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Fitness, Nutrition And Stage Prep
The Lowdown on Bigger Butts, Organic Foods and Choosing
the Right Posing Outfit
By Lyzabeth Lopez
Inside Fitness is pleased to bring
you a new monthly column from
the 2009 Hot and Fit 100 winner,
Lyzabeth Lopez. Lyzabeth, a
certified personal trainer, Holistic Nutritionist and much more,
will take your questions via her
Facebook page, and answer a few
of them here in Inside Fitness
each issue.
Q) How do you get a bigger butt
without having really bulky legs?
I’ve been doing squats, dead lifts,
lunges and leg presses. I have a
little booty, but my legs are getting too bulky. Do you have any
suggestions? Thanks.
Mei
A)
This is an excellent question
and one that I think many women
can benefit from. Here are some
training tricks that you can try to
increase the size of your glutes
while toning the legs.
Start off by determining if you
have good mind to muscle connection. This is important because
most women tend to focus their
weight into their toes and through
their quadriceps when performing
lower body movements. If you
are looking to focus on the glutes,
then you need to learn to focus
your energy into the glutes. To do
this you are looking to focus into
the heels and connect to the glute
area. If you are not able to do this,
or you don’t understand what is
being asked, hire a good trainer for
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a couple of sessions to help you
perfect your form. Consider it an
investment in great glutes.
Next, now that you’ve got great
form, we can move into exercise
options. If you are looking to keep
your legs the same size or get
them smaller, you want to choose
cardiovascular exercises that will
help you reach your goals. The best
exercises for this would be running,
uphill walking, light to moderate
level biking (recumbent or upright)
at a high speed, cross country skiing, or the elliptical trainer (light
– moderate level) at a high speed.
Exercises that you may want to
avoid or do less of would include:
spinning classes, and step aerobics.
The stair climber and step mill
are neutral and can be done a few
times a week if you like, but not as
your main cardiovascular activity,
as they may add bulk to the thighs.
Now on to the
weights! My
personal thought
is to focus in on
leg exercises that
target the glutes, for
example; lunges and
step-ups. If done
correctly they will
create more shape
(not mass). You may
want to do less of
the known building
exercise, the squat.
While the squat
is one of the best
exercises for building the glutes, it will
also build your thighs, potentially
giving you the bulky legs that you
were talking about. This exercise
can still be done on occasion, but
again form is imperative and going
deep in a squat will hit the glutes.
Other good glute focused exercises
include: Romanian or stiff-legged
deadlifts, lower back hyperextensions (with a focus on glute
squeezes at the top) and interval
based sprinting drills.
Also remember that no workout
is complete without a good eating
plan. While the workout can build
firm sexy round glutes, you need
to follow a proper eating plan in
order melt away fat and uncover
what you have created. It is a
known fact that roughly 70-80%
of your results come from your
nutrition, so be sure to follow a
proper eating plan to maximize
your results.
Q)
I’m constantly hearing a lot
about eating organic foods, is this
really necessary? Can’t we just
wash the pesticides away?
Charles
A)
Many people do not fully
understand the extent of what
organic means. While we all know
that organic foods contain no added
pesticides, herbicides or fungicides,
there is much more to it than this!
When we spray our crops with
these poisons, we are killing the
life forms that naturally live in
or on the soil. This is a potential
reason why commercially farmed
foods would have less minerals.
Additionally, there is a part of
the plant called the mycorrhiza
that helps with absorption of
nutrients. The mycorrhiza is a
form of fungus, which is killed
by the fungicide in commercial
If you’re looking to keep
your legs the same size or
get them smaller, you want
to choose cardiovascular
exercises like the elliptical
trainer that will help you
reach that goal.
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Arsenik Photography
A)
Remember that the stage lights will wash out the colour quite
a bit so go three or four shades brighter so that it looks the
way you want it to on stage.
farming, which again means
less absorption of nutrients.
Furthermore, the run-off from
the herbicides, pesticides and
fungicides can get into our water and cause further damage.
Insects are becoming resistant
to the poisons and increased
amounts of stronger poisons
are becoming necessary for
commercial farmers to kill
them. Waxes and dyes are also
being added to many products
to make them ‘prettier’ for us.
Finally, something to ponder
... I decided to run my own experiment; I bought one organic
zucchini and one commercial
zucchini. I left each of them in
the crisper in my fridge. The
organic zucchini began to mould
after four days; two weeks
later the commercial zucchini
still looked exactly the same!
If your food is not naturally
breaking down and little bugs
don’t want to get at it and eat it,
why do you?
I hope this has helped to
show you that there is much
more than simply washing
away poisons when it comes
to the purchase of commercial
versus organic foods. There
is a saying that I love: “Pay
now, or pay more later.” You
can pay a bit more now for
organic food or pay more later
with your health for the lower
cost of commercial food! Your
dollar is your vote, the more
organic food purchased, the
less expensive, and more available it will become. Get out
there and vote!
Q)
I’m looking to compete
in a fitness model contest
this Spring. I’ve started to
research posing suits, but
there are so many out there.
How do I decide which is the
best one for me?
Amy
Congratulations on the
decision to compete in a fitness
show. I’m sure that you’ll find
it to be a very rewarding experience. Here are some things
to think about when choosing
a suit:
1. Check with the federation
for any rules around how the
suit is allowed to fit and look
at pictures from that federation
to see the types of suits that the
other competitors are wearing.
2. Find a costume designer,
preferably one who understanding the dynamics of
creating a posing suit. (If you
see one you like, you can often
contact the competitor and ask
her who her suit designer was
or contact the federation for a
list of people).
3. Decide on a colour. I feel
it is best to wear the colour
that you get the most compliments on when you wear it.
Remember that the stage lights
will wash out the colour quite
a bit so go three or four shades
brighter so that it looks the
way you want it to on stage.
4. Triangle tops tend to
look best on girls with larger
breasts, while bra style pushups tend to look very nice on
women with smaller breasts.
Try on samples with your
designer before deciding.
5. Tip – A smaller bottom will
make your butt look smaller,
while a larger (wider) bottom
will make your butt look larger
and wider. I hope this helps.
Good luck with your show!
To submit your questions
to Lyzabeth, go to www.
facebook.com/lyzabethlopezfitness and post your question
on the discussion board.
FAT
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Get the Genetic Advantage.
Chris Johnson
CEO Advanced Genetics
AdvancedGenetics.ca
Lyzabeth Lopez
Lyzabeth Lopez is a fitness model,
certified personal trainer, aerobics and
gymnastics instructor. Check out her
website at www.LyzabethLopez.com.
APR/MAY 2010 insidefitness.cA
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