CANADIAN PHYSIQUE ALLIANCE JULY || ISSUE 36 | Page 33

ABOVE THE BELT 
HOW TO ACHIEVE THE OPTIMUM BIKINI
MIDSECTION
By: IFBB Pro Athlete, Natalie Waples
Inside the Issue
The coveted six-pack. Well that’s
what we thought we wanted, right?
The “look” of the midsection varies
by the competition category and for
the purpose of this article, the focus
will be for bikini. Why bikini? Well,
it’s by far the most attainable
category for women and
additionally, the judges are not
looking for 6 rectangular quadrants
and deep obliques - a very different
look from figure, women's
physique, and bodybuilding.  
In women's bikini, the midsection
look has changed a lot since its
inception in 2010. Sonya Gonzalez,
Nicole Nigrani, Nathalia Melo and
Ashley Kaltwasser (IFBB Pro
Olympia Bikini champions from
2010 - 2015) all had six packs. Fast
forward to 2016, and Courtney King
changed the look of the game again
with a streamlined and conditioned
midsection, without the defined
musculature. This look was
reinforced with new Olympia
champ, Angelica Teixeira, in 2017 
Nathalia and Angelica are featured in
above photo.