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Published on Wednesday, 21 November 2012 20:21
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Written by Lauren Cascio, IFBB Figure Pro
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Superwoman on the Rise – An Exclusive Interview with Toni West
In a sport where judging criteria can change from one year to the next and show to show, it can pose a challenge for competitors training and dieting to tweak their look to appeal to the judges. We all want to bring our best physique to the stage and walk away with a trophy in our hands. On November 9th and 10th at Nationals in Atlanta, Tony West wowed the judges and fans with a phenomenal presentation of her conditioned physique, not only taking home first place in her class, but also the overall in Women’s Physique.
I asked Toni what words she lived by, and it’s obvious how her attitude and focus have led her to victory. She said, “I don’t need to win, I need to move. I don’t need to diet, I need to be healthy. Your body will respond to a hard workout, and keeping to a clean diet is fuel for a great body. It is hard to have one without the other. It is all about finding a healthy balance.”
Q: Toni, this year was the second showing of Women’s Physique (WP) at Nationals. Last year competitors did not have to qualify to compete at Nationals for an IFBB pro card. This year you had to qualify to compete, and the top 2 places in each class took home the coveted title of IFBB Pro. You were up against a lot of competitive women, all hungry to win. Did you think that this was the show you would not only turn pro at, but also walk away with the Overall win in WP?
It was crazy, more than I ever expected or hoped for. I’m a natural bodybuilder and I’ve competed in the NPC in natural bodybuilding; I competed in the 2009 Natural Lakewood in heavyweight bodybuilding, and I won the overall. But I could never really make it out of a regional level because the look they wanted in bodybuilding…my conditioning was off, there was a lot of critique of what I looked like, and it was really comparing apples to oranges.
This was before physique so when Women’s Physique came out I thought my body splits the difference between figure and bodybuilding. I have more muscle than figure so I couldn’t compete in that category, but to take it to the next level and be competitive in IFBB bodybuilding was never a reality.
I have no control over what they are looking for from show to show – are they awarding muscle or are they not? Looking over the past year and a half there have been more qualifications for what they are looking for in Physique; you could understand it better and see where it was goi.jpg)
ng. I felt that my body was going to be a good fit for the category, but did I think I was going to win the Overall? Absolutely not.
Q: So what was your attitude like going into Nationals?
I was more than happy just to be on stage at the national level. Prior to Nationals I did the Elite Physique show in Pittsburgh to qualify. I always do a show in November, but this was just 3-4 weeks into my prep. It was a smaller show and was basically taking place in my backyard, so I figured I would step on stage and hope to qualify for Nationals. I actually qualified because there were only three girls competing, and the top 3 qualified.
I wasn’t exactly thrilled with my conditioning at that show. I didn’t look how I did on stage at Nationals. But I just dieted through my prep from there on out until this past weekend, and going into this show I had the attitude that if I got top 5 at Nationals, that was fine.
At the first call out I was just elated and couldn’t believe myself, I really couldn’t. You’re sitting there thinking, “Ok there are the five of us left,” and you hear them call the top girls one by one. I know the top two earn their pro cards. So I’m just waiting and thinking, please don’t let me be third, please don’t let me be third!”
Q: You have competed in different divisions (Figure, Bodybuilding and, now WP) as well as in a various organizations. You have your pro card as a WNBF Female Bodybuilder. Why did you choose NPC Physique, rather than other divisions?
When physique came out I realized it’s exactly how I train and how I look. When I see what they want at bodybuilding shows, it’s not exactly what I look like – they want me harder or drier or more conditioned. There’s always some kind of critique and I just kept thinking, man this doesn’t feel like me. With Physique, it’s me.
I’m telling you, if two years ago I could’ve been Dana Linn Bailey setting the bar for the very first pro card that would’ve been ideal. It would have been my life, and that’s exactly what I wanted to be. But I had a lot of outside things going on. My sister was diagnosed with cancer, we were doing stem cell transplants, and I realized that my real life away from the stage kept me from doing anything at that time to get me ready to be competitive at the national level. So again for me it was the timing of getting the right things in order so that I could get on stage.
This year it was a no-brainer, I would do physique. I figured if it didn’t work out I can always do natural bodybuilding next year. It wasn’t so much that I had a falling out with anybody or any organization. Everyone has been supportive of what I do.
Q: Now you have your place as an IFBB Women’s Physique athlete. Moving forward, what does this mean?
Physique from here on o.jpg)
ut will have a very good face and hopefully more outlets for females. The stigma toward bodybuilding always causes the least turn out. For me I am a bodybuilder, but moving forward physique will allow for more interest and leeway…a fresh start for everything.
Q: I doubt any competitor out there can say he or she has not had some sort of obstacle to overcome in this sport, whether it’s simply adjusting a schedule to fit in meals or dealing with people who don’t understand and criticize the lifestyle, or something more personal and close to home. What has been the biggest challenge over the course of your competitive career?
I have been competing since 2003 and along the way my husband and I had a baby. Getting back in shape after being on bed rest for the pregnancy and the whole life changing event of having a child was a challenge. Then a few years after getting back in shape and conditioned, my little sister was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s, so that was a whole other stress that brought everything back to real life. I didn’t have the time to devote training and contest prep – taking care of a sick person is more important than any bodybuilding show.
There’s always another bodybuilding show. I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. Even through pregnancy I just thought, you know, I’ll pick out another show next year. They will still be giving out pro cards next year. There’s always another show in 16 weeks to prep for, don’t stress yourself out about it. It’s just a matter of time, and when it’s right it’s right.
Another challenge has always been that I am married to a triathlete. So when I am prepping for shows, he is eating a lot of food. His calorie intake is endurance-based so it’s a lot of calories and a lot of carbs while I’m eating chicken and salads and spinach. But we’ve sorted that out. My husband, daughter, and I all eat differently and we deal with it.
Q: Going from bodybuilding to physique you would have to change up your dieting or training in some way. And you mentioned that you were not carrying the look at your qualifying show that you brought to the national stage. What did you change for this show?
That’s been a hot topic. If I look at pictures of myself through the years, I’ve improved every year. And that’s all I try to do is look better at each show. I have a certain set of genetics, and I like to train heavy. I like to lift weights, so I really don’t change anything for my shows as far as diet and training go from Bodybuilding to Physique. The only thing that I did get to change, finally, is my length of prep. Last year I had a lot of things go on. For my fall show I only had 10 weeks of prep and for me it showed. I looked good but I could look better.
Ten weeks of focus is good for me, but this time I had 17 weeks, and those extra seven weeks translated into five pounds. I sharpened up a lot from how I looked last year. Training is heavy and my food intake is very high. I feed my body. I like to 
think of it as feed the muscle and starve fat mentality.
Q: Do you make any changes the last week of prep, or is that still the same for you?
I don’t do a 360 before the show – everything really stays the same. I eat about 1900-2000 calories, but it is high quality food and six times a day or more. The same thing goes from nine weeks out. I don’t taper down to celery. But my food can be really bland, and people ask if I get sick of it. And my answer is no. When I’m seeing results it gets easy to not be sick of my food. I understand what a very limited food source can do for my body. Same thing for training – it always stays heavy. As a natural athlete I can’t go down to lifting a quarter of the weight and 50 reps of an exercise.
The only thing that changed with this show due to travel is with the water, but nothing ridiculous to the point where some might go. You know, we don’t need catheters or anything like that! I just tapered my water down but nothing drastic.
Q: Bodybuilding is a very personal sport because we are always given an opportunity to learn more about ourselves – we learn how our body might respond to food or to exercise; we learn how to deal with training schedules, work schedules, and time with family and friends. But aside from that, what have you learned about yourself during your prep?
I really had to sacrifice and focus, so I learned a little bit about myself, that I can manage, and I can be successful. I’ll just tuck my cape in my shorts and be Superwoman later on and get it all done. I’ve been pretty excited about my own determination. I went in to look my best and I really feel that I looked my best this show.
I set my mind to what I want to do and my body follows. I focused on exactly what I wanted – I looked at the weight training, I looked at the diet, I got very scheduled. I knew what I wanted to do in the time frame and I made sure I had everything set in place so I could accomplish it. I have been impressed with my discipline. I wasn’t tempted to cheat on my diet. I set my alarm for 4:45am, five weeks straight and made sure I got my cardio in. That way if my real life fell out at 2pm or my daughter came home sick from school or my sister needed cancer treatment – whatever needed to be done, I could handle. I already had my time in to take care of what I needed to do to be ready for my show.
Q: You are a strong woman with a phenomenal physique. Many people must look at you like you are, in fact, Superwoman. If you could have a superhuman or superhero trait, what would it be?
If I could wish for one super human trait it would be patience, because I feel like that goes right out the door when you start dieting. But another superhero trait I would want would be to make everything t.jpg)
aste like chocolate. I don’t mind eating my bland food – chicken, fish and spinach. But if I could make them all taste like chocolate that would be great.
Q: You took home the overall at Nationals so you must be confident in the presentation you are bringing to the stage. Next year you will be competing on the pro level, so what are you going to focus on for your Pro debut?
It would be the timeframe of my diet. I want to look as sharp, if not sharper, at my first IFBB pro show than how I looked at Nationals. I want to make sure I am posing in ways that flatter my physique and my shape. I want to improve every time I’m on stage. I’m pretty happy top to bottom with things, not to say I’m perfect, but it’s the little things that always go wrong for me. And that’s tan – or lack of tan, running tan, too much tan, or humidity with your hair, I’ve found my eyelash hanging in my hair when I got off stage once.
Q: Posing is one of those things that can really change the game. You can have your physique conditioned top to bottom but if you get on stage and don’t position yourself in ways that highlight your physique, you will lose points and it could even cost you the show. So this is something you want to focus on?
Absolutely, it’s the most important thing. It’s something a lot of people don’t focus on or they neglected to know that you are not being judged on the amount of food you ate or didn’t eat or the amount of weight you can bench or how much cardio you’ve done. You are being judged on how you present your physique and if you haven’t worked on your posing throughout your entire prep, it’s going to show. That’s the only thing you are doing the entire time you are in front of the judges. I want to focus on the fluidity as well for stage presentation because if it doesn’t come natural it shows.
Q: Physique is starting to develop more understandable criteria for the look they are going for. What impact do you want to make on the sport and the bodybuilding community?
I want to look athletic and I hope my body comes off that way. I am natural but I’m very muscular so I want it to look like feminine muscle. I don’t want it to look like something contrived or artificial or look unattainable to people. That’s how other divisions have left me feeling in the past. And you know that healthy athletic look is what is aesthetically pleasing not only to the judges but a lot of people in the real world. It’s taking your fitness to the next level but also being someone people can relate to and know that you are real. You know, not like super Barbie or super muscle – I want to be someone that you see in real life.
Q: Who do you want to thank for helping you and supporting you as you prepped for this show?
I want to thank my husband for all of his patience and support, and my biggest fan, Allie my 8 year old daughter! Thanks to my sponsors at About Time for keeping me properly 'wheyed' with the best whey isolate protein, my suit designer Terry Benedetto of Fabulous Fitwear with an amazing suit, and my friends at Alexander's Athletic Club in Canonsburg, PA! Special thanks to Dr. Victor Prisk for pushing me through the
challenges of dieting for this show. Most important I want to thank my parents and sister for always being a huge supporting role in everything I do.
www.tryabouttime.com. www.fabulousfitwear.com.
Q: What are your favorites:
Cheat meal/snack: Dark chocolate almond butter or dark chocolate peanut butter
Clean food: Spinach and broccoli. Thank goodness I love these two little devils as is! My diet plans depend on them! I also love almond milk.
Body part to train: Back
Supplement: About Time Whey Isolate in either Chocolate Peanut Butter or Mocha mint.
Music to pose or train to: I like to listen to rock while training; lately the FooFighter station on Internet radio has a great mix. My signature posing song is 'Brickhouse' by the Commodores.
Toni will make her presence known at the pro level. Don’t look for her to make her debut early on in February. “I definitely need some time now to relax. I’m not in a super rush to get that first show done because I know there will be more opportunity for me.” With physique making its debut at the Olympia, Toni’s ultimate, number one goal for next year is to be invited to the Olympia and hold the first title of Ms. Physique Olympia.
While we are waiting for next year’s full calendar to come out, you can check Toni West out at:
www.toniwest.com
Twitter @ToniWestIFBBPRO
