Summary: Here's your new interview with one of the contestants from the 5th Venus Index Transformation Contest. Today John talks to April who finished first in the contest and earned herself a spot on Venus Index Calendar. Check out her transformation pictures from the 12 Week Contest: Here's some good news. You can change the way you look. No matter what others are saying, no matter if they tell you it's stupid, pointless or call you names. You really can and it's the best way to increase your happiness and self-esteem. Today you will get a chance to listen to something pretty deep. April opens herself up and reveals some secrets about how she was being treated when she was younger, how she felt about it, how it affected her confidence and ultimately lead her to join the army, yes the army! April was always told that she had no butt and was always bit self-conscious about that area of her body. For example she would not take back shots, ever, even when taking after photos for the contest she was refusing to take the back shot. Familiar feeling? It's really hard to get over your insecurities, especially when other people keep talking you down, in this case it was April's sister who was commenting on how flat her butt looks. Sometimes family members can be the worst enemies on your path to success. If they are not, good for you. Start Talking to Your Muscles (For Real) No, we haven't gotten crazy (yet), you should really start talking to your muscles, or at least begin focusing on feeling them and activating them in the right way. The best way to build great butt is to do all those lunges and step ups you see in the Venus Index workouts (don't you dare skip those!). However here is something new, your body will activate the muscles it finds are most efficient to perform the movement, for example squat can be done in different muscle patterns - you have to put your mind into, otherwise your body will default to what's most efficient - for most people it's their quads and not hamstrings and butt. In simple terms, if you want certain area of your body to improve, you need to train in a way your body understands. Most people are just throwing up weights, not really training and forcing the body to work properly during the movement. A good idea as John likes to say is to start thinking from the muscle rather than from the weight. Guys have a big issue with this, simply because their ego is preventing them from using the lighter weights they should be training with. Women usually tend to have an opposite issue - lifting too light. So once you correct that and start using more challenging weights, you have to learn the other side of the coin which is muscle activation. The better you are able activate your muscles results in more contractions towards the area targeted for muscle growth. A popular way to activate your muscles is by looking in the mirror while you are working out. Yep, they aren't there just for vanity and ego, you don't have to be scared of looking into them, use them to your advantage. Even more, there is actually research that suggests you will develop more the muscles you can see - this is why it's harder to work on the muscle groups you can't see like muscles on your back. This Industry Can Really Mess You Up If You Aren't Careful April experienced this at first hand. In the interview she talks a lot about her past and how it made her very self-conscious about her looks, she discusses how she improved her training by focusing more on the mind-muscle connection, but also reveals her story of how she tried pretty much every approach there is in the fitness industry. She tried bootcamps, running and marathons, various personal trainers, cardio and so on. Nothing worked. Until the Venus Index and it's diet protocols. To hear the full story of how she came around finding VI and why she decided to stick to it, scroll down and listen to the interview.
