Her first love will always be musical theatre but most recently Amanda Spurlock took to the stage for a different kind of showcase.
And she’s still shaking her head in disbelief at the result.
Spurlock was a first-time competitor in the Canadian Physique Alliance BC Cup Naturals competition that was held in Kelowna on May 3 and she won.
She took top spot in Women’s Figure, Masters 40+ and Women’s Figure Overall — Open Class A, which means all competitors are all ages and 5’4” or less.
Talking about the gym as her happy place, Spurlock, who is 5’2”, has always felt her best as a physically fit person so already in a healthy state she recently decided to add an extra challenge to her routine.
In November she started to build her body for competition.
With support from family and like-minded friends Spurlock, who now works for Northern Health, threw herself into this latest adventure.
“I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite a while but there was always something that steered me away from it,” Spurlock said.
“I don’t have the time right now. I don’t know if I really want to do to it and honestly, the initial thought of standing on the stage in a bikini and heels flexing my muscles was I will never do this — why? So it was more coming from challenging myself physically, seeing what I could do.”
Spurlock has known another successful bodybuilder in town, Cara Roberts, for a long time.
“Cara for years has said ‘I think you should consider doing this,’” Spurlock explained.
And with that thought in the back of her mind for a while, working towards becoming a competition-ready bodybuilder changed from being a consideration to reality when Spurlock, unfortunately, lost a family member last year and as many people do she started to question everything.
“You don’t know how much time you have, life is short, what are you waiting for — that moment came in November and I asked myself ‘what am I waiting for?’ I turned 41 last year and I had told myself I was going to be in the best shape of my life and I needed a challenge. I wanted all the things that came with that — the self discipline and the whole thing and I did it.”
So she got a coach and signed up for the show.
“I wanted a challenge and boy did I get it,” Spurlock laughed.
She noted as a seasoned musical theatre performer, appearing in front of an audience might not have been as difficult for her as for others.
“When I was there I was never nervous about stepping on the stage,” Spurlock said.
“I just felt like it was second nature and to have that experience was a big help for me.”
To get to that peak performance point on stage Spurlock gathered experienced people around her including Don at DIYBODY and of course Roberts.
“To have such an experienced coach took a lot of the stress out of it,” Spurlock explained.
“I was told exactly what to do for workouts, cardio, how many steps, what I needed to eat, how much water — everything. My prep was about five months. We took a little extra time because we didn’t know how my body was going to respond.”
Her workouts started off at five days a week, just like she always did, and as the snow neared, Spurlock said, it got a little more intense.
“It’s a very gruelling process, especially when you get closer,” Spurlock said.
“A lot of people consider this sport extreme and I can see why. Everything is very calculated based on what you are trying to achieve at the end. You are trying to get to a certain leanness for the stage so it did get to six days a week and it was exhausting. In a lot of way it was one of the hardest things I have ever chosen to do because it’s one thing to have a plan at the gym and to have a meal plan but to do those things and continue to do them when you are depleted, exhausted, it really becomes dedication over motivation. I came to that realization when there were days I wanted to do anything but go to the gym. That was my biggest lesson in all of this is the mindset and the mental game you have to play with yourself to get through it and then try and enjoy the process. Because I did choose this, after all.”
It was all she had time for as the competition neared.
And on the other side of it, the result of all her hard work is nothing less than astonishing to her.
“I am so grateful,” Spurlock said.
“I went into this process very much me getting to my best self. It was me versus me. My goal was to get to the stage. Just to make it. And even before I went on stage for the first time I was just so happy to be there. I was like ‘I made it! I’m here!’”
Spurlock is well aware she started this at a later age than a lot of people do. In the overall competition she was competing with 20-year-olds.
“I was just so happy to be there,” Spurlock said.
“So I went and did the thing and I won my division and so then I was back stage and I am thinking this is incredible and I had my friends and family in the audience and I was like ‘this is just so cool’ and then they’re like ‘ok, you have to go back on now, you’re up for overall’ and I’m like ‘what does that mean?’ I thought I was done and they’re like ‘no, you have to go out and do the comparison round again because you are up for overall figure’ and I was just like ‘OK!’”
So she went out and did that.
“And I won that and honestly, I was just shocked,” Spurlock said.
“Standing on stage I didn’t know what to do with myself. It was overwhelming. It’s not what I expected and it’s great to win things and it was cool.”
Winning the overall figure qualifies her to attend a national competition, which offers two opportunities: Toronto in August or New Westminster in October. She'll attend the BC competition.
“I didn’t even know if I’d want to do another one after this but now that I am it’s cool and I’m curious to see how I can tweak things and make improvements from what I did last time and see what happens,” Spurlock said.
“I guess, like a lot of people, I had preconceived notions about how it was going to be backstage. I was very surprised. I met so many great people backstage. We’re all connected on social media now and it was just such a motivating, supportive environment that for some reason I was not expecting on that level but it was an amazing experience.”
The Citizen will be sure to revisit Spurlock after her National competition to provide at update on her bodybuilding journey.
