Profile http://performance-network.ning.com/profile/Cheryl
Name: Cheryl Zarski
Height: 5’3
Weight: on season: 100lbs, off season: 135lbs
Age: 32
Birthplace: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Current Residence: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Training For: Alberta Bodybuilding Provincial Show
Favorite Sports: I enjoy watching football. I am not overly sporty but I will watch most sports and try most too.
Other Hobbies:
Achievements: Losing over 50lbs in a year and stepping on the stage for the first time in that year.
Introduction: (Please write a few short sentences about yourself)
Hi, I’m Cheryl. I work a full time job in the IT industry, I work part time on my home based business. I am currently working towards certifications in the fitness industry as well. I also am raising a teenager daughter. Did I mention that I am also a competitive fitness model? That means I am in the gym every day sometimes twice.
It wasn’t always this way. I was once over weight, and had an overweight child and partner. I decided to change my life path. I wasn’t happy with my weight, started in the gym with a program a good friend made for me. Then I inspired change around me. Between the 3 of us we lost over 100lbs. My daughter and I have kept it off; we have maintained a healthy balance. Now I am who I am, and I enjoy it.
Questions: (Please feel free to add questions, or expand on certain questions to give the readers a greater appreciation and understanding of your lifestyle)
PN: What is your motivating factor in getting involved with working out? I was over weight when I started, and I had a health issue that kept me from being able to eat and not get ill from the food. I started working out, I liked the results. So I set a date to compete, even though some trainers told me I would never lose the weight I should to get up on the stage. I did.
PN: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of training advice for the first day you ever stepped into a gym, what would it be? PUSH HARDER! PUSH HEAVIER! The results are worth it.
PN: How long have you been in training for? 4 years
PN: What does your current training routine look like? (eg. how often, length of session)
I train daily, cardio 2 times a day for a total of 90mins. Cardio can be cross fit, or any of the machines like the bike or treadmill, or it can mean taking the dogs out of a swift walk! I lift 3 times a week currently; I am doing a couple of body parts a day when I train. I also do cycle training, meaning I do 1 body part, then another, then a ply metrics move (with no rest in between each). This keeps my heart rate up!
PN: What is your personal approach to nutrition? I eat what the trainer says in the on season. That’s it. In the off season, I don’t have a diet that I follow but there foods I don’t eat such as pork, corn, breads and pastas. I rarely eat fried food or use dressings/condiments on my food.
PN: What do you think is the biggest issue with people today in regards to getting involved in fitness? They expect results too fast or expect that the results will stay without hard work. Neither are true.
PN: What is your favorite body part to train and why? Shoulders are my favorite! I love the way they look when I train and how I feel after. I enjoy the pump I that overtakes my shoulders!
PN: What is your least favorite body part to train and why? I think ABS. I work core daily but don’t think I see the results I should! It’s frustrating!
PN: Have you competed in a contest/sporting event? Can you tell the readers about that experience? (State if you are currently in training for a competition). I have competed a few times, in 2008. I enjoyed the contest prep; I think that for me that can be really exciting and a lot of work. It takes hard work, dedication and a lot of visualization to see it through. I become addicted the gym easily. It’s the diet that can be really what is hard most of the time for me. However I enjoy the rush of being on stage as well. It over takes you when you walk on the stage after they call your name. I remember that feeling when the diet is hard! I am currently training for my next show which will be in June 2010.
PN: Do you have any role models? (If so please state who and why?) A good friend of mine, she got me into this and she has always been a role model for me. She never gives up and is always positive.
PN: What is your personal best? My personal best is showing my daughter that you don’t have to settle in life, that you create the change you want to see.
PN: What is your long tern goal? I want to get my pro card, and then open my own gym.
PN: Is there anything you would like to plug or add? I am currently using a product called VeMMA. Its liquid vitamins (so much better for you than a pill!) If you want to try it let me know! Cherylzarski.vemma.com
Quick Questions:
(Just say the first thing that comes to mind.)
PN: Motivating Training Music?: Eminem, Biggy, Black eye peas and Kings of Leon.
PN: Barbell squats?: Yuck!
PN: Favorite no-no foods?: Hmmm … So hard to pick one right now! I think fruit in the on season!
PN: Supplements?: I take CLA and Green tea Extract, BCCA, and OMEGA 3-6-9.
PN: Low Carbohydrate Diets:? The only way for competition lifestyle!
PN: Greatest athlete/sportsperson/bodybuilder of all time: Arnold
PN: Machines or free weights: a combo of both.
