In one year, with training hard and consistently and eating right, I gained 15 pounds of muscle (7 kilo). And improved muscle roundness and fullness while keeping the symmetry I have been given genetically.
I had taken my stage presence very seriously as well. I was the only one with a professionally designed posing suit and who brought one make-up artist and one hairstylist with me do help me present myself in the most beautiful and professional way. I changed make-up and hairdo in every round. I had practiced posing with my trainer in America, Ms Olympia 2005 Yaxeni Oriquen, with whom I trained the 2nd part of the year as I travel to the US frequently to stay for a while. She and I trained at the same gym in Miami, Ironworks, and she is the one who motivated me to start competing when I first came here to the US two years ago. I had lost the National title by one point because of posing last year, so Yaxeni taught me the professional way of how to do the quarter turns, mandatory poses and pose down. Yes, in Holland all the fitness, figure and bodybuilding athletes have to do a fitness routine, quarter turns, mandatory poses and a pose down.
So when did you turn pro?
I turned pro in January 2007. I can’t wait to work hard and step on the pro stage in the US for the first time! I am eager and motivated to try and place as high as I can and plan on making my pro debute at the Colorado Pro.
Bodybuilding Training Routine
So what is the bodybuilding training routine that you use to have that killer physique?
I train with weights about 3 times a week. Every time I train I work 2 muscle groups, except when I'm training legs, and during training I try to concentrate on the muscles I am working out and on doing the exercises in perfect form. I want my training time to be as effective as possible and don't want to waste time and spend hours in the gym every day. That's how I can do my weight training in three days a week and still have the best results. I usually train abdominals after training. I can either do a few abs exercises after each training or do them seperately on a specific day, either way it works for me.
My training schedule doesn't stay the same for long, I like to make some changes frequently so that my body doesn't get adapted to the 'routine'. Everyone’s body is different and everyone responds differently so there is no such thing as one perfect training schedule that works best for everyone (if only it were that easy). So with training and dieting I try to listen to the signals my body gives me and I play in on that.
But to draw a picture for you, my training schedule basically looks like this:
- Monday: Legs
- Tuesday: (cardio)
- Wednesday: Back, biceps and triceps
- Thursday: (cardio)
- Friday: Chest and shoulders
- Saturday: (cardio)
- Sunday: Day off
I like to train heavy, with a weight that will allow me to finish the amount of reps I wish to do, and that forces me to do less reps in the later sets or to drop the weight in order to finish the reps that I want to accomplish.
Monday
Directions:
Choose 3 or 4 exercises that target the quads, 3 or 4 exercises for hamstrings and 1 exercise for calves for about 3 sets per exercise.
Suggestions:
Quads:
Leg extension (about 25 reps)
Seated or lying leg press (about 25 reps)
Lunges (about 15-20 steps per foot)
Regular / hack squat (about 20 reps)
Abductor & adductor (about 25 reps)
Hamstrings:
Seated leg curl (about 20 reps)
Standing 1 leg leg curl (about 20 reps)
Lying leg curls (about 20 reps)
Romanian deadlift (about 20 reps)
Calves:
Seated or standing calf raises (about 25 reps)
Wednesday
Directions:
Choose 3 or 4 exercises that target the back and 2-3 exercises for biceps as well as 2-3 exercises for triceps.
Suggestions:
Back:
Wide grip lateral pull down behind the neck (about 15 reps)
Wide or narrow grip front lateral pull down (about 15 reps)
Machine row (about 15-20 reps)
Dumbbell row (about 15 reps per side)
Wide grip pull ups (about 15 reps)
Biceps:
EZ-Bar curls (about 12-15 reps)
Concentration curl (about 12-15 reps)
Preacher curl (about 12-15 reps)
Machine bicep curl (about 12-15 reps)
Alternate dumbbell curl (about 12-15 reps)
Rope curl (about 12-15 reps)
T-bar curl (about 12-15 reps)
Triceps:
V-bar or rope press down (about 15 reps)
(One arm) triceps extension (about 15 reps per arm)
Machine triceps dip (about 15 reps)
Abs:
Stability ball (holding a weight) (about 20-25 reps)
Rope crunch (about 20-25 reps)
Hanging leg raise (about 15 reps)
Machine crunches for upper abs or preferably lower & upper abs (about 20-25 reps)
Friday
Directions:
Choose 3-4 exercises that target the chest and 3-4 exercises for shoulders.
Suggestions:
Chest:
Incline or straight dumbbell fly (about 15 reps)
Incline or straight dumbbell chest press (about 15 reps)
Machine chest press (about 15 reps)
Incline or straight bench press (about 15-20 reps)
Pullover (about 15 reps)
Cable cross (about 20-25 reps)
Decline push ups (about 20-25 reps)
Shoulders:
Dumbbell or barbell military press (about 15 reps)
Front lateral raises (about 15-20 reps)
Side lateral raises (about 15-20 reps)
Narrow or regular grip machine shoulder press (about 15 reps)
Seated bent over rear delt dumbbell flyes (about 20 reps)
Rear delt machine (about 20 reps)
*For The Advanced: Feel free to mix them up in supersets, drop sets, pyramid sets, etc.
