A Woman’s View on the Zane Experience
Frank asked me to write for his magazine after I had done the “Zane Experience” with him in September. I’m a female body builder. I am also a vegan and a doctor. I am 47 years old and by the time I met Frank last fall, I had been working out intensively for six months. I had decided that I wanted to do a body building contest by the time I was 50, and had gone from 142 pounds and a size 10, to 122 pounds and a size 4.
Before meeting Frank, I was doing weight training 3-4 days a week with back, legs and chest on different days and I was doing between 20-25 sets per body part. I also was doing about 8 hours of cardio a week including 3-5 spinning classes. Frank put me on his routine immediately. I started doing weights before cardio and abs first, so I could work hard on them as they are my weakest point. The most interesting and challenging aspect of his training involves doing fewer sets per body part, while doing the slow negatives and fast positives. I began doing six to ten sets per body part and less cardio – 2-3 spin classes a week and one hour of cardio otherwise. My experience practicing Frank’s program has been thrilling. Within two weeks my abs were more muscular than they had ever been – including the period of time during my 30’s in which I was doing six hundred crunches a day. And my hip flexors are becoming defined, which I have never seen before.
Over these past six months my body is slowly changing shape. I am now down to a size 2 and weigh 118 pounds. But the weight doesn’t tell the whole story—the body fat is lessening and muscles are increasing. Different body parts are becoming more muscular and more defined. My shoulders and triceps popped first, then my back and quads, and I am seeing chest muscles that I didn’t know I had! It’s taking longer to develop my biceps and hamstrings, but I do see changes. I am in the best shape of my life. Although I have a ways to go before I’m ready for a contest, the changes that are already happening are encouraging and motivating me to keep working hard and smart. I just got back from Arnold’s Sports Festival in Columbus and it was truly inspiring to see everyone working in such a dedicated way to achieve their goals.
As a doctor, I specialize in integral medicine. This new paradigm considers all the modalities of medicine, mainstream and alternative. It utilizes scientific research about diet, nutrition, hormones, and toxins to address chronic disease and achieve greater wellness. In this context, I have been doing a lot of experimentation on myself with diet and nutrition.
Being a vegan is not typically associated with body building, but I want to prove it can be done because I think it’s a great diet for a world that’s being pushed to its limits. Eating plant-based foods is simply less resource intensive. When I met Frank I had been a vegan—which means I eat no eggs, cheese or other animal products—for three months; I had been vegetarian since I was eighteen. For protein, I recently switched from soy powder to hemp powder, which I find much easier to digest. I increased my intake from 25 grams in the morning to 40 grams, taking half before my workout, and half afterwards. I have a salad with tofu or beans at lunch. I have between 2-3 snacks a day of nuts and dried fruit or a protein shake in the afternoon. Dinner is usually a salad with tofu or beans or sometimes just a protein shake. After doing Frank’s routine for six weeks, I realized I still needed more protein and added an evening protein shake of at least 20 grams. I try to get at least 100 grams of vegetable-based protein a day. I also cut down my carb intake significantly, seeing how fit Frank is on so few carbs.
I have been experimenting with different supplements, including amino acids (it took me some time to find the formulas I could easily digest). I also take heavy-duty antioxidants, including alpha lipoic acid and Coenzyme Q10. I take tryptophan in the evening and glutamine in the morning, as well as other supplements such as L-carnitine. I am increasing the amount of raw food in my diet, as well as powdered greens, because I believe that live food imparts energy to the body.
As a woman, I find that body-building helps you to have a healthy relationship to your body and gives you immediate feedback on how you are doing. If you work out consistently and hold to your diet, you do see some changes every two weeks. For those of us who are pre-menopausal, there are weeks out of the month when you won’t necessarily see any change in your body, despite your hard work. However, once the hormones change you’ll find that underneath the fluid retention, muscles are building and fat is being lost. So just keep going and don’t look back.
I also find that visualization is an important part of this mental and physical sport. I remember the first time I could actually visualize myself on stage in a contest - it was very powerful as it went against unconscious ideas of limitation. I think this is particularly important for women who often have a negative image of themselves. I realized I can have a relationship to my body that is truly positive and life affirming. I don’t think body building is different for women. It’s still the same fundamental principles for women and men: consistency in workouts and diet are the key.
Finally, I am also a student of spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen, who recently interviewed Frank for his magazine, What is Enlightenment? Andrew has always encouraged me to be fit. Spiritual practice requires mental and physical strength and the overcoming of inertia. I knew I needed to achieve a high level of fitness as one dimension of what it will take for me to reach my highest spiritual aspirations. Frank is really helping me do that!
MIchelle Hemingway MD
from Frank Zane's magazine, Building the Body, Spring 2008