Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Tianna Pistone, who started bodybuilding at age 16 years and did her first show at 17 years old. She earned her Pro card USA’s in 2023 when she was just 22. As a young teenager, she struggled with underrating, always wanting to be the thinnest girl. She was inspired to start bodybuilding by her father, a former bodybuilder.   Outside of competing, I graduated college with a bachelors of science, majoring in homeland security, and is now in the Austin PD...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Janine Herrera, a single mother to 3 amazing girls aged 10, 8, and 4. She is also an AGACNP-BC with a focus and passion for functional medicine. She has spent the better part of her life serving others, but was in need of purpose unique and personal to her, and she has found that in bodybuilding.  In addition to being a high school sprinter and cross-country athlete, Janine also danced ballet for 21 years.   She started  bodybuilding in March 2021, and...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Sammy Jo, an online health and fitness coach & posing coach. She started competing in 2022 and earned her Pro card one year later in 2023 at NPC Universe. She has a degree in business administration and quit my 9-5 in sales job back in 2022 to pursue competing and coaching. She is also a suit stylist with Toxic Angelz Bikinis and co-host of Bikini Things Podcast.     TOPICS COVERED -struggles post show -food obsession during prep -the reward through...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Carrie Hennessy, a wife and girl mom to a 18 months old and 13 year old plus a dog mom. She loves true crime podcasts, being outdoors and anything adventurous. She loves connection, laughing and advocating for women. One of her favorite quotes is “ If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” She entered the bodybuilding world after leaving an abusive marriage and finding the courage to choose herself. Fitness took...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Jessica Dexter, an online lifestyle/ bikini competition prep coach, who also offers posing coaching. She has been competing for four years and earned her Pro card at 2021 North Americans after coaching her self. Her bodybuilding journey has been her saving grace and she wants to encourage other women to have the strength to take care of themselves mentally and physically despite life's obstacles!   TOPICS COVERED -mental health -maintaining healthy...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Maddy Michielssen, the CEO of Mpowered Fitness, who earned her Pro card at 2023 Nationals with the Overall win. She grew up a Ballet dancer with the Orlando Ballet before quitting at the age of 15 and took up weight training & wakeboarding. After a major accident, she put wakeboarding to bed and got into college at the University of Florida. She began training clients then, but also battled with her own eating disorder. After moving home and graduating,...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Amanda Rivas, an actor, writer, filmmaker, comedian, and dog enthusiast. She is the writer & creator of EX Weeks Out - a film about bodybuilding and the strongest muscle of them all - the heart. Amanda competed in the NPC for nearly a decade with placings including everything from dead last to overall. Staying committed, consistent, and never giving up, she finally won her Pro car at Masters USAs in 2023.   Amanda is so open about her story and what...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Manuelita Acuña, a 20-year-old from Colombia, who has lived in the USA for 2.5 years. A former member of the Columbian National Trampoline team, she retired after winning the 2019 National championships and sustaining an injury. Who her mom came to visit her in March of 2022, she realized she wasn’t in a good spot mentally or physically, so she decided to make a change and began working out again. She began her bodybuilding journey in March of 2023 when she...

Today I speak with Jordan and Drew Brannon. Jordan was born & raised in Tampa, Florida. She has her Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science from the University of South Florida, where she also met her husband, Drew Brannon. Drew is from Miami, Florida. Like Jordan, he also has his Exercise Science degree from USF.  After college, Jordan & Drew opened their own gym, Pinellas Ultimate Strength House. Five years later, they just moved their gym to a brand new space featuring top of the line...

Today I speak with IFBB Pro Casey Marshall,  a coach of NPC/IFBB athletes and lifestyle clients for 13. She specializing in the overall package - presentation, glam, suit, sportsmanship and overall creating healthy happy athletes. Her team, Team Boss Bodies, has turned over 50 women pro and have had athletes win pro shows in masters and open. She is also the author of the book The Bikini Bible.   While treating each client as an individual, she also accounts for their mental health and...

Today I speak with David DeMesquita, a functional health coach on a mission to “make lives better”. For the past 8 years, he has helped people from a wide range of backgrounds to not just optimize internal systems, but ALSO achieve their best physiques ever. He has worked with some of the top Olympians in the IFBB and continues to help athletes of all ages and experiences. David has over 10 years of his own competitive bodybuilding experience, being coached directly by some of the best in the...

Today I speak with Lexie Maitland, a NASM certified CPT with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology from the University of Tampa. Before online coaching, she was an in person personal trainer and has been a coach for Team ProPhysique since 2019. She competed for the first time in 2017 (out of a dorm room) and then took a few years away before coming back to the stage. As a coach, Lexie puts her clients’ health first, both physical and mental. She has built a close knit community with...

Today I speak with Sean Irwin, a Bodybuilding Contest Preparation Coach, Lifestyle Coach, and Personal Trainer. He is also an experienced Bodybuilding Athlete associated with some of the top competitors and brands in the sport. At an early age Sean developed his passion for competitive preparation through various individualized sports that demanded peak levels of physical performance. He is constantly seeking out innovative and scientific approaches to maximizing client health as well as...

Today I speak with Ivan Madarang of Geek to Physique. He has been an Internal medicine nurse for 10 years and started coaching in 2016, with a 2 years mentorship under Cameron Cheek and Mike from Peak Athletic Performance. A National level competitor himself, his highly individualized approach is focused on longevity, adapting to each client’s unique nature, from physical to the mental to the physiological.   TOPICS COVERED -using a glucometer -focusing on habits -using nursing...

We are back for our 3rd coach series and I want to preface this week by saying every coach I am bringing on is a professional with their own achievements, education, and experience. Many of them you will recognize as well-known names.   If I could fit every amazing coach in the bikini competition world on the show, we would have a whole other podcast, but I am so excited about the coach’s I will be conducting these interviews with.   None of the coaches have paid to come on and there will...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Stephanie Warden, who has been competing since 2018 and turned pro at NPC Universe in 2023, which was her 14th show. She made her Pro debut at the Hawaii Pro where she placed 4th. Outside of competing and fitness modeling, she is an eye doctor, a wife, and a coach, who will soon be launching a podcast with Lauren Kralovec and Kaylia Rhodes.     TOPICS COVERED -moving on from a coach -intentional training -focus on posing -competing while in school ...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Megan Van Vleet, a 39-year-old with a masters in Management & Leadership who has been competing since 2013. She is married to her high school sweetheart and currently live in Oregon. Before bodybuilding she did ballet, rode horses, and played & coached softball. She competed in 24 shows, including 13 pro qualifiers before turning pro in November 2023.   She starting a consulting mentorship business where she works 1:1 with corporate women not only...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Andrea Loces, a talent acquisition professional at a tech start-up, who has her bachelor of science degree in entrepreneurship from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Originally from Palm Springs, CA, she earned her pro card at Nationals 2023 on the 3 year anniversary of the first check-in with her coach! A lifelong athlete and former ballerina, Andrea ran track and cross country, before an injury ended her collegiate cross country career. She has ...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Lauren “Lolo” Kralovec, born and raised in Oregon and currently lives in Boise, Idaho. She started competing in 2017 and turned Pro in 2021 at the NPC Olympia Amateur. She has competed 19 and first hit the National stage in 2019. Lauren decided to take 2022 as a long improvement season, before returning to the Pro stage.  She is dedicated to bodybuilding but also has a full-time career in Tech Sales.    Thought her journey, discipline has shaped her life...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Theresa Mendoza-Cura, who recently turned pro recently at the 2023 Muscle Contest Masters USA after competing for 7 years. She has been competing since December 2016 and has been working to earn her pro card 2018. She has competed in over a dozen shows and has worked  to make the best out of the situation and used the time to really develop the physique she needed to earn her pro card. She just started offering posing to newer athletes, including feedback,...

Today I speak with NPC/IFBB Pro League Promoter & Professional Olympia Judge, Joe Pishkula. Joe has been on the podcast before and today he’s back to tell us about the Women’s NPC Seminar in January. I am so proud to be speaking this year on mental health and bodybuilding. We start with hearing Joe’s start in bodybuilding and how his relationship with it evolved over time. Joe and I cover a multitude of topics from, making a career in bodybuilding to taking advantage of opportunities when...

Today I speak with IFBB Pro Tamekia Carter, a mother, Air Force veteran, and wife who grew up in Mississippi. She got into bodybuilding when her father-in-law suggested she look into it. She first competed in 2021 at the Kuclo Classics, where she made a clean sweep of her classes! She earned her Pro Card just six months later at North American. Since then, she has placed top 5 at the Dallas Pro, top 3 at the Texas Pro, earned earned her Olympia qualification when she won the Sasquatch Pro....

Today I speak with IFBB Pro Ariana Brothers, an online coach with a B.S. in Nutrition and Foods. She first competed in 2019 and won her Pro card at  NPC Nationals at her second show ever and also won the overall. After my pro debut in 2020, she took three years off and came back this year and qualified for the Olympia at her 3rd show of the season at the Nashville Fit Show! At my Olympia debut, she placed 7th! She finished out her season by earning her 2024 Olympia qualification by winning...

Today I speak with IFBB Pro Jill Humphrey, a wife, mom of 2 college age kids & 2 fur babies, Founder & CEO of SOLA CBD, co-coach of Team Special Forces. She competed form 2005 to 2010 when her kids were little before “retiring”, and then decided to return to the stage in October 2020 after being in prep nearly a year.  When her kids were little, bodybuilding gave Jill a way to focus on herself. As her kids left for college, the sport helped her stay grounded as she adjusted to them...