One-on-One With Natalie Waples IFBB Pro

Do you find there’s more pressure on you as an athlete when you’re sponsored?

I think there’s an accountability that comes with it. I definitely consider myself more mature; I’ve been in the sport for a long time, so I really take care in what I post online. I don’t speak negatively about other people or other companies. There’s just no place for that. As a sponsored athlete, you’re a spokesperson for that company, even if your posts have nothing to do with them. How I carry myself directly reflects them. PVL is an exceptional company, they even sent me a personalized travel bag and track suit for Christmas. They take good care of you!

In 2013, you placed 4th twice, 3rd twice, and 2nd once. Big improvement from 2012! To what do you attribute your consistency? Why do you think the judges loved your look so much this year?

I started working with a new coach – Damien Segovia, in November (2012). Basically, when I got my Arnold invite, that was the first show we did together in 2013. And Damien doesn’t mess around; he’s on me all the time. We do check-ins daily, he changes my programs weekly or every 2-3 weeks, and he’s just very ‘on-the-ball.’ A lot of people ask how it works because my coach is in Arizona, but he’s as present as someone I would see every day here. We do work in person for posing, tips, and techniques. We started talking in Oct 2012, and he basically contacted me and said, ‘I think you have a lot of potential, but here are the things I don’t think you’re doing well.’ I know he was legit because he told me what I needed to improve on.

Did you do anything differently from 2012 to 2013 in terms of training, diet, supplement or cardio protocols? Is there anything you worked on improving from last year to this year?

In terms of the dietary stuff, he does all my nutrition.  To be honest, there’s a lot more variety – I do a lot more cycling. 6 weeks out from the Arnold, I do a 3 day different cycle; so almost every day I’m eating something different, and I have my choices of protein and carbs. I don’t eat the same thing every day. It’s also directly related to what I’m training that day. So I’m trying to put size on my back and shoulders, so those days are higher carbs. He changed cardio, training, and supplements. He will go through an entire supplement line, and choose things to go with my program. He’ll utilize the products I’m working with, and change things often depending on where my body is.

What’s the plan going forward for the 2014 season? What package are you and your coach looking to bring?

He knows my body a lot better, so there’s no guessing game any more. I think things are a little bit easier now. My coach doesn’t have to experiment anymore. That will make a big difference because it’s not a learning environment anymore. We’ve had 14 months to build the way I want to build (as much as I can genetically). He takes feedback from the judges, and works with that. They want to see you evolve as an athlete. They want to see improvements. It doesn’t matter if you’re better than 5 other girls, they want to see that you are bringing a better package than you did at your last show.

I wanted to put a little size on my back and shoulders, and I’ve been trying to build the booty. I’m tall, so when I get depleted, my glutes flatten out quite a bit, so now that we’ve got the formula for conditioning, we can start to work on size. It’s just such a combination of things like hair, make-up, tan suit, that it’s just little tweaks that add up to make a great package.

When you start dieting for a show, is there a switch that turns on to take you right into contest prep mode, or do you have to ease into it?

Damien does my food all year, so it’s not a huge change for me. It’s more a change in portions of foods, or how often I have to eat, or how often he moves my carbs around. There aren’t a lot of foods that are eliminated. I have fruit in my diet all the time. I never eat dairy. And that makes things easier. I eat a lot of food – I’m never hungry. Sometimes I get tired, especially on lower carb days, and towards the end of the week, but then I get a higher carb day, and I’m fine. I literally do no cardio in the offseason, so during prep, a little bit goes a long way. Damien wouldn’t even give me that much cardio, but because I have work trips for PVL, he wants to get me ahead of schedule.

Where do you see yourself in 1, 3, and 5 years from now?

I’ve done 3 Olympias, 2 Arnolds, and I’ve done about 30-35 Pro Shows. So in the next year, I’d really like to do a lot of promotional work with PVL, win a Pro show – If I could win the Toronto Pro, that would be a dream come true, just to win at home. I want to win a title. I’ve had a couple seconds, and it hurts, but at the same time, it’s been against phenomenal athletes. Getting to the Olympia 2014 would also be a goal. 3 year plan, I’m doing coaching and judging at the regional/provincial level, so keeping up with that. Still doing promotional work. I’ll still compete for at least 2 more seasons, I think. This won’t be my last. And 5, I’m not sure. It’s been 7 years, and I’ve done everything that I’ve wanted to do with it. I’ve got great sponsors, met fantastic people; this is a great life!

Why the switch to bikini? How did that even come about?

I competed in my second Arnold, Ms. Figure International in March, and I was really happy with how I looked, and I asked for some feedback. It took a few days to actually get the feedback, but basically it was along the lines of “We love your look, but you’re very tall, small structure, tiny waist, and we really think that you would do better in the bigger shows if you were in Pro Bikini. You could pull it off.” To me, figure is getting bigger and bigger. So even if that WAS the route I wanted to go with my body, I just felt like I was big enough. I don’t want to be any more muscular. At first I was a little throw off because I’ve been doing figure since 2006, and it’s all that I knew. But if the judges feel like I can do well in that division, then why not see what I can accomplish in bikini.

How do you feel about going from one category to another after 7 years?

I’m really nervous. I’ve never worked so hard at anything in my life. I’ve been busting my butt trying to make improvements. I’ve never been a big girl, so in terms of my upper body, I’m ok. I’m hitting my glutes hard, and everything else is falling by the wayside to help me come down a little. Without me pumping up, I’m not a big person to begin with. So physique-wise, it’s been an easy transition. But the posing and presentation is crazy hard. I had no idea how hard it was! Figure was so natural and structured. Bikini has a completely different approach to posing!

Has diet changed since you switched?

Diet is pretty much the same. My carb rotation is a little different; I’m doing more higher content carbs on the day I train heavy glutes. I used to do two days low, one day high, but now I’m literally just going back and forth. Conditioning-wise, Damien said I will probably come in the same that I would for figure, because I was never the most overly conditioned girl on stage before. But food is the same. I’m running a lot more for cardio to try and break my quads down – which is not fun!

Has your show schedule for 2014 changed from when you were going to do figure?

I am going to be doing Dallas, which I wasn’t planning on doing before. But JM Manion suggested I do something in May, and for me personally, it was important that my coach be there. So because he can’t come to the Toronto Pro, I picked Dallas, which is 3 weeks before. That gives me enough time to make changes between shows. After that, I will most likely do a string of shows in August, barring the outcome of my two in May. There are a bunch of shows before the Olympia, so if I do well in these two shows in May, then I’ll hit it hard in August and see what happens.