WW Magazine Who is Who 2014 has chosen Cindy Landolt to be one of the most influential person in Zurich. Cindy Landolt is the most famous bodybuilder of Switzerland. She learned from an early age what it takes to strive for her goals and achievements. She spent 11 years training as a Gymnast, laying the foundation for a future in fitness.
In her pursuit of self improvement she developed the skills needed to keep her on track both physically and mentally, this in turn brought her personal success and the ability to help guide others through to their own goals.
Through several years of studying sports, fitness, rehabilitation and nutrition, she gained a deeper knowledge and understanding of all aspects of physical improvement, allowing her to specialize as a Fitness Trainer.
She says “In my view, being happy means to find a balance between work, leisure time and physical activity. To keep a clear head during hectic times and tackle life’s challenges with a smile. Feeling fit and healthy are the most important conditions for a happy life! A healthy body equals a healthy mind”.
Using her knowledge and love for sports, exercise and movement, she is there to meet our fitness goals.
Cindy Landolt Qualifications: Nordic Walking Instructor, Fitness-Instructor with federal specialized document of identification Back Trainer & Coach, Nutrition Coach, Rehabilitation Coach Workout-Trainer & Coach Kinesis
She offer an extensive range of opportunities for women and men of every age and fitness level. She create programs that guides us through every stage and step along the way to achieving your goals. She do accompany and motivate us at every level.
Cindy Landolt helps and provide knowledge and training for Weight control, Fat reduction, Muscle gain, Rehabilitation training, Muscle gain after Operation, Endurance training, Nutrition planning, Pregnancy training and post natal shape up training, Intensive 2 month training for the summer or your summer holiday, Intensive Wedding preparation for the dress of your dreams and Motivation to achieve your aims.
All content on this site is copyright of Women Fitness and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2017 Women Fitness
Cindy Landolt is world leading fitness trainer from Switzerland in conversation with Namita Nayyar President Women Fitness
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Tell us about your journey that took you to the top of the world of fitness training?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
The first steps I took towards becoming a fitness trainer began after I stopped training as a gymnast at the age of 16, I was simply too tall to be competitive, and this left a large hole in the physical side of my life, so I began spending a lot of time training at local gyms and learning the benefits of resistance training.
From there I enrolled in the Swiss Academy of Fitness and Sports ‘SAFS’ and became a qualified Personal trainer and fitness instructor with a federal specialized document, a nutrition coach, rehabilitation coach, workout/strength training specialist, weight loss specialist and sports related coach, preparing sports professionals for competitions etc.
During this period I also worked in a local gym and gained real world experience working with members and understanding the many variations between individual trainees physiques and goals.
I remember being fascinated by the adaptive process that determines the rate and scale of your progress relative to your objectives. I became almost obsessed with understanding human ergonomics and the way in which individual exercises affected different body parts, and how to create the perfect program to reach a certain goal as quickly and safely as is humanly possible. It is this very optimization of training time and nutritional support that I have carried through to my personal training business.
In 2009 I started my own personal training company in Zurich Switzerland, I was looking for clients that were truly motivated to improve their bodies, not people who were looking for a way to appease their feelings of physical inadequacy by simply hiring a trainer that would tell them they were “doing ok and improving”, when in truth they were just feeding their egos.
I created programs that made it very easy for me to monitor my trainees’ progress and improvement, this was essential in understanding how to quickly alter and adapt a routine to an individual, and also motivate my trainees through actual progress.
It’s very important that they actually see an improvement, and aren’t told to “do a certain exercise for 6 months and then we will review it and see if it worked!”
I appraise each and every session by taking meticulous notes about the trainee, from their mood on the day, to the amount of rest they have had even personal problems that may have them at a less than 100%. This is far more important than people realize! Humans are not robots and these external factors play an enormous role in the outcome of a session.
Subsequently my trainees receive truly tailor made routines that are created to ensure they reach their objectives with minimal exposure to injury, whilst keeping them engaged and motivated from throughout their training journey.
I believe that it is this extreme level of detail that has gained me such a large following in the fitness industry and what sets me apart from many others in the World of fitness training.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
How your experience and background of eleven years as a gymnast has helped you in your present profession of Fitness Trainer, Fitness Expert and Fitness Model?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
Being involved in gymnastics from a young age provided me with a deep interest and understanding of someones physical limitations. Competitive gymnastic training requires a great deal of discipline, but it also re-calibrates what you imagine your body is capable of achieving.
So when a trainee says to me that something can’t be done, I know for a fact that (genuine physical limitations allowing) their barrier is more psychological than physical. If you want to achieve the maximum results for your body, you cannot allow your mind to become the limiting factor, so it’s my job to know the real limits of each and every one of my trainees and to ensure that they reach a little further into their new ground, their unknown, step over their own personal fear barrier and belief boundaries at each and every workout.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Share your exercise routine that you do to maintain such a bikini perfect physique?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
I train predominantly to create an increase in strength throughout my body, this is a big distinction between my methodology and that of many other trainers.
I don’t get concerned with the latest trends or fads, I am aware of them, but I don’t waiver from the basic exercises that develop an increase in strength throughout my entire body.
My workouts are also comparatively brief, as I mentioned before, my deep studies about the adaptive processes of muscle regeneration lead me to realize that you need to stimulate your growth in the gym and then get out, in order to provide your body with the maximum amount of time to recover. So my workouts rarely exceed 60 minutes and I train weights 4 times per week. I control my body fat purely with an optimized nutritional plan and meal timing; timing is something that is heavily overlooked. I rarely perform cardio for fat loss, I prefer to use cardio to improve my respiratory efficiency.
I have always trained as an athlete, not for cosmetic appearance, that holds no interest for me, and is a large part of why I don’t go on stage.
For me it has always been function over fashion. I don’t critique my body in the mirror thinking that I need to add a little here or subtract a little there in order to appear more aesthetically appealing, my criteria is to find a physically weak spot and make it stronger, subsequently it then becomes balanced with the rest of my physique anyway, improving the aesthetic as a bonus.
If you make an increase in strength your aim, then the rest will follow, again through the adaptive process. So, to the routine. (As I have stated before, this routine is specific to MY needs and MY goals, it may not be optimal for you)
Monday sees me training my upper body vertical pressing structure. Notice that I don’t specifically break down my workouts into details about different triceps heads or delts, just work on the exercises that increase the strength in the overhead press.
For me that involves seated dumbbell presses 2-3 sets in a rep range of 8-5 reps descending using the maximum weight that I can safely control through a full range of motion, followed by a type of standing side lateral raise, but here I use cables so that the resistance remains the same throughout the entire range of motion, just 1 set here, that’s enough to stimulate development if the weight and form are perfect.
From there I move to a triceps dip machine that isolates my triceps in a pressing motion, allowing me to use my maximum force and developing strength in my arms, the aim is to remove shoulder and chest involvement ensuring that my upper arm pressing muscles are receiving all of the load. I then finish the session, with 3 sets of weighted abdominal crunches in an old Nautilus abs machine.
Tuesday
I train my back and posterior chain basically from the balls of my feet to the back of my neck. I start with some hyperextensions to warm up my spinal erectors, this is very important as injury prevention is key when lifting heavy weights, followed by my first weighted exercise, 2 sets of 13-8 in the seated cable row with a narrow vertical grip, I perform these through a full range of motion, always at the same speed, no jerking or explosive movements, a smooth and steady cadence, keeping the involved muscles under tension for the duration of the rep and set is key here.
Next I switch the close grip handles for a wide overhand grip and complete the same sets and reps but with a lighter weight. From there I perform strict overhand chin ups, these are a great exercise for your back and arms, as well as your abdominal structure, 2 sets without weight to failure. Next I move to the deadlift platform, and do 2 sets of heavy stiff legged dead lift, again perfect form is paramount, I want to feel the weight distributed evenly throughout my body, an evenly spread load from my feet to my neck and down through my arms.
This exercise when performed properly is exceptionally demanding but it provides an enormous return for the trainee, these alongside the Squat are real body changing exercises.
When I have completed them I move over to the dumbbell rack and perform 2 sets of shrugs.
Thursday is chest, arm flexion and abdominals. First exercise is the flat bench press, I perform 2-3 sets in the 8-5 rep range again always with a weight that is the maximum that can be handled safely in perfect form, after that I move to the dip bars and again perform 2-3 sets, but my reps are normally higher around 13-8. Moving to arm flexion, (many people just say biceps, but that isn’t the entire area that I train) I use an old nautilus curl machine for 2 sets in the 8-5 rep range and follow it with 2 sets of thumbs up rope curls on the cable machine. It may not seem a lot compared to the masses who train 10 sets of 10 to build their arms, but my experience with my own arms and those of my trainees has shown me that hitting them hard and briefly for 4-5 sets under maximum load is enough!
After that I repeat the abdominal training from Monday.
Friday is legs day. I start with the king of all leg development exercises, the deep squat. Proper instruction here is essential not just for safety but also for maximizing results!
I see many trainees in gyms around the World performing the squat with sloppy form and shallow reps, worse still, using a weight that they can’t properly control! Ego has no place in proper training and when you are stuck under a 150kg bar in the squat rack you will quickly discover the need to become more humble in the next set, best case? You look foolish, worst case? You suffer an injury that can limit yourself for life!
So seek proper instruction, and train yourself to being able to handle some large weight in the lift whilst ALWAYS squatting low enough so that you femur goes below horizontal. I perform 2 sets with the same weight for 21 then 13 reps.
This is the very cornerstone of my leg development, if not my entire body development. After I have shuffled away from the squat rack I perform 2 sets of leg extensions (no jerking or ‘kicking out’ at the top, mind those knees, you need them) followed by 2 sets of lying leg curls, rep range for both is 13-8 again. After that I move to the calf raise machine and perform 2 sets of 21-13 reps.
That’s it! 8 sets total, but if you can even consider carrying on, then you weren’t trying hard enough in the Squat, that first exercise when performed correctly is an entire session in itself!
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Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What is your diet? Do you take a particular fixed regulated diet comprising of nutrients and vitamins to keep you in perfect health?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
I’m very reactive when it comes to diet, meaning that I like to experiment with different foods and nutritional supplements to really find out what does and doesn’t work for me, I think this is extremely important and something that I work closely with my clients to achieve.
When I discuss a diet plan with them, I first need to know what they like to eat, they often react asking “well what should I eat?” this is the wrong approach altogether, I could write a calorie perfect diet with the absolute optimized ratio of carbohydrate, protein and fat balance, along with optimized meal timing and spacing relative to my prescribed workout routine, but do you know how many people would truly be able to integrate that to their lifestyle and then maintain it?… VERY few, so it’s important to create a diet plan that works WITH my trainees and doesn’t become a chore. Now that’s not to say that they can eat everything that they want, there are some foodstuffs and choices that are just NOT in line with the type of training results that they want to achieve.
I personally, ensure that I eat 5-6 meals spaced evenly throughout the day and biased so that the majority of my carbohydrates are consumed early in the day, total calorie intake is relative to the amount of energy I need to complete that days tasks, so I will eat more if I need to and less if I have an easier day, this is important, as many people eat the same amount regardless of the amount of energy it will take them to get through their day.
Remember that it’s all just energy, so if you are looking to lose weight then you need to ensure that you have a slight caloric deficit throughout your day and you need to go to sleep with only protein in your system, don’t carry carbs to bed with you, this is really counter productive. I’m also a fan of keeping your metabolic rate high throughout the day with the use of thermogenic fat burners and CLA, as well as supplementing my protein intake with shakes to ensure my muscles repair sufficiently. When used with a caloric deficit in your diet and some specific fat loss cardio the results from these supplements are astounding!
Conversely if your diet is intended to build muscle then, you need to have a caloric excess throughout your day to ensure you have sufficient surplus calories to build muscle, bare in mind that these calories should be heavily biased towards protein, you need to ensure that the weight gained is actually muscle! So eat just enough carbohydrates to fuel your workouts and complete your day, but eat an excess of protein through shakes to grow new muscle tissue. From there it’s just a function of time and discipline.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What is your motivation to take a multi-faceted personality of a fitness model, personal trainer, media personality and nutritional expert?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
Interestingly the fitness modelling aspect was a by-product of my training, my very first website was created in 2009 purely as a means of promoting my personal training services in Zurich. I needed some pictures of myself, simple portraits at first. At that point I wasn’t aware of the concept of ‘Fitness Modelling’, it was something that I was approached about and not something that I sought directly.
In fact 90% of the emails that I received over the first few months were offers for fitness modelling and product promotion, the latter being something that I am very cautious of.
I have actually never paid for an advert of any kind in Magazines, on TV, Radio or online!
I just created my website and used the testimonials of my clients, it wasn’t long before news spread that there was a girl in Zurich who was getting spectacular results for her trainees and my personal training diary was full.
From there I received a lot of emails asking for training advice online, and so I started to create an information based newsletter, where people receive a lot of free information directly from me through: www.cindytraining.com/newsletter-english
I also created a lot of free downloads and E-Books:
http://personal-trainer-zuerich.cindytraining.com/all-downloads/
This is when my ‘Media Personality’ began to grow, based purely on the results that people where having from using my methods, this is when my reach became global.
I enjoy the media exposure and I like to promote my knowledge and methods, but I always insist that the exposure is ‘on topic’.
I have turned down a couple of Reality TV shows in central Europe that would no doubt have massively increased my viewer base, but the message becomes blurred.
I’m happy to be recognized globally as a knowledgeable fitness trainer, nutritionist and model. But the moment that the focus shifts towards aspects of my life that are outside of this bracket I feel that I am weakening the connection that I have with the followers who are benefitting from my training advice.
So to re-visit your question, my motivation is to provide the absolute best advice to my trainees and followers, if that results in me becoming a personality who transcends the fitness world then that’s great! But it will always remain my objective to educate and help people in achieving their physical goals!
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You have glowing skin and gorgeous hairs. Do you take some kind of skin treatment to keep it young and glowing and secondly what you do to your hairs to make them look so stunning?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
Again I think it’s as a product of a healthy diet, I don’t use any specific products that act directly to influence the quality of my hair or my skin, it’s merely a positive by-product of a good clean healthy diet using supplemental protein shakes and CLA with constant hydration.
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Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You have done bold photo shoots. What advice you wish to give to the women of today to be body confident in order to do such bold modelling?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
I think you have to be truly comfortable with how you look, confidence is one thing, lots of people are confident but it’s based on an imaginary perception of themselves. I feel comfortable when I model because I have worked to create a body that I am proud of, I know and understand my body, so exposing it is easy, as I don’t feel there is any parts of my physique that I need to hide. I always try to keep my photo-shoots relevant to my muscularity and athleticism, but by nature a degree of sexuality will always show through.
You always have to be true to yourself, so if you are genuinely comfortable with your body then I see no reason why you can’t model in a similar fashion, just make sure that your motivation comes from within, and don’t be persuaded by others to do something that you don’t want to do.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Elaborate on your personalized concept of “Personal Training” you offer online and offline?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
Clients come to me for solutions and I provide results, I don’t sell ‘Personal Training hours’. If you hire me, you receive the complete package and you are doing the optimum to guarantee the result you want, it’s a subtle distinction. You aren’t buying training sessions; you are buying the body that you want!
Beyond physical training information, the skill lies in the ability to communicate to people, to take my technical knowledge and translate it into something that my clients can understand and implement.
My objective is to listen, and understand precisely what the client wants to achieve, then use my depth of knowledge to formulate an exact program, not just for the gym and kitchen, it’s often an entire lifestyle change that is required.
It has always been my ethos to discover the best training methods and supplements firstly for myself and then to provide this knowledge to my clients. I stand by all of my methods and products because they are a result of my deep knowledge and understanding, my clients follow me to the letter because of this transparency.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and message for its visitors?
Ms. Cindy Landolt:
Womenfitness.net is a great resource for understanding the diet and training that is required to live a happy and healthy life, simply by learning more, you are taking a huge step towards improving your quality of life, empower yourselves with the knowledge and then apply these lessons to your daily life, from there it’s just a question of consistency.
To know more about Cindy Landolt, check out at: http://cindytraining.com
Women Fitness Team thanks Cindy Landolt for giving her valuable time for this interview and quenching the thirst of her fans to know more about her and made this interview happen.
All content on this site is copyright of Women Fitness and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2017 Women Fitness