The 23-year-old Russian powerlifter, also known as ‘Muscle Barbie‘ (because of her pretty face and rather large muscles); recently took to Instagram to give her followers some advice about losing and gaining weight. And she’s no stranger to offering tips related to fitness in general.
Now, Vin is a two-time world powerlifting champion and AWPC (Amateur World Powerlifting Congress) record holder in the deadlift (190kg/418 lbs), not to mention she recently hit a 165kg bench press at the APCON Fitness Expo in the 67kg weight class (moved her to a number 1 world ranking in the Junior’s category) and a 192.5kg/424lb squat for three in training… so, she’s pretty freaking strong.
But by just taking one look at her, it’s pretty clear that she knows how to get in shape too. So, it’s no surprise there’d be a lot of interest from followers and anyone else looking to achieve their physique goals.
Here’s what Julia Vins had to say about losing and gaining weight on Instagram…
Weight Loss Advice
“How many times have you tried to lose weight? And how many times have you failed?
There is a stereotype that you need to eat 5-6 times a day if you want to burn fat.
I will show you a completely different way how to lose weight.
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Overweight is not the problem, it is just a symptom of some problems.
Yes, you should focus on calories, but you shouldn’t ignore hormonal triggers. And now we’ll talk about the hormone you should pay attention to – insulin.
The formula is simple, if insulin goes up – you gain fat.
Therefore, the classic scheme recommended by professional bodybuilders (eating 5-6 times a day) is very good for gaining weight, but it does not work well for fat burning if you train naturally.
And it does not depend on what diet you use (even keto, vegetarian or other)
How to lower your insulin levels:
1. Reduce fast carbohydrate intake.
2. Avoid the combination of protein and sugar.
3. If you eat a lot of protein, add enough fat to this meal.
4. Reduce the number of meals, but there is an important thing – follow your calorie norm. Because if you eat not enough calories, you will have the opposite effect.
5. Do not eat snacks between meals.
6. If you follow these recommendations for about 2 weeks, your insulin level will begin to stabilize and the desire to eat sweets will decrease.
I didn’t understand how important is, but about 2 years ago I began to learn about this issue.
And it works great, I can adjust my weight very easily, I feel good, and I don’t have to worry if I skip another meal because of work anymore.
P.S. You still can get my 12 tips how to build muscle mass fast, link in bio❤️”
Weight Gain Advice
“I got a lot of questions about how to gain weight.
Before answering this question, let’s look at what type of weight you can gain:
1. Increase the amount of water in the body
2. Increase the amount of fat
3. Increase lean muscle mass
What is your choice?
So if you want to gain water and fat, there are no problems with this. You can do it without any system.
In this case, people use the usual method, they are getting more and more food.
But if you want to gain LEAN MUSCLE MASS, here is the way for this:
In our body, there are 2 major processes, catabolic and anabolic.
And the main hormone that regulates the anabolic process is growth hormone.
Production of growth hormone in normal amounts for muscle growth occurs when there are 4 main factors:
1. Insulin level not too high
2. The right nutrition plan with the optimal calories and nutrients for growth (the amount of protein should be at least 2g per kg of body weight, fat at least 1g per kg of body weight) And it does not depend on the type of your diet
3. Healthy sleep
4. Training with normal volume and intensity
Here is the key. If you want to grow muscles, you shouldn’t eat everything and a lot, your diet should be BALANCED.
What kills your muscle growth:
1. Cortisol. It’s also important to prevent a high level of stress because cortisol will block the production of growth hormone.
2. You eat not enough protein. This is a very common problem.
3. Your diet is not systematized. Your calorie intake is different every day.
The bottom line is: don’t gain your weight by wrong methods, this mass will not give you good health. And there is another way, here it is.
P.S. My course will start soon. Subscribe in the link in bio. And also you’ll get 12 tips how to build muscles fast ❤️”
The ‘Muscle Barbie’ had some great advice for people looking to achieve either weight goals and we’re sure there will many more tips (she likes to give them) to follow from the young Russian powerlifter.
But here’s a recent post where she shared her secrets for how to get big arms and live a healthy lifestyle… and we’ll be sure to update you with more content from Julia Vins.