Athlete Profile: Kate
Kate
Height: 5'10
Weight: ~140lbs
Body Fat %: ~9%
Age: 28
Gender: Female
"There's nothing magical on the market to make you lean and strong without a ton of hard work and dieting."
Competitive Rower and Former NCAA Division I Athlete (UC Berkeley)
INBA and NPC Bikini Competitor
Activity:
Row 3-4x a week, roughly 80 minutes each session.
Track Workouts 2x a week. 75 minutes each session.
General Cardio 6x a week. 45 minutes each session (on average).
Weight Training 5x a week. 60 minutes each session.
Every day except Saturday I do two workouts, either a cardio session or rowing in the morning with cardio in the evening with weights, or weights in the morning with cardio, and then cardio or the track in the evening.
Cardio sessions vary in intensity based on day of the week, what body group I'm training, and how I'm feeling.
For weight workouts, I use mostly free weights and occasionally machines for burnout. I break them down by body group:
-Back and Bis
-Shoulders, Chest, and Tris
-Calves and Abs
-Legs
-Glutes and Hamstrings
I monitor my heart rate while I train and it helps me keep my recovery workouts easy, and my hard workouts hard.
Total time spent training per week: ~24 hours.
Eating:
I follow no specific named diet (i.e. vegan, paleo), but do monitor my calories and macros. I eat 7 small meals a day.
Typical meals look like:
-Protein Shake (I love Quest Salted Caramel)
-Egg Whites and Veggie Scramble
-Yams with Walnuts and Cinnamon
-Turkey/Chicken/Fish with Veggies
-Oats with Egg Whites and Protein Powder
-Handful of Almonds
-Cup of Muscle Egg
I eat 1500-1600 calories when maintaining, and around 1300 while cutting. I don't drink alcohol, and shy away from salt and dairy. I have a serious sweet tooth, but stay away from sweets, with the exception of a little Guittard Dark Chocolate while maintaining. I try to keep all my fats from natural sources, so I stay satiated, and my carbs are all complex to keep me going through my workouts.
I take a multi-vitamin and a calcium chew. I drink BCAAs while I workout if I'm lagging and am very tired. I don't take any other supplements as I believe a lot of them aren't worth the money for the results you get - At the pro level, they may give you the advantage you need, but there's nothing magical on the market to make you lean and strong without a ton of hard work and dieting. Your waistline and wallet are better off just skipping happy hour and eating at home than loading up at your local GNC.
Lifestyle:
I try to always get 8 hours of sleep a night, and when I can, I get 9 hours. Sleep is crucial to success in building muscle as well as sticking to your diet, and the harder you train, the more you need.
I work full time at a Cloud Tech company in the Bay Area, and that keeps me busy. I get up at 4:15 AM to row, and wake up around 6 AM on days when I don't row; this helps ensure that I have at least one workout under my belt before the day gets crazy! I am very competitive and make working out a priority. I have more free time to workout as I don't watch much TV, and rarely go out to eat/drink; I am fortunate to have a short commute and that gives me back a lot of time to train.
When I do go to social events, I like to order "mocktails"; common choices are Diet Coke with Grenadine, or Sparkling Water with Lime. Asking the bar tender to put it in a cocktail glass helps it feel more fancy. It helps to have something to sip while socializing :) If I go out to eat, I order a salad with no dressing and a grilled chicken breast on top.