20 Questions with Cover Model and IFBB Figure Pro Serena Cooper

Serena Cooper

1)Please introduce yourself? What makes you special? Who is Serena Cooper?

I am a driven individual who dedicates not only my personal but professional life to living and promoting a healthy life style.

2) Please tell us a bit about your family, friends and surroundings?

I am very close to my family members my parents are still very happily married and are the best parents I could ever wish for they are very supportive and even come to my competitions to cheer me on.  I have a brother and sister both of whom have two children each love them dearly.  I would have to say when it comes to friends its all about quality not quantity.  I surround myself with loving and supportive honest friends and family who I can rely on.

3) How did you start competing in figure?

I have competed in bodybuilding, fitness and figure in the past however I found I excelled the most in figure and have never looked back.

4) What is your personal policy (not what the judges want) about conditioning and muscularity when coming into a show? Soft or hard?

I believe that if you are going to put months of dedication towards training and diet for a show you should be coming in looking hard and different from how you normally look off season.

5) What is your idea of what judges want in a Figure competitor? Do you think judges are clear enough with competitors about how they want you on stage? It seems in Europe they are very clear unlike in the USA and now in Canada things are confusing.

I find because figure is still fairly new in the whole competition world setting common standards of a general consensus of what judges are looking for is still yet to be established.  When I compete I come in conditioned to what I feel a figure competitor should look like and hope that it is what the judges are looking for in that competition.

Serena Cooper

6) For the next shows what do you think you need to work on physique-wise/conditioning-wise? If anything!

I have worked hard this year to decrease my muscle mass for this years pro show cause Canadian judges seem to look for more muscular physiques.

7) What is your typical training routine in the gym (per day, include sets and reps!) How much cardio do you do before a show?

I change up my program once a month to keep my body going through different phases.  The program I am on right now is a leaning out phase.

Mon    Chest, Triceps and Hamstrings
Tues    Back, Biceps, Quads and Abs
Wed    Day Off
Thru    Same as Monday
Fri       Same as Tuesday
Sat       Shoulders, Calves and Abs
Sun      Day Off
I super set my body parts the larger muscle groups, like chest and legs, I perform 20reps and the smaller, like arms, 15reps I perform 4sets for each group.  I get in 3-4 groups of supersets.
I don’t do any cardio before a show to maintain muscle mass.

8) What is your pre-contest diet? (Per day, 1 week before the show)
the last 4 days pre-contest

Wed (1900 calories. Listed below is the total food intake for the day split up into 5-6 meals)
Cream of wheat or oatmeal
Chicken or tilapia
1 scoop of whey
Green veggies
Potatoes or rice
Rice cakes

Thru (“)
Same as Wed but more chicken or tilapia

Fri (“) Evening show
Cheam of wheat or oatmeal
Chicken or tilapia
Potato or yam
Rice cakes (natural peanut butter and jam before show)

Sat (“) Day show
Same as Fri but no peanut butter and jam with the rice cakes

9) How do you go about dropping your water before the day of the show? How much water do you drink the day of the show? Please be specific.

5th day prior to 10-12 liters
4th day prior to 8-10 liters
3rd day prior to 6-8 liters
2nd day prior to 2-3 liters
Day of sip spring water (replace output)
I use herbal diuretics before and one week following photo shoot, I follow instructions on the bottle.

10) What motivates you to train/diet and compete? Are there any competitors you looked up to?

I am a very driven person who likes to challenge myself mentally and physically and I find competing is a perfect outlet for this.  I would have to say female wise Monica Brant is a competitor I look up to because I see her as the female founder of femininity and muscularity combined and is still involved in the industry to this day.

11) Please tell us an interesting experience you had at a show recently, be it a fun thing or something rather not so fun?

Since I turned pro in 2006 it has opened the opportunity of travelling more.  I competed in NYC last and loved it; it was a lifetime goal to visit NY.

Serena Cooper

12) What is your personal opinion about the figure, fitness, bodybuilding industry we are in? Anything you would like to see changed?  

I am generally very happy about how things are run in the completion world however one thing I would love to see different is more consistency across the world of what judges are looking for in competitors.

13) What has been your hardest challenge to overcome either in your personal life or competing career?

I would have to say the hardest thing I have had to deal with in my competing career was at Nationals in 2006 when I was awarded my pro card there was an incorrect tallying of the scores and confusion of placement.  It was very embarrassing for me but what doesn’t kills you makes you stronger.

14) Did you make any changes to your contest prep for your last show? Water intake, carbing up, etc...

Yes I did, I always hire a professional to diet me for my shows, just to avoid any second guessing on my part.  I dieted through Helen Brushard(sp?) for my first pro show and I found dieting with her was an easy process just because it was a smooth transition from how I eat off season.

Serena Cooper

15) Being in another country what do you think has been your biggest challenge in coming to the USA to compete?

The judging is so different from Canada to the USA.  I also found having the show spread over two days difficult to peak twice and it is a lot of extra prep and stress on the body and mind.

16) How do you balance your family life with competing and dieting for shows? Do you have a support system around you (family, etc...)?

I am single so my home life is perfect for dieting I have no temptation around me.  When I am out with friends and family they are very supportive so they make what I can eat or I bring my own food.

17) Please tell us about how you were raised and did you have any interesting experiences while growing up?

I was raised in a very loving and well structured home which I always felt very safe.  We grew up with not a lot of money so my parents taught us at young age how to manage our own money and how to save which is a strong foundation that I build off of to this day.

18) Do you have an athletic background? Gymnastics, soccer, volleyball or what?

I played a lot of sports growing up, track, volleyball, badminton, basketball, ball hockey and rugby.  It wasn’t until my first fitness completion that I took up gymnastics.

Serena Cooper

19) What is a typical day in the life of Serena Cooper? From waking up to until going to bed?

I wake up at 4am eat get ready for work
5am-12pm I train clients
12-2pm cat nap and eat
3pm personal workout
4-8pm I train clients
10pm off to bed
This is my routine 5 days per week the weekends I run a boot camp class for an hour Saturday from March –end of October and rest of the weekends I enjoy doing fun and exciting things with friends and family.

20) What is your current occupation? Please tell us more about it, what do you specifically do in your job?

I run my own business, “Serena’s Evolution of Fitness & Nutrition”, I founded June 2009.  I train people out of different located gyms for one hour training sessions.  I also give nutritional advice and guidance to clients. I LOVE what I do as a career!

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