A lot of times you ask me how long it will take ‘before you look just like me’. You ask for an estimated time of arrival for that dream body of yours. I understand you feel we all have muscles and we all have bones, so we should all more or less look the same if we do all that hard work and eat right. The magazines push this on you constantly. You ‘deserve’ it. And anyone who works 100% hard will end up with that perfect body. It’s unfortunately not true.

Start with what you’ve got. You got narrow shoulders and wide hips? Then don’t try to turn it into the opposite! I’m in no way saying stop fighting, I am saying look at what you have, see your strong points and focus on doing the best you can to bring up the weaker ones. Pick role models that have your body type and learn how they worked on it to reach their excellence.

I’m personally never going to be a tall, slender woman with ‘long looking’ muscles. It’s just not me. If I try and trust me I did for a few years, my body doesn’t cooperate at all. Either I could have kept on fighting upstreams or I could acknowledge my strengths and see them as perks instead of a curse.

We are not all supposed to look the same way. It’s part of why it’s interesting to look at other people! Do you want to see carbon copies of yourself? I don’t!

For years I struggled with my body’s constant body weight fluctuation. One day I was up 7 lbs (without carb day or sodium repletion etc), the other day down 5, then up 2, then down 3, then up 4 etc. It drove me nuts! I seriously thought I had a tumor in my brain so I got an MRI to check it! Of course there was nothing! I had all kinds of stress tests, hormone tests etc to see what caused it and nothing pointed towards any disease or malfunction. I was miserable because how could I who was so lean (I had bodpod showing 7.9% Body fat and not only at one occasion. I did several to double check…yes you know me and my preciseness..) have smooth abs every other day making me looking all skinny fat?

I had no solution. Until I one day just said ‘screw this’, I’m letting my body be as muscular as it is. I am going to stop kill it and regain my 7 lbs of muscle I had stripped off of it.

What happened? Well, first of all, I got high blood pressure. LOL. Now in after thought it was due to the sudden increase in work load and my strength skyrocketed. Oh boy my muscles were so happy! They had not been allowed to lift like they used to for 2 years. I went through a period of feeling fat and too big for my body for a few weeks. I stopped looking in the mirror. I felt like a sausage. Then, suddenly, I got a reward….. When my body got to 121 which seems to be the exact weight my body thrives on, guess what happened to my weight fluctuation and smooth abs? It went solid! Every day more or less 121. Didn’t move. No more up and down. And my abs? Well, deeper and leaner. You can see from my every day condition pics. So I gained 10 lbs in a few months. Most muscle. I don’t feel fatter that’s for sure. 

On another note. Sometimes I feel guilty for putting out pics out there that imply I’m ‘perfect’. In no way I am that! I have more flaws than you can imagine! Look at my elbows for instance: all red from years leaning on them. Sometimes people tell me it looks sickly and it hurts but I have chosen to consider them as sign I use my elbows to fight in life:-).

With all this being said, I just want you to fight for the best version of YOU. And know that you can accomplish a lot more than you believe, but it takes a lot of time. A lot of time. So worth it though!

Wanna know all about my concept Fighter Diet? Click the pic!

Leg Question: any tips for attacking “thick” lower legs? (calves & ankles) or do I just suck it up & wait for more fatloss? The rest of my body reacts well to regular heavy lifting and HIIT cardio. I’m currently doing legs 1x/week, but have considered doing 2x/week. Thanks!

My response: Ah, the common female body fat distribution frustration! Yes, it will take a lot of work to get those fat cells to move it. Your upper body will have to get super ripped before you even tap into the fat cells below the waist. Increasing muscle mass will burn more calories and also tend to store more of the carbs you eat so they don’t have a chance to turn into fat. Like any other weaknesses, you will need to be extremely dedicated and stubborn because changing a weakness takes tons of time and commitment. The worst thing you can do is eating bad for a few days, then go back to a diet. This pattern tends to make you fatter in the worst areas: your trouble areas. You can try double up on cardio for a few months to see if it helps, but volume of cardio can make you insanely hungry and then you might not be able to keep your appetite in check. That being the case, don’t go on with it.

Leg question : is it ok to do deadlifts or lunges with the Smith Machine or is this an absolute no no ?

My response: It’s not ok. Deadlifts train the whole body more or less. Doing it in smith machine takes some of the muscle fibers out of the equation. You want to have a smaller impact on your metabolism? Sure, go ahead and do them! Lunges require balance. balance takes all muscle fibers to be on 100%. Again, add a steady machine and you won’t get as much out of it. I don’t like anything that makes training easier! Part of the why training with free weights is it takes brain activity to coordinate. DEEP thinking. That too burns calories!:-)

Is it possible to build, tighten, and lift the butt without building the legs?

My response: If you’re a butt genetic freak, sure, but I doubt you are since you asked! The glutes are the strongest muscles on the body (except for the tongue I believe or the jaw muscle?) and their role is to extend the biggest joints on the body: the hips. Now, no work comes with out some leg movement except for my favorite the butt squeeze, but in no way does that build muscle haha! Just muscle mind connection so you can actually turn on the muscle fibers efficiently with the big moves! If you feel your legs are too big but butt too flat, it’s time to do all the work for legs in a as much of a butt promoting mode as possible (see my ebook the Butt Bible ) and then kill the body fat on top with perfect diet!

leg question : I have a muscle that runs from my butt down my leg between my hamstring and my inner thigh that cramps routinely during my leg training. Is that a sign of weak hamstrings? Or glutes?

My response: Have you checked your form? Maybe you’re standing improperly, wearing worn out shoes, don’t activate your glutes, have some mineral imbalance etc. The reasons are many! It can also be a sign of weakness if you get it during a certain movement that puts a lot of demand on it… If it’s just one of the hamstrings and not both, you might be overusing the cramping muscle OR it’s weaker and cannot keep up with the stronger one weight wise/work load wise.

Recommended weight/rep/set range for building hamstrings?

My response: There’s no one way to train that will give you results for ever. You need to change it up to create new stimulus or your body won’t respond and grow.

For legs… my 24 Hour Fitness does not have a glute machine. Besides squats, lunges, and deadlifts… what is a good glute exercise?

My response: Those you mention are excellent glute busters. But I also like butt planks done with one leg and two legs, horizontal leg raises and the butt squeeze. Split lunges too. Oh my, there are tons! You find them in the Butt Bible. And soon Butt Bible 2 with tons more routines!

Pauline how do you feel about the stepmill? Would you recommend it for cardio and for a bonus leg and glute workout at the same time?

My response: It’s a great piece of equipment I routinely use. I don’t consider any of my cardio workouts as leg builders, quite the opposite. Of course, if you do sprints it has the same kind of impact as weight training, but doing it too often and you will kill any muscle growth. Key point when doing the step mill: do not lean onto the machine except for when you’re pressing the level button from level 20 as you run it during an intense interval! You can find my cardio workouts featuring the step mill here.

For legs, do you believe in pre-exhausting muscles? I follow a few competitors. One said that pre-exhausting the leg muscle made his max-outs much lighter and weaker because his connector muscles were unable to help as much. What are your thoughts?

My response: Sure. It’s one of the principles that work. However when you do you also limit the total load on the body as a whole. I instinctively feel that is inferior to training without pre exhausting. I’ve never been a fan of it, however I do a ton of warm up exercises. You might call it pre exhaust but to me it doesn’t decrease my strength on the big moves.

Part of my leg routine includes seated leg extensions for quads and lying hamstring curls, both on machines. I always do squats but I was wondering…should squats come before or after I do these machine exercises? I guess I should also ask if you like these machine exercises to begin with. lol Thanks!

My response: Well, again, if you’re struggling with getting muscle to grow you’ll need to do all kinds of crazy shit to make it happen! Doing leg extensions pre, doing it after, doing it as super sets, doing it as in between sets, doing it 12 hours after leg training, you name it, you create it and see what happens! I know it’s frustrating but the only way to keep on growing and also learning what works for you is trying it and take notes on the outcome! Generally though, I wouldn’t do them first.

How do I improve my tie-ins(Hamstring volume in between the glutes and bulk of the hamstrings.)?

My response: You lower your body fat and increase your work weight on the deadlifts! You gotta activate the area to get a response! I love 10×10 on deadlifts. I believe it’s the german volume system. However, I do that as part of my workout. Yes I know, I love a lot of sets . Marathon workouts that’s me!

Is punishing my legs so bad that I’m sore for the next 2 weeks a good thing or bad??

My response: I would say you might train your legs too seldom or not be that fit cardio wise? Some people need to train legs more often in order not to get a de-training response. Two weeks sounds like a lot and would only be ok if you hadn’t trained for months.

My question for legs is what’s the best workout routine to get your legs toned?

My response: haha, well, you need to do a helluva great workout every week for many months! Consistency and progressively loading them with more weight is the way to go.

How many times to train legs in a week?

My response: Depends on your experience, your goals and your interest. Once a week or two for gaining muscle. If you do cardio as your leg training you can do 6 days a week.

Working hams/quads/glutes one day and calves the next day – am I overtraining the calves??

My response: No. They are just getting some of the work too!

Ok so like most people I have one leg which is more defined than other. How should I go about getting my one leg up to par? More reps on the one leg? More weight on the one Leg?

My response: This is tricky because the leaner leg might be weaker, might be stronger, might hold more intramuscular fat etc. Best way to promote symmetry is to do all exercises unilaterally and make sure you use the same stance and form on both legs. I prefer to make the weaker one work harder by doing the strong one first and force the weaker one with negatives or forced reps. However, what if it’s actually over trained and thus smaller? Then the opposite (resting it more) would be the solution. You don’t know unless you try. I suggest you also roll out the fascia wrapping the smaller muscle so it has room to actually grow!

Anything that helps round thru the glute/medius or helps unloack the psoas…

My response: I don’t get what you mean here… Unlock? It’s a bit in fashion to unlock the hips nowadays!

Leg Qstn: what r few exercises to tighten up the looseness for inner thigh? Tnx

My response: You cannot change fat into muscle. Gain more muscle by gaining more muscle overall and do tons of side lunges and sumo deadlifts!

Thinning muscular legs….??

My response: Don’t train them and do hours of cardio as well as go on a low calorie diet to starve them away. If you don’t want to do that, maybe avoid eating protein around those workouts where you train them. Boring, yes!  Healthy? No. will it potentially catabolize upper body too? Hell yes!

What is the right way to get the most out of a squat…should bum be parallel to ground or should you go lower? Would going lower cause more damage to knees?

My response: I prefer low box squats where your lowest position is on a box lower than 90 degrees in the knee joint. The opinions on the perfect squat as well as safety when it comes to depth differ and been discussed for ages, however, my opinion is it’s better to go deeper with lighter weight than less deep and heavy weight. Healthy knees can go deep if you don’t bounce etc, but this is nothing I can even discuss in writing without seeing your form! Naturally the knees will travel a bit forward unless you do a super wide squat. The importance is to shift the weight into the hips/glutes. Like a hinge. Sorry I cannot explain it better in writing! Google ‘proper squat technique’.

What do you need friends for I wonder. Not that I need reasons, but when I think a little deeper, is it to have someone to talk to? I never felt a need for that. I like writing. Do I need friends to help me when I’m struggling? Well, isn’t that strange to want to have friends in order to have a mental safety net…. And for that, you cannot trust anyone… We all go through it. When those you think are your friends are more strangers than your strangers.

Everyone in Los Angeles says they have no real friends. They’re all lonely they say. Everyone is fake. Or you cannot trust anyone. And by living here because I love it here my opinion is it’s not true. I am not fake.

I wonder, what kind of friend am I. Can I even be someone’s friend? How long is the trial period for a new friend before you know that whatever you say or do is kept private? I mean, I’ve been blown away a few times, surprised to say the least on how people change. Each time it does get a bit harder to be open and show interest to befriend someone for real. I’m not talking facebook friends. Not talking acquaintances either. I mean friends you are 100% loyal to, friends you’d die for.

You get tired of telling your story for new friends. Every new becomes a new chapter and in a way it’s a relief you can be whoever you want and the past is the past. On the other hand, there’s no ‘we go back a long time’.

Real friendship must go through good and bad times. You need to love and you need to hate and still be around for each other. It’s nothing you find every day. Not many times in a lifetime either.

For me, if you’re my true friend and our friendship ends, all you told me and all you shared will always be sacred. Doesn’t matter you let me down or stabbed me in the back. Secrets are secrets. Private matters are private matters. I take pride in how I am as a friend. And even though you don’t return the favor, it’s what friendship is to me.

-Kristen Moffett

-Maggie Corso

Don’t get me wrong. I tried all the natural sleep aids as well before this as well as tested my stress hormones etc, but they didn’t pointed towards any imbalance.  In conclusion, my body didn’t want to sleep.

After each bad phase of no sleep I usually returned to my normal 5 hours nights, but I never solved the case and didn’t know how I could prevent insomnia in the future.

Two weeks ago I had a relapse into my no sleep pattern and this time I really analyzed my case. I realized it was a vicious cycle where I was worried I wouldn’t sleep which then turned into me expecting not to sleep and that in turn led to becoming sleepless. Remember, you become what you believe you are and you become what you tell yourself you are.

I adopted a mantra. “I sleep like a rock every night”. I repeated this ten times several times a day. As soon as I awoke in the mornings I said it out loud. I repeated it on the way to the gym. I repeated it before breakfast. I repeated it before workouts. I repeated it after dinner. I repeated it before I watched a movie at night.

And I started to sleep! It’s almost like now at nights I start to feel sleepy and I just fall asleep. I’m still doing the 5 hours, but now I stay asleep!

See, mental programming is so important. That’s also why I strongly recommend you do some mental working out for your fat loss as well. “Fat Loss by Mind Power”!

The other day I was informed that a competitor who had given me an amazing testimonial a few months ago actually trashed me hard on a bb.com. I was called crazy in the head and unhealthy as well as depressed. Now, I’m used to this so it doesn’t affect me, but it did hurt a lot since I knew who she was…. I  wanted her to know I knew and posted about it. I didn’t mention any names. The person had previously applied to be part of my team as well, so I wondered if she didn’t realize it would bite her in the butt…. The internet might seem big but it’s a little pool, not a sea.

Now, the competitor found out and today I got a letter from her. She came clean and asked for my forgiveness.

For me, this feels like victory because I cannot stand being judged unfairly and it’s very tough for me to let go of feeling misunderstood. It’s something I work on daily. With this letter she showed what a classy woman she is who had the guts to come clean. I truly appreciate it and all the good karma to her I wish!

“Hi Pauline,

I am writing you because I WANTED to send you an apology. I read your post the other day in regards to the bb.com forum and initially when I read it I thought the same as everyone else, “Why the hell would someone say that, that’s so stupid and mean.” Then your post reminded how I hadn’t logged into my account on bb.com in quite some time. So I did and I was reading my old/new messages then I was so curious to find out who had said that (since the name wasn’t including on your facebook post) so I was searching the forum and I found it and there I saw the picture of ME next to it. I couldn’t believe I had said that last year. 

With all honesty I clearly didn’t know who you were, or even what fighter diet was which gave me no right. Hence the reason I pre-judged you. That gives me no right and I wasn’t raised that way either. My mom always told me to never judge a book by its cover because it might bite you in the ass. And it did. When I posted that last year Sept 11′ it was during my first show (green bikini) I was learning about contest prep a lot and I ‘thought’ I knew what I was doing hence my comment in that post about you. Then fast forward Dec 11′ which is the pink bikini that you have as a testimonial, I learned about you, read about you, reached out to your concept and used it for my 2nd show. 

I am not apologizing because I think you wanted it or even needed it but actually I’m apologizing because my mom raised me to apologize when I am wrong. In addition, I am apologizing because I respect you as a person, I respect your business and I respect your fans very much. I am aware that you have a strong character which we all love therefore I’m not sure if you will accept my apology from me but I hope you can accept my apology as a big fan of you and your concept. Again I’m sincerely sorry and I hope I can make amends with you for my ignorance.

 Alyssa

Alyssa! Thanks for letting me know and I have the fullest respect for you and what you did about the situation. I am glad I could change the way you perceived me by actually researching me and what I do instead of go by hear say.

Where should I start? I wanna get really shredded again before my age forces no choice  Thanks!” -B

A: LOL this is a typical case when you pick up something you assume is intense and you end up fatter! Maybe you’re eating more now than you were before? A common mistake is adding calories because you think  you’re burning a lot more with the intense boxing… Apparently your previous training burnt more calories than what you do now, so why not go back to it?

Q:Hi Pauline, first off, an incredibly big thank you for the motivation and inspiration you instill in me. You are a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate you sharing what you do. With that being said, I highly respect your opinion and would like to know what your thoughts are about Mio energy water enhancer? Good thing bad thing? I think I remember you saying something about cutting out all crap and just stick to water, but that gets soooo boring” -Jeff

A: From a health perspective, MIO consists of some artificial flavors and colors and I just saw they added another black one with caffeine added as well. Is it healthy to use these? No, I wouldn’t want to call it healthy. But is it hazardous for your health? Don’t know! You see, I believe the body can cope with a lot more than we give it credit for. If your diet and lifestyle is 90% health promoting (as in Fighter Diet), then a little extra toxic add-ons won’t matter. We have a liver to detox ourselves with and honestly we breathe the polluted air, strange detergents and drink water god knows where it’s been! I would say ‘pick your battles’. If you get cancer from using some artificial sweeteners and colors or you get it from not ever drinking it, you will never know… My own standpoint is: I don’t sweat it. It’s tasty. The odds I get cancer from THAT are smaller than I get diabetes from drinking regular soda!

I love your no BS attitude and how you call it like you see it! I really need your advice on which course of action is right for me!  Im 25 years old, 127lbs, 5’6″, not sure what my BF% is.  I have a 1 year old and a 2 year old… my body has been through hell and back but I still believe I can get into great shape… with your help ofcourse : )  Here is an example of a days worth of meals for me: 

1. protein shake

2. post workout protein shake and apple (this is about 2-3 hours after my morning shake)

3.4oz grilled chicken and steamed asparagus (about an hour after the post workout meal)

4. 3/4 C old fashioned oats mixed with unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon, 1 scoop protein powder (this is about 2-3 hours after meal 3)

5.4oz grilled chicken and spinach with spicy brown mustard (2-3 hours later)

6. whatever dinner is- 6oz of a lean protein and more veggies(2-3 hours later)

7. 2 plain rice cakes with 1tbsp PB2 on each and 1 c of blueberries  (uhg yes I have a peanut butter addiction unfortunately.  Im betting you are going to tell me to cut that crap out!)

- I drink water with “pure crystal light” (the kind that uses truvia instead of artificial sweetners) and I have a 12oz black coffee once a day  (Its hard for me to cut the coffee out… its my one moment to breathe and escape the chaos durring the day while the kids nap)

-Do I need to cut out fruit completely to get a ripped tummy? What about sugar in my protein shake? Should I cut that out too? I use Promasil Vanilla Creme right now.

Workout schedule:

Mon- 40 min on treadmill- 5min at 7spd then 2min at 8 spd… repeat till I reach 40 min then I take a 60 min cycle class

Tues- HIIT workout

Wed- HIIT workout then same routine on treadmill as I did on Mon

Thursday- I work upperbody hitting back , chest, bis, tri, shoulders

Friday- Lower body for 90min then stair master for 30 doing intervals

I attached 2 pics of myself.  I took them myself so they are not the best- especially the one from the back… Im a little embarassed to ask my hubby to do it.  Ive never been super confident and I am pretty embarassed about the shape I am in for how hard I try to push in the gym and sticking to eating clean.  Its been frusterating.  Im excited to get on the right track with one of your programs and finally start feeling good about the way I look.  Ive always wanted a ripped tummy and to feel comfortable with my legs. My legs are always where I gain weight… I can never seem to tighten up my inner thighs.  Ive been so uncomfortable with my legs that I havent worn shorts in the summer time since college. I want to change that!

I dont mind if you share these photos on FB but could you cut my face out and maybe change my name?

Thank you for taking a moment to read this- I know you have got to be super busy with your own life… its really wonderful that you take time out to help others! -E

A: Hi E!

Ok, let’s start with an obvious observation: you’re already looking amazing. You look like a fitness model. So, what’s the issue here? You want leaner look in general and you struggle with lower body softness? That’s an area most women are frustrated with since it’s the last place you ever get really lean as a woman. Your upper body will need to get cut before you even see any change in the thighs and glutes.

Your diet doesn’t show your totals per day and I am too lazy to sit and calculate it for you, so I recommend you check it to know how much you’re getting and from what each day. Those rice cakes at 7 pm, are they after a workout? If not, those are to go, missy.

Your workout schedule appears to have quite minimum weight training. You will need to adjust it for more leanness. Yes you do a lot of cardio but you don’t have that much muscle mass and what are you going to lean out if there is nothing to lean out?… Everyone can get lean abs, but usually it comes with a skinny body if there is not enough supportive lean muscle mass.

Lastly, I want to assure you that the higher the level of your physique you want the more meticulous you need to be about diet and training. It’s no longer efficient to ‘eat for health’ or a little of everything. No, each item needs to serve a purpose.

Good luck!