it comes competing anyone can get on stage but not everyone can get on stage and be competitive or win shows. Building the right shape and acquiring the right conditioning is imperative for a winning bikini and fitness competitor.
These are the two things that most competitors are lacking. Either not enough muscle or their conditioning is lacking or both (not a good look on stage)
The main 2 reasons this happens is:
A) Not enough focus on strength. In order to grow muscle you will need to get stronger (yes those bands you use to train glutes are doing f#ck all). How much has your Squat, Deadlift and Hip Thrust improved over the last 12 weeks?
Strength training is often overlooked by female competitors and is one of the main reasons females struggle to build muscle. You should be seeing strength progress over time or something is not working.
B) Never ending dieting phases. How long have you been in a calorie deficit? Forcing your body to be super lean year round is slowing down your progress! And slowing down point A above. It’s also making it really hard to bring great conditioning to the stage as you’re causing negative metabolic adaptations for fat loss. Your rate of fat loss will significantly slow down. You will need to eat less and less. Then you start losing muscle while not being able to get leaner = no muscle or conditioning (not a good look on stage).
As a rule of thumb every year you should be at least at maintenance calories or above for 50% of the time (absolute minimum) for healthy metabolic function and ideal environment for muscle growth. This is the time when you make those improvements to your body which actually have you coming back to the stage looking better.
Don’t be afraid of eating or lifting some heavy sh#t you just may build muscle and get lean AF for your next show.
amanda.raydan
Incredible 😍
Strength Lab - Personal Training, Body Transformation Coaching and Competition Preparation
Personal Training Hawthorn, Melbourne