Yes, it is a dream finally realized! I met fitness legend Monica Brant. So, yes, I can officially check that one off of my bucket list. Wow, what an inspiring, sweet, knowledgeable and beautiful person; inside and out. Monica is the real deal and she is in incredible … let me repeat … incredible shape. She’s always been in amazing shape, but she has really gotten into sprinting and track workouts and she has a physique like I’ve never seen. Not only is she perfectly proportioned, and muscular yet feminine, she has the cardiovascular conditioning of a 20-year-old. I know, because I saw it with my own eyes. She was sprinting and doing track workouts with women half her/our age and … beating them. It was quite amazing to behold.
The first day of F.E.M. Camp was wrought with anticipation as we huddled in the City Athletic Club in Las Vegas, waiting to catch a glimpse of the Great. It’s a good thing we went over simple stuff first, like paperwork and scheduling, because I don’t think any of us could believe we were really there. We were all in awe and ready to learn and have fun.
Monica and her team led us through some amazing workouts that included unique exercises that were really challenging. This was a weekend of trying all new things and branching out from the usual Chest/Shoulders/Tris day. We split into groups and went through different circuit type exercises with Monica demonstrating. It was really fun, too, because working out at City Athletic Club was kind of like working out at a nightclub … special lighting, modern decorations, chandeliers … they think outside the box there and it was exhilarating.
After lunch, we brushed up on our “model walks” and learned from a former runway model how to walk, pose, turn, and work it! We did some posing for bodybuilding, fitness, and figure competitions, as well as learning the “T-walk” and mandatory poses for the figure and bikini competitions. We were all in our 5″ or, in some cases, 6″ heels, so this was actually quite an accomplishment! Of course, Monica and our teacher made the walking look super easy, which, naturally, it isn’t. It only looks effortless and natural after you’ve perfected all aspects of your walking and posing, and then practiced it literally hundreds of times.
We then rounded out the day with a nutritional pow-wow with Monica where we were able to pick her brain a little bit about all things diet and nutrition. We asked a host of questions and it was really an informative session. It’s great to hear what someone so lean, and yet muscular, does to get and preserve that muscle mass, while keeping body fat levels low. As anticipated, this, of course, requires 5-6 small meals throughout the day with protein at each meal. Monica did stress the idea of eating today for tomorrow’s workout. For example, she said if she were doing a track workout tomorrow, she would have to make sure she got plenty of quality carbs today, so her body would have time to assimilate them and provide the needed energy at the track the next day. So, basing your carbohydrate intake around your planned workouts, although not new to me, was a great reminder that nutrition is part of a healthy lifestyle and not just a healthy diet. You actually do need to use food as fuel for your activities and plan your meals accordingly.
That pretty much sums up Day 1 … stay tuned for more insider secrets straight from the Monica Brant F.E.M. Camp! Oh, and by the way, F.E.M. stands for Fun, Education, Motivation 🙂
*** Photography by Expert Photographer David Ford – visit his site here.