Brazilian-born Angelica Teixeira is an absolute force in the IFBB Pro League bikini division. Of her past 11 shows, she’s managed to win 10, including top honors at two Olympias and two Bikini Internationals. But major success doesn’t mean that the 34-year-old is content.
“It is more motivating for me to defend the title than to take the title,” says Teixeira, who resides in New Jersey. “Some people get in their comfort zone, but for me, as soon as I step off the Olympia stage I am thinking about the next one. Being the face of the sport means everything to me. I don’t want to lose that.”
For the 2019 Bikini Olympia, Teixeira is making some changes to her training. After listening to the feedback of the judges, she has decided to add more size to her upper body. She is moving a bit more weight and doing less cardio. What won’t change, though, is her focus on her glutes—her premier body part and a bikini division must-have—and abs. “If it’s working, why change?” she asks.
Teixeira trains her glutes three times a week. The first day is all glutes, the second day is glutes and hamstrings, and the third day is just hamstrings, but her glutes receive a lot of collateral damage during that session.
As a self-described “quad-dominant” athlete, she has come up with several different techniques to keep the emphasis off her quadriceps and on her glutes.
“When I use too much weight, I feel it more on my quads than my glutes,” Teixeira says. “I use a weight that lets me feel the muscle burning.”
Another technique she uses on nearly every rep is the lost art of peak contraction—when you hold the muscle in a flexed position for two full seconds before slowly lowering the weight. You don’t see it in gyms too often because it takes patience and discipline, and it can be very painful. The muscle activation that is sparked by the increased time under tension can do amazing things to muscles, even when not lifting a heavy load.
For bikini athletes, achieving the right balance when training their abs can be a difficult proposition. Judges want to see midsections that are soft but athletic, feminine but with a bit of definition. Finding that sweet spot can feel like chasing a rainbow. Teixeira lets her diet do most of the work but incorporates high-volume body-weight abs training twice a week.
“I don’t train my abs heavy or use weights. I only do body weight, and it is mostly crunches and leg raises,” she says. “Or I will switch in other exercises that hit the upper abs and lower abs.”
Bikini competitors at the 2019 Olympia are going to have to compete not only with Teixeira’s world-class abs and glutes but also with her champion mindset. The Brazilian is a dogged competitor who feels that her mental game is even stronger than the package she brings to the stage.
“Winning the Olympia changed my life,” she says. “When I step off the stage and I feel the love and I hear the girls tell me I inspire them, I think,‘I can’t lose this!’ ”
Keep reading to find out Teixeira’s favorite moves and three keys to eating like a Bikini Olympia champ.
Stand in front of a low pulley and attach a cuff to your left ankle. Grasp the handle strongly with both hands. Keeping your back straight and a slight bend in your planted leg, bring your straightened left leg behind you as high as possible.
At the apex of the rep, hold the leg in the air and squeeze your glutes for 2 full seconds. Slowly bring the leg back to the start.
Perform 2 to 3 sets of 15 reps per leg.
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Chris Nicoll / M+F Magazine
Ball Crunch
Get on an exercise ball and walk your feet forward until your hips are supported but your upper back is hanging off the ball. Keep your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent 90 degrees. Bring your hands behind your head. Allow your back to slightly hyperextend and then raise your torso upward.
Contract your abs hard for 2 seconds before coming back down.
Perform 3 sets of 30 reps.
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Chris Nicoll / M+F Magazine
Single-Leg Split Squat
Stand a foot or so in front of a bench and place your back foot on it, so the laces of your shoe are resting fully on the bench. Squat down until your front leg is bent at a 90-degree angle. Then explode back up.
Perform 3 sets of 15 reps per leg.
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Chris Nicoll / M+F Magazine
Body-Weight Squat
Stand with your feet flat on the floor in a stance that is just wider than shoulder width. Shoot your hips back and lower your glutes toward the floor. Keep your chest up and your back straight throughout the movement.
Focus your gaze on the horizon and keep your arms extended in front of you for balance. Push through the heels and extend your knees to come back up.
Perform 3 sets of 30 reps.
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Chris Nicoll / M+F Magazine
Bench V-Up
Sit on the end of a bench and lean your torso back, supporting your upper body with your bent arms. Straighten your legs and hold them in midair, off the end of the bench. Flex your hips and bring your knees into your chest.
Extend your legs back to the start position. Do not let your feet touch the ground.
Perform 3 sets of 30 reps.
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Chris Nicoll / M+F Magazine
Scissor Kick on Bench
Lie back on a bench so that your head, back, and hips are all supported. Lift both legs up and begin to alternate lifting one up and lowering the other.
Perform 3 sets of 30 reps.
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Per Bernal / M+F Magazine
BONUS MOVES (Not Pictured)
Floating Abduction
Teixeira loves this for hitting the outsides of the glutes. Get into position on an abductor machine with your legs against the pads. Lean forward and, using your hands for support if there is something to grab, bring your hips out of the seat and perform each rep with your glutes floating above the pad.
Perform 2 to 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps.
Kneeling Smith Machine Squat
This unorthodox squat variation takes the quads out of the equation. Place a mat on the floor inside a Smith machine and set the bar to about waist level. Get in a kneeling position, with your knees on the mat and the bar across your shoulders. Unlock the bar so you are supporting the weight. Lower your glutes until they are sitting on the backs of your calves. Come back up and squeeze the glutes at the top of the rep for 2 full seconds.
Perform 2 to 3 sets of 15 reps.
Feet-Elevated Hip Thrust
Teixeira likes to change up this classic exercise. She’ll perform the traditional version with a barbell and a bench,
or she might do it in a Smith machine. Her favorite iteration is the reverse hip thrust, which, she feels, gives her a greater range of motion. Place your back on a mat on the floor and your feet on top of a bench. Hold two to three 10-pound plates on top of your hips. Press your hips to the sky and squeeze your glutes for a full 2 count before coming back down.
Perform 2 to 3 sets of 15 reps.
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Ian Spanier / M+F Magazine
Eat Like a Champ
“I always say, ‘Each body is one body.’ Everyone is different, and not everything works the same for everybody,” says two-time Olympia Bikini champ Angelica Teixeira. See if her diet tips might work for you.
Be Consistent
Teixeira doesn’t carb cycle or try to confuse her body. Twelve weeks out from a contest, she begins her diet of about 1,700 calories a day and sticks to it. Once or twice her coach might have her do a “food bump” (some steak and white rice or maybe even a burger) to wake up her metabolism, but then it’s back on the program. Teixeira is one of those people who can eat the same foods every day, though. She thrives with consistency and routine.
Eat Well
If you eat cold food out of a plastic container, you’re going to eventually hate it, she says. Cook fresh food, heat it in a pan (so much better than a microwave, she says), and use the condiments you like.
Put Stevia on Everything
Teixeira puts stevia on sweet potatoes, salads, avocados, even her egg whites. Hey, if you have a raging sweet tooth, you could do a lot worse.
