Natalie Waples: Canuck Corner #25
Hi Everyone!
It is official – the IFBB Ol
ympia weekend is only 3 weeks away and preparation is in full swing! I am very excited to be competing in my third consecutive Figure Olympia (the only Canadian to have ever done so in IFBB history – WHOHOO!!!) and with that am extremely motivated to present my best physique to date, and come home with amazing memories and some great photographs! Fellow Olympian Tamee Marie (WPD) has crafted me an absolutely beautiful suit which I cannot wait to wear on the Olympia stage – I can only describe it as stunning and feel so blessed to work with such a talented suit designer, and wonderful person. My coach Damian Segovia is very busy getting all of his Olympians ready for battle, including myself, reigning Ms Bikini Olympia Nathalia Melo, Figure Champ Candice Lewis, bikini beauty Lacey DeLuca, and fitness star Whitney Jones. I am also extremely happy to be appearing at this Olympia for a second year as a FMG (Fitness Management Group) athlete -- someone pinch me because I am one lucky woman! I am really excited to see how my previous Olympia appearances will compare to this year, as I have worked extremely hard to add muscle and improve my conditioning over the past 9 months. We shall see! I have attached a comparison picture from Olympia 2011 and 2012, as well as a picture from this past August’s Europa Dallas Pro Figure – getting better with age in my opinion!
Last week minted several new pros at the IFBB North American Figure Championships, including Canada’s own Samantha Rioux from the East Coast. I had the opportunity to meet Samantha this past April as she was a test judge at the Nova Scotia Amateur Bodybuilding Association Provincial Championships -- great girl and good on her for bringing another pro card back to Canada! Also very proud of Nutrabolics’ Athlete Manager Rachel Killam for taking home 5th place in her class at the NAs, just one week after winning her class at nationals. She’s young and hungry, so look out for this one!
From a training perspec
tive, with the cooler weather setting in, I have recruited some friends to reignite our morning HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) and plyometric sessions. This keeps the motivation up for early morning exercise and ensures we are getting our dose of social interaction at the gym. I like to set up circuits of 4-6 exercises, each performed for a minute, with a 60 minute break in between each exercise. The circuit is completed 3-5 times depending on the number of exercises. Here is a sample of exercises I like to use:
-mountain climbers
-box pop squats
-bosu leaps (set up two bosu balls approximately 6 feet apart and leap laterally between the balls landing on the centre of the ball on one foot (think how hockey players move from side to side))
-pyramid box jumps (set up 3-5 steps of various heights and jump up and over the boxes as fast as you can, repeating until the minute is up)
-long jump(leap forward as far as possible, return to start and repeat for a minute)
-skipping rope
-ski poles (set up two ‘poles’ about a foot apart and parallel) and hop in and out of them for the full minute
Tired yet? As you can see, you can pick and choose the duration, intensity and difficulty of these types of workouts and they are great to do with gym buddies.
Time to head back to the gym for workout #2! No rest during an Olympia prep, but I wish you all the best in your training and look forward to checking in next month with all the RXMuscle fans – happy training everyone!
Natalie
Natalie Waples
IFBB Figure Pro
Exclusively managed by FMG
www.nataliewaplesfitness.com
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