Hey Steemit Peeps! (NSFW)

Hey y'all. I'm a 25 y/o Texas-born gal (but now happily married and living in Europe) with an immense passion for body aesthetics and modeling. About 5 years ago I took to the weight room so that I would be able to build my physique in a feminine way, as I was born with what's called 'the lean gene.' This 'lean gene' might sound fantastic to most, but I craved the curves that I did not have. This gene ultimately sentenced me (or tried to sentence me!) to a life with what I considered to be a very 'boyish' physique. I have always had a very hard time gaining weight and didn't have to do anything at all to be this lean. This has been a major challenge for me in my attempts to fill out. The below photo shows my 'lean gene' physique. It was about 4 years ago (I dyed my hair dark at this point in my life).

The only thing to do was to devote time building up the parts of my body (legs and bootay) via weight training. This would give me more of an hourglass look, all while maintaining (and first of all, acquiring!) a decent amount of body-fat (decent body-fat levels were required, since the goal was to look soft and feminine, not shredded and masculine like I already was).

Early on in my aesthetic endeavors, I realized that the majority of information that these 'credible' fitness people were feeding me was nothing but broscience and heresay, so I ditched their advice and took it upon myself to seek out the real credible people so that I could learn for myself.

^^ That is a bunch of bologna. Squats will fail 99% of the population in terms of developing the glutes. To this day, I do not perform squats for my bum. I do perform a squat variation for my quads, though [called somersault squats].

I eventually found Brad Schoenfeld's work on the hypertrophic mechanisms and the associated intracellular signalling cascades. This is (objectively) one of the most solid approaches for truly understanding what drives hypertrophy (muscular growth) down to the cellular level. Everything you do in the weightroom from set/rep ranges, tempo, rest period durations, intensity, the lifts you implement, etc. will all impact the potential intracellular anabolic (growth) and catabolic (degradative) cellular pathways in a different manner. If you implement incorrect methods simply because you are not aware, this can majorly (negatively) impact the speed in which you progress, should you progress at all.

^^ One of the best lifts for growing the glutes. Called 'the barbell hip thrust,' as it literally looks like you are humping a bar up and down. It can be quite embarrassing for anyone who is new to it, but I'm used to the stares. I have worked my way to up doing 465lbs x 6 reps (video on my instagram).

^^ That is my research book (on the right).

If you've made it this far, I have to thank you. I understand that most people don't give a crap about all this sciency-stuff and that I can definitely come across as boring, but hey! Welcome to Hailey! Haha. I also realize that your mental image of what the author of this should look like is probably vastly different from the blonde, skimpily dressed model you see in many of my instagram photos, should you happen to head that way (warning, NSFW!!)

^^That's more like it!

I will say that the only reason I have been able to achieve the physique that I have now was because of my hardheaded, bookworm nature. If I had not taken the last few years to weed through the articles and research, I would have never known about the ideal methods to implement and my progress would have been severely blunted. Knowledge really is power.

Please note that I am 100% steroid free! I have never used steroids and I never will! Also, I would ideally like a little more bodyfat on me to help round out my curves and legs. In the last below photo you can clearly see some of my quad 'cuts,' and I would prefer my legs to just look full, curvy and feminine, not shredded with every quad cut detail. Like previously stated, I have always had a hard time gaining weight of any kind and eat like a horse as it is, but I'm sure it will come with time (at least I hope so)!

Thank you all for taking the time to read through my post! I'm looking forward to interacting with many of you on Steemit! Chat soon.

Hailey Harber
( @haileyharberfit )