I would like to share my experience participating in Singapore Fitness Model Search 2015. First of all I would like to inform you that I have to be honest of how I felt this competition was conducted and the athletes who participated.

I was training so hard and I realized that the results seen were slow for the competition standards. It has already been a year since I started my vigorous training. I wasn’t on any steroid, growth hormones etc.

So I went to find out more on how I can train and build up my body as well as reduce my waist hip ratio. After much research I gathered some substantial information which attracted my attention and changed my entire view with regards to fitness.

We all believe that dieting and running can burn belly fat. It’s a wrong concept. We need to first understand that as we grow older our metabolism rate and testosterone go down our cortisol levels begin to rise when our body undergoes stress. When our cortisol level rises, it whacks us hard and slows down all our bodily functions making us feel weak and tired early. Stress is the biggest contributor to cortisol increase. Stress doesn’t necessarily need to be work related. It can come in any form. For example extending long hours of training can cause stress on the body. Having insufficient amount of rest can cause stress to the body including smoking and binge drinking.

So what has cortisol got to do with belly fat?

Simple. When the body undergoes stress the mind quickly activates the cortisol levels to rise so that the body goes into defense mechanism and start storing fats.

We all have this inbuilt survival trigger mechanism. When in danger (stress) all fats are stored in the belly. This enables the arms and legs to have less weight on them so that they can run fast or swing their arms without additional fats bearing down on them. Fats stored in the belly is to help keep us alive for a few days without food.

So at my age to balance off this cortisol so that it doesn’t affect my fitness program I started to have red wine which helps relax the mind and let it inform the body that we are not in any form of stress and to reduce the levels of cortisol.

So till day of the competition I was having red wine and relaxing myself and I was seeing some results that were quite pleasing and my stress levels were well under control. Some even thought that I might walk drunk on stage Hahahaha..;p

However I was in for a shock during the process of the competition. A string of unusual events took

place that not everyone would experience. Today I am going share my view on how I been misled over the years about body fitness. All these years I was in the impression that you need to train hard and work hard in the gym to achieve ripped results like a body builder. Apparently there are shortcuts that are unhealthy. There a few shortcuts to make your body go ripped in a very short period of time. Of course it takes some effort for work out and diet.

First the most commonly used is steroids which everyone and every bodybuilders knows, they make muscles grow faster, there are harmful side effects to our health, most sports leagues have banned them, and they are illegal without a prescription. However, I believe many bodybuilders use it for fast results risking their own health.

Why do I say that, it’s been proven that these steroids though they help to fasten the process of muscle growth and increase testosterone level, they also greatly increase side

effects like liver, kidneys and heart failures faster than you think. Some builders stop body building at mid-thirties due to the uses of steroids that causes rapid side effects at such young age.

Our body needs a certain level of hormones specific for growth of muscles. By adding extra of all these into your body you are actually stressing all your major organs and causing it to deteriorate faster.

So when I attended the Singapore Fitness Model Search Competition I was wondering if this competition was about being fit or being ripped. You don’t have to be ripped to be fit and fit to be ripped. For those who are taking “extra efforts” to achieve ripped body by incurring major side effects, they are ripped but are they fit.

The most shocking thing I found out was that most of them who participated were below 25 years old.

Some as young as 16 participated. There was a compulsory consent form that had to be signed by those below 21 years of age. I just hope that they are not on the “juice”. The question is will these bodybuilders allow their own children take part in these competition themselves?

We don’t take shortcuts to fitness you have to work hard for it. Maintaining the body is not easy because of diet, time and lifestyle. There was a participant that looked 25 years old and when I asked his age he said he was 17. I was truly taken aback because he didn’t look his age at all. Maybe we are idolizing the wrong people.

We only have about 90 years to live why want to shorten it by being misled with all these quick fix solutions that have long term repercussions. Don’t be disheartened. You can still get those abs and muscles but it will take some time and dedication. I personally know a few people who’ve been training for years just to be where they are today. I want the younger generation to understand that fitness is a long term commitment and short term results have long term repercussions.