Getting that MJW body
THE 39-year-old Miss Jamaica World (MJW) pageant is about more than just beautiful young women competing for the title; it’s about living a healthy lifestyle.
Flair stopped by the Spartan Health Club to visit some of the girls in action as they prepared to get that MJW bikini body for the coronation show on August 15.
Under the watchful eyes of expert trainers Courtney Bailey and Steven Ming, the girls did workouts targeting specific areas of their bodies.
Miss Spa Aesthetique, Krystal Tomlinson; Miss Hype TV, Robyn Lloyd; Miss Future Energy Source and Miss Middlesex, Royanne DeSilva; and Miss Morfose Hair Services, Talia Soares, were the girls working out during Flair’s visit.
GETTING STARTED
Ming noted that the first thing the girls did was a one-on-one assessment with a physician to check for physical limitations, and objectives. Then, the physician created a programme or routine to meet those objectives.
The girls were then encouraged to coordinate their workout routines with their eating habits. This included consuming the required nutrients to help build and repair body tissues.
To kick-start daily exercises, Ming noted, the girls warmed up on the treadmill. “This exercise sheds weight and targets cardio muscles,” he said.
Tomlinson enjoys working out and doing a wide range of exercises, and told Flair that she used the elbow-one-legged-plank exercise to gauge the strength of her core and body weight.
ABDOMINAL EXERCISES
Ming pointed out that there are other abdominal exercises that target the core – from the popular sit-ups, crunches and planks, to trunks twists.
Nineteen-year-old Lloyd enjoyed doing the weighted squat exercise. “After completing this exercise and feeling the pull of the hamstring muscles, I feel like I can take on the world,” she said.
The weighted squat strengthens the back, hamstrings, shoulders and calf muscles.
The contestants need to ensure their legs and core are strong enough to facilitate the obligatory high heels to be worn on the final show, so Ming had them doing leg extensions, which also target the calf and core.
Other leg-toning exercises the girls engaged in were leg curls, presses and lunges.
DeSilva, who holds the MJW beach beauty third-place title, wanted to strengthen her upper body, especially her shoulders. Ming recommended the shoulder shrug with a 40-pound weight bar. The upright row is another exercise that not only targets the shoulders but the core as well.
A strong shoulder is important in any pageant because of the constant standing and posing. It helps to maintain a good and strong posture.
DeSilva noted that she had been working out for a while and encouraged girls who are considering entering the competition to start working out and not wait until they have entered.
TARGETING THE BACK
Soares, MJW beach beauty first runner-up, told Flair that she did all kinds of exercises, targeting every muscle, and structures her days to fit them all in.
Ming had Soares work the lat pull-down and seated row machine, that targets the back.
Other exercises that target the back are bend-over row, pull-over and one-arm row.
Soares said that girls who are considering entering the competition in the future should develop a plan and purpose. “Always prepare and have a mindset to never stop growing. Start working out and do your research and don’t wait to start everything in the pageant,” Soares said.
The girls also worked the biceps with dumbbells and preacher curls, and triceps push down, triceps extensions and dumbbell extensions.
Pectoral workouts target the busts with bench, dumbbell presses, incline and decline bench presses.
While getting that beauty queen body might take a lot of work, it’s certainly worth it and you can do it, too, by adopting some of these exercises in your daily routine.