Hey!!! What did you do with my Arm Day???

This is what I said immediately after finding out that I didn't have an arm workout anymore...sounds crazy, right? I mean, even the day that I brought the workout home to Andy I showed him and he said the same thing. In fact, he said that if my coach told me not to worry about arms, that maybe I should think about getting rid of her. I mean, every competitor works arms, right? You see photos of them and they have these really toned, great looking arms!!! I LOVE working out my arms! They are so buff! My coach MUST be on crack, right???!!!!

WRONG.

Time for a lesson in Figure 101....

There are some very specific body parts you are judged on in Figure. Let's talk about those for a minute:

1. Shoulders
Shoulders need to be very round and have an obvious cap. Hence, one day a week needs to be dedicated to Shoulders. Front, side, back, traps...all around shoulders. (This is my favorite part to train by the way!)

2. Back
A buff back is majorly important in Figure. When you pose from the back, this is what the judges mainly look at. How toned your lats and rhomboids and middle back are. Super important. So, typically one day a week is dedicated to just the back.

3. Butt
You got to have a tight high rear in Figure. You put on the little bikini bottom and push your hinney out on the stage. When the judges are looking at you from the back, guaranteed they are also checking out your booty. I train butt one day a week with hams, but it gets trained a lot during cardio and other leg workouts. As competition time gets closer, it is really common to train this twice a week.

4. Quads
You have to have powerful legs in Figure. When you are posing from the front, you got to have your quads CUT. I mean showing all the sides and definitions. Which is why you train legs HARD. You do non stop lunges, jumps, running, stair climbing. Anything that can get you the buff big quads. You even pose specifically to enhance them.

5. Abs
The toughest of all in my opinion, is training your mid section. Most people end up doing some sort of abs every day of the week. I spend at least 3 days a week doing some sort of ab/core work. You have to wear a two piece suit after all in the contest, so you better be ready to show the suckers off. I get the most frustrated about results in this area....diet has a lot to do with this though.

So, let's just say that ALL body parts need to look toned. But it's not like you are going to dedicate an entire workout to the other areas. Arms are supposed to look toned, but the judges aren't looking for super huge buff arms. They are looking at the other top 5 areas more than anything. And buff arms don't create the classic Figure look onstage. Plus, you end up training your arms PLENTY when you are doing back and shoulder workouts. I mean, it's not like your biceps aren't working during pull ups!!!

So, I learned something new this week...Arms aren't THAT important in my training.