Swimsuit Pictures

Often times I am asked by girls looking for a pageant swimsuit workout plan, what are some alternative movements that I can incorporate to target the same body part?

The following is a break down of just some of the exercises that can be executed and the body part that these exercises target in your pageant swimsuit workout plan.  Keep in mind, there are many more exercises that will help you look great in your swimsuit but these will get you started in the right direction.

Pageant Swimsuit Workout Plan

SWIMSUIT CALVES

• Gastric – Standing calves or anything with the leg straight.  The Gastric runs up behind the knee (basically from the ankle to the hamstring) once the knee is bent the emphasis is placed on the Soleus.
• Soleus – seated calves and/or donkey calves

SWIMSUIT QUADRICEPS

• All 4 heads – regular stance squats and the progressions (i.e. plyo’s), leg extensions, leg press low (push through balls of feet), hack squats, lunges, Bulgarian squats (1 leg)
• Inner – leg extension and rotate toes out as you come up
• Outer – Ply squats (feet and toes out), leg extension and rotate toes in (pigeon toed)

SWIMSUIT HAMSTRINGS

• Bicep Femoris (main) – stiff leg dead lifts, 1 leg dead lifts, laying leg curls, standing leg curls
• Semintenous and Semibranous (lower portion) – seated leg curls
• Hamstring/glute tie in – leg press (feet high and wide-push through heels), feet together squats, step-ups, pelvic raises

SWIMSUIT BACK

• Low Back – conventional dead lifts, back extensions, reverse hyperextensions, super mans, (basically anything bent over) smith rows, t-bar rows, db rows (especially when not holding onto anything)
• Spinal erectors (mid back) – seated rows, t-bar rows
• Lats – any variation of pull-ups or pull downs (including wide, narrow, and standing), db rows, virtually any movement where you are pulling the weight down, yourself up, or your elbows back.  Think of your lats running from slightly above the hips to the armpits.
• Rhomboid/Scapula – upper back-Bent over rear delts or seated rear delts (with palms in), bent over db rows with palms back, kneeling rows with rope and keep elbows up and out
• Traps – (diamond shape muscle in upper back)- bent over shrugs, standing shrugs with db, smith, or barbell, shrugs from behind back, upright rows
• Shoulders – Rear delts-Bent over or seated rear delts with palms down, standing db or barbell press from behind head, bent over and pull elbows up and out bringing barbell to chin, bent over with palms back and pull db’s back from shoulder to hips
• Side delts – 1 arm db side raises, side db raises (think of thumbs in pockets, lat raises (allow hands to come in front of body and think of pulling up with elbows not hands), laying on side 1 arm db raises, standing db press bringing hands down to ear level and then pushing up like a “Y”
• Front delts – Barbell or db front raises, military press, db press with thumbs angled slightly down and push from upper pec, push press, Arnold press (actually gets all 3 delts), upright rows

SWIMSUIT CHEST

• Upper pec – any incline press or flies.  Switch up angle and grip to hit the pec differently.  Normally a 45-60 degree incline.  Seated pec deck with hands at collarbone level.  Cable flies starting low and coming high to end approx collar bone level.
• Mid Pec – anything flat or sit regular in pec deck or seated chest press machine
• Lower – anything angled down, or dips, cable flies staring high and coming low.

SWIMSUIT TRICEPS

• Upper head – skull crushers (any angle), 2 hand tri behind head, 1 arm tri behind head
• Lower head – dips (bench or regular), any variation of kickbacks (laying, cable, db, etc.)
• Inner head – any variation of pushdowns
• Entire head – close grip bench or pushups, reverse grip bench

SWIMSUIT BICEPS

• Upper – stretching-incline curls, preacher curls
• Lower – hammer curls, Zottman curls
• Outer – e-z curl bar (regular or cable attachment) with hands on inside, hammers
• Inner – e-z curl bar (regular or cable attachment) with hands on outside
• Peak – concentration curls, cable curls to head, laying curls to head
• Entire Bicep – barbell curls, db curls, straight bar cable curls

Remember when working ANY MUSCLE you contract it all or not at all.  Simply meaning that even though I have put upper, lower, inner, outer, etc. on some body parts you cannot just hit that area.  The entire muscle will work.  You can just emphasize one part over another. By switching up your routines this will help you put your body into shock, which will give you better results during  your pageant workouts.

Here’s to your knockout pageant swimsuit body!

This is a guest article written by Scott of Scott’s Training Systems. Scott has an online weight training program for girls who are located out of state. Contact Scott for a consultation: scott@scottstrainingsystems.com or via phone (480) 820-0835. Let him know that you read this article and the consultation is FREE!

This article is going to explore several pageant workouts that include cardio vascular and strength exercises. You can do these with just your body weight and we will discuss the many benefits exercising with your own weight offers.

Before listing some of the most common cardio and strength exercise, let’s look at the benefits of body weight exercises that you will experience during your pageant workout.

5 Benefits of Body Weight Exercises

1. Quick and Efficient.  You do not need to worry about switching weights or someone getting on the equipment you want to use if you are at a gym.
2. Cheap-It’s you, no extra cost!  You do not need to join a gym, buy equipment, purchase a video, etc…
3. Not much space needed.  You just need enough space to do pushups, crunches, squats, etc…  You do not have to worry about cleaning out an entire room or having a home gym if you do not want one.
4. Great for self confidence!  Being able to push your own weight up, pulling yourself up, perform crunches, squats, etc… empower you and help you to build strength and muscle endurance.
5. Safe- While one can injure themselves doing an form of exercise (always consult a physician before starting an exercise program) do to the fact you are not adding any more weight to your joints then your own it is less likely you will lift too heavy and pull or tear something.

Here we are going to discuss how you can manipulate your pageant workout to make it more challenging without adding any weight.

What is Your Pageant Goals

Your pageant swimsuit goals will determine how many sets you should perform as well as reps.  If your goal is to lose weight incorporate more calisthenics and cardio throughout the workout to keep the heart rate elevated.  If you are looking to build strength and tone for your pageant, complete less reps and rest more in between sets.  If the exercises are too easy, you can use one arm (one arm pushups, one arm pull-ups, etc…) or one leg (Bulgarian squats, 1 leg squats, etc…) to make them more challenging.

Pageant Workout: Faster or Slower?

You can also manipulate the tempo of the movement.  The slower you go the harder it will be as you are putting more time under tension.  You can also work your fast twitch muscle fibers by implementing plyometrics.  As you can see there are a number of ways to manipulate your own weight to make a workout challenging, safe, effective, and cheap.  I do recommend you consult with a certified personal trainer if you are unaware of the proper form on any exercise and/or if you do not know how to manipulate the following exercises to achieve your pageant fitness goal(s).  You can always reach me through email and/or telephone to schedule a FREE initial consultation/assessment.

This is a guest article written by Scott of Scott’s Training Systems. Scott has an online weight training program for girls who are located out of state. Contact Scott for a consultation: scott@scottstrainingsystems.com or via phone (480) 820-0835. Let him know that you read this article and the consultation is FREE!