The Anthony Amen Show

From Bullying to Bodybuilding: Olivia’s Rebuild, Resilience, and Coaching at Redefine

• Anthony Amen • Season 5 • Episode 38

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A rough childhood, relentless bullying, and a quiet kid who found her voice under stage lights—that’s Olivia. In this episode of The Anthony Amen Show, I sit down with one of our own trainers at Redefine Fitness to trace how color guard and dance opened the door to lifting, and how the weight room shifted from an escape to an identity. We walk through everything from the first signs of muscle to the discipline of competition prep, the mental fog of low calories, and the confidence that comes from stepping into heels, bracing your core, and smiling while an entire room watches your every move.

We get honest and technical about bodybuilding—how categories like bikini, wellness, and figure actually differ, what true off-season growth looks like, and why reverse dieting is essential instead of optional. Olivia walks through how show day really unfolds beyond the polished 30 seconds on stage. We also talk openly about performance-enhancing drugs: what athletes gain, what they risk, and the long-term health costs people rarely mention. Olivia shares why she chooses to stay natural, the patience it requires, and why health should last decades—not just a show season.

If you’ve ever been told lifting will make women “bulky,” this conversation resets the narrative. We break down the physiology and the myths while highlighting the real benefits of strength training for women: stronger bones, steadier hormones, better mental health, improved body composition, and confidence that shows up in every part of life. At Redefine Fitness in Stony Brook and Mount Sinai, this is the foundation of our approach—strength first, because fitness is medicine.

On the coaching side, Olivia explains why training is equal parts mechanics and therapy. An hour in the gym becomes a private space to talk honestly while you push a sled or grind through a final set. Her style blends playful energy with meticulous programming, turning dread into momentum you actually feel the next morning.

By the end, one message stands out: happiness rises as you move toward a goal, then dips when you hit it—so keep your goals evolving. Whether you’re chasing your first pull-up, building a stronger off-season, or simply finding more peace in your day, strength is a practice you choose.

If this conversation helped you rethink what’s possible, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with the next goal you’re chasing. Your support helps more people discover that personal training on Long Island can be life-changing when it’s built on education, compassion, and real coaching.

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Learn More at: www.Redefine-Fitness.com

SPEAKER_00:

Hello and welcome to Help the Fiddles Redefined. I'm your host, Anthony Eamon, and today we're gonna have a great episode for all of you today. Before we get started, just a quick reminder guys on the way this show grows is if you like, share, comment, and if you're not following, just hit that follow button so we can do more episodes like this. Last week we did a great episode. It was me and a whiteboard. We dove deep into BMR. So I hope you really enjoyed it. If not, go back and check that out. All over how to calculate your calories and is it all bullshit? Go check it out. Without further ado, though, we have Olivia on today. Olivia is one of our trainers here at Redefine Fitness. I promise you guys we'd get people in-house, talk about what we do, who we are. That way it's also not just me all the time. So without further ado, let's talk about Olivia. Olivia, thank you for coming on.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00:

Really excited to have somebody on that worked here.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You're the first person, so.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh god, no pressure.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no pressure whatsoever. It'll be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So let's get started just by talking about you and what got you into training. So bring us all the way back. And when did training for you first become like? Oh, this is what I want to do for a living.

SPEAKER_01:

So pretty much I started weightlifting and getting into the gym in 2020 post-pandemic, just to try to, you know, get back into the swing of things post-like lockdown and everything. So I started working out and I started becoming more consistent part of my life. And I actually was a teacher for a point in time, and I was coaching at my old high school in my old high school marching band. And I was still working out and I was still going to school to become a teacher. So then I'm coaching these kids, you know, after school and after work. And I'm like, okay, time passes. I'm like, I kind of hate working in a school, but I love the aspect of like helping people and coaching kids. And that's kind of what I've always wanted to do. That's why I wanted to become a teacher because I wanted to help kids and I wanted to just help people grow. And I thought that teaching would be the best outlet for that purpose. So then I realized how much I love coaching and how much I hated being in a school. So I was like, I do weightlift. And you know, personal training is always a thing. So let me, you know, dive into that a little bit, get my certification, see what else I can learn, see what comes with being more in the gym and you know, where it takes me. And now I'm here I am, five years later.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely love it. And if we go back in time for just a little bit, yeah, and obviously I I've always talked about this in the show and for people that listen all the time. A lot of trainers they aren't what people think they are. And I'll express that from a place where people think people get into training because they work out and they enjoy working out. Yeah. But I've actually learned to realize by interviewing hundreds of people, talking to all you guys, is that it actually comes from a sense of pain or something that you had to overcome in your personal life.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That builds this confidence to get into the gym and eventually want to teach other people. So has that been a case for you?

SPEAKER_01:

One million percent. Like, oh my god, yes to a T. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So bring this back to that first point when you're like you started experiencing pain and then fitness became the outlet for you.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. So we'll go way, way, way, way back. Uh, I like I said to you before, I don't have the best relationship with my dad. That's kind of when I first experienced, you know, mental pain or just like, you know, just frustration in that. I didn't have a good relationship with him. I got to see all my other friends with their parents, and I was like, God, like, this is a little rough. But you know what? I was like a kid, I'll get over it. And then it just kind of got progressively worse to the point where it was then affecting me in school. And I felt like I couldn't really go day to day in my life with some of the things I was being said to by my dad. So I had to, you know, try to figure out a way to remedy that. My mom started noticing, and that was when we were like, okay, we need to fix this now. And my mom was in denial for a while about things my dad would say to me, how he would make me feel. She'd be like, no, he would never, blah, blah, blah. That's not true. They're divorced. So she didn't really see it firsthand what I was going through. So then I'd come home from weekends away and I'd be upset and torn up. And it just got progressively worse, like I said, as I got older, whether that's me trying to find who I am and my dad didn't agree with it, or things just that my mom would do at my house there that my dad didn't agree with, and he would try to control that, or anything like that, body-wise, things he'd try to control just not making any sense. So then, yep, I come home, I'd be upset, my grades were slipping, and my mom was like, yo, like we need to fix this now. You're joining a club, you're joining a sport, you're doing like you have to do something. And I was like, like, I don't like sports, I don't want to play, you know, soccer. I'm not a huge person where things are flying at me. That sounds terrifying. So, and I'm not a competitive person in that nature, where I, you know, go fight to the death or something on a soccer game. I, you know, I kind of thought that was pointless as a kid. So then I we had like the high school marching band come into the middle school to talk to us about joining. And I was like, hmm, I was like, that's kind of cool. Like the flag's twirling, that's kind of cute. So I joined the high school marching band when I was 13 years old. I was in seventh grade when I joined, and I graduated playing and doing all that stuff throughout all of high school. So the first time I really experienced like fitness would definitely be then when I had color guard. We were, you know, doing across the floor dance routines. So it wasn't so much as a competitive aspect. It was more so, hey, we're gonna like tell a story through dance, through our bodies, through these uh flags, through the rifles and the sabers. We're gonna tell a story with it. I was like, I love that. Like that's so cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Did your dad approve of that?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh surprisingly, yes, because it was feminine.

SPEAKER_00:

Gotcha. So you feel like that your relationship with your dad was he was had a picture of what was feminine, and that's what he wanted you to be?

SPEAKER_01:

What was feminine, what was right for a lady to do, make sure I dressed a certain way, making sure I acted a certain way, making sure I reflected him as the child, that he was doing a good job. It was all about his validation. So, you know, being a seven-year-old girl and hearing, well, what are people gonna think about me when you do this? I was like, uh like what? That that makes no sense. You're the parent. You're supposed to, you know, teach the child, not have the child be a reflection of you. You you're supposed to like encourage, you know, their growth and what they want to do.

SPEAKER_00:

When did your parents get divorced?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, they've been separated. They separated officially like when I was three, but the divorce wasn't finalized till I was seven because of my dad.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Gotcha. So do you think that affected how he thought of you and raising you?

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. He saw me as a mirror image of my mom. So the second I did something that my mom taught me to do, he was like, oh, you can't do that. You have to stop. God wouldn't approve. He would use religion as a way to manipulate me too. So, like, all of those things combined, it just, I was like, dude, just crazy. It's like, what the heck? It was nuts.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of research has shown, like, with overbearingness and overprotectiveness that it actually does the exact opposite.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. I don't even think it would be considered for him, at least. I don't think it was overprotectiveness at all. It was just controlling at that point. It was every single minute of every single day had to be planned out by him. Like, down to what I was wearing up until I was like 15 years old, he was picking out my outfits. And I was like, what the like, I'm 15, I can pick out my own outfits. Why do you have to decide what I could be wearing? Like, that was just weird.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you still have a relationship with him now?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh it's kind of. We stopped talking in 2017. Uh, he tried to reach out to me and I found out a lot of things that he was doing in the past to me. And currently in the present, when I found out all those things, I was like, yeah, I need a break. I need to like draw a hard boundary because he was never respecting them. So I had to draw a hard boundary of, hey, if you're not gonna respect these other boundaries that I've drawn, you're not gonna have access to me. I'm sorry. So I drew a very hard boundary with him of you can't see me, I can't see you. And I tried to fix it after that. I tried to have a relationship with him. And then he tried getting out of an agreement my mom had. My like we had someone come to our door and be like, you're being sued by so and so. And I was like, what the heck? So all of that, I was like, yeah, keeping this hard boundary with you. It only happened recently in this past December. I actually saw him for the first time since 2017. So it's been a long road.

SPEAKER_00:

Potentially on the mend.

SPEAKER_01:

Potentially on the mend. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00:

But no, I totally get it. Did there be a relationship with your parents, especially having them divorced affect you in school with your peers and how you had relationships with other people?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, to a degree, I'd say as I got older, that was when I started noticing it more. When I was younger, it wasn't that bad. But as I got older and I got to see my friends' relationships with their dad, that was when I was like, oh, like that was when I started noticing. I was like, hmm, my dad doesn't do that for me. And then I started realizing it more and more, and then that was when it started to affect me. Because like my friends could go to their dads for things when they don't have an agreement with their mom or when there's a problem. I was like, I don't, like, I can't do that. That was when it really started to come like to fruition, and I started noticing it, especially with um, I noticed like I started telling my mom about it. I was like, mom, like, I think I'm having these problems in school because of the divorce. And she was like, No, don't say that, that's not true. And then like I started going to therapy later on in life, and my therapist told me, like, yeah, no, that can be a thing. Like, that's probably why.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it pretty much isn't. I feel like a lot of people and as parents, I don't think it's intentional. I think it's important to point out, but they don't want their actions to reflect their kids. And it always does.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You're around it all the time, you hear things, you see things, and even if your shoes don't come out when you're up to 10, you see it later in life in your 30s or when you have kids.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a thousand percent. It shapes everything how you talk to yourself, how you talk to other people, how other people treat you, and what you'll let other people do to you. Will you let other people walk all over you? Will you be a doormat? Or are you gonna stand up for yourself? It comes back from what your parents do a thousand percent.

SPEAKER_00:

Did that give you self-image issues at school?

SPEAKER_01:

Not too much, actually. Not terribly. There was little things my dad would say, like my knees would cave in, and he'd be like, You need to get surgery on that. But that was nothing like looks-wise, like crazy. So thank god it wasn't that. Other girls, though.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I get it. So you got into the color guard and marching band, you did that. Yeah, did you start going to the gym at that point?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, not too much, but I did notice like when I started noticing muscle tone was while I was in guard because when you throw a flag, it's weighted on both ends to get the momentum it needs to go up and spin. So I was so weak that the flag was super heavy to me. The pet the flag probably weighed like, I don't know, five pounds. Like it was light. And I remember there was a picture taken of me in my junior year of me, like, you know, just posing for junior prom, like smiling, and you could see the muscle definition in my shoulder. And I was like, ooh, I was like, that's cute. I want more of that. And then later down the line, when I was in college and I was done with marching band, obviously. Um, I'm I was again like kind of going through almost like my first depressive episode, and I was like, I don't know what to do. And my mom was like, go to the gym. Just go to the gym. Like, you do the best you do when you're physically active. Like, look at what you did when you were in high school. Like, just do it now, go to the gym. I'm like, fine. So I start working out at Portland and I stuck with it for a little bit, but then the pandemic hit, and then that was when I really started going back, was after because the gyms opened back up. Thanks to you guys.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that was a process. But so you started working out, and ultimately, what I know, because I know you well, but what got you into bodybuilding? What was the thing that really skyrocketed that love for it so much that you're like, hey, I'm gonna go on stage and pose?

SPEAKER_01:

So it kind of came from a point of growth. When I started working out, I weighed 100-pound soaking wet. I had like zero muscle on me. Like the five-pound dumbles were heavy, like I was trying to curl those. I was like, oh my god, like these are so heavy. And so I was also bullied in high school for being too skinny, which like makes no sense. Um, so I was bullied in high school for being skinny, and then I started going to the gym working out, started getting more muscle on, and I started gaining weight, and I started looking at my body like, oh, like I do look good. Like, you know, the confidence I was beaten down from being bullied kind of started to come back, and I started taking my own power back, and I was like, this is what I needed. Like I needed to start working out, and I needed to feel this way about me. So then when it came to bodybuilding, to me, it just kind of felt like the natural next step. I was like, I want to prove everybody wrong whoever said anything bad about me. Oh, she can't do this, that's too hard, being too skinny. Okay, then I'm gonna go get on stage with the muscle that I have and I'm gonna rub it in everyone's faces that I did this. Because not many people can say that they did. And it just, oh my god, the confidence that came with it through seeing the process of my body change over time, just from point A to start like started working out to point B of deciding to do a show. It was like two totally different people, physically and mentally. It was insane. That's why it felt like the natural next step. Because I was just, I had the confidence and I knew I could. I was like, this is this is it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think that's amazing. And I think I always give props, it's harder than people think it is because the discipline, as opposed to just training for a sport where it's like one specific thing, you just practice, practice, practice.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, you have to work outside the hours, but bodybuilding is 24-74 for however many weeks your prep is, or even in your off season. Like right now, my bodybuilding prep isn't done yet. I'm on my reverse diet. I still have to watch what I eat.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it never ends. Nope. The bullying uh aspect of it back in school, because I feel like that's a common denominator with a lot of people, they were bullied when they were younger and it kind of pushed them into wanting to work out for different reasons, yep, depending on that individual. So, what kind of bullying did you experience, and at what age do you think that was the worst?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so it all kind of started, I'd say, probably like freshman year of high school. That was when you know girls get catty and they start getting petty and rude. So that was when I first experienced bullying. I got death threats for literally like no reason, and it just kind of never stopped from there. Did I forgive those girls? Yes. And we stayed friends, unfortunately, throughout all of high school. But I honestly kind of thank that relationship that I had with those girls because it made me who I am today. But throughout all of high school with those girls, especially this one individual, she would make fun of my body for being too skinny. Oh, she would compare all of the girls' breast sizes to like different fruits and things. And at the end of the line, she'd get to me and she'd be like, Oh, Olivia, you have mosquito bites. And she'd say it in a negative way. And I was like, What is your problem? Like, what is the deal? Um, I'd get bullied by her and other girls for, you know, being too skinny, not having a butt, not having breasts, like things like that, and things that were deemed attractive. I got bullied for my nose. I got bullied for God, like my interests, like liking a certain style of music, I'd get bullied for. Every little thing that I started to enjoy when I was finding who I was started to have a negative connotation, and I would get bullied for it for no reason. So that was my whole high school year up until probably about senior year, even after senior year, I was still friends with those girls and I had to drop them because it just kind of got progressively worse to the point where it just they started involving themselves in my personal life. So up until so what was that, ninth grade, up until I was like 20. It was just constant, like unbearing and constant.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I feel like girls take it to the next step as far as the things they say to each other.

SPEAKER_01:

They are ruthless.

SPEAKER_00:

And you're a little younger than me. So I've at my when I was 15, uh aim just became a thing, and certain people are on it. Yeah. So you'd get messages there once in a while, but I feel like at your age it was way more prevalent.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Instagram, social media, all the that stuff. What you'd see your friends hanging out without you. You would, you know, see the comments and little backhanded jabs people would say online while you weren't even there to defend yourself. It was kind of like you had your hands tying behind your back and you couldn't do anything about it while these people openly would like kick you while you're down.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you think social media made everything worse?

SPEAKER_01:

One thousand percent. A thousand percent. Like, like I said, seeing your friends hang out without you and all of those things that kind of come with it, everything's being compared to online, everyone's life is online, so you get to see people who you would deem are doing better than you, and you'd get jealous, and then the bullying can start from there, and especially with the online presence too, it opens up the bullying to be non-stop. Non-stop. It can come from Instagram, it can come from Snapchat, it could come from kick when kick was the thing. The whole school would know about everything and like that because of just how fast things spread online. So if social media wasn't a thing, I'm not saying it wouldn't be as bad, but it would definitely take it down a notch, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Which is pretty interesting because I don't know if you know this, but this is the first year that they actually made it illegal to have phones in schools.

SPEAKER_01:

I've heard, yeah, I heard.

SPEAKER_00:

Is that something that you think will help curve online bullying?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. I feel like just because you're taking the phones away for eight hours a day doesn't mean it's not gonna stop at night. Even though, you know, the phones aren't there actively, the kids are still gonna remember. They're gonna want to post something, or even outside of school, if everyone's doing something else, or they're just, you know, it's the weekend, they're on their phone. They can still have access to, you know, everybody, and whatever everyone's saying is still gonna be prevalent. Just because you get rid of it for eight hours a day doesn't mean it's not gonna stop. It might bring it down during the school day, the bullying, it could potentially bring it down, but out of school, it's not gonna end.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I feel like the biggest reason just thinking is someone like in your shoes, someone's making fun of you or something, they snap a picture. Yeah. And they could put really inappropriate pictures and send it through friends online, stuff online.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

And you take that out of the situation now that they don't have phones to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

But that also doesn't stop after school, does it? Would they still have their phones after school?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but at least they don't have the pictures from the locker rooms and the bathrooms.

SPEAKER_01:

That is true. That is very true.

SPEAKER_00:

From certain stuff that I've experienced growing up and getting bullied, like I remember uh kids used to think it was funny to jump over the stalls while you're going to the bathroom and make fun of you or just trying to get a little privacy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, yeah, I got it. I had had one of these girls that I used to dance with when I was in ColorGuard. There was this one routine that we had to do where we go up into like this move called a candlestick, where you would pretty much like go onto your shoulders and do a dance move with your legs, and it was partner work. So one girl would go up towards the right, the other girl would go up towards the left. And I was paired with my bully, and every time I'd go up, she'd smack my butt. Every time. And I was like, this is kind of crossing the line at that point. Like, I get it. It's you know, you're kind of in a private, not a private situation, but that's a private area, and people are, you know, doing very inappropriate things, especially in the bathroom that's so unnecessary. Oh, people suck.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, couldn't agree more. But I want to talk about the flip side of that because you mentioned something very interesting earlier that you used the bullying and that negative power to kind of project you into the bodybuilding world. And you said you wanted to prove everybody else that you could do it. Yeah. So I think the million dollar question to see where you fit is once you got there, once you got on stage, did that feeling disappear, or did you actually feel like, hey, I'm doing this to prove everyone else wrong?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm doing at that point when I got on stage, I was like, I did it. Like I proved myself wrong because everyone says, Oh, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to compete, I want to run a marathon. But how many people are actually going through with it? So I proved myself, like to myself, like, wow, I can do this. Like, whatever I set my mind to, I can do it. And then also when I was on stage, I was like, I I did it. Like at that point, I was just kind of so focused on the fact that I was able to accomplish it that when I got off stage and I got my medal, that was when it kind of started to sink in. That like, wow, like not many other people can say that they did this. Like, I did prove everybody wrong. I really did in that moment. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it helped.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it helped a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

And you mentioned it gave you a lot of confidence for yourself.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So explain to me how you feel now compared to how you felt back in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01:

So before I started bodybuilding, I was seeking validation from everybody else except me, uh, especially male validation. I wanted to be the best version of me in everyone's eyes, especially guys. I would always complain, oh, why don't I have a boyfriend? Why is this not working? Why is this not working? Like whatever. And I really at the end of the day, I wasn't happy with who I was. I felt like I didn't accomplish much. So when I finally did set bodybuilding like as a goal in my head, I was like, all right, this is something for me to work towards. And the second I put that as something to work towards, everything changed in my life and everything got better. Everything. I got a good job for my career that I wanted. I got into a healthy relationship because I started healing the relationship I had with my body and myself and my mind. And you know, old friends left, new friends came in. It was just everything kind of fell into place in that moment when I decided I'm gonna compete. So yeah, just yeah, that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I don't know if you know this, but there's a lot of research into it, and something I talk about a lot on the show. We are actually the happiest right before we achieve a goal.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And everything has shown that in the progress of working towards something, and the closer and closer you get, you get a huge amount of dopamine rush, and you get some serotonin thrown in there, and you're just feeling great. And then once you achieve the goal, it all plummets and disappears. So theoretically, in order to be happy and to change your life, you always need to have a moving goalpost. So you hit a goal, now you start working on something else. You hit that goal, you start working on something else. So is that something you've noticed? And if so, where are you headed?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so with bodybuilding, you can turn into a pro. And at first, when I started competing, I was like, I don't really know if I want to be a pro. And then after my first show, I was like, oh, I got hungry. I was like, I want to do this more. Like you said, like you have to put that new goalpost kind of at the other end of the spectrum at that point. So I was like, yeah, no, I like this, I want to keep going. So now my new goal is to still compete, get back on stage, become a pro, maybe one day, if that's in the cards for me, naturally, and just keep trucking along. I want to be a good coach, I want to be a good personal trainer, and I want to take the experiences I have from competing, being on stage mentally, what that does for you, and physically, just the training that goes into it to show my clients, hey, you can do it. If I can do it, I anyone can do whatever they want to set their mind to a thousand percent. I I just feel like having that experience behind me and showing other people that is a good motivator for a lot of people. Like, oh, all right, well, my trainer is, you know, 24, and she was able to do all these things. Like, why can't I?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I feel like you see that a lot with people. They don't think they can do something, they get stuck in little things, which is why it's important to have conversations like these. Yeah. Because they learn about me, they learn about you, and they're like, oh, you know, people have shit.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

How you address it and how you get through it at the end of the day. Yeah. So, how many shows have we done to date?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, I've done three shows. I did two shows in 2024, and I just competed this past August in Queens in August. So, yeah, three shows to date. I'm taking a nice long off season right now to build more muscle just because the girls I'm going up against are demons. So I need to grow a little bit, but that's part of the sport, and that's part of my goals. Is I'm excited to take an off-season now because that's my goal is to build more muscle and to get stronger. So a lot of people will usually say, Oh, off-season like uh post-show blues. Like they're not excited for their off-season, they don't want to gain weight. They like being lean. Look, I like being lean too, but I like being stronger more. I like mentally being cognitively aware too. When you're on prep, your brain is just kind of running at half capacity, it feels like half the time, or there's just fog around your brain 24-7. So, yeah, I like being functional more than I like being lean.

SPEAKER_00:

That that I totally get. And talk to people that don't know bodybuilding from a hole in a wall. Okay, we get a lot of people that listen that really don't understand the sport in and of itself. So, what exactly do you do inside of that? All right and then talk to us about the secondary side of this, which you mentioned you kind of slipped. You said back to the ball. So, what does that mean? Because everyone always thinks of Arnold Schwarzenegger's because that's the biggest the biggest bodybuilder known to man.

SPEAKER_01:

So, bodybuilding is pretty much a sport where you go up on stage against other women, men, obviously, depending on your gender. Um, and there's different categories that depend on your body type. So it's not one size fits all. It's hey, you have a larger upper body for a woman, you should do this category. Hey, your lower body is a little bit more dominant, let's do this. Or for people like me, hey, you're naturally a little thin, but you still have muscle, you should do bikini. There's um how many different categories for women? I'm pretty sure there's like five or six. I just know the main three off the top of my head wellness, bikini, figure, and now there's a new one fit model. Um, so there's all these different categories for men and women to compete into. Uh, pretty much what you do is you put on a lot of muscle in your off season. Then once your offseason is done, you'll usually work with a coach or you could do it by yourself. You'll start a prep for your show, which pretty much means you'll take like anywhere from 14 to 20 weeks, depending on your body, to really like lock in. You're gonna dial in on your food, focus every single day, measure out if you weren't already, measuring out everything that you're putting into your mouth. Food, everything goes measured on the scale. Then once you know that's done, your carbs slowly come down over those X amount of weeks. You get a bikini done, or you get swim trunks if you're a guy. Um, you get your hair, nails, makeup, heels. Heels are a big thing. Not a lot of people understand you have to walk in heels for this, and you have to also, while you're on stage, smile, look down at the judges, hold your core in tight and breathe at the same time. So there's a lot. Uh show day usually looks like getting tanned, putting makeup on, getting your hair done. Girls wear a lot of jewelry, everything. You go on stage for all of 30 seconds. You do a routine where you show off your body, show off what you have. At this point, you're super lean, super dry, whether you've taken diuretics or you drank alcohol the night before, you're also dehydrated at that point. You get on stage, do your routine, they call you out for comparisons against other women or men, and they rank you. And once you're ranked, you go backstage, you get a break, then you go back on for finals, and that's where you get your award. Uh, if you place well in finals, you could go to nationals, and if you win a national show, you get your pro card. So I think that's everything about bodybuilding, if I can think off the top of my head. Oh, the natural thing. A lot of people do it and they quote unquote, it's not considered cheating, but a lot of people do it because they want to get to the finish line faster, which I respect. If they want to make this a huge part of their career and if they're ready to take those sacrifices that come with it, I admire it because it takes a lot of strength and discipline to understand that's what you want in life, especially for women, because it can really hurt your reproductive system depending on if you had a good coach or if you knew what you were doing. So if you do it naturally, it's obviously the safer route, but it's harder because it's gonna take more time. Whereas if you take, you know, steroids, then you'll achieve it quicker, yes, but also at what cost?

SPEAKER_00:

So what does that cost?

SPEAKER_01:

Health. A lot of the, you know, a lot of the um drugs and steroids that people take, what they what it does is obviously it enhances your muscles, it makes you bigger, but that's all of your muscles. So that's your heart that you're putting at risk. Those are a lot of those things that you kind of have to weigh out in your mind. Are you willing to take that risk? And does your coach know what they're doing? Because if you have a coach who doesn't know what they're doing, you see bodybuilders drop dead backstage. It's happened, it's been in the news, like you know, things like that happen if you're not careful. So you really have to weigh out the pros and the cons. Okay, yes, you're gonna get your pro car quicker, but okay, my heart might enlarge. That could introduce heart failure earlier into my life. Am I gonna be able to have kids if I'm a woman? Um, all of those things. But now people are taking peptides, so who knows?

SPEAKER_00:

There's two nuanced things about steroids that a lot of people don't talk about, and I think it's important just to address is the first one, they've proven this time and time again. If you take steroids like let's say 25 years ago and hit a certain threshold of muscle hypertrophy and strength, and stop taking it, even though you're clean, you can still build back up to where you were in steroids. And they've seen this a lot with high school sports. Yeah, kids in JV and varsity do steroids because they're not getting tested yet, stop, and that gives them an edge to get up in the NFL even if they're clean, whatever the sport may be. Yep. The second nuance side of this is more the female psychology side of this. And this is where I really want to talk about. A lot of clients, women, they look at bodybuilder females, yeah, and they always say the same thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, it's too big, it's too much.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't want to look like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And then they attribute that to why they shouldn't weight lift.

SPEAKER_01:

Yup, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00:

So talk to us about, as a female and working with clients, how you address that situation and how you could help show them that's really not the case.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, ladies, if you're not taking steroids or injecting yourself with any form of steroids, you will not get big and bulky. It is really hard, nearly impossible to look like that naturally. So you gotta take into account that the women who are on those stages, and most of the pictures you see, are Olympians. They're people who have their pro card. So they're people who got that way naturally or unnaturally, and they're that way for a reason. They have their pro card, they're going up against people that look like them. It's for the sport for them to look that way. Way if you're not training to look that way, you're not gonna look that way. It's impossible, it's hard. So, ladies, it is super important as you get older too to just keep weightlifting, keep your body healthy. Osteoporosis is such an important thing that women don't realize oh, if I weightlifted when I was younger and I could, you wouldn't have osteoporosis, you wouldn't have brittle bone disease, you wouldn't have half these issues. Weightlifting for women helps regulate your hormones. It just helps in so many ways mentally too, especially during PMS, that time of the month. It helps get rid of all of that mental brain fog, even if it's just a little bit of movement, whether that's Pilates, yoga, anything of the sort, just as long as you're moving your body, it is one of the most important things that you can do for yourself, especially in the future. It helps regulate your hormones, like I said. So if you have period issues or hormonal problems, it can regulate your horse, your periods. You can fix a lot of your problems in your life just from picking up weights. You don't have to worry about looking the way that a lot of those pro bodybuilders do because you're not training, like I said, like them. If you're training like them and you're taking steroids, then you will. But if you're not, then you're fine and you're helping yourself in the future.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that was pretty good. Yeah. I like that's super direct, which I really, really appreciate it. The other side of this I want to talk about, because obviously that was yourself, is the training side of this. So, what's something you've experienced in training that surprised you?

SPEAKER_01:

Honestly, I knew going into this like career that it was gonna be more of like a mental thing for a lot of people, but I didn't realize how many people actually like needed training just to have someone to talk to. You're like, yes, they're going to therapy or they're not going to therapy, or they're, you know, home alone, or they have kids, or they don't, or they just need someone to talk to. Personal training, yes, you're working out, but you're also like, it's a way to get things off your chest to somebody who isn't directly involved that deep into your life. So you can say things and you can really say how you think and how you feel to someone who still cares about you at the end of the day. I care about all of my clients just because they come to me to feel better, whether that's physically or mentally. At the end of the day, I want them leaving the session to feel better both. And a lot of people, even me, when I first started, I didn't realize how much of, like I said, the mental part of it was. People just sometimes need somebody to talk to or just get out of the house. Like that's a big reason for a lot of our clients, I feel.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I feel like it's very comparable to hairstylists.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of women go there just to talk, vent, vent, and get something off. But the gym gives you that opportunity to be active and burn through that steam.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. It's motivational to do it in the gym. You like you said, you burn off all that steam. Any, you know, oh, you had a bad day yesterday. All right, we're gonna have a kick-ass workout today, and we're gonna burn your legs. And then the next day they get to come and be like, oh my god, that was such a good workout. My legs hurt so bad. And then three months down the line, they get to look back at themselves three months prior and be like, oh, I lost 15 pounds because of you. And you get to be a part of that journey with them. So again, physically and mentally, you get to help them both. And that's a huge thing. I have so many clients who, like, when they'd miss a session, they would be like, I just want to talk to you. Like, I just miss you. And I'm like, oh. I'm like, it's okay, don't worry, like you'll come back in tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. It's so true. The mental health part of him really being able to help people and meet people where they're at really makes the job worth it.

SPEAKER_01:

It does a thousand percent. At the end of the day, like I said in the beginning, I wanted to help people. That's exactly what this is doing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, on so on so many different levels. You mentioned something which I thought was kind of interesting, and I know how I feel about it, but it'd be cool to hear because you're like I said, you're a little younger and it helps out to get a differentiated. You said the word career for personal training. Now, growing up for myself, and I know people that are older than me, that wasn't a thing. Yeah. The personal training, you so you said that wouldn't be a career, you'd get laughed at, and then even getting into the industry, it was very much obvious after six months that this could never be a career.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So is that something you knew prior to working here that personal training could be a career? Or did you kind of stumble into it that way?

SPEAKER_01:

I kind of stumbled into it. So I came from a gym where I would see people go in and out a little bit, and it would be really hard for people to stick with training because it does get hard. It really does. Like you can hit a low point of having not a lot of clients, money's a little low, and it's easier to think of God, like what if I just jump ship and do something completely different? But at the end of the day, I keep thinking back like this is what I want. I want to help people physically, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure I can still achieve that, whether that's through personal training in person, online, or just helping people talk about it. I don't care what it is, as long as I'm in the gym and I'm helping people, that's all I care about. So I kind of fell into it, like I pushed through all of that hard stuff, and I took a serious look at myself. I was like, I want to still compete. I want to be a healthy person. I feel like the gym is the only place where I can show that. So, and obviously now as times have changed, I feel it's easier for people to find their little spot in the personal training community. Whether that's like your specialty is, you know, for women, training and making sure that they get their muscle and helping just those kinds of people, or whether that's rehab work or it's online bodybuilding coaching, there's something for everybody now. It wasn't, I feel like this long ago because of, you know, there wasn't that many people training online, but now there's a foothold for everybody. There's fitness influencers, there's the online coaches, there's the meal prep companies. There's something for everybody now, no matter what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00:

Even going back to what I opened the company in 2017, I told everyone I was gonna personal training company, I was like, what?

SPEAKER_01:

It's needed though, like you got with the times.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, just we're a little ahead, which helped uh project that forward. So now, as a trainer and understanding that this is a career, how does that influence you working with clients? Does it make an impact at all?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, since this is my career, I want all my clients to like at the end of the day have a good time with me. I want them to go out and tell their friends, Olivia changed my life. You have to go talk to her, you have to see her. And I've had a couple of clients do that where I would get their friends, their family members, my mom's friends and family members would come to me now. They think of me when they think of a personal trainer, which is really good because it helps us get business, it helps me get business. It's just, you know, now it can be a career path because everyone nowadays has something wrong with them, whether that's, you know, surgery or they just don't like the way that they look. I feel like it's more common nowadays because of social media. And now people are looking for a way to fix it, and that's where we come in.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I love that. What makes you different as far as your training philosophy? What separates you from everybody else?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm bubbly and super outgoing with my clients. How I am here is how I am with them. So a lot of the time I feel personal training is about your personality and you know, if you have a connection with that client. So how I see it is yes, you're coming to me to feel better, but I want you to still have fun with me. So my philosophy is I'm gonna kick your butt, but we're gonna make it really fun.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's like that cynical half smile. Yeah. And you're like, you're gonna die. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

It's pretty much like I'm gonna look at my client, I'm gonna grab a piece of equipment and be like, oh, you're gonna love this. And they're like, oh good lord, when you say that, it's something really bad. I'm like, no, no, no, you're gonna love it. Don't you worry, just have fun. I think of it as a fun thing for them. Like, you know, like I feel the gym is like a playground for adults, so I'm like, okay, we're gonna play a little game. And that game is gonna be sumo squats, okay? Superset with hip thrusting or eels.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I I love that. I think the final topic I want to talk about is what's something that outside of the gym that you really like or you really like talking about, how would you want people to think of you outside of being a personal trainer?

SPEAKER_01:

Outside of being a personal trainer, I just want people to think of me as someone who's like fun and also like I'm a very quirky person. I'm a nerd. I said I was in marching band. I love reading, I love video games, I like superhero movies. Like, I'm a nerd at the end of the day. So I want people to think of me outside of the gym as like, oh, there's this really good book that I found I have to tell Olivia. Oh, there's this fun video game or whatever. Like, I have to tell Olivia so her or her or her boyfriend can play it just because it's something fun for her. Like, I like those weird, quirky things that people probably might not find as fun. Um, yeah, little things like that. And still staying active, you know, like going on a bike ride. And I want people to see the duality of me where it's like I'm not gonna stay locked inside reading a book. Like, I'll still go outside and have fun and go shopping and you know, be a girl. But at the end of the day, like to my core, I am a little bit of just a geek, a little nerd.

SPEAKER_00:

And then if you were to look Olivia 60, 65 years old, is scary. Looking back and talking to you. Yeah. What's something you think she would tell you?

SPEAKER_01:

Probably slow down. I feel like a lot of the things that happen when you're in your 20s move so fast. Like I'm already thinking about okay, I need to buy a house when I get older, like in 10 years, or I want to start a family, I want to get married, I want all of these things to happen. And I keep finding myself stuck in that routine of I can't wait for this, I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait. And I can feel probably my older self would be like, You can wait. Live in the moment and enjoy where you're at currently. You're only gonna be 24 once, you're only gonna be this young and have this opportunity one time in your life. You should take it for what it is and don't take it for granted.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. Livia, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you guys for listening to the episode of Health and Fitness Redefined. Don't forget, like I said in the beginning of the show, subscribe, share. If you love these kind of episodes, we'll do more of it. Let us know in the comments, guys. Really appreciate it. Until next time. And remember, fitness is medicine. Thank you guys for listening to this week's episode of Health and Fitness Redefined. Please don't forget to subscribe and share this show with a friend, with a loved one, for those that need to hear it. And ultimately, don't forget, fitness is medicine. I'll see you next time.

Contributor

Anthony Amen

Host