On May 23, Little Current’s Ashten Buck competed in her first ever bodybuilding competition, the Sudbury GNC Classic Championships, and took home the gold in the bikini figure division.
A beaming Ms. Buck stopped by The Expositor office last week to share her journey in fitness and talk of her big win the weekend before.
For those who frequent the Manitoulin Fitness Centre in Little Current, Ms. Buck can often be seen there and it was through encouragement of other fitness friends that led her to the GNC Championships—the first time she had ever taken in part in such a competition.
“Everyone at the gym had been telling me it would be easy (to get into top form) and that I should go for it,” Ms. Buck said.
She explained that she has always had a love of fitness (Ms. Buck is a certified personal trainer), but made the decision three months ago to train hard for the Sudbury competition. Sending a message to Troy Thompson, owner of The Gym in Sudbury, she asked the trainer if he would take a look at her and asked his opinion as to whether she could be ready in three months time—the date of the competition. His response was that “she totally would,” and so the training and diet began. “It was the hardest 12 weeks mentally ever,” she said.
During those three months, Ms. Buck would do 45 minutes of cardio before breakfast followed by another intense 45 minutes at the gym, taking shorter breaks and pushing herself harder. “Your goal is to fatigue the muscle,” Ms. Buck said. But this is not enough.
“Diet is key,” she added, explaining that she stuck to a high protein, high fat diet, which served her body best.
Ms. Buck allowed herself a few “cheat meals” in the beginning but practiced self control soon after. Ms. Buck works as a server at the Anchor Inn, and this reporter asked if this ever caused temptation. “Sometimes when I was serving dessert,” she laughed. “I have a sweet tooth.”
“Some days I would be really hungry—‘hangry’ is the word,” Ms. Buck added. “I promised my family I would only do one show a year,” she smiled.
“It’s very unhealthy to stay contest-lean for a year,” she explained. “I’ve now started reverse dieting—gradually reintroducing things to ensure your body doesn’t rebound.”
On May 23, Ms. Buck headed for Sudbury in the best shape of her life, competing in the bikini figure division against 12 other girls. She was named to the top five and then, following the naming of third and second place, Ms. Buck said she just kept repeating the mantra ‘I’m in first place!’ in her head until they called her name.
“It was a lot of fun—I had more fun than I was nervous,” she said.
Her Sudbury win means she has now qualified for the provincials, which she intends to do, but will wait until next year and will remain in the bikini class that she termed “the most feminine” of the bodybuilding divisions.
Ms. Buck will now be offering her expertise through her new business, Ashten Buck Fitness, offering online nutrition and fitness help. “I will create customized workout plans, sample meal plans, check-ins to reassess goals and on-the-spot advice through text messaging or email. Every single exercise has a detailed description, complete with illustration. “It took me forever to do,” she admitted.
Along with being a certified personal trainer through CanFit Pro, Ms. Buck is also studying to be a certified dietician through Brescea University.
Ms. Buck plans to cater her business largely to female clients, but is open to taking on some male customers as well.
“You are your own motivation,” she said.
Courtesy of: The Manitoulin Expositor