Erica Calix
6
Florida Fitness Photography
Share with us a bit about your contest history and most memorable show experience. My most memorable competition experience has to be from my first show. I had a tremendous amount of support from family
and friends, my trainer at the time, my hair and makeup girl and met some amazing girls backstage. I had heard competitors can be catty but I didn’t experience any of that. Having such a great first experience paved the road for me to want to continue competing. That is why when I’m at the shows whether competing or not I’m very supportive to all the competitors, vendors and supporters. I want them to have a positive experience like I did and show them that there is no need for drama or cattiness. Hopefully they follow my example and do the same for others. Contest History & Awards:
NPC Southeast Classic (2013-04-06) Bikini Class B (1) & Masters Over 30 (2) NPC West Palm Beach & Anna Level (2013-06-29)
Bikini Overall Masters Overall (National Level Qualified) Southern States (2013-07-12) Bikini B - open (6) 2013-09-28 NPC Ruby Championship Courage and Spirit Award Nationals (2013-11-22) Bikini B - (15) Diamond Classic (2014 -04-26) Over 30 (1st) Masters Overall Open B (3rd) Jr USA's 2014 (2014-05-24) Bikini B (3rd)
What motivates and or inspires you to workout, diet and compete in fitness? I’m a 2-time cancer survivor and experience many debilitating effects from the cancer treatments (chemo, radiation, bone marrow
transplant). Arthritis bone pain, asthma, hypoglycemia and cardiac issues have been the most bothersome during exercise. However after dieting and training for my first competition I noticed the constant arthritis pain had subsided. Then the allergy and exercise-induced asthma, as well as the hypoglycemia and cardiac symptoms improved. For me sprinting or HIIT type exercises were out of the question. My HR would skyrocket to 180 bpm during a regular weight training session and would take a few minutes to come down to normal. Sometimes there was no recovery and I would feel short of breath and horrible for a
few days. Now I can do sprints with ease, I don’t use my inhaler and haven’t experienced hypoglycemia even on low-carb days. However, when I stop eating clean and training the symptoms return.
It is a tremendous struggle, for anyone, to take on the demands of a fitness competitor but I love competing!! . I truly believe that I’m competing against my own challenges and nothing more. I say this all the time, I’m a winner by the time I step on stage because my goal is to overcome all my medical issues and still get myself on stage and be competitive. I see it as an individual journey and everyone is a winner by the time they go on stage because they made it past their challenges.