Tracy's Body Werks LLC

Photo credit NPC NEWSONLINE.com

Tracy Falkenthal – IFBB Women’s Physique & Figure Pro

The beginning: I had just gone through a divorce and was burying myself in Buffalo wings, blue cheese and a bottle of wine every night. I was always fit from rowing crew since high school. This was the first time that I had lost sight of my fitness and nutrition. I was in a dark place. At the time I was a firefighter which demanded an extremely high level of fitness and I wasn’t there. When I met my husband, who is also a firefighter (Fire Chief) he bought me a gym membership and that’s what got me started again. I stopped drinking and went to a gym that was across the street from my firehouse where the owner and my eventual coach SIMI TUFUNGA who was a bodybuilder. He encouraged me to step on stage and the rest is history.

Tracy Falkenthal IFBB PRO card win at 2016 NPC Team Universe

I am a huge advocate of eating whole foods and stick to the Whole30 (Book: Food Freedom Forever) on and off-season. It’s the perfect lifestyle and I don’t have to modify anything for contest prep other than peak week. I love not using supplements and only eating real food. I am a clean, natural athlete and don’t believe in artificial results by using drugs or supplements. Green tea is my pre-workout.

I have tried the Atkins diet, low-carb diet, carb cycling, keto diet, Jennie Craig, weight watchers, low-fat diet, vegan, Isagenix cleanse, Master Cleanse. It’s funny to list all of that. They all worked but nothing was sustainable for life. The whole 30 is completely sustainable and balanced with my lifestyle during contest prep and after the show. It doesn’t make my hormones take a nosedive like everything else does and my weight stays stable. It keeps me & my family happy. I love being able to sit down at the table with my family and eat the same thing. This lifestyle allows for that.

Training: Every season is different depending on my body composition. I am planning to bring in a substantial amount more muscle this season so my cardio will be mixed in with my weight training sessions. I do weights at the beginning of my session and finish it off with 15 to 20 minutes of cardio. I work a five day split covering all body parts w/major focus on glutes/hamstrings, delts/back which are my weak areas. On a separate day or maybe two, depending on my body composition, I might do HIIT training fasted. HIIT is more about releasing the serotonin and is more fun to me than steady-state. It’s more of a mentally stimulating activity and is great for incinerated fat. I have to be careful with fasted HIIT because it will burn through my muscle if I’m not careful.

Building self-confidence: I would practice my routine in the Costco parking lot in a bikini and heels to gain more confidence in stepping on stage. I would also practice in front of people at the gym that I didn’t know so that I would have eyes on me that I wasn’t familiar with. Once I was in an airport on my way to nationals and had to send my progress pictures to my coach. I had to make it happen so I put my suit and heels on and practiced in the airport bathroom. That was a major confidence builder because all of the women in that bathroom were out of shape and throwing me daggers with their eyes. They were not happy that I was doing that but it was a public restroom and I had to get it done.

I am an IFBB Women’s Physique & Figure Pro. At my last show, Toronto pro supershow I realized how much smaller I was than everyone else back there. It was good for me to remember my commitment to what I am doing. I step on stage to show my clients of Tracy’s Body Werks LLC that I am still in shape at 51 and I am representing the natural athlete who still actively competes as an IFBB PRO athlete. In my world a natural athlete is quite a bit smaller than the other athletes.

Being an athlete helps me to stay centered and grounded with my fitness, nutrition and family life. I love the focus I have when representing who I am to my company Tracy’s Body Werks and my clients, competitors and sponsored athletes.

Future plans: Sponsoring athletes and promoting a natural clean way of life that is sustainable and healthy is the ongoing goal for Tracy’s Body Werks LLC. I promote athletes who live this lifestyle and will continue to live this lifestyle forever.
I am a personal trainer, health coach and bodybuilder.

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/tracyfalkenthalifbbpro
Website: http://www.tracyfalkenthal.com
Email: tracy19@mac.com

Here are a few tips to help keep you on track with your workouts next week:

Get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. This is one of the the most important tips on this list. Getting ample amounts of sleep each night helps with muscular recovery, hormone balance and with your mental well being.

Get a massage. You don’t have to, but getting regular massages is one of the ways I keep my body right all year long. A good massage can help reduce muscle tightness and inflammation and improve blood flow to your muscles.

Stretch & FOAM ROLL after your workouts. This is SO important! Stretching will help increase circulation, improve flexibility, reduce your risk of injury and make for a great stress-relieving cooldown post training.

Don’t forget to drink more water. Like I mentioned at the start of the week, my recommendation is to drink 3-4 liters of water per day. Keeping your body hydrated will help with recovery and will help you feel energized during the day.

GO GET IT TEAM BODY WERKS!

Ref: NWFitness Nicole Wilkins Fitness

Surviving Events &

With the holidays approaching it is predictable that it will be a challenging time. I also called these “gray zone helpers”. The gray zone is when you are outside of the boundaries of the “Black & White Zone”. The “black and white zone” is where you have made permanent lifestyle changes that make it so that it’s not a challenge on a daily basis. However, it’s inevitable that you will be faced with challenges outside of your black and white zone. You will be forced to make decisions as to how to make it work in the gray zone. For some people, like myself, it is after a contest prep and being faced with making smart decisions that aren’t on the rigid contest prep diet.
Making the wrong decisions can really throw your body into a dysfunctional hormonal existence. It’s best to have a plan.

Here are a few suggestions to survive these events/parties and even every day situations where you find yourself in a “gray zone”.
1)Pre-log into My Fitness Pal what you think you may have. Don’t hesitate to log in the things you crave & watch the portion sizes. Be accountable ahead of time. This will help you later when you get to the event.

2)While in conversations focus on the COMPANY YOU KEEP not the food you eat. While in conversation focus on keeping your eyes “SHOULDERS UP” !
Focus on looking above the shoulders in conversation at parties. Don’t focus on food on other people’s plates or the food table.

3)Cucumbers & zucchini are your friends: Great fiber and are loaded with lots of water to keep you full. You can eat as much of these as you want because they have a ton of fiber and water and very little calories. Also super low carbs.

4)Eat a ton of veggies & keep hydrating high at the event. This will keep you full with fiber and hydration.

5)Cut back on carbs & fat throughout the day of an event to allow yourself food that you may want to try IN MODERATION at the event.

6)Do cardio &/or weight with intensity the morning of the event. Keep your body functioning and revved up for the day to come.

7)If you have the option be in the decision making process in terms of where to meet, choose a place that offers many healthy “clean” options that you know FOR SURE will have great options for you.

8)Alcohol: choose to take the night off by offering to be the DESIGNATED DRIVER.
9)Consider a wine spritzer instead of full glass of wine.
Limit cocktails to 1. Cocktails are filled with loads of sugar & empty calories. Alcohol also inhibits muscle growth in large amounts. It’s just not good.

10)Picture that plate filled with cookies & cupcakes as a plate filled with mounds of granulated sugar, salt & crisco. Sometimes you just need a visual to get you away from that plate. I find that after about 20 to 30 seconds of visualizing it this way I don’t have an attraction to it anymore. Try it.

11)Think of food as a medication. You can only consume what is prescribed at the prescribed time. If you don’t consume it at the planned time your body will revolt. If you eat food that is outside your plan your hormones will revolt & cause you to eat more.

12)STICK TO THE PLANNED REWARD

Heavy weight + horrible form =

1. Inability to target muscles and groups you’re looking to build

2. A heightened probability of (possibly catastrophic) injury

3. Reduced results along with a poor example for others

4. Loss of concentration and effectiveness of your workout

5. An overall waste of time
The moral? Lighten your weight by 20% of what you think you should be using, look in the mirror if possible (and practical) and CONCENTRATE on the correct form for your excercise. You’ll be surprised how heavy the weight feels if the form is immaculate.

The great jazz drummer Joe Morello was asked once if practice made perfect, and his reply was: “No, PERFECT practice makes perfect.”

Remember his mantra for your next workout… And all those after.

In the video I had to lighten the weight to be able to achieve full range of motion without compromising form. Sometimes it’s just an ego thing.

Tracy’s Body Werks LLC

As  some of you may know, I got my IFBB PROCARD this past weekend in New Jersey at Team Universe. I am so lucky to be able to compete with so many incredible woman! I won both divisions I entered.  Figure 50+ and Women’s Physique 50+! I went in to this hoping that I could do it, kicking my butt every day that I trained and eating the way I was supposed to the whole entire prep,  with a few minor slip ups with spicy trail mix. Everyone has their weaknesses.

I am extremely proud of myself for what I have achieved. It has taken me three years of extremely hard training and dieting to be able to say now that I am an IFBB PRO. YIPPIE‼️

Is your hair holding you back from your daily #lifestyle and you don’t even know it? Consider Sisterlocs!
Your body will thank you because you would be all natural. You spend so much time eating right, exercising and not putting toxins in your body why would one continue to relax their hair. I had to wrap my head around this for years, and when I made the transition/commitment I felt so much better. It is so freeing and liberating! There is nothing you have to do with this hairstyle. Seriously it is so easy, clean and people always complement it. There are so many ways to style it. The funniest thing is I thought I would miss combing and brushing my hair and I so don’t miss that!
It felt great to throw away a box products, brushes, combs, and #hair crap. My husband thought it was really funny. Actually he’s the one that talked me into doing it.
I never cared for the look of dreadlocks but when I was on a plane one time this flight attendant had Sisterlocs and it looked just like regular hair because they were so small. That planted the seed in my head forever and I just kept thinking about how flowing and natural it looked. It didn’t look like the crappy dirty stinky #dreadlocks.
It took me three freaking years to decide to do it. I wish I had decided way sooner like when I was in my 20s.

I think about all the time and money I spent on extensions, wigs, relaxers, and hot curling iron’s to only damage my hair and scalp to obtain a certain look for about a month, sometimes less; and I really appreciate not having to do that stuff anymore. Especially when it comes to show! It is super easy and I just couldn’t do anything with it! It’s not hot like a wig and I don’t have to sit under somebody’s hands for three or four hours to get it done. Just for the one reason alone: SAVING TIME IN MY DAILY #ROUTINE. #Sisterlocs have definitely changed my lifestyle.
I can go to the gym and sweat my ass off come home, wash my hair and go. With my relaxers and #perms and flat iron hair I could never do that. Embrace change. I think this is what keeps many sisters out of the gym and the reason why they don’t become #firefighters. It sounds crazy, but our hair is our life! You all know what I mean right?