Belinda Walker

I am a 35 year old loving mother to 3 beautiful children Phoenix 12, Porsch’e 9 and Indianna-Rose 8 months, who just LOVES to lift weights!

How I came to accomplish my recent achievements is quite an unlikely story, as it wasn’t exactly what I originally set out to achieve. My accomplishments so far have completely exceeded my wildest expectations.

After the recent birth of my youngest child Indianna-Rose, I stumbled across a copy of Oxygen Magazine in the news-agency that was promoting a competition for a Cover Girl for their December issue and saw the competition as a challenge to get into the best shape of my life!

I hoped to motivate others, especially mothers like me to do the same and to show my children that you can achieve anything if you really want to!

I had 11 weeks in which to reach my goal so I hunted down an old friend in the fitness know, Mareike Bout, to find she now has a really awesome business “One Life Fitness & Lifestyle”. Mareike specialises in the whole body/mind approach to fitness and health committed to helping people to shape a better body, reach greater levels of health and well-being and improve quality of life. www.onelifelivewell.com.au   

I employed Mareike immediately to devise a training & nutrition plan for me and I trained with her once a week. Together we achieved incredible results and superseded all my expectations. Because of this, I decided on my 35th Birthday after much encouragement from Mareike and my loving supportive awesome man and numerous other people, to enter my first body building competition!

 I entered into the INBA South Australian Natural Physique Titles Novice Figure Class a few weeks after my birthday. I was initially hesitant about entering due to the fact I was still exclusively breast feeding Indy, who was just 6 months old, but to my delight I was able to continue breast feeding her throughout the dieting and competing.

I might add that before deciding to enter the INBA Figure Comp, I had been training intensively to run the City To Bay 12km Fun Run & deciding to enter the Figure Competition meant that I had to cease running and was unable to enter it. While training for the City To Bay & the Cover Girl Shoot I sustained an incredibly painful injury around my right hip flexor leaving me barely able to walk or train. 

This injury was due to weakness caused by pregnancy in my lower internal core muscles – I had developed strong external abdominal muscles and discovered after visiting my Physio David Ayres @ CORE Physiotherapy & Pilates Studio that these muscles were over riding my internal core muscles leaving them weak and me prone to serious injury. 

I began an intensive Pilates program using the awesome reformers, achieving remarkable results and after a few weeks was pain free and back training again at the intensity I was used to. 

I cannot highlight enough how important it is to build & maintain a strong core.  Out of all the workouts I do, I find the Pilates sessions to be the most difficult and challenging – I recommend everyone to include Pilates into their weekly workouts!

So, as it turns out I accomplished neither! I didn’t make the cover of Oxygen Magazine and I didn’t run the City To Bay, however, what I did accomplish completely surpassed anything I had ever dreamed of at this stage in my life!

I won two First Place Novice Figure Trophies & Titles, one at the INBA State Championships and my pride and joy – the INBA Nationals and two Second Place Trophies, one at the INBA Natural Universe and the other at the WNBF Asia Pacific!

This journey so far has taught me more than I could have ever imagined, it also uncovered certain aspects in my life that had been holding me back from realising my maximum potential. 

I had struggled with my relationship with food throughout my life, not really understanding the effects certain foods can have on the body or knowing the right types of foods to eat for my body type and activity levels to get the most out of my training sessions. 

Competing has shown me how incredibly sensitive and responsive our bodies actually are to the foods we put in them, I now look at food in a whole new light – it’s like medicine but better as we can really repair, grow and heal our bodies with food like no other drug on the market!

However, the reverse is also true – we can really mess our bodies up also big time by what we choose to put into our mouths.

I have also struggled with self belief issues and self esteem issues, in the past. In hindsight, I see now that one of my main motivations when preparing to step up on stage, was to make my estranged Father proud.

At the time I felt this was very important to me, as he is my only surviving parent. I lost my beloved mother to breast cancer at age 21, she was just 44. The point I am trying to make is that, since my success, I have learnt that the most important thing is to make yourself proud and if in this process you make those close to you proud, well that is an added bonus!

I know now that self belief is the key to being successful and that everything must start with self belief and self acceptance - we can be so incredibly critical of ourselves. An important thing to remember is that you can’t control the feelings of others, but what you can control is how you feel about yourself!

I’ve chosen to live my life by example, to dream big and always believe in my abilities, to teach my kids that you can achieve anything with clear goals, self belief, acceptance, consistency and focus.  I am excited by the opportunities I now have to pursue a career in the health and fitness industry.

I am now studying to become a personal trainer and look forward to having my own personal training, nutrition, beauty & life coaching business, specialising in competition preparation for women.  I would like to include not only diet and training but everything from hair, makeup, tanning and stage presentation. 

I am a hair and make-up artist by trade so it really excites me to soon be able to offer the complete package to ladies looking to step onto the stage to present their best selves!  I will also be working towards offering this service on-line for women outside of Adelaide or who are just seeking telephone/email consultation.

I am super excited about spending the next 12 months working towards this, training hard, eating well and preparing to compete again.

I am extremely stoked and super proud to be sponsored by the Australian Institute of Fitness also honoured to be a recipient of a Master Trainer scholarship.  I will be blogging for the Institute about my journey as a student which you will be able to follow on their website, YouTube and twitter in the New Year.

Special Mentions:

I would like to make a special mention of thanks to my trainer/nutritionist/and above all awesome friend Mareike Bout owner of One Life www.onelifelivewell.com.au  She is one of the most inspirational women I know and not only talks the talk but walks the walk in every aspect of her life.  I have learnt an incredible amount from her in such a short space of time; I have achieved what I once only dreamt about!  She has taught me so much about myself and most importantly to trust and always believe in yourself.

I would also like to mention my gym – Fitness First @ Hindmarsh, I love working out there most days because of the awesome happy vibe, it’s always super clean, the staff are upbeat and the girls in the crèche are absolutely brilliant with the kids! Without them I would not be able to train most days with complete confidence.

Most importantly I would like to say that without all the continued love and support from my wonderful family none of the above would have been possible. Having support in this sport is absolutely essential! 

I am looking forward to sharing the rest of my journey as I endeavour to inspire others and be inspired by all the truly inspirational men and women involved in this sport.

Lastly I would like to thank Leanne for allowing me to share my story with you!

Titles:
Ms INBA Australian Figure Novice Champion
 

Competition History:
2011 WNBF Asia Pacific Natural Titles
2nd Place Novice Figure

2011 INBA Natural Universe
2nd Place Novice Figure

2011 INBA Australian Nationals Natural Physique Titles 1st Place Novice Figure

2011 INBA South Australia Natural Physique Titles
1st Place Novice Figure

Bio:

Birth-date: 6th September 1976

Age: 35

Height: 162cm

Weight: 52kg

Comp Weight: 49kg

Star Sign: Virgo

Contact Details:

Find me on the web at: http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/BMotiv8ted

Follow me: http://www.facebook.com/Bmotiv8ted#!/Bmotiv8ted

Check out my video clips: http://youtube.com/user/BMotiv8ted

Email me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sponsored By:
Australian Institute of Fitness
www.fitness.edu.au