September Newsletter
 

The summer is almost over... I don't get it, I just remember how we all were planning what we are going to do on that special New Year 2000, and now the 2000 is almost over. We've just entered the last third of it. I like the summer though. All these people around are happy and in good shape, my dog Peanut is not "bugging" me that much because she is too hot and too busy laying flat on the kitchen floor and cooling down. It's fun to diet in the summer, because you don't hide so much in your clothes and every time when you pass the mirror you see every bit of your skin. And if you see it too fluffy, then you get motivated to skip the trip to the fridge and do some lunges instead. Right?!!?

Venice beach is still full with visitors, and especially this Labor Day weekend. So instead of shaking my bootie on the rollerskates, I am sitting here at my work desk, writing this wonderful newsletter. The beach looks really good. If you remember I mentioned previously that they tore out everything, and rebuilt the whole board walk and the beach. It's wide and clean and light and fresh. Great! The opening was as planned, August 12, on my birthday. Huge celebrations and performances, that I couldn't join because I was competing in Ironman Naturally. What a birthday, huh? Instead of eating cashew nuts and sipping wine, I was posing on stage, choking myself with some rice cakes and protein bars. I enter the stage 171.5 lbs, placed 2nd in the heavy weight class, but not very satisfied, because I was feeling fluffy, holding a lot of water. Another opportunity to experience that it doesn't work for me to cut down or stop drinking the water the night before the contest. It seems like my body starts holding the water right in the moment when I stop drinking. I thought I learned this last year, but apparently I needed to make the mistake one more time to realize that that's it. I have to drink water even on the contest day.

So I decided to do another contest 2 weeks later, the Tournament of Champions and Steel Rose. I started to dig in the thick books of traditional Chinese medicine and learn the old knowledge about the balance in the body/spirit/mind. Hot and cold, dry and damp, excess or deficiency. I found out a lot of interesting things, among others that I was damp and had my spleen out of balance. So I started to cook all these yummy soups with vegetable and grains, trying to get myself back in balance. I could see the difference in a couple of days. In my second contest, I was looking much better, and won the heavy weight class. The overall was taken by an impressive girl/lady Natalie, in both contests. She is awesome and lot of inspirations for all of us. I think I am busy and need to be disciplined and focused 100%, but listen to this: Natalie is ripped to the bone, you can cut the cucumber on her not flexed abs, and very pretty and natural. She has three kids, a full time job and a husband who is not very supportive. She does her morning cardio, takes care of kids and a husband, goes to work, weight trains on a lunch break, works, home and take care of kids and husband and groceries and cooking and back to the gym for the night cardio... Talk about being impressive, huh? You go, Natalie!

My training and dieting was very different this months. Playing around with my foods and carbs. I was adding more and more carbs to my diet, probably 75% more than before. Mostly different grains. I start believing more and more that the carbs are not as bad as we try to make them. Right carbs give the energy and increased metabolism. I need to play around more with it, so I decided to do one more contest, September 23 in San Diego, Border States. And that might be the last one for this year... Might...   :-)

Video is coming!!!

Now some interesting news: next weekend, I will be shooting a great video. Actually, two other people are going to shoot it and I am going to be the main star  :-)  It is not going to be another wrestling or lifting video, with no beauty and imagination. This one is supposed to be high quality 45-60 minutes, with lots of artistic shots and locations. The producers really know what they want and it's going to be the highest quality product in the industry. I am really excited about it. You don't see just a wrestling bodybuilder, walking around all trembly in the bikini and high heels... You can see the bodybuilder in her daily life, working, cooking, training, doing other stuff and showing other skills, lots of interviews and beautiful surroundings. I'll keep you posted on how the work progresses and when it will be purchasable.

Lioness is kicking bike

When I was kid (young girl) I used to compete in cross country skiing. During the summer season, we used to have huge scooters, sort of Razor in Extra-Extra-Extra-Large size. Thick wheels with air, and high handles. And we were kicking it and rolling around, in a motion that resembled the cross country skiing. All these years, I wanted to get such a kick bike, but never found any. And now, by an accident, I found a monster! A red kick-bike, with mountain bike tires, a wide board/platform in connecting the tires. Handles like on a real bike, with both breaks... I got so excited!!! I bought it for myself as a birth day gift and now cruising in Venice Beach and by the ocean. The thing is really big, it's longer and heavier than a normal bike, and about the same high. What a workout! I have never experienced something like that (lately). Bike or rollerskates compared to this feel like a walk in the park. Imagine doing lunges for 45 minutes! Every kick, you standing leg needs to bend a lot, to a full lunge position. So you do about 20 kicks with one leg and then you have to change the leg. Your heart is jumping out of your throat and the sweat is running down your spine canyon. And people are stopping and screaming and admiring the fun of it! Yeah, I can hardly smile at them! At least not too long, because I would faint not supplying the air in my lunges. So with this kick bike I probably get my legs and butt into a complete perfection.

Does morning cardio make you lean?

Sometimes they say you have to do cardio in the morning, sometimes late at night, or after your weight training. What is the right way to do cardio for fat burning? The answer is simple. Any time is good. Continuous cardiovascular exercise - walking, jogging, stairclimbing, or cycling - sustained for at least 30 minutes, will burn body fat no matter when you do it. However, if you want to get the maximum benefits possible from every minute you invest in your workouts, then you should consider getting up early and doing cardio before you eat your first meal - even if you're not a "morning person." And believe me, I know what you mean, because I am not a morning person either. I love to be up at nights! But, when I want to get lean and/or stay lean, then I have to change my priorities. Do I want to stay up late at night and be fat, or do I want to get up early and get lean? I choose the latter. I force myself to go to bed at 11 PM, getting up at 7 AM. Which is the optimal, perfect day. Normally I have to get up at 6 AM or even before.

Early morning aerobic exercise on an empty stomach has three major advantages over exercising later in the day.

1) The morning cardio burns more fat! Yupeee!!! Early in the morning before you eat, your levels of muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbohydrate) are low. If you eat dinner at 7 p.m and you eat breakfast at 7 a.m., that's 12 hours without food. During this 12-hour overnight fast, your levels of glycogen slowly decline to provide glucose for various bodily functions that go on even while you sleep. As a result, you wake up in the morning with depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar - the optimum environment for burning fat instead of carbohydrate. How much more fat you'll burn is uncertain, but some studies have suggested that up to 300% more fat is burned when cardio is done in a fasted, glycogen-depleted state. Carbohydrate (glycogen) is your body's primary and preferred energy source. When your primary fuel source is in short supply, this forces your body to tap into its  secondary or reserve energy source; body fat. If you do cardio immediately after eating a meal, you'll still burn fat, but you'll burn less of it because you'll be burning off the carbohydrates you ate first. You always burn a combination   of fat and carbohydrate for fuel, but depending on when you exercise, you can  burn a greater proportion of fat relative to carbohydrate. If doing cardio first thing in the morning is not an option for you, then the second best time to do it would be immediately after weight training. Lifting weights is anaerobic (carbohydrate-burning) by nature, and therefore depletes muscle glycogen. That's why a post lifting cardio session has a similar effect as morning  cardio on an empty stomach.

2)  The "afterburn" effect. When you do a cardio session in the morning, you not only burn fat during the session, but you also continue to burn fat at an accelerated rate after the workout. Why? Because an intense session of  cardiovascular exercise can keep your metabolism elevated for hours after the session is over. If you do cardio at night, you will still burn fat during the session, so you definitely benefit from it. However, nighttime cardio fails to take advantage of the "afterburn" effect because your metabolism drops like  a ton of bricks as soon as you go to sleep. While you sleep, your metabolic rate is slower than any other time of the day.

3) The "rush" and feeling of accomplishment that stays with you all day long after an invigorating workout. Exercise can become a pleasant and enjoyable experience, but the more difficult or challenging it is for you, the more important it is to get it out of the way early. When you put off any task you consider unpleasant, it hangs over you all day long, leaving you with a feeling of guilt, stress and incompleteness (not to mention that you are more likely to "blow off" an evening workout if you are tired from a long day at work or if your pals try to persuade you to join them at the pub for happy hour.) You might find it hard to wake up early in the morning and get motivated to  workout. But think back for a moment to a time in your life when you tackled a difficult task and you finished it. Didn't you feel great afterwards? Completing any task, especially a physically challenging one, gives you a "buzz." When the task is exercise, the buzz is physiological and psychological. Physiologically, exercise releases endorphins in your body. Endorphins are  opiate-like hormones hundreds of times more powerful than the strongest  morphine. Endorphins create a natural "high" that makes you feel positively  euphoric! Endorphins reduce stress, improve your mood, increase circulation and relieve pain. The "high" is partly psychological too. Getting up early and successfully achieving a small goal kick starts your day and gives you feelings of completion, satisfaction and accomplishment. For the rest of the day you feel happy and you feel less stress knowing that a difficult part of the day is behind you.

 So, go to bed early, get up early and get moving!

Training and diet for your body type

In the 1940s, Dr. William H. Sheldon introduced the theory of Somatypes. His theory described three basic human body types: the endomorph, characterized by a preponderance of body fat; the mesomorph, marked by a well developed musculature; and the ectomorph, distinguished by a lack of either much fat or muscle tissue. He did also state that most people were a mixture of these types. Sheldon's description of three body types has become an integral part of
most literature on weight loss, fitness and bodybuilding.

Your goal should be to look as close as possible to (or stay looking like) a mesomorph. With the correct exercise and diet this can be attainable, and while you may be a bit upset that you have to work hard to look good while the true mesomorph looks that way naturally, at least you will still be fit and look good. And even the mesomorph will find as he/she gets older that some exercise and diet is needed if they want to continue to look good and be fit.

MESOMORPH

Description: athletic with a hard, muscular body, overly mature appearance, rectangular shaped (hourglass shaped for women), thick skin, upright posture, gains or loses weight easily, grows muscle quickly.

Training:  strength training can be done more often and for longer sessions then would be good for an Ectomorph, but be careful not to overdo it. Train with moderate to heavy weighs and at a moderate pace, not resting too long between sets. Mesomorphs gain muscle quite easy (some women and even men might not want to get too bulky, but this won't happen suddenly. When you are happy with your muscle size simply train to maintain it). Engage in and enjoy aerobic activities, and sports,  but do not overdo.

Diet:  a good healthy diet to stay lean and muscular, and watch for any slow creeping fat gains.

ENDOMORPH

Description: soft body, flabby, underdeveloped muscles, round shaped, over-developed digestive system, trouble losing weight, generally gains muscle easily

Training: the main concern is to lose fat and to adopt a lifestyle that keeps it off.  Strength training should be done to get a better muscle to fat ratio and therefore improve metabolism. Use moderate weights with very little rest between sets and exercises. Also engage daily in some activity like brisk walking, biking, increasing the amount of time spent each week.

Diet: calorie intake should be lowered (but don't starve!), eating  frequent but small meals. Sugars, sweets and junk food should be eliminated from the diet.

ECTOMORPH

Description:  fragile, thin, flat chest, delicate build, young appearance, tall, lightly muscled, stoop shouldered, large brain, having trouble gaining weight, muscle growth takes longer.

Training: concentrate on gaining weight in the form of good lean muscle tissue (some women that are too thin may also want to put on a little fat to look more feminine). Weight training should be done but not too often or for too long each session. Weights should be fairly heavy and workout pace slower (longer rest periods between sets). Aerobic and other activities (sports, dancing, etc.) should be kept to a minimum, at least until you are happy with your weight and looks.

Diet:  high in calories (good quality food not junk), eating more then you're used to and often.
 

Mecca Camera - spy on the big people

Live Images of Workouts From Gold's Gym in Venice, California. Here you can see not only folks fighting entropy, but also a lot of hard bodied beauties — you just may spot superstar NHL, NFL or NBA athletes bench pressing weights, crunching abs or sculpting triceps. Or you could see today's hottest rock stars, actresses and actors sweating through a tough cardio workout, all lured by this gym's state-of-the-art workout equipment and "let's get serious" approach to health. And last but not least, you might see the Lioness herself!   :-)  Enter the Mecca...
 

Simple Sugars Make You Fat: Why Glycemic Index Matters

Article from Muscular Development Magazine, Septmeber 2000, By Thomas D. Fahey EdD, PhD

Eat too much- get fat. Don't exercise- get fat. Eat the wrong kinds of food- get fat.

Americans are fat and getting fatter. Government studies show that in only five years the number of overweight people increased by as much as 100 percent in some states. Blame your genes if you want; but genetic changes take generations, not years. Clearly, something about the American lifestyle makes us fat.

What could it be? Certainly, many people eat too much. Fat food restaurants bombard us with super meals and whoppers. Candy bars are so large you could give them as Christmas gifts. But most people understand that eating too many calories increases fat, so it's unlikely America's ravenous appetite accounts for the expanding waistlines. Several studies show people don't eat more now than they did 25 years ago. So, overeating may be related to some, but certainly not all, of our growing obesity problem.

Eating too much fat may contribute to obesity. Fat has many calories (nine per gram)- many more than carbohydrates or proteins. If you piled up solid fat (lard lunch) and solid carbohydrate (rice lunch) meals next to each other, the carbohydrate stack would be over twice as high! But, fat gives food flavor and helps satisfy appetite. Also, you need some fat in your diet to supply energy, help make important body chemicals, such as hormones, and restore vital body structures.

High dietary fat intake is linked to heart disease, some cancers and stroke. The government has stepped in by requiring that food labels list fat content. Fortunately, Ameri icans take in much less fat than Ithey used to. Both total and saturated fat intake, as a percentage of total energy consumption, has declined since the 1965. But, unfortunately, obesity rates have increased steadily since. Why?

Buzzword:  Glycemic Index

Eating too many processed foods- high in simple sugars- may be a key to America's obesity epidemic. When you eat a meal, such as candy or pancakes and syrup, high in simple sugars- your body pumps out a lot of insulin- the energy storage hormone. Insulin is a. biological wonder. It helps you mana-ge the foods you eat by storing carbohydrates in your liver, muscles and other tissues; driving fats into fat cells; and speeding the rate your body makes new proteins.

The nutritional buzzword of the 2000s is glycemic index {GI)- a measure of how fast your body absorbs carbohydrate foods and increases blood sugar. Foods with a high GI boost insulin production more than those with a lower index. Consequently, you store the energy from high glycemic meals faster than meals with a lower glycemic index. Nutrition experts counsel people to avoid high glycemic index foods, like jam and white bread, and emphasize lower glycemic foods, such as whole-grain bread and wild rice. You absorb lower glycemic index foods more slowly and thus release less insulin after the meal. Choosing lower GI foods may reduce fat storage because tbey provide a slower and more sustained release of sugar from the digestive tract.

All Carbs are Not the Same

Carbohydrates are classified as simple or complex. Simple carbs have only one or two sugar units in each molecule and include sucrose {table sugar), fructose {honey and fruit sugar), maltose {malt sugar) and lactose (milk sugar). They give food sweetness and are found naturally in fruits and milk. They are added to candy, desserts and soft drinks.

Complex carbs include starches and most types of dietary fiber and contain large chains of many sugar molecules. Plants such as wheat, rye, rice, oats, barley, potatoes and beans contain starch. Fruits, grains and vegetables contain a lot of fiber. Manufacturers make processed foods by removing the inner and outer layers of grains, leaving just the starchy middle layer. The parts they remove are rich in nutrients and fiber.

Over 90 percent of the carbs you eat enter the blood stream as glucose (blood sugar). However, you digest and absorb simple sugars much faster than complex carbs. The faster you digest and absorb carbohydrates, the more insulin your body releases into the blood. Scientists use glycemic index to describe how much a food can increase blood sugar (see Table).

GI and Fat Gain

The type of carbohydrates (simple or complex) you eat, fiber intake, and the fat and protein content of your food determine a meal's ability to raise blood sugar and GI. If you want to fight fat, eat more fiber and low-glycemic index foods. So says a 10-year study of nearly 3,000 black and white men by Dr. D. S. Ludwig and co-workers from the Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital, Boston. People who ate the most fiber gained the least weight during the study, regardless of how much fat they ate. The greatest weight gainers were people who ate diets low in fiber and fat. The researchers speculated that fiber in the diet delayed carbohydrate absorption, which suppressed the insulin response to meals. Lower insulin levels resulted in the body storing less energy as fat. Dietary fiber consumption predicted insulin levels, weight gain and other heart disease risk factors better than did total or saturated fat consumption. High-fiber diets may protect against obesity and cardiovascular disease by lowering insulin levels.

Simple sugars increase insulin and fat storage. Eating high GI foods- prQcessed carbohydrates and simple sugars- may speed fat buildup and increase the risk of heart disease.

Americans are on a sugar high.  Food sweeteners make up about 16 percent of the calories we eat, much more than the six to 10 percent recommended by nutrition experts. Soft drinks provide most of these extra calories, but syrups, candies, cakes, cookies, sweetened milk products (ice cream, chocolate milk) and sweetened beverages like fruit punch and lemonade also contribute. Young people 18 to 34 consume the most sweetened foods (18 percent of total calories), while people over 65 consume the least (12 percent).

The high insulin levels, promoted by high-sugar, low-fiber diets promote obesity by storing energy from meals as fat rather than using it for body energy. For example, in studies where insulin was injected into the body, fat storage increased, while energy use in muscle decreased.

High GI meals also increase appetite. After such a meal, insulin goes through the roof, causing a rapid fall in blood sugar. This causes you to get hungry faster and thus eat more during the day. Eating meals with a lower GI-composed of complex carbs, with about 30 percent of calories from fat, and 15 percent from proteins- releases energy into the blood stream slowly. This fights hunger and causes you to eat less during the day.

Weight Control

Energy balance- the balance between food intake and energy expenditure- determines whether you're fat or thin. Daily energy expenditure consists of calories used to fuel the body at rest, the energy required to digest food, and calories burned during exercise. Balance energy intake and output and your weight remains stable. Factors such as the GI of your diet and the natural tendency of your body to select a weight (weight setpoint) influence body fat. However, the basic formula remains- exercise more and eat less.

Based on both recent and old studies, the best ways to fight fat include:

    * Be more physically active. In addition to a regular exercise program that includes aerobics, resistive exercise (weight training) and flexibility training, do something active whenever possible. Take the stairs; ride a bike to work; park further from the store; mow the lawn.
    * Eat smaller portions. Push-aways- pushing away from the dinner table- are among the best fat reduction diets.
    * Without increasing total caloric intake, eat more often during the day. This will help prevent hunger and increase the caloric cost of digestion.
    * Eat meals higher in complex carbohydrates (low-GI foods) but low in saturated fats. This will help lower the insulin response to the meal and may prevent fat storage.
    * In the future, safe and effective methods may be available to fight our obesity epidemic. For example, a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine (160:1009-1013, 2000) showed ginseng lowers the insulin response of meals and may be a good supplement for preventing obesity and heart disease. Other drugs- some already available- may successfully block fat absorption, depress appetite andlower the body's weight set-point.

References

Brooks, G.A., "[D. Fahey, "[ White, and K. Baldwin. Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Application. Mt. View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000.
Fahey, "[D., R Insel, and W. Roth. Fit and Well. Mt. View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1999.  Holt, S.H., J.C. Miller and R Petocz. An insulin index of foods: the insulin demand generated by 1000-kJ portions of common foods. Amer J Clin Nut/: 66:1264-1276,1997.
Ludwig, D.S. and co-workers. Dietary fiber, weight gain, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in young adults. J Amer Med Assoc. 282: 1539-1546,1999.

You need to be persistent to achieve your goals

And I am not talking just about bodybuilding, the same laws will apply in other areas of your life - your work, your marriage, your wealth, your success. First you need to be disciplined. But you have to be also persistent. Never give up. Persistence is very important for achieving your goals and desires. Too often you can see that many people give up before they reach the goal that they started out to accomplish. When you don't allow the temporary setbacks to discourage you, and when yo don't allow the disappointments to kill the fire if motivation that feeds your persistence then your success will come. Then you will triumph. Persistence builds a solid belief in yourself.

Persistence comes when you choose to go on until you achieve what you have set out to accomplish. Persistence determines your results and ultimately your success in life, shapes your character and encourages you to set higher standards for your goals. To develop and practice persistence,

* always have a definite goal and/or  purpose,  and a honest, passionate desire to accomplish it
* have a plan set up and take continuous actions
* disconnect yourself and your mind from all negative and discouraging influences , including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.
* surround yourself with  people who will encourage you to follow through with your plan and your purpose
* change your thoughts, because your life is what your thoughts make of it!
 

Blonde with brains... Really???

  A blonde walks into a bank in New York city and asks for the loan officer. She says she's going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer says the bank will need some kind of security for the loan, so the blonde hands over the keys to a new Rolls Royce.  The car is parked on the street in front of the bank, she has the title and everything checks out. The bank agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan.

The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the blonde for using a $250,000 Rolls as collateral against a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then proceeds to drive  the Rolls into the bank's underground garage and parks it there.

Two weeks later, the blonde returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer says, "Miss, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?"

The blond replies..."Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?"
 

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