Ash, a Perth fitness content creator, joins us to chat about her experience as a first-time bodybuilder, her journey into fitness, building her page, and all things fitness industry related. We discuss:
- Bit of background on Ash
- How Ash's account began and developed into what it is
- Getting into bodybuilding
- Transition in workouts into lifting weights
- Current gym and mixing up gym locations
- Previous training splits compared to the present bodybuilding prep training split
- Being selective with energy expenditure and training types during prep
- Conversion in diet and meals, after becoming independent and moving to Perth from Busselton as a university student
- Sport and fitness background
- Different lifestyle focuses at different phases and the different kinds of people that come with those different focuses
- Connecting with people that share the same interests through social media
- Perth bodybuilding community
- Discipline and willpower that comes with bodybuilding
- Brief breakdown of the different female bodybuilding categories
- The category Ash is competing in and the focus that comes with it
- Training with a partner while sticking to your program
- Post-competition focus and direction
- Future progression goals in bodybuilding, mindset, and muscles wise
- Navigating the festive season while on prep
- Friends that live the same lifestyle and or can understand your lifestyle choices. Friends that support you and respect your boundaries
- First-time bodybuilding journey expectations for during prep and post-competing. Planning post-competition and different approaches, reverse or recovery diet, with future plans in mind
- Favourite and least favourite lifts
- Relationship with her body and how bodybuilding has affected that so far
- Having a coach to guide you and prepare you for the challenges that come with bodybuilding
- Costs that come with bodybuilding. Spending your money on the things that you value
- Hitting macros, getting vegetables in, and gut health
- Tracking everything through prep and keeping it simple. Meal frequency and variety
- Eating whole foods, satiety, and cravings. Eating what you enjoy and what works for you
- With a focus on physique instead of performance, the challenges of comparison especially on social media
- Body dysmorphia during prep and reminding yourself social media is not a reality
- Not consuming social media that doesn't serve you
- Thoughts on tracking and fueling for performance and to thrive and not just survive
- Optimising the components outside of training to see those extra results
- Benefits of having a good coach
- Training in a way that sets your soul on fire, trying things that inspire you, and consuming content that expands your mindset
- Current prep challenges
- Not glamorizing bodybuilding, enjoying the process and the mindset challenges
- Posting and not burning out with content curation through posting what you are passionate about
- Posting as a passion and not posting as a means of income
- Partnerships with brands with quality materials, durability, and communities
- Supplements and drug testing
- Working as a speech pathologist and competing what the future plans for both look like
Weekly recommendations
Words to younger self
Hope you enjoyed the episode, leave a review.
Lots of love Sarz and Ez.
#growthandgains