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Adventures in Living a Healthy, Juicy Life

Guest Post by Renee Willis

Meet Renee Willis, female bodybuilder. Renee is intense – about her sport, about life and about sticking to her plan. With so much intensity to achieve, it’s no surprise that Renee captures the essence of four habits from my “51 Must-Know Habits for Staying Young – from the Inside Out” (the complete list is available as a free e-book. See the large pink box on the right-hand side of this post for downloading instructions).

Renee Willis, female Figure Competitive Bodybuilder, shares her thoughts on the sport of bodybuilding – how she got into it and why she does it.

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Stay Young Habit #8

Enroll in learning something new.

Stay Young Habit #9

Set goals: both short-term and long-term

Stay Young Habit #10

Find people who will support you in achieving your goals.

Stay Young Habit #48

Allow people to be different from you.  Don’t expect everyone around you to like the same things you like.

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Get comfortable…Renee is about to take us on a journey into her bodybuilding world.  You’ll probably want to bring a snack with you.

- Cheryl Ragsdale

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Why Female Bodybuilders Do What We Do

Strength in Body, Mind and Spirit

Empowering the Spirit to feed the Mind, and fuel the body.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics
and ensure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to
find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a
healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have
played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know
even one life has breathed easier because you have lived –

This is to have SUCCEEDED

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

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“Natural” Qualifier for 2010 Nationals

At first glance, many of you hear body builder and immediately shut down.

You might be thinking this topic isn’t for you. However, before you click on your Google search engine or twitter away, I want you to take a second glance. Nothing is ever what it seems to be on the surface.

While you look beyond your assumptions, I invite you to take a walk with me. During our walk, I’ll share my story. The above quote is very powerful. It  ties into each one of my top ten reasons.

Shall we walk?

Before we take our top ten walk, I think it’s important  that I tie my shoes. The question is what shoes? Do I wear the shoes of a body builder? Am I even a bodybuilder? The official answer is that I am not.

Let me clarify. I am in the sport of body building, however there are various categories. I am a physique competitor. I am a Figure competitor.  To be specific, I am a Natural Figure Competitor.

Are you still with me?

Super!!

Now I take a deep breath.

Exhale.

Now I get vulnerable.

Now I smile.

Now we walk.

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10 Reasons Why Female Bodybuilding

is the Greatest Sport

10. Why did I get into this sport?

Honestly I was bored. I wanted something new to do and this kind of fell on my lap. At first, I didn’t pick it up and run with it. Figure is very much about grace and femininity in the traditional sense.

It’s a sport of muscle and high heel shoes, hair, make-up, accessories, having the right suit, having the right color suit -  a sport of conditioning – a sport where too much conditioning could be your detriment and too little conditioning could be equally detrimental.

It is a sport of grace and power where the competitor must have the perfect amount of conditioning to include vascularity, striations, muscle development, muscle symmetry, color, grooming, esthetics, grace, flow, style, control of breath, flexing all muscle groups from head to toes, smile engaged, connecting to the judges, connecting to your audience and presenting the total package in pose and performing with ease. 

There is much more to the sport of body building than meets the eye. It’s difficult and it’s misunderstood. There are many facets within the sport that the competitor must master to be elite. To be a great body builder goes beyond physique. To be a great body builder ties the body, mind and spirit working in unison. This is the most difficult challenge within the sport of physique competitors.

The carving of the body has its own challenging appeal; however being able to move past the surface to the inward and using the inward to change the surface is the greatest challenge. It’s this challenge that is the true sport.

9. Carving the body goes beyond the dumbbells.

Carving the body takes training to a different level. Constantly, the eye has to be objective. The tools are weights, nutrition, supplementation, plus rest and recovery methods.

To be a competitive physique competitor requires thought and action 24/7.  Meaning? Food has a purpose to build and to lean. What does that food look like? I look into the science of what foods build and what are the essential nutrients to create and build a healthy physique. The body is constantly adapting. Food must also change to continually create new results.

The body is an amazing machine. Knowing how it functions – and using this knowledge – is necessary to carve and build a physique. Training is essential and like nutrition, it must continually change to get new results. Hormones are factored into all protocols. I must look at cortisol levels. I must access  ground zero so I continually make effective gains. I must bring in the right resources to help me achieve my goals such as coaches that help create nutrition protocols, training protocols, and rest and repair.

Often muscle groups get damaged or shut off due to intense training.  I must listen to my body.

I have an ART specialist who’s done amazing things for my symmetry and my growth gains by repairing and turning on muscle groups. Saunas, massages, Epson salt baths, the importance of great sleep all work to maximize gains in growth and repair. All effect the carving and lean mass gains progressions. This sport is multi-faceted. Each facet affects the potential gains of each other. Ultimately, they maximize gains of the targeted goal. Body building is indeed a 24/7 sport that goes beyond the dumbbells.

8.  The training is intense, but the training is many things.

My training sessions are times when I can be silly or I can be intense. Meaning? There are times when I train with a partner and we spur one another on. This spurring on is healthy and fun. It’s a session of pushing new limits and testing the body.

It’s been said that the mind gives up before the body. In these fun sessions, we test our perceived limitations. When listening to some great tunes, I’ll do a silly dance in between sets. Why? Simple.  Because people are too intense and too serious and forget the importance of balance and simple fun.

We all get lost in our goals. This little dance is a reminder that without balance, we will never reach our goals. Silly holds hands with serious. Many of my training sessions are indeed serious – silly does fuel the serious.

The purpose of the training session is to target muscle groups, to destroy that muscle to stimulate growth. However, the common denominator to all sessions is that mentally it grounds my spirit. It may be one where yin is needed or it may be one where my yang comes full surface and during my session, I gain clarity in other avenues of my life. My training has a specific goal always, but each session fills a great need within.

7. This sport is literally an education.

I’m constantly learning about how to use nutrition and training as tools for my goals. I am learning more and more about how the body is an amazing machine – it is a resilient machine. How we are to incorporate new strategies via training, nutrition plus rest and recovery to continually make new gains.

It’s been said many times that, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting new results”. I write about this more in my personal blog, but there is much truth here and much that can be learned by experimenting with that statement alone in the parameters of nutrition and training.

6. Connecting to like minded people is another reason why this sport is great.

Meeting people who are on the road to helping others – pushing themselves to new limits to understand self and to become more self…this is the very cool thing about this sport.

Yes, I’m surrounded with like-minded people who want to move forward in their lives holistically. I meet people who will push me when it’s time to be pushed, but also will hold my hand when it’s time to pause and reflect within  growth moments.

5. Pushing myself to be disciplined when I feel tired fertilizes my personal growth.

We all have weaknesses and we all have moments of weakness. We all get tired. I get tired. However, it’s those moments that become the greatest personal growth moments.

I must stop. I must stare. I must examine and choose ‘what I want most in life vs. what I want most in the moment’. These are often dark moments, but these dark moments are a hair thread away from the most rewarding moments in my life.

My sport forces me to do the difficult. Pressing through discomfort to gain comfort, I upgrade my life.

4. A picture is worth a thousand words.

These pictures tell stories of someone who has found fire in her life. They tell the story of adventure and taking a path that many would not take. They tell a “testing” story that is continual, where I’ve challenged my body, mind and spirit to work in unison. I’ve won that challenge. I continue to parallel that lesson to other parts of my life outside the gym.

3. This body, my body, is just a body.

Because of this package that I’ve created, I have a broader audience to talk to and hopefully create a desire and passion to change something about their lives. My ultimate goal is to move people from feeling fine to feeling fire. This body will come and it will go. What is most important is what we do with our vehicle. I hope to park with you when you need a little tune up and then to race against you as we both head towards our new target.

2. This sport allows me to put my words into action.

I challenge people to move forward in their lives. I challenge them on all levels to move forward from a holistic foundation where they push themselves to new levels with their body, their mind and their spirit.  My actions must reflect my words 24/7…and hopefully, my actions provide hope, healing and inspiration for the steps others make towards their target.

1. Body building is the greatest sport.

It’s built my body and my spirit. I’m sure many sports push people to be their best in every sense in their lives…a best that branches off to help others be their best with the understanding that ‘best’ is different for everyone and ‘best’ needs to factor in timing…..and everyone’s best is equal.

I say that this sport is the best because it has pushed me to new growth that otherwise I would not have achieved. It’s pushed my body to new limits. I’ve learned the importance of the power of my mind in any goal, trusting self with a belief that goes beyond facts and fiction. It’s the perfect sport because it taps into my unique spirit which is the core of all that I am. It’s a sport where I must engage my brain at all times to think outside the box, to research, to challenge, to employ, to enjoy and yes, even to act.

Above all though, at the end of the day, what I say next is truly the cherry in my list of Top 10,

bodybuilding is the greatest sport because I get to connect to you.

No one journey’s alone…thank you for allowing me to share parts of mine.

Thanks for taking a walk with me and allowing me indirectly to share parts of yours…..

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Wow! So  much intensity! Renee is truly dedicated to her sport. What are you this intense about? When you examine your thoughts and the actions you take towards achieving your goals, are you this clear that you will succeed?  What new goal could you take on that would have you showing up passionate and “in love” with each step you take to achieve the goal?

Please leave your comments for Renee in the comment box on the right-hand side of this post.

For more on Renee, please click the links below.

Renee explains why she accepted the challenge to guest post on this topic for ThatGirlisFunny:  Strength in Body, Mind and Spirit: 10 Reasons Why Bodybuilding is the Greatest Sport

Strength in Body, Mind, and Spirit,
Renee Willis, OCT MSEd BA CPT

Certified Bio Signature Practitioner
Certified Personal Trainer and Distance Coach

Precision Nutrition Moderator
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/

Strength in Body, Mind and Spirit
http://strengthinbodymindandspirit.blogspot.com

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The “51 Must-Know Habits for Staying Young – from the Inside Out” Gift Basket Give-Away is sponsored by Genuine Health featuring healthy products for your inside and your outside.

FINAL DAYS! ENTER TODAY!

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Genuine Health is a proud sponsor of Sustainable Oceans. For every Happy Place posted , they donate 50 cents to the David Suzuki Foundation in support of healthy fisheries and oceans. Click to post your happy place!

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