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Venus Index Contest: 10 days to go!

April 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

There is only 10 days left until the end of the first Venus Index contest. At this point you should have a pretty good idea of what is working, what can derail you, and how much effort and system stress you can handle.

Working Out Venus index

With only 10 days left stick with what’s been working, and don’t overdo it.

Your goal should be to have 10 positive days in a row, not neutral, and not negative, just 10 positive days. This is also the time when you might really need to lean on others of social support and perhaps pass on social events that might derail your progress…after all, it’s only 10 days, there can’t possibly be anything that important in the next 10 days that you MUST attend that will not come up another time (besides your wedding perhaps)

If you’re going to add any extra exercise be careful not to overdo it. I suggest only adding low intensity cardio as it will not present too much stress to your system and may actually have a calming effect.

These last 10 days are going to be stressful enough as it is, so there is no reason to try and make it even more stressful by adding in more weight training workouts or high intensity cardio sessions if you don’t have to.

With that said, you know your body better than anyone, if you have a few low stress days and you feel like doing two workouts, go ahead, just pay close attention to your overall stress and energy levels and stay within your means.

We’ll also discuss a bit more about picture taking and even some more info on posing and how to coast into the final few days.

John

P.S. For those of you who want to experiment with bodybuilding style poses check out this video tutorial done by our good friend Eric Daye. –> Click Here to Watch Posing Tutorial Video

Learn how to prepare for the best photo’s ever:

Preparing For Your Contest Photo Shoot – Part 1: Posing Practice

Preparing For Your Contest Photo Shoot – Part 2: Photography And Lighting

Preparing For Your Contest Photo Shoot – Part 3: The Final Week

 

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Taking your “After” Photos

March 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

It’s getting close to the end of the contest and it’s time to consider your final pictures. There are a few things that go into taking your pics and we’ll cover them in todays podcast including lighting, clothing, nutrition, and posing.

Lighting

The simplest answer for lighting is to find the spot in your house where you seem to look your best, you probably already know the one or two rooms that have lighting that hits you just right.

If you want to get a bit more creative with the lighting you can use side lighting from a window or even set up a light a few feet infront of you (hitting your body roughly a 45 degree angle compared to the camera)…you’ll likely find a sweet spot with lighting where you show up your best (this is usually standing relatively close to the light, maybe 2-3 feet away)

You can use any lamps from around the house to experiment with the look and shadow it gives off…also you can use a mirror to assess what it looks like, afterall, whatever the mirror shows is also what the camera will show.

In the end you just want to create an environment that gives you the best looking shape and curves, so spend an hour or two with it until you’ve got the look that you like best.

Clothing:

Bikini and heels is the outfit of choice for figure models, and of course Venus models! Some people have been asking (Alisha) if they can wear a new bikini for the after pictures, and the answer is of course yes. In some cases you’ll have no choice because of the changes that have happened to your body so it’s a great success if you actually need to get a new one!

Nutrition:

There has been a discussion about carb loading and water depletion etc. Keep in mind that these are advanced techniques used by pro bodybuilders who are also using powerful pharmaceuticals to help with their final look…in many cases the water depletion and carb loading strategies won’t have much of an effect for natural figure models like you.

What you can do is as follows:

Water load for 24 hours, that means drink lots and lots of water, like an annoying amount…anytime you think of it drink water…about 12 hours into your water load start a 24 hour fast…12 hours into your 24 hour fast cut the water completely so your last 12 hours of fasting are a complete fast, no water or food. Then take a round of pictures after the fast is done.

Once you’ve taken this first round of pics eat a normal meal, then monitor your look and take another round of pics within 12 hours (likely this will be the next morning sorta deal)

There is no real necessity to ‘carb’ load per se, you can just eat a normal mixed meal of various foods including carbs, protein and fats.

Venus Index

Offset feet and a slight twist makes a big difference in your overall look

Posing:

We will not be judging you on a specific round of poses, but the better you present yourself the easier it is to pick the winner. First off you will need to do the standard front, back and side relaxed poses (the same as the ‘before’ pics). From there you can add in various poses that are subtle changes from the standard poses but make a big difference on the overall aesthetic of the photo. Fitness models rarely stand facing the camera directly, the goal is to get multiple angles with multiple poses. One leg slightly forward, with a slight twist at the wait goes a long way for creating a great illusion for the camera so I suggest you practice this. You can also do other poses like this with varying hand positions.

One key factor is to keep your arm away from your waist so we can see the curve from your  waist to your hip. Try a few poses, take lots of pics and send in the best ones (send in your best 10-20 pics…but go ahead and take 100’s to choose from).

Long hair should be moved out of the way of your back on your back shots (throw your hair over your shoulder to the front of your body so it’s not covering your back on the back poses)

I’ve including a few examples of poses from a photoshoot I did with Becky (one of the venus models in the main manual exercise gallery).

Becky has lots of muscle and we just went through a few relaxed poses that really show off her curves. Nothing crazy, just a slight step forward, hand on hip, and a bit of a twist at the waist. Study these and take some for yourself.

Finally you can go through any serious of poses you like to further show off what you got (if you feel so inclined).

This should be a fun day for you so get your spouse, or close friends, family whoever to help out.

Try to schedule 3 days to take pics and try some of the nutrition techniques to see if they change your look.

Make sure you include a pic of the current days newspaper each time you do your pics (this can be a separate pic that you send in just for me to validate the date)

You also may want to try a round of pics after a workout…you probably already have a good idea of what your best look is so if that happens to be post workout then go for it.

John

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VI Contest: Three Weeks to go!

March 21, 2011 by 1 Comment

We’re into the home stretch for the first ever Venus Index transformation and open contests, and it’s gut check time.

Three weeks is still plenty of time to make significant changes from wherever you are right now so don’t take your foot off the gas.

Venus Index Contest

It's Gut Check Time!

At this stage your focus should be overall system stress management. This means balancing your work, family and social life with your dieting and workout life. For these last few weeks the balance might shift a bit towards your diet and workout and you’ll need whatever support you can get for that.

The VI community is obviously going to support you, but at this stage you also need the support of your family and friends.

It’s only 3 more weeks so it shouldn’t be a big deal to ask some people to really be on your side for this final run at it.

In today’s podcast we’ll talk about system stress management and getting through to the end of the contest. We also discuss posing, and the concept of overreaching during your workouts and why the VI workouts are different from the AI workouts.

John

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Total Package: Working Out for Shape

March 14, 2011 by 1 Comment

The look and shape of your body as a total package is what the Venus Index is all about. It’s about creating an illusion starting at your shoulders and working all the way down to your legs.

Venus Index Legs

Developing each part of your body in a specific way adds to the overall illusion, and it’s important to view your progress and a whole and not individual parts.

There are hundreds of muscles in your body and they all function as groups.  The look and shape of your body can be manipulated by selectively working on different muscles groups with different volume and different intensity.

Having lower bodyfat levels will allow you to see your muscle shape in it’s true form and give you an objective look at where you are right now and assess what you need to focus on to improve your overall shape.

Working a specific group of muscles can change the overall shape of a particular area of your body. For example your legs have three major compartments:

1) Hamstrings

2) Quads

3) Adductors

The way you choose to train your legs will allow you to selectively develop certain areas more or less than others. The effect and look that your legs will have on your overall shape is still dependent on how they fit with the rest of your muscle structure. The effect and illusion of your upper leg is influenced by your calves and your butt as well, and finally by the overall development of your upper body.

The key unsurprisingly is balance. The human eye can spot when things are out of balance from front to back, side to side, and top to bottom. Developing your body in balance using the specific metrics of the Venus Index should always be your  primary goal.

In todays podcast we talk about developing each muscle group with the sole purpose of enhancing your overall shape.

The bottom line is that working out influences your shape, so you better know what each workout is really doing and if you’re getting closer or father away from your best shape.

John

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Getting into Contest Shape: Interview with Tori Barker

March 7, 2011 by 3 Comments

We’re about 5 weeks from the the end of the first Venus Index transformation contest. It’s been an interesting ride for many of the people who are doing this for the first time and to help you stay focused I’ve recruited the help of a friend who has recently competed in her first three figure competitions, Tori Barker.

Venus Index Interview Tori Barker

Tori is in Awesome Shape!

Set Your Goal and Stick To It

Setting a goal and sticking to it is the only way to make it happen. People around you will only take you as seriously as you take yourself and it’s very easy to fall off the wagon if you lose commitment to your goal.

If you blow off your workouts or give up on your diet you’re only letting yourself down, not anybody else.

Choosing to change your body is 100% for you. You can’t let anybody else get in the way of achieving this goal. You’re not competing against anyone else, your not doing this for anyone else, and when you reach your goal it is all about you.

In the end this has been and always will be about you and your ability to do something for yourself.

It doesn’t matter where you’re starting from, what matters is that you stick to the plan and see it through to it’s completion.

In todays podcast Tori will talk about what it took to get into the shape for her contests and how you have to keep your mind focused on your goal to get there.

She also explains how she got into weight training in the first place and what drove her to competing.

Finally we will also discuss the myth of weight training causing women to become ‘bulky’.

John

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Working out for Muscle

February 28, 2011 by 3 Comments

Resistance training and lifting weights will produce a few major measurable changes depending on the workout protocol you are following including:

Rachel McLish Venus Index

Here is Rachel McLish the first Ms Olympia on the cover of Ironman magazine, over 40 years old looking amazing.

Increased Strength

Increased Endurance

Increased Strength-Endurance

Increased muscle size

Almost any resistance training program will produce some measurable changes in each of these categories. The specific set, rep, and rest scheme will determine to some degree which changes are maximized.

In general terms, as long as you’re lifting weight that is above approximately 40% of your 1-rep max you will be stimulating some degree of muscle adaptation in all of the above mentioned categories.

The specific set and rep ranges you  work within coupled with your genetically determined responsiveness will determine how fast and to what degree you will develop in each category.

Some people will react faster than others, some will respond to higher reps vs lower reps, but in general most people will have similar responses in the same rep and set ranges.

The specific sets and reps you choose to do will have less impact on your overall progress than your consistency and intensity.

In other words, working out consistently every week and pushing hard each workout is going to have a much bigger impact than trying to come up with complicated rep and set schemes to follow.

Changing from high to low rep ranges has less of an impact on your physiology than it does on your psychology.

Or said another way, most people just get bored doing the same rep and set ranges too often so they want something to change…but the reality is the same reps and sets can work if you just push through them.

As always the real test of your progress is your VI numbers and how close you are to your ideal VI (or your specific goal, whether that is a look, or performance or a combination of both).

The biggest benefit of mixing up set and rep ranges might just be to fight off boredom and make working out less monotonous and more interesting.

In today’s podcast we discuss sets and reps and the specifics of working out for muscle and if there are differences in men and women when it comes to strength training.

John

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Hot State Management – Getting Through Tough Times

February 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

We are getting into the thick of the transformation contest run, there is about 50 days to go and now is the time to remind yourself what your goals are and why you want to achieve them.

But with that said I want to make it clear that being in the contest isn’t about beating anyone else, it’s about doing the best you can do.

The point is to make a change that you want for yourself…it’s not about anyone else.

The contest is here to help give you some structure, some support, a defined deadline, and some people to work towards that deadline with.

Winning isn’t really about finishing in the money and claiming first prize, winning is proving to yourself that you can make it through to the end and see a real change in your body.

Your big win might be getting past your sabotage points and into new uncharted territory. Or maybe it’s just sticking to something for 12 weeks no matter what your measurements turn out to be.

The point is to build momentum and confidence that you can indeed change your body if you put your mind to it and prove to yourself that you can do it if you want to.

Winning or placing in the money in our contest is just the icing on the cake, but it shouldn’t be the only reason you’re making this change.

In today’s podcast we talk about “hot state management” and how controlling and getting through your hot states is going to be a major factor (and likely the biggest factor) to your success.

“Hot States” are moments or situations when you know you will likely not have enough control or ‘will power’ to stop from eating something or drinking something that isn’t inline with your goals. Some forward thinking and short term planning can help manage these states so you’re not at the mercy of your cravings and impulses.

Just remember that the real work happens when nobody is looking.

John

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How I lost 47lbs: Interview With Lisa Etwell

February 14, 2011 by 8 Comments

Millions of people say they want to lose weight, but only a few of them ever will. So what determines if you can successfully lose weight? The first step is accepting where you are, and the second is setting a goal, and finally taking action to achieve that goal.

My sister Lisa did just that and lost 47lbs in 2010.

Venus Index Lisa

In todays podcast Lisa will explain the mindset shifts that finally got her to take action and get in the best shape of her life. Her story is real and so are her results.

She reveals key insights including:

Accepting where you are to set a positive mindset to make a real change

Taking responsibility for her actions and her body

Realizing that changing your body has to be for YOU and nobody else

Putting food in its rightful place in her life

Learning what it means to be a good example to her kids

Lisa explains her fears and barriers about losing weight and her fears of even attempting to lose weight. She also talks about her sabotage point and getting past normal and going towards her new goal of achieving her ideal Venus Index ratio.

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How I lost 47lbs: Interview with Lisa Etwell

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Getting Over Your Sabotage Point

February 7, 2011 by 5 Comments

SABOTAGE!

Venus Index Sabotage Point

You’ll do it to yourself more than anyone else will do it to you. For some reason many of us have built in barriers that prevent us from reaching our goals. It could be something we learned as a child, or a social construct that keeps us from going outside of our comfort zone.

Whatever the reason we all seem to have a point that feels comfortable and then beyond that point is uncharted territory.

Moving past that comfort point and into that unknown is the sabotage point. In the case of your Venus Index transformation it’s a matter of taking your body to a level that you might not have believed is possible or to a level that you have never been before.

Some people might think there is something that is actually physically wrong with their body, but I assure you your body is working just fine.

The sabotage point is almost entirely a psychosocial phenomenon where social feedback and even the progress you see in the mirror and on the scale start to change.

Venus Index Reports Getting Over Your Sabotage Point

It can be tempting to just stop at your sabotage point because it feels ‘good enough’…but this is the time to rally more support and momentum to push past it and don’t stop until you’ve gone as far as you truly can go.

There is nothing stopping you from getting the body you want…except you. In today’s podcast we’ll talk about some of the reasons the sabotage point comes up and how to get past it once and for all.

John

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Venus Index Transformation Week 2

January 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The second week of the Venus Index transformation contest is almost in the books and it’s time for a few reminders for staying consistent and on track with your goals.

Venus Index Contest

It's time to find your rhythm

First is to remember that each day and each week builds on the next. Some people experience big changes in the first two weeks and other may not. At this point your focus should be building momentum and a routine.

The contest isn’t won or lost in two weeks, but this is the time to find your rhythm that you can carry through to the final week.

Twelve weeks isn’t a long time and it’ll be over faster than you think.

Most people allow their bodies to get ‘out of shape’ over the course of years, but they almost always get back in shape within just a few months. Think about it for a second…have you ever seen someone take 5 years to get ‘in shape’? Not likely…but it’s totally normal to see someone get progressively out of shape over the span of 5 years.

This is due to a lack of direction and a lack of a goal, we get caught up with life, and then we look back and say ‘how the hell did this happen?!’

Setting a goal like getting an ideal VI (or as close as you can), and putting a date next to that goal (like the contest) is the only real way to make a change.

As long as each week is in a positive direction you’ll see a dramatic change by the end of the twelve weeks. And that is the thing to keep in mind.

Having more positive days than negative or neutral days make the week an overall success, and that is your goal.

John

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