“I eat everything but keep it in mind to have the right food”, Says Bodybuilder Yashmeen Manak

She was overweight as a teenager due to a prolonged illness and didn’t exactly get support from her peers. Add to that a set of separated parents and you’re bound to come out a disturbed offspring. But Yashmeen Manak had other plans for her life.

An athletic soul since childhood, Manak’s life clearly hasn’t been a bed of roses and her choice of career got even more eyeballs to pop and eyebrows to raise. “Being a girl, it was a big challenge to pursue bodybuilding as a career. There were speculations and doubts as it’s a male-dominated field, but my family and friends really supported me. There were many who discouraged me, but I never paid any attention to them”, Yashmeen said in an interview.

The spirited girl went ahead to join a neighborhood gym after graduating school and the rest, as they say, is history. Read on to find out more about this muscled lass.

Image: Fit Nish

Training

The Indian Body Building and Fitness Federation (IBBFF) Miss India 2016 winner has her list of top 3 favorite exercises – deadlift, squats and hip thrust.

She believes that deadlifts equip the body to lift heavy objects, in a way strengthening it. Squats on the other hand are an effective tool for increasing lower body strength and power. Whereas, hip thrusts isolate the glute muscles completely and apart from improving the strength and power, rounds up the bum perfectly.

Talking about other routines, the biker adds’ “I do not do too much of cardio. I get serious about it only when I am close to a competition. I prefer doing High Intensity Interval Training, short, intense and to the point. Or I would prefer running/jogging in a park.”

Image: Indian Body Building

Eating

Manak follows a strict diet but admits to giving into rare ice cream binging – her one true temptation. “I eat to nourish my body. I eat for performance. Food, to me is a fuel to my goals and for me it is very important to nurture my goals with the right fuel.”

That said, her diet is not a constrained list of healthy foods. The professional athlete eats everything; only she knows when, what and how much to eat for a stunning form. I eat everything but keep it in mind to have the right food at the right time, to get the best results,” she says.

Image: Fit Nish

Quick Tips

1. The three biggest diet fads that women fall prey to are that eating less will help them get in shape; focusing on only heavier areas to lose fat; the more cardio the better.
2. Have breakfast within half an hour of waking up. Eat small meals frequently through the day.
3. Women should supplement their regular diet with Calcium and Vitamin D3 after consulting their nutritionist.
4. Fasting too much can be harmful for health as one ends up eating foods that are far dangerous from what you eat on a regular day.

Yashmeen zoomed off on her mean machine to go ahead and break all stereotypes. And how! She currently own and runs Sculpt – a gym in Gurgaon – with more than 300 people training under her. Also, she is prepping up for the upcoming Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Championship 2016 scheduled to take place in Bhutan this September.

 

#RoyalEnfield ❤️

A photo posted by Sculpt Gym (@yashmeenchauhanmanak) on Aug 30, 2015 at 9:55pm PDT

You go girl!

Source: Fit Nish