Getting a Toned Body Ready for Miss Vietnam Continental

NBI Fitness had the privilege of training Jasmine Le for 3 months before her entry into the Miss Vietnam Continental Beauty Contest held in December 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. As you can imagine, there was a lot of pressure to have a perfectly sculpted body not only to please the judges, but also to win the support of thousands of viewers both in the U.S. and throughout the entire world especially in Southeast Asia. Like a fairytale, her beauty contest journey ended happily as all her hard work and dedication earned her 1st Place and the Best Body Award of the night! Admittedly, 3 months was short notice for our toned body project especially for someone like her who had no previous experience with exercise training or dieting. Nevertheless, we were definitely NOT short on motivation and willpower! Jasmine Le showed true commitment and dedication to her fitness and her boss lady attitude continued to set the tone for our ambitious toned body project.

 

beauty-contest-stage-e1496524226638 Toned Body Training for Beauty Contest

Body Fat Measurements for Miss Vietnam

During our initial assessment, we noticed that her body proportionality was off: her arms, legs, and butt were lacking in muscle tone, her stomach was not flat, and she had some postural issues with protruding shoulders and tight hip flexor complex. Her body fat percentage measured in at 28% and she weighed 140 pounds at 5 foot 4 inches – this means her total muscle mass equaled 100.8 lbs and she carried around 39.2 pounds of pure body fat. We began with some basic exercise movements – pushups, squats, lunges, situps, and running – and we quickly saw that form, technique, strength and stamina were completely lacking. Then we began to talk about her diet – she ate everything and anything whenever she wanted! Based on this assessment, we set our targets on the following: in 3 months we want her to be 130 lbs with 23.4 lbs of body fat (18% body fat and 15.8 lbs body fat weight reduction) and 106.6 lbs of muscle (5.8 lbs of muscle increase). At 18% body fat, she would have the perfect toned body she needs to have a lean, balanced, and award-winning physical appearance for the contest. In 3 months, we were able to get her down to 19% body fat at 131 pounds which means she dropped 14.31 lbs of pure body fat and she gained 5.31 lbs of muscle. For anyone looking to get a toned body, here are the many lessons we can learn from our experience training Jasmine Le.

beauty-contest-swimsuit Toned Body Training for Beauty Contest

Toned Body Training Requires Resistance Training

Building a toned body means we must use resistance training (lifting weights) to BUILD MUSCLE! It is a popular belief that lifting weights will “bulk you up.” Yes and No – it depends on how you lift weights in conjunction with a proper diet and nutrition program designed with your specific goal in mind. Check out the size difference between fat and muscle – which appears bigger? What happens if we get rid of 5 lbs of fat and replace it with 5 lbs of muscle? Here’s the answer: you WILL have a more toned body, you will look slimmer, and you will NOT look bulky.

 

Toned Body Workout #1

For our Beauty Contest Winner, we had her weight training during every session and she trained three times a week for an hour at a time. We divided the muscle groups as follows – we did full-body weight training for the 1st session, upper body and legs for the 2nd session, and dedicated legs day for the 3rd session. A typical full-body session looked like this:

 

Warmup jog for 10 minutes focusing on breath

Total body exercises with weights

  1. 4 sets of 15 reps of side lunges superset with cross over lunges HOLDING 10 lb dumbbells each hand ***10-30 second breathers in between sets
  2. 4 sets of 15 reps of sumo squats superset with normal squats holding a kettlebell in each hand with the total weight starting at 15 lb and ending at 30 lb. ***10-30 second breathers in between sets
  3. Jump rope for 10 minutes
  4. 4 sets of our shoulder triple set workout: 10 reps lateral raises, 10 reps of front raises, 10 reps of overhead shoulder presses all performed in succession holding 5 lb dumbbells.
  5. 4 sets of 20 steps for walking lunges with barbell on upper back starting at 15 lbs. Increase the weight 5 lbs after each set!
  6. BURNOUT SET – 4 sets of 15 repetitions of squat jumps

 

Toned Body Diet Plan – 10 Rules to Follow

NBI Fitness strongly encourages a high protein, low carb diet. General rules include the following:

 

  1. Focus on protein first!!! We advocate a high protein, low carb diet. Every meal should have at least 30 grams of protein in it. Choose lean protein sources – egg whites, chicken, fish, lean cuts of beef (top sirloin, sirloin tip, top round, eye of round). If you’re vegetarian, then choose pair incomplete protein foods to make complete proteins (ezekial bread, pair legumes with grains, etc.)
  2. Eat small and frequently – 3 meals a day with protein snacks in between should be enough.
  3. You should eat less than 500 calories per meal
  4. No carbs after 4 pm OR No carbs 5 hours before you go to bed.
  5. 40-30-30: 40% of daily calories should come from protein, 30% from carbs, and 30% from fat.
  6. Eat as many dark leafy greens as possible – we highly suggest blending them in a delicious, protein-enriched smoothie
  7. Drink 3-4 Liters of water a day
  8. If you need to snack, you should only eat a protein snack – choose greek yogurt, protein bars, protein shakes, protein chips, etc. and pair them with an apple or pear for fiber
  9. For weight loss purposes, the only fruits you should be eating are apples and pears
  10. Avoid anything WHITE! White rice, white noodles, white flour, white bread, white salt, white sugar, etc.

Toned Body Training with NBI Fitness!

NBI Fitness is very proud of Jasmine Le for all her hard work and accomplishments. Our personal training methods and diet/nutrition work will be customized based on your specifications, but the expectations we have for our clients are all the same: we expect you to give us 110% of your abilities during the workouts and to be 110% honest with us everyday about your diet. And we hope that you expect us to always give you our full attention and dedicated effort each and every time we train. You are welcome to contact us at 201.970.5533 or contact us online for a free fitness consultation and a free personal training session. Every day is a chance for you to make a difference in your life! Take the first step forward.