VT5 12-Week Contest Midterm Results

We added a new twist to the VT5 Contest with the 20-week option and it appears that many people are taking the 20-week option over the 12-week. But with that said we’ve got some mid-term results to share with you. These beautiful Venus’ are eligible to submit at the 20 week point if they choose to as well.

 

April Harkness – Venus Index Calendar Model

April Earned a spot on the Venus Index Calendar…one look at her pictures will tell you why!

 Liss Graham – Venus Index Calendar Model

Liss Graham also earned a spot on the Venus Index Calendar…no need to explain why, just look!

Suzy Johnston

Suzy lost over 22lbs and 6 inches off her waist! Amazing changes in 12 weeks!

Teresa Shaner

Teresa lost 13lbs and 2 inches off her waist!

Terry Clauss

At 53 years young Terry is still transforming in her second Venus Index contest.

 

VT5 – 20-Week contest

Everyone who has submitted ‘before’ pictures in May are still eligible for the 20 week competition portion of VT5. You can submit pictures 8 weeks from now on Oct 6th and your total transformation from May until Oct will be judged. Your final pics in Oct will also be eligible for a the Venus Calendar as well.

VT6 – 12-Week contest

The final 12-week contest of 2012 starts next week on Aug 27th. If you want to compete in VT6 you must submit pictures within the first week starting Aug 27th.

If you choose to compete in VT6 you cannot compete in the 20-week portion of VT5, therefore you must choose which one you want to do by next week.

If you’re riding a wave of momentum and you’re still making good progress since the beginning of VT5 then I suggest you stay the course and submit at the end of the 20-week portion in Oct, this will give you the best chance at the biggest transformation.

If on the other hand you need to re-boot and re-dedicate yourself for a final push in 2012 then I suggest you get your before pictures in for VT6 starting Aug 27th and get a fresh start.

If you’re new to the Venus Index or you didn’t submit before pictures in VT5 then now is your chance to submit for VT6. You’ve got one week to decide and then go for it!

This is it Venus’s. Look at the women here who pushed hard for the 12-week midterm VT5 contest as inspiration. Two of them earned a spot on the Venus Index Calendar and I know there are more of you who can do it too!

It’s time to make a decision on where you want to take your body by the end of 2012.

…it’s time to “Venus Up!”

John

What If You Have Never Lifted Weights, Can You Still Do This?

Today we have an interview with Heidi Fletcher who placed 5th in the Open Level 1 in our latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out her pictures:

Heidi’s after pictures from this Venus Index Contest.

What’s amazing about this transformation is that Heidi didn’t do it alone. She did the contest with her boyfriend Adam, who placed in the latest Adonis Index contest.

Heidi never lifted weights before and she watched Adam when he was following the Adonis Index workouts.

Then finally she decided to jump in and not only do the Venus workouts, but also join the contest as well.

Adam started coaching her on how to lift the weights, how to improve her form and he was encouraging her to challenge herself more with her training.

Starting out, Heidi  wasn’t sure how much to lift for each exercise. She never trained at the gym, prior to Venus, running was her  sole form of cardio training and exercise.

Heidi was always in a pretty good shape, outside of her baby weight, she naturally ate at maintenance and kept her waist line slim.

She never did anything specifically to lose weight, because she never had to.

However, when she saw Adam getting into shape she recalled from her background in the  medical field the many benefits of lifting weights to improve overall health.  More importantly the impact weightlifting had on improving bone density, especially for  women.   This made her even more eager to get started.

Heidi with her boyfriend Adam.

 Heidi mentioned several times what a joy it was to workout with Adam, who operated as her trainer and was able to  coach her on how to lift properly.

He trained her to know what it feels like to  pushing the weights and how to safely challenge herself.

Heidi experienced a different type of exhaustion from lifting weights as opposed to just running.

This provided a learning curve until her body was able to acclimate to the training and she had a better understanding of how to test her limits.

It’s normal if you  experience these similar feelings, because it takes years to know what it takes to be exhausted at each rep range.

Heidi still has some mental barriers like fear of falling over with heavy weights, but this is something that she will overcome with time invested in the Venus workouts.

Weight Lifting Will Not Turn You Into a Green Big Monster

Most women think that weight lifting is stupid or that it will somehow turn into a big green hulk. Well, that’s not true, those muscle ladies you see on stage of Mrs. Olympia are always on massive amounts of steroids and testosterone, you will never look like that, ever, even if you lift the heaviest dumbbells in the gym.

What actually happens as a response to weight lifting is that your body tightens up and your curves will come up, which at a low body fat creates that desired attractive hourglass look.

You need to lift weights to look good, feel healthy and to become a stronger woman, there is no other way around it.

The only issue is that we don’t have enough role models for this, so the general assumption is lifting weights = big bulky muscles = unattractive.

Right now the only way to see what looks good is to look at certain movie stars, natural fitness models or even certain fashion models and see the real results from intense training.

What you can also do, is go here into our transformation database and take a look at what our ladies have achieved with the intense Venus Index workouts.

More tips from Heidi:

  • Photoshoots are not just standing there and taking a snap shot, it’s hard work and you should be prepared to take hundreds of pictures to pick one or two good ones
  • When you are lean your look will change depending on what you eat and how much you move
  • When you are lean you might consider fasting just for 16-18 instead of 24, and maybe more often
  • When you get to the last 5 pounds of fat, it gets harder and even though it’s still only about calories, your approach will have to change a bit
  • Trust the VI numbers
  • Everybody will look different at the same metrics
  • Get to the point where you like what you are seeing in a mirror
  • Your running will improve as you follow along with the Venus Index workouts, because stronger muscles take longer to fatigue
  • Don’t be afraid of weight lifting
  • You can lift and run at a same time
  • Watch yourself in a mirror
  • Have someone there to correct your form

Links from the interview:

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

I have never done a dieting plan before or even really focused on working out. I have been a runner on and off and have generally eaten healthy. While doing this program, though, I learned that eating is so much more than just healthy food and that exercise is so much more than just having a fast heart rate. I learned that my body can function on foods I choose to put into it and that I get to choose what my body looks like…Continue reading here

Listen to the interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

You Can Change the Way You Look

Today we have an interview with Ioana Tarce who placed 2nd in our  latest Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Check out her pictures:

Ioana is happy with her after pictures, what about you?

Ioana never felt bad in her own skin and she never worked out or followed any type of diet.

She was always pretty satisfied with her body, living her regular lifestyle and not trying to change it.

She told us that she thought it was actually impossible to change her body. She thought working out was stupid and she didn’t want anyone to tell her what to eat and what not to eat, so she just dismissed training and nutrition completely.

She took some aerobic classes and Pilates to stay active, but she got bored really quickly, so she never stuck to it. Sounds familiar?

Then…

Her Boyfriend Introduced Her to the Venus Index

She saw other women that have gotten amazing results and she wanted to achieve that figure too.

She decided why not give it a shot and see what it can do for her.

She went to the gym and did the first workout, which wasn’t exactly easy. Truth be told,  if you have never worked out then your muscles are weak and you have to expect some resistance and possible soreness at the  beginning of your fitness journey.   The GOOD NEWS is that beginners adapt quickly and the results in strength and muscle gains are really fast compared to women who train often.

At first Ioana couldn’t even do a pushup, now here she is:

If you are doing a photoshoot, apart from some usual posses, why not take a few fun ones?

After a few weeks Ioana started feeling muscles she never thought she had. She was also pretty surprised at how quickly she adapted to the physical stress of weight training.

After a few weeks her clothes started feeling a bit loose, more proof that what she was doing was working.

The biggest benefit was that Ioana started enjoying her workouts, which was a tremendous attitude adjustment compared to a few months prior when she believed the concept of working out to be just plain stupid.

Is Hard Dieting & Cardio Necessary for Fat Loss?

For the diet part of the transformation Ioana didn’t do anything special. She didn’t obsess herself over macronutrients, she wasn’t preparing meals every three hours nor did she follow any type of the mainstream nutrition approach.

She kept it simple, she threw in a couple of fasts, she kept it light during the day by cooking low calorie meals like salads and soups and watched the portions in the restaurants she went to on regular basis.

She wasn’t doing traditional cardio either. She didn’t do two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon on a treadmill, she just went jogging when she felt like going and that was it.

No stress or obsession about cardio or diet, just an easy and simple approach that was flexible enough for her to sustain for the whole 12 week transformation.

Tips from Ioana:
  • “I was working out in hotel rooms when I was on the road, it’s important to  improvise to get the workouts done”
  • “You don’t need a professional photoshoot, my boyfriend took the pictures with a borrowed camera on the balcony of our appartment”
  • “Don’t stress yourself over little details at the beginning, you will figure things out on the road”
  • “I no longer believe that working out is dumb, actually I think it’s amazing and everyone should do it”
  • “If you are getting bored with your regular routines, try the Venus Index Workout, there are no traditional exercises and it’s fun every time”
  • “Get into the contests, it’s great motivation, because submitting your pictures will make you wanna work harder on yourself”
  • “Even if the journey is not perfect, you will still see some difference in your physique, every step forward counts”
  • “The first few hours of the fast are the worst, but after that it’s pretty easy”
  • “The last week of the contest is when you will see what body shape you have actually built, it’s weird, but it gets revealed in that last week”

Links from the interview:

  • Main VI Workout – Workout program that’s focused on building your naturally attractive ideal body shape – hourglass shape
  • Eat Stop Eat – Lifestyle base around the beauty of intermittent fasting
  • Adonis Index – Lifestyle and training approach that’s focused on building ideal metrics for men

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

My VI experience started when my boyfriend, whom is an AI program user introduced me the idea of body index. It seemed logical for a person who is an engineer although at the time I didn’t believe body building was for girls…nevertheless, I got the program. I was out of shape and I started the VI program to get back in shape, to be fit and toned. I thought it would be hard. Especially…Continue reading here

Listen to the interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

Mastering Martial Arts Doesn’t Mean You’ll Build a Great Body

Today we have an interview with Judy Rabil who placed 6th in our  latest Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Check out her pictures:

Remember, you are supposed to enjoy this!

Judy spent an entire decade doing martial arts. She also trained bodybuilding and powerlifting style with her sister. Her approach was to first learn to stabilize the joints, then work on the strength followed by developing explosive power.

She naturally has great endurance, but very little strength, however, her sister was stronger than anyone she knew. She was so powerful that all the guys in the gym felt weak when they saw Judy’s sister, and Judy was often intimidated by her. On the other hand when it came to cardio she could go run a marathon, while her sister could barely run a mile.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

When her sister got injured and was unable to work out,  Judy also stopped training because her sister was her coach.

Judy decided to focus on Martial Arts without the supplement of strength training. She was intimated to go the gym on her own, her coach just wasn’t there with her anymore and she wasn’t ready to go it alone.

However, she started getting injured during her martial arts workouts (broken bones and tendons) and felt terrible.

One day she decided to stop, she walked out and never went back.

“Then I Found Venus Index Podcasts at iTunes…”

Before, Judy would wake up  and go to bed in pain. At no point during the day did she experience relief. This is a terrible way to live, and if you can relate, you should continue reading and listen to her interview.

Judy is in her 40s and truth be told, at this age your body just doesn’t heal as quickly as it did in your teens and twenties.

In January 2008 she slowly made her way back to the gym, which was pretty hard because she was conditioned (for well over 10 years) to exercise with other people, never alone. Upon her return to the gym scene, she fell in love with yoga and the group setting of it all, but found out that she just couldn’t do the same routines over and over again even though they were perfectly balanced.

Then she saw the VI podcasts at iTunes and specifically one called “Overestimating calories” caught her attention.

Judy always thought that she burned plenty of calories during her workouts and never limited what she ate. Since she was doing a LOT of activity she believed she could get away with eating ice cream and fries whenever she wanted.

So when she stopped doing all her fitness activities, and her calorie intake remained the same, you can guess what the result was – weight gain.

At that point she felt miserable.

And it didn’t help that she thought (and was always told by her sister) that she needs to eat, often and a lot. She was lead to believe that she needs to eat snacks, pre-workout and post-workout meals, because they are all necessary.

This is why she got a bit angry when she heard Barban saying that this approach is nuts and that you don’t need to eat at all and actually you should eat very little to begin with.

Although Judy was very insecure about her diet,  she slowly realized she should and actually even COULD eat way less than she was used to, and that it’s okay to eat half of a candy bar and then throw the other half away; furthermore, she doesn’t have to eat in the morning if she doesn’t want to.

Then another surprise came with the Venus Index workout plans.

She was always used to do bodybuilding splits and performing them at very low repetitions.

Suddenly, she wasn’t doing any leg presses, pull ups, dips with chains; no more power movements.

At first it made her a bit concerned that the workout wouldn’t work for her, because she is simply not doing enough work.

However, despite her skepticism she gave it a shot.

She did the program exactly as it was written,held onto some  yoga and some spinning routines and  committed to training 7 days a week.

During phase 1 of VI she got sick, had no energy and felt bloated. Even though she was following VI workouts, with all the other activities she was doing way too much.

She told us that she felt like her gut was on fire and she was pregnant again.

Then her doctor told her that she is completely gluten intolerant and will have severe reactions to wheat.

For 6 weeks she couldn’t do anything.

After she got better, she made a choice to take a more healthy and stable approach.

She started with VI phase 2, started fasting with a friend from the VI community and avoided the foods that were causing the bad reactions.

Want to know how it affected her lifestyle and what are the life results of that whole transformation?

Go listen to the interview below this article to find out!

Tips from Judy:
  • Everybody has her unique look at the same metrics
  • Figure out what physical activity makes you hungry and figure out how much you can do without overeating afterwards
  • You don’t have to do it alone, just join the Venus Index Community
  • Don’t be afraid to mix the VI workouts, they are designed to be mixed and matched and ‘lego blocked’
  • There are no rules, just boundaries and you have to function within them
  • Have fun with it and don’t beat yourself up over small ‘screw ups’ (we all screw up from time to time)
  • Don’t ever look at it as any form of punishment or self-sabotage, you are supposed to enjoy it
  • Do various rep ranges as described in the VI workout plans
  • Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t eat something
Links from the interview:
Read Judy’s experience with Venus Index in her own words:

I started VI a little over a year ago.  I was around 168 lbs, a size 12 and pushing the edge of “average” and looking dumpy square in the eye.  I suffered from undiagnosed digestive issues, I regularly paid for bootcamp classes, I did one or two spin classes a week and walked my dogs.  Even though I wasn’t falling into the “Obese” category, I was getting close…Continue reading here

Listen to the interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

You Have to Deal with the Inner Issues First

Today we have an interview with Elisa Miller who placed 4th in the Open Level 1 in our  latest Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Check out her pictures:

Practice posing and once you know how to present yourself just be creative.

Elisa noticed that at the beginning of your journey, specifically at your first contest you don’t really know what you are doing and you are just trying to copy other people’s poses. But that changes as you progress and do this a couple of times.

And this is why we encourage you to be more creative with the poses and pictures.

Have fun with it, look at magazines, search the web, try something new and different.

What is necessary though is practice.

Most models spend hours every day posing, taking pictures and some of them have to practice walking as well.

Now you may be asking  yourself, why on earth would anyone spend so much time on doing all this crazy boring stuff every day just to  have some pictures in a bikini, right?

Well, if you want to blow everyone  away with professional pictures of your awesome and hard-earned body then you have to know the poses, angles and side of your body that is most flattering  (HINT: Both sides are not created equal!).

 

Next,  you should find a way to flex the right muscles at the right time for the photographer.

There are  all sorts of  small adjustments that go into capturing your body at its best, and it comes naturally once you’ve developed “muscle memory” from the poses you practiced.

Take the time to learn where to put your arm, how to tilt your head and how to turn your hips to show off your abs.

Let me ask you a question…

Do you have those girlfriends who always seem to look perfect in every picture someone takes of them at any event? Well, you would be surprised at how many times they took  pictures of themselves and practiced their smile in the mirror when nobody was looking. People do this more than you think.

And that’s just casual social pictures, taking fitness pictures is even harder!

Find the Deep Emotional Issue that Is Causing You the External Trouble

Elisa’s first interview was very enlightening to her, because it made her realize that even though she progressed and improved her body, she was still hiding something.

She wasn’t hiding what she was eating anymore, but rather that she wasn’t eating during certain times, mainly from her family.

Her family didn’t know that she was skipping meals; she always just made some excuses.

Then one day she decided that this isn’t right and she wanted to have a more open and transparent relationships with her family, so she sat down with everyone and explained that she is fasting, skipping breakfast and told everyone why she is doing it, how it helped her get healthier and become a better person.

Honesty became the number one priority for her.

And her family has accepted it.

Like she told us, she has a history of hiding things from her family that stemmed from her dad who was always hiding alcohol consumption from them.

This translated into her hiding her diet approach. However, she didn’t want to continue this vicious cycle and decided to break it.

And it was very liberating to finally be honest with everyone.

We always say that you can be covert with your nutritional approach, however if it’s eating you alive that nobody knows what you’re doing and you feel like you are lying, then feel free to admit it to people, especially to your family.

However, it’s normal to experience some resistance from your friends and family. This is natural, they often times mean well but may not fully understand what you’re trying to accomplish.  The pursuit of the Venus Lifestyle  is “against the grain” and not the ‘norm’ or the  ‘status quo’.  Remember to stay strong and not  let  others deter you from your physical fitness goals and endeavors.

Tips from Elisa:

  • Nobody is perfect
  • Expect and prepare yourself mentally that you are going to have high eating days
  • The ability to stay flexible is golden
  • Nothing usually goes the way we expect it
  • Don’t let external factors get to you
  • You need to be able to get back on track quickly
  • Most things that go wrong in your life don’t really matter
  • Your body is the tip of the iceberg people see, but the biggest transformation is internal – what they don’t see is the bigger part of the iceberg that is under the water
  • If you don’t address the emotional issues no external results will come…even if you can make some external change with internal change, it will only be temporary
  • Work around your injuries, do what you can, but be careful and conscious, don’t push through pain
  • You have to be really patient to build a good looking body
  • Measurements and weight do not tell the whole story
  • Take pictures and then compare your progress
  • Listen to the podcasts, get in the VI community, unsubscribe from the mainstream fitness media and so called ‘experts’

Links from the interview:

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

For the majority of VT4, I chugged along always under the assumption that, although I was making progress, it would not be enough to make a difference in the end. Until I took my final photos last week and took a good, hard look at my stats from the end of VT3 until now, I had no idea that I had made such good strides. My weight is only about…Continue reading here

Listen to the interview here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

How Many Contests Does it Take to Become Venus?

Today we have an interview with Naomi Sandoval who placed 3rd in the Open Level 2 Category in the latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out the pictures:

Learn some good poses for the shoot and practice them a few times before the big day.

Moving from One Contest to Another

Naomi was always setting her goals in a way to improve for the contests, not just for herself. So, when she placed in all of them – transformation and open, she didn’t know how to set her goals again.

At that time we announced that we will have an open level 2 in 2012. However, she didn’t quite know what’s possible to accomplish in a year.

At the level she was – lean and well developed physique, you can’t really expect huge changes that are visible with regular clothes, at her level the changes are more subtle and really only visible in a bikini.

When you do a photoshoot, you will notice, but in clothes you will probably look the same.

It also requires patience.

Which is probably the number one reason why people have such a hard time staying in shape.

Re-composition is slow and you need to master the skill of being patient, otherwise you will end up like most of the women who start working out in January and then cancel their memberships in February.

It just takes time.

And the better conditioned you are the more time it will take and ironically the less overall changes you will experience.

At this stage (remember you already look good, just want to take it to another level), you won’t even get much feedback on even a monthly basis, because pretty much you are the only person who knows that something is changing.

 

Be creative and take some pictures while working out.

Train Hard and Activate Your Muscles Correctly

Training hard, having intense and challenging workouts, lifting heavy, having good form, knowing how to activate and contract your muscles, that’s all going to play a role if you want to change and improve the shape of your body. And it’s even more important if you’re trying to take your body from good to great.

To quote Naomi:

“I just didn’t know how to fire my glutes, so I had no butt.”

Muscle activation is important, you can have the best workouts on earth, but if you don’t know how to use them, they won’t do very much for you.

Now that Naomi has learned how to fire the right muscles on each exercise, she is sore after every workout, and that’s a good thing!

And based on your form, you can make different exercises work for certain muscles or not. You have to experience the feeling to really “get it”.

Start Posting Blog Updates

  • Blogging is the coolest thing ever in the community
  • It’s not public, but rather it’s for people who understand what you’re doing so it’s a safe place to share
  • The minute you need to get thoughts out of your head the write a blog, the exercise of doing this will help you get clear on what you want, that helps, might not make sense to you, but works
  • Just try it for yourself and see if it helps

Tips from Naomi:

  • Do conditioning to survive the photoshoot
  • Get a professional photographer
  • Figure out your goals well ahead of time
  • At some point bodyweight will become irrelevant and your final look will be all that matters to you
  • Its rare to achieve a six pack without drugs and still look feminine
  • Working out can be a big help with depression and moodiness…it can do so much more than just change the look and shape of your body

Links from the interview:

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

There are no words to express how grateful I am for the Venus, Adonis, ESE, AGD and related programs and material. To say this information has been life changing just doesn’t capture what has happened for me and my family. I feel a level of peace knowing we are empowered to stay lean and strong for the rest of our lives. My strategy this past year has been to focus on the following… Continue reading here

Listen to the interview here:

You Don’t Have to Be Obsessive about Fitness to Look like When You Were 18

Today we have an interview with Jannette Joly who placed 4th in the latest Venus Index Transformation Contest.

Check out her pictures:

It was a shock when Jannette found out that she can look better with a simpler approach.

Taking pictures at the same place, with the same lighting, in the same pose will help you see exactly how much you’ve improved.

Jannette is not a training novice. She used to own a gym and even today still trains people. And she is very passionate about it, she especially loves helping people like elderly, pregnant women, people with a disease; not your regular gym visitors.

Is Cardio Enough?

(Before you make any lifestyle changes you should always consult with your physician.)

Jannette told us that she thinks women especially need to do weight lifting, cardio is simply not enough.

However, she also said that even pregnant women should do weight lifting and she highly recommends it, both as a mother and as a trainer.

If you’re already training and you get pregnant, there is no reason to stop.

If you are healthy then you can pretty much do everything you did before. Sure a couple of lifts will not be possible due to the inflexibility, but that’s not such a big issue.

Who ever said weights were off limits for women an that a woman’s workout was meant to be cardio and abs only.

Women need to lift weights to have a slim, feminine figure with the perfect hourglass look, there is just no way around this. If you just do cardio, you will lean down, but will eventually just end up looking like a 12 year old boy.

Diet, Fasting, What works?

Jannette weighed herself at the same time each week and adjusted her diet based on this feedback.

This is a good approach. If you are simply not satisfied with how things are progressing and want to lose fat more quickly, you can just reduce your calorie intake or add a few fasts during the week. Just make sure you don’t overdo it, your diet has to remain sustainable.

It’s about trial and error, you need to find what works, and at a sustainable speed to make it all fit together.

Not everything will work for you, you must determine your best course of action.

For many people, fasting is what allows you to enjoy your weekends a bit more.

A diet you can’t sustain is useless and if you want to enjoy your weekend you need to follow a diet that allows this option.

The best diet is the one made around your lifestyle:

  • What meals you don’t need to eat?
  • What social events you have to attend?
  • What are the lowest calorie options you can choose?
  • What foods you have to eat that you crave, but have to watch yourself so you don’t overdo it?
  • What days you will consume most of your calories?

A good diet plan doesn’t start with things you can’t have e.g. ice cream or pizza. Quite the opposite, it should start with what you must have e.g. dinner each day with your spouse, lunch each Sunday with your family, party each Friday and pizza every other week.

Once you know this, you can calculate how many calories you are left with in the week and fill it in with anything you want – low calorie options are always better, because you can eat more of them, and while dieting, you want to eat as much as possible.

You Must Lift Weights

There is just no way around it.

Most women think that lifting weight will turn them into a hulk woman, but that’s complete nonsense.

This belief may be present in our society due to a lack of examples of women who have been lifting weights regularly. As a result women are intimidated by the idea of lifting weights, but truth to be told, you are not going to build a feminine, good looking body without lifting weights.

Stop spending hours on the cardio machines, find what works and direct your energy efficiently.

Scared of Getting too Lean?

As you progress you may need to give yourself permission to keep improving, because there is a lots of BS in our society about how women should look.

It may even seem that thanks to media we have lost sense of what’s truly attractive.

Here is a thought…

You have a feminine shape no matter how lean you are.

There is also another good rule to follow – If you feel confident, you like what you see, you have achieved that body shape naturally and you are both lean and have toned muscles, then it’s healthy and looks great no matter what other people are saying.

You may not realize this at the beginning of your journey, but as you progress and improve, people will actually try to take you down and discourage you from further improvement.

It’s the unfortunate ‘crabs in a bucket’ mentality.

In a group of average people, one’s inspiration and transformation is always discouraged, because it would reveal insecurities of the others.

What you have to do is realize that any negativity you recieve is not about you, but rather about other people’s insecurities coming to the surface.

Tips from Jannette:

  • Don’t make excuses
  • At some point you have to shorten the fast (when you are really lean)
  • If you want that body, VI can help you build it, but you really have to want it badly to make the commitment and follow it as written
  • Make this a priority
  • Find your reason behind your actions, it helps you stick to your plan
  • Being in shape will make you a better person and other people will notice
  • Do what’s efficient, dump the rest
  • You don’t need to train two hours a day for every day of the week to look good
  • You have other areas of your life than just fitness, fitness is a tool to make your life better
  • It’s okay to train while pregnant
  • Purposefully focus on finding the disbeliefs that you formed based on BS form media and bad trainers and work on eliminating them
  • Mindset is everything
  • You can lift and push yourself more than you think
  • Trainers are supposed to push you to your limits, it’s okay for them to do that, actually, it’s necessary!
  • If you put the effort into it, you will get the results
  • If you hate cardio don’t do it
Links from the interview:
  • Venus Index Workout – Venus Index workouts focused on building your ideal hourglass shape
  • 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

Listen to the interview here:

Your Transformation Into Venus Is Going to Be Both Physical and Mental

Today we have an interview with Olya who placed 3rd in the Level 1 of our Open Category in the latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out her pictures:

Look at magazines for some inspiration and start practicing various poses.

Olya has been in our community for a while, but it took her a while to find her way and fully acquire the Venus Index lifestyle. But eventually she got it and today is one of the younger Venuses in our community.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can get in shape.

And quite frankly if you want to be in killer shape in your 50s, it’s necessary to handle your diet and start training young.

Let’s look into what approach you should take if you are in your 20s.

Yo-Yo Solution, how to fight the conventional “Lost 20, Gained 40 afterwards.”

Olya never had troubles losing fat earlier.

She would just stop eating dinner and did her own version of Eat Stop Eat without knowing it.

But then at a dancing audition they told her to lose even more fat.

And since fasting isn’t hard and rather it’s the coming out of the fast, this desire to lose even more fat opened a Pandoras box for her.

And this is how she would deal with it: She would come out of a fast and eat everything that was around – not a good idea, totally detrimental to the benefits of fasting.

Then she did all sorts of stuff like master cleanse or low carb diet.

Then she tried a raw food diet, got addicted to nuts and nut butter. Then did paleo.

She felt out of control.

She gained a lot. She lost about 20 pounds, but gained about 40. This totally messed her up.

How to Transform yourself

You have to learn how to deal with your emotional stuff first, even before doing any caloric restrictions.

Olya started working with Dr. Bird, who is the go to psychotherapist for the Venus Index.

Losing fat is mostly psychological rather than physiological issue. Everyone can learn how many calories they need to lose fat and quite frankly we all know that it’s just about eating less.

The real underlying issue is in finding how to do that. How to make yourself eat less, how to cut foods, what meals you have to have, how to avoid eating out of boredom, emotional stress and such.

That’s the real challenge.

Also, if in the past you tried dieting, but did all the conventional diets that tell you to eat only certain food categories and avoid others, because they are “bad” for you, then you have developed lots of bad habits and mindsets and you need to handle those as well.

What’s also important to realize that it’s not gonna happen overnight.

You can be happy, healthy and have a balanced life, but it will take a while. It will also take a lot of hard work and rewiring and destroying bad habits you developed in the past without even knowing about them.

What can help is surrounding yourself with positive people who will help you achieve your goals. Choose wisely, most people are not supportive.

In order to transform you have to psychologically put attention into this area of your life. However, you have to see your attention and focus as a fuel tank. There is only so much of it each day until it runs out.

Start believing in yourself. Self-sabotage and fear of success are the biggest enemies of transformation.

In order to maximize the results, be smart with the timing.

It Took Olya a year to finally find the right time to do the transformation.

Just like with the attention, certain times might not be the best. Make sure it’s possible for you to do this.

This time Olay was developing success routines and she was pre-planning lots of things.

She would pack things the night before in order to set her day up for success.

She also learned to view her workouts as a gift not a punishment.

This helped her stick to the workouts and not miss them.

Do all this and you will start seeing results and tangible progress.

Just be careful with the information and people you allow to get close to you and affect you.

There is too much negative bs out there.

Learn to manage yourself and manage stress.

Every time Olya was at work she was in a good mood and if she would be frustrated in any situation she would just walk away.

Today Olya is more in control of her life, her body, she feels good about herself and how she looks, enjoys the process and has a healthy attitude.

She experienced a lot of growth and development inside and out.

Remember that the transformation is both physical and psychological.

More tips from Olya:

  • Your body is the manifestation of your inner self
  • Start believing in yourself and give yourself the gift of support
  • Things go wrong all the time, stop punishing yourself for it
  • Despite your childhood genetics or what happened in the past you are in control of your life and your body today, stop looking for excuses and just do it
  • Don’t calculate calories for the day, but rather for the week
  • If you eat a bit more on one day, then you can just subtract the calories from your budget for the next day, this can help you stay on track and not worry about it
  • Exercise is a great stress reliever
  • Cardio can help you boost your calorie budget
  • Get the workouts done in morning or afternoon so you are free for the evening to go out with your friends if that is important to you
  • Take a step back and look at yourself if there is something you have been putting off and DO THAT
  • Don’t compare yourself to other people
  • You might need a few contests to get this handled
  • Taking photographs is awesome, appreciate the preparation for the shoot
  • Practice posing, look at magazines, check what angles look the best

Links form Olya’s interview:

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

What a journey this has been! It dates back to when I discovered Venus Index program in December 2010! It’s been a year and a half and somehow the last two competitions just didn’t happen for me. But here I am at the end of VT4 and though I always think I could have pushed harder and better, I am proud of where I am right now and today. In fact, just seeing the progression and noticing seemingly idiotic things like fitting into old jeans and not having to pose only from a certain angle in photos, is worth every effort and every setback that I have…

Click here to continue reading

Listen to the interview here:

Starting a Fitness Career at Age 51

Today we have an interview with Roberta Saum who won the Level 2 of our Open Category in the latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out her pictures:

No need to comment, these pictures speak for themselves.

Roberta is extremely happy with the way she looks and she has every right to be, just look at the photos.

And she is 51, most girls who are in their 20’s or even 30’s would kill for that body!

Roberta ran marathons, lifted weights, did martial arts, and remained physically active for about 23 years. She was always overweight and always felt frustration about being overweight too.

Today she is a walking inspiration to everyone, her family, her friends and everyone in the gym.

She is proof that just because you have been out of shape for decades and you are not in your 30’s anymore, it doesn’t mean you have to give up on your physique goals.

Don’t ever be ashamed of your age. All of our Venus’s are older than you would expect and they are proud of that!

Presentation Is Everything

In the first contest Roberta knew nothing about posing and presentation.

She did well though.

However, if you really want to show everyone the hard work you have done, then you need to learn to pose, you need to learn how to present yourself.

The best looking model can look totally average if they’re not posing correctly.

The lights, posing, tan, angle, and some flexing is what makes all the difference, in one word – presentation.

Look up models, go through the magazines, model their poses and photos. Study how they look at the camera, facial expressions, muscle flexing and notice how the lights are set up, the angles of the shot, make up etc.

And practice…practice makes perfect.

This time, Roberta wanted the pictures for herself, not just for the contest. And she wanted to show her body better.

She reached her goals.

And like she said if you want to hit your goals bad enough you will reach them too.

Top quality picture, ready to be featured in a fitness magazine. Who says you can’t have this too?!

How to Shift from Losing Fat into Maintaining Leanness

This is the whole point of the Reverse Taper Diet that Roberta followed.

Throughout the contests we have noticed that there are basically three ways of eating you can have:

  1. Eating too much, results in gaining fat
  2. Eating less than you burn, results in losing fat
  3. Eating at your energy expenditure, results in maintenance of your current body fat level

And we have noticed two other things:

  1. The fat loss slows down as you get to lower body fat levels
  2. It’s important to learn how to transition from eating for fat loss to eating for maintenance and find your sweet spot.

This is the issue with the traditional taper diets. You start with low calorie intake and end with even lower…a recipe for disaster. If you eat too low while being lean, you risk binging, overeating and rebounding, thus the name yo-yo dieting.

The better way of doing this is by starting with low calorie intake and slowly increasing it as you get closer to your goal.

The danger is that it’s boring and it takes some time until you see the results. But you can be sure the results will last.

At the beginning the fat literally melts away off of your body. Thanks to a lot of water retention you can be losing multiple pounds every week. However, once you get lean, then the frustration starts. You work and diet hard, but you step on a scale and nothing changes.

Like Roberta advises, the only thing you can do is to keep going and ditch the scale and only focus on the mirror and the pictures.

More tips from Roberta:

  • Day to day there is nothing exciting about fat loss
  • There is no magic pill
  • A pound or two of muscle is enough to make it look different in the mirror
  • You have to enjoy your food and your workouts in order to stick to your diet and routine in the long term
  • If you have to drag yourself to the gym, find a way to like the training
  • Don’t wait, waiting forty years for a good looking body is not necessary, why not have it this year?
  • Put the scale away
  • It’s never too late
  • The posing is hard, it will take you hours till you learn some basic ones
  • It’s worth it
  • Lots of people give up, the process is not crazy or not exciting as they expect
  • Surround yourself with people who will support you
  • Let other models use Photoshop, be the one who actually looks exactly like on the pictures
  • Help other people improve their physique

Links form Roberta’s interview:

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

This year has been an amazing year for me so for.  I started it off going on a Caribbean Christmas vacation that my husband promised me three years ago as incentive and a celebration if I reached my goal weight.   This year I learned how to maintain and I learned how to bring my weight back down after a three and a half week vacation.  I learned how to put away the scale and the tape measure and simply trust the process.  I used the…

Click here to continue reading

Listen to the interview here:

Being Active and Purposeful Training for Looks Are Totally Different

Today we have an interview with Lita. She placed 6th in the Open Category Level 1 in the latest Venus Index Contest.

Check out her pictures:

CMH_VT4_Open1_6thPlace

Be creative with your after photos! They represent your personality and achievements…and you will have them forever.

Lita was always pretty active. She did mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming and even tried running marathons.

But as she approached 160 pounds she realized that she wasn’t in the shape she wanted.

She was interested in fitness and wanted it to be a part of her life, so she started looking around the Internet for some advice on how to get in shape. She ran into some bodybuilding website and fitness pros.

And she really wanted to look like them, so she downloaded some bodybuilding split workouts and started following them.

Contest & the Permission to Be Light

Last year things changed, because Lita found one of the Venuses – Stephanie and thanks to her the Venus Index.

She bought the program, got into the community and just followed the protocols immediately.

And she got results!

That’s what happens when you set a goal, take it seriously and you are ready to take action.

When you listen to the interview, you will notice that Lita is one of those women that doesn’t ask a bunch of questions before trying something new and isn’t arguing whether it will work for her or not before she’s even attempted it.

And that’s probably the easiest road to success. We’ve even had people downloading the workouts and following the plans without reading the manual. They learned it all by experience.

Not that we recommend skipping the manuals, but the best thing you can do is to try the system and judge by results. And that’s exactly what Lita did.

After a couple of months, she got in great shape, started getting comments on her fit physique and found some wonderful women in the Venus Community.

And when she saw the possibility to compete in one of the Venus Index Contests, she jumped right in.

Most people are afraid of putting themselves out there, however Lita and her “Get it in, get done and get OUT!” attitude translated into seeing the contest as a no brainer.

For the contest Lita ate very low in calories, she even admits that she was unwilling to eat up to 1600 that the Reverse Taper calculator suggested because she didn’t feel it was right for her. Lita is an independent woman who obviously likes to think for herself. For the training she followed the Venus Index Workout Phase 1 and then progressed to phase 2.

In the interview she talks about giving yourself “Permission To Be Light”.

This is mostly a problem that guys run into, especially thanks to our social conditioning that leads them to believe they have to be big to earn respect, however even women seem to find the idea of being too light mentally challenging.

The truth is that there is no perfect weight for all women. The weight will differ based on height and genetics. Only you can determine what your best, healthiest, and happiest weight is once you arrive there and see a figure you like and feel good about.

And as you are losing fat, don’t be afraid to be light. You’ll never know for sure until you get there.

You have to realize that what you see on the scale is just a number that tells nothing about your body without considering muscle mass, proportion, Venus Index, conditioning, and most importantly how you feel.

That scale number is only relevant when you combine it with your height and most importantly a picture pinned next to it. It simply doesn’t say whether you look good or whether you are healthy. So, don’t take it as an indicator of either of those.

When you reach your Venus Index metrics, or as close to them as you’d like to get you may not weigh at all what you expected. This could mean you will be heavier than you expected, but it could also mean you’re lighter than you expected. There is no one ideal bodyweight for you, there is only a range. And within that range you will have to discover what fits best for you.

Expect Some Blow Back &  A Lot of Attention

Lita talks with a lot of men and has to entertain them during the day for her job so her body is something that always comes up. The attention she is getting has definitely escalated since she started training with the Venus Index. It’s both positive and negative. The negative side is really just learning how to deal with this new challenge.

You will have to be more careful with the clothes you wear, expect guys making comments on your looks, people asking about your fitness approach and getting some blow back from other women. This is something every Venus experiences.

You need to mentally prepare yourself for this and even though it doesn’t make sense to you why other people would tell you to stop getting in shape, it will happen as you get leaner. People will disapprove of what you are doing.

The key is to understand why and what you are doing and realize that people are insecure about how they look and this is just their way of trying to pull you back to make themselves feel better.

Getting in shape will improve your life, but it will also bring some new challenges you never had before. Take this social friction as a sign that what you are doing is really showing through!

What’s the Deal with Taking Good Pictures?

Get a fitness photographer, while all good photographers will know how to take the pictures with lighting and everything, those who understand fitness and have experience in this industry will know how to make you look leaner and sharper with more definition. Which is what you want, you want to show your body at its best angle, so you might as well take advantage of this. The only negative side is that fitness photographers may charge more for this expertise.

So, what you might want to do instead is to give specific directions to the photographer and tell them exactly what your goal is for the photoshoot. It’s crucial to show your definition, so you need to tell them exactly what you’re looking for. Any decent photographer (even with no fitness photography experience) should be able to bring your muscle definition out.
CMH_AFTER_fun pose 2_final

And most importantly have fun during the contest and photoshoot itself!

Another thing you need to do is learn how to pose and flex your muscles. The women that always look stunning in photos have spent hours practicing this (even those who are not models!).

Do multiple shots. Expect that you will choose about 5 photos from 500.

When models do a professional photoshoot they will take hundreds even thousands of photos and choose just 2 or 3 for the magazine, from which they choose one for the cover.

Lita’s take home message for women like her:

  • Your best self is the real you
  • Be proud of your body and your achievements
  • Aim for the athlete or model look you want not what other people are telling you
  • Don’t get caught up with the mainstream fitness myths
  • Women are afraid of developing an eating disorder, so they’d rather stay average than lose the weight. Don’t be like everyone else, get in shape!
  • Everyone thinks about food, the real question is how much stress does it bring to your life?
  • Fat debt – Not taking care of your body is just like ignoring your bank account (it will catch up with you!)
  • Thinking about food choices and making good changes in your lifestyle and body is equally important as managing your bank account
  • Ignoring problems won’t make them go away
  • You have to get away from scale and function from body shape and body composition
  • If you are lean and already have some experience working out, then the month to month changes are not going to be massive, it’s about refining and improving a little bit here and there
  • A good looking body is usually a healthy body
  • Ignore the average charts and recommendations, aim for the top and find your true numbers
  • Being under 130 pounds is not a bad or unhealthy thing for taller girls if it’s where you just end up with the look and feel that you like…remember that weight number is irrelevant without all other metrics added to tell the whole story
  • Test your health markers if you are unsure or want proof that the weight you end up at is indeed ‘healthy’ for you
  • More information about your body is always a good thing

Links form Lita’s interview:

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

I arrived at the VI Community just before the start of the VT4 contest period with a recent weight loss of 30lbs and measurements very near to the VI metrics. It was thrilling to discover a set of quantifiable measurements I could further train my body to. At the time, I didn’t really know where I should or wanted to go “next” with my physique and fitness goals. Finding the VI metrics gave me a new measure of refinement to work towards so I became…

Continue reading here

Listen to the interview here:

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