Born: 02/20/67 Height: 5 foot 7 Inches Off Season Weight: 155 - 160 lbs. Contest weight: 136 - 140 lbs. Favorite Exercise: Bicep curls and Dips Least Favorite Exercise: Pull-ups! Most Hated Diet Food: Dry Crumbly makes me choke, ground Turkey! Favorite Treat Food: Homemade oatmeal chocolate chip bars Top Five Favorite Female Bodybuilders: Pauliina Talus, Yaxeni Oriquien, Valentina Chepiga, Anja Langer I have always been athletic, a tomboy you could say, I grew like a weed and towered over almost my whole fifth grade class awkward, tall and skinny I got teased quite a bit. By age nine I was racing motorcycles in the California desert and kicking the boy’s butts, I might add. As I grew into my height and started to fill my frame, I got into modeling. I had been lifting (light) weights and doing aerobic exercise, but I was told again and again that I needed to be very careful as not to become muscular. You know that one right? “I just want to get some definition, you know tone up, I don’t want to be a muscle girl!” Well, that stuck with me, so I got real good at Yoga, Ballet, Pilates, Spinning, and circuit training with light weights. My diet was a combination of strict vegetarianism and then the crazy modeling starvation diet so needless to say my protein requirements were not even close to being met. When I met my future husband who is a bodybuilder we began to work out together and I repeated my mantra “ Tone, Cardio, blah, blah, blah…or I might not get hired for the next job!” He was very understanding and worked me into his bodybuilding program. I was training for a Marathon at that point so we shaped my workouts around the intensity of all the running I was doing. When my work became a scheduling conflict with the Marathon. I was disappointed and relieved at the same time, sad that I would have to concede the challenge of the Marathon but excited to be able to give weightlifting a real go. We worked a lot on strict form, isometrics and instead of circuit training; he had me in his body parts split sequence. What I discovered is that I am a competitor; I wanted to prove that I could do it too and that’s when it happened. One day without my knowledge or consent I realized that the monster had bitten me! The monster that lives in my head, the one that says “You can do more, go heavier, hold it longer and bust that last rep to failure!” I loved the high, we trained six days a week like animals sometime twice and during cardio season three times a day. I felt something that I had never felt before, this process of loving the pain, my body tingling in anticipation of the soreness that those last two reps would give me two days later. I was hooked like a fat kid loves cake! My body really began to change, I felt like a coiled spring, tight and ready! So you can guess where this is going…I decided to compete. I entered in the Miss Galaxy contest, which if you are not familiar with it is a Figure round proceeded by a full military obstacle course that was a trip! I unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury for which I curse the Galaxy often. I did well, in my first outing I placed 14th out of 128 women. I wasn’t hooked on that kind of competition though. I didn’t have any Gymnastic experience so Fitness was out and so I looked to Figure as an alternative. I focused my training on doing a figure show. I went in hook, line and sinker and about halfway through my training my husband and my other trainer Francesca said that I needed to reel it back because I was getting too muscular to compete. Then he said, “You could do the Women’s Bodybuilding Show at Muscle Beach in Venice.” Well, my friend, that was it…I went to the dark side, I threw out all my brainwashing about women and muscles and dug deep, deeper than I have ever dug in my life. I won the Middleweight Class and the Overall in my first ever contest. I couldn’t believe it! And here comes Bob Chicherillo to give me my trophy! We also met Valentina Chepiga at the show and afterwards she told me that she had called me as the winner before the show even started! I was so excited because her FTV video was one of the videos I bought for inspiration. We had said that we would try this show and see where to go from there, needless to say I was eager to do another show. It just so happens that I had met Steve Wennnerstrom and he suggested that I do the 04 NPC “CAL” show. So I really needed to try and bring my legs up to par with my upper body. I had heard my husband and others talking about how you aren’t really a bodybuilder until you puke on Leg day. I thought ewww, gross but kinda cool at the same time! So as my Husband/Evil Bastard Mean Trainer Guy was killing me at Gold’s Gym Hollywood with a 750 lb. Leg press I managed to one up the puking ritual. I pissed myself right there in the sled, I’m serious, there was a little puddle of pee on the mat under the seat! That evil guy was laughing so hard he was on the floor as I am running to go get towels before anyone notices. After paying the crazy price for a new pair of shorts at the pro shop we kept right on going. Oh, and I have puked on leg day also so I am part of the club. I got some extra help from Paulina Talus at Venice Gold’s with my posing (SHE ROCKS!) and some training advice from Charles Glass. I totally submerged myself in the Venice vibe and surrounded by the cream of the crop I really felt like a bodybuilder. I entered the L.A. show and had some serious competition. I missed my carbs, came in a bit depleted and due to some schedule mix up I barely made it to the stage in time for my routine, no pump up or anything. But I pulled it off and in my second contest ever I won the middleweight and novice classes as well as qualifying for the nationals! So, I am now training for the NPC show in Pittsburgh in May and then the 05 Nationals in Atlanta. I want to go for my pro card but I am going to take it one day at time and work my hardest to bring my weaknesses to my strengths. I must give big respect to the women who have paved the way for women like me coming from the “Beauty” perspective to be able to embrace my muscular beauty and not worry what the “establishment” will say. An interview with Rebekka: Where and when were you born? Southern California What is your profession? I am a health and sex educator. Educating our youth primarily about high-risk behaviours. I also speak a lot about self-esteem and being human! What kind of activities/sports did you do before you started lifting weights? I am an avid motorcycle rider and began racing dirt bikes as a kid around the age of 9. Now I ride a Honda 600 RR on the street. I can’t wait to get her on a track at Racing School in Alabama. How and when did you get involved into lifting weights? I had been lifting (light) weights and doing aerobic exercise, but I was told again and again that I needed to be very careful as not to become muscular. You know that one right? “I just want to get some definition, you know tone up, I don’t want to be a muscle girl!” Well, that stuck with me, so I got real good at Yoga, Ballet, Pilates, Spinning, and circuit training with light weights. My diet was a combination of strict vegetarianism and then the crazy modeling starvation diet so needless to say my protein requirements were not even close to being met. When I met my future husband who is a bodybuilder we began to work out together and I repeated my mantra “ Tone, Cardio, blah, blah, blah…or I might not get hired for the next job!” He was very understanding and worked me into his bodybuilding program. I was training for a Marathon at that point so we shaped my workouts around the intensity of all the running I was doing. When my work became a scheduling conflict with the Marathon. I was disappointed and relieved at the same time, sad that I would have to concede the challenge of the Marathon but excited to be able to give weightlifting a real go. We worked a lot on strict form, isometrics and instead of circuit training; he had me in his body parts split sequence. What I discovered is that I am a competitor; I wanted to prove that I could do it too and that’s when it happened. One day without my knowledge or consent I realized that the monster had bitten me! The monster that lives in my head, the one that says “You can do more, go heavier, hold it longer and bust that last rep to failure!” I loved the high, we trained six days a week like animals sometime twice and during cardio season three times a day. I felt something that I had never felt before, this process of loving the pain, my body tingling in anticipation of the soreness that those last two reps would give me two days later. I was hooked like a fat kid loves cake! My body really began to change, I felt like a coiled spring, tight and ready! So you can guess where this is going…I decided to compete. I entered in the Miss Galaxy contest, which if you are not familiar with it is a Figure round proceeded by a full military obstacle course that was a trip! I unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury for which I curse the Galaxy often. I did well, in my first outing I placed 14th out of 128 women. What was your first competition and how did you place? First place light weight and Overall at Venice Beach Muscle Beach competition on May 31st 2004 (my very first competition) First place Novice and open class middleweight at the LA NPC on July 11th, 2004 And which contest has been the biggest success for you yet? First place Novice and open class middleweight at the LA NPC on July 11th, 2004 It qualified me for the Nationals! Please describe a typical day in the life of Rebekka Armstrong. A typical day for me starts out by feeding all my babies. I have three cats and three dogs all rescued! Then I get on to doing my cardio. Immediately after that the feeding begins! I eat five times a day and I cannot afford to miss any meals so I am constantly preparing food or making sure that there is enough food to get my husband and me through the day. I take my medication and supplements and then I train! I usually train after the first or second meal depending on what body part it is. If its legs, you bet I’m going to wait until I have more fuel inside! After I train I can do what I want! Please tell me something about your daily training routine. Well, my head lives in cartoon land! So for me training gets kicked up a notch in a fun way. By that I mean I visualise myself as if I were animated. Sometimes I am some kind of an animal such as a feisty kitty cat! And I train as such watching myself in the mirror as if I am this sexy muscular feline full of piss and vinegar but always a tad bit silly! Or sometimes I just put my baseball cap on backwards and pretend I am a little Oliver, (my husband and trainer) and I mimic him to a “T” this has helped me immensely with my training and form. I will even make the same facial expressions and sounds as Oliver or my cartoon cat would make. And then other times I am an Asian warrior princess particularly when we are doing negatives and forced reps! How often do you train in a week? I do two days on, one day off, three days on and one day off. This stays the same year round except when it gets close to competition time then I add an extra day of cardio and I train cardio 2 times a day on the five day split. I also do my routine and mandatory poses 6 days a week What are the main differences when you train for a competition and in off-season? Off-season I train much heavier more consistently. Before competition I mix it up and don’t go as heavy. If you don’t mind would you give me some stats (best lifts and some body measurements)? Measurements: Biceps: 14 3/4 Quads: 23 Calves: 16 I don’t do 1 rep max because I’m afraid of injury. Here are some of my heavy lifts! Bicep Curls: 50lb dumbbell Tricep Pushdowns:130 lb Lat Pulldowns: 180lb Shoulder Press: 60lb dumbbell Bench Press: 185lb Incline Bench: 220lb hammer strength Dumbbell Rows: 80lb dumbbell Chest Flies: 45lb dumbbell Deadlift: 225 lb Squats: 225 lb Leg Press: 1000 lbs Which bodypart is your best in your opinion? My Abs! What is your favorite exercise in the gym and which one you don’t like so much? I really love to train all my body parts but I have to say that shoulders and biceps are my favorite to train. With the exception of the military shoulder press, I have a shoulder injury and I hate doing these. I used to dislike doing pull-ups but now I do them in sets of ten and have become good at them as far as form and strength are concerned so I love to do them they are very challenging. When I first started training I couldn’t do a dip now I can rock them out so I love them too. Judging in Women’s Bodybuilding has always been criticised in one or the other way. Please tell me your honest thoughts about today’s judging in Women’s Bodybuilding. It is so bizarre to me and seems to change constantly. We all work and train so hard to the best that we can be and that is really all I/we can do. If I get too caught up in what they want “exactly” I might miss my mark. I do think that women’s bodybuilding is severely underrated and under paid!!! We work just as hard as the men and don’t get the recognition nor the compensation we rightfully deserve. Please tell me about what else you are doing when you don’t work out (profession, hobbies) I love to garden! Vegetables, flowers fruits and trees! Let me dig in the dirt, nurture my plants and watch them grow. Then I can eat them and know exactly what is going into my body. I love to cook! Especially vegetarian meals (however I am no longer a strict vegetarian I just eat really healthy) and spicy exotic dishes from around the world. I enjoy sewing and crocheting and racing around on my motorcycle and also taking long leisure rides. And water skiing. Please note: Rebekka does not do sessions or wrestling of any kind. Please don't ask!! |