“Femme Flex Friday” host Alina Popa was joined once again by two-time Fitness Olympia champion Whitney Jones on the latest episode. On this edition, they spoke with three IFBB Pro athletes in different divisions about what they do during the offseason to improve before their next contest prep begins. Figure pro Wendy Fortino, Women’s Physique star Theresa Ivancik, and Breena Martinez of the Bikini division all discussed the similarities and differences in how they go about their respective offseason programs.
Martinez on Mistakes and What She Learned
“I’ve done it all, the good, the bad, and we don’t want to talk about that. I really believe you learn through trial and error. You’re going to make mistakes. Throughout my career I’ve had off seasons where I had no plan, and I ate my face off and I regretted it. But I didn’t stay in that headspace too long. I would always get back into the gym. Now that I’m older and wiser, I have learned that it is good to have a little bit of a break, but you need structure.”
Fortino on Using the Offseason to Change the Shape of Her Physique
“When I first started, I was a gymnast and a track athlete, and I already had a lot of muscle on my body. I was already pretty lean. For me, it was unique because my body shape wasn’t that great. I had a very trap dominant, midsection dominant, and my body wasn’t a very aesthetic-shaped body. It was very performance based. In my off-seasons, I had to put a lot of effort into reshaping myself, right? I had a very long-term approach. When I found out that I liked the sport, I found out that I was going to be in it for a long time. So in my offseason, it was the most critical time to make those improvements and really create what I wanted to create.”
Ivancik on How She Coaches Her Athletes
“I try to change the word from offseason to improvement season so that they understand that the surplus of calories that they take in shouldn’t be sloppy, and they shouldn’t chase the scale for all the wrong reasons. You can chase it and say, ‘Hey I weigh 200 pounds,” but if you’re eating ice cream, ho-ho’s and Twinkies to do it, then the body composition is not going to be the same. If you’re going to compete with the other girls, then you need to eat the right amounts of food, but also different kinds. If I want a cheat meal, I’ll have a pizza, but I’ll have a protein source with it.”
There is a lot of valuable information from all five ladies in this educational and insightful episode. Check out this week’s FFF as well as every episode starting every Friday at 6 p.m. ET at www.wingsofstrength.net.
