Shaka Smith - NPC Competitor

First and foremost, I love being healthy and in shape.

Competing and training others to help reach their goals is a byproduct of this and has enriched my own life. I have always truly believed that health is wealth. I have seen all too often in my lifetime people get sick or diagnosed with preventable conditions that they would give any amount of money or anything they owned to reverse when just living a fit lifestyle everyday would have avoided those conditions .

The opportunity to spend more quality time with those around me drives me to remain fit and healthy for as long as I can.

When I was 17, I was in a car accident that totaled my car. I was hit by a semi-truck and was fortunate to get out remaining relatively unscathed.

Again, a few years later while I was in college I was a passenger in an accident where the SUV rolled over three times and the car was totaled.

Both times, I was told by medical personnel that the fact that I was fit played a substantial role in emerging with only minor injuries. The thought that simply being in shape may have saved me from far worse results has been enough to motivate me to remain on this path.

As a NPC Men’s Physique competitor, I am also motivated to always stay in shape.

While winning various competitions has been excellent in driving me to continue my fit journey, it’s the competitors that have pushed me most. I have met a great bunch of guys who are always uplifting each other and pushing one another to go further and be better.

While we all want to win, we want to win at our best with everyone at their best. Staying fit and motivated has not been without its challenges. I love food, particularly I have a big sweet tooth and I don’t always like working out, not to mention injuries that prevented me from working out at times – not the best of combinations. With my diet, I always thought it sufficed to eat whatever I wanted and to workout hard.

This is a great strategy for looking good but this is too simple and it doesn’t always translate to being healthy. So I decided to fill my diet with healthy organic foods, salmon, almonds, chicken, and plenty of fruits and vegetables and limit my unhealthy indulgences.

When you’re constantly full from good healthy food, you simply crave the bad stuff less. When it comes to working out – I have tried to make fitness just an everyday part of my life – I have kettlebells, a swedish ball, and pushup/pullup bar at home.

Even if I don’t make it to the gym, I always manage to do a little something at home. I am also a fan of Beachbody’s line of home fitness programs, in particular P90x and RevAbs.

I also am on BodySpace and follow a lot of friends and fellow competitors on Twitter and Facebook – its amazing how down and out I can feel about working out and read an inspirational tweet and be ready to go. We are in a social age and we should all utilize it to our benefit!

As for injuries, I listen to my body. I don’t train what is hurt and also don’t sell myself short, by using injury or pain as an excuse.

I also try to focus on a lot of range of motion exercises as well as going with light weights and high reps to limit joint injury. At the end of the day we all have challenges, but we cannot let those challenges serve as an excuse for mediocrity – we must succeed in spite of them.

I love reaching out and helping others – it has been the cornerstone of who I am and nothing better serves me more than to help serve others.

Competitions Coming up:

2011 NPC Nationals to earn my IFBB Pro Card! (November 18-19)

Achievements:

2011

NPC Tournament of Champions Men's Physique Division A, 1st

NPC North American Championships Men's Physique Div A, 14th Place

NPC USA Championships : Men's Physique Division A, 5th Place

NPC West Coast Classic: Men’s Physique Div A,
1st & Overall Winner

NPC Southern California Championships:
Men’s Physique Division A, 1st

NPC Orange County Muscle Classic XXXV Championships:
Men’s Physique Division A, 1st

If anyone has any questions, the best way to reach me is:

www.facebook.com/shakastrong or

Twitter www.twitter.com/diesel_rx -

I have also partnered with Beachbody as a Team Beachbody coach www.teambeachbody.com/dieselrx and post fitness tips/news on my blog www.diesel-rx.com