Feb 5, 2021
This week, host Celeste Rains-Turk sits down with Chris Nicole
cohost on the Prep Life podcast who started her competition journey
in 2015 as a hobby and prepped for one show a year. She holds
certifications in both nutrition and exercise from NPTI along with
Precision Nutrition
Chris starts off by sharing how the encouragement of a friend
initially brought her to competing as well as her desire to take
her fitness hobby to the next level. She shares how her type A
personality played a large roll in her journey and how it had
attached her own self worth to her adherence of her plan.
As the episode progresses, Chris talks about her own history with
disordered eating. She shares how inquiries from friends and family
about her weight loss made her only want to control it more through
over exercising and under eating. It was a pivotal moment when she
was lying on her back and realized she could see her own skeleton
that made her realize that she needed help. This history doesn’t
hold her back in her preps, however, because she has learned how to
properly frame her mindset around her goals so that they are
healthy. She shares the importance of setting a goal for a certain
leanness for a temporary time and not to live at.
Chris continues to talk about her most recent show and taking last
place. She shares how she felt in denial of it for quite some time,
but after a few months she realized how disappointed she was in the
placing. Chris talks about how she tried to control her reverse
despite what her coach wanted her to do and how they were able to
sit down and develop a plan for making the most of the improvement
season.
On the note of physical health, Chris shares her own struggles with
hypoglycemia as well as scoliosis and the impact that both have on
competing for her. She talks about how hypoglycemia causes her to
rethink the way that most people would eat in a prep and
experimenting with what works best for her. Because of the
scoliosis she has had since a young age, Chris talks about
modifications she has had to make to her posing in order to appear
balanced while on the stage.
Throughout the episode, Chris’ passion for mental health and self
improvement is apparent and she talks about one of the tactics she
uses in order to get the most out of every day. She shares the
important aspects of her morning routine and the appointment she
creates with herself as well as the daily discussion she has with
her boyfriend that features two important questions to positively
reflect on the activities of the day.
As the episode comes to a close, Chris shares her best advice to
both new competitors and those on their way to their pro card. In
this insightful episode, she continues to stress the ever important
theme of competing and life in general, “Your value doesn’t come
from the things you do, it comes from who you are.”
CONNECT WITH
CHRIS:
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chrisnicole_ifbbpro/
ALL LINKS: https://linktr.ee/chrisnicole_ifbbpro
HEAR HER COACH SERIES EPISODE WITH GLAM GIRL: http://www.celestial.fit/confessions-of-a-bikini-pro-podcast/coaches-series-glam-girl-bikini
CONNECT WITH
CELESTE:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/celestial_fit/
WEBSITE: http://www.celestial.fit/
EPISODE TIME
STAMPS
[2:50] Pre Stage Rituals
[4:10] Increasing stage time to one minute as an IFBB Pro
[6:33] Transitioning a fitness hobby to a competition career
[8:23] Using the perfectionist mentality in life as an athlete
[10:47] Putting Self worth into adherence
[13:17] The drive to compete
[15:31] Pivotal moments that stressed the importance of mental
health
[18:22] Previous struggles with disordered eating
[23:53] Changing a mindset around getting leaner
[27:02] Placing last at her most recent show
[34:21] Feeling pressure to perform a certain way as an IFBB pro
and a coach
[38:34] The impact being an IFBB Pro has on coaching
[44:12] Feedback from shows
[47:21] Managing Stress and Hormones in the improvement season
[51:19] Handling gut health and hypoglycemia while nourishing her
body
[55:32] Impact scoliosis has on competing
[1:01:11] Prioritizing a morning routine
[1:06:47] The impact reviewing the day has on the approach to goal
setting
[1:11:12] Best advice for the girl who’s never competed and the one
who’s on the road to pro