Amy Bowen

40 Years Old, 2 Children, and Winning My First Two Figure Shows

Here’s How I Did It

By: Amy Bowen, NGA Drug-Free Figure Pro

No Nonsense Newsletter Volume 14 # issue 3

 

MY STORY

Well, it all started when my trainer and very good friend, Shelly Loper made the comment "I want to get you up on stage someday!" My first reaction was "Are you crazy? I’m 40 years old!" "Well, maybe in a few years."

Shelly said "How about next April at the NGA Can/Am in Buffalo, New York?" That particular show is a drug-tested show, which is polygraph, tested. Mind you, this was August of 2008. That was just 8 months away. "Yikes!" Shelly said if she didn’t think I was ready, she wouldn’t send me out on stage. Fair enough.

I met Shelly, a trainer at the Nautilus Gym in Erie, PA, 12 years ago. We became friends and eventually workout partners. I trained with her for about a year. It was awesome and I learned so much. Even then we talked about doing a future figure show, but at that same time my husband, Brian and I also talked about starting a family. And just as nature would have it, a month later I became pregnant and a figure show was out of the picture. Shelly understood and said "Well Amy, maybe someday".

Twelve years went by and during that time Brian and I were blessed with two beautiful daughters. Working full-time as an ultrasonographer including nights, weekends, and being on call, plus raising a family left little time for the gym. But as the girls got older, Sarena 9 and Brooklynn 5, I was able to start thinking seriously about working out again. I said to my husband that I would like to tone up a little and get back in shape. He suggested I try to find Shelly again. Luckily I did, and we started training in August 2008.

NUTRITION

Shelly suggested following the Beverly Figure Nutrition Plan. It was very easy to follow and everything was spelled out for me. I prepared all my meals on Sunday afternoon and had everything packed in separate containers for the week. This way in the morning I could just "grab and go" off to the hospital. My first meal was at 6 am after cardio, and I had my other meals every 3-4 hours until 9 pm. I carried my cooler and water with me everywhere I went. That way there was no excuse to be tempted by fast foods or snacks when I got hungry between meals. I did pack some extra almonds, peanuts, egg whites, and a small amount of peanut butter in case I felt like I might be getting out of control, but usually I just relied on extra water to get me through to the next scheduled meal.

Beverly Figure Nutrition Plan (pg 11, Figure section of Beverly International Pre Contest Figure Workshop Manual and Study Guide)

Meal #1

1 whole egg + 3 egg whites

3 oz very lean meat

1/2 cup oatmeal - before cooking

Meal #2 (Choose one option)

Option A: Protein Drink with two scoops Ultimate Muscle Protein, one tablespoon healthy fat source (olive oil, flax oil, almond butter) or heavy cream

Option B: 1 can tuna, one small apple or orange

Meal #3

5 oz lean meat (chicken or other lean protein source)

1/2 cup cooked brown rice or 4 oz sweet potato

1 cup vegetables (broccoli, etc.) or 2 cups green salad with 2 tbsp vinegar and oil dressing

Meal #4

One scoop Muscle Provider in 16 oz water

Meal #5

6 oz salmon or very lean meat (chicken breast, fish, turkey breast, lean beef - sirloin, filet, etc)

1 cup low carb vegetables

Salad with 2 tbsp vinegar and oil dressing

Meal #6 (Choose one option)

Option A: Protein Shake or Pudding: 1 scoop Ultimate Muscle Protein, add enough water to make a shake or pudding the consistency you desire

Option B: 6 egg whites with 1 cup of vegetables

SUPPLEMENTS

As far as supplements go, I found Beverly Supplements to be superior to all other brands I have tried in the past. With Beverly I saw RESULTS. I’ve read every Beverly NoNonsense Newsletter, not just once, but over and over again. I don’t mean just the figure articles; I read every article including the male and female bodybuilders’ articles. I then took all the information from everybody and put together my own supplement program. But just to be safe I did talk to the Beverly staff to finalize my plan.

My original plan looked like this:

3 Ultra 40 per meal

3 Mass Aminos per meal

3 Joint Care with meal 1

2 Ultra 4 with meal 1

2 Fish Oil or EFA Gold with meals 1, 3, and 5

My 2nd plan looked like this

3 Ultra 40 per meal

2 Muscularity per meal

2 Lean Out per meal

1 Energy Reserve per meal

3 7-Keto in am

3 7-Keto 8 hours later

I continued taking the multivitamin, fish oil, and Joint Care as listed earlier.

Additional Workout Supplements

I took 4 Mass Aminos and 1 scoop of Glutamine Select plus BCAAs before and after training. For cardio sessions I used 1 Energy Reserve, 4 Density, and some more Glutamine Select to prevent muscle breakdown and help provide energy. That’s a lot of supplements and it really helps when your brother is a Beverly distributor. Dave, my only brother and one of my biggest supporters (next to my husband) always made sure I never ran out of supplements. The combination of all these supplements was invaluable. I had plenty of energy to deal with work, my family, and of course, training.

One thing I think it’s very important to note is that I could tell I was getting better right from the start, but it was at the 2 months mark that I really started SEEING results in my shape. I was leaner, tighter; plus I was a lot stronger in the gym. I kept finding new bumps on myself. Oh my gosh – these were muscles! How exciting!  The lesson here is, "Don’t expect a miracle overnight, follow your program consistently and RESULTS WILL COME."

TRAINING

I performed cardio in the early am on an empty stomach before my kids got up. Usually 30-45 minutes. As the contest approached I increased it to 60-90 minutes a day and divided that into am and pm sessions. I made sure every cardio session was different. I would switch it up from the elliptical to the treadmill to the bike to the tread climber and finally running outdoors. I also added a few plyometric sessions in there as well. I never got bored and the constant change up charged up the fat burning process.

Now as far as weight training we had to see where my strengths and weaknesses were. My upper body was pretty good for a beginner but I definitely needed help on the lower half. Due to my crazy work schedule, having a weekly routine was not an option. I managed to hit every body part twice in a week and my days off varied due to being on call one night and working second shift the next night. My favorite training day was legs. I would do a light and heavy day of legs twice a week.

Here’s a sample of a heavy leg day:

Squats – 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Leg Extension – 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Leg Press – 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Leg Curl – 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Hack Squats – 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Lunges – walking and reverse lunges on Smith machine – 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Every leg day was a killer and I was always sore for the next two days but I loved it!

8 WEEKS OUT FROM THE CAN/AM

Along with the training we now added posing practice; at least twice a week for 30 minutes in those shoes. You know the 5-inch heels! It was quite comical in the beginning but eventually I did get the hang of it. When my suit arrived I had to pose in the gym in my suit and heels. The first time I was so nervous that I thought I was going to throw up, but each time it got a little easier. I also began tanning twice a week to get a base tan. We then switched my meal plan to Phase 2 Fat Loss Figure C in the manual. This worked great for me because my metabolism was running full speed. I used this all the way to the competition. My workouts now consisted of higher reps with less weight and less rest time in between. All of this is in the Figure Workshop Manual and very easy to follow.

PHASE 2 FAT LOSS FIGURE C (from Pre Contest Figure Workshop Manual)

This program is for figure athletes with a higher metabolism than normal that are already pretty lean.

Meal #1: 6 egg whites; 3 oz very lean meat; 1/2 cup oatmeal

Meal #2 (Choose one option)

Option A: Protein Drink with one scoop Ultimate Muscle Protein, one tablespoon healthy fat source (olive oil, flax oil, almond butter) or heavy cream.

Option B: 1 can tuna, one small apple or orange

Meal #3

5 oz lean meat (chicken or other lean protein source); 1/2 cup cooked brown rice or 4 oz sweet potato; 1 cup vegetables (broccoli, etc.) or 2 cups green salad with 2 tbsp vinegar and oil dressing

Meal #4

One scoop Muscle Provider in 8 oz water

Meal #5

5 oz very lean meat (chicken breast, fish, turkey breast, lean beef - sirloin, filet, salmon, etc); 1 cup low carb vegetables; salad with 2 tbsp vinegar and oil dressing

Meal #6

Protein Shake or Pudding: 1 scoop Ultimate Muscle Protein, add enough water to make a shake or pudding the consistency you desire

Or

6 egg whites with 1 cup of vegetables

Monday and Thursday you should eliminate the oatmeal and brown rice or sweet potato at meals one and three. On these days you can add another scoop of protein to your shake or pudding if you like and have red meat at meal #5.

2 WEEKS OUT

My husband and daughters were starting to see that I was a little cranky and irritable as the contest approached. So Brian made a call to Shelly. She suggested giving me a small scoop of ice cream, no cone of course; to see if that would help. It sure did! It tasted great, brought me back to somewhat normal and I was back on track! But, let me emphasize, this was a one-time thing, and not until 2 weeks out from the show. If you do little cheats throughout your prep time it adds up and sabotages your on-stage conditioning.

SHOWTIME

Now having never been to a Figure or Bodybuilding show, I didn’t know what to expect. I had an idea from watching a few clips from DVDs, but this was way more exciting. The night before I had taken my polygraph test and passed. (No worries there!). Backstage I concentrated on having a good time and not thinking about how I would place. All the competitors were very nice and friendly and we all talked and got to know one another.

Prejudging lasted an hour but felt like 3 days. I had entered 3 divisions. Figure 35, Figure Novice, and Figure Open C. I had to do quarter turns for each division and hold my poses really tight while keeping a smile on my face the whole time. Whew!

The night of the finals I will never forget. When I walked out on stage I could hear my two daughters yelling “Yeah, Mom!” And my brother yelling “Go Sis!” and Brian, my husband screaming, “You look great Aim!” It was truly an awesome experience.

And it got even better. I ended up winning five 1^st place trophies:  The Figure 35, Figure Novice, Figure Novice Overall, Figure Open and Figure Open Overall which earned my NGA Pro card in my first contest.

This was definitely one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. But it wasn’t quite over yet. The next day Shelly suggested entering the NGA Natural Northeast Bodybuilding and Figure Pro-Am Championship in Rochester, NY in 2 weeks. That would be the week after Easter. You mean no Easter candy?? Nope!! Shelly said this would be a great show and it’s good to get more stage experience. I agreed and two weeks later we were on the road to Rochester. This time I entered the figure 35 and Figure Open. I posed just as hard and smiled just as big as before and the end result was unbelievable. I won it all again! Three first place trophies for Figure 35, Figure Open, and Figure Overall. I was stunned and excited. I still can’t believe it. Here I am at 40 years old with 2 children, winning figure shows. All that training and hard work paid off.

I couldn’t have done any of this without the loving support of my family and friends, my niece Brittney (who did an awesome job with my hair and make up), my trainer Shelly, and the best supplement company on the planet. Thanks Beverly, you’ve got me hooked!