Today we have an interview with Kris West who placed 2nd in the Open Level 2 Division in the latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out her pictures:

I bet that you think Kris had to follow a very strict diet and work out every single day for two hours to prepare for a photoshoot like this in just a couple of weeks or months.

Well, if you’d think that, you would be wrong…

The Magic of Maintenance Point – The Minimalist/Maximalist Approach

After placing in one of the previous Venus Index Contests last year, Kris wanted to just maintain her physique. This contest for her was all about finding a way to put the least time and effort into the training and diet to stay looking good. She wanted to spend as little time as possible in the gym to keep her look and ate the maximum amount of calories she could eat without gaining fat.

Do you think this worked?

Well, judge by results not words:

How’s the Maintenance in Reality?

Kris trains during her launch breaks and her workouts are usually about an hour long, because she needs to get back to work. Her fitness is made around her work schedule and kids. Not the other way around as some magazines or “experts” would have you do.

This time Kris didn’t want to have more than 3 workouts a week. And being with Venus Index from the beginning and having lots of experience in fitness, she could play with different programs and “lego block” them into various ways (not something we’d recommend for beginners) and since the Venus Index workouts are designed this way, you can cycle them however you want. She combined the main Venus Index workout with one of the workouts from Adonis Index and cycled them week by week.

Since Kris didn’t do any cardio and wasn’t obsessing over her training she had more time for herself and even if something came up on the day of her workout, she would just go to the gym the next day.

She didn’t strive for some strict workout structure in her weekly schedule and just went whenever she wanted. And as long as you are consistent, you can keep it flexible, the key ISN’T to make your fitness your life, the key is to look good WHILE having a life.

And it’s really not that important when you go to the gym anyway. If you have four workouts a week and you do them four days in a row, that’s fine, but remember that leaving some rest days in between will help you to be stronger in your next workout thus get better results out of it.

For diet, Kris changed her approach a bit. She was always a one meal type of person. This time, she didn’t do any fasts and tried eating more meals a day. Not because she was afraid of Starvation Mode or some other fitness media myth, but rather because she wanted to test out some new things.

She started doing several mini meals during the day to keep more energy and out of cravings. While this may sound as a surprise from a Venus, the truth is that there is a big difference in how you should eat if have 50 pounds to lose vs maintaining visible abs all year round.

We are starting to find more and more evidence that not only does weight loss slow down and gets harder towards the end, but it also seems that once you get really lean (visible abs for women and single digit body fat for man) you need to eat more often and just can’t do 24 hour fasts anymore.

When you get very lean your body has very little fat in its storage and your appetite will be higher as a result and your body may will want to naturally store more fat. So, to stay lean and avoid binging it seems like a good idea to eat more often and not creating large calorie deficits on a daily basis.

“It’s all about obtaining/keeping “the look” with the least effort and not stressing over the scale numbers.”

– Kris West

Links from Kris’ interview:

• VI Phase 1 and VI Phase 2 – Venus Index workouts focused on building your ideal hourglass shape
• Venus Index Community – Forum full of amazing women, sharing all their fitness and lifestyle tips and tricks
• Eat Stop Eat – Program that will teach you how to take simple breaks from food to lose weight while enjoying social eating events and eating the foods you love
• Adonis Index – Just like the Venus Index, just for men
• Vince DelMonte Interview Part 1 – The interview with Vince over at Adonis Index that Kris refers to in the interview
• Muscle Building is a Lifestyle: Interview with Kris West – The first interview with Kris

Read Kris’ experience with Venus Index in her own words:

After the last Open I pretty much decided I didn’t want to be in a deficit all the time.  With that being said and after listening to the Vince podcast I kind of had an AHA moment.  Physique competitors seemed to be the best at changing their look within the shortest amount of time.  What was their “secret”?  They also always speak of eating “mini meals” throughout the day.  I had tried this concept years ago when first trying to build muscle but could never really conform to the thought of eating every 3-4 hours so never really gave it an honest effort.

Maybe there was something to it…

Click here to read the rest

Listen to the interview here:

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Today we have an interview with Terry Clauss who placed 3rd in the Transformation category in the latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out her pictures:

There is a good chance that Terry’s story will resemble to yours, because it’s just so common.

Issues with weight and eating often times start at an early age, we just don’t realize it.

When Terry was 13, her mother was worried that she was getting fat. She took Terry to a doctor who prescribed her diet pills (At the age of 13? WTF!?).

She would not eat and then binge afterwards. The weight loss and weight gain never ending cycle began.

Terry tried EVERY diet there is. From Atkins, to South Beach to Naturally Thin, Diet Solution, Weight Watchers, you name it, she did it.

She had little bits of success, but the issue with all of those diets was that they were all too restrictive. It wasn’t about eating less, it was all about cutting out entire food groups. This may be the conventional approach, but it’s just a ticking time bomb.

You will always make up for whatever you have removed from your diet.

For Terry it was starting to be pretty depressing to be constantly losing and gaining pounds of fat. Today Terry is 53 years old and has 40 years of unsuccessful attempts of dieting behind her. At first she was skeptical because she wasted so much money, time and effort on other programs in the past.

Could you imagine trying to lose weight for year after year for 40 years in a row? Without any significant or long-term success, how would you feel, would you think that it’s even possible to lose weight anymore?

At this stage most women think that it’s their hormones and they just can’t lose any weight no matter what they do.

Well, Terry decided to give Eat Stop Eat and Venus Index a chance.

At first she tried ESE and got some results with that, so she trusted Brad Pilon. When he sent an email about the results from the third Venus Index contest and she saw that the girls all looked like normal people and just after 12 weeks they got in great shape, she jumped right in.

She improved her physique and she is finally on her way to building a body she can be proud of and keep all year round.

What really drove her to do this was that her son was going to have a baby and like she said: “I didn’t want to be a chunky grandma.”, so she decided to get in better shape.

It’s never too late and even if you’ve been trying to lose weight and get in shape for the past 40 years without any results, you still have a chance to do so, you just need the right approach.

Terry is proof of that.

Don’t Be Afraid of a New Approach, You Have Nothing to Lose

When we are trying something new, we feel anxiety and excitement at the same time. Usually, we are excited about it, but once it’s time to take action we realize that it’s new and doesn’t feel very comfortable. On one hand it’s exciting, but on the other, we would rather go back to our previous habits.

Well, the biggest growth happens outside your comfort zone and if you want to get different and new results, you need different and new approaches. Doing uncomfortable things at first will expend your comfort zone.

It’s really up to you whether you will shape your future or just accept whatever comes your way.

Terry sat down and compared the pro’s and con’s.

She asked herself: “What is the worst thing that can happen?” and “What is the best thing that can happen?”

She also admitted that without having to send the before pictures at the beginning, she wouldn’t be so committed and would have probably dropped out during the first few weeks.

The Venus Index contest works as accountability and will help you stick to your plan, it will keep you motivated, because you want to send pictures that shows at least some kind of difference.

And after the contest?

Well, first this get’s you moving and then gives you momentum to continue and take it further.

Take Home Message:

• Focus on the Venus Index workouts, they work if you follow them as written
• Work out when you have the most energy, but make sure you go to the gym, don’t make excuses
• If you are not losing weight after weeks of dieting, your weight loss plan is not working, change it
• Some people don’t want to hear the truth about diet, it’s not sexy, what about you?
• Find what works for you and stick to it
• Don’t look for excuses, life does get in the way, but you have to deal with it in order to succeed
• Do it covertly, you don’t need to tell anybody
• People will start to ask you what you are doing, that’s when you can tell them about it if you choose to
• Enter the contest, don’t be afraid it, it’s a good motivator
• Venus Index is for normal people that have a job and a family
• If you take a break, don’t make it too long

Programs Terry Used:

1. Anything Goes Diet – Diet that allowed Terry to eat anything she wanted, without any meal plans to follow or list of “forbidden foods”
2. Eat Stop Eat – Terry did the Eat Stop Eat fasts twice a week
3. Reverse Taper Diet  – Diet protocol that Terry used along with AGD and ESE to avoid overeating after the contest was over
4. Venus Index Circuits – Venus Index workout plan Terry followed that helped her optimize her Venus Index ratio and get her closer to her idea body shape
5. Venus Index Community – Forum full of amazing women, sharing all their fitness and lifestyle tips and tricks

Read Terry’s experience with Venus Index in her own words

My journey through VT4 has been a wonderful one. I started the workout and have followed as best I could with some modifications when needed because of previous injuries and bad weak knees. In the beginning I was doing the 3 workouts per week and trying to do some cardio 3 other days. I eventually skipped the cardio and have just been doing the VI workouts because I was getting so tired from the cardio I was doing that I was losing my motivation to do anything…

Click here to read the rest of the story

Listen to the interview here:

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Today we bring you an interview with Shannon C who won the latest Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Check out her pictures:

A few years back Shannon hated her body and every single picture of herself. Being over 30 and not satisfied with the way she looked and felt about her body, she decided to get back in shape. She started doing roller blading and slowly got into weight training.

This helped her, but not in a way that she could stand in front of a mirror and say “wow”, it just wasn’t anything exceptional. It was one of the previous Venus Index winners Naomi who introduced her to the Venus Index approach. She would listen to the podcasts and hang around for a long time before trying the workouts.

It’s important to say that when she decided to start training with the Venus Index Shannon was pregnant, which many people would be against. Pregnancy itself is a challenge and most women would not want to train and watch their diet on top of it. However, Shannon herself told us that her first pregnancy was a disaster. During her first one she gained a lot of weight, and like she said, she just used it as an excuse to eat whatever she wanted, anytime she wanted without setting any limitations at all. As a result she gained a lot and felt terrible, having all sorts of weird health issues.

She admitted that it was completely ridiculous.

But this time, it was different. She didn’t allow herself to gain so much, felt great the whole way through and even her doctor told her to keep doing what she was doing, because it obviously improved her well-being.

Disclaimer: If you want to train or follow the Venus Index approach while being pregnant, consult your physician first, this is for information purposes only.

This time, for the second pregnancy Shannon followed the Venus Index workout, she would just do fewer sets than in the plan and was slowly lowering the intensity of the workouts towards the end of her pregnancy.

And you can’t really argue with this because like she and her physician both said, this time the pregnancy was healthier and felt way more comfortable. And her doctor was monitoring her the whole time.

And while she ate a bit more then she would normally, she still managed to stay at a reasonable weight.

She walked a lot and lifted weights and even received comments on how beautiful a pregnant woman she was. Pretty drastic difference compared to her first time, when she felt (in her own words) ‘like a whale’.

Obviously guys can’t imagine what it means being pregnant, but she told us that despite the challenges of being pregnant, it still should not be used as a licence to not move around (walking, weight lifting) and eat too much, that’s just plain unhealthy and it will be tougher for your to get in shape afterwards.

This time Shannon had more of a plan. She would even use Facebook and follow other pregnant athletes to keep motivated and inspired. Another technique she used was visualizing her post-pregnancy time.

She reveals more of her approach in the interview.

Shannon’s Challenges, Well…Apart from Being Pregnant

Obviously pregnancy is not the easiest and most fun time in the life, but Shannon still decided that she will stay at a reasonable weight and keep fit and it worked, she did gain less weight and was fit and felt “pretty good”.

And once she started nursing, she decided that she will enter the Venus Index competition. Which is exactly what she did and not only that, but she won the whole thing too!

Here are a few of her challenges that Shannon talks about in the interview:

• Waking up in the middle of night to take care of the baby
• Making sure that she was walking a lot during the day
• Nursing and staying in a caloric deficit
• Not seeing results on a daily basis
• The weight loss was slowing down towards the end of the contest
• Having to feed the baby in the middle of the workouts
• Not being able to set a fixed schedule
• Having to readjust her expectations
• Having to take care of her 7 year old daughter too
• Working around all the variables like job, kids, weight loss, sleep, workouts

And those are just a few of Shannon’s challenges.

No transformation we ever had was without mistakes, errors, challenges and struggles, however Shannon proved that no matter what is happening in your life right now, you can still get in great shape, even though there are other priorities and pressing matters to take care of. And quite frankly doing so will only help you with those challenges.

Like many other Venus Index contestants Shannon used stickers for her calendar to see how many neutral, bad and good days she had. That helped her a lot despite her challenges. It’s about simplicity and it’s pointless to record everything, this simple method will help you keep on track. You can easily see how many workouts you had, when you stayed in a caloric deficit, when you did cardio, and when you overate and didn’t train. And at the end, it all comes down to whether you had more positive days than negative ones.

Remember that nothing is ever perfect.

“They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward.”

Thomas Edison

As long as you are moving forward, you are doing great. Don’t beat yourself up, just because it’s slower than you want. Even falling is a movement, as long as it’s forward, you are doing good.

Take home advice from Shannon’s interview:

• It’s helpful to look at your first before pictures to keep yourself motivated
• Don’t beat yourself up for having bad or neutral days, that’s normal, nothing is ever perfect
• Don’t deprive yourself of the foods you like, you can even have a Mocha and cheesecake every day if you want, just make sure you cut the calories on the other stuff and stay in the deficit
• Some people like suffering and they feel that you absolutely have to make fat loss difficult, but that’s BS, fat loss is simple, it’s just about calories in and out
• If after pregnancy, a nursing mother of two with a regular job can do this, anyone can
• It’s possible to travel and maintain your level of fitness
• Venus Index approach still requires effort, but it isn’t restrictive, it’s rather about directing your effort intelligently
• The body you will build at the end is worth every drop of your effort
• Don’t talk about your fitness approach with other girls outside the VI Community, they will not understand or believe you and will try to convince you that what you are doing is wrong
• Get in the Venus Index Community to be around same minded girls, it’s important to have social support and this is the easiest way to get it
• Don’t turn your lifestyle constrains into excuses, that’s easy and anyone can do that, be different and figure out a way around them
• Being in shape will translate into being a better mother, wife and friend
• It’s okay to let your daughters try the Venus Index workouts and learn healthy exercise habits at an early age

Programs Shannon Used:

• Reverse Taper Diet – Most fitness diets fail, because they get tougher as you are getting towards the end. Why not reverse it and make dieting easier?
• Anything Goes Diet (Aka AGD) – The first ever designed diet that’s not giving you a list of forbidden foods and meal plans, eat whatever and whenever you want
• VI Phase 1 and VI Phase 2– Venus Index workouts focused on building your ideal hourglass shape
• Venus Index Community – You will not find a more friendlier and supportive women’s community in this industry

Read Shannon’s experience with Venus Index in her own words:

These 12 weeks have been a continuation of a 6 month transformation that I began September 27, 2011, when my son Hunter was born.  I weighed about 185 lbs just before his birth, which was 45 lbs over what I weighed in early 2011 when I found out I was pregnant.  Despite the weight gain, I had a very healthy pregnancy.  I continued to work out with weights right up to the weekend before he was born, I walked, I swam, I barely bought any maternity clothes, I even wore a bikini all summer!  The blood pressure and swelling issues I experienced during my first pregnancy 7 years ago did not resurface…

Click here to read the rest of the story

Listen to the interview here:

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Here is an interview with Lara Campbell. Lara placed 2nd in latest Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Check out her pictures:

The Secret of Having Good Fitness Photos

When you are preparing for a photoshoot you basically have two options. Either set up the shoot at your apartment or hire a photographer and a studio. Several girls (and guys) have proven to us that you can shoot great pictures at your home and still place well in the contest.

However, there are certain benefits to hiring a professional. When you book a session with a photographer 12 weeks prior to the photoshoot (or 6 weeks like Lara) you suddenly have accountability and it will force you to stick to your plan and really show up at your best. When you have a booked session it suddenly feels “real” and you will be more motivated.

At the beginning Lara was probably like most girls, she wanted to do the contest, but wasn’t sure if she really should and could.

Then in week six, things changed, because she decided to book the session.

Lara also started going through fitness magazines and searching for photos online to learn the different poses that a fitness model would use for the cover shot.

If you thought that a picture is just a snapshot of reality then you would be wrong.

There is a lot more that goes into it a picture, especially if the object of the picture is a person.

In this industry showing up in killer shape is just the beginning of a good shoot. Tanning, lighting, posing and of course editing is all necessary to get a magazine cover calibre picture. And even then the photographer picks just two or three pictures out of a thousand that will make it to the editor table for a final edit.

Put simply there is a lot more than you are aware of.

And this is exactly what our Venus competitors experience.

Lara took it seriously and learned several poses, fasted before the shoot and really did her best.

Her husband was supportive and constantly reminding her to flex certain muscles during the shoot. Her photographer knew what he was doing and advising her on how to pose, where to position her body, how to show her abs etc.

Through the eyes of the camera and in a picture you will look completely different then you do in reality. Pictures can hide your shape. Looking good in reality is one thing, but to look great in a picture, you need to take things a little bit further.

During the 12-week preparation for the photoshoot you will find that the last week will be really intense prep and then almost three hours of shooting to get four or five great shots. However, it’s worth it. You will get into an amazing shape, discover things about yourself you were never aware of and as a bonus not only get a chance to participate in a fitness contest and win, but you will have great pictures of yourself for the rest of your life.

Lara’s History of Weight Loss Attempts

At university she had a pretty sedentary lifestyle and just typical student life, drinking and eating. She became a victim of emotional eating and at her height of little over five foot she got to an unhealthy bodyweight of around 160lbs.

And was understandably unhappy with her physique.

As a result she started running, steadily increasing distance and eating a bit less.

She lost about 30 pounds and got to 130 pounds.

At this point she began feeling a bit frustrated, because she wanted to lose more weight, but what more could she possibly do? Did she really want to run even more?

After a while her eating start to creep up again and she started gaining weight again.

Lara realized this and started introducing more things to her lifestyle that would possibly help her. Little did she know back then that by taking classes in Taekwondo was just hijacking her goals and wasn’t helping her lose any weight. In the class there were some overweight people and after a while she realized that having a black belt requires a lot of work and doesn’t necessarily mean being lean.

At this point she was 150 pounds and felt really heavy and upset when she was running. She hit rock bottom and didn’t know what she was going to do.

She decided to train for a marathon for 12 weeks, but she didn’t lose a pound.

Since she really wanted to get this area of her life handled she started reading more books and consuming fitness media. At one point she was even considering becoming a fitness trainer and getting the certificate to “learn all their secrets”.

She started learning that cardio isn’t necessarily the key to fat loss and that she can out eat cardio and that after a while you get pretty efficient at certain styles of training and the effect it will have on your fat loss won’t be as significant as it was at the beginning. This made sense to her, since her biggest fat loss happened when she started running. She went from couch potato to runner and since she was inefficient at running at first she lost a ton of weight fast.

After searching the internet for some time she found Eat Stop Eat and ultimately the Venus Index community.

The Diet Part is the Most Important Key for the Contest

After going through ESE and VI she found out that the missing piece in her plan were calories. She never really cared about this and once she started paying attention to calories, she lost all the weight she wanted.

She always thought that people who count calories are in some weird weight loss groups and that this approach never works, but there is a difference between just counting calories and doing it right.

She just took the BMR estimate provided and calculated how much she needs to eat below that to lose a pound every week.

She had an excel sheet to track her calorie intake and just log what she ate. This is it, she never worried about macronutrients and running anymore.

Before, the marathon running was her identity, she was eating a lot to be able to run, and always increasing the distance, she began to relate and identify with the suffering part of the running. Like she said the running was like a badge of honor. The thing is, she totally forgot why she got into running in the first place – to lose weight.

Another case of goal hijacking. Starting something because you have a goal then changing your focus into a different goal that you never wanted. Building muscle and powerlifting, getting in shape and taking drugs, losing weight and running are just a few examples of goal hijacking.

Take a look at yourself and examine your lifestyle, do you allow your goals to get hijacked in any areas of your life?

If your real goal is to lose weight it’s just about calories.

What to do if you want to look like Lara:

• Accept that you may be the kind of person that eats too much if you don’t think about it
• Listen to the stories of other people who’ve successfully lost weight
• Workout consistency is crucial
• Make sure you give your best in the gym, workout after workout
• Don’t be afraid to imagine how you are going to look once you get in shape, think of the life you will have, your mind will only do what it’s seen before
• Get some pictures of fitness models and look at how they stand and pose, try it yourself
• There is no plain front view look in fitness posing, that’s the least flattering one, you always want some twist
• You absolutely have to pay attention to calories if you want to lose weight
• Start fasting on a weekly basis
• Don’t be afraid of skipping meals, all the girls that are in shape do that even if they don’t speak about it
• If you eat a bit more on the weekend, save up the calories during the week
• It’s okay to slip if you get back on track, it’s all about a controlled stumble forward
• Don’t identify yourself with physical activities and diets
• One bad day is nothing if you have a whole string of good ones
• Look forward, never back
• You can have a chocolate every day, it can be something to look forward to
• Don’t label foods as good or bad, it’s just food
• All foods are okay in moderation
• Learn to be guilt free in your diet
• Don’t hide what you eat from others and most importantly admit it to yourself
• Read the fitness media with caution, most stuff is not revealed to you

Programs Lara used for this contest:

• Venus Index Workout – Workout programs focused on building a toned and natural feminine body shape.
• Eat Stop Eat – Diet and lifestyle protocol that will help you stay on track with your weight loss while enjoying social eating events at a same time.
• Anything Goes Diet – Diet protocol to help you gradually lose weight week after week
• Jason Haynes Interview

Listen to the interview here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download