Question from Jenny - 06-03-02

Hey, my name is jenny and I am 22. I visited your wonderful page: http://www.monicaalongi.com/ and I think you look so beautifully sexy and Strong!!!. I started working out 5 months ago, and I have a couple of questions regarding Chest, Abs and Biceps.

Are you doing pushups (two arms and one arm) in your Workout? how many can you do

ABS: You have beautiful, ABS, how many times do you train them in a week and can you give the crunches amount you do.

Biceps: What kind of weight do you use for beautiful biceps training and how many Raps?

Do you do Chins/Pull-ups and how many?

You have such a beautiful Calves. What weight do you use for them? I hope I am not asking too much:) thanks Bye

Monica's answer:

Hi Jenny! Thank you for the wonderful compliments! I really enjoyed reading your email! It's great that you started working out at your age! What are your goals? Chest, abs and biceps are on the top of my fav body parts to train. So to answer your questions:

I do pushups sometimes at the end of my chest workout but usually every time I train gymnastics I train pushups, hinge pushups, one arm pushups and handstand pushups. How many can I do? Well, usually pushups are a finishing workout for me so I'm pretty burnt by then so not too many. Maybe 3 pushups each one arm. In karate we had to do 100 pushups every class so I could probably do that still!

Abs are a very small muscle group so I train them maybe 2-3 times a week at the end of a training session. I usually challenge myself by doing incline crunches (20) or reverse crunches (10) or hanging leg raises (10). *Remember: abs will only show up with a proper lean and clean diet.

For biceps, I usually do barbell curls at 8-10 reps and incline dumbbell curls 10 reps. I try to do a heavy weight but not too heavy so that I keep good form.

Yes I do Chin ups! I just started them a month ago or so. They are great! (and hard!) I do them wide grip. I have my boyfriend spot me since I can only do about 3 or 4 by myself. I do 8 reps and the last one I try to hold myself at the top and my boyfriend will try to pull me down for extra resistance.

Calves are my weak muscle group. I am tryin to train them 2-3 times a week. I usually do stand-up and/or seated and leg press is good too.

Since you are just starting out, it's a good idea to have a trainer show you a few things to ensure you have good form and avoid injury. Also, If you don't have good form you may not be isolating the muscle you are trying to build. Be smart and keep focused. Keep me up to date and don't hesitate to ask me more questions!