Your Fitness Power Up 2020

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Today’s post features Nurse and Power Lifter enthusiast Houdah Abotteen, who has kindly agreed to sit and talk with me about some of her passions. Trust me, they will motivate you to get off your couch, put down the Netflix, and get serious about your mental and physical well being.

The Meetup

I met Houdah at a Thanksgiving party about a month ago where we started talking about fitness, nursing, and our passion for influencing. Immediately, I was struck by her bold personality. Amazed by the fierceness she has towards her career and body building, I was also curious to know more about what makes Houda, well Houda! Not to mention after our initial introduction (while stuffing our faces with turkey and rice) I gained some inspiration to head back to the gym. Since then I have been consistent with my workouts but was eager to know more about Houda's routine (note that consistency will be key in this article).

What Went Down

I am thrilled to be meeting with her again. I am sure this is only one of many greetings. The first thing she offered me when I walked in was this bomb yogurt parfait with berries and rice cake. Yo. This girl provides the sustenance! But not only that, some insightful advice.

It was interview time. Voice recording (ON)!!!

What got you into power lifting? Have you always been a workout junkie?

I was always sporty. I came from a family of five brothers. It came naturally I think. I did take weight training in high school and that is where I learned the basics of squat and dead lift. What really got me motivated was seeing my body transform, reading articles, and learning about the process.  

How long are you lifting weights for and how are your workouts structured?

My main compounds are dead lift, squat, and bench. I'll spend thirty minutes on those and move on to bodybuilding, accessory movements, and some fine tuning. The way I look at this, the way I look at the body, and working out is like sculpting your body. It is a science but also an art, kind of like nursing. 

Has nursing influenced your passion for health and fitness? Do you see any similarities between how you approach work and how you approach the gym?

 Bodybuilding is an art. It is a way to express yourself artistically. "I want a little more tricep here, a little more bicep there." The way  Arnold Schwarzenegger described it- “it’s a sculpture.” It's sculpting yourself as you go. I like that. I like having the power, strength, and ability to be independent and to be in control of my movements and ultimately my life. My artistic expression is physical, I need to be able to see it- the progress. What I also like about my fitness journey is being able to help people by vlogging and influencing. This ties into my passion for health care. I always wanted to be a doctor but soon realized I didn't want to go through all that schooling and wanted to jump sooner into the scene. Nursing allowed me to get right into the field and make an immediate impact. All in all I never got into fitness to break a stereotype. I went in for myself but have been able to help people on a larger scale. 

How did you prepare for preliminaries and how did you know this was something you wanted to pursue? When did lifting become more than just a hobby?

What got me into competitive weight lifting... well, I was never doing it for subjective competition. I love the mental conditioning and the process of training for a bodybuilding competition. I had a friend who was doing it and so I decided to join him. I started with dead lift just to dip my toes into it. Every year I try to do something on my bucket list and one of them was this local meet in Kansas City, and that is what led me to qualify for nationals. I went for the experience, the vlog! 

Before competition I never realized how truly strong I was. Competing in just the dead lift portion there are three attempts. I went in thinking I lifted 325lb but ended up lifting way more than that. I didn’t even realize I pulled that much. In that moment I realized I was that strong. People kept telling me I was strong but I didn’t believe them. I thought I was working out and training normally just like everyone else. That moment truly revealed how capable I actually was.

What about weight lifting do you love compared to running marathons, Pilate's, zumba, or other workouts?

I still do cardio. Instead of what people call a runner's high, I never get that exactly. I get a pump high, a weight high. There's something about putting a certain amount of weight on your  back or the bar. Lift it up, put it down. I love the weight and how it makes me feel, the blood rushing into my muscles, picking up the weight and repping it out for as many reps as I can. I still run. The most I've run in one sitting is 6 miles just to test it out and accomplish it. But if I put my mind to it I would be able to run a marathon. 

And everyone is different. That’s the beauty of fitness, there's something for everyone. There's people who do cross fit, hiking, rock climbing. And that's why I don't call myself explicitly a power lifter because I don't strictly power lift. I do a variety of things when it comes to bodybuilding.

How do you muster motivation despite the resistance you might feel getting to the gym on some days?  Is there a mindset you must get into? 

It's really building discipline. You formulate a habit. Its partly that I'm just really hard on myself. (freaking capricorn) For example, yesterday I felt all over the place. But if you say your gonna do it, you gotta do it. There's something about saying it out loud and then committing to it. And I see fitness as an investment in myself and my health.  If you tell yourself you just don't feel like it your not going to feel like it for a month. Even if you get there and just sit on the bench at least you made the effort and took the initiative to stick to your goal. The day I wasn't particularly amped about the gym I told myself I'd finish by 12 o'clock. I stuck it through and actually had an amazing workout. 

When you care about something you will always make time for it.  That is why I believe everyone should find a style of workout they care about whether that be hiking, climbing, or taking a nice walk. You don't have to be throwing around 400 lbs. I also try to travel, enjoy my life, but I don't try to make any one of those my life. I choose to make them a part of my life. 

For those who want to get serious about working out at the gym, or about getting fit in general, what are some workouts they should try?

Find what you like. If you don’t know what you like try things here and there. Take up running one day or some yoga. If you don’t like running, don’t do it. Find something that works for you and find something you can stay consistent with. The conditioning will come later. When you do something you like it makes you feel good and that’s what we are aiming for. Buy books about fitness and health. Put them on your coffee stand. Start vlogging about it, documenting your progress. If you haven’t found what you like that’s okay. That’s the beauty of it. Your always learning new exercises and trying things you never thought you’d enjoy. For instance, I didn’t know I could do a lunge this specific way and it was a real game changer for my workout regimen.

How do you build routine and what resources should people use to build one?

When I started dieting down to get shredded I had to do my research. In the beginning I would do full body workouts. I also enjoyed the stair master and knew I could do that every day for twenty minutes. That is key, discovering workouts you could do every day. Once you grasp that, take baby steps and build on it. After total body I did my research and threw in some upper body, lower body, oh let’s divide it into push-pull legs, back, shoulders, throw some abs in, even have a full ab day. Research it. Then you are going to research it some more. And now I’m able to vlog and tell people about it. I watched tons of videos as well. Where people tend to fail is that they aren’t enjoying it and are not being consistent. 

As a body builder how do you tackle cutting and bulking?

When cutting I love using the stair master. I put it on a 15 minute speed and go at it for an hour or so.  Slowly but surely I’ll bump up that speed. When cutting I track my macros which you can do with a variety of phone apps. I focus on eating protein, 1g/ lb of body weight. You then want to ask if your more of a fat or carb kind of person. I love healthy fats like omega 3 fatty acids because they help to regulate your hormones. I’m sure to pack on my vegetables (iceburg lettuce on my chipotle) to add volume to  my food. I never count in vegetables when calculating macros. During the cutting phase when I start to see my weight stagnate I’ll either crank up the cardio or take certain foods out of my diet. This is all about creating a caloric deficit in order to lean out, but still giving my  body the nutrition it needs to thrive.

When it come to bulking I focus on my caloric surplus. I used to have a horrible relationship with food and feeling bad about overeating. But I countered this negative association with food by going on a bulk and not being afraid to get fluffy. Because once I did that I saw my weight shoot up, as well as my strength and the amount of weight I could lift. This is when I felt the strongest and my relationship with food significantly improved.  

My body has gone through many transitional phases. I’ve been doing this for 6 consecutive years and it gets easier. My strength is through the roof. If you want to give bulking and cutting a try I would also advice you this:  never succumb to the fact that you will always look the way you are. It is impossible to maintain a perfect physique and our bodies are always fluctuating.

As an aspiring influencer on YouTube what sparked your desire to start uploading?

I ran across another YouTuber,  Christian Guzman. He is a body builder, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker. He was the one who taught me about flexible dieting. A year later after watching his videos his channel blew up! He had his own clothing line, his own gym, and I thought.. I could do that. I love talking on camera and I love fitness. Let’s do it!

What are your goals as an influencer?

I want to share as much knowledge as I can and  show people there’s nothing that you can’t do. It’s all about learning how to enjoy life, be fit, be happy. I also want to show women that lifting heavy weight is not going to make you look manly. You can lift heavy and not be bulking.

You are so confident! Not afraid to be LOUD and own a room. Has power lifting helped you to grow in this aspect? How do you gain courage to speak up and know your voice matters?

It took me a while to grow into myself and like myself. Fitness helped with this because people wanted to come up and talk to me. Nursing really helped me in this aspect too because I had to get comfortable with talking to doctors, administration, and families. When I got this position as a director I took this title to heart. Now when I do walk into a room I own it because I already own it. When u know you’ve worked so hard to accomplish your goals why not walk with a little more confidence.

When I feel like I’m not being proactive or productive I get down on myself. But I’ve learned to be  more patient with myself and relax. Sometimes I just want things to happen instantly. But I look at life the way I look at acne treatment (lollllllll) if you’ve ever been through acne treatment, the process of clearing your skin is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. The little small steps you take add to the whole. We get entrapped and discouraged. Why is my skin not clearing up, I’ve been doing x,y,z?!!   But over time, after you’ve done the small things like eating healthy, taking your medication, you stand back, look at yourself, and boom! You got clear skin.  

That’s how you look at life. Focus on what you have and build from there. I always feel so happy when I go back to edit my vlogs.  I shot little clips here and there but didn’t know it was going to turn into a masterpiece!

Can you give our readers 5 more reasons they should take up a workout routine this year?

1. Look good

2. Do it for yourself

3. Invest in you, why wouldn’t you want to take care of your body and love it?!

4. Try something different

5. Challenge yourself, see what you're made of. You never know how far your efforts will take you.

It's a Wrap!

So grateful to have met such a dynamic individual who embodies the definition of commitment and perseverance. What I love is her competitive drive to be a stronger person than she was the day before.

Give my girl some love by checking out her vlog channel on YouTube. She’s got a bit of travel, a whole lot of fitness, and more!

Thank you so much for reading and sticking around :) Keep an eye out for new posts and some new additions to the blog that are coming real soon!