Okay…I hope you are sitting down to read this because I am about to say something very important and I want you to remember it. Ready?
“Gail Auerbach will turn pro in 2011.” Got it?
There is my prediction, and having placed 1st in the middleweight plus taken the overall title at last year’s Junior USA, 2nd in the middleweights in this year’s Junior Nationals, and 4th in the 2010 USA’s - who can really doubt that Gail has what it takes to be a pro?
So, given all this I think it is about time we gave Gail our attention on RX and found out a little more about what makes this future pro tick…
Before we begin, I notice from your Face book page that you hate talking about yourself. Why is that... and I hope we can overcome that here!
“The fact is that I have always had a very low self esteem. It comes from being a perfectionist and my own worst enemy. I am actually taking Dahn Yoga right now and it is helping quite a bit. They are teaching me strategies which are allowing me to be the ‘master of my mind’…”
I believe you took out your first gym membership at age 13. What was the inspiration behind that?
“I grew up with a brother who raised me to be a tom boy and had a huge impact on me when I was growing up. We had a gym in our basement but I was not allowed to workout with my brother at the time because I was considered too young. However, when I finally was ‘old enough’ I started lifting in my basement and loved it. This led to me wanting a gym membership, doing cardio and learning the name of every muscle in the body from a chart on my bedroom wall.”
What got you interested in bodybuilding?
“During college there was a bodybuilding show called Greek Physique and I decided I wanted to compete in it. I trained at the gym with many guys who offered to help me pose diet and prepare. I loved the diet, loved putting on muscle, loved cardio, learning about supplements and loved competing! I competed in that show and won it 4 years in a row! When I left college I joined a gym back home where I was student teaching. I started working out there daily and meeting people who competed in the NPC and who told me I should do a show. I hired a trainer who trained me 3 times a week and I started to see myself put on more and more muscle. I ate clean and started learning more about supplements.
“I decided to start attending the local NPC contests to see what it was like and during the first show I went to I had made up my mind...I WANTED TO COMPETE AGAIN! So in 2007 I started my journey toward my first competition. During the year I went to every show and met more and more people who competed. I started lifting, training and spending time with competitors and by the end of 2007 I had attended every local Illinois show and had met a whole group of friends who understood me and accepted me for who I was. They understood my ‘oddness’ and in their eyes it was okay to be different. In fact it was my differences that made me so unique.
“So in 2008 I stood on the stage and did my first NPC bodybuilding competition. Ever since that moment I have lived the lifestyle daily. I truly believe in the ‘religion’ of bodybuilding and I found the place I now call ‘home’
“I have found that all of the struggling I did my whole life as a child only made me a stronger person. It taught me resilience and how to persevere when things got hard. This has helped me get through off season training and contest preparation and it also helped me in my professional life as a first grade special education teacher. The only difference is I have taught my students that it's okay to be this way! This is how I started bodybuilding and can't imagine my life without it!”
Was your body fast to respond to the weights?
“Absolutely and this was actually a huge problem for me as a runner. They made me stop lifting because I was putting on size to fast!”
Looking back what do you think your biggest learning experience was when it comes to training and diet?
“I think competing nationally the last two years I have learned about contest dieting by constantly asking my diet coach Dave Palumbo for answers as to why we do what we do. Although I drive him bonkers with all my questions, I love to learn and gain the knowledge on my journey to the competition stage. I have learned a lot about the keto diet, which I love. I also read books to understand how the brain fuels itself on ketones and what takes place as this is happening. During my last contest prep I learned about sugar alcohols, which take on many names and are often hidden in a lot of things. I have also learned how to listen to my body and how to tell if I am flat, full, retaining water...etc..., proper posing and different ways to prepare my meals.
“When it comes to training I have learned a TON from my trainer Michael Liberatore about lifting form, more challenging exercises, how to hit the different heads of muscles and focusing on feeling the muscle. I stopped worrying about the weight I am lifting and can now focus on the contraction.”
Outside of the sport your job as a teacher is pretty demanding. Is it sometimes difficult to make time for workouts?
‘I workout in the evenings, but it is difficult to balance it all. I had to learn to leave work at work and come into the gym ready to train hard. It is a stressful job and you bring home work so you never get away from it completely!! During contest prep it is hard to fit meals in at the right intervals of time and fit two cardio sessions in per day. With teaching you also have night commitments which can make it challenging. You bring work home with you and you always have work to do, even on the weekends!”
Talking of making time for things, would you care to outline an average day in your life…
5:15am-wake up
5:30-6:30-AM cardio
6:30-7:30-Get ready for work,
7:30-8:00-Drive to work
8:00-8:45-Eat breakfast (Meal #1) and prepare classroom for the day, attend meetings
8:45-10:15-Teach Language Arts/Reading/Phonemic Awareness
10:15-Snack Time-Eat meal #2
10:30-11:45-Teach Writing, Guided Reading, Centers and pull small differentiated groups.
11:45-12:30-Lunch-Eat Meal #3
12:30-3:30-Teach Math/Science/Social Studies
3:30-4:00-Dismiss students and prepare for the next day, attend meetings
4:00-4:30-Drive home
4:30-5:30-Prep meals for the next day, Eat Meal #4, get ready for the gym
5:30-7:30-Gym Time!!!!!!!!!!!!! Post Workout Meal #5
7:30-Bedtime-Get work done for classroom, Eat Meal #6, do homework, etc...
*** The nights I am off from the gym I go to Yoga and hip-hop dance. On the weekends I go to Yoga and train clients at the gym. I train clients who are hard of hearing and/or deaf. I love it!!!!!!!!!!
Turning the spotlight on your training, what was the most difficult body part for you to develop and can you tell us what strategy you adopted to overcome this weakness….and outline an average workout?
Legs!! I hired my trainer and started to incorporate different angles in my training by turning my feet in different directions and integrating different stances.
Sunday-Legs/calves
Leg ext cybex
110x20
130x20
150x12
170x10
Hack squat
180x15
225x12
270x15
360x12
Walking lunges db
60x20 steps
60x20 steps
60x20 steps
Hammer strength seated curl
70x15
90x12
115x10
45x10 up 70x10 up 95x10 drop 70x10 drop 45x10
Leg press this is 1 set
2 plates x 10
4x20
6x30
8x40
10x50
Hack squat calves
6 plates x 15
8 plates x 15
9 plates x 15
Calf Machine- 1 leg at a time
70x25-3 sets
How easy is the diet part of the sport for you?
“It is pretty easy! I love structure and knowing what to expect. When I get into contest prep mode I get really strict with myself! I don't chew gum, use Crystal Light or Splenda and I don't add any extra calories to my plan, I look at the ingredients in everything I use and am strict on measuring everything I eat! In the offseason I am not as strict on measuring my food. I still eat clean during the week and allow myself one or two cheat meals on the weekends.”
Care to give us an average off season day in terms of diet?
2 whole (OMEGA-3) Eggs with 6 egg whites with 1/3 cup oatmeal
35g Whey Protein (ISOLYZE) with 1.5 tablespoon all natural peanut butter
6oz chicken, turkey, or lean fish like tilapia, flounder, file of sole, orange roughy, or cod with 1/4-cup (1oz) cashew nuts, or almonds, or walnuts and ½ cup brown rice
6oz salmon, swordfish, or RED MEAT with 1 cup green veggies (no tomatoes, red peppers, or carrots) with 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil or Macadamia Nut Oil with a small yam or baked potato
SHAKE: 40g Whey Protein (ISOLYZE) with 20g Waxy Maize (CARBOLYZE)
ONE OF THE ABOVE
How close do you stay to contest weight year round and what food is it hardest to stay away from?
“I aim for 20 pounds but I do have have trouble staying away from candy, Coldstone ice cream and cashews!”
What do you do to relax when you are not working or in the gym?
“I go to yoga, take a hip hop dance class, read, go to eat with friends and love going to see movies. This is the first offseason I have had any free time for myself. I just finished my PhD and always had grad school homework and classes to do previously.”
You have said that if you were to be granted a super human power you would like to see into the future…given that gift, what would you like to see in the future for yourself?
“I would love to meet the right person and fall in love again. I want to get a job teaching Special Education Resource or RTI. Oh yeah....and a pro card in bodybuilding would be a nice accomplishment!”
So when can we expect to see you on stage again?
“Next year. Team Universe and USA's!”
Finally how can people contact you?
Through email or Facebook!
***Stay tuned! My website will be up and running soon as well!!
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