Today we are honored to listen to Lourdes Cota who placed thrid in the Eighth Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Lourdes got the fitness level she always wanted at age 47.

Lourdes before and after the contest.

Changing your body composition at age 47 is no trivial task, especially for a female.

Lourdes health issues motivated her to get fit. And she did a phenomenal job!

Read what Lourdes wrote about her experience with the Venus Factor:

A little about me, I am a 47 year old, single mother, with two wonderful kids. I work a full time job as a Quality control engineer and try to take life one day at a time. I started working out 4 years ago, but had a scary incident occur when I passed out during one of my workouts.

Opening my eyes and having strangers standing around me, with no understanding as to what had just happened was extremely frightening. Upon visiting my doctor, I was told that I had Bradycardia, or in layman’s terms, a slow heartbeat.

To combat the Bradycardia, I had to have surgery where a doctor surgically implanted a pacemaker under my skin, on the left side of my chest, just below the collarbone.

As you can imagine, having to have a pacemaker implanted in your body, connected to your heart, makes you think about life, your future, your health, your children and my list of concerns went on and on. Not to mention, the visible scar is a constant reminder. All of this was very overwhelming and I became very cautious in everything I did.

Armed with a basic understanding of the fundamentals of wellness and their value in living a long life, I always ate high quality nutritious foods, as such I was relatively thin. But, also knowing my cardiovascular system needed attention, especially now, I tried to push my fears aside and began exercising again.

To be honest, some days, just getting in to the car was a challenge, as I was fearful that I would have a repeat of the day I passed out.

For many years I went to the gym, only going through the motions, lifting the same (way too light) amount of weight, doing the same (non-challenging) exercises, the same (boring) cardio, all in the same order, day in and day out. UGH!!!!!

Upon meeting my boyfriend James Tonda, (who introduced me to the Venus Index) he observed my angst about the many things I listed previously.

After learning of my condition, he explained to me that Bradycardia is not considered dangerous and that quite often athletes have Bradycardia just from working out as hard as they do. He explained that the heart, much like the rest of our body can adapt to exercise stress and a fit persons heart doesn’t have to work as hard as say someone who is out of shape or not as fit, thus creating a lower pulse.

To say I felt like a huge weight was lifted off of me is an understatement. Finally, I was seeing a beacon of light that all of my panic was unwarranted and I could safely start living my life again!

Upon getting back to the gym, after the many years of redundant, non-challenging workouts, I expressed my frustration that my body just doesn’t seem to respond to exercise, even though I went to the gym regularly.

Well, interestingly enough, I was given the same example by James about the body’s ability to adapt to stress and since I had performed the same exercise regimen over and over with no increase or change in intensity, my body had adapted and as such, my body would not change unless my intensity did.

Enter Venus Index!!! James had been using the Adonis Index workouts and highly recommended I try out the women’s version, named Venus Index aka VI. The variety in the workouts and the level of intensity was incredible.

For the first time, I started noticing changes in my body that I liked very much. I even learned to appreciate the soreness that followed a grueling workout. (I included a picture of James and myself in my pictures)

Having the very user friendly and detailed Venus workout program, was like having a GPS to get from one destination to another, without having to worry about getting lost or taking unnecessary detours. I found myself feeling very empowered when going to the gym, versus the feeling of intimidation that I used to experience. Now I can confidently walk in to the free weight section of the gym and feel like I belong there!

I followed the VI workout exactly as it is presented. Not knowing a lot about nutrition, I leaned on James for his experience, but have paid close attention and understand much more than I ever have.

To make it easier as a couple, we both followed the same nutrition regimen with the only variation being our caloric intake. We both utilized the “Anything Goes Diet” by John Barban and fasting via “Eat Stop Eat” by Brad Pilon.

For example:

1. Monday thru Thursday, I followed the 16/8 fasting model, only eating 8 hours out of each day.

2. From Thursday at 7:00 PM to Friday at 7:00 PM I fasted for 24 hrs. eating dinner after working out Friday evening.

3. Saturday was Cheat Day, normally averaging 3000 calories, but a few of those days exceeded 4000 calories. Let me tell you that I am addicted to Gluten free Chicken Pesto Pizza followed by a slice of carrot cake? What an amazing feeling knowing that I can eat those weekly, with confidence that I will not get fat.

4. Sunday morning after breakfast at 7:00 AM, I fasted again for 24 hrs., starting the process all over Monday morning.

Supplementation wise: I use Muscle Milk “naturals” protein powder as a meal replacement when I’m at work, as my job does not always afford me the luxury of stopping to eat, BioTRUST “LeptiBurn” & “Pro-X10” and a generic Creatine – 5 grams two times/day. James used a pre-workout supplement (Extreme Rush) from Blue Star Nutraceuticals that he loved, but I did not because of my pacemaker and not knowing the effect it might have.

I purchased the Venus Index workout just as the 8th Venus Transformation contest aka VT8 was getting ready to start. Since James was entering the Adonis contest, I decided to take the plunge and go for it too!

What a blast this experience has been. From the amazing workouts, to learning about fasting, practicing posing and actually seeing muscles, shopping for and buying a Fitness posing suit, to actually posing for a professional photographer for my final pictures.

The Venus Lifestyle has given me the knowledge and confidence that I am now looking to compete in either the “physique” or “bikini” class at one of the local bodybuilding shows.

I am forever grateful and appreciative of everyone involved in the creation of the Venus & Adonis Index Lifestyles.

Regards
Lourdes “Candy” Cota

Lourdes and James; The Venus and Adonis power couple!

Lourdes interview with John is short and sweet, and it’s kind of nice to hear the voice of the winners in our community.  Please “like” it when you’re done:

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