I FINALLY got the chance to sit down with the amazing Taliha Paige, who is a WBFF Fitness competitor and owner of TPaige Apparel. I make no secret of the fact that I think Taliha is a total legend and was so pumped to chat to her about her competing journey, some of the things she has learned along the way and get a bit more insight into her awesome mindset.

I cant wait for COVID to be over so the two of us can tear up a mosh pit or ten if I’m honest!

In this episode we cover:
- Iso/lockdown mindsets and focusing on the now
- Being consumed by the media/social media and distancing ourselves to cope
- Taliha’s comp being cancelled (again!)
- What would comps during COVID look like?
- Advice for competitors with shows cancelled
- Taliha’s competing history and why she hasn’t stepped on stage in 3 years
- Being both mentally and physically ready before committing to a prep
- Getting your calories in a good place before prep
- Learning to train properly
- Managing spondylosis and figuring out ways to train without pain
- Training mistakes over the years
- Gym anxiety and training without ego
- How Taliha stays motivated
- Finding your ‘why’ and knowing your purpose
- Setting up T Paige Apparel - her why, goals and building an authentic brand
- Being a creative a putting your ideas out there
- Listener questions - advice on finding finding sponsors
- Listener question - what does Taliha value most in her training
& a hell of a lot more!

If listening to this doesn’t make you motivated I don’t know what will!

You can follow Taliha at http://instagram.com/talihapaige/ and check out TPaige Apparel at http://instagram.com/tpaige.shop/

If you love this episode don’t forget to share to your stories and tag us in it so we can both see and give you a shout out!

Love you,
R x

#SLBC

Can you believe we are already at episode 20! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone has been listening and giving feedback so far. You're all awesome!

This week’s episode is with the wonderful Bridgitte Vogt, who is an ICN Sports & Fitness Model Pro and ICN judge from Melbourne. 

It’s clear that Bridgitte absolutely loves this sport – it’s so great to see her passion coming through in how much she loves seeing other competitors succeed and enjoy their stage experience. We need more of this in the sport please! 

In this episode we cover off:

• Prepping and training in stage four iso
• Diving into her six years of competing and turning pro
• How she found the sport and fell in love with it
• Binge eating post show
• Why she chooses to compete in a natural federation
• Playing the long game 
• Realising it takes a long time to develop a physique
• Getting into competing a little bit ‘later’ (we’re 30 not 70 lol)
• The importance of focusing on what you can control
• New boobs and RIP to all the boobs lost in prep
• Becoming an ICN judge
• How to stand out on stage
• Choosing a bikini and bikini mishaps!
• What the judges are really looking for and how they place people
• Tanning experiences and funny mishaps
• Finding a good coach and sticking with them

You can follow Bridgitte at http://instagram.com/bridgittevogt/ 

If you loved the episode, don’t forget to share to your stories so we can see and give you a shout out!

Thanks for tuning in you legends.

Love you,

R x

#SLBC

This week’s episode is with light of my life, Habiba, who is an ICN Bikini athlete from Melbourne. She took out the Rising Star award in March this year and is currently prepping to take out the ICN shows in October/November (pro card here we come!).

We covered so many great topics in this episode - Habiba is so incredibly self aware and the way she approaches bodybuilding (prep, reverse and offseason) is very inspiring. She has a very critical mind and her passion to understand it is ultimately what I believe gives her a champion mindset!

Really excited to see where the next few years take this pocket rocket!

In this episode we covered:

• How she’s going prepping right now as we head into stage 4 lockdown in Victoria
• Why prep is almost easier in lockdown
• Blind faith vs. trust in your coach
• Why “WHY” is the most powerful word in a competitors diction
• Learning to help prepare for post show
• Habiba’s unique mindset post show/reversing
• How she got started competing & prepping over Christmas
• Feelings of missing out vs. focusing on our goals
• How she got into fitness after moving from one side of the world to another
• Training out of love for the pursuit of progression
• Moving away from focussing on the scale and focusing on form gains
• Recovering from anorexia by herself
• Understanding what is happening in our minds as a first step to addressing it
• Honouring our feelings and allowing ourselves to FEEL to work through them
• How she sets up a successful day
• Get food obsessive during prep
• Going for that pro card!!

And so much more!!

If you want to follow Habiba you can do so at https://www.instagram.com/habibaxlife/

If you love it, don’t forget to share to your stories so we can see and give you a shout out!

Thanks for tuning in you legends.

Love you,

R x

#SLBC

Kirsten & I covered a topic in last week’s podcast that I’m actually really passionate about, so I decided to hop on my soap box for a hot minute. Enjoy!

If you love this episode, don't forget to share to your stories and tag me so I can give you a shout out! If you're keen to hear more like this too, slide into my DMs and let me know!

Love you,

R x

This week’s episode is with the gorge Kirsten Aisbett who is a personal trainer and property manage from  Ballaratt, Victoria and is also an ICN Bikini & Sports competitor – soon to be WBFF bikini!

What I love about this sport and community is the amount of incredible women I’ve ‘met’ on social media. Kirsten is one of them! We’ve been following each others’ journeys for more than a year now and it was soooo incredible to watch her smash the stage for the first time last year.

When I started this podcast I just knew I had to speak to her! We really left no stone unturned in this chat. We covered:

• Dealing with COVID and training during lockdown
• Opening a new gym this month
• Her journey into health and fitness which started four years ago
• Being inspired at the Arnolds to compete
• Losing 40kg in total and overcoming anxiety and depression
• Back to back preps
• Coming from a really dark place and turning her life completely around 
• Training her mind and mindset to focus on her self
• Learning about nutrition and learning to track
• Focussing on herself and how some people were incredibly unsupportive of this
• Using her own journey as fuel to help other people 
• The biggest things she has learned along the way
• Not letting other people’s opinions affect her
• Dealing with unsupportive people and criticism
• Switching from exercising to training for a competition
• Prep making us realise what we’re capable of
• What she wish she knew before competing
• Dealing a difficult reverse and how she worked through it
• Transitioning to WBFF
• Taking two years off and embracing a long offseason to grow
• Going for that pro card!
• Advice for new competitors

Really - there wasn’t anything we DIDN’T cover!

If you want to follow Kirsten’s journey head to https://www.instagram.com/kirstenashlea_pt/

If you love the episode, please share to your stories and tag us so we can see and give you a shout out!

Hope you’re all staying safe and well (particularly you Melbourne!) and I will catch you next week!

Love you,

R x

This week’s amazing guest was the gorgeous Shell Skelton who is an IFBB Bikini athlete as well as a registered nurse specialising in dialysis from South Australia,

Shell has competed for four years and has tried her hand at three different federations before finding her groove with IFBB so it was great to hear from her a little bit about the different federations and her experience and learnings over the years.

In this episode we chatted about:

• Competing at the Arnolds just before COVID hit
• Making tweaks in the two weeks between qualifiers vs nationals
• Switching from meal plan to macro counting
• Learning to meal prep
• Prepping with her partner
• Being irrational emotional during prep
• Managing shift work and prep
• Shell’s competing journey and she got started
• Picking a federation
• Her biggest lesson from competing for four years
• Meditating and real self care 
• Quotes to keep ourselves motivated
• Picking a coach
• Competing plans/goals
• Prepping during Christmas and other events
• Growing into a show
• Reverse dieting & going into lockdown the day after her last comp
• Post comp pressure to look a certainty
• Normalising post show physiques
• Importance of having the right team behind you

PLUS! I also announce my brand new Instagram Live segment - The Weekly Checkin. More details and the very first interview can be found on my IGTV - which you can find at https://www.instagram.com/secretlifeofabikinicompetitor 

You can follow Shell at https://www.instagram.com/shellskelton/

If you love the episode don’t forget to share to your stories so we can see and thank you!

Until next week!

R x 

#SLBC

Maxine is a PCA bikini competitor from the UK, Head of English at a special needs school and also a dear old friend of mine from The University of Hull!

Neither of us had a particularly sporty background and despite being in the Netball League together at Hull University, there was very little netball played (We were bloody good at drinking though).

In this episode you get a little glimpse into what we were like at university, as well as hear about Maxine’s journey into competing and some of her best tips for staying organised and crushing your goals:

We chatted about…

• Spending three drunk years together at university
• Finding fitness after university and learning to love training
• Experiences with fad diets 
• Starting weightlifting and noticing shape change
• Going from an 8 week challenge before being inspired to compete
• Enjoying prep and the process
• Small steps and lifestyle changes vs. all in
• Dealing with cancelled shows due to COVID
• Reversing during isolation
• Managing her job as a teacher and a long commute plus prep
• Making prep fit into our lives
• To pre-workout or not to pre workout
• What keeps her motivated and on track 
• Why we love motivational quotes
• The positive impact bodybuilding has had on the rest of our lives
• Organisational tips and life hacks you pick up as a competitor 
• Prep brain moments
• Competing plans/goals
• Weird food cravings in prep

You can follow Maxine’s journey at https://www.instagram.com/maxinep14589/

If you loved the episode don’t forget to share to your stories and tag us so we can see!

Until next time,

R x

This week’s episode is with the outrageously gorgeous Kaitlyn Krause, who took out 3rd in bikini in her very first show with the WBFF last year.

I followed most of Kaitlyn’s prep so it was great to hear directly from her about the experience and learn about her plans moving forward. Kaitlyn is a values orientated person and has such an admirable mindset and approach to competing. Hope you get as much out of this chat as I did!

Also - if you want to compete, but you’re student or you’re on a tighter budget - this is the podcast for you!!

We cover off:

• Being a student nurse and midwife during COVID
• Her first comp prep for WBFF
• Undergoing a pre-prep and getting ready early for the show
• Focusing on rest as a priority
• Her passion for understanding and appreciating the human body and how that impacted her approach to prep
• The impact of prep on your body
• The value of a strong relationship with your coach and what makes a good coach
• Irrational emotions when prepping 
• How she managed her reverse diet
• Why reverse dieting should NOT be a competition
• Choosing to start a family over her next competing plans
• Her approach to training and competing timelines
• Improving her relationship with food and eliminating the fear
• Why we weigh ourselves everyday
• HOW to compete on a budget - Kaitlyn’s top tips!

Such an amazing conversation - I hope you love it too!

If you want to follow Kaitlin you can find her on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kaitlynkrause_/

If you loved the episode, share to your stories and tag us so we both can see!

Until next week,

R xx

#SLBC

This week’s podcast was a special one for me! I got the opportunity to interview my dear friend Holly Jeans, who is the host of her very own podcast – Part Time Bodybuilder.⁠
⁠
We left no stone unturned and covered so much ground in this episode – the summary below just doesn’t do it justice. ⁠

Love the friendship Holly and I have developed over the last few months across the seas! Can't wait to meet one day in person too!⁠
⁠
In this episode we chat about:⁠
- Her very impressive DIY home gym set up ⁠
- Mentality around offseason⁠
- Taking two years between shows to improve and her mindset around that⁠
- Her 4000cal diet (!!!), food choices and relationships with food⁠
- Meal plans vs IIFYM⁠
- Holly’s journey from modelling, to CrossFit to bodybuilding⁠
- Recovering back a back injury⁠
- How and why our confidence has increased through competing⁠
- Mastering your mindset through practice⁠
- Her competing journey⁠
- Binge/restrict cycle and reverse dieting⁠
- Prepping for the wrong reasons⁠
- The impact of stress on prepping and the body⁠
- Deciding to take two years off competing⁠
- Being tragically single and managing relationships/dating with prep⁠
- Why more self confidence and more self love has given us a new perspective on dating⁠
⁠
Could have chatted to Holly all day!⁠
⁠
To find her and her podcast on Instagram check out http://instagram.com/parttimebodybuilder/ and https://www.instagram.com/holly.lj/

Stay safe and well and I’ll catch you next week!

R x

#SLBC

Today’s episode is with the awesome Helena Sly who competed in her first show in 2019 after being a competitive karate athlete (black belt 2nd dan) for twelve years. It was so interesting to hear about how she transitioned from discipline to discipline and the things she learned along the way. 

What I LOVE about Helena, is how one of the reasons she decided to prep for a show was so she could better understand the dieting process in order to help her become a better coach.

We also TOTALLY nerded out together on technique, movement patterns, and stability gains! OH and also, HABITS! My favourite ;)

The things we discuss in this episode include:

• Her experience with her first show
• Transitioning from international champion karate athlete to bodybuilding
• Becoming a coach and prepping as a way to help her understand the dieting process more
• Dealing with an extremely adaptive metabolism 
• What she’s been working on in her off season
• Training with scoliosis and post spinal surgery
• Technique over ego 
• Managing injuries with rehab and rehab and focus on movement patterns
• Filming your lifts for technique and accountability
• Being diagnosed with ADHD last year
• Helena’s epic morning routine which starts at 3.30am!
• Owning the morning to own the day
• My favourite topic… HABITS!
• Her competing plans and goals

You can follow Helena at www.instagram.com/helena__sly

Don’t forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode as well as share to your stories and tag us in it if you loved it!

Stay safe,

R x