This month’s profile of the month is our gorgeous super-star Rebecca Said. Bec started Personal Training with me (Coach Terri) in January 2018. Her goal was simply to improve her strength training, learn more about nutrition, get leaner and improve her health. And she achieved all of that, and much more.

Early 2019 Bec asked me about competing in a Body Building competition as a Sports Model competitor. I was so excited for her! I knew Bec had it in her because she was such a dedicated and disciplined person. So in May we starting prepping for her first show in September, the ICN Victorian Championships.

When Bec started training with me back in January last year, she was eating under 1300 calories, strength training 7 days per week, training in soccer twice per week and playing soccer. And she was struggling to lean up and build muscle.

During the time I have worked with Bec I taught her about nutrition and training, helping her lean up and build muscle with more food and less training. Until of course she decided to compete.

Then we hit the gym hard, and increased food even more. 8 weeks out from comp day we dropped soccer. It was breaking down way too much muscle and Bec was getting too exhausted. As soon as we did, muscle grew. Bingo. 

5 weeks out we introduced resisted cardio which consisted of walking slowly (level 4) on the treadmill with an incline of 8. This is known as low intensity cardio that increases muscle growth, reduces fat and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps the body relax and fight stress. This, together with daily step count of at least 12,000 steps increased activity without having to increase training. The more constructive activity a person does, the more fat the body burns. But it does need to be constructive. Crazy cardio only increases stress on the body which actually has the opposite effect; counterproductive.

The lowest average daily calorie intake leading up to the comp day was 1600 calories per day, with refeed days as high as 2900 calories. It’s not about starving someone. It’s about feeding them the right food, in the right macro quantities at the right times. Focusing on the quality of food rather than simply filling calories. That meant we chose only fresh foods that gave maximum macro requirement, helped reduce inflammation and gave Bec the energy she required to sustain the level of training required at such an elite level. Health was, is and always will be the first and foremost value. If anything was going to risk her health, it was dropped or not introduced.

I didn’t want to drop Bec’s food too much as I wanted to have back up calories that we could reduce leading up to the World Championships 5 weeks after her first show. If we dropped too much too soon then we would have nowhere to go for the Worlds.

Sunday the 22^nd of September Bec stepped on stage for the very first time. Though she didn’t place in her events, she absolutely shone! To say I am proud of Bec is an understatement. Words cannot express how I feel about this incredible young woman. The sacrifices she had to make to achieve her goal were massive.

Bec is one of the most disciplined, hardworking, dedicated, committed and inspiring people I have ever met. This, at just 25 years of age, is incredible. She is truly incredible!

Bec has stepped into a very special place in my heart; I absolutely adore her! Congratulations on an incredible journey Bec! I can’t wait to see the package you bring to the ICN World Championships on the 27^th of October. Watch this space folks; this little lady is going to absolutely rock your world!

Here is Bec’s story in her words:

“[Before starting with Terrific Fitness] I was very self-conscious of my body and was very much consumed by trying to get lean. I would strength train 7 days a week while also playing other sports in between. I was being extremely hard on myself by not understanding that the body needs a rest so if I missed a day of training it would play on my mental state. My diet was formed by things I would search online like ‘carbs were the devil’ and ‘you need to eat only 1200 calories to see results’.

When I came back from a 6 week holiday, my family started to worry about how much weight I had lost so I was trying to ‘gain’ weight again but I was really just trying to maintain that weight. I then realised how unhealthy it was and thought I needed someone to help me with my nutrition.

I met Terri at work and once I found out she was a PT I immediately started asking her questions. We started chatting and I thought to myself ‘she really knows her stuff.’ She was explaining a lot about the proper form and techniques of strength training and as a Chiropractor that was music to my ears! So without hesitation I signed up for personal training.

Watching Terri’s journey last year when she competed really inspired me to take up the challenge [of competing] and see how far I can push myself.

Training for the competition involved 4-5 hours of basically living at the gym (it became my second home). That of which consisted of around 2 hours of strength training, 30mins-1.5 hours of resisted cardio and then completing my 12000 step target for the day.

When it came to food prep every gram counted. There was no such thing as guesstimating the amount of anything and the kitchen scales became my new best friend. The food became very repetitive and when you had a refeed with something as simple as getting to eat a banana, it made your day.

The prep didn’t stop at the gym or in the kitchen. It was something that was on your mind 24hrs a day. I needed to make sure I was getting a minimum of 7 hours of adequate sleep as my results were very much dependant on this. Mindfulness and meditation also played a big role in helping with my body’s stress state and my sleep in the last few weeks leading up to the comp.

The toughest thing for me was that I needed to work my prep life around my social life, so when I had 2 overseas and interstate trips, countless weddings, engagements, birthdays and everything else in between I needed to bring my food with me and made sure I still trained (yes, even to Bali… there was no drinking and partying for me). It was also my first year of marriage so to put date nights on hold and not being able to celebrate our first year anniversary the way we planned while watching all our friends around us enjoying their nights, while I was exhausted to do anything, was tough.

I loved the whole process and the new world I was stepping into. I loved all the challenges and seeing when you really want to achieve something you make it work no matter what is happening in your life and that feeling of accomplishment is something you’ll have with you forever no matter the results at the comp. Though, the thing I loved the most was my friendship that I was blessed to have formed with my amazing coach, Terri.

If you’ve ever had the slightest thought about competing, then do it! You learn so much about yourself in the process and you really grow from the experience. There are times when my results weren’t going the way I thought they should be which really stressed me out but you just need to trust the process.

{What would you say to someone thinking of getting started with Terrific Fitness?} It will be the best decision you will ever make in regards to your health. I’ve never had any regrets and I can guarantee you that you won’t either. I’m not one who deals well with public speaking so the thought of getting on stage in front of hundreds of people absolutely scared me but words can’t describe the feeling you have when you get on that stage and show everyone your hard work and achievements. Don’t let fear stop you from doing anything.” – Rebecca Said, Ringwood