Latest / The Diva Details / 73 and Crushing It: The Bodybuilder Who Started at 69

Transcript

73 and Crushing It: The Bodybuilder Who Started at 69 · The Diva Details

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Diva Details. Welcome to the Diva Details.
• 0:05
  Where bold, confident women embrace life unapologetically.
• 0:10
  From love and sex to wellness and reinvention. We keep it raw, real, and powerful.
• 0:17
  Music.
• 0:17
  No filters, no limits.
• 0:20
  Just fearless conversations to help you thrive. Let's dive in with Diva Mia and Diva Cat.
• 0:33
  Aloha everybody this is diva mia and today
• 0:36
  i have such a special guest today she's a really
• 0:39
  good friend of mine she is a 73 year old professional powerhouse bodybuilder
• 0:46
  she is quite the diva let me tell you she started training when she was 69 and
• 0:51
  she's taken it to such amazing levels she's now an influencer on social media.
• 0:57
  And I think you'll agree, her personality just lights up an entire room every single time she talks.
• 1:03
  And I don't want to hold back at all. I'm just going to go ahead and introduce
• 1:06
  you, Diva. Diva Renee, how are you today?
• 1:09
  I'm just doing great, Diva Mia. And thank you so much for inviting me on this podcast.
• 1:15
  And I'm just so glad we met on that cruise ship that day.
• 1:18
  Yes, we met on a cruise ship. It was wonderful.
• 1:21
  And ever since then, we can't stop talking about you.
• 1:24
  If you listen to any of our other episodes, Diva Cat's in love with you because
• 1:28
  you are such an inspiration to so many people.
• 1:31
  And one of the things I know is that your personality is so vibrant.
• 1:37
  You have so much energy. And have you always been like that?
• 1:40
  Well, you know, I have had a lot of energy. I've been a pretty energetic person
• 1:45
  most all my life. And my mother was.
• 1:47
  So I think I inherited my mom's energy.
• 1:50
  And I'm grateful for that. Yeah, you actually, I'm slower now than I used to
• 1:54
  be. This is my slow version.
• 1:57
  Okay, this is the 73 year. I mean, when I was 30, 40, 50, I was like a hurricane.
• 2:02
  This is a more mellow me. Well, I will say we were on that cruise ship together
• 2:08
  and you are so beautiful. But I said, those 30-year-olds were checking you out.
• 2:14
  And it was so funny because the guys were checking you out and you're 73.
• 2:19
  And it's amazing how beautiful you are, how your personality just lights up a room.
• 2:25
  And then on top of that, you know, all the younger men are following you around.
• 2:29
  I'm not sure that it was that much.
• 2:33
  They were in their 30s. They were in their 30s. It was adorable.
• 2:36
  Anyway, so you started off, you've had spinal fusion surgery, correct?
• 2:41
  At age 58. And so were you always in shape or did you transition at 69 to getting
• 2:47
  in better shape? Have you always been kind of fit?
• 2:50
  Well, actually, I've always been interested in fitness, Mia.
• 2:54
  And when I was in my 20s and married to my first ex-husband,
• 2:59
  I was exercising a lot and doing all the aerobic stuff.
• 3:03
  So I was into it when I was in my 20s.
• 3:05
  And as time went on, you know, I still was into it, but not extreme.
• 3:10
  I just knew that fitness and health, I felt better if I was exercising and I
• 3:15
  felt better if I was eating healthy food. So I have been interested in it for years.
• 3:21
  Now, as far as my weight goes, after I divorced that guy, the first guy,
• 3:25
  I gained a bunch of weight and I lost it.
• 3:28
  You know, the kind of that was my starter marriage. What can I say?
• 3:31
  But anyway, so my weight has fluctuated, but I'm smaller than I have been probably most of my life.
• 3:39
  And I'm sure that's really because it's actually been since I was 60 that I
• 3:43
  started lifting. And I did that within a couple of years of my lower lumbar fusion.
• 3:48
  So I've had about 13 years of
• 3:51
  consistency, and that has made a huge difference, just being consistent.
• 3:55
  Those years before, I was struggling with problems with my back.
• 3:58
  There were times when I could barely walk, and I was thinking I was going to
• 4:02
  have to be doing my business from a wheelchair.
• 4:04
  And that's hard when you're self-employed and you have a kid,
• 4:08
  you know, you're a single mom.
• 4:09
  That was a scary time. I had been into fitness and I struggled through it for
• 4:14
  a long time whenever my back was just deteriorating.
• 4:17
  So I was grateful when I finally did get that surgery at 58.
• 4:22
  And really, it was kind of like the silver lining because that changed everything.
• 4:28
  After I had that surgery, I had a great neurosurgeon and he said,
• 4:33
  go get your rehab and then you can do whatever you want. you know, go back.
• 4:38
  He said, except he didn't want me running anymore because I used to be an avid
• 4:42
  runner, run six miles every day.
• 4:44
  And I ran till I was like five months pregnant.
• 4:46
  He said no running. And he didn't think yoga was a good idea because it might
• 4:50
  stretch my fusion. So no yoga.
• 4:53
  And every time I've tried to do yoga, because I think it's great stuff,
• 4:57
  I end up hurting for weeks.
• 4:59
  So I can't do yoga and I'm not supposed to run. Those are my two things.
• 5:03
  And really, when I follow along with that, I'm good.
• 5:06
  I've just continued my fitness. And now it's kind of like once I started lifting
• 5:10
  weights, that really was the next big thing.
• 5:14
  It's like it really is like the fountain of youth.
• 5:16
  That's what I say. Lifting weights is like the fountain of youth.
• 5:19
  So you were in your 60s when you started lifting weights. Yes.
• 5:22
  And you first competed in your first competition at 69th.
• 5:26
  Correct. That's exactly right. Wow. And did you decide to do a bikini competition
• 5:31
  for a specific reason or did you want to go a little bit bigger?
• 5:34
  Because I know there's different levels in bodybuilding.
• 5:36
  So was bikini the one you tried first or did you decide something else?
• 5:40
  Well, the thing is, the reality is I never thought about doing any bodybuilding.
• 5:46
  That was not on my radar at all. And my trainer, I just was so fortunate to
• 5:52
  get a trainer who knows how to train people with injuries because he,
• 5:57
  Dustin, has trained me where I didn't get hurt. And actually, I met him.
• 6:01
  My doctor introduced me to him. My HRT doctor, by the way, I'm backing up a little.
• 6:07
  58, I have a fuse in my back. By the time I turn 60, I'm thinking,
• 6:11
  well, I need to get serious about my fitness.
• 6:13
  I wanted to be able to dance like I love to dance, go out and run around with
• 6:18
  my grandkids, travel the world, and do all the things that people do.
• 6:24
  And so I knew that I needed to get my core strong and make sure I was a strong
• 6:29
  person. If I'm blessed enough to end up with this awesome surgery that made
• 6:33
  me better. And so that's what happened, really.
• 6:35
  So he started training me. I still never thought about competing.
• 6:39
  We worked out in this small gym. It was just trainers and their clients.
• 6:42
  Very non-fancy, just the basics.
• 6:45
  And I just was lifting weights for years. And he was training me like he'd train
• 6:49
  any other 60-year-old woman. Nothing spectacular, just the everyday. day.
• 6:53
  And time went on. And I guess I am kind of a type A, maybe a person who's always
• 6:59
  looking for the next thing. What else can I do sort of thing?
• 7:02
  And after a year or two went by and we're doing the same exercises,
• 7:06
  lifting the same weights, you know, using the same machines.
• 7:09
  And I was getting kind of bored. And I said, well, what else can I do?
• 7:13
  What's the next thing I can do? I didn't really want to play softball.
• 7:16
  I'd done that before. I was afraid of getting hit with the ball.
• 7:19
  And I didn't, there weren't any sports I was interested in. And so he said,
• 7:24
  Renee, I can see you on stage.
• 7:26
  And I said, what are you talking about? And he said, bodybuilding.
• 7:29
  And so I said, well, I don't even know what that is. You know,
• 7:32
  I've kind of remotely heard about it, but it seems like it's,
• 7:35
  you know, people with these giant bustles and they just look just crazy.
• 7:39
  So, but I looked into, I said, I'm going to see what this is all about.
• 7:42
  And I researched it and I said, absolutely not.
• 7:46
  There's no way I'm going to get on stage almost naked in a sparkly bikini in
• 7:51
  front of a bunch of strangers.
• 7:53
  There's in my 60s, you know, like 65, dude, I'm not doing that.
• 7:57
  That was a definite hard no. for years.
• 8:00
  Every year we'd talk. No, I can't do it. I mean, I was as judgy as the next person about it, okay?
• 8:06
  I couldn't even imagine doing it. Really, this is the truth.
• 8:09
  And so he kept training me, you know, and every so often he'd bring it up.
• 8:15
  But he was never pushy, ever.
• 8:16
  He's just the most mild-mannered, wonderful person.
• 8:19
  And so finally, what happened when I was about 65, okay?
• 8:23
  So I've been training with him for five years. I'm lifting weights,
• 8:26
  probably 10 or 15 pounds heavier then than I am now.
• 8:31
  And I went on a vacation and I came back from the vacation.
• 8:35
  We went to Germany. I went with my girlfriend and I saw these pictures of myself.
• 8:39
  And I looked at those pictures. I'm going.
• 8:43
  That is not the look I want. You know, it's like, of course,
• 8:46
  I look pretty good for 65-ish, but it's like there's a better Renee in there.
• 8:50
  I just look like a full-figured, middle-aged woman.
• 8:55
  I'm more than middle-aged, but I didn't like how I look. And I know that sounds
• 8:58
  vain, but I'm lifting weights all these years.
• 9:00
  What's wrong? Why am I? I should be looking different.
• 9:03
  And so I told him, I said, I want to do something about this.
• 9:07
  And so Dustin basically, you know, he gave me some more exercises.
• 9:11
  But the other thing is we tuned up my nutrition.
• 9:14
  I got more serious about what I ate. I never was a big fried food,
• 9:19
  fast food kind of gal, but I wasn't really paying that much attention and was
• 9:23
  enjoying my life and eating what I wanted more or less.
• 9:26
  Anyway, so that's the other parts.
• 9:29
  So basically at 65, after I came back from this vacation, I set a goal to lose one pound.
• 9:35
  Okay. I had a Fitbit then. I set a goal in there. I'm going to lose one pound.
• 9:39
  So I did all the workouts.
• 9:41
  I watched what I ate, and I lost one pound. And I set a goal to lose one pound again.
• 9:46
  And I did my workouts. I did everything I had to do, ate the better food,
• 9:50
  and then I lost one pound.
• 9:51
  And I kept setting a goal to lose one pound.
• 9:54
  And so what happened, I mean, I was actually losing weight, being thinner than
• 9:58
  I'd ever been really in 30 or 40 years, maybe since I was, you know, 20.
• 10:03
  And so in four and a half months, I lost 10 pounds. And it was,
• 10:09
  it's like, oh my God, I can't even believe I did that.
• 10:13
  Because I thought, well, this is just the way a 60-something-year-old woman's going to look.
• 10:17
  You're just going to be kind of whatever, not anything special.
• 10:21
  And I had resigned myself to that. I had been thinking like everybody else thinks
• 10:25
  when they're 60s and so on, 50, 60, whatever, you know, this is just something
• 10:29
  that's going to happen to me. But the truth was that was not the case.
• 10:33
  And people at the gym were wondering, what's Renee doing, you know,
• 10:37
  because this is a small gym and people noticed there was a difference.
• 10:41
  And it's science and math. You know, it's kind of like, you know,
• 10:45
  it's calories in, out, whatever.
• 10:47
  It's, you know, speeding up your metabolism. It's a few different things.
• 10:51
  And so literally, really, I was just shocked.
• 10:54
  And then when I got to that level, then I thought, if I can lose 10 pounds,
• 10:59
  I can maybe do a competition. This became something that maybe it started percolating
• 11:04
  in my brain, but I never did anything about it.
• 11:06
  I just enjoyed being thinner and feel you could see muscles then.
• 11:10
  I had those muscles there from working out for five years, but you couldn't
• 11:14
  see the muscles because I had that layer of fat.
• 11:16
  It is what it is, right? So I felt good about it and time was going on.
• 11:21
  I'm 66, 67. I'm feeling good. And then COVID hit.
• 11:25
  And by then I was about 68. So I'd still looked into weights and I was thinner. I was feeling good.
• 11:32
  But then when COVID hit, that was scary because we couldn't go to the gym.
• 11:37
  That was like, oh, I had worked so hard. I told Dustin, Dustin,
• 11:40
  I cannot let this COVID take over my life.
• 11:43
  I don't want to do what other people are doing and just quit working out.
• 11:47
  So he asked, I have a giant patio in my backyard. and he came over and trained
• 11:52
  me and some of the other gym people in my back patio for a few months during
• 11:58
  the time whenever the gyms were closed.
• 12:00
  And I said, because I just could not stand the thought of, you know,
• 12:03
  it's like the reality, the reality is we cannot control our environment,
• 12:08
  but we can control how we react to our environment.
• 12:11
  And I just, that's what, you know, it's like I was not going to let that get the best of me.
• 12:15
  So, so we started lifting and training in my backyard. My neighbors were wondering what's going on.
• 12:20
  They see us, you know, out on the driveway and, you know, don't know what's going on.
• 12:24
  And so that's whenever I said, you know, okay,
• 12:28
  I'm not letting COVID take over my life.
• 12:32
  I told Desmond, okay, before I turn 70, I'm going to compete.
• 12:36
  That's what I told him. Before I turn 70 years old, I will compete.
• 12:39
  Because I thought, well, okay, I can do this.
• 12:42
  I was already doing stuff that I couldn't believe I could do.
• 12:44
  So why not? You trained for your first competition technically for four years.
• 12:49
  Yes. I didn't know that I was doing it for sure.
• 12:53
  But once I lost those 10 pounds, it was starting to be in my brain as a possibility.
• 12:58
  More. Now, I was still judgy, like, oh, my God, those women are almost half
• 13:03
  naked and they're getting on stage. I was still thinking that.
• 13:06
  It's like, could I do this? What are my friends going to think?
• 13:09
  This is insane. Because all my friends were my age, right?
• 13:12
  But once I made that decision, I remember it's like May 28th and whatever the
• 13:18
  year was, I don't know, 2021, whatever it was.
• 13:20
  And I said, okay, we're going to do this. And I said, now, let's find a show.
• 13:25
  I didn't do it the right way.
• 13:26
  You're supposed to find the, look into the vast land of competitions and choose
• 13:32
  one in six months or a year or whatever, and then train for it.
• 13:36
  No, I said, well, I cruise a lot. I travel a lot.
• 13:39
  Let's find something that'll work with my schedule. And that's what we did.
• 13:42
  And so four and a half months from May, August the 7th, I think it was, that was my goal.
• 13:49
  There was a competition that was going to be in the Houston area,
• 13:52
  We had the Lee Labrata Classic, which Lee Labrata was well-known back in the day.
• 13:57
  He's a real bodybuilder and a real quality guy, and he had these great shows.
• 14:00
  So it was an NPC, Lee Labrata Classic, in the woodlands about an hour from where
• 14:06
  I live. So that was going to be the show I was going to do.
• 14:08
  But like I said, I never planned any of that.
• 14:12
  That was not in my radar, but things happened, and I reacted to my environment.
• 14:18
  So, secretly, I was preparing for this show.
• 14:22
  I didn't tell any of my buddy, my people, my travel friends.
• 14:26
  My cruise friends. I have girlfriends that are like 20 years younger than me
• 14:30
  and younger, kind of like we're talking right now.
• 14:33
  So, I have this extra group of friends just because, I don't know why,
• 14:37
  maybe because I got some young energy.
• 14:39
  And I did tell them that I was thinking about competing. But in general,
• 14:43
  all these people who I do stuff, they didn't know.
• 14:44
  I even went on vacation to Cabo while I was in prep.
• 14:48
  But I didn't tell my friends. They think, oh, Renee's a picky eater.
• 14:51
  They don't even question me. They just know I don't eat like everybody else
• 14:56
  and I do work out and not everybody works out.
• 14:59
  So anyway, so I competed in that first show at age 69.
• 15:02
  I was on stage with women in their 50s because the oldest category was 50 plus.
• 15:08
  So there wasn't any older category. So I was up there.
• 15:12
  I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I just went up there and.
• 15:17
  I really fell in love with the whole bodybuilding world after I did that show.
• 15:22
  And that was the beginning. I like to say it was the beginning of the rest of
• 15:26
  my best life at 69 years old. And I couldn't wait to do it again.
• 15:31
  So that's kind of what happened there. I mean, there's more,
• 15:34
  but I'll stop there because I could go on forever.
• 15:36
  Yeah. So that was four years, four or five years ago when you had your first
• 15:40
  competition. And I have lately, since COVID, been seeing a lot more people in
• 15:45
  their 60s, 70s, and even 80s.
• 15:47
  I even saw a 100-year-old bodybuilder the other day.
• 15:50
  And there's people that it's kind of, it's not normal because society tells
• 15:56
  you you have to be a certain way at a certain age and it's okay to look that
• 16:00
  way, which honestly I don't really think it is.
• 16:02
  But society says it's okay to let yourself go when you're in your 60s and 70s.
• 16:06
  But I'm seeing a lot more people in the gym that are in their 60s,
• 16:09
  70s, and 80s and really taking on
• 16:12
  muscle growth because it does give you a better quality of life as well.
• 16:17
  Are you seeing a pickup in the number of people you're competing with in their 60s or 70s or 80s?
• 16:25
  Well, there's a group of people who kind of compete all the time.
• 16:29
  But since I started this, I will tell you, you're right. I have found a lot
• 16:33
  more people that are older doing it.
• 16:35
  So I'm excited about that because there are women, there aren't too many women
• 16:40
  older than me who started this late in life to compete.
• 16:44
  There are some in their 60s, but whatever.
• 16:46
  It's like, but I am seeing it more. And I'm excited about that because that's
• 16:50
  what we should be doing. We can do that.
• 16:53
  This age thing, that is just something people, they buy into that.
• 16:57
  Just like you said, it's like society is saying it. And people just,
• 17:01
  people give up on themselves way too soon.
• 17:04
  I mean, when you get to be 50, you think you're over the hill.
• 17:07
  So that's the other part. It's a mindset.
• 17:10
  And I don't think like that. And I never have. I don't, I can't even believe
• 17:14
  I'm 73. I can't even believe it, but I am. I can't believe you're 73.
• 17:19
  I can't either. I talk to people and every time I hear somebody at the gym saying, oh, I'm so old.
• 17:25
  I go, look at this 73-year-old who's kicking butt and taking names.
• 17:30
  And everybody's like, she's hot. I'm like, she totally is hot.
• 17:33
  I can't believe you're 73.
• 17:35
  I can't either. So I know society, you know, society tries to get everybody to be average, right?
• 17:40
  Because anything that's not average is out of the norm.
• 17:44
  And it's scary for people, right?
• 17:48
  So society tries to get you there. But you also talked a little bit about going
• 17:52
  on hormone replacement therapy or HRT.
• 17:55
  So I'm assuming you're probably on testosterone.
• 17:58
  I am. And I started at 60. Really, after that fusion, that's when I said,
• 18:03
  okay, I got to get strong and healthy.
• 18:05
  And I went to a doctor who's here in the Houston area that specializes in that and fertility.
• 18:11
  He's a urologist, but he's like the head of the Baylor Department of Urology.
• 18:16
  And yes, and so I got all my blood work done.
• 18:19
  And so I'm on a teensy dose of testosterone and estradiol. Those are my two things.
• 18:26
  Some women get on progesterone also, which helps you sleep, but I'm not on that
• 18:30
  for whatever reason. He didn't think I needed it.
• 18:33
  But yes, people are afraid of HRT because they hear, oh, it causes cancer.
• 18:39
  Well, that was 30 years ago.
• 18:41
  That was whenever it was a synthetic thing. These are bioidentical hormones
• 18:47
  now, and they're plant-based, and there's not do the research. So that's the big thing.
• 18:53
  Women have suffered for so many years because they don't understand what it is.
• 18:59
  And the doctors are not, they don't understand it either. And so they won't
• 19:03
  prescribe it. I mean, I hear about it all the time.
• 19:05
  I don't know if you're on it or not, but I am. I am. I had a little bit of a mishap with it.
• 19:10
  I actually went back to my earlier days of periods after they put me on it first.
• 19:16
  So they messed me up a little bit.
• 19:18
  And I was like, oh, so I am on it.
• 19:21
  I'm on testosterone as well. And I think that anestradiol and progesterone and
• 19:26
  DHEA actually, I'm on everything.
• 19:27
  So I got the whole kit and caboodle. Oh, you got the whole package.
• 19:31
  I do. I do. Because my body has difficulty processing hormones,
• 19:34
  but nonetheless, I'm on it.
• 19:36
  And but I've never had hot flashes. And I just started last year kind of towards
• 19:42
  the end of my transition into menopause on testosterone and all the different hormones.
• 19:48
  But I never really had issues going through menopause. And now I know a lot of women do.
• 19:54
  And if you get on hormone replacement therapy, it really helps you through the
• 19:58
  transition, if you will, through your menopause years.
• 20:01
  More women need to look into it and talk to their doctors because what's happening
• 20:05
  is it's going to give you a better quality of life.
• 20:08
  It's going to increase your bone density because that's what it does as well.
• 20:12
  It'll increase your muscle mass, and it's going to let you live longer.
• 20:15
  So much better. And I agree, the stories before of all the it's going to cause cancer, etc.
• 20:21
  Now, people need to do their own research. I agree. Yeah. And it's good for your brain, too.
• 20:25
  I mean, it's good for everything. I mean, to me, I mean, I don't knock on wood.
• 20:31
  I don't have all these aches and pains.
• 20:33
  I mean, just getting up in the morning for me. And remember,
• 20:36
  I've had a fusion in my back. I've got L5 and S1 put together.
• 20:40
  And so I have very little aches.
• 20:43
  I mean, I have arthritis in this one little joint in my baby finger. It's pretty ugly.
• 20:49
  But I mean, I have a little thing in my foot. That's all my pain. Now, people...
• 20:55
  And honestly, I feel people need to do their homework about this.
• 20:59
  To me, if I was going to preach about anything, it would be about do your homework
• 21:03
  about hormone replacement therapy.
• 21:05
  Don't suffer. Now, and also, Mia, even though you didn't have hot flashes,
• 21:10
  that doesn't mean your body wasn't affected by it.
• 21:13
  So women who say, oh, well, yeah, I breezed right through it.
• 21:15
  That doesn't mean that you're really in the long run. What's going to happen
• 21:19
  when you're my age, okay?
• 21:21
  When you went through your, you know, 50 or so, you did it. So,
• 21:25
  I mean, I think a lot of the reason I feel as good and, you know,
• 21:28
  I'm as vibrant is because I'm on it.
• 21:31
  And that's what I think people need to just remember.
• 21:34
  There's actually on my YouTube channel, I'm not here to sell anything,
• 21:39
  but I did a podcast interview with a doctor who is an HRT expert.
• 21:44
  She's been doing it for 30 years.
• 21:46
  And that woman, she dispels all the myths of HRT.
• 21:50
  And that's the thing. We're afraid of it. So we don't want to do it.
• 21:53
  Of course, you don't want to do anything that could cause cancer.
• 21:56
  I get it. But there are just too many myths.
• 21:58
  So, you know, people might want to say, her name is Nadu, N-A-D-U, Tuakli, T-U-A-K-L-I.
• 22:05
  And she has just been, she's been such a help to me just to kind of reassure me about what I'm doing.
• 22:11
  And we can stay on it indefinitely. In fact, I have no plans to ever get off of it.
• 22:16
  You don't need to because it does good things for your body. you
• 22:19
  know your your brain your muscles your bones
• 22:22
  all those things so there's no really need to get off of
• 22:25
  it if you're on the right dose and you know you got yourself tuned up
• 22:28
  on it so that's now i had some issues there i had some issues for a little bit
• 22:33
  but the thing is is that i didn't have the severe menopausal symptoms but i
• 22:37
  had symptoms like i gained weight i lost muscle mass the things that a lot of
• 22:41
  women go through and then they they're like oh it's just age but it's not. It's your hormones.
• 22:47
  That is correct. And so when your hormones shift like that, major changes can
• 22:51
  happen internally, even though you may not have hot flashes or be moody or things like that.
• 22:55
  I might have been moody, but it does change.
• 22:59
  But let's go back to your first competition. I want to hear how you felt when
• 23:04
  you first put on that sparkly bikini and you are at your very first competition
• 23:09
  and you're like looking around and there's all these 50 year olds and 60 year
• 23:14
  olds and 30 and 20 and whatever year olds.
• 23:17
  And you're getting ready to go on stage half naked because you kept saying half naked.
• 23:21
  So let's go back to that. So how did you feel?
• 23:25
  You're blushing right now. I know. It was just wild. It's like,
• 23:29
  you know, I've gotten goosebumps talking about it. It was wild.
• 23:32
  It was really kind of surreal because I, you know, I overthink everything.
• 23:37
  And I remember thinking, well, you know, I don't know what to do.
• 23:41
  You know, I only had a short time to get trained on how to pose,
• 23:44
  you know, just the whole thing.
• 23:46
  I was kind of like a science experiment for my trainer and for my nutrition
• 23:51
  person because they'd never trained a woman my age to compete, you know.
• 23:56
  So they didn't, everybody didn't really know what to think. But I remember when
• 24:01
  I was backstage, and I competed in two or three different categories.
• 24:04
  There's, you may or may not know, but there's all kind of categories.
• 24:07
  But Masters is what I was in, a 50 plus.
• 24:10
  I might have done Masters 45 plus, and I did something called Open.
• 24:16
  And Open is for all ages, and it's done by height.
• 24:20
  And I'm five foot tall, so I was in Open Class A for short.
• 24:24
  So I was on stage also with 20-year-olds. And, you know, I mean,
• 24:28
  I was on stage with them competing with them, too.
• 24:31
  So anyway, but so I didn't I was I was kind of a nervous wreck.
• 24:35
  But I kept remembering I told myself I'm really honestly, it's like, OK, my angel.
• 24:40
  OK, angels, I need y'all to come through for me. I need y'all to help me get
• 24:43
  on stage and just keep it together and do the best I could. And just be me.
• 24:50
  I remember I want to have fun. You know, you work so hard to prepare.
• 24:54
  So it's supposed to be fun. So I want to have fun.
• 24:56
  And I want to be who I am up there. So that was my next thought.
• 25:00
  I just want to portray who I am, put my own energy out there,
• 25:04
  not be some bodybuilder lady.
• 25:06
  I just want to be me in this sparkly bikini, which was so bright.
• 25:11
  It was like Thunderdome. That's how I'd describe it. If you see it,
• 25:14
  it's like just so sparkly and it was just bright. But I loved it.
• 25:19
  And a local girl here in Houston actually made it. She's amazing.
• 25:23
  She makes great competition seats.
• 25:26
  So anyway, but I was nervous and I, and it was a long day. You know, you start early.
• 25:30
  It's a long process. You wait a lot. And bikini is always the last one.
• 25:35
  And bikini was what everybody said I needed to do because I was,
• 25:39
  you know, I was just starting out and, you know, what, I don't know what kind
• 25:41
  of muscle I'm going to have.
• 25:42
  So bikini is what a lot of women start in. And that's what I did.
• 25:45
  And probably I lost more weight than I needed to.
• 25:49
  But again, I was a science experiment for these guys.
• 25:52
  So anyway, but I got up on stage and it was scary.
• 25:56
  And I had to get up there a few times. Every category, you got to get back up
• 26:00
  there and you got to do your thing.
• 26:01
  And then you're up there with everybody else next to you, you're posing and
• 26:05
  I didn't even know how in the hell to pose.
• 26:07
  I had kind of a poor teacher whenever I took those first, that short period
• 26:12
  of time. And I learned a lot just going to YouTube about how to pose.
• 26:16
  So, you know, you do what you have to do, right?
• 26:18
  The older we get, the more resourceful we become. You don't feel like you're
• 26:22
  going to be helpless and pitiful.
• 26:24
  You're going to go after it, whatever you got to do.
• 26:27
  And so anyway, so yeah, I was nervous, but I was excited.
• 26:31
  And I just didn't have any idea what was in store for me for the rest of all these years since then.
• 26:38
  But like I said, that's the day I really fell in love with bodybuilding.
• 26:41
  And here's another thing.
• 26:43
  So during the course of the day, they had these people called expediters that
• 26:46
  tell you to get on stage, you know,
• 26:49
  You stand here, you stand there, turn around. You know, they have these people
• 26:52
  that guide you up on the stage.
• 26:54
  And so the day went on and I was back and forth and it was the end of the show.
• 27:00
  It was like everything had done. We'd done all the bikini. I'd already been
• 27:03
  up as many times as I needed to go.
• 27:05
  And it was, I thought it was, I already put my robe back on because I thought,
• 27:09
  well, we're done. I'm kind of gathering up all my little articles that I had backstage.
• 27:13
  And then the expediter said, no, you need to get back on stage. You got to get up there.
• 27:18
  Follow these people. Now, remember, I had never done this before.
• 27:21
  I didn't know what I was doing. And what is the likelihood of somebody 25 years
• 27:27
  older than other people of winning anything?
• 27:30
  Well, I had been visualizing, even though I knew it was unlikely,
• 27:34
  I had been visualizing receiving a trophy.
• 27:37
  That whole four months, like, I'm just going to imagine it, even though it's
• 27:42
  unlikely, but I visualized it.
• 27:44
  And I kept imagining receiving a trophy.
• 27:47
  Well, all right. So we get on stage, and literally, I got a trophy.
• 27:52
  I got sixth place in Bikini Open, Class A. So that means between me and all
• 27:58
  the other short girls, I got a trophy.
• 28:00
  And I mean, it's one of those trophies over there.
• 28:03
  And it was like, oh, my God. I could not believe it. I was like,
• 28:06
  I didn't realize it even when I was on stage. But they put the trophies out there in front of you.
• 28:12
  And I'm going, so it was just, I could not believe that. It happened.
• 28:15
  I was getting ready to leave. And they say, no, get up there.
• 28:18
  And I ended up leaving there with a trophy.
• 28:20
  So that was another amazing thing that happened, even though it was unlikely.
• 28:26
  But because, you know, you got to manifest it, right?
• 28:29
  And I feel like that's what happened. I visualized it, even though it was crazy
• 28:34
  unlikely that it could happen.
• 28:36
  And yeah, it was sixth place. It wasn't first place, but so what?
• 28:39
  Brought home a freaking trophy on my very first competition. So it was so awesome.
• 28:45
  So you mentioned the community and you're addicted to the bodybuilding now.
• 28:50
  Have you met a lot of fun, interesting people?
• 28:53
  And how does that help you evolve as a competitor as well?
• 28:56
  Well, yeah, I mean, it's like, I mean, I already had a lot of fun friends that
• 29:00
  were my age that I danced with, that I cruised with, I do all kinds of stuff
• 29:04
  with. I have some amazing friends.
• 29:06
  But I feel like I found my people that day. And that's what I say,
• 29:11
  because you see me saying, hey, my people.
• 29:13
  Well, I found my people at 69 years old that day.
• 29:18
  We think the same. We're like-minded. Nobody's judging us because we're counting
• 29:23
  our macros or making sure we've got, you know, we're carrying our little protein
• 29:27
  around in Tupperwares to make sure we get enough of it.
• 29:30
  There's no judgment at all. And so I found my people that day that late in life.
• 29:35
  And that's what happened.
• 29:37
  And, you know, I mean, really, people are so supportive and they're at all ends
• 29:41
  of the spectrum, you know, from, you know, one end of the spectrum to the other,
• 29:45
  men, women, there's all kinds of people with all professions that do it. And we're all the same.
• 29:51
  It's like, we're all the same. We all think alike and we support one another.
• 29:55
  And I have met so many people that are still my friends today.
• 29:59
  Actually, that's how I got into this angel competition bikinis.
• 30:03
  You know, they're my sponsors now, which I, who would believe that I'd be sponsored
• 30:09
  in my 70s from a bikini maker?
• 30:11
  And that happened because, well, once I did that first competition,
• 30:15
  well, I don't want to, you know, shortchange that.
• 30:17
  That was really the beginning of it all, though, honestly, because I didn't
• 30:21
  know if I'd compete again. But it's like, I can't wait. It's like,
• 30:24
  I can't wait to compete again.
• 30:25
  And I competed several times after that within a, you know, three to six month
• 30:31
  time frame. I competed a lot.
• 30:34
  And during that time, I got a message from Angel Competition Bikinis.
• 30:38
  They are bikini makers who make the competition bikinis. And they said,
• 30:42
  we want to apply to be in one of our angel bikini shows.
• 30:46
  And I said, oh, I'll apply. Why not?
• 30:48
  And I just did it. And I thought, well, I'm not going to hear from men.
• 30:51
  I'm like old compared to what they need.
• 30:53
  And then several months passed and I got an email or something that said,
• 30:57
  we want you to walk in our angel competition bikini show.
• 31:01
  And I'm going, are you sure? You know how old I am?
• 31:04
  Yes, we want you to. Now, you do pay to be in those shows because you end up
• 31:09
  getting a competition bikini and a bunch of other stuff.
• 31:13
  And it's like a long weekend. And that was really my next level of awesomeness
• 31:17
  that happened to me because I met a ton of like-minded women.
• 31:23
  They were from 20 to, I was the oldest one, of course, but I do the same thing.
• 31:28
  That was the other cool thing. I met women. I've been on bodybuilding retreats
• 31:32
  with women who put them on that I met at my very first angel show.
• 31:37
  And she's still my friend. And so you meet people from all over the place.
• 31:41
  And social media does that too, right? It's like Instagram.
• 31:45
  You meet people on Instagram. I have met, I've had Instagram friends that are
• 31:50
  my good friends that I've never seen before.
• 31:52
  And then we meet at some point. And it's like, you know, you knew them all your
• 31:56
  life. So there's just an incredible, incredible community out there.
• 32:01
  And you just have to be open to it and not isolate yourself.
• 32:05
  I mean, I just, I did it scared.
• 32:07
  That's the saying. I got on stage and I did it scared. I was scared.
• 32:11
  My legs were shaking, but I did it anyway.
• 32:13
  Yeah. Things can be scary, but you can still do them. And that's what I did.
• 32:17
  So you basically took what was going to be kind of just a workout routine.
• 32:21
  You got motivated because you saw the way you looked after a trip.
• 32:25
  You turned it into a lifestyle.
• 32:29
  And from that lifestyle, you grew an entire occupation because now you're a
• 32:34
  social media influencer.
• 32:35
  Now you are sponsored by a bikini company. And it looks like you have other
• 32:40
  sponsors as well that are sponsoring you for different sales on your website as well.
• 32:45
  Or at least you're integrated with them in certain ways.
• 32:47
  So you're turning this into a business that you started at 69 years old.
• 32:54
  And it's become so fun and passionate, and it's a lifestyle for you now that
• 32:58
  you've created a brand new life, like a whole new chapter of your book.
• 33:02
  It is. It has happened, and it has just happened.
• 33:06
  I mean, I didn't—this was not my plan.
• 33:08
  I mean, my plan was just to represent who I was at my age and put a little bit
• 33:15
  about it on Instagram. And that's how it all started. After that first competition, I did.
• 33:20
  I put it—I said, okay, well, I don't want to put it on Facebook.
• 33:23
  Where all my friends are going to be looking at me in a bikini.
• 33:26
  I'm not going to post it there because I don't want to be judged.
• 33:30
  Nobody knew, like I said, that I was competing until after the show.
• 33:33
  I just didn't want to be judged. I didn't want people to say,
• 33:36
  are you crazy, Renee? Look at you.
• 33:38
  You're too old to do that. I didn't want any of that judgment. So I didn't tell people.
• 33:42
  And I'm glad I didn't because people get very, they think they know what's best for you.
• 33:48
  And only you know what's best for you. And so I'm glad I didn't tell.
• 33:52
  But once I put it on Instagram and I remember thinking, okay,
• 33:55
  I'm posting my first competition pictures on Instagram.
• 33:59
  How do you do this? Oh, this is hard. You know, it's like, it's still hard to
• 34:02
  post stuff on Instagram.
• 34:03
  And I thought, if I could just get a hundred followers, I would be so excited.
• 34:09
  You know, just a hundred people who thought what I did was okay.
• 34:13
  And I remember thinking, how do you get a hundred followers? Well, I just posted.
• 34:17
  One thing they say is post a lot, do it a lot. And I did it and I got a hundred followers.
• 34:23
  I go, oh my God, I have a hundred followers, like crazy.
• 34:26
  Anyway, time went on and I'm not, I don't really sell anything.
• 34:31
  Like I don't have a product, don't so far anyway.
• 34:35
  But I've just been, I feel like if I'm going to be this fortunate to feel this
• 34:41
  good at 73, I need to share it with other people.
• 34:44
  And that's really what I've been doing here on Instagram and on my YouTube channel.
• 34:48
  It's like, I think it's my obligation.
• 34:50
  If I'm going to be feeling this good, other people should know what's going
• 34:54
  on so they could do it too.
• 34:56
  So that's really what's happening. I think that a lot of times we get so set
• 35:00
  in our ways as we get older that we forget that it's okay to fail and it's okay
• 35:05
  to be vulnerable and put yourself out there because you should just go for things
• 35:10
  in life because if it's what you want to do, there shouldn't be anything holding you back.
• 35:14
  You only have one life to live. And I think a
• 35:17
  lot of people hold themselves back and they don't take
• 35:20
  the step And you just kept going one pound at a time One pound at a time Every
• 35:25
  time you lost a pound you just set a new goal One step at a time getting closer
• 35:30
  to the goal And you didn't have a time frame You just wanted to make it happen
• 35:34
  one pound at a time And I think that's how it is in life You just got to take that first step.
• 35:39
  And you can achieve anything you want at any age. You're so right. It's so true.
• 35:45
  It is so true. You know, we're only limited by what we think, how we think.
• 35:51
  It's really about being limited. And my mother used to say that.
• 35:54
  My mother lived till almost 100. She was my amazing mother and mentor.
• 35:59
  And I remember her saying about somebody, maybe somebody who was mean or just
• 36:05
  seemed to be small-minded. And she said, well, they're just limited.
• 36:08
  They can't help it. That's just the way they think.
• 36:11
  And so I never thought, I didn't limit myself and she didn't either.
• 36:15
  And I think that's it. We worry too much about that number.
• 36:20
  I don't let my birth year define me. And I don't.
• 36:24
  And one of my sayings is no old speak.
• 36:27
  And I say that, that's kind of my motto because whenever, I know I'm going to die.
• 36:34
  Okay, I know it. I'm going to get older and I'm going to get more wrinkled.
• 36:37
  As long as I can get this Botox going on, I'm going to have as few as possible.
• 36:41
  But I know I'm going to decline. It's going to happen. As much as I am battling,
• 36:46
  as much as I'm lifting weights and doing all the right things, I'm still declining.
• 36:50
  But I'm fighting that decline.
• 36:52
  And I'm going to do that till the day I die. And I just feel like I'm not going
• 36:58
  to express it. I'm not going to be talking about that.
• 37:00
  I'm not going to be engaging about that with other people all the time, whining about my aches.
• 37:04
  I'm like, you know, I've got this really bad arthritis in my baby fingers, whatever.
• 37:09
  I'm not going to be doing that. And when people start talking about their aches
• 37:12
  and pains, I just, I will change the subject.
• 37:15
  Of course, I'll acknowledge it for a moment, but then I'm going to get out of
• 37:18
  there because you don't want to hang around with that negative energy.
• 37:21
  And that's what I believe in so much. It's really your brain.
• 37:25
  It's like, okay, your mind thinks things and your body is listening.
• 37:29
  And they call it neuroplasticity. It's like whatever is going on up here,
• 37:33
  It's telling the rest of your body about it.
• 37:36
  So you think the good things, you think the positive things,
• 37:39
  you think the strong, healthy things, and that's what your body's going to be doing.
• 37:43
  So that's really my belief. And I hang out with people much younger.
• 37:47
  It just, I'm kind of gravitating to them and them to me because they got good energy.
• 37:52
  And I learn a lot from young people. I mean, I learn a lot from them.
• 37:56
  They learn from me too, but I learn a lot from them too. So it's being open.
• 38:00
  It's being open. And I like to say there's the power of yes,
• 38:05
  about saying yes to things.
• 38:06
  I mean, we all know about no and having boundaries, which are super important.
• 38:10
  When you say yes to more things, you know, your world just opens up.
• 38:15
  It just gets bigger and bigger. So I believe in the power of yes.
• 38:18
  Yes. I think that mindset is the number one thing.
• 38:22
  And I know that, you know, there's a lot of different debates that,
• 38:26
  you know, just attract it.
• 38:28
  But I think you've got to be focused and positive with your mindset.
• 38:31
  I hear after I turn 50, one of the sayings I keep hearing over and over again,
• 38:35
  I honestly almost roll my eyes when I hear it now is, at our age,
• 38:39
  you can't do that. or at our age, this is how, if I hear at our age one more
• 38:44
  time, I'm not, you know what I mean?
• 38:46
  Heal in my fifties. I don't have at our age, as some people say,
• 38:51
  and it kind of starting to drive me nuts.
• 38:53
  So whenever I hear somebody do that, I look at their limiting beliefs and I'm
• 38:56
  like, Ooh, do I even want to be friends with this person?
• 38:59
  Because it's like at our age, no, what is at our age? We could live to 150.
• 39:04
  In fact, I'm planning on it. so you know
• 39:07
  i'm like for for people say at our age it really
• 39:10
  creeps me out but you have had such a positive your
• 39:13
  mother lived almost 100 and did she give you you said she was an inspiration
• 39:18
  do you have any quotes from her or from someone else that kind of keeps you
• 39:22
  going on a daily basis or something you think about it because times get hard
• 39:26
  for everybody right so is there anything that inspires you when maybe it's a rough day well my.
• 39:33
  My mother was super positive. I mean, you know, my dad was an alcoholic.
• 39:37
  We had some tumultuous times. And no matter what was going on,
• 39:42
  she always kept her head up. And I saw her doing that.
• 39:45
  She was always thinking positive. And she encouraged me with a lot of that stuff, really.
• 39:50
  I saw her. I just saw how she did things.
• 39:54
  She was way ahead of her time. I mean, whenever women had, this was,
• 39:58
  you know, in the 50s, they had early American furniture, you know,
• 40:01
  and doilies and stuff like that. Well, mom, she had the contemporary furniture.
• 40:06
  She made zebra-striped curtains for our living room. I'll never forget.
• 40:10
  She didn't have a normal Christmas tree. She took a fig tree,
• 40:13
  and she put white plastic on it and made that our Christmas tree one year.
• 40:18
  So this woman was ahead of her time.
• 40:20
  One thing she would say is flush it down the toilet. If it's something negative,
• 40:24
  just flush that down the toilet.
• 40:26
  And with men, she would say, it's how you start them out. It's how you start
• 40:30
  them out. And she's right.
• 40:32
  So if you, that's just, she had a lot of cute things, but mostly she was just very positive.
• 40:37
  And I learned so much from her about the attitude.
• 40:40
  It's about keeping your chin up and just always thinking that you deserve to
• 40:46
  have the best. Now, that's hard. Okay.
• 40:49
  I still, we all struggle with that still, but definitely she did that. Now, okay.
• 40:54
  One of the old sayings that I think Robert Shuler said, tough times never last.
• 41:00
  Tough people do. Now, I believe that too.
• 41:03
  And I think it's important to keep that in mind.
• 41:06
  Whenever things get rough, you can still, you're going to make it through today.
• 41:09
  It's just one day at a time. And you're going to feel better tomorrow. That's the other thing.
• 41:14
  However bad today is, tomorrow is going to be better. Just you have to tell yourself that.
• 41:19
  You cannot dwell in that negative energy in that it's okay. We're all going
• 41:23
  to feel sorry for ourselves.
• 41:24
  We're going to lose because like you said, that's what living and learning are
• 41:28
  all about. not always winning and being able to pull yourself up and go on the
• 41:33
  next day and just don't ever quit. I think that's a lot of it too.
• 41:38
  But yeah, so tough times never last. Tough people do.
• 41:41
  No old speak. That's one of my big ones too. And in general,
• 41:44
  just keeping it positive.
• 41:45
  I mean, do not let yourself wallow in self-pity.
• 41:49
  You can do it for a little bit because everybody deserves a pity party,
• 41:53
  but you do not let that, don't let that continue.
• 41:55
  You just give yourself a little time and then you just get up and go and don't
• 41:59
  stop Yeah, so everybody gets knocked down everybody does It's how quick you
• 42:04
  can get back up and how resilient you are I think that makes the difference
• 42:07
  between the winners and the losers. I really do.
• 42:09
  Absolutely. I agree. Some people get knocked down and they just don't get back
• 42:13
  up. And it's sad to see so much potential wasted.
• 42:16
  But I'm hoping that podcasts like this and listening to your story gives encouragement to people.
• 42:22
  And I know you're doing a lot of documentation on Instagram and YouTube.
• 42:26
  And are there any other platforms that you're on? I'm on Facebook,
• 42:29
  but I don't do much there.
• 42:31
  And I am on TikTok, although I don't post there that much, but mostly Instagram.
• 42:35
  And I'm really trying to build my YouTube channel because, you know,
• 42:38
  you can do more than one minute on YouTube. And I have my story there.
• 42:42
  And actually, if anybody Googles me, Renee Landers Bodybuilder,
• 42:47
  a ton of articles will come up.
• 42:49
  I've actually, you know, had articles from Vanity Fair in Italy.
• 42:53
  I mean, a lot of people have written articles about me. I didn't,
• 42:56
  you know, didn't think that much of all this until time went on.
• 43:00
  I realized, well, maybe I can make a difference.
• 43:03
  Yeah, so there's, and on my YouTube channel, I've got several different little stories in there.
• 43:08
  And I tell my story in more detail, kind of like what we did today.
• 43:11
  And it's there as a platform, but Instagram is too.
• 43:15
  And I am just here to keep it positive. And I try to respond when people reach
• 43:20
  out to me, unless they're perverts. Okay.
• 43:22
  But other than that, they get blocked. No perverts for Renee.
• 43:25
  No perverts. No pervs here.
• 43:27
  You'll be blocked, okay? I don't want to see any nasty anything.
• 43:31
  So anyway, I keep it classy, you know. I don't have OnlyFans.
• 43:35
  No, I'm never going to have OnlyFans, okay? I'm not doing that.
• 43:38
  I'm not broke. I don't need OnlyFans, you know, even though this keeps slipping down.
• 43:43
  So anyway, but yeah, it's mostly on Instagram and YouTube.
• 43:47
  And I mean, I'm just here to let people know that it's never too late.
• 43:51
  People give up on themselves way too soon. Stop that.
• 43:55
  And no matter how bad today is, tomorrow's going to be better.
• 43:58
  You competed in the Arnold Classic too, didn't you? Well, I went to the Arnold.
• 44:02
  Now, I walked in the Angel Show at the Arnold.
• 44:05
  Now, I will tell you this. That first show I did here in Houston,
• 44:08
  the Lila Brada Classic, well, I've done a total of 13 shows since that show.
• 44:13
  But last year, one year ago, I went back to doing the Lila Brada Classic.
• 44:19
  Again, I said, this would be kind of cool, my three-year anniversary of competing.
• 44:23
  I went back to that show, and I was competing again.
• 44:27
  I signed up for, I think, Open, 45+, 50+. Like, I got up there, and I signed up.
• 44:33
  Well, I brought home three trophies also. Look at that. I got them second place or whatever.
• 44:38
  But you know what? If I hadn't have shown up, I wouldn't have gotten any trophies,
• 44:42
  but I came home with three and I got to see all my old friends and it was so cool.
• 44:46
  And then actually, well, okay, so I didn't tell you, but during all this,
• 44:51
  about a year ago, I did compete in another federation, GBO, Global Bodybuilding Organization.
• 44:57
  And that's a separate federation. NPC is the one like the gold standard that
• 45:02
  everybody competes and I've done several of their shows. But basically,
• 45:06
  I did earn my ProCard, my GBO ProCard last year.
• 45:10
  So I am technically a professional bodybuilder.
• 45:13
  It's not like I'm making a ton of money doing it.
• 45:15
  Don't give up your day job if you get your ProCard.
• 45:18
  And then I went to the UK last September and I competed in a show there and I had a blast.
• 45:27
  That's the last show I've done. I hope to do a show this year too.
• 45:31
  And I hate to go on and on, but I got a one-way ticket to fly from Houston to
• 45:36
  London to compete in that show.
• 45:38
  I knew some other friends who were going to be on that flight because they were going to compete.
• 45:42
  And I said, if I'm going to go all the way over there, I'm not turning around
• 45:45
  and getting on a plane and coming back home. And so I stayed for like two weeks.
• 45:49
  I traveled around, all around Italy on my own, okay?
• 45:54
  And that was amazing.
• 45:56
  And I met Instagram friends that one of my girlfriends from Italy,
• 46:00
  she met me and she helped tour me around.
• 46:03
  She introduced me to a trainer. We worked out at his gym in Catania, Sicily.
• 46:08
  And I had the time of my life. It's like crazy.
• 46:12
  So you've got to keep open. I mean, it's just, I'm going on and on here,
• 46:16
  but I just get more excited when I think about all the possibilities when you
• 46:20
  say yes sometimes instead of, oh, no, I'm afraid to do that.
• 46:24
  Do it scared. I think that's another important. Well, you're fearless.
• 46:27
  That's for sure. That's one of the qualities that I love about you is that you're completely fearless.
• 46:32
  So you've trained for different competitions. It sounds like you did one last
• 46:36
  year and you're going to do another one this year.
• 46:38
  And what do you do differently off-season versus on-season as far as your macros go and your diet?
• 46:43
  Because I know a diet is about 80 to 90 percent of how you look.
• 46:46
  The weightlifting is important, too.
• 46:49
  But tell me about kind of the macros you do and then how many times a week you're
• 46:52
  lifting weights, off-season and on-season.
• 46:55
  Okay. Well, and really, right now, I haven't been as self-disciplined.
• 46:59
  I'm heavier now than I have been in a while.
• 47:03
  And how many macros? I don't even know, really, honestly, Mia.
• 47:07
  I've been doing it so long, I just kind of, I log my food still.
• 47:11
  I still do that meal prep.
• 47:13
  So I've got my little, you know, containers in the fridge and I'm a pescetarian.
• 47:17
  So I don't eat meat or chicken, you know, none of that stuff.
• 47:20
  I do eat fish and I eat eggs and egg whites. So my protein is,
• 47:24
  you know, consisting of those things.
• 47:26
  And, but yeah, I don't really have macros. I would just say I'm always kind of watching it.
• 47:31
  I'm never more than, I've never been more than 10 pounds from my stage weight.
• 47:35
  Right now, I'm probably, you know, eight pounds from stage weight.
• 47:39
  Stage weight will change once your body changes because the more muscle you
• 47:43
  have, you're going to look different and you might be heavier.
• 47:46
  So that's another thing.
• 47:48
  The first time I competed four years ago, I weighed about 109.
• 47:52
  And that was in the beginning of my building. You know, I didn't know what I was doing.
• 47:57
  They didn't know what I was doing. But now my stage weight is 112 to 114.
• 48:03
  So I'm heavier and I look more muscular, it's because I've had time to build that muscle over time.
• 48:10
  I used to lift about three to four times a week.
• 48:13
  I lift now about five to six times a week for several months now.
• 48:17
  I didn't do that two years ago, but I do it now.
• 48:20
  Now, I don't go crazy. I mean, also, okay, I've got a fusion.
• 48:25
  You won't see me doing any heavy squats, no heavy deadlifts.
• 48:28
  I mean, I'm still, I'm doing some machines. And on my Instagram,
• 48:32
  you'll see in my highlights, it shows my workouts. I try to post as much about that as I can.
• 48:38
  But I don't want people to fixate on what Renee does. Same with eating.
• 48:43
  What Renee does is different than what you might need to do.
• 48:46
  So I think that's important for people to understand because everybody's going
• 48:50
  to have different knees.
• 48:51
  But yeah, so I lift and I usually spend, it's about 45 minutes of lifting.
• 48:56
  That's because you have to rest, got to breathe in between those sets, right? Right.
• 49:00
  And cardio, it's 30 minutes of cardio. I usually do the elliptical.
• 49:05
  That's kind of my favorite cardio.
• 49:07
  But I'm consistent. And I think that's the main thing people need to understand.
• 49:11
  Whatever I am, this is 13 years of it, okay?
• 49:14
  And the more you do it, just like you said, Mia, it becomes like a lifestyle.
• 49:19
  It's not, I don't have to think, I don't know if I can make it to the gym today.
• 49:22
  I'm going to the gym today.
• 49:24
  Okay, that's the thing. I'm working my life around. And even whenever I had
• 49:27
  a, when I was working and I wasn't retired, I have a small business.
• 49:31
  My son helps me. I was still making appointments with myself to do my workout.
• 49:37
  And that's what people need to do.
• 49:38
  Your health is just as important as anything else in your day.
• 49:42
  So make appointments with yourself for your health. I think it's the consistency
• 49:47
  has been kind of an ongoing theme we've been having on most of our podcasts lately.
• 49:51
  A lot of people, they think they have to have all this motivation,
• 49:54
  but you just have to be consistent and make it a habit.
• 49:57
  Over time, you'll succeed.
• 49:59
  Your health is so important. One of the things I did when I started training
• 50:03
  again is kind of like you, I hired a trainer.
• 50:06
  I know how to lift weights and I'm sure you do too, but you probably still have a trainer.
• 50:10
  And I do a trainer three days a week and then I lift three other days a week.
• 50:13
  And the reason I have a trainer is to make sure I show up on the days I don't want to.
• 50:18
  Because you're going to have those days where you didn't sleep well.
• 50:21
  Like today, I didn't sleep very well last night. And I got to the gym and I was struggling.
• 50:26
  And I showed up because I had to meet my trainer.
• 50:30
  And I was like, he's like, it's funny because he tried to show me this bicep
• 50:34
  curl. You know I know how to do bicep curls.
• 50:36
  And he's like, I don't need you to show me. I just need you to be here so I show up.
• 50:42
  You're so right. It's about accountability. It really is. It's a paid accountability partner.
• 50:48
  That's right. And you know what? To me, it's the best investment we can make
• 50:53
  if we need to have a person there.
• 50:55
  And a trainer is always going to have their eyes open for you.
• 50:58
  And you've got an in-person trainer. It's great.
• 51:01
  And Dustin was training me several days a week. Now we're just meeting two days
• 51:05
  a week and I'm doing the rest on my own. And that's what happens.
• 51:08
  It becomes discipline kicks in. Okay, people are like, how do you stay motivated?
• 51:12
  Well, I'm not motivated.
• 51:13
  I mean, I am just, I'm going no matter what.
• 51:17
  It's like, you get to a point where it's part of your DNA. It's like, it's happening.
• 51:22
  I'm going to, even if I'm tired, like, I only got a few hours sleep last night. I still went to the gym.
• 51:27
  I had, I've got these contractors here. I'm still, and I got it.
• 51:31
  I want to talk to you too. It's like, you just make it happen.
• 51:34
  And it just becomes your life. And if you're going to miss out on anything,
• 51:38
  it's not going to be your workout. You might miss out on, you know,
• 51:41
  your girlfriend's happy hour or something like that.
• 51:44
  That's just the way it is. So that's what it's really not about motivation.
• 51:49
  It's about being consistent and having the discipline.
• 51:52
  It just becomes part of what you do.
• 51:55
  It's like this 21 day habit. It becomes a habit and you just keep doing it.
• 52:00
  Yeah, it's a lifestyle. And they truly say it's a lifestyle and it's a healthy
• 52:04
  lifestyle and it becomes addicting.
• 52:07
  And I think once you get into it, you can't even go a few days without working out.
• 52:12
  I mean, when I go on vacations, the first thing I do is figure out the gym.
• 52:17
  So like even when I was on the cruise with you, I was working out in the gym
• 52:20
  every day. It's like I went on vacation.
• 52:22
  I was like, OK, does this hotel have a nice gym? If not, where can I join a gym that's nearby?
• 52:27
  And it doesn't have to be a great gym. As long as there's weights,
• 52:30
  I can figure out all different kinds of moves.
• 52:32
  And as long as there's a treadmill and stuff like that, if you If you make excuses,
• 52:39
  you're going to have your excuses.
• 52:41
  It's like in life, you can either have excuses or success, but you can't have
• 52:45
  both. And most people have a lot of excuses.
• 52:50
  Exactly. Yeah, it's just what you really want to gain. I think as we get older, you have less time.
• 52:55
  That's the thing. You know, my mortality is here. It's not down the road there
• 52:59
  30 more years or whatever.
• 53:01
  Maybe, I hope it is. They say we are going to be able to, our lives can extend
• 53:05
  till maybe 140 or 150 years. It's happening.
• 53:08
  It's going to happen. So we need to keep taking care of ourselves if we're going to live that long.
• 53:13
  Do you find yourself like eliminating people that are not positive mindset or
• 53:18
  that are constantly complaining about how old they are, all their aches and pains?
• 53:23
  Do you find yourself eliminating those people or do they just kind of self-eliminate?
• 53:27
  Well, definitely very aware of who they are and whatever the situation is.
• 53:33
  And I don't think I'm intentionally saying I'm cutting them out.
• 53:37
  I just kind of back away. And that's kind of my personality anyway.
• 53:42
  I'm not going to get in their face and say, I'm never going to see you again.
• 53:45
  You're just so damn negative. But I just kind of ease out of it.
• 53:50
  And if they're whining, I can think of recent situations like that.
• 53:54
  I'm just not going to engage in that.
• 53:57
  And it's true that you can't just cut everybody out.
• 54:01
  Maybe they live with you or whatever, or they're a relative.
• 54:04
  So you just have to kind of tune them out and keep thinking about what you need
• 54:10
  to think about to take care of you.
• 54:12
  But definitely my whole group of friends, I'm mostly in with my bodybuilding
• 54:17
  friends. I still do tons of other stuff with my non-bodybuilding friends.
• 54:21
  But if they're negative, they're not going to get much of my time.
• 54:25
  And there are a few that are just not in my life at all. And I've intentionally done that.
• 54:30
  But in general, I'm just easing out and just staying away from that because
• 54:33
  you only have so much day in the hours in the day and you've got to make the
• 54:40
  most of them and not let that negative energy,
• 54:43
  you know, become a part of you because it's just a waste.
• 54:45
  Okay, I gotcha. I think that it's so important to give your energy to the people
• 54:51
  that kind of match your energy, too.
• 54:54
  So are you dating anyone, Diva Renee? I'm not dating anyone in particular.
• 54:59
  So she's available, everyone out there. Have you seen what most 73-year-old men look like?
• 55:05
  Yeah, no, that's not doable. You're going to have to go younger.
• 55:08
  Well, yes, I date younger men, so it's got to happen. I can't help it.
• 55:15
  I want someone who is just, they need to be as strong as me mentally,
• 55:20
  physically, financially.
• 55:22
  I do, I want my rock. I mean, everybody, I'm everybody's rock.
• 55:26
  So any, for serious, whatever, I'm not so worried about finding the man of my
• 55:32
  dreams or my white knight. I'm having a great life.
• 55:35
  And if I can have fun in the process with nice people, then I'm going to do it. Yeah.
• 55:42
  So the whole angel bikini thing I think I might want to
• 55:45
  walk on stage with you. I hope you will.
• 55:49
  Definitely. Oh, my God. The Arnold is the next big show.
• 55:52
  I just got back from Nashville this past Sunday and walked in that show. That was a blast.
• 55:57
  And there's just, I mean, I've got goosebumps. You know, you'll see on my page.
• 56:01
  It's just so cool, really, Mia.
• 56:04
  It would be just so much fun. So I will definitely keep you posted about the
• 56:08
  shows because I think you would just have so much fun.
• 56:12
  It's a great way for women who don't compete to sort of have a,
• 56:16
  you know, the next level, like, I want to get on stage. I want to get all glammed up.
• 56:21
  These women, you know, you don't have to have a bikini, although you need to.
• 56:24
  They have one pieces that they make, kind of blinged up one pieces and gowns.
• 56:29
  So we have options for ladies who might not want to be in a bikini.
• 56:32
  But yeah, I hope you'll do it. We will talk more about that.
• 56:35
  We have shows throughout the year all over the U.S., and they are so much fun.
• 56:39
  And the Angel Bikini, so if somebody goes to your Instagram page,
• 56:44
  they can actually click on it and order from your Instagram page.
• 56:46
  Is that right? Yeah, it's angelcompetitionbikinis.com. And you'll see it on my page.
• 56:52
  And yeah, if they order, you can get a discount code.
• 56:57
  And I forget about that sometimes, but they need to know that I am preaching
• 57:01
  about them. Now, here's the cool thing about Angel.
• 57:03
  Two girls in their early 20s, they competed.
• 57:07
  They're twins, okay? She and her sister, they are co-owners of Angel Competition
• 57:11
  Bikinis, and their mother taught them how to sew.
• 57:14
  One of them competed in a show, and she said they didn't have any good bikinis,
• 57:18
  so they made their own bikinis for the next show.
• 57:21
  Ultimately, their mother taught them, and they ended up starting this bikini
• 57:25
  company, just making sparkly bikinis for themselves.
• 57:30
  And it became this awesome company, and it's this incredible community.
• 57:33
  And that's what's so cool about Angel Competition Bikinis. It's a sisterhood.
• 57:38
  I mean, we're going on a bikini cruise.
• 57:40
  You need to come with us in Galveston in January.
• 57:44
  It's going to be so much fun. That sounds fun. I might join you.
• 57:49
  Guess what? We're going to do an angel show, a fashion show in the theater.
• 57:54
  So that's another. They've never done a fashion show on the cruise.
• 57:57
  So yeah, we'll talk more about that. That's in January.
• 58:00
  Maybe I'll do a fashion show with you in January.
• 58:02
  Yeah, you could do it. Well, we'll talk about it. So yeah. So I'm having the
• 58:06
  time of my life. Those girls are just amazing.
• 58:09
  So if you could reflect back, and I know there's a lot of people that are older,
• 58:14
  and maybe give them a little bit of advice.
• 58:16
  Anybody over 40 or 50 or even older that's wanting to go into professional bodybuilding
• 58:22
  or even just do an angel bikini show, what advice would you give them as far as getting started?
• 58:28
  I know one pound at a time, but any other advice? Well, I would say even not
• 58:34
  even thinking about either walking in an angel show or competing,
• 58:37
  just how you want to have a better quality of life.
• 58:40
  And I tell people...
• 58:43
  You've got to dig deep. Everybody has this inside of them.
• 58:47
  Whatever I've got, you've got it too. Everybody has it. You just have to dig deep.
• 58:52
  You're worth it. It's like knowing your worth. And I deserve it.
• 58:55
  You know, we always are givers. You know, most women, we give a whole lot more than we receive.
• 59:00
  You deserve to receive and you deserve to feel good. And it doesn't mean you
• 59:04
  have to bite off a big chunk, just a little bite, you know.
• 59:07
  Start slow, easy, lift some weights at home. Lifting weights is like the fountain
• 59:12
  of youth. I'm going to keep saying that.
• 59:14
  So don't worry about, I don't know if I can ever get on stage.
• 59:19
  I mean, these are great goals to have. Okay. And definitely,
• 59:21
  I want everybody listening to walk in an angel show with me. It's so much fun.
• 59:26
  It's not a competition. That's the cool thing about it. But it's an opportunity
• 59:30
  to kind of be, maybe you've got some goals that you've been setting for your physical fitness.
• 59:35
  This is a great way to showcase where you are. and we have transformation people
• 59:40
  of all ages, shapes and sizes from all over the world.
• 59:43
  So yeah, I would just say though, getting back, dig deep.
• 59:46
  You have that power within you to be whatever awesome person you see or you want to be.
• 59:53
  You can do it and you will do it. You just have to dig deep and dig deep and
• 59:57
  find that inside of yourself.
• 59:59
  And it's so worth it. And I'm here if y'all ever need any encouragement, you just message me.
• 1:00:03
  And I know that a lot of people have maybe down on themselves because of their
• 1:00:07
  appearance or maybe they lost a lot of weight.
• 1:00:09
  But in professional bodybuilding, there are people that do plastic surgery.
• 1:00:14
  And I know I've lost a ton of weight. So for my journey, I'll probably do a
• 1:00:18
  few nips and tucks here and there as well.
• 1:00:20
  But plastic surgery can be done. So don't let something like a little bit of
• 1:00:24
  loose skin here and there hold you back.
• 1:00:26
  Is there anything you could recommend to people as far as they're wanting to
• 1:00:31
  do it, but something's holding them back? Okay, now, and I will tell you,
• 1:00:34
  too, ladies, loose skin does not disqualify you from competing.
• 1:00:39
  And they are looking at your overall muscle and development and all that. But I would say, too...
• 1:00:45
  If the main thing is that you're always improving, don't be afraid of plastic surgery.
• 1:00:49
  I would just say, you know, you're about to do a major thing here,
• 1:00:53
  Mia, and that's awesome.
• 1:00:55
  I don't think plastic surgery is the answer if you're trying to look your best.
• 1:01:00
  I think lifting weights, having a healthy lifestyle, you've got to start that
• 1:01:04
  way because you've got to feel good.
• 1:01:06
  You can't even survive surgery if you're not healthy.
• 1:01:09
  So I would say that's something to think about. You know, I get Botox.
• 1:01:14
  You know, you can see I get fillers and Botox. I'm not, I don't mind,
• 1:01:17
  I'm transparent about that.
• 1:01:18
  There's so many great treatments and there are great treatments for loose skin.
• 1:01:23
  You can't, you gotta get rid of loose skin if you've lost a ton of weight like
• 1:01:26
  you, but there's a ton of treatments out there.
• 1:01:29
  Aestheticians do, there's cool sculpting. There's a ton of stuff.
• 1:01:33
  I'm not a big lotion and cream kind of, I think a lot of that is just hype.
• 1:01:37
  I mean, I use oil of Olay, but I do think don't worry too much about it. drinking.
• 1:01:43
  Hydration is everything. Whatever loose skin you have, if you're hydrating,
• 1:01:47
  it's not going to look as bad.
• 1:01:48
  Your face, everything's going to look better. I mean, I drink a gallon of water a day.
• 1:01:52
  And I have on my YouTube, my highlights in my Instagram about how I put my little concoction together.
• 1:01:59
  But I would say drink a ton of water, start moving more.
• 1:02:03
  And I think if you decide plastic surgery is something you want to do,
• 1:02:07
  do your research. You want to go to qualified people.
• 1:02:10
  You don't want to save money on something like that, but that doesn't mean you
• 1:02:14
  have to go to the most expensive people. Just do your research, do your homework.
• 1:02:18
  There's lots of good people out there who are qualified and who will work with you.
• 1:02:23
  And find the right person or the right doctor, you know, group of doctors or
• 1:02:28
  whatever if you decide to do that.
• 1:02:29
  Are there any supplements you would recommend for people that are in their season
• 1:02:33
  up that may not people in their 20s and 30s don't take.
• 1:02:36
  I know I take a lot of collagen protein when I do my protein smoothies and I
• 1:02:41
  do different types of vitamin D and things that maybe younger people don't.
• 1:02:45
  Are there any supplements you would recommend that, and creatine,
• 1:02:48
  of course, but are there anything that you recommend?
• 1:02:52
  Creatine? Here's an article. I haven't even put this on my Instagram yet.
• 1:02:55
  It's from the Houston Chronicle a month or so ago about the benefits of creatine.
• 1:03:00
  Older adults may benefit from creatine use. This is not just for bodybuilders.
• 1:03:05
  So I would say that one thing, Mia, and they've learned also that five grams
• 1:03:10
  a day is kind of your standard amount to take.
• 1:03:13
  But upping it, they're showing that it's not only good for your muscles,
• 1:03:17
  but for your brain, your brain health over time.
• 1:03:21
  That creatine was developed 40 years ago for muscle wasting in elderly people.
• 1:03:27
  That's what at first was developed. And you don't need any fancy.
• 1:03:31
  I use the naked creatine on Amazon. It's the cheapest stuff.
• 1:03:34
  And I just looked underneath it. And it's been over a year that I've had the
• 1:03:39
  same container of creatine because it's inexpensive. so don't buy the fancy stuff.
• 1:03:44
  But yeah, creatine is everything. I do the vital proteins, collagen peptides. I think those are good.
• 1:03:51
  You can see a difference in your nails and skin with that.
• 1:03:55
  And other than that, I don't take tons of supplements. I think,
• 1:03:58
  you know, you need some vitamin D, calcium. There's some things like that.
• 1:04:02
  Now, also something I do is I have had an infusion of reclast.
• 1:04:07
  Now, this is something that helps fight osteoporosis.
• 1:04:12
  It can not just to build it, but it can fight it off. So that's another thing.
• 1:04:17
  That's another little element that women should look into as you're approaching
• 1:04:21
  menopause because your bones are going to break down.
• 1:04:24
  And if you have osteopenia, that's the beginning of osteoporosis.
• 1:04:28
  And as much as I lift weights and I eat everything and I do everything right,
• 1:04:32
  and I have been for years, I've still had a teensy bit of osteoporosis.
• 1:04:37
  So even people who do all that stuff, that may not be enough.
• 1:04:41
  So there are some things and you can talk to your bone health doctor about that.
• 1:04:45
  But reclass is one I did. It's about once a year infusion. It's a teensy little thing.
• 1:04:50
  That would be another thing that I would suggest women look at.
• 1:04:53
  It's like, you got to look at everything.
• 1:04:55
  You got to try to, you got to cover all your bases because one thing,
• 1:04:59
  small thing like the creatine could make a huge difference in your health.
• 1:05:03
  It doesn't take much, but I think that's important.
• 1:05:06
  And then looking into the, there's several different ones. Are you on anything
• 1:05:10
  like that? Like the reclassed?
• 1:05:13
  That's the first time I've ever heard of that. I do different things like HMB.
• 1:05:17
  I do different amino acids, gerylithin A.
• 1:05:20
  I also make my own yogurt for gut health. That is very cool.
• 1:05:25
  Good for you. I'm on a lot of different supplements because I can't do any pharmaceuticals.
• 1:05:28
  I'm not on any pharmaceuticals at all, except for, I guess, the hormone therapy.
• 1:05:33
  But, yeah, I don't do pharmaceutical drugs of any kind.
• 1:05:38
  So, yeah, I do a lot. I do multivitamins. I do, you know, methylene blue.
• 1:05:43
  I do, I'd also do IV therapy at least a couple times a month.
• 1:05:47
  I do different like thion and glutamine and things like that.
• 1:05:50
  So anything that can help me get a little bit, I haven't did NAD for a while,
• 1:05:54
  but I kind of like, I now do the pills versus the IV because it was a lot.
• 1:05:58
  Yeah. So I do a lot to try to keep the inner workings going as strong as possible too. So, yeah.
• 1:06:06
  That's so important. And I'm glad you brought it up because that's another layer
• 1:06:11
  of how you're going to take care of your quality of life.
• 1:06:14
  And just to the 40 and 50 year olds, this is me at 73 because I've been doing
• 1:06:19
  things for a while. And that's the thing.
• 1:06:21
  Don't give up on yourself because you think you're over the hill at 45.
• 1:06:25
  You know, golly, y'all are just babies in my book. So you have lots more time
• 1:06:29
  left to take care of yourself.
• 1:06:31
  Yeah, we've got I mean, I feel like we're just getting started.
• 1:06:34
  If I'm going to live another hundred years, I'm only a third of the way done.
• 1:06:37
  So if you think about it that way, I don't know what at our age means,
• 1:06:41
  but at my age, I'm still young.
• 1:06:44
  Me too. We're going to be young forever.
• 1:06:47
  Yeah, absolutely. If you could send a message now, this is kind of a tricky
• 1:06:52
  one, to yourself from when you were 64 years old, so before you started building,
• 1:06:58
  and say, and tell yourself it's going to be okay.
• 1:07:01
  What would you say in a way that way it kind of encourages those people that
• 1:07:05
  are still having a little bit of doubt?
• 1:07:08
  So if you could say to yourself, you know what, it's going to be OK.
• 1:07:11
  What's how do you feel now that's different than you did when you were 62 or
• 1:07:16
  63 and taking those pictures and looking like the average middle aged person? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 1:07:22
  Well, I guess I would say it's going to be okay because you really have that
• 1:07:27
  strength inside of you that I talked about earlier.
• 1:07:29
  It's like as bad as you might feel, as much as you might think you're getting
• 1:07:33
  old, you know, you're really, you have plenty of life left.
• 1:07:38
  And dig deep. Just keep loving yourself and reminding yourself,
• 1:07:42
  treat yourself like you would treat your best friend.
• 1:07:44
  Love yourself like you love your best friend.
• 1:07:47
  And remember that every day, you have to do this every day. You know,
• 1:07:51
  it's kind of like your mantra, but it is going to be okay. I guess that's just it.
• 1:07:56
  You're going to be okay. Whatever struggle you're having, feeling old or feeling
• 1:08:01
  like, you know, you're getting old or, you know, nobody's going to love you, you...
• 1:08:06
  You can love yourself. You need to love yourself first anyway before anybody's
• 1:08:11
  going to want to love you.
• 1:08:12
  You've got to love yourself. And you're going to be okay.
• 1:08:15
  Everything's going to be okay. I mean, I promise you, everything's going to be okay.
• 1:08:19
  You just keep thinking positive, and you keep loving yourself,
• 1:08:23
  and you keep reminding yourself that you deserve to feel good,
• 1:08:28
  and you deserve the very best life, and start living it today for the rest of your life.
• 1:08:34
  Looking back is there anything different that you would do that
• 1:08:37
  looking back now maybe I should have competed earlier
• 1:08:40
  should I've changed my food should I've changed the way I dressed anything that
• 1:08:44
  you can give like little nuggets that you wish you would have done something
• 1:08:47
  a little differently yeah I wish I had I wish I had competed sooner for sure
• 1:08:51
  I wish I'd have been open I wish I'd have been open and listened to my my trainer
• 1:08:56
  about that and I was too afraid I was just playing.
• 1:08:59
  So it's part about fear.
• 1:09:02
  You've got to do stuff scared, do it scared, do it anyway. It's the kind of
• 1:09:06
  thing that you might be afraid to do.
• 1:09:08
  Now, I'm never going to jump out of an airplane, okay?
• 1:09:11
  I don't need to do that. But if it's something that you think would be so cool
• 1:09:15
  to do, but you're so scared to do it, you probably need to do it.
• 1:09:19
  And you're going to feel so good. I mean, I got goosebumps.
• 1:09:22
  You're going to feel so good after you do it. Whatever it is,
• 1:09:25
  if it's Just go into the gym and like, I want to try to lift a 20-pound dumbbell.
• 1:09:30
  You're going to feel so good when you get to the point where you do it.
• 1:09:33
  You accomplish. Take the little steps first. And I think that's the most important.
• 1:09:38
  Now, another thing with regards to marriage, I would say don't waste too much
• 1:09:43
  time on the wrong person.
• 1:09:45
  Yeah, I agree with that one. Don't wait. I mean, I gave, I mean,
• 1:09:49
  I've been married three times. Okay, I'm not going to lie.
• 1:09:52
  And I mean, like the first two years of those 10 were great.
• 1:09:56
  I should have gotten out sooner, you know, so it's like, so I would just say
• 1:10:00
  your time is all you have.
• 1:10:02
  Do not waste it. Don't, you know, you
• 1:10:05
  do your best and then you make your decision to move on if you need to.
• 1:10:09
  If it's about marriage or about a job or whatever, you got to,
• 1:10:12
  don't waste as much time.
• 1:10:13
  It's because the older you get, the less time you have to waste.
• 1:10:16
  So I would just say that you don't have to have a person in your life to make you complete.
• 1:10:21
  You will make yourself complete. And then you'll draw in people that are the right people for you.
• 1:10:26
  So I would just say that's the other thing that comes to mind because we all
• 1:10:31
  waste our time unnecessarily, whether it's people or jobs or things.
• 1:10:37
  So I would just say that. And things are not important. That's the other thing.
• 1:10:40
  This came from Target, okay? These earrings are from Amazon, okay?
• 1:10:45
  This ring came from a hot shop. You know what that is? That's like a,
• 1:10:49
  what do you call them wherever you go and people bring their rings and their jewelry in?
• 1:10:53
  Like a pawn shop? Yeah, a pawn shop. So all this stuff came from a pawn shop.
• 1:10:57
  Don't be afraid to save money. Don't be afraid to shop, you know, in discount places too.
• 1:11:03
  Just being smart with your money. Okay, here's another thing.
• 1:11:06
  Get a financial advisor. Don't think you know how to do that stuff yourself.
• 1:11:10
  I don't care if you only have $20 a month that you can put aside,
• 1:11:15
  find somebody who's an expert in that and go get that because that made a big difference to me.
• 1:11:20
  I'm just talking in general. But once one of my bosses died young,
• 1:11:25
  my son was only like six years old. I was a single mom.
• 1:11:29
  And I immediately went to a financial advisor and said, okay,
• 1:11:32
  I need to make sure that my kid's future is right.
• 1:11:35
  And that's another thing. I mean, I'm talking about another subject,
• 1:11:38
  but still, it's about getting your life together.
• 1:11:41
  And I believe in writing down goals. I still write them down physically.
• 1:11:46
  I have my goals from 20 years ago that I wrote down. And I think written goals
• 1:11:51
  are kind of magical. It's kind of what I think, too.
• 1:11:54
  So what goals do you have for the future that you're going to hit in the next, say, one to five years?
• 1:11:58
  Well, I want to travel to a lot more countries. So that's going to be one thing. More solo travel.
• 1:12:04
  I did a 27-day trip by myself this year, and I'll do some more.
• 1:12:08
  And And really, you know, I should have more.
• 1:12:12
  You're catching me off guard. But mostly it's about doing things that make me
• 1:12:17
  happy and genuine happiness.
• 1:12:19
  Not because other people are doing them, but just things that are going to make me feel good.
• 1:12:24
  And it's not about the stuff. It's about the experiences. So I want to go on
• 1:12:29
  a safari. That's a big thing.
• 1:12:31
  I want to go to the Galapagos Islands. I'm actually, you know,
• 1:12:36
  it's just about making my life, you know, more complete and joyful by doing
• 1:12:40
  things that are going to enhance my life. So that's really mostly what it is.
• 1:12:44
  So, Deva Renee, I think we've covered a lot. But is there anything that you
• 1:12:48
  want to leave as parting words to people that,
• 1:12:51
  to let them know that they can do it just like you and they're not too old.
• 1:12:56
  Is there anything you want to say to those people that are still on the fence?
• 1:12:59
  I'm doing where I am today.
• 1:13:02
  It's not rocket science, okay? And, you know, I like to say this is not amazing.
• 1:13:07
  This is just doing the same thing over and over again. It's not rocket science.
• 1:13:13
  And just a person, I'm a person just like you.
• 1:13:16
  I am nobody special, but I had some determination.
• 1:13:19
  I wanted to feel good. I wanted to make the most of every day.
• 1:13:24
  And that's really what it is. You know, it's just about being determined and
• 1:13:28
  anyone can do it, really.
• 1:13:30
  I mean, whatever it is you want to do, you can do it. You just have to believe in yourself.
• 1:13:34
  I mean, it's kind of old school, but it's not rocket science.
• 1:13:37
  You know, you can do it too.
• 1:13:39
  And I'm here if you want to ask any questions about doing it.
• 1:13:42
  Well, Diva Renee, I love your consistency. I love your spirit.
• 1:13:46
  I think you're one of the most inspirational people I've ever run into in my life personally.
• 1:13:51
  And I hope that you have a very successful career for the next hundred years.
• 1:13:55
  And I think that we've had probably the best motivational podcast we've had in a long time.
• 1:14:01
  So if anybody wants to reach out to Renee, we will have her Instagram page posted.
• 1:14:06
  And I just encourage everybody to be consistent and take what she's done and
• 1:14:11
  internalize it because you can do anything you want in this world as long as
• 1:14:14
  you have a right mindset.
• 1:14:15
  So this is Diva Mia signing off. Diva Renee, you want to sign off?
• 1:14:19
  This is Diva Renee signing off. Diva Mia, you're adorable.
• 1:14:23
  Thank you so much for wanting me to come here. I am thrilled that I got to do
• 1:14:26
  it, and I'm thrilled to share whatever's happening in my life that could make
• 1:14:30
  your life better. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
• 1:14:33
  All right, everybody. Have a great week. Take care.
• 1:14:38
  Thanks for tuning in. Like, subscribe, and drop a comment. We love hearing from you.
• 1:14:43
  Visit thedivadetails.com to connect. See you next week for more.
• 1:14:53
  Diva Details podcast and website are intended solely for informational and entertainment purposes.
• 1:14:56
  The content provided does not constitute professional, medical,
• 1:14:58
  financial, or legal advice. We are not licensed medical practitioners,
• 1:15:00
  financial advisors, or legal professional.
• 1:15:02
  Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice,
• 1:15:04
  diagnosis, or treatment.
• 1:15:05
  Any financial topics discussed are based on personal opinions and experience
• 1:15:07
  and should not be considered professional advice.
• 1:15:08
  The content provided does not constitute legal advice. The Diva Details and
• 1:15:10
  its affiliate contributor and guests are not liable for any losses or damages
• 1:15:13
  arising from the use of our content.
• 1:15:14
  The opinions expressed in the podcast are solely those of the speakers and do
• 1:15:16
  not necessarily reflect that the use of any affiliated organization,
• 1:15:17
  sponsors, or partners. All facts discussed in the podcast are researched and
• 1:15:20
  accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of recording.
• 1:15:21
  Information may change over time. No guarantees are made regarding the accuracy,
• 1:15:23
  completeness, or reliability of any statements or opinions presented.
• 1:15:25
  It is the responsibility of the listener to verify any and all facts that may
• 1:15:27
  influence their decision.
• 1:15:28
  This podcast is for information and entertainment purposes only and should not
• 1:15:30
  be considered professional advice.