Here’s To The Winners: The Most Dynamic Duo of Them All!

The Contest 2024

If there is a recurring theme that keeps cropping up whenever I interview fitness challenge participants about their contest experiences, it is the concept of partnership. Words like support, encouragement, and accountability are used repeatedly. The partnership aspect strikes somewhere close to the heart of why contestants succeed and why the contests remain popular—exercising with a friend or friends works!

Theresa Christensen, winning trainer in THE CONTEST held this past Spring, expresses this truth quite succinctly. “Most people already know that the team aspect of the contest is extremely important to me as a coach,” she says. “I like to create one big “Team Theresa” whenever I do a contest. I use a private Facebook group that’s exclusive to my contest group to post recipes, tips, articles, memes, and the like. It’s also a place where the members training with me can get to know each other a bit, a place for them to post within the group and share their insights and accomplishments. I have also instituted a practice of group workouts, inviting all of my contest clients to attend a boot camp-style workout on Sunday mornings. They get to meet each other in person and work together in one large group. There is most definitely a competitive aspect among them but in a friendly manner. They cheer each other on as they also compete against each other.”

Challengers Assemble!

Teams form in any number of ways, but this year’s winning team (composed of Colleen Walsh and Anthony Spadolini) is perhaps unique. It came about due to a conspiracy, one might say. “Anthony and I,” says Colleen, “both told Theresa we would only do the contest if we could be partners, unbeknownst to each other!”

“They were clients of mine and had been training partners already,” confirms Theresa. “I asked them if they had any interest in doing the contest, and they both separately replied that they were interested…but only if the other one was in!”

Anthony had had a lot of success in previous contests, but this was Colleen’s first. “I was a contest newbie,” she says, “but powerfully motivated. Pain and discomfort are great motivators for me – whether physical or emotional. I am my own worst critic. I was uncomfortable in my own skin. I had a lot of stress, no routine, no discipline, and no accountability. I needed change desperately. THE CONTEST came along at the perfect moment. Tough, but so worth it.”

Tough, But So Worth It

“I’m not going to lie,” says Theresa. “Doing THE CONTEST with me is not easy. I push my clients to their absolute limits: train hard and train often during the ten weeks. I cheered when Colleen and Anthony elected to incorporate a third training day into their schedules. I expected all of my clients to work out at least five to six days a week, and Colleen and Anthony did, sometimes twice a day.”

Of course, when the goal is to gain muscle mass and lose fat, diet is as important to success as exercise. But it’s never as simple as it might seem.

Takeaways

“The biggest takeaway that I’d like my teams to always remember,” says Theresa, “is that the number on the scale does not define your fitness success. THE CONTEST is not a weight loss competition. It’s a body recomposition contest. Muscle gained is worth more than body fat lost for a reason: muscle mass improves metabolic function. If you lose body fat but also lose muscle, your metabolism will decrease, making it harder for your body to burn fat. I’ve seen some of the most successful contest people, including Colleen, weigh around the same when they finished as they weighed at the start. When muscle gained is equal to or around the same as body fat lost, the number on the scale won’t change much, but the physique certainly will. As proof, I showed my team members two photos of myself at exactly the same weight. In one photo, I was a size 18-20, and in the other, I was a size 10-12. They all told me that I should show my team members those photos in the beginning!”

These challenges begin, and they end, and the endings produce results. The results take different forms and mean different things to different people.

“I have learned so much from Theresa and Anthony,” says Colleen. “Accountability is key, along, of course, with diet and clean eating, rest, and determination. These were the keys to my success. Oh, and friendship!”

“Each contest is truly memorable because of the bonds that are formed,” says Theresa. “With this particular contest, I think the Sunday group workouts were most memorable. We had a lot of laughs, all getting together every couple of weeks.”

“It was my favorite part of the contest,” says Colleen. “Seeing everyone in the mornings, making new friendships, encouraging other contestants to push through, laughing and having fun while fighting through leg day. Being answerable to my partner and my trainer made all the difference. They were there at 4:45 AM, and while I did not want to get up, I DID! I did not want to train, but those days that I pushed through – with their help and encouragement – were my best days. I am so grateful not only to Theresa and Anthony but to Cor, Ken, Jourdan, and everybody at Fitness Incentive. I am so grateful for this gym—it is truly a lifesaver for me!”

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• Paul Smith

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