Ms. Namita Nayyar: You were born in Pittsburgh, PA and must have been interested in fitness and sports at an early age. Later you were encouraged & motivated to compete in fitness competitions. You earned your IFBB Pro card in 2009 after winning every competition that you entered that year. You reached the pinnacle of success by winning twenty times 1st place finishes in fitness and bikini competitions around the country. Tell us about your journey that took you to the the world of fitness and as a winner in Professional Bikini Pro competitions?
Ms. Amanda Latona: I think I was just born with a passion to entertain. I started singing at the age of 18 in all girls group in Orlando, Florida. We were given a gym’s membership to stay in shape and to help us with our cardio, singing and dancing at the same time. I remember stepping foot in the gym, seeing a woman with a six pack and saying “I want to look like that”. From that moment my second passion was born and I fell in love with fitness.
After the girls group I went on to have two other solo recording deals and I spent the majority of my free time in the gym, learning and studying everything I could about training and nutrition. I decided to work with a trainer and he suggested that with my passion of training and my background of being on stage and I should enter a competition. In 2003 , I entered my first fitness bikini competition and I won. After my record deals were no longer, my whole family moved to Las Vegas and I got reconnected with the fitness industry because it’s such a big scene in Vegas.
I competed in the Flex bikini model search in 2007 (8th Place), 2008 (4th place) and in 2009 I won the title. Also in 2009 that’s when the NPC started the bikini division and they took the criteria for the division from the top four in the flex bikini model search from 2008. The fact that I placed fourth in 2008 made me realize that I would do hopefully very well in this new NPC bikini division. From then on, I went on to turn Pro in 2009 and also win the Flex Bikini Model Search and earned 2 contracts that Year. The next year I had my 1st Cover and the rest is history.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: What is your motivation to take a multi-faceted personality of a fitness model, professional bikini competitor, personal trainer, recording-artist, creator of an online fitness video series and nutritional expert?
Ms. Amanda Latona: I started with 2 passions. Entertaining and fitness. I started onstage as a singer, which gave me a gym membership that allowed me to discover my fitness passion. From there, I took my love for being onstage and fitness, and that led to me to competing. From there, I went into fitness modeling which allowed me to not only be in magazines and on covers, but increase my brand awareness and fan base, all while learning more and more about the business. I am a big believer in developing as many skills as possible and staying in a mode of constant learning.
The more skills you have, the more you bring to the table and the more valuable you are to the companies you are working with and for or trying to work with. I have been blessed with being able to do many, many different areas in the fitness world and it’s a huge blessing to be able to have a career doing what I love. God just kept allowing doors to open, and I would and will continue to walk though them. I now host TV shows, emcee bodybuilding/fitness shows, own a successful fitness apparel line, travel the world as a Team Allmax athlete with my husband, and we were promoters of our own show this year. The Kuclo Classic which broke Texas records for a first NPC show.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: Share your exercise routine that you do to maintain such a bikini perfect physique?
Ms. Amanda Latona: I have been training half of my life and my foundation has been built with heavy weight training. I am passionate about showing women that they can lift weights and not get bulky… Still a misconception these days. I train 5 days a week sometimes twice a day and during a competition I train 6 days a week with most days twice a day. When I train twice in a day it’s to split up my weight training and my cardio. I usually weight train an hour to an hour and a half depending on what body part it is and to do cardio after that to me is too much, so I’d rather split up weights and cardio. I do cardio 3 times a week, the majority of my cardio being HIIT cardio. Shorter durations 30 min and high intensity interval training.
My go-to cardio of choice is intervals of incline sprints, intervals on the step mill or arc trainer and plyos. Taking the heart rate up, then bringing it back down, tracking it with a heart rate monitor and cardio with added resistance to make cardio glute focused as well. I train lower body twice a week both days being glute focused. I train hard and very intensely every time. Every session I give my all, and I don’t just go through the movements. I see people on their phones in the gym and they wonder why they’re not getting better results. You need to be in there working harder than anyone else if you want to achieve results better than anyone else.
My competitors mentality keeps me in competition with myself and my own personal goals. Also, because I have been training now half of my life, I know the importance and necessity of switching up your training. This helps not only physically, because the body is so smart and constantly adapts, but also mentally to get out of a training rut, set new goals and just enjoy what your doing. That being said, I’ve recently started training at 2 new studios along with the gym, taking hiit classes and getting back into yoga. I love bikram yoga the most. There, my goal isn’t my heaviest lift, but becoming more flexible, getting into splits and doing headstands and hopefully one day handstands.
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