MARYSTOWN, N.L. — For Chelsea Cumby there’s more to working out than what it can do to her outward appearance.
“The gym to me is my me time,” she told The Southern Gazette during a phone interview from Halifax, where she now resides. She previously lived in Marystown.
For Cumby - who recently finished first in the Atlantic Classic Bodybuilding Competition figure tall category, as well as third place bikini F division – it’s her chance to let go.
“It’s the time where no one else is going to bother me, no one's going to text me. I don’t have to answer to anybody, I can put in my music—get my workout in, and it’s my time, and it’s something I find enjoyable…”
She added even if she wasn’t competing in bodybuilding competitions, she would still enjoy the release the gym offers her.
While pregnant with her daughter Cumby developed an interest in competing in bikini competitions.
“I start going to the gym for the first time in my life when she was six-months-(old) and I’ve been working the last two years towards that goal.”
To date, she has competed in three different events since she has been training, finishing fourth in her first two events and third in her latest.
Cumby will be competing in the Maritime Open in PEI on Saturday, April 13.
ROLE MODEL
Cumby trains for about two hours five to six days a week. She said her days are super busy.
“I prep all my food for the week, I’m eating every two to three hours plus I have to cook for my daughter as well,” she explained.
She added the gym she trains at has a daycare which allows her to take her three-year-old with her.
Cumby hopes through her lifestyle she can help promote the importance of a healthy lifestyle to her daughter.
“I’m hoping that when she gets old enough she gets into the healthy lifestyle ‘cause she sees how I am eating every day. I’m eating salads, chicken, proteins and vegetables (and) staying away from refined sugars and stuff like that.”
She added maybe her daughter would even follow in her footsteps and compete someday.
POSITIVE SELF
Cumby said the decision to get involved in bodybuilding is not only rewarding when she is on stage, it has also helped her piece of mind.
“I’m definitely healthier (and) happier with my body,” she said. “I’m able to motivate other mothers that want to lose the pregnancy weight. I like when people come up to me at the gym and say, ‘oh I follow you on Instagram, you provide me with motivation’ and them saying, ‘that motivates me to keep going.’”
She also follows others on social media who are involved in the fitness community.
“…so every day I would open up, and it would be someone that’s training,” said Cumby. “I would use social media as a platform to get advice, and to (see) other people’s training and I would use that in the gym.
“Instead of opening my social media and seeing 10 people eating burgers and fries at McDonald's, I was seeing people meal prepping and people training at the gym—competing and winning their medals, and that’s way more motivating than having a bunch of negativity on your social media.”
