Brief biography of Maria Tskiria
There is little information about Maria's childhood and youth in the public domain. It is known that the fitness bikinist was born on March 28, 1992 in St. Petersburg. The athlete’s father organized his own profitable business, and her mother worked as a music teacher at school.
Maria Dokuchaeva married an athlete, bodybuilder and trainer Sergei Tskiria, the girl took her husband’s unusual and attention-grabbing surname. In June 2011, the couple had a daughter, Eva.
Postpartum changes led to the fact that Maria was very dissatisfied with her body and was determined to lose those extra pounds. Sergei warmly supported his wife and drew up the girl’s first training program and diet plan. Hard work on myself bore fruit in the form of victory at the St. Petersburg championship in the fitness bikini category. And six months later, Tskiria takes part in the fight for the title of Russian champion.
The victory brought not only moral satisfaction, but also attracted the attention of advertising agencies to Tskiria. Maria has signed a commercial contract with several brands of sportswear, accessories and nutrition. Several times the fitness model appeared on the covers of glossy sports publications.
Today, Maria Tskiria is photographed for magazines, performs at various championships and competitions, and also conducts individual and remote consultations on fitness and nutrition. The fitness bikinist has two paid courses to improve body parameters: “Effective fat burning” and “Brazilian butt”.
ManGear
ManGear: Hello Maria . We are very pleased that you agreed to answer a number of our questions. For those who don't know you yet, tell us briefly your story that led you to playing sports?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: I was going through a difficult moment in my life, and I thought it was a good idea to turn to a specialist and my future husband Sergei. He then worked as a psychotherapist. Took a few classes and it really helped me. I began to see my goals and prospects. They became interested in each other and began a relationship, and eventually got married. In 2011, daughter Eva was born.
I didn’t really think about studying, it just happened on its own. I came to Sergei’s gym and watched how he worked out. He didn’t tell me anything, like, let’s go and study. He always liked the way I looked, and now he likes it even more. And then I thought, why don’t I do it. Yes, and I would like to match it, for example, in the summer not to seem like a gray mouse against its background. We worked out in the park, I did squats there and did various exercises. This is a new level for me, now I work as a trainer, preparing girls for bikini fitness competitions. I enjoy it and I enjoy training people.
ManGear: Today, for you, iron sports, and in particular performances, have grown into a hobby or is it something more?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Of course. This is my job and I earn my living from this. I compete at competitions and am currently an active coach. From time to time I have various video shootings and photo sessions.
ManGear: Do you ever have problems with motivation? Does it ever happen that you get tired of it?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Yes, of course it happens. Sometimes there are periods of such a certain depression that you don’t want to do anything at all. But it’s much easier for me to catch the mood. If I don’t want to do anything, I don’t do it. Then there is such a moral boost, and I start working hard, trying to catch the wave, so to speak - it works.
ManGear: We very often ask our readers questions about what they want to see in new articles. And very often the question comes from men - “How to get your girlfriend to work out in the gym?” Guys hint that their girls are afraid to lift weights, afraid of gaining big and masculine muscles. Of course, we have already written more than once that this is not at all the case and there is nothing to be afraid of, and the interview itself with your participation will be a great motivation for many! But maybe you personally have some advice for a girl who wants to start training, but is still worried about it?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: What can I say that is not trivial? Of course, everyone has talked about this many times and there is nothing really new. Personally, I would recommend that the girl think logically, for example, there is a fear of not getting the shape that she wants, and what does the girl do? She does the same thing using little weight, too many repetitions, group exercises, sitting and spinning a bike, using fake plastic or rubber bars or something like that. And so they walk and walk and then you should logically think that they do not get the result they wanted. This means that they are doing something wrong, you need to try something new and see the result.
There is no such thing as irreversible changes in the figure. Irreversible can only happen when using steroids. For example, maybe something will come out according to the male type. Even if you have pumped something and you don’t like it, you can stop pumping this muscle, and it will return to its original state. So try new things and see the results. This process must be exploratory and experimental.
ManGear: Do you have other very interesting hobbies, and does the training process interfere with other aspects of life?
Maria Tskiriya-Dokuchaeva: I used to work as a photographer before my coaching career, but now no one is particularly interested in this, I deleted the albums of my filming from my page.
I am putting more and more emphasis on this now. I won’t work as a gym trainer all my life; I want to expand my range of activities, create my own projects and shows. There are a lot of ideas. And I want it all to exist and work as a single whole. Organize my own show, performances, dance, acrobatic, light, music, that is, combine into one whole my current activities with what is in my soul, so to speak. This doesn’t bother me at all, quite the opposite. Now I go to stretch and dance from time to time.
ManGear: We sorted out the girls and motivation. Now let's move on to the guys. All guys, one way or another, want to gain muscle mass, some want to lose excess weight, but in general, everyone is busy with one thing - improving their appearance and improving their health. We are interested in your opinion, should a man be big and strong or not?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Personally, I have my own views on what a man should look like. To each his own. I spend a lot of time in the gym and see a lot of pumped-up men, but I prefer thin, slender, but not really very thin. A man should look good, not just with his body. This can mean clean clothes and clean shoes. If a person’s body is not very good, then such a person is not considered, but I put more emphasis on appearance, charisma, and humor. I'm not particularly interested in the amount of muscle.
ManGear: Your advice to girls who want to get back in shape after giving birth.
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: We can formulate two pieces of advice - don’t be afraid that something will happen. That is, you can practice almost immediately, the main thing is to be able to listen to your feelings. Even the day after giving birth, you can do the simplest exercises. You just have to base it on the sensations in your body. No one else except your body will tell you. But on the other hand, she can harm herself, or vice versa. For example, if something in one position causes discomfort, then there is no need to do it. The main thing is to start doing everything slowly and then the recovery will be faster.
After breast surgery, on the 5th day I already went to the gym and did my legs (according to the program). And they say to study at least a month or two later. That's bullshit. If you do nothing at all, the body will take a long time to recover. Personally, I know how to listen to my body.
Without fanaticism, if a person does not know how to listen, then this fanaticism can lead to unpleasant consequences. If a woman is eager to urgently put her body in order, and runs to the gym and, like me on the 5th day, does not her legs, but her arms, and not some light exercises, then everything will be very bad for her.
ManGear: Since our resource is aimed not only at the development of sports, but also at the development of culture and society as a whole, I would like to hear from you a few words about the qualities that a real man should have, in your opinion?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: For example, among famous personalities I like Robert Downey Jr. He has charisma, good looks, and humor. I like the relative calm.
ManGear: Let's get back to training. Do you think that in order to achieve serious results, you must have a mentor, a coach?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: I think so, but if it’s not possible to hire a coach, then you just need someone who understands and will help you and even at some point just support you and give you the necessary information. Of course, one can ask the right people something new. But this path is much longer and more difficult.
ManGear: Do you have any idols in the sports world?
Maria Tskiriya-Dokuchaeva: If we consider external data in terms of men, then this is most likely Flex Wheeler.
ManGear: Tell us a little about your performances, what awards are the most significant for you?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Unfortunately, there are no awards yet, but in general I performed twice in St. Petersburg and in Russia. I didn’t take part in the last competitions, maybe I’ll take part in the fall. Since I don’t think it’s worth skipping more than two seasons.
Regarding the performances, she posed rather poorly and was very embarrassed. And at first they don’t give you space, this is very rare. A bit scary. It’s somehow easier for me to swing in the gym without stopping than to master posing, I’m a little shy about it on stage, and that’s why it’s hard for me.
ManGear: You already have competitors on the stage. Do you keep in touch with each other and share secrets?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Everyone is a competitor on stage, but there is also friendship. We communicate adequately, have a positive attitude and support each other.
ManGear: What basic training principles do you adhere to? Or do you focus more on your own experience and feelings?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Of course, based on my feelings, I focus on progression, cycles, stages of gaining, stages of drying.
If I haven’t finished eating or haven’t had enough sleep, then the load is correspondingly less, but at the same time I try to progress and comply with everything.
ManGear: We almost forgot, our lovely ladies asked us to tell you a little about the best exercises for the butt and chest in your opinion?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: In general, I haven’t been doing anything for the upper body except for the shoulders for over a year now. Personally, I don’t see the point, of course you can do it purely for show and to maintain tone. If the goal is to tighten, enlarge, etc., then it is easier to do plastic surgery, the effect will be greater. If we talk about volume due to muscle growth, then you can imagine how much muscle is needed in the chest to gain, if a girl is afraid to bench press a barbell at all, she is also afraid to eat normally. You can’t go on a diet and enlarge your breasts at the same time. In this case, she will need powerful strength training on the chest plus high-calorie nutrition, but then she herself will increase a little in volume, and girls are afraid of this.
For example, she has been working out for six months, working on gaining weight, let’s say she gained weight, then along with this both fat and water will come. And then when it all dries, the chest, shoulders, and arms will go away faster, unlike the thighs and stomach. And in the end, the top will be completely dried, but the bottom will still remain. And when the top is dried, the breasts are fatty tissue and it goes away, only the muscles remain. And here the girl is standing in a swimsuit, she has muscular breasts and it looks ugly. Only plastic can save you here.
As for the butt, all the exercises are effective, I won’t say anything new. Squats, lunges, abductions, flyes, some kind of deadlift, deadlift.
ManGear: We're all about training and training. They completely forgot about the diet. What place does diet take in your life? What would you recommend giving up in your diet first of all?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Nutrition can be completely different during the set and during the drying phase. If this is the formation of muscles, then there is nothing complicated at all, the main thing is that there are building elements in the diet, or just proper nutrition, without much reliance on sweets and starchy foods. If it’s drying, there are a lot of nuances. There is no such universal thing that you eat this and that and you will have everything, and you will dry out, the further you go, the more, everything needs to be looked at according to the situation. At the right moments you need one kind of nutrition, at other times a little different. It all depends on the training.
If I say, eat this and that, and a person does some kind of high-intensity circuit training in the gym for two hours, then it will not work at all, he will deflate and become thin as a board. Everything is different.
As for the products that should be excluded, I think you yourself understand which ones...
ManGear: What are you trying for? What is motivation?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: this is both an opportunity to develop and to start your own business. The better my external results, the more clients I have, the more opportunities I have to expand my business and grow higher.
ManGear: Maria, what is the one most important piece of life advice you would give to someone who has just finished reading this interview?
Maria Tskiria-Dokuchaeva: Be in harmony with yourself, build your life around yourself in such a way that it would be comfortable and pleasant for you to live in joy as much as possible, and then everything around you will slowly contribute to good results.
If there is sadness and despondency in life, work is shit, and everything is bad in family life, then what can be the result, what career growth can there be?
When you have friends, a loving family and a job that brings you pleasure, even if it’s not very profitable, you still feel so comfortable that everything will certainly fall into place!
Photo by Maria Tskiria
Principles of training and nutrition of Maria Tskiria
The famous fitness trainer Maria Tskiria trains four times a week. Each lesson lasts 4 hours. The fitness program is dynamic and changes depending on Maria’s goals. The training includes elements of fitness, stretching, weightlifting, calisthenics and crossfit. The athlete boasts that she is able to push a car downhill without effort.
Maria Tskiria about a thin waist
Tskiria rarely pumps up the abs and rarely gives specialized exercises. Fitness does not divide the muscle segment into upper, middle and lower. Sometimes Maria performs static exercises for a while. A narrow waist, according to the fitness bikinist, depends on the correct proportional development of other segments and a beautiful pose.
Butt training from Maria Tskiria
Maria places the main emphasis on the lower body. Top 3 favorite exercises for the buttocks from the athlete:
» Gluteal bridge in Smith. » Abduction of the buttocks in a crossover. » Sumo deadlift with an empty bar.
You can supplement your workout with the following CrossFit elements:
» Jumping onto the platform with both feet. » Stepping onto a platform with dumbbells. » Stepping onto the platform with an empty bar.
Where it all started
Like most women, after giving birth, Maria Tskiria lost her former shape. But she didn’t feel any particular desire to change anything about herself. One day she decided to visit the gym to see how her husband was training. Sports activities aroused a genuine interest in her, and she decided to try herself in this matter, starting classes with minimal load. According to Maria Tskiria, she did not want to look sad compared to her fit husband.
Before starting fitness classes, the girl worked as a photographer. However, sport was able to completely overshadow all other hobbies, pushing Maria to radical changes in her life. So she became a personal fitness instructor.
Principles of nutrition
Maria Tskiria adheres to the principles of rational nutrition with calorie counting and nutritional supplements. The daily diet is divided into 5-6 meals. In the morning, to activate metabolism, the fitness bikini consumes a teaspoon of honey or butter. For breakfast, Tskiria prefers complex carbohydrates - porridge with water or milk, oatmeal with a fresh apple, or pancakes with protein.
The main sources of protein are chicken breasts, beef, kefir and lentils. Sometimes an athlete allows herself bacon. Complex carbohydrates are represented by rice, buckwheat, oatmeal and pearl barley. To replenish fat reserves, Tskiria dresses vegetable salads with olive oil. Vegetables, greens and fruits complement the diet of a fitness girl and serve as sources of fiber.
The model prefers to limit the consumption of salt, sugar and baked goods. Instead of bread, Maria prefers diet bread.
Tskiria consumes protein, amino acids and carnitine. Fitonya prefers protein bars as a snack. Another favorite type of dessert is cottage cheese with grapefruit, apple and a small amount of vegetable sweetener (with stevia).
Once a month, the athlete allows herself cheat meals. Tskiria loves chips, sushi, rolls and pizza.
