Ms Namita Nayyar:
You were a classical dancer and had training in choreography but due to knee reconstruction, abruptly ended your dance career. But with exceptional physical training you achieved the enviable transformation of your body. Tell us more about your body transformation success?
Ms Joey Bull:
Body transformation was everything to me at that time. It is still a huge emphasis on my work now. Not being blessed with model like or curvy genetics, I quickly learnt that you could modify your shape with tweaking here and there, changing angles of arms or legs in an exercise to gather more sweep or softness to the line of the muscle.
Ladies can be fit but carry a bulky or square look to the muscle – which was certainly my propensity – so everyone I train now, I bear this in mind, we want to enhance what we’ve got and optimize all we can. I have a boyish shape but by keeping shoulders round and flutes and thighs shaped right, I can pull off a more feminine curve and make my waist look tapered.
Ms Namita Nayyar:
How has your background of being a Classically Trained Dancer at the famous Elmhurst Ballet School been a catalyst in your success of becoming a fitness expert?
Ms Joey Bull:
Ballet, by the nature of having to start out at a really young age, is one of the best disciplines. It means every exercise or training schedule after that is just a process and you just get on with it. We trained three to four hours per day as young dancers. So when I was competing, three workouts per day wasn’t a problem. Nor was the pain or injury, once you’ve worn point shoes, pain is OK!
The blessing ballet brought me in competition was a finesse that the gymnasts lacked, they had the flips, power and the wow factor instead but I could bring something that was more graceful and controlled somehow. In photo shoots I could create shapes rather than regular fitness poses and as far as it helping in work today, it is just another perspective that I drawl from. Even unsuspecting client with two left feet who thought they were turning up for ‘typical training’ have found themselves prancing around in something approximating dance!
Ms Namita Nayyar:
Share your exercise routine that you do to maintain such a bikini perfect physique?
Ms Joey Bull:
I think shape is everything in a bikini, even if you’re carrying more fat than you would like, so long as the muscles are in place they can forgive a lot:
– Shoulder raises, lift weights or band out to the side. I like this as it gives the impression of good posture and a smaller waist, shaped shoulders also can make a sleeveless outfit look fabulous
– Tricep kick backs, with weights or a band, extending the arms tight to the body and keep rotating the thumbs in and out. This works the whole tricep and keeps the floppy
underarm away”
– Biceps and back, these might seem like muscles we can ignore as they go unnoticed compared to abs and gluteals, but working them presents the rest of the upper body nicely and helps everything “tie in” well. I like a narrow chin up with an underhand grip. If these are too tricky (and they are to start!) stand beneath the bar with a foot stool or platform to get some height so you can jump up and get your nose over the bar!
– As for abs, it goes without saying that they can pull off the bikini look all on their own – but some of us just don’t have the physiology that show them off well, no matter how lean we get. I like abs over and done with fast. So my favorite at the moment is on the high bar again, hands wrapped over either way, raise the legs with the goal of touching your hands with your feet, yes! To get people started out on this I tell them to swing their legs into a nappy changing position, they understand! This is tough so the next best one is lying on your back, legs in the air and reach and touch your laces. You could turn that into a pike sit up if your lower back is trouble free.
– Gluteals are a weakness for many and not a great strength of mine. A high, rounded backside is a great goal however! For a lifted look, lie on a Swiss ball on your pelvis, make sure there is good balance between your legs and arms. Widen the legs with the feet still touching the floor, then bring the heels together and raise them to the ceiling in a frog or diamond shape, touch back down wide and repeat until you feel this working in the high mid part of the backside.
– A great all rounder for legs and the backside are jumping squats. Only take them in three different stances: 10 X narrow, feet nearly closed and parallel, 10 X wider, hip distance apart with feet and 10 X with feet slightly turned out, like a ballet dancer but wide apart and as if sitting backwards.
– Curtseys really work the outside of the leg and help create a soft curve in the thigh. Usually about 8-10 slow curtsies each side with the body either perfectly upright or touching down (as if picking up your flowers!) works nicely.
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