Brooke Stacey is a Fitness Model currently living in Austin, Texas.  Growing up in and around Austin, Texas, her entire life, Brooke has always had a passion for sports and the outdoors starting at a young age.

It wasn’t until the last seven years that, with a commitment to change, she was able to re-prioritize and redefine what health and fitness meant in her life.

On self-love

Self-love is so HUGE! It can start at a young age and grow with you or it could have never been established and you have to find it and create it. At the end of the day we all want to be loved and feel good about ourselves. It is so easy to compare our weaknesses to someone else’s strengths and feel bad about our self.

The key to self-love in my opinion is to maximise our own potential by strengthening our weaknesses, and embracing, sharing and nourishing our strengths.

When you realise and own that there is only one you and no one can replace that, you can also delight in the gifts you are given to share with the world. When you love yourself, it is a positive cyclical reaction and will be seen in everything you do and will be felt by everyone you touch.

On body love

Body love can be so tough for women. Our bodies go through so much in our lifetime between puberty to childbearing years to post-menopausal years. It is so important to put your health first throughout your life, to embrace and pull through all of these challenging times in our lives.

When you take control over your health, you feel better about yourself physically as well as mentally and spiritually. When you feel good about yourself, and have a positive body image of yourself you can perform all tasks with greater ability.

I think it is important to control the controllables and maximise your own potential to be the best you. After you do that, you can’t help but love all of the gifts and differences we all have and share at the same time.

Covet strong glutes? We asked the Base Body Babes to share their advice when it comes to training your glutes.

We love having and creating well balanced, beautifully proportioned and functional bodies. Our programs are specifically designed to ensure the body is structurally balanced and moving correctly, with a focus on posture and creating feminine proportions. Generally speaking, women are lower body dominant (whereas men are upper body dominant), so when we design our programs we place a greater focus on the lower body movements to create or maintain these feminine proportions. In our experience, women love having a shapely booty and toned, lean legs.

As the glutes are the biggest muscle in the body, it’s important to specifically work and build muscle in this area: not only because we like the look of a well developed, perky behind, but because the glutes are important to the overall function of the body.

From a functional strength standpoint, it’s quite common for people to have lazy or underactive glutes. This can lead to lower back pain and injuries, as the glutes are primarily responsible for day-to-day tasks such as bending over and picking things up. If the glutes aren’t strong, more stress is placed on the lower back unnecessarily. In most instances, if someone suffers from lower back pain, strengthening the glutes is a great place to start.

It’s no secret that squats are the first exercise that people turn to when they want to build a booty. Although squats are our favourite movement and our programs are based around them, there is certainly more to booty gains than just the squat rack. Too many times we see women squatting without knowing how to correctly activate their glute muscles; without proper technique and activation, results cannot be achieved.

Getting the most out of your booty

1. Technique is everything. Correct technique is vital to keeping you free from injury, to allow you to lift the correct weight and to ensure you are working the exact muscles that you are targeting. If your body starts to fatigue and your technique breaks down, it’s time to stop the set. Many people like to train until failure and take the body beyond what it is capable of, but this only increases the risk of injury. Always remember: safety first!

2. Progression is key. The body must continuously be challenged in order for it to change and develop; if you keep doing what the body can already do, the body doesn’t need to adapt! Every week, aim to increase the amount of weight you are lifting by about two to four per cent.

Challenge your body for best results!

“It took me a while to hear the message about breathing that everyone kept talking about. I was ‘hearing’ the message but not actually doing it. After a stressful day at work (I was formerly a corporate accountant), I would literally say, ‘I haven’t even breathed today!’

I am a firm believer that stress makes you fat. The right breathing – proper belly breaths – is a quick way to calm stress, and reduces all that cortisol that’s pouring in to our body (when you’re in the ‘fight or flight’ stress response mode).

I have a new career as a health and life coach, and now actually teach my clients how to breathe. Breathing the right way has calmed me down and helped me lose weight.

So far I’ve lost 25 kg and find myself spending less time doing excessive long-distance sports, like triathlons and half-marathons, and spend more time doing yoga, Pilates, weights and short HIIT-style (high intensity interval training) workouts for fast results. This change has given me better results, in much less time.”

Link:

Joanna Turner: I lost 25 kilos with deep breathing

WORKOUT BY: Luis Buron, Spartan SGX Coach

• 30 seconds: Dead Hang (Rope Climb)
• 1 minute: Stepup
• 30 seconds: Box Jump (Wall Climb)
• 1 minute: Run in place
• 30 seconds: High Pushup Hold (Z Wall)
• 1 minute: Stepup
• 30 second: Body Row (Inverted Wall)
• 1 minute: Run in place
• 30 seconds: Hollow Hold (Slip Wall)
• 1 minute: Stepup
• 30 seconds: KB Deadlift (Bucket Carry)
• 1 minute: Run in place
• 30 seconds: Jumping Pullup (Hercules Hoist)
• 1 minute: Stepup
• 30 seconds: Kettlebell Swing (Atlas Carry)
• 1 minute: Run in place
• 30 seconds: Active Hang (Multi Rig)
• 1 minute: Stepup
• 30 seconds: Lunge (Sandbag Carry)
• 1 minute: Run in place
• 30 seconds: Bear Crawl (Barb Wire Crawl)
• 1 minute: Stepup
• 30 seconds: Broad Jump (Fire Jump)
• 2 minutes: Burpee

Source: Time Saver Workout: Mini Spartan Maddness

Getting to know Silvia Kramska

Think owning your own business takes grit? Multiply that by two, add the gruelling training demanded by fitness competitions and you have an idea of life for Silvia Kramska, founder ofOpen to Play clean protein and Real Food Organic Nutrition. A qualified nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach, Kramska shares her formula for keeping a balance amid apparent chaos.

My Open To Play protein business came about when I was prepping for my first fitness competition; I couldn’t find a clean, simple and healthy protein anywhere. I figured there must be other people struggling with the same issue and so I decided to create my own.

I’m proud to say that Open To Play proteins are now one of the cleanest products on the market. The products are designed to be a healthy addition to anyone’s diet – they’re all natural, have only three pure ingredients (including grass-fed whey), and are lactose and gluten free. 

I wanted to make sure the proteins were suitable for anyone no matter their age, gender or activity level. Natural protein can supplement your regular diet, assist in your recovery after exercise and can help support growth and repair of your muscles.

My everyday nutrition is very balanced. I love to start my day with lemon water and I place a lot of focus on the quality of the foods that are going into my body. I eat organically wherever possible and I don’t eat gluten or processed sugars.

I do enjoy my pancakes once a week, on the weekends. I think it’s important that your daily nutrition isn’t causing you stress and to accept that you won’t get it perfect every day.

My current training regimen reflects my off-season preparation and I am focusing on growing my upper body for competition. I am doing heavy upper-body sessions three times per week, and three leg sessions per week focusing on glute development. 

I like to incorporate at least two HIIT sessions per week into my training program depending on my energy levels. I always make sure I listen to my body and rest when I need it. 

I manage stress by soaking in a magnesium salt bath every single night. I also love taking time out to just relax at home, or head to the beach during summer with a good book. 

I wake up early every day because I like to get a training session in while everyone else is still in bed. I then head over to my café and help to set it up for the day, get my team motivated and post on my social media accounts. After work I will normally fit in another gym session and in the evening I make time for family and friends. 

His V-tapered torso is causing a serious stir on Instagram

If you dream of sculpting a set of rock hard delts, you might want to take a few pointers from 19-year-old bodybuilder Bonheur Ntwari.

Ntwari, who is 6’2 and weighs 88kg, began bulking up when he joined the gym at the age of 16, and now boasts boulder shoulders that are double the width of his waist.

His massive shoulders measure up at 53 inches wide, while his slender waist clocks in at 26 inches in circumference. As his ‘before’ and ‘after’ snaps reveal, Ntwari has totally transformed his body.

The Australian teenage powerhouse has shrugged off (sorry) claims his hench upper body is photoshopped, and says his colossal gains are the product of a lifelong dream.

“I’ve always wanted to get bigger since I was eight years old,” Ntwari told The Mirror. “I visualised myself being a large person as I was extremely skinny and tall so I got a gym membership on my 16th birthday. Most people get really surprised looking at my physique because it is something different and something never seen before,” he added.

“I have been accused of photoshopping in the past but I just take it as compliment. It only means my physique is too good to be true.”

The online personal trainer told The Mirror he hits the gym six days per week, focusing on his chest, shoulders and triceps on Monday, his back and bicepson Tuesday and his legs on Wednesday. Ntwari rests on Thursday and repeats the routine again on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

When he’s not in the weight room, Ntwari can be found in the kitchen, chowing down around 150 grams of protein across four meals per day.

Fair play to him. If you’re looking more O-shape than V-shape right now, deploy these moves to sculpt a Insta-worthy physique like Ntwari.

Meanwhile, debate in the MH office rages on: is this look aesthetically pleasing or a step too far?

Excerpt from:

Teen bodybuilder’s shoulders are twice the size…

Want to know the key to fat loss? Master trainer Daniel Tramontana shares his tips for guaranteed fat loss.

To fast-track coveted progress such as greater fat loss, Tramontana says you need to get back to basics. Cardio is not ‘hardio’

With a combination of higher intensity interval training (HIIT), low-intensity steady state (LISS) training, body weight training sessions and a nutritious diet, Tramontana ensures his clients are given the best formula for their body.

“My cardiovascular programming is based around a 75/25 split of LISS and HIIT. So based on the available amount of time for a client to add in cardio on top of resistance training would determine the amount of each they conducted,” he says.

Here’s what your cardio program could look like:

2 hours per week for cardio training = 30 minutes of HIIT over two to three days 90 minutes of LISS over one to two sessions.

Be wary, if HIIT was all you did, you may encounter the downside of too much stress on your body, which can ironically turn HIIT into a fat retention tactic.

So what about weight training?

“For  fast track fat loss, I structure everything around two to three full body weight training sessions – two sessions based on linear periodisation macro cycle of 16-to-24 week programming, altered every four to six weeks,” he explains.

Translation? A program that begins by incorporating high-volume and low intensity weight training, and progressively moves into phases when the volume decreases and intensity increases.  Tramontana is a strong advocate for women to hit up the weights rack, “I find a lot of women are lifting nowhere near their capacity. Don’t be shy to lift heavy weights and test your ability regularly.”

The importance of rest

All this talk of intensity may have you thinking full pelt should be the only gear you work in, but without adequate recovery, you may be undermining your fat loss chances at the dumbbells. Both injury and overt fatigue can see you performing at less than 100 per cent over multiple sessions.

“Recovery begins with the post-workout meal. I advise at least 25 to 50 per cent of overall carbohydrates be included in this meal – either using complex carbohydrate sources or a combination of simple and complex carbs,” says Tramontana. “I also recommend at least one body therapy session per week.”

Think physiotherapy, massage, sauna, steam, floating, dry needling, sleep in, meditation, yoga, grounding – or something as simple as reading a book.

How to fuel your body with the right food

For Tramontana, eating for fat loss should focus on controlling hunger, which translates to better portion control and craving management.

“I ask that protein be included in every meal upon waking, generally an even or slightly escalating amount each meal depending again on habits and hunger patterns,” he says.

“For fat loss, I personally urge the exclusion of high-energy carbs even post workout – with the exception of competitors in the later stage of preparation.”

Supplementation may also give you an edge in the health and results stakes. Depending on your goals and needs, Tramontana advises the use of creatine, glutamine, vitamin C, branch chain amino acids, fish oils, whey protein, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc and a good-quality greens supplement to aid recovery, general wellbeing and lean muscle growth.

Combine these three micro workouts to form a lower-body workout that’ll have you working up a sweat.

THE WORKOUT 5 to 6 rounds, with no more than 10 to 15 seconds’ rest between exercises.

5 Burpees // 20 Kneeling Banded Hip Thrust

5 Burpees // 20 Knee to Squat Jump (10 on each leg)

5 Burpees // 30 Standing Hip Abductions (15 on each leg).

Click Here!

Workout by Kyla Gagnon.Photography by Jesse HladyKneeling banded hip thrust

Placing the band just above your knees, kneel down on a soft surface, toes together and knees apart. Slowly with control, lower your hips back and down towards your feet, pause and slowly with control, rise and push your hips to the front, squeezing your glutes at the back.Use the strongest band you can.

Give your gym workout an upgrade and watch the results pour in…

We’re well aware that time spent on the treadmill can often stand still. If you’re bored of your gym routine, help is at hand. With our favourite ways to get fit in the gym, you’ll never have to spend an hour on the treadmill again! High five to that.1 Tabata

From time saving to fat burn, high-intensity exercise is one of the best ways to get more bang for your buck at the gym. And the fastest method? It’s got to be Tabata. Warm-up and cool-down aside, the workout lasts only four minutes including rest periods. There really are no cons to this no-frills, super-speedy method. Don’t forget to do some mobility exercises to warm up and stretches to cool down.

Perform 20 seconds of a resistance exercise such as squats, kettlebell swings or medicine ball slams, followed by 10 seconds complete rest. Repeat eight times.

2 Circuits

If you have a little more time, make use of the fancy equipment on offer at the gym. Good health clubs will have TRX, kettlebells and sandbags on offer, and you’d be a fool not to use them. Check out our Workout Routines for ways to work out using all kinds of gym equipment. Remember to keep rest periods short and intensity high if your goal is to burn fat.

3 Cardio

If you prefer using cardio machines but don’t fancy a spin class, why not combine various machines in one session to avoid getting bored? Try 15 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the rowing machine – you could even throw in some resistance exercises between each transition to spice things up. Interval training is a good option, but beginners can always start off with a steady pace.

Gym workouts for women