Renee is the ultimate slender-to-sexy success story. She believed that she didn't have the genetics to build muscle, but set a goal to challenge this belief — along with her body. Her story of transformation will undoubtedly inspire you to reconsider whatever it is that you believe you cannot do and to start working toward proving yourself wrong.

One of the most rewarding parts of my job as a performance specialist and strength coach is watching my clients develop. Renee is one client whose transformation was especially exciting to follow.

She knew what she wanted and had a pretty strong belief that she could do it; the problem was that she didn't know how to accomplish her goal. That's where I entered.

Our first conversation went something like this:

"So, you want to build a lean, mean, sexy physique? Well, 1,200 calories-worth of egg whites and sugar-free Jello, along with some sweaty cardio kickboxing sessions that leave your breathlessly saying, "Wow, what a great workout!" are not going to cut it."

What Renee didn't know at the time, is that the two phases of metabolism — anabolism and catabolism — control the development of a lean, muscular physique. Anabolism is the building of body tissue and muscle, while catabolism is their breakdown.

Low calorie diets inadequate in protein, essential oils, and nutrients are the least effective way to build muscle. Toss in high amounts of exercise that lack stimulus for the muscles, and you have a recipe for creating a skinny chick, or at least remaining one.

A much more effective diet would include protein, and lots of it, as that's what feeds muscles. Nutrients work in synergy to assist every function of the body. Fat is essential for our hormones, one of which is testosterone.

Ever wonder why men have a much easier time building muscle than we do? Testosterone, a muscle-building hormone, plays a big role. Men have higher levels of testosterone than women and are thus more "anabolically primed" naturally.

Due to this, as a natural female trying to pack on some lean muscle, it's critical to ensure that your diet provides an adequate supply of the right nutrients needed to keep those anabolic hormones running high.

When getting jacked "Jill-style" is the goal, we want to remain anabolic and avoid catabolism at all costs. So what's the best way to remain anabolic?

Proper Nutrition: Adequate calories along with the right food choices and nutrient timing are key to priming the body's hormones for lean muscle growth.

Hard Training: You need the training stimulus to take all those nutrients and drive them into the cells and tissues, resulting in a striking transformation.

If you eat like a skinny chick and you train like a skinny chick, you'll look like... a skinny chick! Want to build some solid, sexy curves? You need to train and eat like a man!

This was the underlying theme behind the plan to transform Renee's slender, lean, but seriously under-muscled, undernourished physique into a high performance, sexy, and sleek physique.

7 Secrets to Building a Sleek Physique

1. Do Not Skimp on Fats

When carb intake is lower, fats must be moderate to high. You cannot function or flourish on low calories, low carbs, and low fat.

For a simple calculation, take your daily protein intake and divide it in half to find out your minimum fat intake for the day. Then divide those two minimum numbers and portion them out among your feedings throughout the day.

Example for a 135-pound female:

Protein intake absolute minimum would be 135g, but the optimal amount for building a lean and mean sexy physique is 1.5 to 2 times the body weight. In this case, we'll say her recommended protein intake is 200 grams. Thus her daily fat intake will be 100 grams.

If she were to eat five meals a day, each one would consist of 40 grams of protein and 20 grams of fat. Her carbs would come from vegetable sources only, except for post workout.

2. Eat Meat, and Lots of It

Low protein diets are sure to keep androgens low and pave the way for estrogen to dominate. To build a fierce physique, animal protein rules supreme. Supplement your meat proteins with high quality protein supplements (like Metabolic Drive).

Don't limit your intake of eggs, red meat or game meat if you want to build a quality female physique.

3. Do Not Skimp on Calories

You know the song; sing along: "She's a brick house..." You need the bricks, plain and simple.

There's no need to count calories if you're simply following your base protein and fat needs while also following the rules of nutrient timing for your carbs. Renee ate in the range of 1700 to 3000 calories with her average being 2100.

Feed the muscle! Fuel the metabolism! Those two combined will build the muscle and burn the fat.

4. Train Hard

Did I say hard? I meant insanely hard! And often. But not long.

You can't routinely (naturally) train hard, often, and long. The harder you train, the shorter the workout should be. Renee's training sessions only lasted 40 to 50 minutes each, with the occasional, "What level of hell is this?" workouts (some have lasted as long as 2.5 hours).

If you want to find out what that means, register for one of our upcoming Women's Empowerment Weekends. You'll redefine "hard" training.

5. Build Your Foundation With the Basics

The basic movements and principles that have been proven to be effective for decades should always remain in your training repertoire.

Renee's bench press has gone from a rather sad 55 pounds for five reps, to a one rep max of 125 pounds in just one year. She can also bang out chin-ups, pull-ups, and weighted dips for reps.

Yes, the showy muscles should be emphasized, but you're not going to pack on serious mass and put that protein to good use with triceps kickbacks and two hundred ab crunches!

Work the basics with an emphasis of putting more weight on the bar and on your body.

6. Embrace Experimentation

Once you've built the foundation with the basics, be prepared to experiment — both in the gym and in the kitchen.

The only way to truly learn about your personal and unique relationship with food, training, and supplementation, is to try many different approaches. Toss what doesn't work and keep what does, until it stops working for you.

Beyond the initial anticipated hesitation ("Yes, I want to grow, but not my ass!"), Renee was open to the ongoing experimentation process and fully embraced it once she saw the results it brought.

7. Be a Visionary

Set a mental picture of the final product you want, and never lose sight of it. Never!

If you see it, you will be it. Not overnight, maybe not in a year, but it will happen. Renee and I are constantly searching magazines and the internet for physiques that she wants to emulate and body parts that she needs to build.

These 7 not-so-secret "secrets" have transformed Renee from average to extraordinary in only a year. Results speak volumes.

Renee is just one example, but her results are quite remarkable because she applies "secret" number 4 100% of the time with 100% effort. Very few people work as hard in the gym — or put as much passion into their goals — as she does.

I completely changed my physique by gaining fifteen pounds of lean mass in just six months. More importantly, I've also improved myself as a person, an educator, and a trainer. I've learned that as my body keeps adapting, my protocols must keep changing.

This is my journey and it has just begun.

Before I connected with Krista, I was frustrated. I trained frequently and did a lot of my own research on nutrition and proper physical activity in an effort to build the kind of body I wanted: sleek, hard, and sexy.

I was doing everything I thought was right: Eating more protein, watching my fats, eating carbs only after training, and increasing my exercise hours from cardio and weight training. My improved nutrition, along with hard work in the gym, lead to a transformed body — but it wasn't the one I wanted.

This frustration fueled my desire to find someone who could point me in the right direction. That search is what led me to Krista.

Over the two months of following her protocols, my body fat dropped to 6% and I gained eight pounds of lean mass while eating more calories, more carbs, and doing much less cardio. I didn't have to "live and breath" the gym, and still managed to be competition-ready at the end of the two months.

A week after competition, again following all the prescribed protocols, I hit the scales at 132 pounds with 118 pounds of lean mass. I grew again!

It turned out that I'm as capable of gaining muscle as anyone else. I was thrilled to learn that my body was ready, willing, and able to grow muscle.

I also learned that there are many dots that need to be connected and there's not one thing that's right for everyone all the time. As I continued to learn more about my body's unique relationship with food and training, I became healthier, stronger, and more balanced.

Take a look at the difference between my nutrition from a year ago and my nutrition today:

Training Before

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Circuit weight training
Wednesday: Skipping
Thursday: Circuit weight training
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cardio Kickboxing
Sunday: Group exercise

Current Training

Monday: Chest, biceps
Tuesday: Glutes, hamstrings, calves
Wednesday: Back, triceps
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Skipping, abs, posing
Saturday: Shoulders, rear delts
Sunday: Giant set for legs, sauna protocol

A little of the right information is as valuable as gold. Proper assessment tools and guidance tie the specifics together — properly designed training programs, individualization in supplementation, and personalized nutrition.

I'm goal oriented and disciplined; I know what I want from both myself and from my choice resources. I know firsthand that the right guide and assessment tools are the essential threads that can help create the best possible you.

Why be one of many when you can be one of the few?

Take the journey to achieving your goals! You don't have to do it alone if you're feeling lost; bringing others onto your transformation team can help you learn about your unique relationship with food and training.

You too can get balanced and be empowered with this new knowledge.