20 Questions with Cover Model Amanda Quinlan

Amanda Quinlan

1) Please introduce yourself? What makes you special? Who is Amanda Quinlan?

I enjoy life and appreciate everything it has to offer. I feel blessed everyday for the people in my life. I am comfortable in my own skin and have a lot of confidence. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and am very sensitive to hurtful people. I am very generous and love doing things for other people and being the shoulder that someone needs to lean on or the listening ear for someone to talk to. I love to laugh and make others laugh. I am very intelligent, hard working, and work for things I want. I surround myself with great company, and these wonderful people who are in my life have made a huge impact on me and reflect who I am. I am a firm believer in KARMA and what goes around comes around. I believe we are the architects of our own fate and it is important to seize control of your karma -- and the effects of your actions. By no means am I perfect, but I try to improve myself as a person learning from every mistake I make. I believe what you give is what you get back. Be a good person and do to others as you would like done to yourself. I'm true to myself but set high goals that seem to others as unattainable. Being mediocre is not good enough for me, it's not an option. I strive to be the best person I can be everyday. I never settle.
2) Please tell us a bit about your family, friends and surroundings?

I grew up in a very close family that's very loving and supportive. I'm proud to say my parents are still together. I have one older brother who I've always looked up to. We've always lived on large pieces of property in the country with horses and show dogs. My parents have bred and shown Great Danes for 40 years and Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds for 8 years. I've grown up showing dogs my whole life and was even in the womb showing dogs. I showed dogs as a career for many years till I got more involved in the fitness side of my life. 

3) How did you start competing in figure?

I gained interest in figure after attending the Nationals in Atlanta in 2006. I was dating someone who frequented a lot of the big shows. I watched the fitness competitors and loved the way they looked and admired them greatly. I knew I wanted to look like that. I however knew it would be extremely hard for me to do the mandatory moves required in fitness because I didn't have the gymnastics background and have never been flexible. Once I heard about figure I knew that was what I wanted to do. I went to the Olympia in 2007 and had the great opportunity of meeting Jenny Lynn just after she won the title of Ms Figure Olympia. She asked me what show I was prepping for? I had only at this point been training and doing research and hadn't thought about what show I would do. From the moment I arrived home till the next local show was 6 weeks. I knew I could do it! I borrowed a couple suits and received advice from several gurus in the industry. With a lot of luck, a lot of hard work, and a lot of great advice I won my class at my very first show! I was super proud and knew I found my calling.

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

I feel my physique looks its best on the leaner harder side. My genetic makeup goes in that direction on its own. I really feel every girl is different and based on their genetics needs to come in looking the best for them and not how the girls next to them look.

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 think the judges simply go for beautiful athletic women. The ladies have great balance and symmetry. They present a package that is well conditioned with full muscle bellies, clean lines that aren't striated, and excel in elegance and femininity.
I think each judge does know what they want but maybe their ideal isn't presented to them on every given day. Every judge has a different eye so what one judge sees another might not. They go with the closest to their ideal they can. It couldn't be very easy to judge such large classes with a ton of great girls. I think they do the best they can. 

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

There is always something I could improve on. I will never be perfect. I think the biggest thing with me is presentation. I need to present what I have better. I would love to have more back width in turn making my waist appear smaller and a little more quad sweep to give a more elegant shape to my legs.

Amanda Quinlan

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 used to lift 5 days a week splitting my days by major body parts but now that I have a good foundation of muscle I really concentrate more on body parts I'm lacking or that are extremely important in a great figure physique. I rely on my figure coach and trainer Roc Shabazz to lead me in the right direction. He has me training with him 3 days a week. We train my legs, back, and arms on all 3 days and then occasionally he will add in shoulder exercises. He has me lifting heavier than I ever thought possible along with extremely high reps. We will do 5 sets of every exercise and do merely 200 reps or more total of each exercise. I counted one day we did 1250 squats. He will also incorporate some high intensity exercises along with plyometric exercises to keep the heart rate up. I do cardio twice a day, other than lifting days, increasing the the time and intensity the closer to the show I get.

8) What is your pre-contest diet? (per day, 1 week before the show)

My contest diet is 6 meals a day typically eating the same foods for several days then changing up for a few days. This allows us to see what foods work the best for my body. I carb cycle based on lifting days and how my body is progressing. Carb cycling is better for stimulating my metabolism and keeping my energy up. My diet stays the same all the way up to contest day other than adding more carbs each day in the last week to fill my muscles back out.

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.

I drink 2 gallons of spring water a day throughout my prep. The last week I slowly lower that consumption each day so by the day of the show I'm only sipping water.

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

I think more than anything my motivation comes from looking in the mirror and seeing my body change and transform from hard work. It's addicting to me to see what you can do with diet and training. I will always want to be better than I am so as long as I know there's work to do I will never quit. I led a somewhat unhealthy life by eating lots of junk food in my 20's and even though I was never out of shape I wasn't in shape either. I love the way eating right and working out makes me feel. I feel clean with lots of energy. 
Stepping on stage and competing gives me a deadline to work towards and it helps me push myself harder. My idols are Valerie Waugaman and Erin Stern. Both of these ladies, in my opinion, not only have the best physiques that have ever graced the figure stage but are the some of the most hard working, easy going, helpful, well rounded, and successful in not just figure but other aspects of their lives.   

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

I can't say that I've ever had anything happen interesting at the show. I did decide this year while in Vegas for the USA's to stay longer in town to make a vacation out of the trip. In previous years I would fly in a few days before, be stuck in the room, and then leave the next day after the show. Disappointed from not getting to do much in the past I will always make an effort to stay longer to reward myself from all the hard work and stress I put myself through to prep for the show.

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

I think it's fantastic that health and fitness minded people have a venue to exhibit all the hard work we put into our bodies. All though I do wish some people wouldn't get too caught up with doing things that are detrimental to their health to achieve the same look that others have done naturally.
I think the one thing I would change is not having a different judging panel for each class on the National level. This would cut down on the inconsistency between the class winners. The competitors need more consistency so as to know what the judges really want out of any of the categories.

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

I feel like TIME is the hardest challenge I face. There just isn't enough time in the day for family, friends, social life, and career when the time is used up with all the training, cardio, cooking, daily chores, and rest. It's really hard to fit everyone and everything in. I get a lot of resentment from my friends who I can't just hang out with on a whim.

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

I really didn't make any changes to speak of. I've honestly done basically the same thing other than slight food choice changes. I don't like doing anything drastic. It's just too unpredictable.

Amanda Quinlan

15) What do you think of bikini division?

I think the bikini division was a nice addition to the industry. It opened the door to girls who were health conscious and worked out but wouldn't be able to put on the amount of muscle conditioning the other categories required. It's fantastic that now ALL ladies have a category that suits them.

16) What are your favorite foods to eat right after you compete on a Saturday night?

A really big salad with anything and everything you can put on it. I also love candy so I indulge in lots of M&M's, especially the new Pretzel M&M's, yummy!!

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

As I stated before I grew up showing dogs. I had the opportunity to travel and see the country for it. I've been to all the big dog shows and even I've been on TV showing our dogs. I've traveled to lots of places on my own even New York City as a teenager to show my dog at Westminster Dog Show where I met lots of celebrities like MC Hammer, Macaulay Culkin, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, and Dick Clark to name a few. Pretty cool to have them walk up to you because they want to pet your Great Dane. 

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

I was only involved in sports in my younger years. I played softball and ran track but as I got older my extra time was spent traveling to dog shows so I was unable to commit to organized sports. I was an extremely active kid and teenager always outside playing with the dogs or riding my horses. We were never allowed to just sit around and watch TV or play video games.   

Amanda Quinlan

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

My typical day consists of getting up at 5:30 am, to the gym being trained by Roc or cardio by 6 am, by 7:15 am I'm having my first meal, then to work teaching my boot camp classes for my clients at 9 am, in between my training clients in the morning and before I work in the afternoon I get my cooking, cleaning, and errands accomplished, sometimes I might get a nap, I do love a good nap, at 2 pm I go back to work till 9 pm, I get my evening cardio in at 9 pm, go home and get to bed by 10:30 pm so I can get up and do it all over again the next day.

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

I'm the General Manager of a sports conditioning training facility, I'm a personal trainer, I'm a speed and agility coach, I'm a boot camp instructor, I'm a nutrition counselor, and I'm a dog handler, groomer, and trainer.

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