Venus Index

Today we have an interview with Judy Rabil who placed 6th in our  latest Venus Index Transformation Contest. Check out her pictures: Judy spent an entire decade doing martial arts. She also trained bodybuilding and powerlifting style with her sister. Her approach was to first learn to stabilize the joints, then work on the strength followed by developing explosive power. She naturally has great endurance, but very little strength, however, her sister was stronger than anyone she knew. She was so powerful that all the guys in the gym felt weak when they saw Judy's sister, and Judy was often intimidated by her. On the other hand when it came to cardio she could go run a marathon, while her sister could barely run a mile. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. When her sister got injured and was unable to work out,  Judy also stopped training because her sister was her coach. Judy decided to focus on Martial Arts without the supplement of strength training. She was intimated to go the gym on her own, her coach just wasn't there with her anymore and she wasn't ready to go it alone. However, she started getting injured during her martial arts workouts (broken bones and tendons) and felt terrible. One day she decided to stop, she walked out and never went back. "Then I Found Venus Index Podcasts at iTunes..." Before, Judy would wake up  and go to bed in pain. At no point during the day did she experience relief. This is a terrible way to live, and if you can relate, you should continue reading and listen to her interview. Judy is in her 40s and truth be told, at this age your body just doesn't heal as quickly as it did in your teens and twenties. In January 2008 she slowly made her way back to the gym, which was pretty hard because she was conditioned (for well over 10 years) to exercise with other people, never alone. Upon her return to the gym scene, she fell in love with yoga and the group setting of it all, but found out that she just couldn't do the same routines over and over again even though they were perfectly balanced. Then she saw the VI podcasts at iTunes and specifically one called "Overestimating calories" caught her attention. Judy always thought that she burned plenty of calories during her workouts and never limited what she ate. Since she was doing a LOT of activity she believed she could get away with eating ice cream and fries whenever she wanted. So when she stopped doing all her fitness activities, and her calorie intake remained the same, you can guess what the result was - weight gain. At that point she felt miserable. And it didn't help that she thought (and was always told by her sister) that she needs to eat, often and a lot. She was lead to believe that she needs to eat snacks, pre-workout and post-workout meals, because they are all necessary. This is why she got a bit angry when she heard Barban saying that this approach is nuts and that you don't need to eat at all and actually you should eat very little to begin with. Although Judy was very insecure about her diet,  she slowly realized she should and actually even COULD eat way less than she was used to, and that it's okay to eat half of a candy bar and then throw the other half away; furthermore, she doesn't have to eat in the morning if she doesn't want to. Then another surprise came with the Venus Index workout plans. She was always used to do bodybuilding splits and performing them at very low repetitions. Suddenly, she wasn't doing any leg presses, pull ups, dips with chains; no more power movements. At first it made her a bit concerned that the workout wouldn't work for her, because she is simply not doing enough work. However, despite her skepticism she gave it a shot. She did the program exactly as it was written,held onto some  yoga and some spinning routines and  committed to training 7 days a week. During phase 1 of VI she got sick, had no energy and felt bloated.

Today we have an interview with Elisa Miller who placed 4th in the Open Level 1 in our  latest Venus Index Transformation Contest. Check out her pictures: Elisa noticed that at the beginning of your journey, specifically at your first contest you don’t really know what you are doing and you are just trying to copy other people’s poses. But that changes as you progress and do this a couple of times. And this is why we encourage you to be more creative with the poses and pictures. Have fun with it, look at magazines, search the web, try something new and different. What is necessary though is practice. Most models spend hours every day posing, taking pictures and some of them have to practice walking as well. Now you may be asking  yourself, why on earth would anyone spend so much time on doing all this crazy boring stuff every day just to  have some pictures in a bikini, right? Well, if you want to blow everyone  away with professional pictures of your awesome and hard-earned body then you have to know the poses, angles and side of your body that is most flattering  (HINT: Both sides are not created equal!).   Next,  you should find a way to flex the right muscles at the right time for the photographer. There are  all sorts of  small adjustments that go into capturing your body at its best, and it comes naturally once you've developed "muscle memory" from the poses you practiced. Take the time to learn where to put your arm, how to tilt your head and how to turn your hips to show off your abs. Let me ask you a question… Do you have those girlfriends who always seem to look perfect in every picture someone takes of them at any event? Well, you would be surprised at how many times they took  pictures of themselves and practiced their smile in the mirror when nobody was looking. People do this more than you think. And that's just casual social pictures, taking fitness pictures is even harder! Find the Deep Emotional Issue that Is Causing You the External Trouble Elisa's first interview was very enlightening to her, because it made her realize that even though she progressed and improved her body, she was still hiding something. She wasn't hiding what she was eating anymore, but rather that she wasn't eating during certain times, mainly from her family. Her family didn't know that she was skipping meals; she always just made some excuses. Then one day she decided that this isn't right and she wanted to have a more open and transparent relationships with her family, so she sat down with everyone and explained that she is fasting, skipping breakfast and told everyone why she is doing it, how it helped her get healthier and become a better person. Honesty became the number one priority for her. And her family has accepted it. Like she told us, she has a history of hiding things from her family that stemmed from her dad who was always hiding alcohol consumption from them. This translated into her hiding her diet approach. However, she didn't want to continue this vicious cycle and decided to break it. And it was very liberating to finally be honest with everyone. We always say that you can be covert with your nutritional approach, however if it's eating you alive that nobody knows what you're doing and you feel like you are lying, then feel free to admit it to people, especially to your family. However, it's normal to experience some resistance from your friends and family. This is natural, they often times mean well but may not fully understand what you're trying to accomplish.  The pursuit of the Venus Lifestyle  is "against the grain" and not the 'norm' or the  'status quo'.  Remember to stay strong and not  let  others deter you from your physical fitness goals and endeavors. Tips from Elisa: Nobody is perfect Expect and prepare yourself mentally that you are going to have high eating days The ability to stay flexible is golden

Today we have an interview with Naomi Sandoval who placed 3rd in the Open Level 2 Category in the latest Venus Index Contest. Check out the pictures: Moving from One Contest to Another Naomi was always setting her goals in a way to improve for the contests, not just for herself. So, when she placed in all of them - transformation and open, she didn't know how to set her goals again. At that time we announced that we will have an open level 2 in 2012. However, she didn't quite know what's possible to accomplish in a year. At the level she was - lean and well developed physique, you can't really expect huge changes that are visible with regular clothes, at her level the changes are more subtle and really only visible in a bikini. When you do a photoshoot, you will notice, but in clothes you will probably look the same. It also requires patience. Which is probably the number one reason why people have such a hard time staying in shape. Re-composition is slow and you need to master the skill of being patient, otherwise you will end up like most of the women who start working out in January and then cancel their memberships in February. It just takes time. And the better conditioned you are the more time it will take and ironically the less overall changes you will experience. At this stage (remember you already look good, just want to take it to another level), you won't even get much feedback on even a monthly basis, because pretty much you are the only person who knows that something is changing.   Train Hard and Activate Your Muscles Correctly Training hard, having intense and challenging workouts, lifting heavy, having good form, knowing how to activate and contract your muscles, that's all going to play a role if you want to change and improve the shape of your body. And it's even more important if you're trying to take your body from good to great. To quote Naomi: "I just didn't know how to fire my glutes, so I had no butt." Muscle activation is important, you can have the best workouts on earth, but if you don't know how to use them, they won't do very much for you. Now that Naomi has learned how to fire the right muscles on each exercise, she is sore after every workout, and that's a good thing! And based on your form, you can make different exercises work for certain muscles or not. You have to experience the feeling to really "get it". Start Posting Blog Updates Blogging is the coolest thing ever in the community It's not public, but rather it's for people who understand what you're doing so it's a safe place to share The minute you need to get thoughts out of your head the write a blog, the exercise of doing this will help you get clear on what you want, that helps, might not make sense to you, but works Just try it for yourself and see if it helps Tips from Naomi: Do conditioning to survive the photoshoot Get a professional photographer Figure out your goals well ahead of time At some point bodyweight will become irrelevant and your final look will be all that matters to you Its rare to achieve a six pack without drugs and still look feminine Working out can be a big help with depression and moodiness...it can do so much more than just change the look and shape of your body Links from the interview: Putting it all Together: VI Open Winner Naomi Sandoval - Naomi's previous interview Eat Stop Eat - Lifestyle based around intermittent fasting Anything goes Diet - Final answer to fat loss Venus Index workout - System that will turn you into a Venus Read Naomi’s experience with Venus Index in her own words: There are no words to express how grateful I am for the Venus, Adonis, ESE, AGD and related programs and material. To say this information has been life changing just doesn’t capture what has happened for me and my family. I feel a level of peace knowing we are empowered to stay lean and strong for the rest of our lives.

Today we have an interview with Jannette Joly who placed 4th in the latest Venus Index Transformation Contest. Check out her pictures: Jannette is not a training novice. She used to own a gym and even today still trains people. And she is...

Today we have an interview with Olya who placed 3rd in the Level 1 of our Open Category in the latest Venus Index Contest. Check out her pictures: Olya has been in our community for a while, but it took her a while to find her way and fully acquire the Venus Index lifestyle. But eventually she got it and today is one of the younger Venuses in our community. It doesn't matter how old you are, you can get in shape. And quite frankly if you want to be in killer shape in your 50s, it's necessary to handle your diet and start training young. Let's look into what approach you should take if you are in your 20s. Yo-Yo Solution, how to fight the conventional "Lost 20, Gained 40 afterwards.” Olya never had troubles losing fat earlier. She would just stop eating dinner and did her own version of Eat Stop Eat without knowing it. But then at a dancing audition they told her to lose even more fat. And since fasting isn’t hard and rather it’s the coming out of the fast, this desire to lose even more fat opened a Pandoras box for her. And this is how she would deal with it: She would come out of a fast and eat everything that was around – not a good idea, totally detrimental to the benefits of fasting. Then she did all sorts of stuff like master cleanse or low carb diet. Then she tried a raw food diet, got addicted to nuts and nut butter. Then did paleo. She felt out of control. She gained a lot. She lost about 20 pounds, but gained about 40. This totally messed her up. How to Transform yourself You have to learn how to deal with your emotional stuff first, even before doing any caloric restrictions. Olya started working with Dr. Bird, who is the go to psychotherapist for the Venus Index. Losing fat is mostly psychological rather than physiological issue. Everyone can learn how many calories they need to lose fat and quite frankly we all know that it’s just about eating less. The real underlying issue is in finding how to do that. How to make yourself eat less, how to cut foods, what meals you have to have, how to avoid eating out of boredom, emotional stress and such. That’s the real challenge. Also, if in the past you tried dieting, but did all the conventional diets that tell you to eat only certain food categories and avoid others, because they are “bad” for you, then you have developed lots of bad habits and mindsets and you need to handle those as well. What’s also important to realize that it’s not gonna happen overnight. You can be happy, healthy and have a balanced life, but it will take a while. It will also take a lot of hard work and rewiring and destroying bad habits you developed in the past without even knowing about them. What can help is surrounding yourself with positive people who will help you achieve your goals. Choose wisely, most people are not supportive. In order to transform you have to psychologically put attention into this area of your life. However, you have to see your attention and focus as a fuel tank. There is only so much of it each day until it runs out. Start believing in yourself. Self-sabotage and fear of success are the biggest enemies of transformation. In order to maximize the results, be smart with the timing. It Took Olya a year to finally find the right time to do the transformation. Just like with the attention, certain times might not be the best. Make sure it’s possible for you to do this. This time Olay was developing success routines and she was pre-planning lots of things. She would pack things the night before in order to set her day up for success. She also learned to view her workouts as a gift not a punishment. This helped her stick to the workouts and not miss them. Do all this and you will start seeing results and tangible progress. Just be careful with the information and people you allow to get close to you and affect you. There is too much negative bs out there.

Today we have an interview with Roberta Saum who won the Level 2 of our Open Category in the latest Venus Index Contest. Check out her pictures: Roberta is extremely happy with the way she looks and she has every right to be, just look at the photos. And she is 51, most girls who are in their 20's or even 30's would kill for that body! Roberta ran marathons, lifted weights, did martial arts, and remained physically active for about 23 years. She was always overweight and always felt frustration about being overweight too. Today she is a walking inspiration to everyone, her family, her friends and everyone in the gym. She is proof that just because you have been out of shape for decades and you are not in your 30’s anymore, it doesn’t mean you have to give up on your physique goals. Don't ever be ashamed of your age. All of our Venus's are older than you would expect and they are proud of that! Presentation Is Everything In the first contest Roberta knew nothing about posing and presentation. She did well though. However, if you really want to show everyone the hard work you have done, then you need to learn to pose, you need to learn how to present yourself. The best looking model can look totally average if they're not posing correctly. The lights, posing, tan, angle, and some flexing is what makes all the difference, in one word - presentation. Look up models, go through the magazines, model their poses and photos. Study how they look at the camera, facial expressions, muscle flexing and notice how the lights are set up, the angles of the shot, make up etc. And practice...practice makes perfect. This time, Roberta wanted the pictures for herself, not just for the contest. And she wanted to show her body better. She reached her goals. And like she said if you want to hit your goals bad enough you will reach them too. How to Shift from Losing Fat into Maintaining Leanness This is the whole point of the Reverse Taper Diet that Roberta followed. Throughout the contests we have noticed that there are basically three ways of eating you can have: Eating too much, results in gaining fat Eating less than you burn, results in losing fat Eating at your energy expenditure, results in maintenance of your current body fat level And we have noticed two other things: The fat loss slows down as you get to lower body fat levels It's important to learn how to transition from eating for fat loss to eating for maintenance and find your sweet spot. This is the issue with the traditional taper diets. You start with low calorie intake and end with even lower...a recipe for disaster. If you eat too low while being lean, you risk binging, overeating and rebounding, thus the name yo-yo dieting. The better way of doing this is by starting with low calorie intake and slowly increasing it as you get closer to your goal. The danger is that it's boring and it takes some time until you see the results. But you can be sure the results will last. At the beginning the fat literally melts away off of your body. Thanks to a lot of water retention you can be losing multiple pounds every week. However, once you get lean, then the frustration starts. You work and diet hard, but you step on a scale and nothing changes. Like Roberta advises, the only thing you can do is to keep going and ditch the scale and only focus on the mirror and the pictures. More tips from Roberta: Day to day there is nothing exciting about fat loss There is no magic pill A pound or two of muscle is enough to make it look different in the mirror You have to enjoy your food and your workouts in order to stick to your diet and routine in the long term If you have to drag yourself to the gym, find a way to like the training Don't wait, waiting forty years for a good looking body is not necessary, why not have it this year? Put the scale away It's never too late

Today we have an interview with Carla. She placed 6th in the Open Category Level 1 in the latest Venus Index Contest. Check out her pictures: Carla was always pretty active. She did mountain biking, swimming and even tried running marathons. But as she approached 160 pounds she realized that she wasn't in the shape she wanted. She was interested in fitness and wanted it to be a part of her life, so she started looking around the Internet for some advice on how to get in shape. She ran into some bodybuilding website and fitness pros. And she really wanted to look like them, so she downloaded some bodybuilding split workouts and started following them. Contest & the Permission to Be Light Last year things changed, because Carla found one of the Venuses - Stephanie and thanks to her the Venus Index. She bought the program, got into the community and just followed the protocols immediately. And she got results! That's what happens when you set a goal, take it seriously and you are ready to take action. When you listen to the interview, you will notice that Carla is one of those women that doesn't ask a bunch of questions before trying something new and isn't arguing whether it will work for her or not before she's even attempted it. And that's probably the easiest road to success. We've even had people downloading the workouts and following the plans without reading the manual. They learned it all by experience. Not that we recommend skipping the manuals, but the best thing you can do is to try the system and judge by results. And that's exactly what Carla did. After a couple of months, she got in great shape, started getting comments on her fit physique and found some wonderful women in the Venus Community. And when she saw the possibility to compete in one of the Venus Index Contests, she jumped right in. Most people are afraid of putting themselves out there, however Carla and her "Get it done and get out" attitude translated into seeing the contest as a no brainer. For the contest Carla ate very low in calories, she even admits being afraid to eat up to 1600 that the Reverse Taper calculator suggested her. For the training she followed the Venus Index Workout Phase 1 and then progressed to phase 2. In the interview she talks about giving yourself permission to be light. This is mostly a problem that guys run into, especially thanks to our social conditioning that leads them to believe they have to be big to earn respect, however even women seems to find the idea of being too light mentally challenging. The truth is that there is no perfect weight for all women. The weight will differ based on the height, and genetics. Only you can determine what your best, healthiest, and happiest weight is once you arrive there and see a figure you like, and feel good about it. And as you are losing fat, don't be afraid to be light. You'll never know for sure until you get there. You have to realize that what you see on the scale is just a number that tells nothing about your body without considering muscle mass, proportion, Venus Index, conditioning, and most importantly how you feel. That scale number is only relevant when you combine it with your height and most importantly a picture pinned next to it. It simply doesn't say whether you look good or whether you are healthy. So, don't take it as an indicator of either of those. When you reach your Venus Index metrics, or as close to them as you'd like to get you may not weigh at all what you expected. This could mean you will be heavier than you expected, but it could also mean you're lighter than you expected. There is no one ideal bodyweight for you, there is only a range. And within that range you will have to discover what fits best for you. Expect Some Blow Back &  A Lot of Attention Carla talks with a lot of men and has to entertain them during the day for her job so her body is something that always comes up.

Today we have an interview with Alicia Spilde who placed 2nd in the Open Division Level 1 in the latest Venus Index Contest. Check out her pictures: Alicia started lifting weights very young as she started working out in high school. Howev...

Today we have an interview with Rhonda Inabnit who won the Open Level 1 Division in our last Venus Index Contest. Check out her pictures: Keeping It in the Family Rhonda was introduced to the Venus Index by her son, who trains with the Adonis Index systems. Her son Jeremy placed second in the Adonis Index transformation contest and Rhonda won the open level 1 on the Venus side, this is a pretty amazing family! We've had couples place in the contests, but this is the first time we've had a mother/son do it! It's starting to become a family things. Like Rhonda said, it's a great feeling to be the winner and it feels great to be in such a shape at 52 years old. Rhonda built her muscle foundation in her teenage years because her father would have her do lots of strength endurance. And this is an important note, when you're young and experiencing juvenile muscle growth and you train regularly, you will build an extra layer of muscle that can't be built later. This juvenile muscle growth potential stops around the age of 25 and then you are left with only exercise induced muscle growth. You Have to Make Yourself a Priority If You Want to Be a Better Person When Rhonda was 28, she had four kids and really didn't devote much time to herself, she took care only of her kids. She didn't gain any unreasonable weight after the pregnancy, but wasn't fit and it never occurred to her to try to get back in shape at that point. She didn't think of her physical fitness until years later. After a few years she got back to training and it became a part of her daily routine again. She started training 4-6 times a week. She didn't have any program to follow though, she'd just pick some weights and lifted. This was probably a healthier approach than reading fitness magazines and scanning online forums, but still without a sound structure you can only get so far. On the other hand she had a lot of support from her husband, who is a bit of a fitness fanatic, so he would teach her some things to do. However her training lacked proper structure until her son told her about Adonis Index and Eat Stop Eat. Shortly after following the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle she got interested in improving her training routine as well and started working out with the Venus Index systems. Rhonda also got hooked on the idea of doing a fitness contest. She started the contest together with her son who was very supportive during that period and also a big inspiration for her. Like she said, it's a great feeling to raise a son and then have him teach you how to improve your life. What Rhonda really liked about the Venus Index workouts was that everything was planned out for her. So, she could just grab the workouts and hit the gym. At no point did she think that she was too old for this. If you think you are too old stop right now and realize age is just a number, it doesn't matter and IS NOT an obstacle. Many of our winners are over 40, and Rhonda is over 50 and she looks fabulous! I'll say it again...age is just a number. Rhonda told us that for the first time in her life she is not embarrassed to admit her age. You should never be embarrassed about getting old, because everyone will...it's called being HUMAN! So, it's really more of an insecurity about yourself and lacking self-esteem than the age itself. And once Rhonda got in better shape, the idea of her age didn't really matter anymore. Many of the best conditioned Venuses are older...wiser, and just cool women who have their s#!t together :) Take home message from Rhonda: Get some structure into your workouts Get into the Venus Index contest, the deadline will keep you on track Have fun and look forward to the feedback you will get from other people once you get in shape Help other people get in shape too Be consistent, keep going until you get to your goal Don't beat yourself up over bad days, just start over and get back on track

Today we have an interview with Kris West who placed 2nd in the Open Level 2 Division in the latest Venus Index Contest. Check out her pictures: I bet that you think Kris had to follow a very strict diet and work out every single day for two hours to prepare for a photoshoot like this in just a couple of weeks or months. Well, if you'd think that, you would be wrong... The Magic of Maintenance Point - The Minimalist/Maximalist Approach After placing in one of the previous Venus Index Contests last year, Kris wanted to just maintain her physique. This contest for her was all about finding a way to put the least time and effort into the training and diet to stay looking good. She wanted to spend as little time as possible in the gym to keep her look and ate the maximum amount of calories she could eat without gaining fat. Do you think this worked? Well, judge by results not words: How's the Maintenance in Reality? Kris trains during her launch breaks and her workouts are usually about an hour long, because she needs to get back to work. Her fitness is made around her work schedule and kids. Not the other way around as some magazines or "experts" would have you do. This time Kris didn't want to have more than 3 workouts a week. And being with Venus Index from the beginning and having lots of experience in fitness, she could play with different programs and "lego block" them into various ways (not something we'd recommend for beginners) and since the Venus Index workouts are designed this way, you can cycle them however you want. She combined the main Venus Index workout with one of the workouts from Adonis Index and cycled them week by week. Since Kris didn't do any cardio and wasn't obsessing over her training she had more time for herself and even if something came up on the day of her workout, she would just go to the gym the next day. She didn't strive for some strict workout structure in her weekly schedule and just went whenever she wanted. And as long as you are consistent, you can keep it flexible, the key ISN'T to make your fitness your life, the key is to look good WHILE having a life. And it's really not that important when you go to the gym anyway. If you have four workouts a week and you do them four days in a row, that's fine, but remember that leaving some rest days in between will help you to be stronger in your next workout thus get better results out of it. For diet, Kris changed her approach a bit. She was always a one meal type of person. This time, she didn't do any fasts and tried eating more meals a day. Not because she was afraid of Starvation Mode or some other fitness media myth, but rather because she wanted to test out some new things. She started doing several mini meals during the day to keep more energy and out of cravings. While this may sound as a surprise from a Venus, the truth is that there is a big difference in how you should eat if have 50 pounds to lose vs maintaining visible abs all year round. We are starting to find more and more evidence that not only does weight loss slow down and gets harder towards the end, but it also seems that once you get really lean (visible abs for women and single digit body fat for man) you need to eat more often and just can't do 24 hour fasts anymore. When you get very lean your body has very little fat in its storage and your appetite will be higher as a result and your body may will want to naturally store more fat. So, to stay lean and avoid binging it seems like a good idea to eat more often and not creating large calorie deficits on a daily basis. Take Home Message from Kris: Keep it simple, the simpler you keep it the less stressful it becomes Have some low calorie options in your house for snacks Start weight loss with counting calories with the goal to eventually learn to just "eye ball" the portions, nobody wants to count calories their whole life Don't think about your diet,

Today we have an interview with Terry Clauss who placed 3rd in the Transformation category in the latest Venus Index Contest. Check out her pictures: There is a good chance that Terry's story will resemble to yours, because it's just so common. Issues with weight and eating often times start at an early age, we just don't realize it. When Terry was 13, her mother was worried that she was getting fat. She took Terry to a doctor who prescribed her diet pills (At the age of 13? WTF!?). She would not eat and then binge afterwards. The weight loss and weight gain never ending cycle began. Terry tried EVERY diet there is. From Atkins, to South Beach to Naturally Thin, Diet Solution, Weight Watchers, you name it, she did it. She had little bits of success, but the issue with all of those diets was that they were all too restrictive. It wasn't about eating less, it was all about cutting out entire food groups. This may be the conventional approach, but it's just a ticking time bomb. You will always make up for whatever you have removed from your diet. For Terry it was starting to be pretty depressing to be constantly losing and gaining pounds of fat. Today Terry is 53 years old and has 40 years of unsuccessful attempts of dieting behind her. At first she was skeptical because she wasted so much money, time and effort on other programs in the past. Could you imagine trying to lose weight for year after year for 40 years in a row? Without any significant or long-term success, how would you feel, would you think that it's even possible to lose weight anymore? At this stage most women think that it's their hormones and they just can't lose any weight no matter what they do. Well, Terry decided to give Eat Stop Eat and Venus Index a chance. At first she tried ESE and got some results with that, so she trusted Brad Pilon. When he sent an email about the results from the third Venus Index contest and she saw that the girls all looked like normal people and just after 12 weeks they got in great shape, she jumped right in. She improved her physique and she is finally on her way to building a body she can be proud of and keep all year round. What really drove her to do this was that her son was going to have a baby and like she said: "I didn't want to be a chunky grandma.", so she decided to get in better shape. It's never too late and even if you've been trying to lose weight and get in shape for the past 40 years without any results, you still have a chance to do so, you just need the right approach. Terry is proof of that. Don't Be Afraid of a New Approach, You Have Nothing to Lose When we are trying something new, we feel anxiety and excitement at the same time. Usually, we are excited about it, but once it's time to take action we realize that it's new and doesn't feel very comfortable. On one hand it's exciting, but on the other, we would rather go back to our previous habits. Well, the biggest growth happens outside your comfort zone and if you want to get different and new results, you need different and new approaches. Doing uncomfortable things at first will expend your comfort zone. It's really up to you whether you will shape your future or just accept whatever comes your way. Terry sat down and compared the pro's and con's. She asked herself: "What is the worst thing that can happen?" and "What is the best thing that can happen?" She also admitted that without having to send the before pictures at the beginning, she wouldn't be so committed and would have probably dropped out during the first few weeks. The Venus Index contest works as accountability and will help you stick to your plan, it will keep you motivated, because you want to send pictures that shows at least some kind of difference. And after the contest? Well, first this get's you moving and then gives you momentum to continue and take it further. Take Home Message:

Today we bring you an interview with Shannon C who won the latest Venus Index Transformation Contest. Check out her pictures: A few years back Shannon hated her body and every single picture of herself. Being over 30 and not satisfied with the way she looked and felt about her body, she decided to get back in shape. She started doing roller blading and slowly got into weight training. This helped her, but not in a way that she could stand in front of a mirror and say "wow", it just wasn't anything exceptional. It was one of the previous Venus Index winners Naomi who introduced her to the Venus Index approach. She would listen to the podcasts and hang around for a long time before trying the workouts. It's important to say that when she decided to start training with the Venus Index Shannon was pregnant, which many people would be against. Pregnancy itself is a challenge and most women would not want to train and watch their diet on top of it. However, Shannon herself told us that her first pregnancy was a disaster. During her first one she gained a lot of weight, and like she said, she just used it as an excuse to eat whatever she wanted, anytime she wanted without setting any limitations at all. As a result she gained a lot and felt terrible, having all sorts of weird health issues. She admitted that it was completely ridiculous. But this time, it was different. She didn't allow herself to gain so much, felt great the whole way through and even her doctor told her to keep doing what she was doing, because it obviously improved her well-being. Disclaimer: If you want to train or follow the Venus Index approach while being pregnant, consult your physician first, this is for information purposes only. This time, for the second pregnancy Shannon followed the Venus Index workout, she would just do fewer sets than in the plan and was slowly lowering the intensity of the workouts towards the end of her pregnancy. And you can't really argue with this because like she and her physician both said, this time the pregnancy was healthier and felt way more comfortable. And her doctor was monitoring her the whole time. And while she ate a bit more then she would normally, she still managed to stay at a reasonable weight. She walked a lot and lifted weights and even received comments on how beautiful a pregnant woman she was. Pretty drastic difference compared to her first time, when she felt (in her own words) 'like a whale'. Obviously guys can't imagine what it means being pregnant, but she told us that despite the challenges of being pregnant, it still should not be used as a licence to not move around (walking, weight lifting) and eat too much, that's just plain unhealthy and it will be tougher for your to get in shape afterwards. This time Shannon had more of a plan. She would even use Facebook and follow other pregnant athletes to keep motivated and inspired. Another technique she used was visualizing her post-pregnancy time. She reveals more of her approach in the interview. Shannon's Challenges, Well...Apart from Being Pregnant Obviously pregnancy is not the easiest and most fun time in the life, but Shannon still decided that she will stay at a reasonable weight and keep fit and it worked, she did gain less weight and was fit and felt "pretty good". And once she started nursing, she decided that she will enter the Venus Index competition. Which is exactly what she did and not only that, but she won the whole thing too! Here are a few of her challenges that Shannon talks about in the interview: Waking up in the middle of night to take care of the baby Making sure that she was walking a lot during the day Nursing and staying in a caloric deficit Not seeing results on a daily basis The weight loss was slowing down towards the end of the contest Having to feed the baby in the middle of the workouts Not being able to set a fixed schedule

Here is an interview with Lara Campbell. Lara placed 2nd in latest Venus Index Transformation Contest. Check out her pictures: The Secret of Having Good Fitness Photos When you are preparing for a photoshoot you basically have two opti...

Today we have an interview with Brooke Kramer who placed 4th in the latest Venus Index Transformation Contest. Check out her pictures: Brooke was pretty surprised when she saw her after pictures and the amazing transformation she went...

Here is an interview with Kim. Kimberley placed 4th in latest Venus Index Contest in the Open category. Check out her pictures: Kim placed in the last contest, so she wasn't new to competing. She is actually the first girl to do two a back to...