Part 1

The weekend before this past Thanksgiving, I was feeling a lot of things.  It was Fitness America Weekend and it was the first big show I hadn’t competed in in 7 years!  I’ve been to every America and Universe since I started in 2014. 

I wanted to and almost tried to force it to happen, but I realized it was time to stop forcing and let things flow as they needed to. It became evident that I needed to stay put. There was magic happening in Greece. Trust me, there are more stories… a literal book in the works about that.  

The best thing I could do was watch the live stream and reminisce on back to back Fitness America sports model champion anniversary.

Yeah, I won 3 major titles between Fitness Universe 2019 and Fitness America 2020, could have been more if covid hadn’t canceled most of 2020. I didn’t talk about any of this and only a few people actually knew about it. I wasn’t there to just win a competition, it was bigger than that. I fulfilled the mission for myself and that  was good enough for me.  I wasn’t looking for the praise or accolades I could have gotten from broadcasting these wins.

After watching Fitness America 2021 on TV, I felt led to look back and found some footage that I took from after my last win.  I was happy and celebrating, but I still wasn’t in a “good place”.  While that was a good night and I didn’t necessarily intend to share the videos then, I knew at the time I was doing something bigger. What was coming was greater than what was. 

Yeah, it’s old news, but nobody knew. So..I guess it is new!! Either way, there are some “golden nuggets” in there… and not just because it was held at the Golden Nugget Casino.  Although I was a literal hot mess  (I go all valley girl..her name is Becky btw.. when I am hungry, dehydrated, and tired as hell after leaving all of that energy out on the stage..bonus for the double hamstring pull) there is valuable information that I am here to continue to share. 

If you have about 10 minutes, there could be something in there for you. Please at least try to listen and enjoy. There is more of this (minus the exhausted jibber-jabber) and much better coming soon.

I told you I was back 😉

Part 2

Allow me to introduce you to Mama Ruby. This woman is 74 now (73 when we shot this). She  lives her life and does not give AF.  She was one of the first people I met at my first Fitness America and I have been rockin’ with her ever since.  I started competing alone, I knew no one there. But it didn’t take long to meet my first competition buddy. She introduced herself, asked if I was on a team and said “You’re coming with me.” 

We have been through a lot together.  She has seen me at my worst and we have even traveled to Paris together to compete. 

I thought I was gonna start my podcast here and who better to begin with after that show.  As old as it is, I am glad we captured this conversation.  I figured I would look back on it one day and say Wow!  

This is a little more in depth about competing, each of our experiences and what it means to us  to be a part of Musclemania / Fitness Universe.

It’s a little rough, so bear with me.  It wasn’t supposed to go down quite like this. But as I have learned, sometimes you just have to roll with it.  I am all about the substance not the bs.