Many people think that personal trainers and classic bodybuilders look the same, as they have the same purpose: to train. However, a personal trainer is the “lighter” version of a classic bodybuilder but, if training properly, personal trainers can also become professional bodybuilders.
This is the case of personal trainer Krystal Morgan, who has surely done a lot of “personal” training lately. In the last four months, she picked up the sport of bodybuilding and managed to become a champion in short order.
“When most people think of a bodybuilder, they think of somebody huge, so ‘oh gross’. That’s the type of people we see in Muscle & Fitness, and they have this automatic stereotype in their head, but obviously, like, I’m not huge. We’re not all huge and gross and manly looking”, says Morgan.
And she is surely right. Despite her becoming a professional bodybuilder, she has still managed to preserve her feminine size. Morgan considers that a better way to describe women bodybuilders is ‘extremely fit people’.
If you can lift your weight and a half, that’s considered strong in the world of bodybuilders. Morgan can squat 185 ponds, and in her very first bodybuilding competition, she took home first place after training for only a few months.
So, how can the physique of a woman’s body can be judged at a bodybuilding competition? “The judging is based on three aspects”, says Morgan. “So, like your symmetry, so how evenly your body is balanced on both sides, muscularity, and leanness. So, you want to have big muscles but also be lean – like, see the striations in your body”, she added.
The personal trainer turner bodybuilder also has to practice holding a pose. “You do practice, otherwise you’ll be up there shaking like crazy, so it’s definitely like, if you think about flexing your bicep for somebody, showing them it’s hard to hold it for five seconds let alone like a minute”.
Even though working out is obviously the most important part of bodybuilding (and one of the hardest ones at the same time), Morgan admits that the biggest challenge probably is watching what you eat.
“My husband has been super supportive. I try not to keep junk in the house to tempt me from eating it, so he’s lost a couple pounds along the way as well”, she says.
In addition to dieting and working out, the dedication to the gym life eats up quite a bit of her social life. “Sacrifices. Definitely the time spent in the gym when your friends are all going out on Friday nights and want to go be up late, I really haven’t done that at all the last couple months training for this”, says Morgan.
Even though she says that her bodybuilding career isn’t necessarily a long-term pursuit, Krystal Morgan will be competing in the international bodybuilding competition in the Canada Calgary Cup in May, the personal trainer aiming to take home another trophy.
