Athlete of the Month
Nutrabolics March Athlete of the Month is Fitness Model Caitlyn Bellamy.
Caitlyn is a full time personal trainer who lives, eats and breathes the Nutrabolics lifestyle. From Fort St. John, BC, she is currently prepping for the BCABBA Western Canadian All Natural Competition in May.
https://www.facebook.com/CaitlynJBellamy/info
Follow her on Twitter @CaitBellamy
Athlete Blog
eating out is possible
ATHLETE BLOG - Jonni shreve
BLOG OF THE MONTH: NICKI BUCCI
Nicki shares her video review of our low carb, triple-isolate protein, ISOBOLIC™.
NATALIE WAPLES DEBRIEFS HER WHIRLWIND YEAR
Hello Nutra Fanatics!
With winter setting in most of us are going into a little bit of a hibernation and it is no surprise that thoughts of vacations down south, and the holidays start to set in. This year has been an absolute whirlwind and I am so glad that I finally have a few months to relax (just a little bit), make some concerted effort to improve my competition physique for the 2013 season, and keep doing what I love – being part of the fitness industry!
Here’s a rundown on how the past 52 weeks looked for me (outside of my day to day as a Manager in Human Resources):
Oct 2011, competed in and placed 4th at the IFBB Border States Pro Figure
Nov 2011, relocated to the East Coast of Canada
Dec 2012, joined the NSABBA executive and became a provincial level judge
Jan 2012, started my competition prep for the Europa Show of Champions, and assisted the NSABBA with their Competition Preparation Seminar
Mar 2012, attended the Arnold Sports festival, shot with Oxygen Magazine
Apr 2012, competed at and placed 7th at the Europa Show of Champions in Orlando, Florida. In my own opinion, I thought this to have been one of my best ‘looks’ to date, but I’m not a judge ;-)
May 2012, competed at and placed 9th at the California Pro Figure. Not my greatest show, but when life stress collides with competition, it manifests itself in the form of a flat physique – onwards and upwards!
June 2012, competed at and placed 5th at the Toronto Pro Figure. Very happy with this result – after a 13th last year I was gunning for top 5 so I was stoked with this placing – plus Ontario is my home turf! I also shot with Oxygen Magazine that same week as well as did a guest stint on City TV’s Breakfast Television with Inside Fitness magazine, to promote the Toronto Pro Supershow
July 2012, competed at and placed 2nd at the Chicago Pro Figure. A 2nd place finish!!! My highest ever as an IFBB Pro in a tough 22 women line up – ecstatic at this show.
August 2012, took a much needed vacation to Vancouver and also attended the Nutrabolics’ Black Out party – celebrating 10 years of Nutrabolics success with great friends and exceptional athletes.
Sept 2012, competed at and placed 11th at the Tournament of Champions. Not my best show, but heck it was a great warm up for the Olympia and who doesn’t enjoy a trip to LA?! Later that month I signed with the prestigious FMG (Fitness Management Group) which exclusively manages the best athletes in the IFBB – go Team FMG!!! This was a great lead into the 2012 Figure Olympia where I competed for the second year in a row, representing both Canada and Nutrabolics – such a blessing! Being on stage with the best in the world is an amazing experience. I placed 16th in a competitive 25 women line up – do I need to make improvements, absolutely, but I have definitely worked my butt off to get onto that stage J
Oct 2012, competed at and placed 5th at the Ft Lauderdale Cup. Hurray!!! A top 5 finish and Olympia Qualification Standings Points for next year – made my goal of a Top 5 “end of season” finish after 36 weeks of dieting, competing and working hard in every aspect of my life. Post show I shot with FMG (JM Manion) on the beautiful beaches of Ft Lauderdale with my figure comrade Candice Lewis, and bikini beauties Yesheira Robles and Yarelis Gonzalez. This week I am celebrating my Halloween birthday and finally getting an off season J
So there you have it – my year in review, and what an exciting roller coaster it was. I cannot wait for the big things that are going to happen in the future. I am going to be switching gears on my training, arming myself with my Nutrabolics product arsenal to fuel all my training needs, and work hard at coming into 2013 with a bang. I am going to be reverting back to a lot of basic bodybuilding type movements to help build some size onto my upper body, as well as beefing up the quad sweep. Winning a pro card was and is a huge feat, but all the work it takes to ‘make it’ as a pro is incredible. With a different panel of judges at each show, physiques rewarded differently from coast to coast, and your own personal battle of constantly improving, it seems like there is never enough information out there to answer all a competitor’s questions or enough time in a day to make everything come together.
As this is a Nutrabolics’ blog I thought I would take this opportunity to rave about the product I am loving now – Nutrabolics Carnibolic in Watermelon flavour! This product is a mouth-watering, delicious alternative to regular carnitine products, and gives the body what it needs to help burn fat, increase muscle definition and to optimize your training sessions. I’ve been using it pre workout to get the supplementation I need, while staying hydrated. Carnibolic utilizes 4 different purified forms of the amino acid L-Carnitine (Acetyl-L-Carnitine HCL, L-Carnitine HCL, L-Carnitine Tartrate, and L-Carnitine Fumarate) – try saying that 5 times fast! In addition to Carnibolic, I am back on the ‘shake train’ taking full advantage of my off season meal plan and enjoying my Athlete’s Food post workout as well as Isobolic in the evenings with some almond butter.
Time to hit the gym, but make sure you check back next month for my holiday waist explosion ‘avoidance’ tips, as well as some winter recipes – Eat, Sleep, Train, Repeat!
Yours in health,
Natalie
BLOG OF THE MONTH: Jason Wyner
President Jayson Wyner recaps his Olympia experience and exclusive photo shoot with Alex Ardenti.
BLOG OF THE MONTH: JONNI SHREVE
"If you want something so bad you will do whatever it takes to get. Those things you say want but aren't willing to go the length to get, you’re just talking sh#t" - Jonni Shreve
I remember writing that and really reading it over and over going in depth and deeper into what that statement really means. The power of "want" and the action that must go along with it for "want" to really have any meaning.
I’m going somewhere with this so hold tight!
I use to always look at movie stars and pro athletes as different people that were "super" in nature, but the only big difference between them and the rest of the regular public is their actions. And that brings us back to "want". Its not the case that they are different, its the actions in each of their lives that drove them to do whatever it took to get them where they are.
We can correlate this with training and our goals. My goal is to win at nationals and win my pro card. That is probably the same for the rest of those athletes competing at nationals this year. I always believe that whatever you are doing when training, someone else is out there out training you. Therefore there is someone out there that wants it more than you. Whether it be true or just motivation if you want something you must do everything it takes to get it! If that means one more rep, one more sets, added minutes to cardio, stricter diet, passing up on partying, drinking, whatever it is it must back up your "want" for whatever it is.
Be willing to sacrifice anything that will get in the way of your dreams. It is necessary to cut all ties with those things that will jeopardize that which you strive for.
With great sacrifice comes great reward!
Lets see if i can practice what I preach! 16 weeks out!
Keep striving! Elevate your life!
BLOG OF THE MONTH: Shannon Lynch
Hi Nutrabolics fans!
My name is Shannon Lynch and I am 29 year-old Canadian National bikini competitor and Nutrabolics brand ambassador who lives in the beautiful city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This is my first Nutrabolics blog post and I’m very excited to share with you what I have been up to these last few months as well as what I have planned for the summer ahead!
This past winter and early spring I devoted my time to preparing for the IFBB World Qualifier (previously known as the Canadian Natural Physique Championships), which was held on April 28th in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This was my second trip to the Canadian Nationals stage since rescinding my WBFF pro card last April in order to return to CBBF as an amateur so that I could pursue my all-time dream of earning an IFBB pro card. Last year I finished 2nd to my fitness friend and now IFBB Pro Veronique Morin this year I was close again, placing 2nd to fellow Nutrabolics Brand Ambassador Angeline Jeanson – Nutrabolics represented well!
About my prep:
I began my prep in early January but had quite a bit of work to do in the conditioning department; thankfully I was lucky enough to partner-up with Nutrabolics and was able to depend on their high-quality products to fuel me through my prep! My workouts were high intensity in order to burn the max possible calories per session so I relied on Thermal XTC to get me going in the morning for these butt-kicking workouts. I’m not a fan of eating in the morning before heading to the gym so during my workouts I would sip one scoop of Anabolic State (in Fruit Punch) mixed with a water bottle full of ice cold water – sipping on this BCAA drink helped me preserve my hard earned muscle without inhibiting fat burning (aka my main priority). Post workout, I would drink 1 scoop of Glutabolic mixed with water (to help speed post-workout recovery) and would then prepare my favorite go-to smoothie recipe for breakfast:
Shannon’s Favorite Way to Start the Day Smoothie Recipe
1 cup of water
1 Scoop Nutrabolics Protein Powder in Vanilla
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup frozen berries
1/2 cup frozen chopped kale
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp salba
1 tsp peanut or almond butter
Blend and voila! Simple, easy, healthy, delicious and nutritious and pro fat burning!
Last but certainly not least, I would take NutrabolicsHemotropin before bed and would end up sleeping like a rock – ask any seasoned competitor and they will tell you that sleep is just as important as training!
So since I didn’t walk away with my pro card that weekend, I am now looking forward to my next opportunity to earn my IFBB Pro Card. For me that will be the IFBB North American Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA on August 31, 2012 – which is only 10 short weeks away! This is the same event that Nutrabolics Sponsored Athlete Natalie Waples won her IFBB Pro Card at four years ago. She is planning on making the trip with me so hopefully having her there will bring me extra luck! So between now and then I plan on dusting off my sneakers and lifting gloves and hitting the gym HARD as I did take a much needed break to focus on academics after the World Qualifier. I’m a lot closer starting-out now than I was for my show last April so I’m optimistic about bringing a tighter and more shrink-wrapped physique to the stage thistime. Outside of the gym I plan on enjoying the beautiful weather in Halifax by taking the love of my life – my Yorkshire terrier Abby – on lots of walks on Halifax’s Citadel Hill (I’ve included a photo of us relaxing this past Sunday on the hill!), spending time on patios with friends (drinking club soda mind you!) oh and of course I will do everything that I can to make it to home to Cape Breton Island for a few weekends as well as enjoy the local Halifax beaches on sunny weekend days!
I hope you enjoyed my first blog post! I look forward to checking in again with you Nutrafans in the near future! In the meantime feel free to follow me for updates or ask me questions on Twitter @ShannonLynchFit and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/shannonlynchfit
All the best!
Shannon
BLOG OF THE MONTH: CAROLYN HOOPER
When I look back to the way I used to live my life, I am grateful everyday that I decided to get into fitness. Sure living fit has changed my body, but a change in my mind is where needed the most help.
I always receive comments from people saying they wish they had half the will power, determination and dedication that I have. This amuses me because I used to not be able to make myself do anything. Everyone makes excuses, it is a natural human tendency. I STILL run through the list of why I should not do something - like "I'm too tired", "I'll just work extra hard tomorrow", "Eating this won't effect me that much", etc! Now I just choose to overrule these thoughts - and you can too!
Your mind is a wild animal unless you learn to control your thoughts. Your mind can take you as far as you want to go in life or you can decided to limit your existence and waste all of your potential. You choose.
In my past I had suffered major substance abuse. I would do anything to drown out the war going on between my ears. I did not like the person I pretended to be, and it manifested in the way I looked at myself in the mirror. So I did something about it!
To transform yourself inside and out is painful. Straight up. But the pain of change is only temporary, where the pain of staying where you are, drowning in unhappiness, lasts a lifetime.
If you do not have something in life that you are working towards, you're dead! Everyone has a dream. You may have forgotten about it or considered it impossible. I have proof that if you decide to go after something with everything you've got, envisioning success in every moment, regardless of what you see or feel in the natural - you can achieve anything!
You can't just snap your fingers and change your way of thinking, you need to start small and practise on little things. In the moment that you have the opportunity to either decide to do something that brings you closer to your goal or to decide to make 10,000 excuses why you should avoid the choice that you know you should make, tell yourself to shut up and win that moment. As you increase the moments that you win as apposed to giving in, eventually you will wake up a different person.
I challenge you to first become aware of how you are thinking, then become aware of the dumb excuses you are making in your head, then practise overruling them.
I believe in you!
- Hoops Xo
