When 33-year-old Lyndsey Rosevear of Merritt ventured into the sport of bodybuilding back in January of this year, it was just another chapter in a truly inspirational life story being written by a very remarkable young woman.
Rosevear was born and raised in Prince George. Like many youngsters growing up, she immersed herself in sports, competing and excelling at basketball, volleyball and track and field, amongst others.
“Sports became my life,” she said. “My family was very supportive. They would always come and watch me compete, and even arrange family vacations around my sporting events.”
After graduating from high school, Rosevear enrolled at the University of Calgary.
“I went to a basketball tournament in Calgary when I was in Grade 12, and something just resonated with me about the city. It just felt right.”
Prior to commencing her studies at the U of C in September of that year, Rosevear spent her first post-secondary summer firefighting in B.C.’s forests. Little did she know at the time that the rigorous, seasonal occupation would become her rite of passage each May for the next dozen years.
“I started as a junior initial attack firefighter, and actually did my training out at the base at Nicola Lake,” she said. “I went on to become an instructor at three different boot camps and gradually worked my way up through the ranks — eventually becoming a supervisor, a crew leader and a forest protection assistant.
“I tended to gravitate towards teaching the fitness stuff. I would be up at six o’clock with the guys and girls, making them do a trillion burpees,” she said with a laugh.
During each school year in Calgary, Rosevear would keep up her active lifestyle playing basketball (usually with the guys), running and working out in the gym.
“I even joined a speedskating club, because the Olympic oval is right there,” Rosevear said.
Academically, the Prince George native wasn’t really sure at first what she wanted to study in university, so she simply enrolled in courses that interested her, like linguistics (French and Spanish), science and sociology.
“They kind of led me down the path to international relations — exploring the world, humanitarianism, and so on.”
In 2003, Rosevear did an exchange semester in Spain, and in 2004 began volunteering at the on-campus International Student Centre at the University of Calgary.
“My love for international things just kept growing and growing,” she said. “And volunteering is a big part of who I am. I have this yearning to do things meaningful, and to give back.”
In 2005, while still a student in Calgary, Rosevear decided to go to Nicaragua and start up a development program. It became the Nicaragua International Development Project (NIDP). Rosevear was the founder, and executive director of the non-profit organization for the next seven years of her life. Its aim was the promotion and implementation of water, sanitation and education initiatives in the rural areas of the country.
“During that period, I was kind of living my life in thirds,” Rosevear said. “One third studying at school, one third spending time in Nicaragua, and one third working as a firefighter back in B.C.”
Rosevear’s life would only get busier. After graduating with a B.A. from the University of Calgary in 2007, she managed to find the time to earn a Master’s degree from the European University for Peace and Conflict Studies (EPU), located in Stadtchlaining, Austria — 90 minutes south of Vienna.
“There were 40 people in the program from about 40 different countries,” she said. “We lived where we studied, if you can imagine that many people from that many countries all sharing the same little kitchen.”
The location of the university allowed Rosevear to nurture her love for travel, for languages and for new experiences.
“I went to Italy, to Morocco, to Spain, to Hungary. In fact, we would go over to Hungary from the school for dinner. I remember ordering my first steak ever at a restaurant in Hungary where they spoke no English. The steak came out still mooing. I had to send it back.”
Once back in Canada, the worldly opportunities kept coming Rosevear’s way. In 2010, she chaired a youth conference for international dialogue during the G8 Summit meetings in Vancouver, and subsequently represented Canada at a similar gathering of G8 nations in Russia later the same year. She also managed trips to Brazil and to Mexico.
The next two years saw Rosevear embrace her love of the French language and culture by living in Quebec on three separate occasions. In between, she continued to fight fires each summer in her home province.
“I moved into a place in Quebec City and studied at the Centre de Phoenix,” she said. “Thus began my love affair with La Belle Provence.”
Rosevear became a published author during that time, writing a pair of articles for the magazine Life in Quebec, as well as an award-winning short story.
It was on one of her return trips to B.C. in the summer for firefighting that Rosevear reached an important turning point in her life’s journey.
“I began to ask myself, ‘Do I really want to be a firefighter the rest of my life?’ I decided to try and transition out of my seasonal lifestyle and move to something more career-oriented.”
Rosevear briefly relocated to Vancouver in the spring of 2014, before joining her parents in Merritt in June of the same year. They had moved to the Nicola Valley in 2003. Her dad works at Aspen Planers and her mom at City Furniture. She also has a brother in Kamloops.
“I took an office management position with Diacarbon Energy, the pellet plant, as a communications co-ordinator,” Rosevear said. “Living here in Merritt for the last 14 months has been the longest that I’ve lived anywhere in one place consistently since I graduated from high school.”
It has been during her time in Merritt that Rosevear has begun writing her life’s chapter on bodybuilding.
“A year ago, I noticed that I was probably in the worst shape of my life,” she said. “Somehow, in doing this transition thing, I had gotten away from the things I’d always done that kept me active and fit — whether it be running, playing basketball, working out at the gym, or preparing for firefighting. I looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘What am I doing; how did I get here?
“A colleague of mine at work, Beshoy Meleka, who’s really into fitness and was getting ready for a bodybuilding competition, planted the seed in my mind that I should train for a competition, too. My first reaction was, ‘Heck, no. Why would I do that?’ but I took a week or two to think about it and finally decided, ‘Why not? What do I have to lose — except all that weight?’”
Like everything else she’s done in her life, Rosevear embraced her latest venture with an unreserved passion.
“I’m the kind of person who always follows their heart, and I’m very challenge-driven,” she said.
“Motivation comes from a number of different places throughout our day and throughout our lives,” Rosevear added. “My motivation was to see how far I could go, and then to be able to look back at how far I had come.”
Once a competition date of July 25 in Vancouver had been chosen, Rosevear poured everything into her training — initially under the guidance of Meleka, and later with the assistance of an online coach.
“From February of this year on, I began to think of that competition date more than anything else,” Rosevear said. “I would wake up in the morning, eat my breakfast, make photocopies at work, and go to bed at night thinking about July 25.”
Rosevear’s gym sessions back then were as they are now, intense.
“I’m in the gym five to six days a week, lifting hard and lifting heavy. Everything is to maximum effort, all the time. Consistency is crucial.”
Lifting weights is important in training for bodybuilding, but nutrition is the key, according to Rosevear.
“That was the missing component when I look back at how I used to train for anything when I was younger. It is so important to eat intelligently and eat for your body. What works for me is something called macro-tracking, where I log the macro nutrients I consume and make sure I am eating proteins, carbohydrates and fats to a certain threshold each day.”
It helps that Rosevear loves to be in the kitchen.
“I enjoy preparing food, and take pride in bringing creativity to healthy eating. In fact, I’ve decided to go back to school this fall and take night classes to be a nutritionist and eventually open my own business. I have a five-year plan.”
In bodybuilding competitions, there are four divisions: bikini, figure, physique and bodybuilding. On July 25, Rosevear had decided to enter figure her first time out.
“I was actually a little disappointed when I found out that in the figure category you only do four mandatory, quarter-turn poses in the two performances and that’s all; whereas, in the physique division and above, you do the mandatory poses as well as six additional poses, and you get a full minute to do a routine. After all that hard work, you want to be able to show off a little,” she said with a laugh.
While Rosevear didn’t finish at the top in her very first competition, she said that she wouldn’t have traded the experience for the world.
“One of the highlights was to be able to celebrate my journey, and what I had accomplished in getting ready for it – all the hard work and dedication I had put into it. I gave it 100 per cent. I couldn’t have given it more.
“Another highlight was having my family and boyfriend there to celebrate with me. They were imperative to my journey. Day in and day out, they were so supportive. The gratitude I have for them runs deep.”
Rosevear said meeting all the other competitors and hearing their stories about how they got into bodybuilding was also incredibly meaningful.
“It was one of the most motivational and inspirational weekends of my life.”
Rosevear is already looking forward to her next competition in March. She’s decided to transition to the physique division.
“The intensity of my workouts at the gym will stay the same. It’ll be more about getting some gains (building more muscle), and then getting leaner to show it off.”
Rosevear could not have completed the first few paragraphs in her latest life’s chapter without a tremendous amount of support from her home community.
“When I looked at all the crazy expenses associated with the sport, I decided to see if I could get some help. I ended up getting over $1,800 in sponsorships from local businesses. I am so grateful to Jamara Joyal Massage Therapy, DSA Auto, Marvin Fraser Ventures and Dentistry in Merritt and others.
“To all the people of Merritt who have encouraged and supported me along the way, I can’t thank them enough. It means so much, and has really helped to motivate me. People have celebrated with me constantly.
“I went to Vancouver feeling like the community of Merritt was behind me.”
Courtesy of: Merritt Herald