FIT TIP

Add walking lunges to your leg workout.
Men and women can do these and you will feel them. They can be done weighted or not. If you use weights you can hold dumb bells or use an already loaded barbell across your traps.Take lunging steps that don't have your knees extended way over your toes and squeeze your glutes and hams on the way up. Do 3 sets of 50 lunges (25 each leg).

Now that it is nice out do them in the gym parking lot or down the street in front of your house (no excuse that you couldn't get to gym!) If they are good enough for Mr. Olympia, Ronnie Coleman they are good enough for us!

 

The New York Metropolitan

New York City - April 15th saw Nicki and I in NY city working backstage at the NY Metropolitan. As usual, Steve Weinberger and Bev Francis ran a great show with Steve Stones' expediter crew. Kim and Rob Klien, Matt, mark, Yvonne and Andrea were all there working their magic!!! They are the best. It was a pro/am show and there were a lot of competitors. It is always a treat to oil up the pros. It fun to see their different personalities shine!! Bob Chickarillo won the men's masters pro, Julia Childs won the pro fitness and newcomer, Ben White won the men's overall amateur bodybuilding.

Chick was hilarious back there. He had bodybuilding.com doing a live webcast of the show and had Nicki and I on camera (Good Lord!!!). It made for a long day but it was a success and Protan is now official at the NY shows!!!!

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2006 Jr. USA's

4/29/06 saw us traveling to S. Carolina for the first big national show of the 2006. Tres Bennett and Shannon Metraund were awesome promoters and hosts. They really go out of their way to make competitors and workers feel at home. I think the hightlight of the trip for me was getting to train at Tres gym; Steel City Gym! It is a small hard core gym with an awesome vibe. There seems to be a real sense of community in there. It was fun training with the likes of Dave Palumbo, Colette Nelson, Tracey Greenwood and
Terry Goodlad around.

I have to say the people in S. Carolina are soooo nice. Everywhere we went people were just going out of their way to make us feel at home!! A good lesson learned!

The competitors were looking pretty fierce. There were about 145 competitors and 90 of them were figure/fitness girls. The rest were bodybuilders. I was impressed with the level of conditioning at this show.

The BB were really on point and the super heavy weight class was really tight! The overall winner for the men was Chad Martin. He had hired Nicki to do his color for him (not that that alone had anything to do with his win!!)I have to also shout out to Justin Harris (Troponin on Mayhem), he looked incredible and had been sick during the week. The more he posed the harder he got…besides muscle…what shape!!! I didn't know the woman overall winner she was a middleweight. Karen Gianetti was the lightweight winner, Kim was the heavy weight winner; both ladies who I have competed with in the past! Congrats to all the competitors! I am sure I will see some of them in the months to come!
The real reward is that they are always so appreciative of our work with them backstage. We really try to make it as stress free and fun as possible for them. After all, it is their day!!

NEXT MONTH...MORE COVERAGE TO COME IN MAY FROM THE COLORADO PRO AND THE NY PRO, AS WELL AS NPC NEW ENGLANDS. NOT ONLY WILL I BE WORKING FOR PROTAN IN NY BUT I WILL BE DOING BILL WILMORE'S CONTEST PREP IN COLORADO AND NY! SHOULD BE A TRIP!

Now you can be Prepped by an IFBB Pro! Carla Salotti is an IFBB Pro and a certified personal trainer, who has perfromed contest prep services for the pro's. Her no-nonsense and personal approach to training is well known in the bodybuilding community. Now you too can be receive instruction from an IFBB Pro. From 12 week diet programs to contest prep on the day of your competition, Carla Salotti can be in your corner to help you achieve your fitness goals.

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RECIPE OF THE MONTH

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES

2-4 sweet potatoes; peeled and sliced thin or cut in chunks ½ Vidalia onion sliced thin Fresh rosemary sprigs (4-6, to taste) Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste Olive Oil Pam

Spray a roasted pan with the Pam, add potatoes, onions, rosemary and spices. Spray Pam over top and put in preheated oven of 400 degrees. Bake for 20-30 minutes tossing occasionally. Remove sprigs before serving

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CONTEST PREP TIP

As heard from expediter extraordinary, Steve Stone, at this years Jr. USA's: Use the "RULE OF THUMB"… if your thumbs cannot brush up against the sides of your body/legs when doing your quarter turns then your arms are too far away from your body!! This is awesome advice for women in fitness/figure and bodybuilding!!