One-on-One With Fabiola Boulanger

One-on-One With Fabiola Boulanger

By: Jaime Filer BA Kin Hon, CPT

As an amateur competitive bodybuilder myself, I know the rigors of training, dieting, supplementing and managing my time leading up to a competition. If it wasn't for the fact that I was OBSESSED and INFATUATED with the sport, I wouldn't do it and I say that just as an amateur. Imagine how much more you'd have to endure and push yourself as an IFBB Pro. Since wunning he pro card in 2011, Fabiola Boulanger knows all about that pain, dedication and intensity. But she's now chosen to compete in her first pro show as a PHYSIQUE competitor! That's right! Since receiving her pro card at CBBF Nationals in 2011, she's completely revamped her body in order to get on stage as a physique pro. Read her incredible story here but prepare to pick your jaw up off the floor when you're done!

Q. You got your pro card in 2011. Did you work with a trainer leading up to the show? If so, how did you balance trusting him with how you felt about your own progress?

A. I worked with a friend. I was in charge of my training, but I had a coach for my diet. He was my eyes to help me see my progress and how I was leaning out. Coming closer to the show, he became unavailable. He could no longer offer me the help I needed. At a point, he had handed me my diet, and after only one week, I was completely exhausted, making no progress at all. So I wrote myself a new diet. Starting from that point, I decided to take control of my diet too. Two days after I had started my new eating plan, I was way better. So mostly, I got my pro card on my own. At that time, I was often alone. As a single mom struggling with her schedule, it was hard to have someone else be around. I guess I was lucky because I knew how my body reacted to food and I was able to nail it on my own. When prepping for a show, I hardly trust anyone. I’ve always tried to analyze myself as if I was a judge, trying to see all the little details I need to work on. I definitely needed (and still need!) someone else for my posing. Now, for my debut in the physique division, I work with my brother-in-law Ryan Malo as my coach. I know I can trust him and that he cares about me and my results.

Q. What’s your diet like in the weeks leading up to a show? How far do you stray from a meal plan in your off-season? Is it more a matter of changing quantity, or do you also change the quality of foods?

A. When I was a bodybuilder, during my prep, I would slowly lower my daily amount of carbs. Now, it’s completely different, and I’m lucky to have my fiancé and my coach to guide me through this whole new challenge. Dieting for the Nationals, I’d alternate between two or three days of really low carbs, then one day of high carbs. If I was leaning out too fast, I’d stick to two days, but if progress was slow, then I’d go up to three days. Off-season, I had carbs at every meal, and I didn’t weigh out my food, but sometimes I’d have to control myself because I’m a big eater. I love stability, so I’ve always eaten the same kind of meals, off-season and during my prep. I don’t eat fast food or go to restaurants often. Between my two Nationals, I only gained 17 pounds. I have never liked weighing too much; I did it once, gaining over 25 pounds eating outrageous amounts of food, and I hated the results.

Q. Now that you’ve switched to physique, what have you been doing since your last competition in terms of training, diet, cardio, supplements, etc.?

A. I’ve been training for 20 years, and this is the opposite of what I was doing as a bodybuilder. As a female bodybuilder, I would never ever go zero carbs. Now, I do between two and five days with no carbs at all—just greens, veggies, and a small amount of protein. I used to have six ounces of protein six times a day, and now I get a maximum of two ounces per meal. I’m starving … and freezing all the time! Honestly, I miss the feeling of being warm after a nice meal with carbs. To give you an idea of my actual diet, I have greens and egg whites in the morning for breakfast, then a salad with tuna, then another salad, etc. I needed to get rid of a lot of muscle in order to get into my physique shape. The last thing I wanted to do was feed my muscle, so we took out the carbs, the protein, and the shakes. I also had to cut back on weight training. I’m just starting to incorporate weight training again in my routine. When competing as a bodybuilder, my training was very focused and targeted. Now, I’m trying to work the most muscles at the same time, in order to burn calories. I’m doing cardio every day: an hour in the morning on an empty stomach, then another 30 minutes after my training or at night. I never counted on my cardio to help me lose fat. I won my pro card only doing 15 to 20 minutes post-workout! My legs are still holding on to their muscles! So I almost never train them. Or if I do, I’ll train super high reps. Same thing with my back—I have to be careful because my back is really thick. So mostly, I train my abs, shoulders and arms, doing one or two exercises per body part, but I don’t train my chest anymore. I must admit, this whole new training regimen is still really weird for me because I love training, the iron, the dumbbells.… I feel like I’m not training hard right now. I’m not training, not eating … I’m not doing what I love to do! But I know it’s a compromise I have to accept in order to get the end results I want.

Q. It’s been several years since your last show, so competing again this year in physique would be a redebut of sorts for you. Why the comeback? And why are you coming back to physique instead of bodybuilding, having never competed as a pro bodybuilder yet?

A. After my win [at Nationals], I did a lot of promotions here in Quebec to help give credibility to the sport. I thought I’d be able to change the vision of the public towards female bodybuilders and the fitness industry in general. So I went on TV shows and even created my own fitness expo! All of this was at the same time that I was building my house, which took me off training a bit. I was not as muscular throughout the year after my win. To try to come back as a competitor and be a bodybuilder would have been insane. Honestly, when I went to the Olympia in 2012, and was able to see the female bodybuilders and physique competitors, I realized that I was now more suited for physique. One of my goals now is to be fitter. I’m getting older—I’ll be 35 soon—so I want to be healthy and fit. If I have the chance to run and play with my son carrying 20 pounds less, it will make it all a lot easier. My switch is mostly a question of health and wellness, keeping in mind my life after my career.

Q. Do you feel you’re turning your back on women’s bodybuilding at a time when the sport needs as many ambassadors as it can have?

A. I’ve been struggling with that idea for over a year, because yes, I want to be an ambassador and to show people you can be feminine even if you carry a lot of muscles. I had to think out the pros and the cons. I don’t feel I’m turning my back on women’s bodybuilding, because I think I’m doing the right thing for me. I got tired of struggling. When you’re fighting against the current all the time, you might get tired, and I ran out of breath. I don’t let anyone judge my decision or try to influence it. I’ll be the one living with my body for the rest of my life, so I’m confident that the choice I made will be positive for my future. As for the sport, I am sad in a way because there are many women leaving bodybuilding to go to physique, and bodybuilding is a great sport! It’s a sport where you have to go beyond yourself day after day after day. But I don’t know if it will ever gain back its popularity. This year for me is a year of transition, which demands that I restrain from doing what I usually do. But I know that next year, I’ll be able to train hard again because I’ll have attained the physique I need to perform in my division. I’m very hopeful and optimistic. This switch is not a phase or something I’m trying just to see if I’ll stick to the physique division. I was lucky not to have injured myself while being a bodybuilder. I have a certain spinal condition that, if I’d continued with that body weight and that type of training, I could’ve injured myself. I had an accident when I was a teenager, and it has tilted my left ilium, making my sacroiliac joint stiff and painful. Even though I was able to build an aesthetic physique as a bodybuilder, growing heavier than what I was could have put me at risk. I don’t think it’s worth taking a chance. I want to enjoy training and competing, and I want to do it with the fewest physical issues. I’ve always favored wise training against heavy training. The amount of weight you use might not make the difference you want in the end.

Q. How do you feel about the current state of professional female bodybuilding? Is there anything you would change about the sport or how it’s run?

A. I’ve never done a pro show, but I’ve seen them and I’ve met the athletes. Is it going in the right direction? If the judges’ criteria are that the women should look like our Ms Olympia, then they’re rewarding the right women who meet all the criteria. Iris [Kyle] is just perfect. But in my opinion, it leaves the smaller female bodybuilders in the shadow, because even though they’re great as they are, they have no possibility to win an important title. Am I convinced that we should be aiming for the most muscular? I am not sure. I think they also need to aim for the aesthetic and the feminine touch that the athletes need to have. As athletes, we need people to look up to us. The most muscular the athletes are, the less women are looking up to them. Honestly, one of the main things I didn’t like about my bodybuilding career was that my aesthetics had changed—my face first, then my waist. Now that I’m switching category, I’m getting my face back. I missed it. Sad, huh? But I have no regrets at all. I’m proud of what I have accomplished as a bodybuilder, and where it has led me. Human beings evolve throughout their lives, and that’s what I’m doing right now. I want to live my athlete career to the fullest, and I’m confident the physique division will be just perfect for me!

Q. How do you think the new physique category has changed the sport, if at all?

A. At first I was so against it because I was pro-bodybuilding. I thought, “Why do that? Why add another category instead of just changing the criteria you’re aiming for in bodybuilding?” Then I saw Juliana Malacarne when she won the New York Pro. I thought to myself, “Wow! That’s how a woman’s physique should look like!” She looked awesome. So from seeing her win, it opened my eyes and my mind towards the physique division. I think it gives a chance to athletes like me who want to push themselves further, but not to the extent that they jeopardize their health or beauty. It opens up a whole new page for women with muscular physiques who have a true passion for the sport, the healthy nutrition, and the hard training, while not wanting to add too much muscle. When I was a bodybuilder, I never wanted to be the biggest; I wanted to be the best at my size. Now I have this opportunity in physique.

Q. What was your best “look” (not necessarily placing), and what went into creating that look?

A. I really loved my physique at the Nationals 2011. When I look at my pictures from the show, I am happy and satisfied. I had succeeded in getting the exact look I wanted at that time. Up to now, my best look was definitely the Nationals. As for what the future holds for me, who knows? I’m happy with what I’m seeing right now, but will this year be my best? I don’t know because I’ve never been that small. Right now, I weigh what I did at my first show in 2009 when I got onstage, but with at least an additional 10 percent bodyfat. So it’s hard to say if New York or Toronto will be my best look. I hope so because I’m really looking forward to these shows. But in my opinion, the look I had at the Nationals was as close to my vision of perfection as I could be. Another main reason why I decided to switch to physique is because as a female bodybuilder, I loved my shape in the weeks leading to a show, and those just after, but I wasn’t comfortable during the off-season. I know that competing in the Physique division will allow me to have an off-season that suits my ideals, and that I will finally be able to be comfortable with my body all year round.

Q. What’s the hardest part of contest prep for you?

A. Managing my schedule! Between my son, my fiancé, my work, my prep, and all the promotion I do for Headrush right now, there’s a lot to deal with. Trying to include all the cardio I have to do now is really hard. I would need 30 hours per day, but I’m stuck with 24 like everyone else! So I get up a bit earlier than I used to, to do my cardio and then be ready for my son.

Q. What do you think some of the biggest mistakes of your career were? What would you have done differently looking back?

A. When I was prepping for my first Nationals, I gained too much weight. This was a huge mistake because in the end, I wasn’t really satisfied with the look I had. The carb-up didn’t work; usually, I would carb up with sushi, but we tried pasta. I ended up retaining water. This prep had been emotionally difficult, and looking back, I would probably have trusted myself a lot more than what I did. I guess we learn more from mistakes than from success!

Q. What is your mental outlook like leading into a show? Is it ever affected by your previous placing?

A. When I get in the zone while prepping, it becomes easy. I went to work at the Arnolds 2013, and I had the chance to train at Metro Fitness while many pros were there: Phil Heath, Roelly Winklaar, Victor Martinez … wow! It gave me such a thrill! And meeting many awesome people during the expo finally got me into that zone. Prior to this, it was hard to be focused because of the lack of hard training, the lack of food, the lack of knowing where I was heading. As for my previous placings, they don’t really affect anything. I try to bring a better package at every show, and I make sure I’ve done everything I could in order to achieve my goal. I want to step onstage saying I got the job done. No regrets. No second thoughts.

Q. How do you combat cravings?

A. To combat cravings, I love to smell the meals and food of others. If my son eats chocolate, I’ll smell the paper, and I’m usually sort of satisfied after that. I also try to drink a lot of water, and if the hunger is too heavy, I’ll have Diet Coke. As a bodybuilder, I was allowed to use ketchup, so I’d put ketchup on everything! Now, I’m not allowed to use it anymore. I do miss its sweet taste and the tomato taste—this condiment really helped me fight cravings. But hey, the end justifies the means sometimes! I do have cravings more often, but I can deal with it.

Q. What’s your favorite body part to train, and what do you do for that body part?

A. Legs! I’ve always trained my legs. The first exercises I did in my basement at 15 years old were squats, leg extensions, and leg curls. When training as a bodybuilder, my leg training was usually as hard as a cardio session. I’d pre-exhaust my quads with leg extensions combined with reverse alternated lunges. I’d do 3 or 4 sets of 15 to 20 so my quads and glutes were warmed up. Then I would always do squats or leg press or hack squats, plus a few varieties of lunges. I never went as low as 6 reps for my legs. I mostly kept my reps between 10 and 20 reps, and I would do 25 to 28 sets for my whole leg training. I love training legs! I would split my training into two different days: The first one was quads and glutes, and the second one was glutes (at a different angle) with hamstrings. I am genetically gifted from my father with strong legs and big calves (I almost never worked my calves), so this is something I have to pay attention to in order to balance my upper body with my legs and get the physique look I need.

Q. Are you on any supplements now? How do your supplements as a physique competitor compare to the ones you took as a bodybuilder?

A. Because I’m sizing down from bodybuilding to physique, I’m pretty sure my regimen is different than a figure going up to physique. Right now, I’m not taking anything else than fat burners, vitamins and minerals, and hoodia to suppress my appetite. I’ve stopped taking supplementation like pre-workout, after-workout, shakes, and BCAAs; I can’t use anything that will stimulate muscle growth. But I’m pretty sure that in the upcoming years, I’ll be able to get back to some of the supplements I used to take, in smaller amounts.

Q. How has your physique changed from your first show to this upcoming one? What have you specifically worked on?

A. When I started training for my first show, I was 126 pounds. I worked on building muscle for two years and then decided to compete. I prepped a whole year getting ready for my first show. My genetic makes gaining muscle easy for me, but being a short woman (5'3"), my waist got thicker as my weight was going up. In my opinion, the width of my waist was one of my biggest flaws. After my first Nationals, one judge kindly offered me some great advice, and told me to work on my V-taper look. It was the main focus of my 2011 prep. I had to work on my posing a lot and squeeze my waist in when I was doing a lat spread in order to give me that V-taper, but it worked! And as a physique competitor, I’m still struggling with that issue. I am using a corset to bring my waist in, and surprisingly, it is starting to show! At first, I doubted it. It was painful, and it was restraining my movements too much. Then I got used to it. It slowly brings in my rib cage, plus weakens my lumbar section which was really thick from those thousands of squats and made me look blocky. I also use it to weaken my obliques. The corset weakens the whole core section, and I’ll have to build its strength again in the near future, when the results will be satisfying. As for the rest of my physique, my coach and I focus on the diet to complete the transformation. It’s still hard to know exactly what to aim for as the criteria for physique are not well known yet. But I’m confident we are on the right track and that I’ll be proud of the physique I’ll bring to the stage!

TO GET IN TOUCH WITH FABIOLA:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/fabiolaboulanger
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Fabiola_proIFBB