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Fabiola Boulanger Interview with CBB
Age: 32
Height: 5’3’’
Occupation: Personal Trainer and mom
Hometown: Montreal
Currently Residing: Montreal
Offseason weight: 165lbs
Competition weight: 150lbs
Competition History:
1999 Pro Gym Cup – light weight – overall winner
2009 Quebec de l’Ouest championships – heavy weight – overall winner
2009 Quebec provincial championships – heavy weight – overall winner
2010 CBBF Nationals – 2nd place in heavy weight division
Have you always been an active person - did you play sports in your youth?
I did a lot of track and field, but started weight training at 15 so I can say it’s been my main physical activity for more than half of my life now.
What made you get into bodybuilding competitions?
When I was 19, I use to sing in a band and had studied music a lot so I loved being on a stage. I thought it would be a great idea to combine my two passions, and I decided to get ready for an amateur show. I found a book called « Bodybuilding, nutrition and performance » and I almost did all my diet and prep with this book, and had great results! I won against the middle and heavy weight girls though I was only 113lbs! But the after-competition was too hard on my shape and my mental (water retention, huge weight gain) so I quit. Nine years after, and 30 pounds heavier, I thought the timing was good for me to give it another try. I ran into an old friend who had competed and who had trained great athletes here in Quebec, and he accepted to coach me for my come back, and we did a wonderful job together!
Have you competed in other categories as well?
No, my heart has always been into bodybuilding.
How has the sport impacted your life?
I am a single mother so my life has changed a lot with my competing preparation. I always have to cook two different meals, and need to carry my lunch bag wherever we go. But it’s not bad, it’s just that I have to plan a lot and be well prepared all the time. I’m a personal trainer so my career as a bodybuilder gives me a lot of credit and people have confidence that I’ll bring them results. As for the social life, forget about it - I don’t have one!!! But this is something that hasn’t changed with my comeback to competition. I’m not the type of person who likes to go out all the time. I’ve always been serious in my training so I wouldn’t eat at restaurants or go out late because it would interfere with my training.
Who do you look up to in the industry and who has helped you along the way?
I really like Cathy LeFrancois as she’s the most successful Quebec FBB, and she looks like she’s a really nice person. I also like the physiques of Heather Armbrust and Debi Laszewski. I try to promote the fact that female bodybuilders need to stay feminine in order to bring back some interest from the general public, so girls like Kris Murrell and Cindy Phillips are exactly how I think FBB should look like. I am my own trainer but my friend Yves Duperron coaches me when it comes to dieting and posing. I rely on him a lot and I trust him because he truly believes in me. We are a great team! I’m not into doing lots of photoshoots but my friend Franca is a wonderful photographer and she did incredible pics for me. Garry Bartlett has also been great with me right from the beginning as he decided to offer me an article in the Inside Fitness magazine. I also rely on the help of a chiropractor and a physiotherapist to help me with any muscle or joint pain that could occur throughout the year. I could probably name a couple of other people that believed in me and helped me in different ways, but that could be too long. I did thank them on my personal blog though.
Favorite foods for dieting?
I love chicken and Tilapia, yellow potatoes and oatmeal.
For cheating?
I don’t like junk food. For me, cheating equals to a huge plate of sushi. But when I’m hungry at night, I love to eat toasts… I can eat half a bread in one evening!
Are there any sports supplements that you cannot live without?
Not that I wouldn’t live without it, but I love the pump of a great pre-workout. My favorite ones are VPX NOShotgun and Jack3D. I do rely on post-workout too like Anabolic Halo from MuscleTech and Dark Matter from MHP, and use isowhey and casein almost every day.
Are you sponsored by a company? If so, who?
I have a supplement store that sponsors me, TNT Nutrition here in Terrebonne. The owner has been with me for more than a year now, and his help is really appreciated. But unfortunately, I’m not yet sponsored by a supplement company. I wish to find one that would be willing to use me in ads because we don’t really see FBB in supplement ads. We see men, figure or fitness competitors, but not female bodybuilders. I think I look feminine enough to be in those advertisements, so I would really like to discuss with a company that has the same values and objectives as me.
What is a typical day for you when prepping for a show?
Wake up at 4, make my lunch and my son’s lunch, eat then wake up my son. We get ready for school where I drive him every morning, then I go to the gym either to train or to train clients. I usually train twice a day when I’m 4 to 6 months out from the competition, and eat 7 times a day. I pick up my son at school at the end of the day, we do homework and we play, and then it’s time to go to bed and do it all over again the next day!
What do you find the most difficult about this sport?
I’m comfortable with the look people have when they see me and I’m also comfortable with the misunderstandings and the judgments of the general public. What I find difficult is the crap talk of people who don’t know you but take the liberty to write anything they want about you. They don’t know how hard it is to be a bodybuilder, and they probably wouldn’t have the discipline to be one, but they are so good at writing bad stuff and sitting behind their computer screen. I love having fans, and I’m having more and more each day, and I’m thankful for that. But I’m an honest person, and I really have a bad time accepting that some people are not honest all the time, and that they’re not caring at all. But they don’t get me down for long as I’m a strong person and a go-getter. But that’s still sad…
Do you have any tips or advice to give to ladies who are thinking of trying out the sport?
Be intelligent. Work hard on your symmetry and get a good trainer who you’re absolutely sure you can trust. Commit to your passion and stick to your eating plan. Stay feminine please! And show respect to your hardly earned body, don’t show it off on the net for some $$. Be sexy, suggestive but classy. You deserve to be looked at as an athlete, not just a babe!
When will we next see you on stage?
I’ll be at the Canadian Nationals in Laval, October 2011.
How can people reach you for your training services, what is your website name?
People can reach me through my website www.fabiolaboulanger.com
You were in a tie for 1st place in the heavyweight womens class this 2010 year. Were you able to ask the judges why they did not give a second pro card out? What were your thoughts on this?
My son was in the audience and he was really tired so just after my placing, I had to leave. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to talk with the judges so I don’t know about the second pro card. All I know is that because of the tie, they had to review every placing of the judges (which athlete they had put in 1st, 2nd and 3rd position) and the athlete that got the most 1st and 2nd position won, which is Melody Spetko in this case. As I told Melody when I got back home, I have the right to think that I should have won because of the tie, but it doesn’t mean that I think she doesn’t deserve her win. We both had different strong points, and we also look really different in terms of the overall presentation. I think me being new and her being more known by the people of the industry, she was able to win over me. Let’s say a judge don’t know me and thinks I need to improve more before getting a pro card, this judge might put me in third place… I don’t know how the judges did their individual placings, what they looked for when they did it, but I know that’s how they chose the winner.
How are you planning on improving your physique for the 2011 nationals...do you have a gameplan? Did you get feedback from judges on what improvements to make (if any)?
A judge from a west province gave me some great advice by email. I have to work on my v-shape a lot (shoulders and back), and on my posing. It was the first time that my legs had a little water retention so I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen next year. But I don’t want to gain much more weight, maybe 5 pounds will be enough.
In your blog you talk about not wanting to work on the internet as a muscle goddess or do sessions. Can you explain why this does not appeal to you and your bodybuilding?
I like the one-on-one contact because of the honesty you can see in the other’s eyes and gesture. Also, I want to show to my son how to have respect towards women, and this includes showing respect to their body. Nudity is something you have to keep for your lover, to my opinion. This is a great demonstration of love to keep yourself only for him (or her). I’m not willing to share intimate pictures with the whole world. I also wish to be considered as an athlete who works on getting the most perfect shape possible. It’s really, really, REALLY important to me.
Readers on CBB would like to congratulate on your tie for 1st place at the Canadian Nationals Open Division this 2010 - there was a long thread up regarding that show and we were hoping you would chime in so we could congratulate you on your great 1st nationals experience. Do you typically stay away from bodybuilding forums while training? Did you have a bad experience on a bb'ing board in the past?
Actually, yes, I’ve had a bad experience, not so long ago. My honesty has been misunderstood, and I had some people accusing me of being a bad sport. It made me feel so sad to see how perfect strangers tend to judge you and twist your words in destroying ways. I said to these people that if I couldn’t express my opinion about my own competition but that perfect strangers could say whatever they wanted about it, what’s the point??? I’m the one who has lived the experience, but I’m not allowed to talk about it… I simply don’t get it… Then, I had someone saying that I was a flirt!
I was so mad! Who the hell are they to pretend they know you? I’m new to the bodybuilding scene, but I want to make it my way because I have true values I need to respect, and this experience showed me that some of the people who write on these boards don’t respect my values. I’ll be glad to answer anybody who has kind words about me, and I do answer almost all the emails I receive, but it made me be really careful before thinking about writing or reading forums.
Click here to see the Fabiola Boulanger Profile
