Bodybuilding from the Sidelines

by Sarah Gundry, Phoenix Pro Fitness Office Manager


“Then I'm walking in Memphis
Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale”

Well on Sunday Charlotte’s feet weren’t quite 10 feet off the stage, but they were certainly encased in the highest heels I’ve ever seen her in – affectionately referred to as the ‘stilts’! Char was competing in her first ever body building competition, a mere 7 weeks after deciding to do it, and she was doing a damn fine job of it too. Yet just 9 months previously, her left ankle had been encased in another man-made material – a bright green plaster cast – after a severe fracture to her ankle. Back then, I would never have imagined that I would be sitting in a darkened auditorium watching Char strut her stuff to Marc Cohn’s Walking in Memphis.

As I said, Charlotte’s journey to the competition on Sunday was unusually short. Most of the other girls on that stage had not only been competing for quite a lot longer than Char, they had also been training and preparing for significantly more than 7 weeks! Yet Char’s preparation was incredibly thorough and disciplined. She stuck to her diet 100% without deviation – when I offered her a taste of a sample protein bar that we had been sent, she took and bite and then spat it out immediately saying she didn’t want to break the diet. (And no, it wasn’t because of the taste of the protein bar – it was pretty good!) Even on her birthday, the ‘cheat’ portion of Charlotte’s meal was the addition of a singular boiled new potato to her grilled salmon and green veggies. She then had to watch whilst the rest of us demolished a chocolate fondant that the restaurant had very kindly put a birthday candle into for her! All of this was done very stoically and with a great sense of humour. Even at the lowest calorie stage of the diet Char was motivated and disciplined, and just got on with it.
Charlotte’s training was also very thorough. On the days that her shift at work started at 7am, she still got up to do her fasted cardio session before coming in.

Even Ludo, the most energetic dog I have ever met, was struggling to match Charlotte’s pace. And he has the advantage of four legs! In addition to fasted cardio, Charlotte also put herself through gruelling metabolic and strength training sessions. Every day, she could be seen working hard at the Olympic lifting platforms, pushing her body to the limit and ploughing through, even when lack of energy made the littlest movements a bit of an effort at times!

One of Charlotte’s signature sayings is “man up” and she certainly demonstrated this as she rose to the challenge during her 7 week body building journey. Her accept no prisoners approach has been inspiring to watch, and judging from comments from our Phoenix family, I’m not the only one to feel so. It certainly made me think twice about whinging about my diet, or how hard I was finding a workout! So well done Charlotte, for trying something new, for throwing yourself into it with guts and determination, and for looking absolutely gorgeous in 3 layers of fake tan. She did us all proud, we’ve learned a lot from her journey, and we all look forward to seeing her take on your next (mad!) challenge.