Bodybuilding
Once I’d nailed the basics of my biohacking regime and it had became a concrete habit, I decided to sculpt my body to become a competitive bikini athlete.
Becoming a Bikini Champion
I was lucky, and honoured, to team up with the ultimate professional at the forefront of coaching female bodybuilding athletes! Hayley Overall IFBB Wellness Pro (BA HONS) 2021 British Champion.
Hayley’s client success is impressive, with multiple worldwide top placing athletes and UK Champions in numerous federations across a wide range of divisions.
With her extensive knowledge, we were confident that I could bring a winning physique to compete on the PCA stage in September 2023.
Equally important to Hayley’s skills and previous successes, I knew that on a personal level we would make a good match. I could see a lot of myself in her, which I rarely see in others. I admire her attention to detail and I love the way her eyes light up when she talks about what she loves – bodybuilding!
The day we met I thrived on hearing the system she had in place for her clients with a bespoke plan. I experienced sensory overload with all the information I was being given!! It was incredible to hear about all the fine tuning, including how we would be able to track data to reach the place we needed to be.
And I knew immediately that I was ALL IN.
Adopting a new way of living
My life shifted in a new direction where I could focus totally on this new regime.
Every single day I would meticulously track data on a spreadsheet – my morning weigh in, sleep hours, quality of sleep, cardio heart rate, all calories in and out, weighing all food to the gram, tracking my daily mood, step count and logging strength training sessions.
I learnt:
- The scientific approach to building muscle and manipulation of a lot of different variables;
- Fat loss
- Training intensity
- Nutritional strategies, and
- Recovery
I had a clear phase of muscle hypertrophy (muscle stimulus, adaptation and growth) aiming to improve body composition and develop lean muscle tissue.
I then transitioned into a prep dieting / fat loss phase. This involved manipulating depletion, water, cortisol levels and inflammation.
Preparing to Compete
The process of competing was a personal goal for me and not something I would encourage as a way of wholesome living or for longevity of health. However, there are aspects of bodybuilding that anyone can adopt, such as mindful eating, quality of exercise, keeping track of your daily step count and monitoring your sleep quality.
Bodybuilding isn’t solely about the body for me; it’s about the mind. It’s about testing myself to be strong and conditioned to withstand the challenges I was about to face. It’s an art form that takes 24/7 dedication. Bodybuilding means training hard, pushing to the max, making sacrifices and learning more about my body than I could ever have imagined.
It became necessary for me to embrace being uncomfortable and put myself in new and unfamiliar situations. These situations trigger the part of the brain that releases dopamine – nature’s ‘happy’ chemical.
Throughout my intense training period I would always be conscious of the foods I was putting into my body. Ultimately it was a case of tailoring protein, carbohydrates and fats accordingly.
My food intake was low approaching the show and, as my body was going to be using this as its only fuel source, the quality of the food was paramount to me.
Even now, I continue to eat the organic, grass fed produce and high vibrational wholefoods that are essential to be a completely natural athlete.
Recovery and Sleep
My body was taking a pounding day after day so the recovery was equally important. Sleep became another plan that I adopted with the full intention of maximising my performance and enhancing my muscle recovery.
I replenished my body with high quality natural supplementation teamed with a long list of holistic recovery practices:
- Breath work
- Stomach vacuums – which helps to maintain your posture and also helps protect your organs
- Regular deep tissue massages
- Lymphatic drainage massages
- Massages with essential oils – to improve blood circulation
- Pysiotherapy & Chiropractor adjustments when needed
- Daily saunas and cold therapy (There’s a whole science behind cold therapy do’s and dont’s to reap the benefits for muscle building, but I’ll save this for another day!)
- And, of course Animal therapy – nothing quite levels up my serotonin than being out with my Dog Nobby everyday!
- Wherever I travel, as soon as I arrive in a new city I find a therapy clinic as my first port of call – often before even finding a gym or food market!
Guiding other women during my journey
As I developed an aesthetically highly sculpted physique, I found people approaching me more and more with health and fitness related questions.
It turns out that most women don’t realise that the body they aspire to have actually has a lot more muscle than they think. They’re often curious about my mindset and how I’ve been able to achieve my look, and they’re often stunned when I explain the discipline it takes to create this physique.
My purpose has always been to help others on their wellness journey, so I was delighted to share my knowledge of achieving and living optimally to reach one’s full human potential.
I’d found a new love – sharing tips and hacks to grow muscle and achieve fat loss. Bodybuilding has allowed me to help others and share biohacking practices with more people wherever I travel.
Health and fitness is A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE!