Nichole Kerkhof

I began training because I wanted to feel good about myself.

I am all about balance, moderation and consistency. I train as often as I can without it taking away from other duties or responsibilities in my life. I say that because I think balance is key. If we focus everything on training than we let the other things in life fall behind. I try to keep my training well balanced around my life.When I do train, I try to make the most out of every workout. I put in the best effort that I am able to. I lift heavy and I constantly try to push myself to get in as many reps as possible or up my weight to go heavier. I believe the harder we push ourselves the more progress we will make. I try my best to stay consistent. Consistency is key when it comes to making progress. I may take a day of here and there,but I stay consistent. I always train at least 5 days a week.

My diet philosophy is simple. I believe in balance and moderation. I try to eat clean as much as I can. When I say ‘eat clean’ I mean fresh whole foods and complex cards. I avoid anything processed,packaged, or deep fried.However, I have a cheat meal at least once a week. I think cheat meals are important. They are a good way to reward ourselves for sticking to our nutrition plan, and I believe the occasional cheat meal is healthy for the body.

I have competed with the IDFA in 2014. I paced 1st in the London Classics for Bikini, and 2nd for Fitness Model. I went to the IDFA world championships and placed 3rd in Bikini and 5th in Fitness Model. I plan to compete again next year in SAF Serious About Fitness.

2

As I am a single mother, I find my biggest obstacle is keeping balance within my life and fitness. It can be hard to make time for the gym when you have no baby sitter or the gym does not have day care that suits your daily regime. That doesn’t make it impossible though. I try to be creative. I do at home work out if I can not make it to the gym. Sometimes I will re-arrange my schedule to allow me to hit the gym when I need to. If there is a will, you can find a way!

Biggest Pet Peeve of the healthy lifestyle and the gym is when others do not want to support each other. To me fitness is not about being better than anyone. I don’t think it should be a race. I think we all should work together, support each other and succeed together. Another pet peeve I have is when Fitness icons give out false information. For example, someone posts a transformation picture that clearly is years in difference, but then they say ‘my 2 month transformation’ This gives people the hope that they can make that same progress in an unrealistic time frame. I find this will discourage people more than it will encourage them, because they try to do the same transformation. They will fail to make such progress in such a short time, not because they are doing it wrong, but because progress is not instant. Those people do not understand that the process is slow one, they will feel as if they failed and they will give up.

If you want to make something happen, then give yourself no excuse. Get out there, put in the effort and go make it happen. I do not believe anything is impossible. I believe we can achieve anything that we are willing to work for.

I am a Brand Ambassador for Gym Star Apparel