Legs Of Lohre (Muscle & Fitness)

Legs of Lohre: Learn the art of sculpting beautiful legs and glutes with the help of IFBB fitness pro Julie Lohre and her five-move routine
by Karla Dial
IT WAS ONLY SIX YEARS AGO THAT JULIE LOHRE WAS a Proctor & Gamble office worker, responsible for talking to women about feminine hygiene products. "I was a focus group moderator, so understanding consumers and women's needs was what I did," she says. "It was a wonderful job that I loved, but there was a lot of sitting on my butt and eating fast food." [paragraph] At the time, Julie was a slightly out-of-shape former gymnast with sporadic gym-going habits and no particular fitness goals. But then she got pregnant and, determined to have a natural childbirth, she and husband Rick began eating clean and stepping up their workouts together. Four months after son Tre was born, they attended the 2003 Arnold Fitness Weekend. It was a life-altering experience.
INSTANT SUCCESS
"I had never seen fitness or figure before, and that was it. I was hooked," Julie says. "We took tons of photos, and I started finding out everything I could." A month later, she entered her first figure contest--the 2003 NPC Northern Kentucky Bodybuilding and Figure Championships--and won both her class and the overall.
One year and four figure competitions later (at all of which she earned first or second place), Julie took advantage of her gymnastics roots and won her first fitness title at the 2004 NPC Pittsburgh Championships. Then she took runner-up and best routine at the '04 NPC Nationals to claim her pro card. And these days, she's in the money callouts at the Fitness International and Fitness Olympia.
THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE
In 2003 Julie left the corporate world behind, earning both her personal training and nutrition certifications to embark on a new career.
But now with 24 shows' worth of experience under her belt, she's still thinking about ways to help women: Inspired by her own lingerie and swimsuit shoots with FLEX magazine (January 2007 and June 2008, respectively), this spring Julie launched a series of fitness modeling workshops for women looking to break into that part of the industry--or who just want to be pampered and commemorate all the hard work they've put into getting ready for a competition.

"I work with women who want to get in the best shape of their lives, so we do photo shoots with a professional makeup artist and wardrobe--the whole experience," she says. "I help the women pose and make sure they're comfortable, and Rick does all the photography. There's a reason why the people you see in magazines and on TV look so amazing: Someone is picking out their clothes and making sure they look amazing."
The photo shoots are a natural extension of Julie's FitBody Contest Prep Team, the group of amateur fitness and figure competitors she has coached, both online and in person, for the last two years. She doesn't just build dieting and training programs for the women, though; this team meets every three weeks and holds entire mock competitions.
THE POWER OF FITNESS
"When I first started, there was a pro who helped me out once or twice, but other than that it was me looking at the photos and trying to figure things out," Julie says. "It just kills me when I see an individual who has a great physique but doesn't know how to present it. I would've given anything for someone [in the sport] to have told me what I needed to know when I first started out.
"Having that team support is really helpful--not just for them but for me, too. You might be the only woman at your gym who wants to compete, and out here in the Midwest, they think you're crazy if you don't eat at McDonald's.
"I try to have fun at the shows and make sure that we all just focus on how far we've come, not some of the petty contest stuff," Julie continues. "This is my passion. I love it when I talk to a woman who's in her 40s and looks better now than she did when she was 18. It's empowering when you realize you can take control and change your physique no matter what your age."
While in college she envisioned a future as a doctor or lawyer, Julie admits that she has probably ended up doing exactly what she was meant to. "There was always this fitness thing in the background--this has always been who I am," she says. "This sport is really unique, and the people who are involved are so dedicated and determined. Helping them reach their goals and change their lives is really important to me." Apparently, fitness is the best medicine.
SNAPSHOT
BIRTHDATE Sept. 12, 1974
BIRTHPLACE Cincinnati
CURRENT RESIDENCE Covington, Kentucky
HEIGHT 5'5"
WEIGHT 125 pounds contest, HIGHLIGHTS
2008: Fitness International, 4th.
2007: Palm Beach Pro, 2nd;
Fitness Olympia, 8th; Atlantic City
Pro, 3rd; All Star Pro Fitness, 2nd;
Europa Super Show Fitness, 4th
TO CONTACT julielohre.com
THE ROUTINE

EXERCISE                       SETS  REPS

Dumbbell Lunge                   3    15
Barbell Squat                    3    15
Barbell Split Squat              3    15
Plie Squat                       3    15
Exercise-Ball Bridge/Leg Curl    3    15

Julie trains legs with heavy weights during the off-season, then drops
to a moderate weight and does more reps closer to a competition-usually
three sets of 12-15 reps per exercise. She also does cardio for 30
minutes 3-4 times a week during the off season, usually a Spinning
workout. When preparing for a show, she does cardio seven days
a week, alternating between 30- and 45-60-minute sessions, plus
90-minute routine practices three times a week. Because she stays
within 6-8 pounds of her contest weight during the off-season, she
starts her serious contest diet only eight weeks out.

TRAINING SPLIT

DAY       BODYPARTS TRAINED

1     Full-body workout
2     Legs/glutes, back
3     Off
4     Full-body workout
5     Routine practice
6     Hiking, biking with family
7     Off

Dumbbell Lunge
TARGETS: Quads, glutes, hamstrings
START: Holding a dumbbell in each hand, stand tall with your feet together and your arms down at your sides. Pull your abs in and focus on a point on the floor a few feet in front of you.
EXECUTION: Step forward a comfortable stride length with one foot, lift your back heel, and lower that knee straight toward the floor. When your front thigh is parallel to the floor, press through the heel of your front foot, rising straight back to the start position. Step forward with the other foot and repeat. Continue alternating legs for reps.
JULIE'S TIP: "Sometimes I add a straight-leg kickback with my back leg as I'm standing up. Just squeeze your glute."
Barbell Squat
TARGETS: Quads, glutes, hamstrings
START: Holding a barbell across your traps, stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, toes pointed out slightly. Keep your chest up and tighten your lower back.
EXECUTION: Inhale deeply and bend your knees, dropping your hips back while keeping your torso upright. When your thighs come parallel to the floor, reverse and press through your heels to bring your hips forward and up.
JULIE'S TIP: "I think flexibility is a big issue for proper squatting. I can do all the splits for fitness, but even I still have to stretch a few minutes beforehand to get my hips really low on these."
Barbell Split Squat
TARGETS: Quads, glutes, hamstrings
START: Holdings a barbell across your traps, step forward with one foot so your legs are a comfortable stride-length apart. Tighten your abs, lift your chest and lift your back heel. Don't lock out your knees.
EXECUTION: Bend your back knee to lower your body straight toward the floor, but don't let it touch down. Press through the heel of your front foot and squeeze that leg to rise straight up to the start position.
JULIE'S TIP: "Keep your hips tucked under as you come up so you really squeeze through your glutes. Keep your pelvis tilted forward a bit."
Plie Squat
TARGETS: Quads, glutes, hamstrings
START: Stand erect with your feet wider than hip-width apart and toes pointed out. Hold a dumbbell in both hands extended down in front of you.
EXECUTION: Bend your knees until your thighs are nearly parallel to the floor. Push through your heels to return to the start position.
JULIE'S TIP: "Keep your chest up and toes turned out at about a 45-degree angle. I like to go really wide with these, almost double shoulder width. Come down as low as possible and really squeeze through your glutes as you rise."
Exercise-Ball Bridge/Leg Curl
TARGETS: Glutes, hamstrings
START: Lie faceup on the floor with your hands next to your hips and your heels on top of an exercise ball. Pull in your abs and tighten your glutes to lift your body so it forms a straight line from shoulders to heels.
EXECUTION: Digging your heels into the ball, bend your knees and contract your hamstrings to pull the ball toward your glutes. Keeping your abs tight, roll the ball back out and repeat for reps.
JULIE'S TIP: "I do a lot of these. I'll do 10, then rest for a second, then do 10 more--about 40 with short rests in between. At the top, hold it in, then pulse up to put more emphasis on the glutes. Squeeze your knees together to make it more challenging. Sometimes I'll put a medicine ball between my knees."
RELATED ARTICLE: JULIE'S STORY
1 Isolate the muscles you're targeting. Make sure your form is excellent and that with every rep you feel the tension in your quadriceps, hams and/or glutes. Develop a mind-muscle connection. Focus on the workout and just try to feel that muscle group contracting on every rep.
2 Push through your heels. During lunges and squats, keeping your weight pushed down through your heels and your chest up as you rise will really help focus on your glutes.
3 Don't overdo it. I try to separate my leg workouts and cardio sessions to avoid hard cardio immediately after leg training. Instead, I opt for cardio (like Spinning) in the morning and save my leg training for later in the afternoon.
4 Be sure to give attention to the backs of your legs. Many times, we work what we see the most--the quads--and end up with imbalances between the quads and hamstrings, which can lead to knee and low-back injuries.
5 Stay motivated. I work with a woman who has a picture of what she wants her butt to look like on her nightstand next to her alarm clock. So whenever she doesn't want to get up to do cardio, she sees it. You have to think about where you want to be. M&F
BY JULIE LOHRE
PHOTOS BY MARC ROYCE
COPYRIGHT 2008 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning