Laura Ness- Bodybuilding, Marketing, and Tiny Goals (#50)

[00:00:19] Andrew: Hello, everyone. Welcome back afterthe holidays, we have a friend of ours on Laura ness. She is a marketingspecialist at the education credit union, and we have a lot of marketingbackground and everything. So to me more interestingly, she is also a bodybuilderand NPC bikini competitor, which is really cool.

[00:00:42] Andrew: So. Laura welcome onto the show.Thanks for joining Daniel nigh. How has your day been? How's the weekend beenand how has January started?

[00:00:52] Laura: you know, it's a, it's a new year. It'sbeen really good. I just, I started prep for my next bikini show for NPC. Andthen. The goal is to have a pretty long prep and then go and place at aregional show. I'm already qualified for nationals. So hoping to qualify,qualify again, and then go and compete at a national show to try and get my IFBpro card.

[00:01:24] Andrew: Okay, let me just hop into this realquick, cause I have two questions related to this and sorry, Daniel, if you hadanything to jump off here, but first I saw one of your pictures from 2021,whenever you had a competition and they gave you a. So my very first and Ithink most important question, did they actually give you a real sort and didyou get to keep it.

[00:01:46] Laura: Yes, I actually, I did two shows. I dida local one for just fun and to support, but the first show I did, I did theRonnie Coleman and I got the overall win and novice. And so I got a sword,which I wasn't expecting to get a sword, but yes, it's a real sword. Like thatthing is sharp, but the handle is kind of coming off.

[00:02:06] Laura: So I don't know how to fix that.

[00:02:08] Laura: If I don't have it in my possessionright now, I actually. To innovative nutrition to hang up and their store sincethey did so much for me, like they do so much for me during my preps and thenmy other sword, which this one doesn't seem like it's not as sharp as the one Igot from Ronnie, but the one from the Amarillo one it's, uh, it's a littlesturdier, but it's not sharp.

[00:02:32] Laura: Like you can't play fruit ninja withthere, anything like that. but.

[00:02:36] Andrew: fix that.

[00:02:38] Laura: Which is making sure that, that one'sactually at contagion athletics and they're going to be hanging that uphopefully soon.

[00:02:47] Andrew: Daniel. We have gone into the wrongcompetitions. There's people out there winning swords for their stuff. All weget is metals, not even big ones.

[00:02:54] Daniel: Yeah, I

[00:02:54] Daniel: hate to break it to Andrew you'reyou're not gonna win any bikini costume or contests, not costumes. You're not

[00:03:01] Laura: I mean, there's,

[00:03:02] Daniel: contest.

[00:03:02] Laura: comic con I need to try.

[00:03:07] Daniel: I think you bring your own source ofthat. I don't think they give you a swords. Unfortunately again for Andrew. I'msorry, Andrew, you just I'm squashing all your hope today. Like I said, Ihaven't had a lot of caffeine. That's what I'm here to do is kill dreams.

[00:03:20] Andrew: Man, you don't have to be so hateful.It's just started the new year. I was about to go into bodybuilding and win mea sword. I think I look great in a bikini, but, uh, you know what, whatever.All right. So sword question aside. The other one that is maybe a slightlymore, uh, knowledge based for you. Uh, I'm a little confused.

[00:03:40] Andrew: So you already qualified fornationals, I assume from the novice, when in 2021. What is what the regionals,why are you continuing doing shows that are not nationals?

[00:03:53] Laura: Yeah, so I'm sorry. Let me, let mebreak it down and explain it. So I did do a regional show last year, which is anational qualifying show. Um, I, so there's an open category, which open iswhat gets you qualified to go to nationals? So you have to place in the topfive in your class. To go to nationals. Now it used to be taught too, but Iguess since COVID it's top five now, and novice kinda means like, it's yourfirst, like, not first time, like you're still just kind of getting your feetwet.

[00:04:23] Laura: Like it was my second NPC. So it madesense for me to do novice. And when you win novice, you can never compete inall this again. So I don't have to enter in that class anymore, but it doesn'tqualify you to get to nationals, but your open class does. And I did get secondplace in my open class and. The reason why I'm not going to go ahead and gostraight to a national show is because I want a first place with at least afirst place win in my class.

[00:04:52] Laura: And overall win would be amazing, butit just, I know where I stand if I get first, because when you go to nationals?

[00:05:00] Laura: you're going up against girls. I havegotten overall wins and have gotten first in their class. Not second. I mean,yes, there are some that are there that have gotten second, third, fourth orfifth, but.

[00:05:12] Laura: It's expensive and monies, you know, Ijust can't throw money away. Like some people can't and I have to be smart withit. And so going and competing at a regional show, which is cheaper, um, andplacing first or getting me overall win. I have a better chance at receiving mypro card at a national show.

[00:05:39] Andrew: Okay, that makes more sense. So thisis a. Mix of financial savvy, paired with almost a strategy at getting the endresults you want versus just showing up at nationals.

[00:05:50] Laura: Exactly. And it's also my health too.Like you don't want to, you don't want to prep for too terribly long. There'ssome competitors that do and props to them. My body can not do it. Everybody'sbody is so completely different too. And. You know, as well. I only want toprep for as long as like 26 weeks. And that's kind of the goal right now isI'll probably be in prep for 26 weeks.

[00:06:16] Laura: So that's about, um, July when I'll bedone competing for the season.

[00:06:24] Andrew: I see. Well, while we're on thisbodybuilding conversation, do you have. Any tips since it's January is the yearstarted. And I have known you for a little while. So I know you haven't beendoing bodybuilding for an incredibly long time in the grand scheme of things.So what are your tips for people who want to do the new year?

[00:06:46] Andrew: New me? How'd you get started all thatkind of jazz. Where should they start?

[00:06:52] Laura: Set stupid easy goals. I mean that theygotta be so stupid, easy, like, like a good example. I like to give everybodyis, um, say you want to be able to do 20 pushups, give yourself the easy goalof that week. Like, okay, I'm going to do one pushup at night. And I'm kind oftaking this idea from a podcast I listened to, it's called trained.

[00:07:14] Laura: It's a Nike Nike podcast. And I learnedthat from him and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, that's exactly what I did. Like, I,I put an easy goal for myself for going to the gym. I thought, okay, I'm goingto go to the gym two to three times this week. If I go three times. Awesome. IfI go two times, I hit my goal. So then it started getting easier and I waslike, okay, let's do three to four times and so on.

[00:07:37] Laura: And so. And then eventually with diets,I was like, oh, well, you know, I kind of want to challenge myself a littlemore. Maybe I'll eat good this many days out of the week and I'll go get thislike water burger on this day, you know, just the one time or the two times,depending on what, where I was with my goals.

[00:07:55] Laura: So just stupid, easy goals. Like rightnow I have a goal to start reading more and. I mean, I started what is, I'mcalling it as a lazy book club with one of my friends and by lazy, I mean, weread like two chapters a week and if we get to meet that week, great, we'llmeet up the next week and we can even do it through zoom because it's, it'sgetting us to read, but it's not an excessive amount of reading.

[00:08:27] Laura: It's just two chapters. So that's like,what, 10 minutes a night. So just stupid easy goals is what I recommendeverybody getting into the new year. Don't go too hard to where you burn out sofast and you quit and you feel like a failure. And you're like, you know what?I'll try again next year, even though you mess up, can literally try again thesecond after you're done messing up.

[00:08:54] Laura: So that's my.

[00:08:56] Andrew: That the Nike podcast has some wisdomthere. That is a, that is a great way. Not just to look out or look at workingout, but any habit you want to build, uh, which I guess applies to any newyear's stuff you want to do, or just in general, uh, I didn't listen to theNike podcast, but there's a book I read that that's what they talked about wasif you were trying to get back in the gym or, you know, reading's a greatexample where you want to read more often, instead of saying like, Hey, I'mgoing to go at this.

[00:09:26] Andrew: A hundred miles an hour. I saw Andrewread, you know, 10 books last month, which totally did not happen, but youdon't even want to go for that high achievement. I'm going to do a 500 pounddeadlift after having not been in the gym for two years. What you do is youinstead go, Hey, you did that.

[00:09:42] Laura: No, I ain't saying don't do that.

[00:09:43] Laura: Oh God.

[00:09:45] Andrew: Oh yeah, that would, that'd be rough.Uh, you will hurt something. And that's the thing, you know, Jim specifically,you're, you're looking for injuries. We have a good friend named Jake and. He,some people just have that talent to pull the trigger really hard, really fast,but he decided he was going to go from not running.

[00:10:01] Andrew: At all for years. And he was like, I'mgoing to go run 10 miles. And he did, he wouldn't ran 10 miles, um, completelyjacked up his knee for like six months. And then he sat out for six months.Didn't do anything again, came back around after he finally healed up and he'slike, okay, that was dumb. Instead, I'm going to go really hard on this thing.

[00:10:19] Andrew: I think he was going to do like bearcrawls or something. He did this insane workout, a screwed up his shoulder forlike a year, because again, he went. From zero to like elite athlete levelworkouts. And he had the grit to be able to finish them. God bless his body andhis body did not have the, uh, endurance or the, you know, the training toendure those workouts.

[00:10:41] Andrew: So anyways, I think that's what theysaid was if you want to build a gym habit, you want to build that, you know,reading habit, you don't have to do anything. You just go to the gym, walk intothis. And make that the goal is show up and say, Hey, I walked into the gymthat I have the membership I came in and I didn't do anything, but you showedup and then you leave and you just keep doing that.

[00:11:01] Andrew: And then sooner or later you startturning the little hurdles into habits until now it is, Hey, I'm here. I canwork out here. You're not struggling to just show up at the gym that, thatpart's been overcome. You're not struggling to read because you're getting yourbook out every night before bed. You're having a book next to your bed that youpick up every night.

[00:11:21] Andrew: Yeah. There's just all these littlethings. You, those tiny, tiny habits, and it really grows into something moremeaningful over the long-term instead of brute forcing your way into somethingand burn yourself out or getting injured.

[00:11:32] Laura: Exactly exactly like the popular thingto do right now, it seems is 75 hard, which I'm not a big promoter of anyextreme, anything, which bodybuilding is very, very extreme. Might I add? Idon't promote it. Like I always tell people like what it's like the good thebad, and the very ugly of it before they decide to invest their time and money.

[00:11:57] Laura: But with like 75 hard, like, I thinkit's great for you mentally, because it does push us. It does push you. Andunless if you're going to the gym, like consistently and dieting consistently,I don't recommend people doing it to start their new year off. Like it's just,it's too hard. It's too much. And it's just going to make you feel terrible ifyou don't complete it. So I hear a new beginner. Yeah. And nothing againstseventy-five heart. I get it. It's it's, it's very extreme. You don't get anyrest days. You don't get any cheat meals, like at least with bodybuilding, youget rest days and cheat meals, but still unhealthy, so unhealthy.

[00:12:39] Daniel: what is, what is 7,500 just at edcuriosity?

[00:12:44] Laura: Oh, yeah.

[00:12:44] Daniel: familiar.

[00:12:45] Laura: let, so sending by a card, you have 75days where you get up and correct me if I'm wrong, Andrew, I I've only seenpeople do it. So, and I've talked to a few people about it, but you have toread, I think a chapter a day, you have to do two exercises and one is outside.So it could be a blizzard and you still got to go outside and do your exercise.

[00:13:07] Laura: You get no cheap. And you get no reststates. So you are literally going hard for 75 dates and it's, I mean, it'smentally tough, which is why I say it's good for you mentally. It really pushesyou mentally, but physically it's draining.

[00:13:26] Daniel: Gotcha. No, that's, that's reallyinteresting. And to tie in with what both of y'all have been talking about, Ifeel like a challenge like that may make sense to a person who already has alifestyle and habit. They're in pretty good shape. They already have some kindof good routines. And maybe, maybe you just need a little bit of spice in yourlife, or you need a little bit of a goal to kind of help you stick with some ofthose routines.

[00:13:51] Daniel: And so for somebody like that, maybe a75 hard challenge sort of makes sense to do as. Achievement, but I feel like alot of times we see these types of challenges and we see it as a way to, oh,okay. Like, that's going to be the thing that's going to help me to finally getin shape or help me to finally do X, Y, Z.

[00:14:13] Daniel: And it's like, no, in reality, that'sprobably for somebody who already isn't shaped because once they finished that75 hard shell. They're going to go back to something where they're staying inshape and they're eating what they're supposed to. And if you're somebody wholike Jake bless his heart, where you're coming off the couch and you're like,I'm ready.

[00:14:32] Daniel: I'm doing the 75 hard. And maybe youget through it. You do it. The problem is then you go back to the couchafterwards and it doesn't really help you like 75 days out of the year. It'snot, it's not a lie in Rio.

[00:14:46] Laura: It is. And it's kind of funny that yousay that because it's the same thing for bodybuilding. Like after I did myfirst show back in 29. I didn't do Well, And I did one of the biggest shows inTexas, which is Europa. I placed like 11th. Like it was bad. And after it wasover, like, my prep was so hard, it wasn't really done correctly either.

[00:15:09] Laura: Um, it was over-trained and underfedand, um, I mean, when I was done like that week after I was like, I'm done, Iquit. Like I never want to do the skin. It was awful. And I w I, I can't tellyou the eating disorder I developed and the body image issues I had afterwards.So that's also, you know, it goes back to 75, hard, like you are, you'reworking out every day.

[00:15:35] Laura: You're eating better. You're rating.Like it does help you build up those habits helpfully. But if you go from oneextreme to the other extreme, you're most likely going to go back to sitting onthe couch. So you want to slowly build up those habits so you can go and dothose big goals like that. Just it's I think mentally it's healthier andphysically it's healthier.

[00:15:58] Laura: So that's, that's where I see it frommy experience.

[00:16:05] Andrew: Well, that's a great perspectivebecause you, you followed through on something. I assume something changedbetween your first attempt or however you want to call it your first season.Uh, if you were to go back and talk to yourself, whenever you're first doingit, what would you have changed?

[00:16:20] Laura: I think I would have done it a lot moreresearch. Before I got into bodybuilding, like I was, I knew what it was. I understoodthat the diet was really hard and the training was extensive. But,

[00:16:31] Andrew: Um,

[00:16:32] Laura: Um,

[00:16:33] Laura: no one told me that if you don'treverse out, you're gonna, you're gonna blow up. It just, you just are. If youjust start eating so much food after a show, like you're not only are you goingto blow up, but you could do some.

[00:16:50] Laura: Like physical damage to your body, youcan mess up your metabolism. You can mess up your hormones. I mean, there arepeople that ended up in the hospital because they just had no control after ashow. I mean, it's very dangerous, very, very dangerous.

[00:17:07] Andrew: Now by reverse out, you mean where youbasically reverse diet by saying like, if you're at a 1000 calorie daily cap,you only slowly increase that cap. You don't just go straight to a 3000 calorieday and do whatever you want for the next two months, right? Or is theresomething more specific related to reverse dying?

[00:17:24] Laura: Uh, so no, you're right. It is that.And then you're slowly backing out of your cardio. So your cardio is still kindof high and then you slowly start to cut it off. Um, but

[00:17:35] Andrew: Well, you have to keep doing thecardio after the competition too.

[00:17:38] Laura: Yes, you do. I never stopped doingcardio, like, and that's just, again, that's my body type. My body needscardio. Um, just to kind of burn off that extra bit of, uh, calories. Um, Imean, I, during off season I did four days, 20 minutes steady state, and that'sbeen, my cardio is steady state. Like he did have me doing some intervals of.

[00:18:07] Laura: But, um, I mostly just do steady state,like I'm on the StairMaster or I'm walking on incline on the treadmill or, um,just as long as my heart rates up, like that's, that's my cardio. It's just soboring. That's why I hate it.

[00:18:27] Daniel: Yeah, Andrew's definitely out on thebodybuilding now.

[00:18:31] Andrew: not to say I take it, I take it back.The sword is not worth this bikini thing. Um, I'm good.

[00:18:40] Laura: They have some shiny bikinis.

[00:18:44] Andrew: All right. You know, maybe I'll justget one anyways and we can just skip the show and I'll just do it as specialfans. Only show just for our audience. Uh, and that would be the end of thepodcast and possibly Andrew social life,

[00:19:00] Laura: Oh my

[00:19:00] Andrew: be worth it.

[00:19:02] Daniel: I'll let you I'll let you spend thatone off. Uh, I don't know if I want to be associated

[00:19:09] Andrew: I was going to get you a matching one.

[00:19:14] Laura: Yeah, as this bikini is, um, they'reabout they range from, I think I got my I'm pretty cheap. It was $130, but theyranged from about 500 to a thousand dollars sometimes. Yeah, bodybuilding.Bodybuilding is so expensive. Like if you want to do it right, it is extensive.Like you've got your supplements. You've got your food.

[00:19:38] Laura: You've got travel. You've got stay.You've got for women for bikini competitors. You have your bikini, you haveyour shoes, you have your nails, your tan hair, your makeup. I mean, it's, Ispent, I probably dropped a grand in one week from my. For the Ronnie plus yourmembership fee, plus your entry fee is. like, it adds up.

[00:20:04] Daniel: That's crazy to me, but I mean, ifit's, if it's a passion, if it's something you love and I'm sure there arehobbies that you can spend far more on, like golf.

[00:20:15] Laura: Uh, like golf. Exactly. And then likewith this, if you do go pro you get sponsors, so you don't have to pay for SUor you don't have to pay for your supplements or they just pay you to post onsocial media. Um, and then when you win shows you actually win money. LikeJennifer Dori, she won, um, Olympia this year for bikini.

[00:20:37] Laura: She won like $50,000 for one show. Nobig deal.

[00:20:42] Daniel: That's pretty nice. Is that, is thatthe goal? Is to reach a point where, you know, even if it's not a career it'sself-sustaining and that, you know, the hobby kind of pays for itself.

[00:20:55] Laura: Not doing bodybuilding anymore.

[00:20:58] Daniel: Right. Right. So to a point whereyou're not having to pay out of pocket for all of those things, you do have asponsor or you're winning some competitions. Is that somewhere where you wantto be? Or is it more, you just love bodybuilding. You love the shows andwhether you have to pay or not, you're happy to do.

[00:21:14] Laura: So I love it. I really, really do.

[00:21:17] Laura: Um, um, trying not to focus on gettingthose sponsors. I mean, it would be nice to have those sponsors don't get mewrong, but I think. All in all, I love bodybuilding and I'm now it's somethingI'm not going to do for the rest of my life, because it's just not healthy. Andmy body, like, I want to live for a while, you know?

[00:21:38] Laura: Um, but yeah, that would be awesome tohave that goal, to have sponsors pay for me to go and compete or pay for likemy supplements and stuff like that. But that would be super nice. I don't knowif that's the end all goal. I think it's just. Winning. I like that feeling ofwinning being handed a sword is really nice.

[00:22:00] Laura: So I think I want to say it's justbodybuilding. I really enjoy it. I enjoy it a lot. I like it. Um, how it pushesme every single day from the second I wake up to the second I go to sleep.

[00:22:18] Andrew: And that's a good answer and I get it.The supplements are expensive. I would love it. If someone would pay for myprotein powder, uh, scary how much I spend on that every year to not reallyhave any muscles to show for it, but

[00:22:31] Laura: Oh, my goodness.

[00:22:32] Andrew: stuff's expensive.

[00:22:33] Laura: It gets pretty pricey.

[00:22:36] Andrew: it does, like, I actually just got anorder on today and I think it was.

[00:22:41] Andrew: $60 of protein for two tubs that wasalready 50% off. It's like two months of protein. It's

[00:22:49] Laura: Oh,

[00:22:50] Andrew: but, oh, well,

[00:22:53] Laura: the things

[00:22:54] Andrew: so it's something about this. Yeah.For, uh, for temporary pleasure, I guess we're paying really to make up for thepain.

[00:23:02] Laura: a hundred percent pain.

[00:23:07] Andrew: So I've got a, a thought that wasjumped around in my head. And this is again, you have the marketing backgroundand the sword thing with the competition reminded me of it. I wanted to know.How this all blends together with your date, life day, job, your career as amarketing person. And I swear, there's a connection there.

[00:23:25] Andrew: I just, there's a company calledmischief or a performance group. I don't know what they're really labeled as Ineed to keep up and do some research, but they were running a promo where you.Mailed them your guns and they would turn it into a sword and Sunday, the swordback, like they'd melt your guns down and send you a sword back.

[00:23:42] Andrew: So incredibly good marketing. Um, sothat's kind of where I was going with that. But with that said, is there like ablend besides, you know, possibly getting a gun made sword from yourcompetition that goes in with your marketing background?

[00:23:57] Laura: Oh goodness. Um, my marketingbackground?

[00:24:01] Laura: so I, uh, I've been doing marketing forabout. I guess eight years now. Um, cause that's when I was starting to do allof it, I was in school. Um, there's not much of a connection between the two. Ijust, after college, I decided to start going to the gym and start lifting.

[00:24:24] Laura: And, um, I think one day I would loveto do marketing for. You know, some fitness company, whether that be a clothingbrand, supplement brands, you know, any kind of brand that's related tofitness. I think that would be awesome. Um, but I'm hoping the two don't clashtoo much, because I feel like you can get burned in today's world.

[00:24:51] Laura: I feel like you can get burnt out on,um, work, um, just with the constant. I'll sleep when I'm dead kind ofmentality. That makes sense. Um, I know right now I'm getting a little, alittle tired from work and I think the gym is my escape. So I do try to keepthe two pretty separate. Um, I, again, I love marketing.

[00:25:16] Laura: But then there's, there's some dayswhere I'm just like, dear Lord. I kinda wish I was just doing bodybuildingfull-time, but I don't, I don't know. Um, I had a huge passion for marketingwhen I was in college. Um, like I wanted to go off and work for this big. Atagency in Chicago, um, called Leo Burnett would have loved to work there andmoved to Chicago and done all that.

[00:25:43] Laura: But life kinda threw me a curve ball,and I didn't, I ended up actually moving back to the panhandle and, you know,found a small agency, worked there for a hot minute. And then now I'm at thecredit union doing marketing and I like it, but, um, no. At the end of the day,I think it's just a job. It helps pay for my bills.

[00:26:11] Andrew: get that. Well, you don't have tocombine everything in your life into one singular facet. So it's probablyhealthy if you don't.

[00:26:19] Laura: Yeah.

[00:26:20] Andrew: So it doesn't ever come up though.Like when you're trying to build your, sort of say reputation as a competitor,you don't have to plug into your marketing skills and work your Instagram in acertain way or anything, or any secret tips for aspiring fitness influencers.

[00:26:35] Laura: Um, just, I kinda try to, um, I triedto be as genuine on my social media as much as I can. I don't talk about like work-relatedstuff at all there. So that's probably the only thing I don't mention, but Imean, marketing related stuff to like my social media, which my Instagram isonly bodybuilding stuff.

[00:26:58] Laura: Um, or fitness related stuff. Um, I dotry to try to be just as genuine. And that's, that's what I tell anyone thatwants to really just up their followers. Just, just be genuine. Um, you know,there is an algorithm, there is a time to, and I could, I could put all thesethings into it, but I don't. Um, I'm sorry, I just got a text from my boss, so.

[00:27:28] Andrew: Oh, that's just rude. It's a Sunday.They shouldn't be bothering bothering you.

[00:27:34] Laura: But, um, it kind of caught me offguard. So, um, No there, if I wanted to do everything correctly, I would havescheduled posts and I would really understand who my followers are. I can'ttell you if I have more guys or more girls following me. Cause I just, I don'tkeep up with it. I just, I try to post my journey on there. For others. And Ido, I have people that message me and tell me how much I inspire them. And itmakes my day makes me happy and makes me want to start doing more marketingrelated things towards my Instagram. But it's kind of for me that myInstagram's for me to keep track of my progress, to see how far I've come.

[00:28:13] Laura: Um, and if I can inspire people at thesame time while hosting, I definitely want to do that. I don't want somebodyto, you know, I feel terrible about going to the gym. Like, I, I know somethingrecent happened and I went on and found somebody and I was like, Hey, listen,and get you, get you a free month at my gym, if you want to come there.

[00:28:36] Laura: And I just, I tried to make it verygenuine. I don't post like. They're on my marketing guru stuff into it becausethat's a lot of work in itself. Unless if I was doing it,

[00:28:52] Andrew: on the Instagram.

[00:28:53] Laura: no, no schedule posts, no timing. Likewhen it's optimal to post or when I kind of do. When I know that there's a lotof people on there.

[00:29:04] Laura: So like posting on a Friday nights,probably not a good idea or posting up late on a Saturday night when people arenot on their phones. It's not a good idea. So like posting during the dayaround like four to 7:00 PM or when I'm on the StairMaster usually is a, I'llget some good feedback on it. And I do have my, and this is just the nerd inme.

[00:29:26] Laura: I do have my, um, Instagram set to.Instagram.

[00:29:30] Laura: so I can see the stats on it just causeit, it does intrigue me. That is one thing I love, I too. Love stats. It's veryinteresting to understand your consumers.

[00:29:44] Andrew: That's cool. Thank you for the tips.And I'm glad you're keeping the genuine that's healthy, and it's probablyeasier for your mental wellbeing to, uh, just stay focused on the one thing andnot be, you know, spending all of your time, trying to figure out how tooptimize your social media while you're also training and being ready for thenext competition.

[00:30:01] Andrew: That that'd be a hard thing to juggle.

[00:30:03] Laura: it is. And it's, there's again, there'syour full-time bodybuilders that do do it. And they have like YouTube channelsand tick talk and, um, all of it, all the social media. And I just, I focusstrictly on Instagram because that's easier for me to keep track of my journeyand talk to anyone on there that is willing to listen.

[00:30:27] Andrew: I get it. I get it. Well at the end ofour episodes of what the interview is, we usually leave some space for you asthe guests had, tell us a story from your life and then offer a challenge tothe audience if you have anything. So is there any stories you want to share?

[00:30:44] Laura: Okay. Okay. I got a little story. I'llmake it. I'll give you the cliff notes version.

[00:30:50] Andrew: Okay. I'm excited to hear it.

[00:30:53] Laura: All right. So, um, yeah, I know just alittle story.

[00:30:58] Andrew: Yeah.

[00:31:00] Laura: I didn't start my fitness journey totechnically I want to say October, 2016, back in. June, 2016. I did buy a gymmembership at Amarillo town club and I didn't use it until October. So I waspaying for a gym membership and finally I got sick of it.

[00:31:20] Laura: And I was, I was very scared to go tothe gym and just like lift weights. Cause I didn't want people staring at me orI didn't want people to think, I didn't know what I was doing. So I would justlike walk on the treadmill and that's it. Not even at an incline and then I'dleave, but I. I finally got into, um, bodybuilder and not bodybuilding, sorry.

[00:31:39] Laura: Um, it's Les mills body pump. And so Istarted taking those classes and they actually teach you how to lift weightspretty, pretty well in there. it's a lot of reps and low weights. So it taughtme like, okay, don't go heavy if there's a lot of reps. So it did teach me alot. And then I started following all these fitness influencers on Instagramthat would post their workouts.

[00:32:04] Laura: And so. See those workouts. And then Iwould search, I go research how to do that workout just to make sure I wasdoing it correctly. And then I'd go into the gym and just do that. And thenthey would talk about diet. So I learned about macros. So I started out withmacros and learned, okay, this is sustainable.

[00:32:24] Laura: Like, I can do this. Like I can stillhave like 12 talkies a day. Like, um, but everything, I did everything super,super slow leading up to my body building life. And I mean, from 2016, tillabout early 2018, I had just moved back. And I was actually in a slump. I wasmy, I had just moved back from Colorado because my mom was diagnosed withbreast cancer at the time.

[00:32:56] Laura: And so I like, they came up, she toldme I was back home within a week. No job, no nothing. I was living at home,helping out. Um, and I had the. So I just kept going to the gym and learningmore about dieting and exercising, and it helped a lot with that part of mylife. And then eventually after my mom had her surgery, which she didn't havesurgery for like six months, I ended up gaining like some confidence to go andfind a job and.

[00:33:32] Laura: One thing after, after another and waspushing myself, not just within my career, but within the gym with my diet,which led me to bodybuilding when I was like, okay, I want to try this. I thinkI'm ready to do this. My body was in a good, good spot. Like it wasn't some,Um,

[00:33:52] Laura: where I am now, obviously, but slowlyled up to everything.

[00:33:56] Laura: And I think if I didn't have the gymtoday or. The support I have for body. I don't think I'd be where I am. If itwasn't for the gym. Like, I truly think the gym saved my life from the sad,miserable, miserable depression that I went through when I moved back and, um,definitely started with Les mills body, uh, body pump.

[00:34:21] Laura: So again, just going to end it on this,I slowly started everything out which was going into Inc. And then slowlyresearching and getting into everything. So that was about what, six years agonow almost six years. And now I'm doing this.

[00:34:46] Andrew: Hey, there's nothing slow and steadywins the race. As I've heard said many times, and there's nothing wrong withbody pump. I had, I had taught body pump very briefly and I had a blast. So

[00:34:58] Laura: Here's fine. There's some people

[00:35:00] Andrew: class.

[00:35:00] Laura: I think it is too. There's some peoplethat talk like, oh, we're not going to do that. That's for, and it's like, no,no, no. Like that's where I got my start. I got my start with classes now,Zoomba, on the other hand, I'm just not coordinated enough to do zoom by like,I will never be coordinated to do Zumba.

[00:35:17] Laura: So I do do yoga and I was doing yoga incollege and I still try to do it, but. It's nothing like lifting weights. So goto those body

[00:35:29] Andrew: get it. Yoga is great too.

[00:35:31] Laura: It's wonderful.

[00:35:33] Andrew: What about a challenge? You gotanything for the audience to give a shot?

[00:35:36] Laura: Yeah. I definitely want to challengethe entire listening group. Whomever you are. That's listening to, um, if youare setting a goal. Try try your best to stick with it, but make sure it's youstart out like super stupid, easy, like say you're going to try and go to sleepearly every night, like

[00:35:55] Andrew: Uh,

[00:35:56] Laura: say you're going to do at least once.And then once till it gets easier, you know, twice a week, just, I challengeeveryone to set a goal to make it stupid, easy, and to stick with it.

[00:36:09] Laura: Even if you fall off, jump back on itthe next day, just. That's why I'm challenging people just make your goalssuper easy. First. I hope That's a good challenge. Is that good advice. Is thata good

[00:36:24] Andrew: Yeah. I think it's good stuff. Hey,if, if it's what got you looking like you look, then it's gotta be worthsomething, right.

[00:36:31] Laura: right.

[00:36:32] Laura: Six years later here, we are to findanother challenge which is reading.

[00:36:39] Andrew: Hey baby steps again. Well, Laura,thanks so much for hopping on with Daniel and I, we really appreciate youjoining us and talking with our people and giving us tips and, uh, helpingbroaden my horizons on my future competitions so I can get swords as prizesinstead of stupid metals.

[00:36:57] Laura: Oh, my gosh. Well, anytime thank youfor having me. I'm I had a good time. You guys are great.

[00:37:03] Andrew: That's awesome. Well, for everybodylistening, go check out Laura's Instagram, follow her stuff and follow herfitness journey. And we look forward to connecting with you all soon.

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