Megan Young has been crowned Miss World Philippines 2013 and Miss World 2013. She is a member of ABS-CBN Center for Communication Arts, Inc. and has appeared in The Reunion in 2012 and this year Bang Bang Alley. She was born on February 27, 1990 in Alexandria, Virginia. Megan is 5 foot 7 (170 cm) and is now a peace ambassador as well as actress and beauty pageant titleholder. This week Megan’s fitness trainer, John Cuay, spoke with the Philippine Daily Inquirer and gave away a few of her secrets.
“Beauty is all about symmetry… It’s not all about having a very small waistline but it’s about creating the shapes.” John Cuay.
There are essentially three parts to her fitness training – functional, weight and core training.
Functional training
Functional training is essentially plyometric exercises. It is jumping, leaping, bounding, running and skipping. You move your body the way nature intended to develop explosive power and strength. In doing so, you align muscle groups and improve your posture and balance. Typical exercises will include box jumps, skipping, sprint drills, burpees, pull ups and walking lunges.
Weight training
Weight training works the muscles. This is basic weight training to tone and sculpt muscles to provide an naturally athletic but slender look. If you follow the workout in our article on women’s weight training you will achieve similar results.
The key to functional training is to lift heavier weights and work hard on a regular basis. This form of training should be done at least twice a week, as the weeks progress aim to lift heavier weights.
Core training
Core training is central to athletics – but the positive spin-off for non-athletes is that it tightens and tones the stomach area. Megan Young is slim and toned, and while she does not have a 6 pack – models and beauty queens never do – she certainly has a strong core and no fat in sight. Core training also helps to bring in the waist, making it slimmer and tighter.
Belly Dancing and Zumba
As well as the gym workouts Megan does belly dancing and zumba as a way to burn calories and improve fitness. Being so slim requires more than just strength training – you need to burn all excess fat off without bulking up. Extra cardio is needed to burn fat.
Dance workouts, such as belly dancing and zumba, work the core, the hips and legs too, while allowing you to keep the upper body relatively relaxed, which avoids too much arm, back, chest and shoulder muscle developing.
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.