It's around 8 AM. You're done working out, just probably ate a snack from your meal management bag and are headed off to work. You think you're killing it. Nope. Jessica Gilmartin still hustles harder.
Whether it's running on the beach, master meal prepping, fixing up an apartment or helping passengers on her plane, Jessica has everything on a tightly regimented schedule that has helped her lose over 120 pounds. Now working towards her goal of becoming a competitive bodybuilder, Jessica picks up where we left off in her first Fitness Feature and talks about her path to a promising future on the circuit.
What's your work out schedule like when you have an agenda full of flights?
What I do is just find a centrally located gym. Like in California, when I go down there we have overnights in LA. That's generally two flights first thing in the morning and you get in about noon – California time. Then I find a gym, and go to it. Then I go for a nice long run down the beach and back. That's about seven miles total.
No matter what, I still train. I was doing daily doubles – morning and night. That was really hard when I was pulling a 12-hour day. I think passengers were lucky I didn't kill them. Sometimes, you can get a little bit loopy, grumpy, and hungry. It was all kinds of fun though.
In addition to all that you do outside of the gym, you also are starting to do bodybuilding shows. How has that been going so far?
I just did one. I did the Emerald Cup in 2013. They brought me out and surprised me – I had no idea. I won the inspirational award. They posted my before and after on two giant Jumbotrons and I got to give a little speech. It was crazy€¦ People were crying in the audience, I was crying.
Do you have another show scheduled right now? Is there something you are working towards?
Yep, I'm actually going for the Emerald Cup again this year. We'll see how my body responds; it's been through so much. Now I am kind of at the point where I did my first show and that was just the show to celebrate what I've lost. Now this is the fine-tuning part. My biggest thing is that this is for life and just isn't for show. I don't want to be one of those people when I'm 50 that looked like I never was an athlete. I want to be one of those rare ones that looks like they were still an athlete.
What made you want to go into doing these shows? Was there some other motivation to do it?
The first fitness magazine I ever read was Oxygen Magazine. I remember seeing and feeling like "Wow, these are girls I can relate to." I was 13 years old. When I saw Oxygen, that's what kind of sparked it. I started training at 15 for these fitness competitions. I wasn't ready. Then I started training again when I was in my twenties as a personal trainer. Still I wasn't mentally ready for what this was going to take because it's a means lot of effort to compete. You have to mentally be there – both food and training. When I started losing weight in 2010 I had a goal by the time I'm 30 – that's 3 years from now. You just have to start from somewhere.
I am sure there must have been some tough days with all the stuff that you have to do. What was your inspiration to keep going throughout the whole thing?
Kind of just a combination of everything. At this point, I just couldn't let myself down. I stuck myself out all over social media. I was the first ever female interviewed on RX Muscles radio show that was not an athlete. I actually received the most listens on their online radio station next to Erin Sterns. I heard that and I decided I couldn't back down now. Even when I was standing in front of the mirror and I still had loose skin here and cellulite on my legs. I couldn't give up! Plus it was my daughter, too. She saw me training and prepping and doing all that stuff for my shows. So it was kind of a combination of a lot of things.
You had started off at a really young age doing this training and through the years you had gained weight and lost it. Is there is a piece of advice that you could pass on to people
My biggest thing is just to get started. You just have to start and you can't stop because there is going to be a lot of highs and a lot of lows. This is a lifestyle. Whether you choose to do it for a show or do it for whatever your reason – if you want to get into a wedding dress. Try and think of it more as something you are going to do for the rest of your life. Find what you love. If it's not weight training than do something that you're going to enjoy.
Do you have anything in mind for 2014 for a fitness goal for yourself?
This is going to be the year I am hoping to take home a bigger award. That's the goal. Also, I just want to continue to inspire people through my own journey and let them know that it can be done. I heard so many people say that they can't do it. I think so much of it is the mindset. I used to tell myself "I'll never be smaller; it's just not going to happen". That's my goal for 2014, just continue to gain more strength, and become more fit – healthier.
