Cheri Bate - Transformation 3

“Get out of your own way.”

I’ve always had a bad relationship with food, I got diagnosed with an eating disorder at 12 years old and if I’m being honest my relationship with food has only just started becoming a positive one.

I decided to compete in the ICN ROOKIE show of March 2018, looking back on my journey to the stage I can’t believe how much I know now that I wish I knew then. Your health and fitness journey is a hard one to start let alone having a bad relationship with food and stepping on stage to be judged on the way you look. After my show I moved from Victoria to QLD, my whole life was turned upside down, I needed to find a new everything, new gym and a new coach. It got so overwhelming that I basically took a year off, I would train when I felt like it, maybe once a week if that. Didn’t monitor my food and fell into every craving I had, let alone track my food. Some of my friends were PT’s so they did up meal plans for me but I would only follow it for maybe 2 weeks.

Fast forward to now .. I met Adam in January of 2019 through a friend who recommended Adam to me. I was excited and ready to finally compete again little did I know even though I had competed before that it’s not that easy. When I started with TSN I wasn’t tracking my food and didn’t have a stable training plan. Adam made me track my food for a week and did 1 training session with me. Adam helped me change my form in all my big lifts to get better activation but also to prevent injury, my food to say the least wouldn’t help support my training. Adam is the first coach I’ve had to actually hold me accountable for my training and food. I still wasn’t taking my training seriously and I was slack with tracking my food to say the least. Adam would have countless conversations with me about it and probably felt like he was talking to a brick wall but never gave up on me. This went on for a good 11 months I would say. I had a lot going on in my life but at the end of the day you can’t look after others if you don’t look after yourself. I would say after countless conversations with Adam about how I wouldn’t get results without being consistent, I started taking my fitness journey seriously in January 2020, yep after being with TSN for a year that’s when I decided to become consistent and do a complete 180.

I can’t explain how much I’ve learnt about nutrition and training since being with Adam, I wish I knew what I know now during my first prep. Adam has helped me grow in ways I couldn’t imagine from getting gains, my whole mindset around training and food has changed not to mention my relationship with food is finally positive. Adam is the only coach I’ve had that checks up on me other than my check ins to see how I’m going. Adam genuinely cares about his team and I owe him so much, I can’t repay what he has taught me.

If you’re thinking about joining Adam’s team and want to change your life, the hardest part is starting but I promise you won’t regret it. The best advice I’ve heard and I probably tell myself everyday is to “get out of your own way” Your mind doesn’t like change and will quickly give you thoughts that make you go back to your comfort zone.

Remember your “WHY” this one helps me on days when I’m not motivated to train, WHY are you doing this? Mine, I want my pro card but above all else I love how I feel after I train and how good I feel since I started tracking my food (seriously). I could talk for hours about mindset and how at the end of the day you need to look after your mental health just as much as your physical health.

Adam, thank you, thank you for never giving up on me when I honestly wouldn’t blame you if you did. I can’t wait to make you and TSN proud on stage.