Gina Aliotti is the Babe Ruth of female fitness. She is the most successful, accomplished, admired, and professional female fitness competitor in the country. Gina has walked, and conquered, the stage that Jorie is now striving for. So you can imagine how lucky and humbled Jorie(and Fittron) were when Gina said she was going to critique Jorie’s workouts, diet, and fitness plan for free.
Gina Aliotti:
What you’re about to read will give you a true glance into the knowledge of a world class fitness competitor. Gina’s advice is a must have for anyone looking to enter the world of fitness and figure competitions. And the best part is, Gina can help you too. With an extensive website that includes a member section, you can receive help and support like this from Gina as well. Think about it. What you’re about to read can be written to you, and for you; by Gina.
Read on to see just how much help and guidance Gina can provide. Jorie is certainly grateful for it. And so are we.
Thank you Gina for being a part of this tremendous journey.
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Jorie, First of all thank you for your service duties and commitment to protecting our freedom! Congratulations on your decision to embark upon such an amazing journey that will change your life forever! The journey is one that will have its ups and downs, challenges and obstacles but when you push through the end result is indescribable! With your drive, commitment, determination focus and motivation, you WILL accomplish your goals! From reading your bio, you have a very impressive story and if anything makes you feel like you have “purpose”, it is accomplishing your ultimate fitness goals. You will realize what you are capable of doing and you will regain your self-esteem and confidence you once had and then some! Competitions are so much more than getting into the best shape of your life! They help you shape who you are, what you are all about and more than that give you direction, purpose and the ability to focus on you and establishing just who Jorie is! Your goal to take this journey step-by-step and in strides is a perfect approach and will lead you to success! I am so excited for you as you embark upon this unforgettable journey!
I have taken a look at your current workout routine and diet and wanted to offer you some of my suggestions to help you with your goals. I notice you are eating 5 meals a day, which is a great start but I would suggest bumping this up to 6 or 7 to keep your metabolism up longer throughout the day. I notice on Saturday you don’t even have a second meal! You definitely want to get this in. You want to be sure to eat every 2-3 hours. Your breakfast meals look great with oats, protein shakes or egg whites and a small amount of fruit. I would watch out in the amount of fruit you are in taking and definitely stay away from fruit juices. I notice you are eating a lot of fruit and juices. I do not suggest eating this much fruit, especially bananas, and I would not drink any juice what so ever. There is just too much sugar! Keep your meals around 20-30 grams of protein so if you are having a shake there isn’t really a need to add in eggs also. Usually it is one or the other. I noticed your second meal is really just a small snack rather than a meal with your 20-30 grams of protein and other macro nutrients. I would highly suggest staying away from dairy products, while in contest prep. Low or non fat dairy is great for the off season but when you are getting ready for a show it is too high in sugar. Again, many of your 3rd meals have fruit and dairy, which you want to limit. I also noticed you are eating breads, wraps and dressings. You should avoid creamy dressings and stick with your healthy oils such as olive oil and you should replace your breads with a complex carbohydrate such as brown rice or a yam. Your mid afternoon snack often has fruit, once again, or not enough or any protein at all. I like the days you have the protein shake and eggs but be sure to only eat the whites and eat more than 2. 2 egg whites only have 7-8 grams of protein and 34 calories, which isn’t enough for one meal! Your last meal should be loaded with veggies and a lean protein such as your shrimp, fish, protein shake, or egg whites. I notice you do follow a lean protein/veggie combination on some days but other days you have carbohydrates (bread) which you definitely want to avoid before you go to bed! Your diet program has several great choices but you should look into tailoring it more towards the figure diets, in order for you to achieve the goals you are looking for to step on stage in the best shape of your life, lean yet maintaining your hard earned muscle tissue.
There are some things you should consider when starting a dietary program. First of all there are basic foods that are good for such as healthy fats, complex carbs and lean proteins. You should get a variety of healthy foods from all different macronutrients but women need to be sure to get in enough of their omega 3-6-9’s. Women have different hormones and it is essential for women to be sure to get in their essential fats in order to keep their hormones balanced and regulated. Eating Omega 3, 6, 9’s are a key component to any weight loss program but especially for women. Women need more fats in their diets. The omega’s help with our skin, hair, nails, and overall health. It is essential to not only get in the fats from our foods but I highly recommend supplementing with a Omega 3-6-9 supplement.
Diet is so important. I believe it is 90% of any fitness program. When you are trying to obtain lean muscle or lose body fat, a specialized nutritional program is key! Depending on what your goals are, 5-7 small frequent meals is #1. The types of foods in those meals is key! Some examples of healthy foods include:
Complex Carbs:
Oatmeal, yams, sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, etc.
Lean Proteins:
Egg whites, chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, etc.
Healthy fats:
Nuts, Nut butters, Avocado, Olive oil, Salmon, etc.
A sample diet and an ideal program for gaining lean muscle is something similar to this:
Meal 1: egg whites, oatmeal, almonds
Meal 2: egg whites, oatmeal, small apple (sometimes low fat cottage cheese)
Meal 3: big salad, chicken, yam
Meal 4: protein shake, rice cakes with peanut butter
Meal 5:white fish, brown rice, veggies
Meal 6: chicken breast, big salad and veggies
Meal 7: protein shake or egg whites
Your training program looks great. Be sure to alter your cardio as you need to in order to keep your body coming down and leaning out perfectly. I like your workout split but would suggest you limit your chest training and focus on upper chest when you do train chest. As women, other than rounding out our delts and balancing out our upper chest so it does not look under developed, we do not need to focus on building size to our chest. I believe all women should always train shoulders heavy. This is the foundation for making a waistline look small and building the symmetry to show off the v-taper. Other than heavy shoulder training, I believe in tons of drop sets, super sets and focusing on squeezing and proper form. Since the majority of women are looking to tone and sculpt, I find using moderate weight and more plyometric training works well for achieving beautiful curves and shape. I also believe that women should train their glutes and hamstrings a few times a week, since that tends to be the trouble area for most women. It is important to build the muscle density in the glutes and hamstrings to keep them tight and round.
I am all about change with everything so when it comes to your exercises, reps and sets. I say some days do less reps with higher weight and other days do the opposite and go for higher reps with lighter weight. If you are looking to add muscle, I always recommend training that body part twice a week and doing one day heavy and the other light. Constantly change exercises, reps, sets, rest time, and weight! Have fun with it and always try something new! Never let your body get use to anything, keep it constantly wondering what you are going to do next. The goals is to add muscle to keep your metabolism high and also to keep you round, full and curvy. The goal should be to increase lean muscle tissue and supplement cardio to burn the excess body fat to maintain a lean physique. Focus on your weight training and diet and use cardio as a secondary source of exercise to stay in good cardiovascular shape and to burn that excess bit of fat but do not use cardio as a sole means of working out! Don’t be afraid to lift weights but be sure to focus on proper form and technique. I see that you are squatting. This is an exercise you need to be sure you have a spot and or are using perfect form. You do not want to use your waist to stabilize and in turn increasing your waistline. We want to keep our waistlines tiny to enhance our figures! I never suggest free squats only squats using a Smith Machine and again not going too heavy and using perfect form!
A sample training program includes 5 days of weight training with 4-5 days of 30-45 minutes of cardio to start and increasing as the weeks to your show get closer and closer. I would train each body part one time a week except shoulders and glutes/hamstrings, which I believe you should train twice! A typical workout should be no longer than 50 minutes with about 30-60 seconds rest in between sets.
A typical week may go like this:
MON-SHOULDERS, UPPER CHEST, ABS, CARDIO
TUES-BACK, BI’S, CARDIO
WED-OFF
THURS-LEGS (GLUTES & HAMS), ABS
FRI-SHOULDERS, TRICEPS, CALVES, CARDIO
SAT-HAMSTRINGS, GLUTES, ABS, CARDIO
SUN-OFF, CARDIO ONLY
I hope this helps Jorie! I am excited for you and look forward to learning more about your progress success and amazing journey! Remember this is a journey not a destination, enjoy every moment!
Jorie, you can accomplish anything you set your heart to and if there is something you want to achieve, as long as you map out your plan of attack, take it in strides, one day at a time, and the right support group, you can accomplish anything…
To learn more about how to personalize your plan or for others looking for information, tips and tools in achieving their ultimate fitness goals, I offer a very interactive members section of my website, www.ginaaliott.net, that offer that and so much more! I offer tons of information from articles, healthy recipes, cooking and training videos, a very interactive forum that I am extremely involved in, answering all questions and chiming in on posts among members. It is a great way to be involved in a network of health conscious individuals who are eager to learn how to make this a realistic lifestyle! I have been living this life my whole life it is second nature to me. I am so excited to teach others how to make this a way of life and a very doable part of living. Not a diet but a way of life!! With my healthy recipes, you will see how your diet does not have to consist of chicken and broccoli but delicious meals!! I also offer training videos, including my weekly circuit workouts that can be performed in the luxury of your own home, so you don’t even have to go to a gym.
If you are looking for one on one guidance, tips, tools and a network of like minded individuals who can motivate and push you to achieve your goals, I encourage you to check out my members section of my website so I can personally help you and be a part of your fitness journey!!
Best of Luck to you Jorie!
Please do not hesitate to contact me for further assistance!
Never let go of your dreams!
Gina Aliotti
IFBB Figure Professional, Nutritional Specialist and Lifestyle management
www.ginaaliotti.net
gina@mandgfitness.com
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Jorie’s Journey:
Gina Aliotti is one of the most recognized names in the Fitness industry. Winner of the 2008 Arnold Classic, and widely acknowledged as the “fittest” woman in the country, Gina’s credentials speak for themselves. An active entrepreneur with several new businesses launched, Gina gave us some of her valuable time to answer a few questions. Enjoy.