Quick Stats:
- Age: 27
- Lives: Durban, KZN
- Height: 1.57M
- Competition Weight: 51kg
- Occupation: Personal Trainer
How did your passion for fitness develop?
I was always a chubby teen. I decided at the age of 20years to give myself a kick up the back side and get training. As I saw the results it motivated me even more to train even harder. From then on I dabbled a bit in sports aerobics and really enjoyed the gymnastics side of it and got into researching different techniques and training styles. After some serious affirmation I then decided to study and become a personal trainer. I entered my first serious fitness competition in 2013 and went from strength to strength with each comp I entered. Seeing my body improve each time shows how much I love to train and that keeps my passion about fitness alive!
Where does your motivation come from?
To be quite honest, creating a voice in my head that eggs me on to push just one more rep or go for another 5min on the treadmill is my motivation. Because that voice I imagine to be myself at the next comp holding that 1st place trophy and telling me what I need to do to be a champion. I keep reaching for the stars and set my standards high because no one else can do that for me but ME.
What does a typical day in the life of Catherine de Wet look like?
I wake up at about 4am each morning, take my essential supporting vitamins and minerals and have my first meal (if not doing cardio first). I then train my morning clients till the afternoon and then train myself for a weight session at about midday. I hit the showers, freshen up and train my late afternoon and evening clients. I'm lucky to have a husband who cooks and cleans so he helps me with meal prep in the evenings (if not having a gap during the day to prep meals myself). After all this with having to eat my hundreds of meals throughout the day I'll catch up with my hubby and talk about our day, then I crash hard and in bed by 9pm. Luckily with my job I am a bit flexible with my time so I do go for coffee with my other half on a regular basis during the week and weekends are our family time.
What workout routine has worked best for you?
Luckily I have inherited my dad's muscular genes. I have the type of body that loves to grow and become stronger. Yes this means I can do rolling pistol squats and one arm pushups. Therefore in order to keep my muscles smaller and looking more petite I push heavy weights but have little rest between sets and add in a lot of cardio elements. My workouts consist of super, tri and quadri setting (doing one or more exercises after another without a break in between), this is a big part of my daily workout routine and find it works best to keep my body frame looking small.
If you had to pick only 3 exercises, what would they be and why?
Weighted or jumping squats for the booty and toned legs. Military shoulder press for an entire shoulder workout and pull ups for an entire upper body and back workout. Those are the 3 most functional exercises I'd choose if I had say 20min to workout and just add more weight and sets in there to make it a more intense whole body approach.
What is your daily eating plan like?
For a small girl you'd think I eat very little but no, I eat A LOT, something like 2000cal a day.
I eat 6 meals a day every 2-3 hours which consist of lean forms of protein (chicken, fish, eggs, and ostrich), 'clean' carbohydrates (basmati rice, oats, and sweet potato).I also eat loads of greens (broccoli, green beans, spinach etc) and other low calorie veg with those meals and drink lots of water throughout the day. All this food helps me train harder and recover faster, plus it gets my metabolism firing.
I'm a bit of a coffee addict and always have it black with no sugar during comp prep and extra strong for those 5am working days.
What is your favourite cheat meal?
Oooooh I have a serious sweet tooth and constantly google recipes (the 'clean' kind) and absolutely LOVE to bake, but if I am feeling rather indulgent I'll will opt for a big slice of carrot cake, banana bread with butter and jam, scones with butter and jam, or a large bran/ date/ apple muffin with an extra slice of ciabatta toast on the side and lots of butter and jam! Then I always have a milky coffee or two with that.
When trying to cut, what type of cardio do you prefer to do?
I prefer the stepper, spinning bike or treadmill running with sprints. I keep my heart rate very high and perform interval training.
What supplements do you use?
I use CLA Sculpt, L-Carnitine, 100% Whey and BCAA's.
What are your fitness goals?
I want to be in better condition each year and maybe even enter a division higher than fitness bikini in the future to really see what my body is capable of.I want to try my best to win even more shows with the hard training and dieting I've put into it. It may seem optimistic but I'd like to become a Pro athlete. Like I've said before I will always reach for the stars!
Which athletes inspire you?
I absolutely love Jamie Eason, Andrea Brazier and Jen Jewel. Those woman are all dynamite!
What advice would you give to women who would like to achieve a great physique?
Don't be afraid to eat and don't be afraid to eat carbs. This gives you energy to train hard with heavy weights in order to achieve a toned and pleasing physique. The denser your muscles from heavy weight training the more your metabolism speeds up to burn fat at rest.
Keep your meals 'clean' by limiting your sugar and saturated fat intake. Sugar messes with your insulin levels inhibiting fat burning potential and it causes some serious cravings. Eat every 2-3 hours and reward yourself once a week with your favourite cheat meal, you deserve it for training so hard and keeping it clean! Another very important factor is change up your exercises, sets and reps all the time to keep your body guessing and preventing a plateau. Those muscles should feel tender after every session.
Tell us something that many people may not know about you?
I can sew, in fact I sewed my own bikini from scratch that I wore when I won the NABBA SA Miss Bikini Championship. I can also sing pretty well and recorded a few songs I wrote and composed myself. Lastly, I have this one film that I use to watch almost every weekend at my grandmothers growing up and will still watch it to this day, that film is Fantasia the musical released in 1940.
Who would you most like to share a protein shake with?
Share my protein shake? Haha yeah right! Although I'd say maybe my husband because he is my number 1!
What do you do in your spare time?
My hubby and I will hit the shopping mall and go for a coffee and/or lunch, or we will get active and take a bike ride along the beach front with a coffee break on the way. Other than that we generally spend our spare time cooking food that we have run out of.
Favourite Quote?
"I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today!" - William Allen White
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