Be Inspired: Justalina

Be Inspired by Justalina Soverall.

Summer time is only a few months away and I know my readers and I are striving for that perfect beach body. So I’ve decided to treat you all to a mini exclusive interview with my beautiful Dominican Trinidadian cousin Justalina. Not only do little girls look up to her but personal trainers ask her to train them, which she so humbly replies “no”.  Justalina is not qualified to train anyone but she does believe that with discipline, determination and dedication you will be the best you. Be Inspired.

What I admire about Justalina is that she has a full-time job and still manages to keep up with her fitness. Being fit is a long-term lifestyle which means you need to be prepared and educated on whats right for your body. Unfortunately it’s not an easy process, you can’t possibly think by just eating fruits you’ve changed your lifestyle. You have to set goals, be educated, budget your money and work really hard at it.

Being raised in a British Caribbean household is definitely the gateway to being overweight. It felt like everyday my mum would make rice and chicken and if I didn’t eat everything on my plate I would get in trouble. Fridays was a treat day so I would get Mc Donalds or a cake from Percy Ingle, whilst at my grandmas house if you didn’t eat what she cooked, she would be offended (even if you ate before you came). Family functions was full of food and it was normal to bring a container with you as you could take home leftovers. Green tea, smoothies and water was a myth more like ginger beer, Supermalt, carrot juice and fizzy drink was the norm. This is not to say that rasing your child in vegetarian household is great either because I know a family that grew up vegetarian and where overweight because a majority of their in take was dairy products and you know what cheese does. Lets start changing our lifestyle!

I’ve always associated fitness with confidence and I was desperate to know how confident Justalina feels.

Me: How has being fit affected your confidence?

Justalina: “Being fit never had an impact on my confidence until last year when I started training for my first competition. Hearing from people about how much they were inspired by the hard work I put in to my training and diet really made me feel good about myself and made me realise that I can have a positive effect on people”.

Justalinas first competition was at the National Body Builders Association in the UK  last year where she came 7th outta 17th just missing the top 6th place by one point. I was very shocked to find out she had entered such a competition because when I think of body building I think of huge clothes ripping muscular Hulk type women or men with tanned brown skin and to me Justalina didn’t fit that description.

Me: “Why did you compete at NBBA with no prior experience or  an interest in body building?”

Justalina: “Well initially I didn’t want to. I guess I had “that look” so people would always ask if I competed, whether it was a stranger in the street or someone at the gym. I wasn’t interested as I always associated female body building as looking extremely muscular (look up Lenda Murray when you get a chance). A look I respected but didn’t want for myself. But the comments kept coming so I thought, just to satisfy people I’ll Google it and then il be able to say I looked into it and it wasn’t for me. However the opposite happened. I Googled it and that’s when I saw all the different categories, bikini, toned, athletic, physique, figure and body builder. I was like ooooohh, maybe I can do this and just find which category suits my body type best. That, coupled with the fact that I thought if I’m going to look like this anyway from all the training that I do then I might as well put it to good use.”

 

On the right legendary Lenda Murray and on the right amateur Body Builder Justalina

Me: “Obviously work out routines are fitted to each individual and what they want to work on but I think we all want to know what goes into to getting your body!!?”

Justalina: “My workout routine depends on what my aim is so at the moment, since my aim is to compete again in April, I’m doing a lot of resistance and strength training to build up muscle. My legs are my weak area so to build up the definition in them and really get my quads to pop I’m doing a lot of squats, deadlifts, lunges and leg curls/presses and extension work. I do low reps with heavy weights and I train 5 times a week. If I had it my way I’d train everyday but it’s important for your body to rest and recover as that is when you start to see results.”

Me: “You mentioned before that you respect a body builders look but you didn’t want that for yourself. In my opinion there is a clear definition between a lady that’s already fit and a body builder. One is portrayed to be more sexier and feminine and the other less attractive and masculine. How does it make you feel ?”

Justalina: “I think it’s important that girls don’t feel like they shouldn’t have muscles because it’s too “masculine” which unfortunately is the stereo type. In my opinion, muscles represent strength, so to say women can’t have muscles is the same as saying women can’t be strong.”

As readers I believe its important for us to gain inspiration from stories from other people and be the best us. So I know you will really benefit from understanding how  Justalina gets in the zone and what type of mentality it takes to be consistent.

Justalina on how to get into the zone.

“I have to be focused and in the zone. Before I even walk into the gym, I’ll already know exactly how what il be training that day, how many reps of each exercise il be doing and how many sets. Many people will get in the zone by listening to music but for me, reminding myself of why I’m there and of the results that I’m striving to achieve is all I need to zone out and bang out a sick workout.“

Mentality

“The 3 Ds – Discipline, Determination and Dedication. However, all you really and truly need is to “want” to be healthy and fit, and from that mindset alone you’ll be able to find a way to get to where you want to be and maintain it. That may mean using the Internet to search workout plans and healthy eating recipes, regular walks/runs in the park, using exercise DVD’s at home, cycling to/from work or evening joining groups on Fb to get hints and tips. It’s 2016, we have so much at out disposal and a lot of it is free so there really are no excuses, you really don’t need a gym even. But as I say, it has to start with the individual wanting it first of all. Like if you buy a car, you’ll maintain it by filling it with petrol to make sure it runs and having MOTs done to ensure its in reasonable condition. So if we’re willing to invest in material things such as these then we really should be willing to invest in our bodies (after all, when that car breaks down its only your two legs you’ve got to rely in to take you from A-B).”

I hope you enjoyed this segment of “Be Inspired” to be featured please click on my contact page and if you want to find out about more stories comment below.