The first picture was taken when I was 22 years old! (I’m 34 now) and looking at the progress i’ve made by comparing the pictures i’ve taken over the years, i’m so happy i’ve found a passion for bodybuilding and weight training.
With all the progress I was seeing over the years with my physique there was one thing I would focus on, ALOT… and that was training my abs, some weeks I would train them everyday. I would even use dumbbells or plates for exercises like russian twists, side bends, stability ball crunches just to up the intensity hoping my waist size would shrink but actually my waist size wouldn’t budge and I used to think I felt ‘thick’ around my waist.
As I did more reasearch and got more experience from my fitness & bikini competitions I stopped focusing on training my abs so much and instead focused on getting stronger in the gym and eating smarter. For me this meant tracking my caloric intake and eating more frequently and also MORE on the days I worked out hard.
Now I train my core instead of directly targeting my abs, so I focus on doing functional exercises that help improve my posture and lower back. I have more energy eating more frequently throughout the day and I also incorporate more HIIT into my week to keep my metabolism high.
I’ve gotten so much stronger and definetly leaner, and I eat way more now than I did when I was 22! CRAZY!