Correct Figure Flaws to Win Swimsuit

Correct Point-Losing Figure Flaws to Win Swimsuit

There’s no doubt about it-in the swimsuit competition the first things a judge will mark points off for are figure flaws: wide hips, flabby thighs and arms, saddlebags, a droopy derriere, a protruding tummy, or scrawny calves.

To transform a point-losing figure into a winning one, a contestant must correct such flaws to create the evenly proportioned, well-toned physique preferred by judges. The goal is to change the body’s muscles and body fat to create the ideal proportions for your height and bone structure. “We consider symmetry of form,” says Rex Holt, of GuyRex’s Miss United States, “meaning that someone who is six feet tall can weigh a hundred fifty pounds and have perfect symmetrical form. It’s based on the unique bone structure and weight proportions of each person.”

Fortunately, body symmetry is only partially determined by Mother Nature. The rest is flabby muscle tone and fat accumulations “earned” through unhealthy exercise and eating habits.

Improve the bad habits and you improve the bad body. “Each person can make improvements,” encourages fitness expert Mike Fifrick, who holds a Master of Science degree in fitness management and exercise science. “Genetics play an extremely important role in the shape of any person’s body, but no matter what the genetics, every woman can make improvements. A girl with average genetics who works hard can achieve a good body and compete favorably with a girl who has good genetics, but who doesn’t prepare herself.”

An intensive body-building program can build curves in the right places and diminish curves in the wrong areas. The fastest, most effective (non-surgical) way to redistribute curves and improve swimsuit-sabotaging figure flaws is with a complete fitness regimen. “A physical fitness program has three important stages: proper nutrition, aerobic activity, and weight training,” explains certified physical fitness specialist Sharon Turrentine, a former champion body-builder and power-lifter. “The purpose of utilizing all three phases is to “get your body in its peak physical condition for your particular genetic, muscular structure.”

“Genetics play an extremely important role in the shape of any person’s body, but no matter what the genetics, every woman can make improvements. A girl with average genetics who works hard can achieve a good body and compete favorably with a girl who has good genetics, but who doesn’t prepare herself.”

Mike Fifrick, author of Better Bodies for Beauties, MS in fitness management and exercise science

The first phase of a balanced fitness program, working out with weights, can dramatically improve a woman’s figure. “Weight training will firm, tone, and shape the body to its personal best,” explains Sharon, who hosts her own television fitness program, “Shape Up with Sharon.” “A woman can change or enhance the shape of her body with weight training. With a properly designed weight training program she can put on more curves where she wants them and diminish curves where she doesn’t want them by shaping the muscle underneath the skin.

Lower Your Body Fat to Let Your Curves Show

After a young woman has invested months of grueling exercise to obtain the body of her dreams, she won’t want layers of body fat to hide her efforts. “One big factor in how a woman’s body looks,” says Fifrick, “is what her body-fat percent is-with a lower body-fat percent being better. It’s not until you get your body fat less than twenty percent that you can actually see the shape of the muscles. If a woman is approximately twenty percent or higher in body fat, she has no definition. In other words, you can’t see the shape of her muscles.”

That’s where aerobics enters the picture. “Aerobic activity is very important in a physical fitness program because it teaches the body to increase its metabolism, thereby burning excess calories more efficiently,” Sharon Turrentine explains. All of which helps to reveal what all those hours of training have created. “As you burn excess body fat and improve the muscle tone between the waist and knees-the part of our bodies that we hate-your hips get narrower and firmer and you just look better.”

“If you need to drop weight, aerobics is wonderful,” agrees Cheryl Prewitt Salem, star of several aerobic workout videos. “Do whatever kind you like-step aerobics, plain aerobics, low-impact, high-impact-whatever works for you and that you enjoy.” Aerobic exercise can also include stationary biking, cycling, jogging, long-distance running, fast walking, treadmill, stair-stepping, and swimming laps.

Like any other figure problem, excessive thinness can hurt a contestant’s chances. An extremely thin girl needs a training program to build muscle (curves). Fortunately, starting off on the skinny side can be a blessing in disguise, simply because every ounce of muscle she gains through training immediately shows. “Jennifer Prodgers, Miss Georgia-USA 1992, is the best example of that,” says Mike Fifrick. “She was extremely low in body fat and undermuscled to begin with. Not that she was ’skinny,’ but she was definitely slender. She strength-trained consistently and with intensity and improved a body that some thought was too thin. With a good strength-training program, she changed from being close to skinny to being someone who is very shapely. She has an outstanding swimsuit body and she was top six at Miss USA and second in the final swimsuits.”

Excessive thinness needn’t hold any young woman back from competing successfully, asserts Fifrick. “A thin girl needs to strength-train with intensity because that’s a way of adding some muscle to her body to make her look less skinny.”

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Swimsuit Competition