1. Just as an introduction could you briefly tell us how you got to this point in your fitness journey?
It's a loooong story, but I'll give you the Reader's Digest condensed version:
I gained a lot of weight in my 30s, thanks to some really poor lifestyle choices. A busy life with a stressful job, 3 kids, a husband working nights, plus too much food, lots of wine,
and zero exercise added up to me hitting an all-time high of 85kg or thereabouts by my 40th birthday. After trying to diet the excess weight off numerous times over a few years
(yeah, like THAT ever works as a permanent solution!), I had an epiphany one day. My moment of clarity was prompted by two things - the crappy health I'd endured personally over a couple of years,
and my mother's upcoming total hip replacement at the age of only 63. It was like looking into a crystal ball that foretold my future, and I didn't like what I saw. I knew that I needed to do something,
pronto, if I wanted to avoid some serious health problems in the future, and the realisation hit me: that something needed to involve exercise.
I cleaned up my nutrition, and joined a gym - I was convinced I would hate it, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that I actually enjoyed weight training. From there things kind of snowballed.
I stumbled across the Body-for-LIFE program and completed a challenge with really good results. It was the final phase in a year that saw me lose almost 30kg. That 12 weeks not only gave me a new body,
but a huge injection of self-confidence and I signed up to study for my fitness instructor and personal trainer qualifications. I was actually speechless when I won a prize in the 2004 Australian Body for
LIFE competition. In 2005, I entered my first fun runs and started my personal training business. HUGE changes for a former couch potato.
Since then I've continued setting and ticking off goals, learning more about training and nutrition, and I can't imagine a life without fitness as an integral part.
I look at my "before" photo now and find it hard to recognise that person.
2. What led to your decision to compete?
Uh…insanity? Seriously…I'm always looking for a new goal, something that gives me a sense of achievement, and also something that I can really
use to measure progress. I'd already clocked up quite a few big goals and was looking for the next thing. I briefly entertained the idea of doing a half marathon,
but I'm not what you'd call a natural at any kind of cardio. The thing I love to do is weight training.
I'd been an admirer of figure competitors for quite a few years, but always saw them as somehow special - you know, like some kind of slightly superhuman species -
so didn't really believe that a former fat girl could do that. After all, I was in my 40s. I had stretch marks. LOTS of stretch marks. And I was a late starter to training, unlike many women who'd
been competing since their 20s.
Then I met a few figure competitors who were just getting started in their 40s, and they convinced me that it was possible. I still hesitated for over a year before I was prepared to step out of
my comfort zone and give it a go. It was certainly a capital-letter Big Goal, but as a friend of mine says: everything you've ever dreamed of is waiting for you outside your comfort zone.
3. Can you outline for me the basics of how you got yourself competition ready. How long was your preparation, how was your training structured and how did you manipulate your diet?
Comp prep was 16 weeks, strictly speaking, but I was actually working towards competing for an entire year. I had some postural problems to correct and wanted to add some
extra muscle, before I got to the cutting stage, so I began my carefully planned strategy 12 months out.
The prep phase itself was a learning curve for me. I'd always had the idea that you needed to drastically cut carbs and eat ultra-"clean" to achieve a stage-ready body, and that was part of
my reason for hesitating so long. Not so. My prep nutrition was actually no different to my off-season nutrition, apart from a smallish reduction in calories to achieve a nice slow, steady fat
loss over the 16 week period.
Training was stepped up in the final weeks, but I wasn't doing anything insane like 3 or 4 hours a day, and my program was very similar to what I was doing off-season in terms of types and frequency
of training. My weight training was a 3-day split and towards the end I was doing 5 sessions a week. Cardio was a mix of gym, outdoor and at-home workouts. I love my spin bike and my DVDs!
Nutrition-wise, the final week involved a few changes, but they were a lot less drastic than I'd expected. Two days out, carbs were reduced - but only by 5%, and only for that day. One day out,
I had to sodium-deplete, which was a bit tedious, as my meals became a bit boring (I like to be creative with my healthy food…). It was only one day though, so not a big deal. I also did a potassium load -
the mix of less sodium and more potassium makes your body shed fluid like crazy, which is important for giving you maximum definition on the day. You don't want to look all puffy and smooth.….
Comp day itself was a carb-fest of jelly snakes and rice cakes with honey, but minimal water, to get a good hard pump in the muscles. Ugh - I still can't face a jelly snake…..
Overall, I trained 6 days a week most weeks - that's exactly what I do off-season, and what I've been doing for the past 5 years, so it wasn't much of a hardship.
The fact that I love weight training made it reasonably easy too. And the great thing was, that as it got mentally and physically tougher, I could actually see the changes in my body almost on a daily basis,
so that helped to keep me going.
4. You obviously have a busy life and yet you managed to prepare for a competition AND keep everything else under control. How do you do it?
When something is important to me, I'll make it a priority and fit it into my life no matter what it takes. This was far less challenging than my initial lifestyle change 5 years ago.
Making time for exercise was hard then, but I realised that you have to decide what's important in your life and prioritise accordingly. I decided back then that the best time for me to
train was early in the morning, before my family were up - that way I wasn't sacrificing any time with them. It meant that I had to be in bed earlier, so THAT meant less TV for me - which I haven't missed.
So training for a competition mostly fitted into the time I'd already allotted for training. Food preparation is another thing I've now been doing for years and barely even think about.
Most evenings I pack meals for the next day - often lunch is an extra serve of whatever I had for dinner the night before.
I do have one extra advantage, and that's a fabulous husband who cooks and shops. I might not have made it without him. And as for keeping everything else under control?
That's not quite the case. Housework simply got neglected - the kids pitched in and helped up to a point, but I've learned not to stress about unmopped floors or spotty bathroom mirrors.
Those things bother me a lot less than missing a workout.
5. What would you consider the five most important factors in a nutrition plan for those wanting to lose fat?
- Sustainability. If it's based around a stupidly low number of calories, excludes entire food groups or involves forcing down foods you hate, or worse still, multiple "meal replacement"
products, it won't work as a long-term strategy, because you won't be able to stick to it. Same goes for repetitive meal plans, where you eat the same basic things, day in, day out. Variety is a good thing.
- Regular small meals - preferably 5 or 6 a day, to keep hunger at bay and your metabolism stoked. And who doesn't like to eat often, anyway?
- The right balance of macronutrients. It has to include more protein and less carbs than the average person eats. Not NO-carb, or even LOW-carb, but just a sensible
amount to provide enough energy, which is way less than we've been brought up to believe. And fats are not something to fear, you just have to choose the right ones, in the right amounts. Food pyramid - Bah!
- Lots of veggies. Lots! Not a token amount on the side of your plate, I'm talking HALF your plate full of vitamin- and fibre-packed goodness. Your mother was right all along.
- If it doesn't have room for chocolate, I'm not interested.
6. What supplements do you use and how much benefit do you think you get from them?
I've tried quite a lot of supplements over the years, and I've learned that you cannot beat whole foods as your best source of nutritional goodies. However,
there are some supplements that I believe are unbeatable for good health and for supporting fat loss and muscle gain. This is what I stick with:
- Fish oil. Omega-3s are the bee's knees! Apart from the well-publicised benefits for cardio-vascular health, these little beauties are essential for your brain,
for hormone production, for skin and hair health, and for a billion and one other biological processes. As a bonus, if you're getting enough of the good type of fat provided in fish oil capsules on a
regular basis, this signals to your body that it's OK to let go of some of that stored body fat.
- L-glutamine. My favourite amino acid. This one helps with muscle building and repair and may actually reduce post-workout muscle soreness. It also reduces cravings when you're eating less calories,
but I mainly take it for the immune system boost it gives me. I never, NEVER get seriously sick. When all around me are falling victim to whatever lurgy is doing the rounds,
I'm as healthy as can be. I believe that when you train hard, your body uses up a lot of the glutamine that you get from food and that your body produces itself, in
repairing and rebuilding those muscles you're thrashing in the gym. If you don't supplement with extra, there isn't enough to go around and your immune system, digestive system and so on don't get their fair share.
That's one reason why so many people who train hard get sick so often.
- Vitamin C. Again with the immune system support thing (see above). This also helps to suppress excess cortisol production, which is not something you want going on when you're trying to shed fat and/or
build muscle. 1000mg per day is my preferred dose.
- Whey protein. I really don't even consider whey a supplement - to me, it's a food. I would be lost without my vanilla whey powder….how else would I make my pancakes, protmeal, pruffins, and other yummies,
all full of protein-y goodness? I don't actually use it in shakes much at all, because I've learned that liquid meals just don't cut it for me in terms of satisfaction.
I get hungry way too quickly after a shake. But a chocolate soufflé omelette? Now that easily keeps me going till my next meal.
I added a couple of new supplements during my comp prep - BCAAs and ZMA. There are a lot of BCAA (Branched chain amino acids) post-workout shakes around, but I took mine in pill form,
because I begrudged the 250-300 Calories I'd have to cut from my real food. ZMA (zinc and magnesium) was added to support muscle repair and also to aid with sleep.
I can't honestly say whether the BCAAs helped, it was too short a timeframe, but the ZMA was definitely beneficial for better quality sleep.
It frustrates me that one of the first questions people who want to lose weight or gain muscle ask is usually "what supplements should I take?" And I always answer that
they need to get their nutrition and training sorted FIRST, before they even consider most supplements. Most people who eat well and train regularly could probably add my favourite
4 and reap the benefits, but they're usually thinking more about fat-burners (DON'T get me started….) and testosterone-boosters and the like. Everyone's looking for the quick-fix magic solution,
but I hate to break the bad news: it doesn't exist.
Bottom line: if your training program and nutrition plan are crap, no supplement is going to help.
7. I'm interested in the mental challenges of losing fat and eventually getting competition ready, obviously your body changes, but do you feel that you have also changed, as a person?
That's an interesting question….I suppose that yes, I have changed. I've struggled for years with my self-image. Even after all my successes; losing a lot of weight,
becoming a personal trainer, helping clients achieve their goals, and blitzing personal fitness and strength tests, there was always that voice inside my head that told me I didn't really belong
among athletes and fit people. At events where bodybuilders and trainers congregated, deep down I felt as though I was hovering on the fringes as a spectator, and wasn't actually one of them.
It's an extension of that thing you do where you lose a lot of weight, but you can't actually see yourself the way you really are. I call it wearing fat goggles. You go shopping for clothes
and pick up the small sizes, but think "that won't fit ME" and you grab a bigger one to try on. Of course it's way too big. D'oh! I did that for months before one day I actually said to myself in a shop "Pfft.
Don't be such an idiot, just buy the size 10 - it WILL fit". And it did. That was a turning point.
Having actually made it to the figure stage, and being welcomed and treated as an equal by other competitors, was another turning point. Finally, I can use the word athlete about myself,
and feel as though it's true. It's just one more weapon I can use against my Inner Fat Girl (my name for the small but persistent voice that tells me I'm not good enough…..)
I have news for her: I'm a figure athlete and I AM SO good enough!
8. If you had to choose, what do you think is the one thing that is 'make or break' for anyone looking to compete?
That's a tough one, choosing just one thing. I suppose I'd have to say getting nutrition right. So many girls follow crazy diets to get themselves competition-ready, and there are so many risks in doing that.
Diets that are overly restrictive, that cut carbs too low and so on, have inherent health risks, but as well, there are other considerations. First of all, it's unlikely that you'll be able to stick to the diet,
and you'll have episodes of bingeing or overeating - which means you'll have to diet even harder to compensate. Chances are, you'll end up either not lean enough on comp day (and who wants to stand on stage
with a fat butt, or all smooth, with no muscle definition?), or you'll hit your body fat target, but will have lost so much muscle along the way that you look like a concentration camp survivor.
And for the few who DO manage to come in lean and tight, with enough muscle to look good onstage, there are other dangers. First, they might do it once, but they'll probably not be able to
achieve the same results second or third time around, and will have to cut calories even further if they want to get lean. That's a real mind-bender. And secondly, there's a very high risk that they
will develop an eating disorder post-comp, or simply gain a lot more weight than is desirable and end up severely depressed. Nice, huh?
The best advice I can give is: choose your coach very carefully. Quiz them about their approach to nutrition and if they advocate no carbs after lunch, or a severely limited food list,
very low calories, or something else extreme, run away as fast as you can! There are good coaches out there, so ask around amongst successful competitors.
I was very lucky to have discovered my coach - actually, I believe it was you who found her initially, well before I made the decision to compete.
Liz Nelson is a very well-qualified, very smart and VERY innovative coach, and it was her sane approach to nutrition that
attracted me in the first place. The fact that she's in Brisbane and I'm in Melbourne was never off-putting to me.
After all, I'm an online trainer myself, so I know how well that can work.
9. What was the most fun part of competing?
That's a hard question, there were lots of fun moments. These are just a few:
- The gorgeous outfit. Where else could you wear a blinged-up bikini and a pair of stripper shoes and not be thought of as odd? OK, apart from in a strip club…
- The endless eye-candy backstage. Mmm-mmm!
- Having a legitimate reason to eat jelly snakes and chocolate. All day.
- The muscularity posing round. I love to flex my muscles, and people look at me strangely when I do it anywhere else. Can't imagine why….
- The post-comp meal. Indian food, red wine, and Nutella gelati. Best-tasting things I've ever eaten.
- The chance to hang out with you. :)
10. And the scariest?
Easy - performing the choreographed routine. Being onstage with the other competitors wasn't so bad. Being onstage completely alone, with all eyes on ME was terrifying!
And I've always sucked at anything requiring grace and co-ordination. That was the longest 60 seconds of my entire life!
11. Now that the competition is done, what are your future plans for your business and your body? What projects do you have on the go?
Personally, my goals are to compete again, same time next year. That gives me lots of time to gain more muscle where I need it. I was very happy with how I shaped up for my first comp,
but there's plenty of room for improvement. My immediate training goal is to sort out some funky issues I have with my shoulders and thoracic region, so training is a bit…uh…different at the moment.
No heavy weights, and lots of mobility work, stretching, some core work, plus general cardio and bodyweight stuff.
I also want to enter a few running and cycling events over the next 6 months - with the focus on competing since mid-year, it's been a while since the last one.
Business-wise, I have some exciting stuff going on. First of all, I'll be opening a brand new personal training studio in the New Year for my one-on-one clients.
And I've added some new services recently, which I strongly believe are going to help my clients achieve their goals faster, and make it easier for them to maintain results too.
Without going into a huge sales pitch, I'll just mention a couple of things I'm most excited about:
- Earlier this year, I set up my Precision Nutrition licence, which allows me to coach clients through the Precision Nutrition program.
PN echoes the principles of my competition plan, and is arguably the best nutrition plan I've come across.
- I'm also offering genetic profiling for fat loss, fitness and sports performance. This is really exciting stuff! Via a simple DNA test, clients can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses
and make simple adjustments to their training, nutrition and supplementation to maximise results, whatever their goals may be.
I have more info on my website www.fitbodies.com.au or anyone who's interested can email me at kerryn@fitbodies.com.au
12. And lastly, when are you coming to visit me in NZ?
Yeah….I do owe you a visit or three. Better start saving my pennies and watching out for cheap airfares.
