Advice for Figure Class newbie...

[Daz69]

Hi Ladies............

I'm looking for some advice here... I Wonder if anyone could help..!!!

My girlfriend is an Ex Great Britain swimming & rugby international...

She holds qualifications for Sports injury therapy, Diet & Nutrition..

So is no stranger to competetive sport or its methodology at a high level...

She has recently started seriously working out in the local gym, and would like to try Figure....

I have no idea what this entails & how to prepair for competition...

Could anyone offer advice &/or suggest a website or two to give me a descent knowledge base upon which to work from...

I will be her coach & training partner...!!!

Thanks.....

PS: Her weight is 60kgs

[ThePman]

Most of figure is the presentation aspect of it. She'll need to get all dolled up, probably do a routine, and I never dealt with any of that side of things.

As far as training/eating, my experience down here (as opposed to the States) is that they go for leanness as far as physique criteria. Details, you'd obviously have to sketch in but I've had girls do pretty well with a basic strength routine, combination of some moderate interval training (not HIIT) and aerobic cardio, and a decent protein & veggies diet with occasional refeeds added in.

The big thing with women is balancing all the training with the calorie deficit. Some women will burn out very quickly if they try to go too hard on too little food, so both refeeds and smart "light" training can become important as they lean out.

[Peachy]

not HIIT

Why not HIIT?? :-s

[ThePman]

It can wind up being too stressful on the kind of lowered calories that some people need to get very lean, and it's not all that great a fat burner to begin with. Overrated, you might say.

[Peachy]

Gud to know!! I've been beating myself up for not doing much HIIT at all lately coz yeh I just don't have the energy on my current diet.

[tomsammce]

Pman, why do you say HIIT is not very good for fatloss?

I always thought if done properly and not half arsed then it burns a very high amount of calories and keeps your metabolism increased for much longer periods than conventional "long and slow" type cardio training?

[ThePman]

Pman, why do you say HIIT is not very good for fatloss?

I always thought if done properly and not half arsed then it burns a very high amount of calories and keeps your metabolism increased for much longer periods than conventional "long and slow" type cardio training?

It's not that it's not good for fat loss or recomping - it can be. I'm thinking more in context of contest dieting.

http://www.ampedtraining.com/fat-loss/a ... c-fat-loss

http://www.ampedtraining.com/fat-loss/i ... g-fat-loss

[tomsammce]

ah ok, thanks for links

[Optimass]

agree with Pman (without reading the links) ..... low calorie + low to medium intensity cardio has works for my clients in the past. Have mostly works with keto plans for this which don't lend themselves to intense cardio sessions. lower intesity helps to manage the mental focus and lessens the shock to the body - promotes quicker recovery. Just have to do more of it.

HIIT is good if you are maintaining low bodyfat but with a more carb flexible nutro plan.

[Peachy]

Sheesh I'm confused... :-s

What I get from reading those links is that after you have done HIIT your body starts burning just fat so that it can reload the cells with whatever glucose you take in for future use. That is why people say "you burn fat/ keep your metabolism up for hours after". But during HIIT you are not burning any fat.

However when you do lower intensity cardioyou burn fat the whole time and can ultimately burn more total fat because you can sustain it for a longer period of time.

Hmmm so HIIT is good if you are bulking but trying to keep a low bodyfat because you have the energy from eating more and it encourages the energy to go to the muscle rather than fat. So even then though are you still no better off than you would be doing long periods of lower intensity cardio other than the fact that it improves your fitness??

[ThePman]

Peachy. You're thinking too much.

Read what Optimass wrote. Low carbs/low cals + taxing training don't mix well.

HIIT is fine when you can afford to eat more food and/or carbs. When you're trying to diet hard it doesn't work so well, so you want to skew the cardio towards more aerobic training which is easier to recover from.

The calorie burn part isn't really as important.

I'll also add that IME, men may be able to get away with doing more HIIT to shred up but women often have to eat so little that they just can't handle the recovery. Also, more aerobic work seems to help with some female-specific fat-retention issues.

[Peachy]

Peachy. You're thinking too much.

Lol usually I get told the opposite.

I'll also add that IME, men may be able to get away with doing more HIIT to shred up but women often have to eat so little that they just can't handle the recovery.

This makes sense.

[tomsammce]

Lol usually I get told the opposite.

lol

[cantygirl]

Interesting eh, ive always been a great advocate for cardioing hard for less time and it has worked well for me over the years leading up to contest time, however, this ole body is being a bit pigheaded lately so ive changed to 2X1 hour slowish lowish intensity and guess what, im losing weight more efficiently and im not having to reduce my food too much.

[Daz69]

I have been searching the net for a site that will give me some serious info on Womens "Figure class" & what it entails, so I have a good knowledge of the subject my girlfriend has chosen as her new sport.............

I'm struggling, could anyone help..?????

:? :? :?

[Peachy]

Hey Daz, I reckon for preparation best to see a PT that is experienced in training/coaching people for figure. But for judging and all that look on either the NZFBB website or the NABBA one and they give a breakdown of the criteria etc

http://www.nzfbb.org.nz/?page_id=6

[Daz69]

Hey Daz, I reckon for preparation best to see a PT that is experienced in training/coaching people for figure. But for judging and all that look on either the NZFBB website or the NABBA one and they give a breakdown of the criteria etc

http://www.nzfbb.org.nz/?page_id=6

Thanks for that.......

Anyone know an experienced PT in the Western Bay of Plenty area..?

:wink: