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Fitness Models Questions & Answers - Geri Helm
Diet & Exercise Advice
Geri Helm
Fitness
Model
Twin Falls, Idaho  Geri
is a ISSA certified fitness trainer who has always lived a healthy lifestyle.
Although she has always gone to the gym regularly, she wasn't getting the results
she desired. She began doing a lot of research on training techniques, nutrition,
etc. Geri discovered a popular fitness program and decided to participate in it.
After losing 9 pounds and dropping 7 percent of her body fat, she began to receive
many questions from clients who workout at the same gym. Geri decided she had
a true passion for fitness so she uses this interest to benefit others and as
well as herself. She is always looking for new ways to push herself and to stay
challenged. Geri's future goal is to help as many people realize the importance
and benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.
See This Fitness Model's Diet Plan & Exercise Routine
Geri Helm - Fitness Model Statistics - Name: Geri Helm
- Height: 5'6
- Weight: 135
- Hair
Color: Brown
- Bust: 36 B
- Waist: 28
- Hips: 37
- Location: Twin Falls, Idaho
- Website:
Coming Soon
Geri Helm - Fitness Model Photos
  
Geri
Helm - Fitness Model Background 
What's your background? How did you get started in the fitness modeling field?
Answer:
I have always been into fitness and was never
shy in front of the camera. We met some wonderful friends about three years ago
while vacationing in Jamaica. The wife is a semi professional fitness model and
the husband a semi professional photographer. I had the privilege of doing a photo
shoot with them and have been hooked ever since.
What is the #1 thing you like best about being into fitness?
Answer: I like the fact that it keeps me healthy and energetic
to do not only those every day things that most of us take for granted, but to
participate in the extra curricular activities I enjoy as well.
What has been your biggest accomplishment in the fitness field?
Answer: My biggest accomplishment in the fitness field
is the fact that I am very passionate about fitness and presently have my national
certification as a personal trainer with ISSA so that I can pass that passion
on to others.
Geri
Helm - Fitness Model Questions & Answers
Fitness Question #1 - What is the best way to get
started in the fitness modeling industry? Should I just contact the photographers
directly or should I use an agency?
Answer: The best way to get started in the industry is
to have some professional photos taken and place them on a reputable website.
I recommend onemodelplace.com or fitsights.com. Another good way to get exposure
for the fitness modeling industry is to attend and/or participate in a fitness/figure
competition. Make sure you have calling cards to hand out as well. If you know
anyone who's done fitness modeling, you may want to rub elbows with them as well.
Pick their brain for all the information you can get.
Fitness Question #2 - Please describe a typical day
for you. What is your daily routine like?
Answer: I am presently not a full time fitness model so
my normal daily routine presently is at breakfast, at the gym by 5am, back home
to get my husband ready for work, myself ready for work and off I go.
Fitness Question #3 - I don’t have that much
time during the day to workout, so I really want to burn major calories in a short
amount of time. What is the #1 “bang for the buck” cardio exercise I
should do to burn serious calories?
Answer: The best cardio workout you can do for the maximum
amount of return in the shortest period of time is what I call High Intensity
Interval Training (HIIT). This consists of high and low intensity cardio mixed
together. For example, if you're using a treadmill for this activity, warm up
with a brisk walk for about 2 minutes, then run or sprint (depending on your level
of fitness) for one minute, then walk for one minute. Do this until you reach
20 minutes, raising the intensity slightly each time. Once you've been able to
do this comfortably, you may want to extend the length of time you run and shorten
the time you walk. On the last interval, push the intensity level one notch higher
(90% MHR) for one minute. The do your cool down. You will burn more calories AFTER
your workout then if you did a steady cardio workout for the same duration of
time.
Fitness Question #4 - How much weight (pounds) should
I focus on losing every week? What is a safe amount to make sure I keep it off?
Answer: A safe amount of weight to lose is 1-2 lbs a week.
If you lose more than that, you are either losing water weight, or you are cutting
your calories to an unhealthy level. Either way, if you attempt to lose more than
2 lbs a week, you're restricting your body the nutrition it needs to the point
that once you return to a normal way of eating, you will gain that weight back
again. Remember, one pound equals 3500 calories, so that's a lot to cut out of
your diet along with working out.
Fitness Question #5 - What type of food or supplements
should I take before and after my workouts to help me see results in gaining lean
muscle and losing fat?
Answer: This is somewhat of a preference. Some fitness
experts advise you to eat prior working out, some say to workout (cardio) on an
empty stomach. I have discovered that I do much better with something in my stomach
when I do cardio. I will usually have a high carb, low protein meal (such as a
½ cup oatmeal with fat free milk) before working out. You do want to eat
a meal rich in complex carbs and protein within an hour after you workout or your
body will begin to burn protein to restore the energy it lost while working out.
As for the meal before, that's a personal preference. To gain lean muscle and
lose fat, the bottom line is less calories in than calories burned.
Fitness Question #6 - How do you deal with cravings
for junk foods, sweets and salty food? I can stay on a diet for maybe a few weeks
but I eventually get really bad cravings and binge on snacks and fast foods.
Answer: Cravings for sweet or salty food is normal when
you are restricting your food intake. Eating healthy is my biggest challenge when
it comes to fitness so I must be very disciplined in my meals. I have to plan
my meals or I will eat whatever is available. However, I still do get the cravings
just like everyone else. To keep on target, I always keep my eyes on my goal.
To keep myself focused and not get to the point where I binge on that sweet or
salty food, I give myself one 'free' day a week to eat whatever I'd like. It keeps
me focused though out the week and gives me something to look forward to. If you're
really trying to get cut and lean, then limit yourself to one or two meals per
week that are 'free' instead of an entire day. I promise you, it'll help you to
keep on track and satisfy your cravings all at the same time. If for some reason
you have a craving and its not your free day, have just enough of that food to
satisfy the craving and then get back on track. We're all human, so it's ok to
satisfy the craving now with a small taste then to push yourself to the point
of bingeing.
Fitness Question #7 - I’m trying to create a
healthy shopping list to stick with. What are some of the main foods I should
include to maintain a lean and muscular physique?
Answer: The best way to shop for healthy food at your
grocery store is to start on the outside aisles and work inward. All the non-processed,
natural foods are on the outside aisles. (i.e., produce, meats, dairy and eggs).
When choosing meats, make sure to purchase lean cuts of beef, low fat ground beef
or turkey, chicken breasts, and fish. Chose low fat or non-fat dairy products.
In the produce section, be sure to get a variety of color (the darker the greens,
the better they are for you). The more vibrant the color of the vegetable, the
more nutrients it carries. Also be sure to purchase whole grain breads, cereals,
rice and pasta. You want to avoid anything with processed flour or sugar (i.e.,
white bread, cookies, etc).
Fitness Question #8 - I’m about 35 pounds over
weight. I have never started an exercise program and really don’t know where
to start. What tips can you give me to get started on the right track?
Answer: If you are working out at a gym, the first thing
you should do is get the advice of a personal trainer. They will evaluate your
situation, health issues, etc., and place you on a workout routine best suited
to your abilities and desires. They will also give some general meal planning
advice. If they give you a specific meal plan, make sure they are a certified
nutritionist as well since that is not their line of expertise if they are not.
If you will be working out from home, start with a cardio activity that you enjoy
doing (i.e., walking, jogging, roller blading, biking, etc). If you don't enjoy
it, you won't do it. If you want to lose fat and gain muscle, you need to do some
sort of resistance training. You can find a ton of useful information on specific
exercises in some of the fitness magazines on the racks today. The ones I recommend
are Oxygen and Shape magazine. These both provide a ton of useful information
regarding exercise and nutrition, and I have found these both to be the most accurate.
One piece of advice I can give you is do whatever keeps you motivated and also
to always increase the duration and/or intensity of your workout when it starts
to become too easy. Your body adapts quickly so don't be afraid to push yourself
a little further each time. You'll see results quicker than if you keep doing
the same thing.
Fitness Question #9 - I tend to eat out most of the
time and really don’t know what healthy foods to order from the menu. What
tips do you recommend for eating out at restaurants to make sure my diet will
not suffer?
Answer: Although eating out isn't necessarily recommended,
when you do eat out there are a few rules to follow. What I recommend is to know
where you're going to be eating before hand and decide what you will order before
you get there. Make sure to stay away from anything fried or swimming in a white
sauce. If you must order pasta, make sure it's a red sauce instead of white. Order
a salad or a broth based soup prior to your meal (if applicable) and do your best
to stay away from the bread. One thing I do when I eat out is request at the time
of ordering that they split my meal in half and place half of it in a to-go box
before I even receive it. Meals ordered at restaurants are almost always more
than a healthy portion. That way, you get two meals out of one and you didn't
over eat just because it was on the plate. Also, be sure to drink lots of water
or iced tea. If you must have alcohol with your meal, try to stay away from the
mixed drinks which are high in sugar and useless calories. Stick to red wines
or low carb beer.
Fitness Question #10 - What exercises do you recommend
for getting a bigger, rounder and fuller butt?
Answer: There are many exercises that you can do to have
a round, fuller butt; however, there are a few that work the best. Squats, lunges,
and cable kickbacks are, in my opinion, the best exercises to firm up the glutes.
However, if you are unable to perform squats to a full seated position because
of knee or back problems, the next best exercise to do would be a leg press. However,
on both squats and cable kickbacks, be sure to use a heavy enough weight that
it really works those muscles. With both lunges and squats, make sure that when
your knees are bent, that your knee does not over extend over your toes, causing
undue stress on the knee joints. There are a variety of ways to perform squats
and lunges, so be sure to find out the different way, try them, and mix them up
to shock the muscle to help make it grow and become full and firm like you desire.
Fitness Question #11 - What is the most challenging
thing you deal with about consistently staying in top shape?
Answer: My most challenging thing when it comes to staying
in shape is eating. I love to eat, so I must constantly be very disciplined in
my meal planning and cheat meals to stay in the best shape I can. I enjoy working
out, and I enjoy the way it makes me feel, so I don't have much of a challenge
in that area. There are occasionally those days that I don't wish to work out.
On those days, although I do go to the gym and exercise, I have a difficult time
pushing myself. Those are the days I wish I had a partner to push me to the point
I know I should be working out at.
Fitness Question #12 - Please describe your normal
diet. What do you eat in a typical day to stay in shape?
Answer: Breakfast: ½ cup oatmeal with, 1
Tbsp flax meal, 1 whole egg, 3 whites, 3 oz. of lean turkey or ½ cup veggies,
1 cup of fat free milk
Mid-Morning Snack: Either 5 oz. of tuna
or chicken, with ½ cup of veggies or a protein bar or shake.
Lunch: 2 cups leafy greens with 5 oz. of chicken and low fat ranch dressing
or a turkey sandwich with lettuce/tomato/mustard on whole wheat bread.
Mid-Afternoon Snack: Same as mid-morning snack
Dinner: 5 oz
of either chicken breast, lean beef or fish, 2 cups of veggies. Every
third
day, I replace this meal with either ½ cup oatmeal or 4 oz. sweet potato,
one banana and ½ c. brown rice (a high carb meal).
I eat this
6 days a week and one day a week, I have a cheat day and eat whatever I'd like.
Fitness Question #13 - What type of exercises do
you include in your routine to stay in shape?
Answer: Strength Training Exercises: I do weight
resistance training 6 days a week, doing each body part once a week, legs twice
a week, and abs every third day.
Cardio Exercises: I do 30 minutes
of cardio on a treadmill twice a week and a 45-minute spinning class twice a week.
My goal is to burn 1500 calories per week in cardio training.
Additional
Training: Once my fat loss plateaus, I will increase my cardio (calories burned)
by 10% until I plateau again, and increase another 10%, and so on. I try to occasionally
get in a yoga or pilates class to improve my strength and flexibility.
Fitness Question #14 - What are the top 5 tips (specific
exercises, diet advice, etc) you recommend for developing toned and defined arms?
Answer: 1. When working arms, you want to be sure to do
two to three exercises per body part.
2. Make sure to vary your weights
and reps to keep your muscles growing (i.e., do heavy weight, low reps one week
then low weight, high reps the next).
3. Make sure to rest the muscle
you've worked for at least 48 hours before working it again. It's when you're
resting that your muscles grow.
4. Eat a clean, consistent diet to rid
your body of that extra layer of fat so you can see those wonderful muscles you've
developed.
5. Be sure to keep educated on different exercises available.
The best magazine sources I have found are Oxygen and Shape magazine. Oxygen is
more for the serious fitness person, possibly someone who wishes to eventually
compete, while Shape is more focused on the woman who wishes to keep tone and
in shape, so chose whichever fits your needs.
Fitness Question #15 - What are your top 5 tips for
losing unwanted body fat?
Answer: 1. Perform high intensity interval cardio to burn
the most fat in the shortest amount of time. Do as I mentioned before, and increase
your cardio workout by 10% once your fat loss starts to plateau
2. Be
sure to include resistance training in your workouts. Muscle burns more than fat,
so the more muscle you have on your body, the faster your metabolism.
3. If you do too much cardio right out the gate, you will have no place to go
increase to once your fat loss plateaus. I suggest no more than 4 days a week
to start. At that rate, it gives you room to increase your cardio and still not
become overtrained.
4. Be sure to eat a clean, consistent diet, full
of high quality protein, nutrition rich vegetables, and whole grains.
5. Drink lots of water. I try to drink approximately one gallon of water per day.
Fitness Question #16 - What are your top 5 tips for
gaining lean muscle mass?
Answer: 1. Be sure to vary your workout intensity from
week to week, or at least every couple weeks. For example, lift heavy weight,
low reps one week, then light weight, high reps the next.
2. Drink lots
of water. Keeping your muscles hydrated will help them to grow.
3. Be
sure to consume a high protein, healthy carb diet. If you want to build
muscle,
you should consume one gram of protein per pound of lean body weight. Make sure
to have a high quality protein with each meal (all 5-6).
4. Do your
best not to consume any food after 7pm. It sounds simple, but it does work.
5. Give your workout variety. Your muscles adapt quickly so be sure to change
your routine about every 4-8 weeks, or your body will get used to what you're
doing and you will not see the desired results.
Fitness Question #17 - What are the top 5 tips you
recommend for staying motivated on a fitness plan and truly making a healthy lifestyle
change:
Answer: 1. Realize that to make a healthy lifestyle change,
it's exactly that. This is not a diet that you go on and then go back to your
normal way of eating. Find a way that you can eat for the rest of your life and
stick with it.
2. Find a friend that will workout with you and keep you
accountable. It's a lot harder to skip going to the gym when you just don't feel
like it when you have someone who's counting on you to be there.
3. Mix
up your workout. If you keep doing the same thing month after month, eventually
you'll get bored and just stop working out. Find exercises you enjoy doing, and
you'll always want to do them.
4. Have patience. The weight you gained
didn't happen over night and losing it won't either.
5. If you must
weigh yourself, do it once a week, at the same time of day, preferably on an empty
stomach first thing in the morning. Don't rely on the scale to tell you your progress
- rely on how you clothes fit. It's a much better indicator.
Fitness Question #18 - What is your training routine
like? (Please include a few details - training split, sets/reps, exercises, types
of cardio, etc.)
Answer: Monday: 30 minutes of high intensity interval
training (HIIT) on the treadmill. Back, Shoulders, Traps and Abs. I lift heavy
weights to the point that at 8-10 reps, the muscle is fully fatigued. I generally
do 3-4 sets of the exercises - Assisted Pullups, Wide Grip Cable Pulldowns, Cable
Rows, Rows on a Smith Machine, Shrugs on a Smith Machine. I do 3 super sets of
toe touches, crunches and side bends for the abs.
Tuesday: Spinning
class of 45 minutes
Wednesday: 30 minutes of HIIT, Hard Leg workout
- Squats on a Smith Machine, Walking lunges (3 sets of 20), Hack Squat, Leg Curls,
Hamstring Curls, Standing Calf Raises, Seated Calf Raises
Thursday:
Spinning class of 45 minutes, Shoulders, Chest, Abs - Barbell Rows, Dumbbell Shrugs,
Incline Chest Press, Dumbbell Bench Press, 3 super sets of toe touches, crunches
and side bends for the abs.
Friday: Biceps & Triceps - Super
set of barbell curls with 20#, alternating between wide grip and narrow grip (reps
- 12,10,8,6,4), Cable Curls, Tricep pushdowns on cable machine, Dips (to fatigue)
Saturday: Light Leg Day (2 sets of each at high reps, lower weight),
Squats, Walking Lunges, Leg Press, Hamstring Curl, Standing Calf Raises, Seated
Calf
Raises
Sunday: Rest
Fitness Question #19 - What are the top 5 tips (specific
exercises, diet advice, etc) you recommend for losing fat around the stomach and
developing a toned and defined midsection?
Answer: 1. You can not spot reduce, so the best way to
get those ab muscles to show is to eat a very clean diet, rich in proteins, lots
of vegetables and complex carbohydrates.
2. Drink lots of water - I
try to drink at least a gallon of water a day.
3. The last place to lose
fat is around your mid-section, and it's the hardest. I have found that when I
hit a plateau of losing fat on my body, I increase my calories burned through
cardio by 10%. When I hit another plateau, I increase it again by 10%, and so
on.
4. Make sure that when you do abdominal exercises, that you don't
use too heavy of weight. You want to tone that area, not build it. If the weight
is too heavy, it will actually make your waist bigger and not slimmer.
5. Vary your AB workout often. The AB muscles adapt quickly so you need to put
some variety in your workout to work them to full capacity. I usually change my
AB workout about every 4 weeks.
Fitness Question #20 - What are the top 5 tips (specific
exercises, diet advice, etc) you recommend for toning the thighs, hips and butt?
Answer: 1. You can not spot reduce, so you just need to
make sure that you are getting plenty of cardio to work off the extra layer of
fat that all of us women carry around our lower body.
2. The best exercises
for lower body that I have found are 1) squats, 2), lunges (can never do too many
of those) and 3) cable kickbacks. I have also found that running really seems
to work off that extra layer of fat that we carry on our hips and inner thighs.
3. 80% of how you look is what you eat, so if you want to rid yourself of
that extra layer, you must eat a very clean diet, and drink lots of water.
4. To reduce the appearance of cellulite, make sure to eat a consistently
clean diet. Part of what causes the appearance of cellulite is the yo-yo effect
of eating well, then eating poorly and back and forth.
5. Patience is
a virtue. Stay motivated, stay strong, and your dream of a tone, healthy body
will happen.
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