Ash, a Perth fitness content creator, joins us to chat about her experience as a first-time bodybuilder, her journey into fitness, building her page, and all things fitness industry related. We discuss:

- Bit of background on Ash

- How Ash's account began and developed into what it is

- Getting into bodybuilding

- Transition in workouts into lifting weights

- Current gym and mixing up gym locations

- Previous training splits compared to the present bodybuilding prep training split

- Being selective with energy expenditure and training types during prep

- Conversion in diet and meals, after becoming independent and moving to Perth from Busselton as a university student

- Sport and fitness background

- Different lifestyle focuses at different phases and the different kinds of people that come with those different focuses

- Connecting with people that share the same interests through social media

- Perth bodybuilding community

- Discipline and willpower that comes with bodybuilding

- Brief breakdown of the different female bodybuilding categories

- The category Ash is competing in and the focus that comes with it

- Training with a partner while sticking to your program

- Post-competition focus and direction

- Future progression goals in bodybuilding, mindset, and muscles wise

- Navigating the festive season while on prep

- Friends that live the same lifestyle and or can understand your lifestyle choices. Friends that support you and respect your boundaries

- First-time bodybuilding journey expectations for during prep and post-competing. Planning post-competition and different approaches, reverse or recovery diet, with future plans in mind

- Favourite and least favourite lifts

- Relationship with her body and how bodybuilding has affected that so far

- Having a coach to guide you and prepare you for the challenges that come with bodybuilding

- Costs that come with bodybuilding. Spending your money on the things that you value

- Hitting macros, getting vegetables in, and gut health

- Tracking everything through prep and keeping it simple. Meal frequency and variety

- Eating whole foods, satiety, and cravings. Eating what you enjoy and what works for you

- With a focus on physique instead of performance, the challenges of comparison especially on social media

- Body dysmorphia during prep and reminding yourself social media is not a reality

- Not consuming social media that doesn't serve you

- Thoughts on tracking and fueling for performance and to thrive and not just survive

- Optimising the components outside of training to see those extra results

- Benefits of having a good coach

- Training in a way that sets your soul on fire, trying things that inspire you, and consuming content that expands your mindset

- Current prep challenges

- Not glamorizing bodybuilding, enjoying the process and the mindset challenges

- Posting and not burning out with content curation through posting what you are passionate about

- Posting as a passion and not posting as a means of income

- Partnerships with brands with quality materials, durability, and communities

- Supplements and drug testing

- Working as a speech pathologist and competing what the future plans for both look like

Weekly recommendations

Words to younger self

Hope you enjoyed the episode, leave a review.

Lots of love Sarz and Ez.

#growthandgains